I’ve been playing some retro games recently (PS1 and prior) and I’ve been discovering a lot of games that I never thought I would enjoy. Particularly 90s arcade shmups and arcade style sports games.
What are some of your favorite retro games that you always find yourself coming back to?
Gunstar Heroes
Super metroid
I don’t go back to it (Win 3.1 games are a PITA to get running), but I really wish someone would remake Millennium Auction. It was a very clever version of the old board game Masterpiece.
Super Contra for NES (sometimes just called Super C). Stupid shoot em up action done to perfection.
Metal Slug games are great in emulation; similar to above.
Metroid zero mission
Played it on my gameboy micro, what an experience
I don’t ever really go back to retro games much anymore, but I recently did come back to Devil Dice/XI (in Japan) and I just really like the arcade like mode where dice keep spawning until the board fills up and you lose. Pretty much the only mode I play since the AI cheat, I swear.
One retro game that I think hasn’t really been well-imitated since is called The Last Express. You’re on the last major express train through Europe before World War I.
What sets it apart is both a very vivid art style using rotoscoping of live actors, as well as a real-time gameplay system wherein the NPCs of the train can constantly move around, scoot past you in the car hallways, or even seek you out during certain key events.
Super Mario War and Pocket Tanks
In Iran we always pirate games (except PlayStation games) because US sanctions has banned trades with Iran. Back when I was a kid instead of buying CDs with one game I bought packages which had 100 smaller games and I didn’t buy often because I couldn’t buy games on my own. There are some famous ones among these 600 games (I bought 6 CDs over the years) like peggle, plants vs zombies, chicken invaders, and some others. Despite having fun with many more games, these are the ones I remember the most. Despite not getting a lot of chances to play computer games with others these games where the most fun to play with others
That’s an awesome story (not the trade ban part but that you made the most of the situation)! Those games are always the best, the memories always matter most.
Fallout 1, which I’ve probably replayed about ten times more than the second game. It’s concise, with this depressing and dark world that gives a feeling never fully replicated in sequels.
Lords Of The Realm 2, a great little strategy game with an effortlessly charming aesthetic.
Civil War Generals 2, when I feel like really grinding out a strategy game. It has the bright colors and charming graphics which create a clear and readable battlefield that can be brutally difficult as units get ground down into ragged bands.
Chrono Trigger (Probably the best JRPG ever made, or even the best game ever made)
Terranigma (Very philisophical action RPG that also happens to be a lot of fun)
Silent Hill (The vibes alone make this one, but it also has a great story)
DOOM (This one should be obvious)
Majora’s Mask (An emotional powerhouse of a game)
Tetris
Also pick any mainline console Mario game that came out between 1985 and 1996 (not including The Lost Levels, but including US SMB 2)
Super Mario Land 2
Pokemon 2nd gen
All GOAT, but all for different reasons.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It inspired and perfected a genre of games. It holds up incredibly well.
It’s hilarious and incredible how we still haven’t made a Metroidvania game that solidly and undeniably bests the game that added the -vania in the first place.
Earthbound, gotta play that at least once in your life.
Chrono trigger, still one of the greatest games of all time.
Final Fantasy 6(US 3) there is debate, but widely regarded as the best one overall still. 7 is the other strongest contender, but if you are gonna play that one, don’t play the retro one, as one of the very first polygonal games, it’s hard to look at now.
Zelda (3), a link to the past.
There are certainly more, but those’ll last you a few months.
Edit: Suppose I can’t really get by without saying Rock n’ Roll Racing.
genesis shadow run. used the shadowrun rules at the time and really alllowed amazing build options for something from so long ago. that and being able to hire runners for your team was really need. only limitation was you had to be human but some people made rom hacks that let you choose race and usually included some bug fixes to.
It’s not strictly a 90s schmup but I got the original XIII (2003) on sale on GOG last month and played through it. I never played it back then and always thought it looked cool. It’s a shame it wasn’t a big success, the art direction and concept of playing in the panels of a comic strip was really cool and still holds up. I love the typed out sound effects like TAP TAP TAP on footsteps and BOOOM on explosions. So I guess that’s my retro recommendation.
Next for me will be No One Lives Forever, which I also missed back in the day but heard was amazing. It’s been unavailable to purchase for decades but I just recently found out the game is made available to download for free by some fans.
I guess I’m on a bit of an old school spy game kick lately.
The split screen multiplayer in XIII on consoles was a lot of fun.
XIII was (and still is) a fucking awesome game. Such a breath of fresh air back then trying something entirely new in terms of art direction on an FPS and nailing it!
In no particular order:
Sonic Spinball
Micro Machines 2 Turbo Tournament
Toejam and Earl
General Chaos
Recently I have had an urge to play Hogs of War on PS1 too.
