Genre defining masterpiece.

User Rating: 10 | Phantasy Star SMS
There are very few games released that I would consider leaps and bounds ahead of their contemporaries. Phantasy Star is one of those games. It is a brave game in many ways: It had a reserved, female protagonist in an era where gaming was dominated by young males. It had a solemn, understated tone throughout the game that slowly makes the player question whether hunting down and killing a total stranger as an act of revenge is really the right solution to her problems. Audio and visuals are far ahead of any other game of the 8-bit era.
The difficulty is pretty solid. Excessive grinding is possible but not required. When I recently replayed this game, I was actually surprised at just how little grinding was required to complete it.
The last boss also set the standard for last bosses that has influenced games to this day. It's a must play.