This week's game is Little Master: Raikuban no Densetsu, a monster-focused strategy RPG brought to you by some of the people who would go on to make Okage: Shadow King. If you're familiar with Majin Tensei, this is essentially like that but cuter and simpler!
I have a particular interest in NES and Game Boy era RPGs as someone who always likes to encourage people to explore beyond the small handful of RPG franchises people know about. There's a lot of interesting ideas and design buried in old RPGs that proves how diverse the genre can be and Little Master is a good example of that.
As a strategy game, Little Master is, perhaps literally, as simple as it gets. All you can do is move and attack; there aren't even items or spells or equipment to worry about! The story is also barely even present, offering nothing more than a basic "rescue the princess" motive. However, Little Master establishes an identity for itself precisely by omitting these things while focusing more on a revolving door of party members and a cute look that's atypical for the genre. Both its design and look encourage those who are normally intimidated by the genre to give it a shot, and the lack of mechanical depth made the designers compensate with a focus on objective variety, whether that's rushing to a target or working your way through a teleporter maze. I made the Majin Tensei comparison before, but this game actually predates that one, which is surprising when you notice how similar they can be!
It's a game that can easily grate on one's nerves with its overly large maps, entirely too small level cap, and luck-based occurrences like instant kill critical hits, but there's nothing else quite like it on the Game Boy that I can think of (Another Bible or Super Robot Taisen, maybe?), which is pretty dang impressive when you consider the size of its library.

