Ever tried conquering ancient China with nothing but a handful of loyal generals and some questionable diplomacy skills? That’s basically Romance of the Three Kingdoms in a nutshell. You pick a warlord (Cao Cao’s a solid starter choice, but Liu Bei’s underdog story is fun too) and immediately get dumped into this chessboard of provinces where every move matters—recruiting officers feels like convincing your friends to join a risky startup, and battles are this weird mix of strategy and luck where your best general might still trip over his own sword.

The NES version’s got that classic clunky charm—menus take forever to navigate, and the music loops in a way that’ll either hypnotize you or drive you nuts. But there’s something weirdly satisfying about slowly expanding your territory while rival factions backstab each other. Just don’t get too attached to your officers—some will randomly die of old age mid-campaign, which is… historically accurate, I guess?

Controls are simple (arrows to move, Z/X for confirm/cancel), but good luck figuring out how to bribe enemy generals without accidentally declaring war first. The game doesn’t hold your hand, but that’s half the fun. You’ll lose entire playthroughs to bad decisions and love every minute of it.