Customer Reviews

Retro Game Challenge

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Retro Game Challenge is retro gaming bliss.

The best retro game collection released in decades is made up entirely of fake games, many outright clones of titles you may have grown up with. Scandal? Hardly. The brilliance, and at times abject parody, not to mention the quality of the designs, art, music, even the dialog (dialog in a retro collection? yes, and it's great!), add up to what would have been my game of 2008 had it released mere months ago.

I find it hard to imagine anyone spurning such a joyful bundle of gaming goodness. Even those with no memories of the NES era will find plenty to enjoy. Each of the games feels complete and fulfilling on its own, and the addition of a framework of challenges and unlockables functions as a carrot to draw the gamer deeper. Where I found myself, in other collections, hopping from game to game aimlessly, here, I'm gently prodded into learning the intricacies of each selection, and it's immensely satisfying. The freeplay mode, with its more subtle incentives, became a surprising favorite, but beyond that, the shell of sitting down, virtually, with a childhood pal, searching through fake game magazines (with great shout-outs to real life editors you might remember), even getting yacked at by your friend's mom ("Are you two still playing? Control yourselves!") adds up to one of the most charming experiences I've had in gaming.

As for the games themselves, they're the best Famicom titles that never existed. The crown of the collection, at least for me, is the epic (10-15 hour!) RPG, Guadia Quest, but there is more than something for everyone, the focus being on action. In truth, I've never had so much fun with shooters before; I actually like Cosmic Gate more than, say, Galaga. To paraphrase Bono, "Even better than the real thing." And that's truly just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

The designs borrow happily from the past (each game's influences can be dissected like the best of loving tributes) but never get bogged down in the tedium or problems of our actual retro libraries. In other words, they're coated with enough modern game philosophy (but not too much!) that they don't end up making you remember what you hated about the halcyon 8-bit days (hey, nostalgia covers over a multitude of sins).

I could write a lot more, but in the interests of aiming for less than 300 words (pff), I'll cut it off here. Please, I'm telling you, just buy it! I want the sequel!

The Nintendo DS is one of my favorite handhelds, but one thing that strikes me as sort of a disappointment is the sparse selection of retro ports and compilations. Sure, the DS has ports like Chrono Trigger, Kirby Superstar, and a couple compilations. Compared to the retro ports and collections on the GBA and PSP, however, the DS seems kinda lacking in fulfilling the retro gamer in me.

Alas comes Retro Game Challenge, a very unique pseudo-compilation that consists of eight homages to some of the most noteworty games of the NES era of gaming. It's far more than just a compilation as it's story-based; the gamers' have to play through four challenges for each game in order to be unlocked in Free Play. Even though it is story based, this game gives pretty informative manuals and magazines to not only keep with the pacing of the story, but it also greatly aids gamers' through those challenges. There is even a memo to write on with the touch screen.

Here's the breakdown of the eight games:

Cosmic Gate - An homage to Galaga.

Robot Ninja Haggleman - A combination of homages to games like Bubble Bobble, Super Mario Bros., and an obscure Japanese Nintendo game, Ninja JaJaMaru-kun.

Rally King - An homage to the early 80s top down racing games.

Star Prince - An homage to Star Soldier.

Rally King SP - A parody of those special edition games that were popular in Japan.

Robot Ninja Haggleman 2 - A sequel to Robot Ninja Haggleman that sport a much bigger playfield and tougher enemies.

Guardia Quest - An homage to Dragon Quest.

Robot Ninja Haggleman 3 - A sequel to the previous Haggleman games that has vastly changed in its appearance and gameplay. Now it's an homage to games like Ninja Gaiden, Metroid, and Castlevania.

All of the games here are quite fun, even the worst ones(the two Rally King games) are interesting.

This game might not be for everyone, but I would very easily recommend this game to anyone that has a DS and loves gameplay from the 1980s; it would also serve as a brilliant introduction to gamers who have never played 8-bit games before.

Retro Game Challenge is a title that can be enjoyed by all, but was made for one specific group of people.

Those people are the type to whom the woes of "sprite flicker" are instantly explainable, the type who remember the technique of blowing into a cartridge (or even understand what that means in the first place), and who fondly remember the days when dimensions, and buttons, came in twos.

Retro Game Challenge--a product originally produced as a companion title to the late-night Japanese gaming show GameCenter CX--is a collection of classic 8-bit games. Except, the catch is, these aren't actual games that were produced back in the era of the NES, but instead are brand new creations that look and feel like something we might have been playing 20+ years ago. Sent back in time by Game Master Arino (the digital version of GC CX's host, Japanese comedian Shinya Arino), your mission is to complete a set of challenges presented to you by the Game Master spread across a wide variety of games, all accomplished with the help of Arino's younger (and not quite as sinister) self.

Why Retro Game Challenge works is two main reasons. First, the games presented here do indeed resemble titles we've seen and played before, but they have been crafted in such a way as to feel fresh and new while also honoring gaming's past. Your first set of challenges will come via Cosmic Gate--a play on Namco's Galaga--and though in many ways it is a Galaga clone, it also contains within itself some interesting ideas that keep it from feeling like a retread. Completing the challenges for one game unlocks the next of Retro's eight "revivals", such as the DragonQuest homage Guadia Quest, or the absolutely fantastic shooter Star Price. While the games themselves are not always what one might consider "full length", these are in no way dumbed-down mini-games, and you'll find yourself playing them in Retro's freeplay mode long after you've finished their challenges through the storyline.

That storyline mode is the second element that makes Retro Game Challenge so great, as it is obvious that a lot of thought (not to mention a little love) went into its creation. Your life with young Arino provides the background for gameplay, and it is full of elements that play on the nostalgia many of us feel for the early days of gaming. Retro's included games don't just become unlocked; a new game is presented to you via young Arino coming home from the game store, new cartridge in hand. The games themselves all have visible Famicom-styled cartridges (with artwork), and digital instruction manuals can be viewed and read through at any time. Also available for perusing is GameFan, a "magazine" that Arino picks up from time to time that will give you tips and tricks for the games you're trying to beat, previews of the games you have yet to unlock, and a host of other amusing bits of information that give Retro even more personality. For those of us who remember the days, back before the internet, when one would crack open a new issue of the real-world GameFan or EGM, and read about all the amazing new games that would be coming our way in the future, this little element of the game really adds to the atmosphere.

Anybody who has an appreciation for the simpler days of gaming will love Retro Game Challenge, as it is a fabulous product with a whole lot of gaming goodness to offer. Those of you who think of the "classic days of gaming" as time spend with Cloud and Sephiroth, however, may not get as much out of what Retro has to give as those of us who became gamers with an Atari 2600 joystick or Master System controller in hand will. For us, much like your virtual in-game self, Retro Game Challenge will send you back in time and have you feeling like a kid again.

Nostalgia is tricky.

There's a perpetual sense of 'the grass is greener' when it comes to our childhoods, and rose colored glasses are the prescription most of us wear, like it or not. Going back to the cartoons, TV shows, and games we enjoyed as children is usually a dangerous proposition. It is for me, anyway. Things are never as wonderful or as exhilarating as I remember them being at ten years old on a Saturday morning, bowl of cereal in my hands, singing along to the theme songs of my favorite cartoons. Take those same cartoons as an example: watching them today, I recognize that those shows were cheaply produced and thinly disguised marketing ploys, designed to sell merchandise to the children who watched them. I cringe at how poorly written the dialog is, and shudder at how terribly they were animated. I don't try and watch those shows anymore, nostalgia or not: my memories of them are better.

'Remember when...?' is a dangerous question. It usually ends in disappointment. Especially when companies mine nostalgia to sell their products. Bell bottoms look as stupid as they did in the seventies, and no matter who is writing the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon revival, it's still a shallow attempt at cashing in on your childhood memories. It's cynical and coarse, and all too common.

Nostalgia. It's not only tricky, it's a double edged sword. And if you let it trick you, you'll often get cut, no matter what side of the hilt you're on.

Which is why Retro Game Challenge is such an incredible achievement.

The thing about nostalgia that the marketers and producers of the world don't understand is simple: it isn't the raw existence of a memory or a product that invokes such strong reactions: it's what you remember FEELING. It's not just the product, it's the experience. The makers of Retro Game Challenge understand that better than anyone else in the business, and have crafted a game that's guaranteed to put a smile on the face of anyone who grew up in the arcade or on the NES.

The concept of Retro Game Challenge is simple: You play a series of 'fake 8-bit retro' games to beat challenges, to unlock more 'fake 8-bit retro' games. The genius of the game and it's makers is in how original the presentation is. You don't simply pick a game to play off of a menu screen. You play as a boy (or girl) who is tesked by a digitized version of him or herself to complete a series of video game challenges, such as getting a certain number of points or getting to a certain level. The games you play begin as simple space shooter types, like the very early days of the NES(which is the system that most of the games included on Retro Game Challenge are based on), but games played near the end are perfect examples of gameplay produced at the end of the NES' lifespan. Along the way you'll unlock fake magazines that your character can read for hints, cheat codes to make the challenges presented to you easier, or previews of the games you'll be playing later. Even the magazines are complicit in the gleeful celebration of eighties and nineties gaming culture: they're presented much like the GameFan and EGM magazines of our youth.

What really pulls the whole weird and oddly meta concept together is how well designed and implemented the games you'll play are. Everything looks, sounds, and controls perfectly like you remember. Or rather, how you remember them looking, sounding, and controlling through those rose tinted glasses of yours. The different genres of games on offer is gloriously diverse, too: you'll play everything from platformers to Dragon Quest style RPGs. As you 'finish' these games, they become available to play on their own outside the main game. Believe it or not, most of them ARE good enough to play on their own.

Retro Game Challenge pulls on the heartstrings in a way that other companies looking to cash in on beloved childhood memories should pay careful attention to. This is a game obviously designed by people who love the era they so perfectly invoke just as much as their intended audience. If you love retro games, Retro Game Challenge is a must buy.

Ah, the good ol' days, when simple sprites and "bleep" and "bloop" sound effects were as good as it got, when nobody complained about spending top-dollar on a platforming game that could be beaten in 30-minutes, when adding new levels and an increased difficulty but recycling everything else was enough to call a game a full-blown sequel, when magazines were the best -- if not the only -- source of gaming news.

If the above paragraph made you all warm and fuzzy inside then you need to buy a copy of Retro Game Challenge. Now. The games in this collection are easily as good as anything released in the years they're paying tribute to and are so authentic that you'll swear you remember playing them as a kid. The visuals, sound effects, even the slowdown when there are dozens of sprites on the screen, are all recreated with pitch perfect accuracy.

But going beyond a mere game collection, Retro Game Challenge lets you relive the experience of gaming in the 80's. You start off with one game, the Galaxian/Galaga-inspired Cosmic Gate, and a set of 4 challenges to complete (beat stage 5, use a warp gate twice, destroy a giant asteroid, and earn 200,000 points). Once you've beaten all four challenges, a new game is "released" and you are tasked with completing four more challenges, and so on until all 8 games are unlocked. Once a game is unlocked it is available for play at any time in story mode or freeplay mode (and these are COMPLETE games, not mini-games!). Along the way, you get access to the fictional GameFan magazine filled with previews of upcoming games (basically the games that you'll be unlocking) and cheats and hints that will help you beat the current set of challenges. One nice touch: each game is given its own cartridge cover art and in-game manual.

This is a fun and novel approach because it helps build up anticipation for each new "release". One month, you'll see a rumor in GameFan magazine that Tomato is working on a follow-up to their arcade hit Cosmic Gate. In the next issue, there will be more information along with a small screenshot. Then they'll announce the release date, and finally the game is released for you to enjoy. When you finally get your hands on a new game, there's a familiar sense of satisfaction because, in way, you've been following it all along.

Even after beating story mode, you'll want to hang onto this one since each of the 8 games has all the same addictiveness and replayability of any 8-bit classic. For all intents and purposes, this is a collection of classic games from the 80s that you missed the first time around. The developers did more than just pay tribute to the classics; they created a classic themselves.

It's just a shame that this game hasn't sold better because it's now unlikely that its even more amazing sequel will ever see an English language translation.

I haven't played this game to completion, this post is to remark on how this game has already touched the heart of an 'older' gamer, and endeared itself to me.

As you may, or may not know, your adversary in the 'game world' sends you back in time to the 80s, to play game challenges in order to return to the present. You actually play alongside him, in his house, on his gaming system, but he's a child of course, and has no knowledge of his future self, until you show up. There's a lot of humor in the dialogue, but I won't spoil any of it here.

You recieve 'new' games, new gaming magazines, new challenges. If a game is giving you trouble, your character can scoot on over to the bookshelf, thumb through a recent gaming mag, and get a hint, or a cheat, or just enjoy the humourous writing in the magazine. There are some interesting nods to Die-Hard GameFan, and known gaming editor Dan 'Shoe'.

Your enemy-to-be sits beside you on the living room floor, makes comments on your playing, responds to his mother... Okay, they've taken a huge part of my youth, and stuck it in a video game. Now I'm hooked. The presentation is brilliant. Right down to your character walking on his knees to the bookshelf, or to the system to pop in a new game.

We ( me and my circle of friends ) did the exact same thing! We used to scan our favorite magazines for cheats, tips and tricks. We had no internet to help us out. We used to rally together when one of us picked up a new game. Make comments when it was the other guy's turn, etc. etc. Rejoice in gaming accomplishments. They've captured the atmosphere of gaming in the 80s perfectly.

The games themselves seem to all be knockoffs. Done well enough for you to instantly recognise the inspirations, you will feel as though you're actually playing classic gaming goodness. The story, and presentation is brilliant, and the humour is well thought out. On the whole, a very well-rounded, pleasant surprise. ...so far. I honestly can't imagine this title taking a nose-dive later in the game, though.

For anyone who enjoys a retro gaming experience, especially for anyone who was 'there', this is a must own.

This is one of those games that you've probably never heard of before, but its much better than you're expecting.

Its an excellent homage to classic games. The sub-games include the same look and feel as the their real-life counterparts. They have the same challenges, gameplay, and sometimes amusing spelling errors. There are also secrets and cheat codes if you get stuck (you can find these inside in-game magazines). You can tell a great deal of care was put into making these games feel very authentic.

Arino (the kid that watches you play) often makes comments about the gameplay such as "Dude!!" or "That was close" or "1-up, baby!" He expresses excitement, confusion, sadness, or realization which is surprisingly appropriate. He'll get really excited if you find a secret warp or if you do something amazing. He'll also get sad or frustrated if you do poorly. It adds a lot more to the game than I would have expected.

You should definitely try this game if
- You played video games in the 1980s
- You're a fan of classic or retro games
- You just like good, simple, fun, and somewhat challenging games

This is an excellent game, and I'm eagerly awaiting a sequel.

In Retro Game Challenge you have been sent back in time to the 80's by the evil Retro Game Master. You will need to complete several challenges in a collection of retro styled games in order to return back to the 21th century. All the retro games are really fun and if lived in the 80's you will love all the in jokes about gaming during that time. Retro Game Challenge is just a great game whether you lived in the 80's or not its good simple fun and anyone who loves games should give it a try.

This is the best DS game I've played in months. If you even vaguely remember playing the NES with your friends as a kid, this game recreates those memories beautifully. If you ever wondered what that era was like, this game is the perfect way to find out.

Retro Game Challenge includes eight games created in the old-school NES style, and they're all extremely fun. In each game, you're given a set of four challenges (get "X" points, beat "X" boss, use a certain technique, etc.) The best part is that they're full games, so the replay value is nearly infinite. Also included are virtual magazines that emulate the style of Electronic Gaming Monthly back in its early years. By reading through these magazines you'll find hits, tips, and codes for the games as well as reviews and news on upcoming games.

Overall, Retro Game Challenge is brilliantly executed and well worth your cash.

Retro Game Challenge is a wonderfully charming, if flawed game. All the games in the game are very easy to pick up and play, but everyone will find some vastly more fun that the others. It should also be noted that there are 4 challenges for each game that must be beaten before moving on to the next one. Essentially, if you don't like a game, you are forced to constantly replay it to unlock the next one. The commentary of the characters also gets a bit annoying. All in all, this is a great game, but there are some definite chinks in its armor.