Phantasy Star on the Sega Master System was way ahead of its time—this thing had first-person dungeon crawling, space travel, and even a female protagonist back in 1987. You start off as Alis, out for revenge after her brother gets killed by the space dictator, and suddenly you're recruiting weirdos like a cat-man thief and a telepathic muskrat (yes, really).

The dungeons are brutal—no automaps, just graph paper and prayers—but there's something satisfying about finally stumbling onto the right path after an hour of wrong turns. And that final boss? Still one of the most visually insane moments in 8-bit RPGs. Just don't expect the grinding to hold your hand.

It's janky by modern standards, but you can see where later JRPGs stole half their ideas from.