Play Aa Yakyuu Jinsei Icchokusen (Japan) Online

Ever wanted to live out your baseball dreams in 8-bit Japan? Aa Yakyuu Jinsei Icchokusen is this weird little NES game where you don't just hit home runs—you manage your player's entire life. Between games, you're choosing whether to train hard (and risk injury) or go on dates (which somehow improves your batting stats?).

The actual baseball plays like a stripped-down version of Baseball Stars, but the real charm comes from the off-field stuff. Your pixelated guy gets newspaper clippings about his performance, deals with random events like food poisoning before big games, and even ages over the seasons. It's janky as hell, but in that "I can't believe this exists" way that makes retro gaming so fun.

Fair warning: unless you read Japanese, you'll be guessing at half the menu options. But honestly, watching your player's stats randomly spike after choosing the third dialogue option in a conversation with his coach is part of the experience.