Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of the Lance is, as the name suggests, one of the many Dungeons & Dragons video games to capitalize on the popularity of the original tabletop game. It’s an adaptation of the first Dragonlance novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight. While the game was popular in its day, it has since faded into obscurity, even as the tabletop game and Dragonlance series become more prominent. It was notoriously difficult in its day, to the point where some critics listed it as one of the worst NES games ever...because they couldn’t handle the challenge.

Faxanadu is a spin-off game from the second game in the Dragon Slayer series, Xanadu. This side-scrolling RPG takes your hero to his old hometown, only to find it going through some rough times. Your quest takes you to multiple worlds, pitting you against elves, dwarves, and far stranger entities. In a lot of ways, it’s very similar to something you’d expect in a Dungeons & Dragons adventure. While the game has been hailed as a gem for the NES, it remains somewhat obscure when compared to similar games.

Ghost Lion centers on a young girl named Maria whose parents disappear one day in search of an enigmatic White Lion. Maria’s quest? Find her parents and find that White Lion. The game was hailed both in Japan and the west for being a pretty solid RPG for its time. However, many players do argue it is a little too similar in style to Dragon Quest. If you’re a fan of Dragon Quest, this might be a fun little diversion.

Pool of Radiance is another AD&D game, first released for computers before being ported to the NES in 1992. Pool of Radiance’s system would later go on to influence later RPGs such as Neverwinter Nights. As one of the later entries for the NES, the port was immediately overlooked in favor of modern SNES RPGs at the time. However, Pool of Radiance managed to garner rave reviews, though the game’s port proved less popular than its original computer iteration.

The Battle of Olympus places you in the shoes of Orpheus, who has to rescue his girlfriend from the depths of the Underworld. The game draws heavily from The Legend of Zelda II, both in terms of style and gameplay. This side-scrolling adventure game is definitely an acquired taste, with more of an emphasis on action than role-playing. Still, it’s quite the epic game for its time.

Legacy of the Wizard is yet another game from the Dragon Slayer, brought over to the States. You play the members of the Drasle family as they hunt for four secret crowns, fighting monsters along the way. The game makes each playable character distinct. You face an endless array of monsters in order to defeat the evil villain at the end. Naturally, this game sounds generic plot-wise, in part because the game really doesn’t present any of its narratives to you. Rather, the game is a dungeon crawler, with a focus on endless arrays of villains. It’s a game about balancing loot retrieval and treasure hunting, one that many players in the west overlooked upon release.

Radia Senki: Reimeihen is not well-known in the west for a reason: it was never released in English. You play as an amnesiac Guardian of Light, forced to find a way into the Tower – a large structure that allows whoever accesses it the ability to reshape the world. The game has a cult fanbase and a fan translation, but it remains mostly obscured to most western audiences.

Just Breed is an RPG by Enix – future half of the beloved Square-Enix – released at the end of the NES’s life-cycle in 1992. The game is a tactical RPG similar to Fire Emblem, most well-known for being the largest RPG game ever created for the NES. This is another example of a game never released in America, in part because by this point players had mostly moved onto the SNES. However, it remains an obscure but incredible NES RPG.

Mother is the prequel to Earthbound and Mother 3, neither of which are underrated by any means. However, while Earthbound and Mother 3 have fervent fan bases, the first game in the series is often neglected when discussed. While it lacks the complexity and strong characterization of later entries, Mother is a surprisingly underplayed RPG.

Final Fantasy III is part of the most mainstream, well-known RPG franchises of all time...yet it’s also one of the least played games in the series. The third game was not released in the US until years later with its Nintendo DS remake. By then, enough time had passed that most western players thought the sixth game in the franchise was the third due to how the original Final Fantasy games were marketed. As a result, many people just forget the third game even exists.