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?
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.
Third for Chrono Trigger. I didn’t get to play that one when I was a kid so I played it for the first time in 2020. Holy shit what a game. The original definitely still holds up today.
I played it back in the 90s when it came out. What surprised me almost immediately was the ren fair scene. I forget exactly how they worded it, but the guards had kept track of everything I did at the fair. Which was mind blowing to me in a time when all games npcs would literally unload when off screen, and reload when onscreen. Completely forgetting anything you’d previously said/done.
Then THIS game remembers what I did 30 minutes ago.
Was that still startling in 2020, or did you not even realize how mind blowing that was since you’re in 2020 and not 1996?
Huh…Despite being true, I’ve never heard anyone refer to LoZ:LttP as “Zelda 3”.
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.
The original Super Mario Bros. and SMB 3. The first console I got to play as a child was the NES at my grandparents’ house. Every couple of years I get a nostalgic craving and it’s usually those two games I return to. Also, there are many great rom hacks available if getting bored of the originals.
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.
Hollow Knight gives a pretty fucking solid try, to be fair. But yeah, I do agree.
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.
