Impressions: Retro Game Challenge

After spending sometime with XSEED's most recent unusual DS release, Retro Game Challenge, I feel compelled to share my experiences with you all. For those that don't already know, this is the North American "reskin" of GameCenter CX, a game based on a Japanese TV show revolving around one man's quest to complete various goals in classically "Nintendo Hard" Famicom games. After some relatively impressive sales over in its homeland, the good folks over at XSEED choose to bring this cult-gem over to North America so that we can share in its incredible wackiness.

On paper, the game is a simple collection of faux-NES games, but in practice the title offers a vivid flashback to era of gaming that now feels long lost. Everything from the 8-bit days is seen here even before you get started with the games. You can pour over classically styled instruction manuals that feature art you'll never seen in the game, read rumor-filled gaming magazines that recall the Sushi-X days of EGM, and bask in obscure references to iconic movies and their much hyped peripherals. [wizard links]

The games featured here will appeal to the hardest of hardcore gamers. If it weren't for the fact that RGC's games are fabricated, it would serve as brilliant introduction to 80's gaming. Every major genre from the time is represented here. Fans of shooters will get a good refresher course with Cosmic Gate (a riff on early shooters like Galaga), racing is represented with a top-down racer Rally King, and side-scrollers are shown through a surprisingly deep series called Robot Ninja Haggle Man (think Mappy, but much more fun). So far, the biggest draws for my personally have been a reproduction the Star Soldier series called Star Prince and Guadia Quest, a JRPG that revisits the best aspects of the early entries in the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series.

Star Prince is a finely tuned shoot-em-up that I would have gladly purchased by itself on the Wii's Virtual Console. The game's power-ups should be immediately familiar to anyone that's played a Star Soldier title. You get waves of enemies, tons of bullets thrown at you, and huge bosses that reign over each level. Guadia Quest, RGC's faithfully reconstructed JRPG, makes me wonder why I stopped playing these games. It's not the most complicated JRPG you'll ever come across, but there's magic in its simplicity. While the opening feels very much like a Final Fantasy title, the gameplay is mostly influenced by the Dragon Quest series. I was dreading this game when it was introduced, but was fascinated by it after the first few battles. Coming from a staunch JRPG-hater such as myself, I cannot think of a higher complement.

Everything about RGC's presentation feels authentic. It nails the fine details so well that it is hard to believe that its chiptune soundtrack, brightly colored sprites, and distinct design aesthetics weren't ripped out of some hidden vault of lost games. It's this attention to detail that elevates the entire package from simple imitation of old designs to a faithful homage that pays respect to the games that have come before it. Even though I still have much to discover in this title, I can honestly say that RGC is a must buy for today's retro-gamer and sure to put a smile on the face of anyone that remembers holding an NES controller as a kid.