Premier Manager on the Sega Genesis is one of those old-school football management sims that somehow makes staring at spreadsheets feel intense. You start off picking a team—I always went for the underdogs because where’s the fun in steamrolling with Man United?—and then it’s all about juggling transfers, training, and tactics. The interface is clunky by today’s standards, but there’s something weirdly satisfying about tweaking your formation just right and watching your scrappy mid-table side claw their way up the league.

Matches play out in this basic but weirdly tense text commentary style—you’ll catch yourself yelling at the screen when your star striker misses an open goal. And yeah, the player names are all fake, but after a few seasons, you’ll swear your fictional left winger is a club legend. It’s not flashy, but if you like digging into the nitty-gritty of football management without all the modern frills, this one’s a solid time capsule.