What Was Old is New Again

Retro Revival Part 1

Retro Revival highlights games that revitalize franchises that have not seen a traditional installment in several generations.

Part 1 focuses on games that have not seen an installment since the 8-bit or 16-bit generation.

Contra 4

On the NES and SNES, Contra was the series for run and gun action. The series saw a few poor to mediocre installments on the PS2, so Konami handed the reigns to developer WayForward for a main entry in the series on the DS. The risk paid of brilliantly, as WayForward took the series back to its roots of scathing difficulty, gigantic bosses and blistered trigger fingers. The obligatory co-op is included and fantastic.

Mega Man 9

Mega Man on the NES and SNES was known for a high degree of difficulty, stealing enemy’s powers and finding the correct sequence of levels to conquer. The formula has evolved over the decades, but for Mega Man 9, Capcom went back to the bare roots of the 8-bit series, with the 8-bit graphics intact. Just as challenging as the early entries of the series, Capcom added a plethora of features, including a mode to play as Proto Man.

A Boy and his Blob

The NES was home to many unique platformers, A Boy and his Blob being one of the most unusual. Feeding your white blob different flavored jelly beans transformed him into different useful tools for the puzzle platforming. WayForward took this formula and adding even more challenging puzzles and tons of charm in the Wii version. Beautifully animated in hand-drawn 2-D, A Boy and his Blob is as retro as they get.

Punch-Out!!

More rhythm games than boxing, Punch-Out on the NES and SNES was one of the most fun, addictive and culturally stereotypical games on the consoles. Next Level Games took the NES and SNES formula and didn’t stray too far from it. The necessity to recognize Mac’s opponent’s patterns are intact, the controls are responsive and the animations fluid.

New Super Mario Bros

Mario moved into three dimensions on the N64, and he was so good at it, Nintendo didn’t bother to make a 2-D entry for over a decade. That changed on the DS, and more recently on the Wii; and it reminded gamers why the 2-D Mario games where so good back in the day. The multiplayer features of the Wii version makes it even more fun to play Mario with friends.