Play Fire Emblem : Decay of the Fangs Online

Fire Emblem: Decay of the Fangs is one of those GBA games that sneaks up on you—starts with a quiet castle siege and before long, you're knee-deep in political backstabbing and cursed bloodlines. The battles feel familiar if you've played Blazing Blade, but everything's a shade darker here. Your units aren't just knights and mages; they're exiles, deserters, and people who've already lost too much.

What really got me was the way the game makes you care about characters who might not even survive the next map. That permadeath sting hits harder when your archer is a former noble with three lines of tragic dialogue. The sprite work is some of the best on the GBA, especially the way magic spells crackle across the screen. Just expect to reset a lot when your favorite mercenary takes an unlucky crit.

If you like your strategy with a side of melancholy and tough choices, this one's worth digging up.