Last Retro Game You Played? What Retro Game Are You Currently Playing?

A lot of Antstream's current games are really niche, and it's not hard to see why they're having to give subscriptions away for free. It's clearly not taken off, and there's lots of proof for this on it's online leaderboards. I played the first level of Bloody Wolf - a reasonably well-regarded arcade game from Data East that's been on the service for more than two years - and it placed me nineteenth in the world. 

Still, it's a work in progress, and the newest games that have been added (like Mortal Kombat, PacMania and Earthworm Jim) give me hope that it'll appeal to folk other than weirdos like me.

It's handy for preserving games as well, I was having a bit of debate yesterday and I can't get Resident Evil 2 Classic on anything really part from PS3/VITA officially but I can buy easily Metropolis a film from 1927 or The Odyssey from 1488 (English) or Sgt Pepper 1967.

Double Dragon Neon -

I picked this up last week on Switch since it was only 11 quid, I'm on mission 3 and its okay so far but no mid level or even a boss checkpoint (something you'd expect a 2012 game to have) makes it a wee bit frustrating to play for extended periods of time.

That's good to know. I added Double Dragon Neon to my eShop wishlist a week or two ago, but I'm holding on for a price drop. Between Streets of Rage 4, the Capcom Beat 'em Up Bundle and all the stuff on the NES and SNES Online apps, you're really spoiled for side-scrolling beat 'em ups on Switch.

I'm currently working my way through Joe and Mac 2 on the SNES, on the Switch. The good thing about 2D platformers is that a 6.5/10 game then is still a 6.5/10 game now. I don't hate it though. But it's one of those cases where the SNES' resolution hadn't caught up with everything else, so Joe and/or Mac takes up too much of the screen and you have to deal with leaps of faith. Strangely charming though; I'm going to persevere.

I'm currently having a genuine crack at A Link to the Past for the first time ever, I've previously played the first hour or so but I thought there's no better excuse than the series birthday to finally get on with it.

It's a belter isn't it? Naturally I'm sorta missing out as a lot of what I'm seeing I've already experienced in the likes A Link Between Worlds and to a lesser extent the 3D games but it's still a great game so I'll be glad to say I've played it once completed.

I won't be played the first two games though, I've gave them a try a few times (including the other week) and they really don't hold up for me, definitely a product of their time.

Good luck Mr. Smurf! Yeah. LttP is a universe away from the NES games in terms of its quality.

@Treesmurf wrote:

I'm currently having a genuine crack at A Link to the Past for the first time ever, I've previously played the first hour or so but I thought there's no better excuse than the series birthday to finally get on with it.

I'm really looking forward to giving LttP another go. I've started it a couple of times but never gotten very far. That said, I need to get through Zelda II first . . .

Quote :

I won't be played the first two games though, I've gave them a try a few times (including the other week) and they really don't hold up for me, definitely a product of their time.

I replayed the original on January 1st and I think it was actually still really good! On the other hand, Zelda II feels like "an NES game" in the way that most of the famoust 1st-party games manage not to. It's just punishingly hard and unfair in a very 80s way.

Maybe I'll have another go at LttP in the near future - sounds like Smurf and I have had the same approach to it up to this point.

I'm currently playing New Play Control! Pikmin 2. I've owned it for years but never started it - not sure why - and having recently beaten its sequel I thought now was a good time to go back to it. I like it, but I'm glad Pikmin 3 did away with the caves and just focused on more world-building and side missions in their place. It's still very playable though and the Wii remote works well for aiming your Pikmin - it's ultimately aged pretty well.

I've tried to get along with Link to the Past several times - I bought it on GBA, then again on Wii, and once again on Wii U. For me though, I think I just need to accept that 2D Zelda bores the arse off me...but not before I give it one last try on Switch Online someday.

Pikmin 2 is one of those games that's forever on my 'to replay' pile. That's fifteen years since I got it on GameCube, and as much as I loved finishing it over that spring/summer I just haven't mustered the enthusiasm to go back. I'll bear that in mind though - maybe I should just go straight ahead to replaying Pikmin 3.

I'm playing random shite on Antstream that no sane person would possibly be interested in. But I think I'm going to start one of the two Metroid GBA games soon. Any recommendations?

Both the GBA metroids are good. Fusion is a little more linear and talky, but it has a cool atmosphere and spooky enemy. Zero Mission has that pure exploration thing that people talk about with Metroids, so if that's your jam its a good'n.

The trouble I'm having with A Link to the Past as always with the older Zelda games is just not having a clue where to go next, I don't wanna be consulting a guide all the time but I feel like I need to with this if I wanna get much further. For updates sake I've gained access to the Dark World and done the first dungeon in that, I think it's gonna be a slow process.

I had the same issue with the first game when I was playing that recently but I really made no progress at all after several attempts. If you can get through that and Adventure of Link though Buska I reckon you'll breeze through ALTTP, that's so much kinder.

Yep, that's my enduring memory of LttP: going through it every step of the way with a walkthrough!

@The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I've tried to get along with Link to the Past several times - I bought it on GBA, then again on Wii, and once again on Wii U. For me though, I think I just need to accept that 2D Zelda bores the arse off me...but not before I give it one last try on Switch Online someday.

To be fair I have few fond memories of LttP, as a rock hard game with no direction and what I felt was very little character, and I didn't really love Link's Awakening either; but Minish Cap and ALBW are both in my Games Of All Time list. Maybe it's just certain 2D Zeldas that don't do it for you? (Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks both get /10 for me too.)

I'm not big on 2D Zelda but Minish Cap is one of my favourite Zelda games which you'd know from my Zelda ranking.

Here's the thing. I own every 'main' Zelda game apart from the GameCube's Four Swords Adventures and one of the two GBC Oracle games. But I've never played most of them. That's including The Minish Cap, A Link Between Worlds, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. I think that's owed fully to how bored I was with Link's Awakening and Link To The Past. 

3D Zelda is a different beast though, even if I've not stuck more than in hour combined into Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess. I'm looking forward to getting round to those someday. But the 2D ones are definitely 

I'm tempted to say you should at least play A Link Between Worlds if you don't play any others as I thought that was superb but then again I think I quite like 2D Zelda.

Ahh with all this Zelda chat this article that ZeroJones linked to me on twitter about an hour ago is well worth a read.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/03/feature_zelda_the_minish_cap_is_all_about_seeing_things_from_a_new_perspective

ALBW >>> ALTTP

It's like, what if we took the flaws of ALTTP's map and turned them into strengths

^ This.

@The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Here's the thing. I own every 'main' Zelda game apart from the GameCube's Four Swords Adventures and one of the two GBC Oracle games. But I've never played most of them. That's including The Minish Cap, A Link Between Worlds, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. I think that's owed fully to how bored I was with Link's Awakening and Link To The Past...

...But the 2D ones are definitely

Oh sure.  All I'm saying is, I felt broadly the same as you about LttP and LA (and the less said about the original game the better), but loved MC and ALBW, and there's a chance you might too.  Not all 2D Zeldas are equal.

@The_Jaster wrote:

Ahh with all this Zelda chat this article that ZeroJones linked to me on twitter about an hour ago is well worth a read.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/03/feature_zelda_the_minish_cap_is_all_about_seeing_things_from_a_new_perspective

...Jas, did you just link to that because of the Soulsborne emphasis?

No, but that's why our auld pal ZeroJones linked it to me.  I genuinely think it's well written piece & it reminded me of how Minish cap is not only one of the best 2D Zelda games (it's my favourite) but that Nintendo should let Capcom make another one sometime.

I'm fooling with you (partly ), Kate's a very good writer. And yes, they really should - or just give the Oracles the Link's Awakening treatment.

I have my Wii U set up in the spare room (hence why I was playing through Pikmin 2 recently) and have been poking around in some other old games from my backlog.

I played a bit of Little King's Story and thought "ooh, maybe I'll play through this and actually finish it this time" but it's a massive time commitment and I'm not sure if I'm ready to.

Then I played through a bunch of levels of Tomena Sanner and thought "this has Cappa written all over it", which is what I thought at the time as well although probably with his old username. I think we are two of the few people who bought and loved it.

Then I briefly had a go on MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade which made me think "remember when I got this when it first came out and NGamer loved it but I hated it and I just couldn't see why they loved it and how dare they". I still didn't love it, but if I had played it with two other people I could see how it could have been good fun.

Thinking about playing through a different WiiWare title that I never finished now that I have it set up. My options are Bonsai Barber, You Me and the Cubes, And Yet It Moves, LostWinds 2, and LIT. I also have Art Style Orbient/light trax and Bubble Bobble Plus, but I'm not sure those are "beatable" in quite the same way. Don't suppose anyone has any suggestions? (I'm looking mainly at Cappa.)

I also have a few Wii games I never finished that I'm wondering about but I'm not sure what to try and tackle. No More Heroes and Skyward Sword are two of them, and I don't know whether just to commit to playing them on Switch (though the latter may be too expensive for me to bother). There's also the Metroid Prime Trilogy, again a massive timesink and something I'm reasonably sure will come out on Switch too. Then there's Eledees, MadWorld, and Opoona.

God, talking about these is incredibly nostalgic and my memories of them all are inextricably linked with NGamer and the forums. I looked at some old magazines a couple of weeks ago from like, 2008, 2009, and it felt so wild to see names like Balladeer, JayMoyles and treesmurf in their forums/letters bit. Like a time capsule BUT YOU GUYS ARE STILL HERE.

Anyway. Retro wittering over bye x

@Rum wrote:

Then I played through a bunch of levels of Tomena Sanner and thought "this has Cappa written all over it", which is what I thought at the time as well although probably with his old username. I think we are two of the few people who bought and loved it.

...Don't suppose anyone has any suggestions? (I'm looking mainly at Cappa.)

Damn right Tomena Sanner had Cappa written all over it - I banged on about that for weeks on the old NGamer Forum, it was brilliant! 

As for WiiWare suggestions, Bonsai Barber cries out for a shot. It's (non-Brexitty) Britishness and sense of humour and style made it one of my favourite Wii games altogether. You, Me & The Cubes is another good one - as well as being a really original puzzler, it's got this weird and haunting atmosphere that you didn't really see much on Wii. It's a very memorable game for it. Art Style: light trax is worth a go too, I think Jimbob knows more about that one..

@Balladeer wrote:

and the less said about the original game the better

I had a really good time playing through the original this very year. No guides, either.

Rather you than me boss!

@Rum wrote:

God, talking about these is incredibly nostalgic and my memories of them all are inextricably linked with NGamer and the forums. I looked at some old magazines a couple of weeks ago from like, 2008, 2009, and it felt so wild to see names like Balladeer, JayMoyles and treesmurf in their forums/letters bit. Like a time capsule BUT YOU GUYS ARE STILL HERE.