Shining Soul II is one of those GBA gems that somehow flew under the radar. At first glance, it looks like a straightforward Diablo-style dungeon crawler, but there's way more going on. You pick from eight classes—I went with the archer first, which was fun until I got swarmed and realized maybe the warrior would've been smarter.

The combat feels weighty for a GBA game, with actual combos and special moves instead of just button mashing. And the loot system? Surprisingly deep. I spent way too long comparing stat boosts on random drops before realizing I should probably just equip whatever gives me more defense and move on.

What really hooked me was the multiplayer. Cramming two GBAs together with a link cable and plowing through dungeons with a friend is chaotic in the best way—especially when you both scramble for the same health potion mid-boss fight. It's got that perfect balance of mindless hacking and actual strategy.