Play Melville's Flame (Japan) Online

Melville's Flame was a Japan only release for the Nintendo Entertainment System, developed by a studio called Pixel Forge. It came out during that late NES period when developers were really pushing the hardware's limits, trying new things with the sprite flicker and color palette to create a darker atmosphere than most games on the system.

You control a small, sentient flame named Ember, navigating a massive, haunted manor room by room. Your main goal is to find and extinguish eight cursed candles to weaken the manor's spectral owner, Melville. Your primary tool is your own body; you can dash through weaker enemies to snuff them out, but larger foes require you to collect oil droplets to temporarily grow larger and more powerful, allowing you to engulf them. The manor is a maze of secret passages triggered by lighting specific wall sconces in order, and the pacing is deliberately slow, building tension as you manage your fragile flame size against enemies that can diminish you with a touch. It feels like a careful, constant dance on the edge of being blown out.