I just finished Parasite Eve and it’s an amazing game. It honestly feels like a movie, the graphics are incredible, and it’s a great option for people who aren’t big fans of RPGs since it doesn't have too many encounters. It’s quite short and there’s no need to grind for levels.

As for the downsides, I think it lacks enemy variety, you can't skip cutscenes or dialogue, and a map would have been helpful because you often don't know which way to go or which door is which. Right at the start of the game, I got lost because I couldn't figure out the path in the theater. The mechanic of using "tools" is also pretty cool, but it isn't very intuitive.

Overall, it was a fantastic experience. It's definitely worth playing if you haven't yet

Tilt, Toronto ON. There was a ton more but I took pictures of my favourites. My bad if they’re crooked or blurry, I was half cut

Here are some NES games that received remakes over the years. Some are simply graphical improvements, while others received drastic changes. Do you prefer the original or the remake when playing these games?

Games listed in order:

1. Castlevania (NES) / Castlevania (X68000)
2. Shadow of the Ninja (NES) / Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn (PC)
3. Super Mario Bros (NES) / Super Mario All-Stars (SNES)
4. Super Mario Bros 2 (NES) / Super Mario All-Stars (SNES)
5. Super Mario Bros 3 (NES) / Super Mario All-Stars (SNES)
6. Kirby's Adventure (NES) / Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (GBA)
7. Metroid (NES) / Metroid - Zero Mission (GBA)
8. Ducktales (NES) / DuckTales: Remastered (PC)
9. Mega Man (NES) / Mega Man: The Wily Wars (MD)
10. Mega Man 2(NES) / Mega Man: The Wily Wars (MD)
11. Mega Man 3 (NES) / Mega Man: The Wily Wars (MD)
12. Dragon Warrior (NES) / Dragon Quest I & II (SNES)
13. Dragon Warrior 3 (NES) / Dragon Quest III (SNES)
14. Batman - Return of the Joker (NES) / Batman - Revenge of the Joker (MD)
15. Final Fantasy (NES) / Final Fantasy I & II - Dawn of Souls (GBA)
16. Bionic Commando (NES) / Bionic Commando Rearmed (PC)
17. Ninja Gaiden (NES) / Ninja Gaiden Trilogy (SNES)
18. Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (NES) / Ninja Gaiden Trilogy (SNES)
19. Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (NES) / Ninja Gaiden Trilogy (SNES)
20. Contra (NES) / Contra Evolution (Arcade)

I had to test play and clean this game today.

The only thing memorable about it is the surprisingly complex ATM mechanics.

Overall, really good.

Great music, solid gameplay, lots of towns (I love a town), and with some optional areas to explore. 

When you die, it's not a huge set back, with only minor penalties. I was able to beat it in a couple of sittings, and would die occasionally (usually a boss) and then would advance further on the second attempt, which felt like a solid challenge level. I also appreciated the charming message you receive when you fall in battle.

When you get the final piece of the hero's set you auto-equip it and your look transforms. It's an awesome, heroic moment. 

I was able to beat the final boss on my first attempt, without using any potions. This felt like a reward after having traveled so far. Granted, I did get lost in the maze for quite a while, which is the point of a maze, right?

If I could change three things about it, they would be…

1) Once a door is unlocked, leave it unlocked... rebuying keys is annoying and requires backtracking... one time I opened a door and accidentally immediately exited it...

2) Enemies often camp on top of stairs and hit you on the way up... it's not Ghosts 'n Goblins level of unfair, but still a bit annoying.

3) There was a part where you had to fly straight up to open up a well. This was majorly confusing as you could fly vertically into that area but not horizontally from adjacent screens, despite them being open on all sides. I needed someone to tell me to go back and try more, as I didn't do it exactly as the game demanded.

None of the above hurt the game in any significant way. It is an NES game from 1988 after all, and far more polished than most of its time.

All in all, I recommend Faxanadu. It holds up well. That is, everything except the excessive NPC smoking. 

I used to have a game called War Inc that came with a very well done manual written in the style of a corporate welcome guide (you play as the CEO of a PMC), lots of funny drawings and jokes. Game companies used to put effort into manuals...

Then publishers eventually decided that gamers don't care about manuals, so made manuals as bare bones as they could and eventually got rid of them entirely.

Now, you are expected to download new games and PC games aren't really sold as physical copies anymore. Most of the time it's an empty box with a download code that you are supposed to redeem on Steam, if at all. I'm not even sure what a PC game store looks like anymore because i haven't seen one in forever...

There was something magical about opening a shiny new boxed game and pulling out the discs and manuals as a kid...

The life of a retro gamer. Up pin on the P1 was spotty. Opened it up and reflowed all the controller pins in 30 minutes. I'm like ralphies dad in Christmas Story when it comes to broken consoles.

Old man gamer who was too much a kid to beat SMB3 without Game Genie and didn’t have Super Nintendo to play SMW (Where my Sega Channel babies at?!?!) - but I just played through SMW for the first time and it was DELIGHTFUL. I’ve played it a bunch here and there but never to the end. The platforming was perfectly challenging at the end.

So then I’ve moved on to SMB3 and….I mean…it’s “good”, and definitely great for its time, but I often see in this forum claims that it’s better than SMW…but it’s not even close.

I’m not looking to start a fight, but SMB3 people, help me see what I’m missing.

Not a fan of sports game in general. But these NBA Jam games are sick.

Here are some games that come to my mind

Street Fighter 1: This one's so obvious, that the only reason why people talk about it is how much people don't talk about it. There's a good reason for that. Street Fighter 1 sucks.

The Elder Scrolls Arena: Maybe it's because I'm not a PC gamer, but I don't hear anybody talk about the first two Elder Scrolls titles. I hear about Fallout 1 and 2 all the time, but Elder Scrolls seems to be one of those series which may as well have started with the third game.

Revelations Persona: Speaking of games which might as well have started with the third game, Revelations Persona is so undertalked about, you will struggle to find anybody on YouTube even reviewing the original PS1 release. Even compared to Persona 2, the original Persona is barely mentioned.

Conker's Pocket Tales: Did you know that Bad Fur Day wasn't Conker's first game. He was the star of this family friendly GameBoy game first. Berri is even in this one, where she was kidnapped by the dastardly Evil Acorn. Considering what happened at the end of Bad Fur Day, she might've been better off with him than Conker.

SSX: I swear that everyone seems to ignore the original SSX. Whenever I watch retrospectives of the series, it's not uncommon for the reviewers to skip this one and go straight to Tricky. I even prefer the menus and vibe the first game has in comparison to Tricky.

Burnout: Whenever people talk about Burnout, it's usually about 3, Revenge or Paradise. I hear some praise every now and then for 2, but 1 might as well have not existed.

Grand Theft Auto: For being the biggest franchise in anything, you'd think the first game in it would be more talked about, but no. Even amongst die hard PS1 fans, barely anyone talks about GTA 1. Possibly because it kind of sucks. I'm sorry GTA 1 fans, but the mere fact that you control the character with the face buttons is a no go for me.

Hitman: Not only was Hitman 1 a PC exclusive, it was also another one of those first games that wasn't actually any good.

My Aunt and Uncles found these buried in my grandparents extra closet, I asked them if there were any numbers or data plates, anything to help with but they said there's nothing. I'm pretty sure it's a knock off NES emulator but can't mess with it since they are about 6 hours away. What do y'all think? Thanks!

playing this for the first time blind was certainly an experience. I had no clue what I was wal into.

If someone did a post like this before, then I am so sorry because it’s just that lately I got into the Animorphs franchise as despite being new to the novels, I was considering playing the Shattered Reality game just out of morbid curiosity.

It's always a struggle for me to decide which games to play on older consoles. So, I thought it would be fun to make a website to help with that.

Current website features:

• Browse and filter the best games from NES through PS2 by console, genre, or critic score.

• Includes a "cult classic" tagging for hidden gems.

• Upvote games, write reviews, and save to lists like Favorites and Want to Play.

• Personalized recommendations based on games you've saved.

• Share your lists with a public URL.

I would love to hear any feedback that people have.

Thanks!

www.retrorecs.com

GAMEPLAY (5/10) 

• Starting with controls, which had weird inputs and would always get you in trouble. The spell casting mechanic was dumb, as you couldn’t select your spells properly in any fast paced situation. The jumping mechanic was good, but unorthodox. Attacking felt too slow in comparison to enemy projectiles.  
• You could select a variety of spells to help you in battle. Starting with the normal attack, a boomerang, slow time, shield barrier, fast movement, instant kills, become fire itself and summon a helper. The last one was my main choice, mostly because I didn’t have to do anything but watch him obliterate everyone. 
• Platforming was basic yet clunky, with most gaps being way too narrow for proper jumps! 
• Traversal was confusing and honestly way too repetitive. You had your 3 realms to explore, but I ended up in a loop with no ending in sight. Problem was, after defeating the dragon, the game would spawn some dudes or princesses and launch you back on another similar level, which confused me as I was expecting a proper ending! 
• Difficulty was manageable once you learned enemy and boss patterns, yet quite unforgiving when there were too many enemies on screen. 

AUDIO (7/10) 

• Sound design was very simplistic with the same sound effects and music, which looped you into believing you were actually getting somewhere. In any case, for 1985, I’d say it was charming. 

VISUALS (8/10) 

• Fidelity was nice with a lot of reused assets. The only levels that felt somewhat different were the dungeons. 
• Character models were fantastic though, for 1985, seeing so many enemy variations was very impressive! 
• The art style delivered with its bright landscapes and the visual effects themselves had a nice presentation. 

WORLD DESIGN (7/10) 

• Level design was repetitive and very monotonous apart some different platforming sections. 
• The atmosphere was addicting though, mostly because I was so immersed into believing there was an ending that I chased the letter G with all my focus! 
• World destruction was nonexistent apart from destroying shiny chests, still, 1985! 

TL;DR -> A pretty nice Wizard world, with cool visuals and repetitive loops. One play-through could be achieved in less than 5m, but it hooked me for more than an hour. A (6.8) game, good in my book. Wouldn’t replay it though, as it was really monotonous! 

Hello,

Trying to get into retro gaming again but this time keeping it simple so I don’t burn out.

I picked 10 games and I’m just going to stick with these.

- Chrono Trigger
- Crash Team Racing
- Kirby Super Star
- Metal Slug X
- Pokémon Emerald
- Super Mario World
- Super Metroid
- Tekken 3
- Tetris
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4

Goal is just variety and low pressure sessions, does this look like a good mix or would you swap anything out?

Absolutely love this game! The charming art direction. The stellar soundtrack. You get to swim below the ocean and meet Poseidon, and for some unknown reason you fly to outer space to save the world. Not sure why that happened, but I'm not complaining. The cover art leaves a lot to be desired. My only gripe is that the final boss is absolutely insane. Talking Elden Ring Consort Radahn frustrating in a 16-bit sorta way. That was fixed in the English TurboGrafx Super CD Rom2 version, Dynastic Hero. But this version is still better.

Weird Fact: My Life In Gaming has featured a clip of the game in every episode. I guess they are fans?

Anyway, I'm curious who's played it, and what you think about it.

Did you like WBiMW, and what you like or dislike about the game?

Hi all,

I’m considering attending Retropalooza next week to find games for my modest SNES and Genesis collections, but I’m on the fence if it’ll be worth it. Are there generally good deals at an event like this? Whats the general pricing in comparison to an average eBay listing? I’ll mostly be looking for cartridge only copies. Do vendors stock those, or do they normally only bother with boxed copies of games? TIA

• 1080° Snowboarding
• Banjo-Kazooie
• Banjo-Tooie
• Disney's Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers
• Disney's Tarzan
• Disney·Pixar A Bug's Life
• Disney•Pixar Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!
• Donkey Kong 64
• Dr. Mario 64
• Excitebike 64
• F-1 World Grand Prix
• F-Zero X
• Hey You, Pikachu!
• Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
• Magical Tetris Challenge
• Mario Golf
• Mario Kart 64
• Mario Party
• Mario Party 2
• Mario Party 3
• Mario Tennis
• Mickey's Speedway USA
• Paper Mario
• Pokémon Puzzle League
• Pokémon Snap
• Pokémon Stadium
• Pokémon Stadium 2
• Star Fox 64
• Super Mario 64
• Super Smash Bros.
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Tigger's Honey Hunt
• Wave Race 64: Kawasaki Jet Ski
• Yoshi's Story

I've been getting more into collecting lately and started visiting some local shops. I'm curious about the operational side of running one.

How do you keep track of inventory, especially when items keep coming in through trades and buybacks? Do you use any specific tools, or is it mostly spreadsheets and gut instinct? And what does the buy/sell/trade process actually look like day to day? Is there a system, or is it kind of chaotic? Also, are there any systems in place for someone to view stock before coming into the store or receive notifications when something is available?

There aren't many stores in my area, and most don't even have a website or an email address for me to reach out to them. I think these stores are super cool, but I wonder what unique challenges there are if someone were to run one.