Madou Monogatari I - 3-Tsu no Madoukyuu (Japan)

Madou Monogatari I - 3-Tsu no Madoukyuu is a first-person dungeon crawler RPG that came out for the Sega Game Gear exclusively in Japan. It was developed by Compile, the studio later famous for the Puyo Puyo puzzle series. This game is the first chapter of the Madou Monogatari series, which originally appeared on home computers before being adapted for handhelds. If you've played Puyo Puyo, you might recognize the character Arle Nadja - she stars here as the main protagonist.

You guide Arle through a series of mazes viewed from a first-person perspective. Movement is tile-based: you step forward, turn left or right, and bump into encounters. Combat is turn-based and revolves around casting spells you learn from items or by leveling up. There's a fair bit of backtracking and puzzle solving, like finding keys to open doors. Since the game is entirely in Japanese, navigating menus - which use katakana and hiragana - requires some patience or a guide.

This title is worth checking out if you're curious about the origins of Compile's signature style. The dungeon crawling is straightforward but the atmosphere and sprite work capture the early 90s RPG charm. It's not a long game, but its connection to the larger Puyo Puyo universe gives it a special place in retro collections. Just keep in mind that the language barrier can be tough without some Japanese knowledge or a fan translation patch.