Thoroughbred Breeder II is one of those weirdly addictive SNES horse racing sims that somehow makes spreadsheets fun. You start off picking a stable name and buying your first few horses—some are dirt cheap but slow as molasses, others cost a fortune but might actually win races. The breeding mechanics are surprisingly deep, and after a few seasons you'll catch yourself muttering things like "this mare's bloodline has terrible stamina stats" like some kind of equestrian nerd.

What really hooks you is watching your crappy yearlings slowly turn into champions. The race animations are janky 16-bit affairs, but seeing your horse finally edge out at the finish line after tweaking its training regimen for months? Weirdly satisfying. Just don't get too attached—some of them retire or get injured way too soon.

Fair warning: the menus are entirely in Japanese, but there are decent fan translations floating around if you dig a little. Once you get past that, it's oddly therapeutic in a "I should probably go outside" kind of way.