Retro Game Recommendations

[Jason Tandro]

As some of you all know, I run a retro game store with my friends. As such I have access to a sinful glut of video games from every genre. I'm talking we go as far back as the Atari 2600 and Fairchild Channel F. I even had a guy bring me a CIB Magnavox Odyssey (but he didn't want to sell it, alas).

But I am a rapidly approaching middle-aged man with a job, a side hustle, a girlfriend, a child and ADHD, so I can't possibly play the bulk of them.

So, a trade. I recommend some of the golden era games to you all, and you share with me your favorites. Assume I've played most of the essentials - the Zeldas, the Marios, the FFs and of course the Soul Blazer Trilogy.

When I say retro, I'm specifically thinking PS1 era and back, though I know... sadly... that people tend to consider anything from the PS3/XBOX360 era or back to now be "retro".

I'll frontload some recommendations of less appreciated retro titles, some of which I may have suggested before:

NES

Pirates! - I mean, it's the NES rendition of what would be Sid Meier's Pirates. It's got it all. Ship combat, sword fighting, treasure hunting, an alliance system and a surprisingly in-depth world especially for an NES title. Classic. You gotta try this if you haven't.

Air Fortress - If space shooters are more your thing, this one is a gem. Side-scrolling space shooter in the first phase, and jetpack dungeon-crawling shoot em up in phase 2. Repeat for 8 levels of pure sci fi goodness and with a really banger soundtrack.


SNES

Lawnmower Man - This one has a bit of a cult following now, but I don't care if you hated the movie, play this game. Yes it's a side-scrolling shooter but that's not what you're here for. You're here for the "VR segments" which were pretty freaking mind-blowing for the era. They are, essentially, first-person "dodge the shit" simulators, but the presentation alone is worth the price of admission. Also another game with a stellar soundtrack.

PS1

Threads of Fate - I've recommended this title more than I've sneezed. For any newcomers, it's a Squaresoft action RPG with two characters and thus two sides of the story and two wildly different combat systems. Throw in a cute and self-contained world, some vibrant graphics, wonderful characters and (shocking I know) some really good music and you have a percentage of my childhood condensed into a single disc.

[psychokind]

I don't have a game store, but I have an emulator that has all NES, SNES, N64, GameCube and PS1 games that were ever created on it so here are some of my recomendations:

SNES:

ShadowRun - A Action-RPG based on the rules of the same Pen'n'Paper-Game with it's fantastic and vast Cyberpunk lore. The controls are a bit awkward (in combat you have to aim via a curser while your character stands still), but the atmosphere and the soundtrack are great.

GameCube:

Skies of Arcadia - turn-based RPG with a colourful world in which you play a pirate on airships and all the land masses are in the sky instead of the sea. a bit cheesy, but a lovely story and quite a lot of content to explore.

PC:

Gothic 1 & 2 - maybe you already heard of these special german 3rd-Person Action RPGs. fantastic open world, although very dated graphics nowadays. there's a remake coming of the first one in Unreal 5 this year which looks promising.

[inferiare]

Well, technically ps2, but... Shadow Hearts. It has a ps1 prequel called Koudelka (that is ridiculously priced and I'm sadly missing it) and then the continuation is Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts: Covenant. There was a third game that wasn't really connected to the first two besides some NPCs and is uh, for better or worse, definitely a time capsule of a game lol. Shadow Hearts is horror-themed with some body horror and comedy. Def one of my fave series though.

[Jason Tandro]

psychokind wrote:

Skies of Arcadia

I've heard really good things about that one. It commands a pretty penny at the moment, but I'd love to give it a shot sometime. Maybe I'll rent it if it comes in anytime!

Quote:

Gothic 1 & 2

Actually yeah, I have heard of them. Strangely enough I watched a plot synopsis of 1 and 2 before starting Gothic 3 on Steam. I didn't play very long but I enjoyed it for what it was. I may have to revisit it now as a much more patient man, lol.

My friend Jacob told me to try it out, after I finished my first playthrough of Risen. I also started playing the sequel to that (Risen 2) but never got very far. I gotta dig up these old PC chestnuts.

inferiare wrote:

Koudelka

Okay no, funny story. I've had that in my shop and yes it's price is ludicrous, but I'm guessing that means it's got to have a bit of a cult following. I had no idea it was connected to Shadow Hearts, but I'll look into that one too!

[inferiare]

God I'm jealous you've seen it with your own eyes lol. Some day I'll have the funds for it, because god damn do I want that one. Only one I'm missing out of the games. D; Apparently there's voice acting in it (in a ps1 game!!) and they did the actual voices on a sound stage so the actors could actually... you know, act off of each other. Pretty neat stuff.

But do enjoy Shadow Hearts, the second game is honestly a masterpiece. If you play them, you'll want to actually get the bad ending to go into the second game with in the first.

[SoulBlazerFan]

I've got a few.

NES

The Guardian Legend

Zelda 3/4 view overworld with Shmup levels, and you play a lady robot who turns into the ship.

Hard game and it's one failure is it doesn't have a save feature but probably the worst password system next to Swords and Serpents.

Batman The Video Game

The best movie tie in game on the console, possibly the best one ever. To me anyway.

Ninja Gaiden style wall jumping, purple Batman, an amazing soundtrack, a tough son bitch of a game. Highly recommended.

That's all I got for now.

[psychokind]

SoulBlazerFan wrote:

Batman The Video Game The best movie tie in game on the console, possibly the best one ever. To me anyway. Ninja Gaiden style wall jumping, purple Batman, an amazing soundtrack, a tough son bitch of a game. Highly recommended. That's all I got for now.

fuck yeah, the OST is an absolute banger!! my friend had Return of the Joker, and that stage 1 drum intro I later played the other ones, and the soundtracks are all fantastic.

@jason: just emulate it, I can send you the .img from skies of arcadia if you need it.