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

You may well be right. I don't think we have much else on the subject, so I can understand the desperate fans (and me who's not that desperate) grabbing it as the only thing on the topic available. Another reason for you to keep learning Japanese!

Buskalilly wrote:

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
I had very fond memories of this and the sequel.
It ... hasn't aged well.

Yeah, it's a shame - I have fond memories of my LOTR-loving parents playing Return of the King in co-op (accusing each other of friendly fire even though it doesn't exist, and then that the other got them killed even though their character is still visible on screen... those were the days) but there are just some clunky bits that look awful by today. ROTK was in the most recent SGDQ, and even the world record speedrunners were like "look we might just die on this bit, no-one knows lol"

Jimbob wrote:

even the world record speedrunners were like "look we might just die on this bit, no-one knows lol"

I ran into that instantly lol; there's not really a proper block or dodge as far as I could tell, so you just have to time your sword with theirs and hope for a deflection.
If it has old beat-em-up style respawing, maybe it makes more sense in co-op?

I've been spending time revisiting Plants vs. Zombies, and it's as brilliantly addictive as I remember. Despite having zero intention of exploring the series further, this feels like one of those perfect videogames that will never age. It does reach an unnecessary difficulty spike when the giant fellas turn up, but this definitely goes high on my favourite games of all time.

One that I adored back in the day was Perfect Dark but it feels a bit off nowadays. It's very fast, pretty easy and without the multiplayer aspect really being a thing now (I'm no longer a teenager with mates willing to crowd around a 14" CRT for some split-screen) - this made me a little bit sad. It still holds up as a game, but I wonder whether the shift to two sticks removes some of its soul. The c-buttons on the N64 pad meant you strafed through levels, almost like you were power sliding around corners. It's what made Goldeneye so special when you mastered it - it felt like you glided through levels rather than plodded. It will be interesting to see if Goldeneye experiences something similar because that game was all about the art of strafing and timing headshots (for me, at least).

I’ve got to admit that I didn’t like Perfect Dark, either as a teenager crowding round a 14” CRT with mates or through trying to finish it when I battered through all those N64 games during lockdown. Replaying it three years ago I thought it was confusing, and another example of Rare being too ambitious for their own good. I’ve never finished it, I’ve always given up on it. It’s definitely the N64 game where my personal feeling is furthest away from the general impression and overall critical response.

I’m not sure how Goldeneye will fair when it re-releases on Xbox and Switch. It’s been ages since I’ve properly played it, I’ve been holding my breath for an authentic remake or remaster for years now. I liked Goldeneye much more than Perfect Dark, but again I didn’t love it as much as everyone else. It wasn’t in my collection when the N64 was my main console - it one of those games I was happy enough for my mates to have, and to play over at their houses.

gjones wrote:

I've been spending time revisiting Plants vs. Zombies, and it's as brilliantly addictive as I remember. Despite having zero intention of exploring the series further, this feels like one of those perfect videogames that will never age. It does reach an unnecessary difficulty spike when the giant fellas turn up, but this definitely goes high on my favourite games of all time.

I replayed this a couple of years ago on my iPad and it absolutely holds up. It doesn't have that issue of overwhelming the player that other tower defense games struggle with and it's very simple to pick up as a result, but not to a degree where it's painfully basic. It's a shame that the sequel really ramped up the microtransactions and lost a lot of the charm after EA got their claws into it.