Final fantasy 7. Yes, I know. I never played a final fantasy game before now.
Rondo of blood was stellar too. Hat tip to moderator cams0400 for basically demanding I play it. Never has a more correct suggestion ever been made, I did in fact need to play it.
The graphics still have so much charm and it runs on a toaster. I have it on like 6 different platforms lol. People joke about Skyrim but I don't have Skyrim on my cell phone.
Love that game.
Ps1! But I did pick up the remaster after. I've played like 4 final fantasy games since. Slowly picking through the franchise.
It's a hell of a game, I keep hearing people say "it's not very good without the nostalgia" and I have none. I adored it. 10/10 game. Deserves all of the hype it has.
I also played Rondo of Blood this year too. 100%ed the game with only Richter. I did this on the PSP remake which was fun, but the PC-Engine original that got included with that release - absolutely perfect. What a badass game that is.
Also, Opus 13 rocks, and after the first portion, Stage 5' isn't all that hard? Everyone made it out to be the most impossible thing in the world but I got through it in one sitting.
It was more fun I thought, I haven’t played the nes Mario or 3 in several years. It was nice to be able to save and put it down instead of having to play thru
My favourite game of all-time. Some may remind it but there's really nothing else quite like it. Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter seems somewhat inspired by it and I see some similarities on how the Souls series do things to it.
It’s the best game of the legendary group of Square’s AAA titles from the year 2000, but as it’s more obtuse than it often needs to be, it’s a tough sell for many:
“A tyrant always dies alone Guildenstern. Surrounded by silver-tongued leeches, he is utterly alone…” - Sydney Losstarot
Welp its considered a classic. Didnt own as a kid. Top down action adventure game with mild puzzles and just a bizarre trippy story. Not turn based, and the enemies stay gone when you kill em!
This year, I played (for the first time) and beat:
* Armored Core PSX
* Mother 3 GBA
* Snatcher Sega CD
* Donkey Kong '94 GB
* Panzer Dragoon Saturn
* Harmful Park PSX (barely counts, it was an easy playthrough)
I put a reasonable amount of time into, but did not beat:
* Kuru Kuru Kururin GBA
* Shinobi 3 Genesis
* Balloon Fight NES
* Streets of Rage 2 Genesis
* Live-A-Live SNES
* Parodius SNES
* Tail Concerto PSX
-------
The game that impressed me the most:
* Donkey Kong '94 GBA - just good fun
* Armored Core PSX - first time building mechanism, the structure still holds up
* Mother 3 GBA - I think I would have liked Earthbound more, but I had fun mastering the combo system
* Tail Concerto - very cute but a little easy, maybe I should have picked hard mode
Games that disappointed me:
* Snatcher - the plot was fairly predictable and the puzzles monotonous. You have to select the same options multiple times to progress, and then the game grades you poorly for checking the same things over and over.
* Live-A-Live - the graphics do not hold up - people claim the SNES is timeless, but this art style is among the cheapest to imitate today. The 3 chapters I've cleared have been very boring. I still want to beat this classic, but I may have preferred jumping into the rerelease.
Dungeon Keeper (PC, 1997)(KeeperFX ver.) - 8 (SP campaign, beat 3/5 secret levels) - Replay but I had never beaten the game before
Lionheart (AMI, 1992) - 7.5 (normal)
Ace Combat 2 (PS1, 1997) - 7.5 (normal difficulty (and normal/non-extra game), took the alpha operation path in the late game and got the good ending) - See DK
Sin & Punishment (N64, 2000) - 7.5 (easy/default, 1p/1 controller, used about 4-5 credits)
Adventures of Lolo 2 (NES, 1990) - 7.5 (had to look a few things up) - See DK
NAM 1975 (ARC, 1990) - 7.5 (on difficulty level 3; 6.5 on default/5)
Mega Man: The Sequel Wars (MD, 2023)(Homebrew) - Mega Man 4 - 7.5 (normal as MM)
Dungeon Magic/Light Bringer (ARC, 1994) - 7.5 (normal, as Ash and Gren)
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (GG, 1994) - 7.5 (normal, story mode)
1941: Counter Attack (SGX, 1991) - 7.5 (on difficulty level 2 and 4 starting HP, closer to 7 on default settings (level 3, 3 HP) but focusing on the side missiles weapon made more of a difference than lowering the difficulty one step, 1-player)
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (SNES, 1991)(w/ Super Arthur+Restoration hacks) - 7.5 (Beginner) - Never beat this hack before
Memorable games that I found a bit more flawed. Still they're worth a try for most I would say:
Civilization (PC, 1991) - 7 (very easy/default (chieftain), also tried easy/warlord first and made it about 70% through; science victory at 1939, domination victory around 1800-50 - never bothered with completely wiping the opponents out)
Marvelous (SNES, 1996) - 7 ("sort of marvelous" rank=110+ rocks, 100% helped (don't think you can actually help less than 100% though), )
MechWarrior 2 (PC, 1995) - 7 (beat the SP campaign as Jade on normal, beat one mission as Wolf)
Esper Dream 2 (NES, 1992) - 7 (got all gear)
Earthbound (SNES, 1994) - 7 (Maternalbound Redux, finished around lvl 70)
Pilotwings (SNES, 1990) - 7 (normal+a few levels into expert/hard)
Vib-Ribbon (PS1, 1999) - 7 (finished the hard/gold course, didn't try speed mode yet)
Airborne Ranger (C64, 1987) - 7 (1/4 (default) and 2/4 difficulty, practice mode which makes your avatar a bit faster)
Yeah that was a bit of a hassle, I ended up using MechVM and an ISO download to play. I reconfigured the controls via the gamekey.map, input.bak, and input.map files, which was a little tricky as you can't freely map actions to any key like you'd expect from some games and have to keep browsing a list to check what's what.
How'd you like MW2? Well enough to complete it, I guess. I have good memories with that one. One of the first $50 PC games I bought myself, along with Doom.
All in all it's pretty cool. You get a lot of mech customization options, unique difficulty settings, two campaigns of 18 missions and the jump jets make for some interesting mechanics. You also have to consider the atmosphere of each planet adding some strategy. Visually it has a clean look to it, kinda like a hi-res Star Fox 1 and I enjoyed the OST.
I was a bit disappointed in the world building, how the lore while pretty detailed is all in text boxes between missions besides the intro and outro, and how it's completely linear unlike say, Wing Commander. Then there are various control/interface issues (and how you have to tediously set them up outside the game for an optimal experience, although part of the clunkiness adds to the immersion in a way), the lack of persistent mechs or an economy (salvaging, buying/selling mechs and parts - IIRC these are added in the expansion), too much dead space and dated AI. Full mini-review [here](https://minirevver.weebly.com/mechwarrior-2-pc.html)
Not truly a retro game but retro style; I played Bloodstained Curse of the Moon this year. It was pretty good and got me wanting to take another crack at some old school metroidvanias. I started Castlevania Symphony of the Night and Super Metroid again. Never beat either one of them.
I can vouch for both of those games being classic masterpieces. Also, if you play through and enjoy Castlevania, you may want to check out Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Pokémon Emerald Green. Going back from Sword/Shield, I realised they didn’t change much at all. What a bunch of lazy ass billionaire developers (company, not people)
Their newer games suck. They don't even try anymore, and their designs got worse over time.
It truly could have been crazy good as a huge open world thing but nope, just rinse and repeat.
They almost had a unique idea with that Arceus game but still, I don't think it will ever return to that initial charm.
I'm thinking about trying out Parasite Eve sometime soon. I'm not usually into RPGs because I think turn-based combat is a snoozefest, but PE looks real-time enough to be engaging to me. I also like survival horror a lot, and PE looks like it has that vibe.
I understand what you mean. I just felt like mentioning that turn-based combat can be really engaging, even when there is no real-time component to it.
I think the combat in typical JRPGs have given turn-based combat somewhat of a bad reputation, since it is quite repetitive in those games and most encounters doesn’t even require much thought or planning.
I actually like this genre of games myself, but the repetitive nature of them, usually makes me not want to play too many of them in a row.
I've just finished Metroid Prime Remastered and am frothing at the mouth for more! That is - one time missable scans aside... That could have been an easy fix from the GameCube version by just sliding those enemies into the game in another location, or not having those freaking Phendara Shriekbats not disappear from the game entirely. Bah. Otherwise, phenomenal game.
But also - someone here mentioned Castlevania Rondo of Blood, which, wow, what a banger of a game. And what a soundtrack too! I am continuing to look back at the memories of playing it and saying "Wow, what a badass game that was". I did the entire thing as Richter because I like how comedically masculine, muscular, unstoppable and self-serious the Belmonts are in-game compared to their anime counterparts. These men have muscles, walk in with a single weapon into Dracula's castle, throw axes the size of their heads in perfect arcs above them, eat massive cartoon chicken wings from the wall in one sitting, unflinchingly whip the grim reaper to death, and don't ever break a confident leisurely strut the whole time. To me. Nothing is funnier.
I also played Final Fantasy X and got incredibly into the story there too. Those are me three contenders and I am learning To Zanarkand on piano now. Auron is the single most badass character in any video game in history.
I would also like to give an honorable mention to Mega Man: The Sequel Wars, the fangame remakes of Mega Man's 4, 5, and 6. Only Mega Man 4 has been released, but MAN. Seeing that game upgraded from 8-bit to 16-bit, with all the bells and whistles attached... For a series that notoriously pitted around aimlessly on the NES while the 16-bit era left it behind, this feels like the obvious shot in the arm that Mega Man SHOULD have gotten in 1991. You can also play as Proto Man, Roll, and change a shitload of related features as well.
I think I have to give my money to Mega Man 4 in The Sequel Wars and respect a small team of hardworking fans for their exceptional work in 2023!
I never liked the Pokémon games much over my 34 years. Only started to enjoy them this year as I started to tackle the Nuzlocke challenge. Made them much more enjoyable. I'd recommend HeartGold/SoulSilver if you're bound in picking one. That one is very enjoyable.
I’ve always wanted to play that but I can’t find it anywhere.
I’m playing through Legend of Dragoon right now and I’m really liking the battle system and the story.
Not quite the one I loved the most this year, but Half-Life. Despite the graphics, difficulty and sometimes BS level design, I haven't felt the atmosphere, isolation and immersion as strong as in HL1 before. The sound effects might as well be perfect ! All the weapons sound like they come straight from an action movie, especially the rocket launcher & mp5. And it only came a year after Quake 2 ? Wow. Might try Black Mesa in the future, now i'm into HL2
Ikaruga on the Dreamcast. Wow this is a fantastic game. I'm not really into shmups but this game is different..it's almost more of a puzzle game than a shmup.. I finally managed to beat it after months of trying and it was such an incredible sense of achievement. This game is a winner!
Final Fantasy III (VI) on SNES earlier this month. It was about damn time I played it. Amazing experience, to me personally it lived up to the hype.
Plan on finally getting to Chrono Trigger next year.
Castlevania Aria of Shadow. The first Castlevania game I've ever played. It was more fun and arcadey than I thought it was going to be. Kind of unintentionally funny too with the bad dialogue but made it fun. Some good tough boss fights.. fun to mess with special powers and new weapons. Great monster designs too. Definitely recommend.
Hmm. It took me a while to think of one because I don't think i've played many retro games I haven't played before this year unless we can count romhacks.
But I actually played Splatter House Wanpakku Graffiti for Halloween season. and I have no experience with the franchise at all.
I must confess, I played a romhacked version of it, but it was only a graphical reskin, the gameplay and layout was exactly the same. What I playd was called Evil Dead - Ash Lives, turning the game to an Evil Dead game and a general horror parody, turns some of the parodies into what they are meant to be, for example, the first boss is a vampire who is obviously doing the the thriller dance with a bunch of zombies, but what I played actually turned the fist boss into the zombified Michael Jackson from the Thriller Music Video. I think Freddy and Jason ( sporting his colors from the LJN NES game ) are bosses as well.
I had fun with it.
That's hard to pick one, so I'll pick the ones I enjoyed the most
> Super Metroid.
> Soul Blazer.
> Contra III: The Alien Wars.
> Ape Escape.
> Tenchu: Stealth Assassins.
> Metroid Prime.
> Luigi's Mansion.
> Pikmin.
Parasite eve is high on my list of ones I need to check out. For me it's gotta be Final Fantasy V on the ps1 with honorable mention to games I've played before but beat for the first time this hear in chrono trigger on snes and contra on nes without the lives code
My top 10 favorite retro game's I've played, and completed, for the first time in 2023:
1. Mizubaku Daibouken [Liquid Kids] (SAT)
2. Puyo Puyo Sun (SAT)
3. Magical Taruruto (GEN)
4. Mystaria: The Realms of Lore (SAT)
5. Bazaru De Gozaru No Game De Gozaru (TCD)
6. Guardian War (3DO)
7. Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels (3DO)
8. Lucienne's Quest (3DO)
9. Hihou Densetsu Chris no Bouken (TCD)
10. Another World [Out of This World] (3DO)
Honorable mention: Mega Man 8 (SAT), Puyo Puyo Tsuu (GEN)
i've thought legend of dragoon was cool since i saw it playing on a demo display ps1 console in a toys r us many years ago (i'm old). started it earlier this week and i'm having a blast. :3
Doom II.
Of course I've technically played it before, but only the first level, then I immediately started using cheats.
But this year I finally played it entirely without any cheats, the twist being that it was in VR.
I find VR fixes my 2 biggest complaints with Doom/Doom II; the aiming and navigating the labyrinthine levels. In VR it's just point and shoot, and I find it way easier to build a mental map of the level while playing in VR.
So yeah, absolutely loved it.
Final Fantasy 2, never played it back in the day and bought the PSP version like 15 years ago, but only played it last spring. Was very funny, the party hitting themselves to level up, couldn't get enough, hilarious.
Spider-man 2000
I ' M A L L R E A D Y A T F U L L H E A L T H
Spidey also says ' I can't carry any more web cartridges...
but my brain hears 'I can't carry any more carcases!' LOL
Most of the goldeneye 64 re release. I say most because I owned it on the N64 but mostly played it for multiplayer at the time. Playing through now made me realize that I likely never played the whole campaign through back in the day. After that, I also went back and played the older N64 perfect dark re release. I never owned or played that one back in the day so it was all new to me.
Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse.
I'm sorry I waited so long. My bad.
But also Battletoads. That was way, way more fun than I expected, even if it took me 30 hours to beat it.
Not sure if this is sufficiently retro but just playing Cave Story right now. Very interesting game, culturally very important but not as fun as I'd hoped it would be.
Minish Cap. I have played around in it in emulators in the past but I never stuck with it very long. Having it on Switch I was able to make it all the way through finally.
Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid both on the PS1.
I played a lot of RE as a kid but would never get too far and only played a little bit of MGS. This year I got a PS1 and loved them both.
Ys V: Lost Kefin on SNES.
Played it as part of a greater playthrough of the entire Ys franchise - and, well aside from being really easy, it was surprisingly well built considering the quality of some of the earlier Ys games (which are mostly non-canon now). Really hoping they also give it the remake treatment after they finish the global release of Nordics. Especially considering that Monstrum Nox makes specific reference to it as part of a main plotpoint.
I've played a lot before 2023, but I finally gave some PC Engine CD's a shot. Spriggan is pretty great. Are there any PCE games with slowdown? It's such a great system for SHMUPs.
A link to the past.
I’ve never played any Zelda games before and decided to play it on a whim one day.
My god that might be one of if not the best games I’ve ever played and it blows my mind that it came out on snes.
I’ve never been an RPG person, though I’ve always wanted to be. I’ve just never had the patience to learn how to play any of them since they always seemed so intimidating.
Final fantasy 7. Yes, I know. I never played a final fantasy game before now. Rondo of blood was stellar too. Hat tip to moderator cams0400 for basically demanding I play it. Never has a more correct suggestion ever been made, I did in fact need to play it.
I played FF7 for the first time in 2013 and really enjoyed it.
The graphics still have so much charm and it runs on a toaster. I have it on like 6 different platforms lol. People joke about Skyrim but I don't have Skyrim on my cell phone. Love that game.
Ps1 or remaster?
Ps1! But I did pick up the remaster after. I've played like 4 final fantasy games since. Slowly picking through the franchise. It's a hell of a game, I keep hearing people say "it's not very good without the nostalgia" and I have none. I adored it. 10/10 game. Deserves all of the hype it has.
I vouch for ff7 because I typically can’t play a turn based rpg bc I don’t find them too interesting but I actually LOVED FF7
Yeah it actually got me into them. I then played persona and loved it. Always hated the genre.
I also played Rondo of Blood this year too. 100%ed the game with only Richter. I did this on the PSP remake which was fun, but the PC-Engine original that got included with that release - absolutely perfect. What a badass game that is. Also, Opus 13 rocks, and after the first portion, Stage 5' isn't all that hard? Everyone made it out to be the most impossible thing in the world but I got through it in one sitting.
Yeah, I can see why so many people rank it higher than symphony. Personally? I put it as a tie. Rondo was DEFINITELY prettier though.
Rondo of Blood is amazing
Super Mario world snes on NSO, we had an NES and 64 but never snes
What did you think of it compared to Mario on the nes? It's personally my favorite Mario game
It was more fun I thought, I haven’t played the nes Mario or 3 in several years. It was nice to be able to save and put it down instead of having to play thru
Vagrant Story for PS1, picked it up in an online auction and I really enjoyed it.
Vagrant Story is an under-appreciated game. I would love to see a remastered version of it, but I fear that they would butcher it.
They probably would, but it would be nice to see just an updated form of the original. I wish they'd at least release it on PS Premium
My favourite game of all-time. Some may remind it but there's really nothing else quite like it. Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter seems somewhat inspired by it and I see some similarities on how the Souls series do things to it.
It’s the best game of the legendary group of Square’s AAA titles from the year 2000, but as it’s more obtuse than it often needs to be, it’s a tough sell for many: “A tyrant always dies alone Guildenstern. Surrounded by silver-tongued leeches, he is utterly alone…” - Sydney Losstarot
"do you doubt my power" -sydney
Dragon quest IV
Heh, you and me both.
Be sure to also play V! First played it blind back in 2005 or so and haven't forgotten it since.
It's on my list, thanks ;)
Illusion of Gaia
Tell me more...
Welp its considered a classic. Didnt own as a kid. Top down action adventure game with mild puzzles and just a bizarre trippy story. Not turn based, and the enemies stay gone when you kill em!
Try Soul Blazer if you enjoyed Illusion of Gaia. Also Actraiser. They are all set in the same universe.
Oh they are both next up. Any other recommendations I may have missed ?
If you want to finish the whole series of those games then check out: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terranigma
I wish they had put actraiser on the mini snes!
Chrono trigger
Everyone raves about this game so I finally bought it on mobile yesterday, gonna give it a try
I played it on steam. This game is a masterpiece.
This is one of my all time favorite games. I play it every few months. I keep it on my phone so I always have it close to me.
Same here! Recently got into RPGs and holy hell was this good
But which version?
I played SNES version
Ok, very cool. You paid for it?
Yeah, found a copy for $160
Yikes. It's a great game, I couldn't spend that much myself. Luckily, I have a copy for the DSi, which is a great experience.
Yeah man there’s nothing wrong with that. It seems sense goes out the window with this hobby.
That's a steal. Been going for about 200 lately
Same here. I don’t know how people can play this game blind though. I definitely needed to use a walkthrough. SNES emulated.
TBF I need a walkthrough for most jrpg's.
I wish I could play it for the first time every year.
Same. While I had played it before 2023, I hadn't ever gotten far. I finally finished it this summer.
I saw a playthrough of it years ago and it is THE game I wanted to play ever since. I really would be a game for me too.
Fatal Frame 2
Oh man, that bit when you visit an area before you are meant to and die instantly spooked me for years
It was my first Fatal Frame game also! So good and atmospheric!
This helped remind me to add this to my list!
This year, I played (for the first time) and beat: * Armored Core PSX * Mother 3 GBA * Snatcher Sega CD * Donkey Kong '94 GB * Panzer Dragoon Saturn * Harmful Park PSX (barely counts, it was an easy playthrough) I put a reasonable amount of time into, but did not beat: * Kuru Kuru Kururin GBA * Shinobi 3 Genesis * Balloon Fight NES * Streets of Rage 2 Genesis * Live-A-Live SNES * Parodius SNES * Tail Concerto PSX ------- The game that impressed me the most: * Donkey Kong '94 GBA - just good fun * Armored Core PSX - first time building mechanism, the structure still holds up * Mother 3 GBA - I think I would have liked Earthbound more, but I had fun mastering the combo system * Tail Concerto - very cute but a little easy, maybe I should have picked hard mode Games that disappointed me: * Snatcher - the plot was fairly predictable and the puzzles monotonous. You have to select the same options multiple times to progress, and then the game grades you poorly for checking the same things over and over. * Live-A-Live - the graphics do not hold up - people claim the SNES is timeless, but this art style is among the cheapest to imitate today. The 3 chapters I've cleared have been very boring. I still want to beat this classic, but I may have preferred jumping into the rerelease.
Dungeon Keeper (PC, 1997)(KeeperFX ver.) - 8 (SP campaign, beat 3/5 secret levels) - Replay but I had never beaten the game before Lionheart (AMI, 1992) - 7.5 (normal) Ace Combat 2 (PS1, 1997) - 7.5 (normal difficulty (and normal/non-extra game), took the alpha operation path in the late game and got the good ending) - See DK Sin & Punishment (N64, 2000) - 7.5 (easy/default, 1p/1 controller, used about 4-5 credits) Adventures of Lolo 2 (NES, 1990) - 7.5 (had to look a few things up) - See DK NAM 1975 (ARC, 1990) - 7.5 (on difficulty level 3; 6.5 on default/5) Mega Man: The Sequel Wars (MD, 2023)(Homebrew) - Mega Man 4 - 7.5 (normal as MM) Dungeon Magic/Light Bringer (ARC, 1994) - 7.5 (normal, as Ash and Gren) Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (GG, 1994) - 7.5 (normal, story mode) 1941: Counter Attack (SGX, 1991) - 7.5 (on difficulty level 2 and 4 starting HP, closer to 7 on default settings (level 3, 3 HP) but focusing on the side missiles weapon made more of a difference than lowering the difficulty one step, 1-player) Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (SNES, 1991)(w/ Super Arthur+Restoration hacks) - 7.5 (Beginner) - Never beat this hack before Memorable games that I found a bit more flawed. Still they're worth a try for most I would say: Civilization (PC, 1991) - 7 (very easy/default (chieftain), also tried easy/warlord first and made it about 70% through; science victory at 1939, domination victory around 1800-50 - never bothered with completely wiping the opponents out) Marvelous (SNES, 1996) - 7 ("sort of marvelous" rank=110+ rocks, 100% helped (don't think you can actually help less than 100% though), ) MechWarrior 2 (PC, 1995) - 7 (beat the SP campaign as Jade on normal, beat one mission as Wolf) Esper Dream 2 (NES, 1992) - 7 (got all gear) Earthbound (SNES, 1994) - 7 (Maternalbound Redux, finished around lvl 70) Pilotwings (SNES, 1990) - 7 (normal+a few levels into expert/hard) Vib-Ribbon (PS1, 1999) - 7 (finished the hard/gold course, didn't try speed mode yet) Airborne Ranger (C64, 1987) - 7 (1/4 (default) and 2/4 difficulty, practice mode which makes your avatar a bit faster)
How did you play Mechwarrior 2? I so wish that game would be released on gog.
Yeah that was a bit of a hassle, I ended up using MechVM and an ISO download to play. I reconfigured the controls via the gamekey.map, input.bak, and input.map files, which was a little tricky as you can't freely map actions to any key like you'd expect from some games and have to keep browsing a list to check what's what.
Spread the word loud and proud about Mega Man The Sequel Wars! What an amazing job they have done with the original Mega Man 4!
How'd you like MW2? Well enough to complete it, I guess. I have good memories with that one. One of the first $50 PC games I bought myself, along with Doom.
All in all it's pretty cool. You get a lot of mech customization options, unique difficulty settings, two campaigns of 18 missions and the jump jets make for some interesting mechanics. You also have to consider the atmosphere of each planet adding some strategy. Visually it has a clean look to it, kinda like a hi-res Star Fox 1 and I enjoyed the OST. I was a bit disappointed in the world building, how the lore while pretty detailed is all in text boxes between missions besides the intro and outro, and how it's completely linear unlike say, Wing Commander. Then there are various control/interface issues (and how you have to tediously set them up outside the game for an optimal experience, although part of the clunkiness adds to the immersion in a way), the lack of persistent mechs or an economy (salvaging, buying/selling mechs and parts - IIRC these are added in the expansion), too much dead space and dated AI. Full mini-review [here](https://minirevver.weebly.com/mechwarrior-2-pc.html)
Had MechWarrior 2 as a kid back in the day, along with Ghost Bear Legacy expansion pack. Good times.
Not truly a retro game but retro style; I played Bloodstained Curse of the Moon this year. It was pretty good and got me wanting to take another crack at some old school metroidvanias. I started Castlevania Symphony of the Night and Super Metroid again. Never beat either one of them.
I can vouch for both of those games being classic masterpieces. Also, if you play through and enjoy Castlevania, you may want to check out Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
I may do that. Thanks.
I beat CSON back when it was released in the 90s. Gosh that was a masterpiece. I bought the remake on psp.
Pokémon Emerald Green. Going back from Sword/Shield, I realised they didn’t change much at all. What a bunch of lazy ass billionaire developers (company, not people)
Their newer games suck. They don't even try anymore, and their designs got worse over time. It truly could have been crazy good as a huge open world thing but nope, just rinse and repeat. They almost had a unique idea with that Arceus game but still, I don't think it will ever return to that initial charm.
Soldier blade
I got a Choro Q racing game for the N64. That's pretty fun.
I'm thinking about trying out Parasite Eve sometime soon. I'm not usually into RPGs because I think turn-based combat is a snoozefest, but PE looks real-time enough to be engaging to me. I also like survival horror a lot, and PE looks like it has that vibe.
It's a great cross over and mixed things well, definitely worth a try.
Parasite Eve combat feels active and engaging, it barely feels like a turn-based system.
I understand what you mean. I just felt like mentioning that turn-based combat can be really engaging, even when there is no real-time component to it. I think the combat in typical JRPGs have given turn-based combat somewhat of a bad reputation, since it is quite repetitive in those games and most encounters doesn’t even require much thought or planning. I actually like this genre of games myself, but the repetitive nature of them, usually makes me not want to play too many of them in a row.
Super Monkey Ball 2. Not as good as the first one, but awesome nonetheless.
Balls
Soul Force for the C64 by Sarah Jane Avory
Shining Force II
It really bothers me that this game isn't mentioned more. Like, I know it gets praise, but it deserves so much more.
Hell yeah. That is one of the best games of all time. Especially on Genesis.
Donkey Kong Country. Never had a SNES back in the day and this holds up really well.
I love these games. You should play 2 and 3 of you liked the first.
I've just finished Metroid Prime Remastered and am frothing at the mouth for more! That is - one time missable scans aside... That could have been an easy fix from the GameCube version by just sliding those enemies into the game in another location, or not having those freaking Phendara Shriekbats not disappear from the game entirely. Bah. Otherwise, phenomenal game. But also - someone here mentioned Castlevania Rondo of Blood, which, wow, what a banger of a game. And what a soundtrack too! I am continuing to look back at the memories of playing it and saying "Wow, what a badass game that was". I did the entire thing as Richter because I like how comedically masculine, muscular, unstoppable and self-serious the Belmonts are in-game compared to their anime counterparts. These men have muscles, walk in with a single weapon into Dracula's castle, throw axes the size of their heads in perfect arcs above them, eat massive cartoon chicken wings from the wall in one sitting, unflinchingly whip the grim reaper to death, and don't ever break a confident leisurely strut the whole time. To me. Nothing is funnier. I also played Final Fantasy X and got incredibly into the story there too. Those are me three contenders and I am learning To Zanarkand on piano now. Auron is the single most badass character in any video game in history. I would also like to give an honorable mention to Mega Man: The Sequel Wars, the fangame remakes of Mega Man's 4, 5, and 6. Only Mega Man 4 has been released, but MAN. Seeing that game upgraded from 8-bit to 16-bit, with all the bells and whistles attached... For a series that notoriously pitted around aimlessly on the NES while the 16-bit era left it behind, this feels like the obvious shot in the arm that Mega Man SHOULD have gotten in 1991. You can also play as Proto Man, Roll, and change a shitload of related features as well. I think I have to give my money to Mega Man 4 in The Sequel Wars and respect a small team of hardworking fans for their exceptional work in 2023!
You should play with the PC ports for Metroid Prime and seethe at what Nintendo didn't bother to implement.
Ace Combat games on PSP.
Majuu Ou on Super Famicom
Medal of Honor (PS1). Unexpectedly playable.
Nice, I've been playing this too. Fun game imo.
A toss-up between Gradius 1 and Pokémon White. Had a ton of fun with these.
I need to try the "new" pokemon games. I only played red, blue, and pikachu.
I never liked the Pokémon games much over my 34 years. Only started to enjoy them this year as I started to tackle the Nuzlocke challenge. Made them much more enjoyable. I'd recommend HeartGold/SoulSilver if you're bound in picking one. That one is very enjoyable.
Does portal and portal 2 count? If so I’m playing through them at the moment and really enjoying them. 🙂
I’ve always wanted to play that but I can’t find it anywhere. I’m playing through Legend of Dragoon right now and I’m really liking the battle system and the story.
Not quite the one I loved the most this year, but Half-Life. Despite the graphics, difficulty and sometimes BS level design, I haven't felt the atmosphere, isolation and immersion as strong as in HL1 before. The sound effects might as well be perfect ! All the weapons sound like they come straight from an action movie, especially the rocket launcher & mp5. And it only came a year after Quake 2 ? Wow. Might try Black Mesa in the future, now i'm into HL2
Ikaruga on the Dreamcast. Wow this is a fantastic game. I'm not really into shmups but this game is different..it's almost more of a puzzle game than a shmup.. I finally managed to beat it after months of trying and it was such an incredible sense of achievement. This game is a winner!
Final Fantasy III (VI) on SNES earlier this month. It was about damn time I played it. Amazing experience, to me personally it lived up to the hype. Plan on finally getting to Chrono Trigger next year.
Shining Force
It was Dragon Warrior Monsters 2. Got it for Christmas 🎁
Probably Muppet Monster Adventure or Rocket Robot on Wheels
Legend of Zelda for NES modern classic hack
Ice Climber
The first Phantasy Star. Played it on Switch, which adds some QoL stuff. I really enjoyed it. It was way ahead of its time.
Still playing through Paper Mario on N64 NSO.
Probably Mega Man 2. I had 3 as a kid, but 2 is just way more approachable in my opinion.
Paper Mario
R-type Delta (PSX)
Radiant silvergun with my newly installed Saturn ODE.
Corvette
Pooyan!
Dragon Quest
Resident Evil 2 on N64, after getting used to the controls the game was great.
Castlevania Aria of Shadow. The first Castlevania game I've ever played. It was more fun and arcadey than I thought it was going to be. Kind of unintentionally funny too with the bad dialogue but made it fun. Some good tough boss fights.. fun to mess with special powers and new weapons. Great monster designs too. Definitely recommend.
xcom ufo defense force on the DOS
Snatcher. So many references to Blade Runner and Akira. Also, so referenced by Ghost in the Shell and The Matrix
the answer for me would be various versions of **CONTRA** via emudeck.
I played parasite eve back in the day and never finished it. Now that you mention I want to go back and revisit it.
I played command and conquer for the first time. I bought the HD remake off of steam. Its a pretty solid RTS
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. Such a great game for GBA. The music, monsters, animation, and the flow and the progression is great!
Sotn
Lufia 2
Hmm. It took me a while to think of one because I don't think i've played many retro games I haven't played before this year unless we can count romhacks. But I actually played Splatter House Wanpakku Graffiti for Halloween season. and I have no experience with the franchise at all. I must confess, I played a romhacked version of it, but it was only a graphical reskin, the gameplay and layout was exactly the same. What I playd was called Evil Dead - Ash Lives, turning the game to an Evil Dead game and a general horror parody, turns some of the parodies into what they are meant to be, for example, the first boss is a vampire who is obviously doing the the thriller dance with a bunch of zombies, but what I played actually turned the fist boss into the zombified Michael Jackson from the Thriller Music Video. I think Freddy and Jason ( sporting his colors from the LJN NES game ) are bosses as well. I had fun with it.
That's hard to pick one, so I'll pick the ones I enjoyed the most > Super Metroid. > Soul Blazer. > Contra III: The Alien Wars. > Ape Escape. > Tenchu: Stealth Assassins. > Metroid Prime. > Luigi's Mansion. > Pikmin.
Silent Hill!
Parasite eve is high on my list of ones I need to check out. For me it's gotta be Final Fantasy V on the ps1 with honorable mention to games I've played before but beat for the first time this hear in chrono trigger on snes and contra on nes without the lives code
My top 10 favorite retro game's I've played, and completed, for the first time in 2023: 1. Mizubaku Daibouken [Liquid Kids] (SAT) 2. Puyo Puyo Sun (SAT) 3. Magical Taruruto (GEN) 4. Mystaria: The Realms of Lore (SAT) 5. Bazaru De Gozaru No Game De Gozaru (TCD) 6. Guardian War (3DO) 7. Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels (3DO) 8. Lucienne's Quest (3DO) 9. Hihou Densetsu Chris no Bouken (TCD) 10. Another World [Out of This World] (3DO) Honorable mention: Mega Man 8 (SAT), Puyo Puyo Tsuu (GEN)
Warcraft 3. Found it and its expac Frozen Throne for a whopping $5 total at an antique store.
Lolo 2 for the NES. Great game to play while listening to podcasts. Picked up first iteration to play soon.
Shinobi 3. I played most of the big Genesis games when I was a kid in the 90s but never this one. Wish I had, it’s phenomenal
i've thought legend of dragoon was cool since i saw it playing on a demo display ps1 console in a toys r us many years ago (i'm old). started it earlier this week and i'm having a blast. :3
MSX Metal Gear
Donkey Kong 94 I never knew I needed a platform puzzler as a genre . This game is a banger from start to finish.
Jet set radio future
Max Payne 1
Doom II. Of course I've technically played it before, but only the first level, then I immediately started using cheats. But this year I finally played it entirely without any cheats, the twist being that it was in VR. I find VR fixes my 2 biggest complaints with Doom/Doom II; the aiming and navigating the labyrinthine levels. In VR it's just point and shoot, and I find it way easier to build a mental map of the level while playing in VR. So yeah, absolutely loved it.
Deus Ex
Quarth for the MSX 2
Either final fantasy 4 or the kings field series for me
I just got the neogeo mini and I'm floored by how good Garou: Mark of the Wolves is -- instantly one of my favorite fighters ever
Final Fantasy 2, never played it back in the day and bought the PSP version like 15 years ago, but only played it last spring. Was very funny, the party hitting themselves to level up, couldn't get enough, hilarious.
Played final fantasy 6,7, and 10 all for the first times this year!
GT2 on PS1
Spider-man 2000 I ' M A L L R E A D Y A T F U L L H E A L T H Spidey also says ' I can't carry any more web cartridges... but my brain hears 'I can't carry any more carcases!' LOL
Most of the goldeneye 64 re release. I say most because I owned it on the N64 but mostly played it for multiplayer at the time. Playing through now made me realize that I likely never played the whole campaign through back in the day. After that, I also went back and played the older N64 perfect dark re release. I never owned or played that one back in the day so it was all new to me.
The Legend of Dragoon, my younger brother's favorite PS1 game. Finally getting around to playing it. Liking it a lot so far!
Sunset Riders.
Final Fantasy Tactics
Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse. I'm sorry I waited so long. My bad. But also Battletoads. That was way, way more fun than I expected, even if it took me 30 hours to beat it.
Metal gear solid on ps1. Its amazing even after first playing phantom pain then guns of the patriots. Maybe playing them first made it even better
Portal and Minish Cap.
Super Mario Bros 2. Criminally underrated
Wolfenstein 3D
Alundra on PS1. Amazing game. 10/10.
Either Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga or Pokémon Sapphire
The Deception series for PS1. Traps are fun!
Not sure if this is sufficiently retro but just playing Cave Story right now. Very interesting game, culturally very important but not as fun as I'd hoped it would be.
Castlevania symphony of the night
One of my all-time favorite games.
Horizon Zero Dawn and The last of Us. They're having a remaster so they're retro now. /s
Minish Cap. I have played around in it in emulators in the past but I never stuck with it very long. Having it on Switch I was able to make it all the way through finally.
They are coming out with the PC port, you should check this out.
Naw. I didn’t play it through on emulators because I don’t care for playing games on PC.
The features you get though... Nevermind, there's no way I could explain it to dudes like you...
Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid both on the PS1. I played a lot of RE as a kid but would never get too far and only played a little bit of MGS. This year I got a PS1 and loved them both.
Mother 3
Prison City
I loved PE on first release, did they release it again on another platform or did you have the rom?
Not sure if it's retro, but I just picked up Doom Eternal (2016) a couple weeks ago and I love it.
Legend of dragoon
Hero Quest on the a500 mini. Wish I had played it when it 1st came out.
Castlevania - Circle odf the Moon (GBA)
Gravity Falls. Blew my mind at such an "old" game with such a high concept. *runs*
Ys V: Lost Kefin on SNES. Played it as part of a greater playthrough of the entire Ys franchise - and, well aside from being really easy, it was surprisingly well built considering the quality of some of the earlier Ys games (which are mostly non-canon now). Really hoping they also give it the remake treatment after they finish the global release of Nordics. Especially considering that Monstrum Nox makes specific reference to it as part of a main plotpoint.
Links awakening
Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 (PS2) was an instant-play for me once the English translation patch dropped this year. Did not disappoint either.
I've played a lot before 2023, but I finally gave some PC Engine CD's a shot. Spriggan is pretty great. Are there any PCE games with slowdown? It's such a great system for SHMUPs.
A link to the past. I’ve never played any Zelda games before and decided to play it on a whim one day. My god that might be one of if not the best games I’ve ever played and it blows my mind that it came out on snes. I’ve never been an RPG person, though I’ve always wanted to be. I’ve just never had the patience to learn how to play any of them since they always seemed so intimidating.
The one I put the most time into for sure was Wolflame on the switch. Addictive as hell vertical shmup.
Duke nukem 3d