Thanks, everyone, for sharing your thoughts and suggestions! It was interesting to read about such a wide range of gaming experiences and perspectives across the last how-many decades.
I will definitely give games like
Ys and
EvilQuest a try when I have a chance. Unless someone locally donates their systems and games to me out of the goodness of their heart, I'm accepting that it'll never be financially sound for me to invest in consoles. So long as good alternatives exist for PC users, that's all that really matters. There's a world of fun to be had without ever touching a controller.
Aside from
Crystalis and
Zelda II, there aren't very many other titles or genres that jump out at me. One major exception would be
Zombies Ate My Neighbors, which began to really pique my interest after I started this thread. From what I've seen on Youtube, it's challenging...but absurdly entertaining. If I'm unable to try it someday, I hope there are similar games available for the PC.
After learning about
Super R-Type on Until We Win, I felt strangely compelled to try
Stargunner for the first time recently. I remember seeing screenshots of it in an old issue of
PC Gamer, and I thought it looked kind of fun. So,
here's a video of me struggling through the first level or so earlier today. It seems to be a lot more forgiving than
Silver Surfer, but
damn, is it hard! I guess I don't need to track down a cart of
The Guardian Legend anymore - my hands are full as it is.