This week’s Friday Flashback only came out last year, but it packs in the nostalgic awesomeness of an entire decade into its little DS card. XSeed’s Retro Game Challenge (known in Japan as Gamecenter CX: Arino’s Challenge) puts you through the early days of the NES/Famicom with 7 different games based on classics from the era. They’re not “real” games, but they’re crafted with such nostalgic love that they still evoke memories of weekend cartridge rentals and Saturdays spent on the living room floor in front of the TV.
In the game’s bizarre narrative, you’re sent back in time by Game Master Arino, a crazy video game addict who’s become a floating polygon head with a crown and a d-pad. He forces you to play through the best games of the 80′s with his childhood self, taking you from 1983 with the release of “Cosmic Gate” to 1989 with the release of “Robot Ninja Haggleman 3″ and the last days of the 80′s.
The games include Cosmic Gate (based on Galaga), Robot Ninja Haggleman 1 and 2 (based on Japan’s Ninja Jajamaru-kun, Bubble Bobble, Flicky, and other arcade games), Rally King and Rally King SP (based on overhead NES racing games), Star Prince (based on Star Soldier and other shmups), Guardia Quest (based on Dragon Quest), and finally Robot Ninja Haggleman 3 (based on Mega Man, Ninja Gaiden, and Metroid).
The games are pitch-perfect homages, with Guardia Quest and Haggleman 3 standing out as the best. Guardia Quest is surprisingly long and feels exactly like the first few Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior games, with two very lengthy dungeons and plenty of level grinding to be had. Haggleman 3 is a fantastic side-scrolling platformer with Ninja Gaiden’s action and Metroid’s exploration, taking place across three sprawling levels filled with enemies and tricky jumps.
Each game has four different challenges, ranging from reaching a high enough score to getting far enough in a level. After you beat all the challenges, Arino says “screw it,” and tells you to beat each game. Fortunately, the games have tons of nostalgic cheat codes, including d-pad-tapping key sequences to get extra lives and warp through levels. You learn about these codes through several fake video game magazines that you unlock as you play. Each magazine has about a dozen pages of text, full of funny “previews” and “reviews” of games, and packed with tips and cheat codes.
Rally King and Rally King SP are boring little racers, and Haggleman 2 is just a larger, more difficult version of the first Haggleman, but the other games are great diversions that really feel like they were made in the 80′s. The wacky Japanese narrative tying the experience together only further cements the nostalgic feel, making Retro Game Challenge worthy of Friday Flashback.
Since it’s a relatively new game, you can grab Retro Game Challenge easily for $15 used at Gamestop or $20 new from Amazon
