Play Dough Boy (Japan) Online

Dough Boy is this weird little NES action game from Japan that never made it overseas—probably because it's kind of a mess, but in a charming way. You play as a round little guy (hence the name) who bounces around single-screen stages, dodging enemies and collecting... whatever those flashing things are supposed to be. The controls take some getting used to—your jumps feel floaty, and half the time you'll overshoot a platform. But there's something oddly satisfying about the way your doughy hero squishes when he lands.

It's got that early Famicom energy where the developers were still figuring things out, so expect some jank. The music loops after about 10 seconds, and the enemy patterns feel random at first. Still, there's a weird appeal to its simplicity—like a prototype for something better that never got made. If you're into obscure retro curiosities, it's worth a quick look just to see how strange some of these Japan-only releases got.