Play Hiryuu no Ken Gaiden (Japan) Online

Hiryuu no Ken Gaiden is one of those weird Game Boy titles that got rebranded for the West as Fighting Simulator 2-in-1: Flying Warriors—which honestly makes it sound way more generic than it is. It’s a mashup of RPG-style overworld exploration and one-on-one fighting, kind of like if Street Fighter had a story mode where you wandered between towns picking fights.

The combat’s a little stiff by today’s standards, but back then, having a portable fighter with actual progression felt like a big deal. You pick from a few characters (I always went with the ninja—his jump kicks were ridiculous), and the fights themselves are these quick, punchy exchanges where timing matters more than combos.

Funny enough, the North American version is technically a sequel to another game, but unless you’re deep into the series, you’d never notice. It’s just a solid, slightly janky Game Boy brawler with more going on than most fighters of its era.