Live A Live is a great game, and it's really too bad it was never released in the West. My favorite parts are the Bakumatsu and Old West chapters. The former is steeped in ninja lore and a subverted version of nineteenth-century Japan, and the latter is a faithful homage to spaghetti westerns. That's how I like to take my RPGs--with ninjas and cowboys.

The Bakumatsu chapter is also remarkable for the freedom of decision you have when it comes to killing people; the protagonist, Oboromaru, keeps track of how many people he's killed, and you get different rewards depending on whether you massacre everyone in the castle or play it stealthy and avoid killing anyone. There's also a reward for just not killing any of the women. Live A Live is crawling with unique gameplay aspects such as these, and for being made in 1994, it was clearly ahead of its time.