Pool of Radiance

I was blown away by the quality of this RPG. In comparison to the other D&D titles for NES (even all the other popular RPG titles for the NES, period), this one by far is the one I find the most fun. It might not be the most simple RPG to pick up, but it is undeniably a hidden gem, and is worth picking up. While the main bulk of adventuring is done in first person and in dialogue, the battle system is an isometric Fire-Emblem-style tactics game, and while it can be a little slower paced at times, it is amazing they fit this much variety onto a single cartridge. It has a battery, so you can save your game for later (trust me, you will need this, it is huge), and a lot of neat features like being able to customize the pool of characters you can make parties from, naming them whatever you want, making them any class or class combination you want, and rolling for all their stats until you get a combination you are satisfied with. Because it is turn-based when in battle, you could, with a bit of imagination, even play this as a 5 player game, whereby each person controls the actions of each party member, making it into more of a traditional D&D experience. This might sound silly, but it is really fun. The battles can be complex, the adventuring is interesting, you will have to take notes and draw maps, the difficulty is unforgiving (but fun, mind you, and you revert to your last save, so that helps a lot), and it is quite simply some of the most fun I have ever had on the NES.