Suggest Me Some Retro Titles to Cover

So as people may have seen me pimping recently, I've started an experimental YouTube show called Retro Flashback. The shows's concept is fairly simple. It's me talking over captured footage of retro titles, doing sort of a mini review but also discussing them from a historical context, how they were important games, how they influenced the games of today and why people who are interested in retro stuff might want to check them out. My goal is to showcase the games of the past to a new generation of players who are now growing up having not had the opportunity to experience them.

I've got a couple of episodes up now and my aim is to do two a week, though life demands may see larger or smaller numbers some weeks. I'm keeping a list of various games that I want to cover in future episodes but I'm looking to expand it so that I've always got stuff I can be working on and researching. What I'd like to do is get some ideas from other people on how to expand that list. I don't take direct requests but I'm curious if there are any retro titles people would either like to see me cover as videos or even if the show doesn't interest you, just retro games you're fond of. Platform doesn't matter, I'm going to try to cover everything as best as my setup will permit, though if it's a multi-platform game, I will only cover it on one platform unless there's significant differences between versions. I also don't care if they're titles that were popular or more niche. I would definitely like to expose people to stuff that's off the beaten path but I think it's important to cover everything, including the more iconic stuff. Genre also doesn't matter though if you suggest RPGs, those may go in a longer term list because to cover them in an interesting way often requires playing a ways into them since so many start slow. Though I will make exceptions for specific gem titles, I'm also only considering stuff up to and including the PS1/N64 era for right now.

So yeah, what retro games do you remember that you think would make for good episodes of Retro Flashback?

Also, if you could watch my videos, like them, subscribe to my channel and tell your friends, I'd appreciate it. OK, now I'm a proper YouTuber.

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Dragon Spirit and Captain Skyhawk are another couple cool, under-the-radar (AFAIK) NES games.

I've always thought that Zombies Ate My Neighbors was an awesome precursor to all the twin stick shooters distributed digitally on modern platforms. Hell of a game to boot.

Nice, I like the concept. I must have missed your early rounds of shameless self promotion :).

Rolling Thunder was a brutal game. I still have the cart around here somewhere, I should dig it out and play it again.

You should take a look at Startropics, Life Force and 1943. If you want to go with a temporary theme you could look at a few more Tengen NES games. They had some interesting history with their version of Tetris.

edit:Oh, I'll second the Captain Skyhawk mention above.

Edit 2: or do the last official release for a system. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...

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PXA, it's a shame you don't live closer. I'd let you borrow my old Nintendo systems + games in a heartbeat for this.

Definitely second Crystalis and Startropics. To use a strained metaphor, Startropics is to Zelda as Mother/Earthbound is to Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest.

You should definitely do a segment on Capcom's Disney games. Seems appropriate given recent announcements.

clever id wrote:

Tengen NES games.

RBI Baseball!

Aaron D. wrote:

I've always thought that Zombies Ate My Neighbors was an awesome precursor to all the twin stick shooters distributed digitally on modern platforms. Hell of a game to boot.

Yeah, that would be a good one to do.

Ok the ones that come to my mind:

One of the original versions of Prince of Persia (1989). Obviously it is a francise that continues to be strong, but it was also an incredible platformer in it's own right, as well as the first game (that I know of) that used retroscoping for fluid graphics.

The original Alone in the Dark (1992). The begining of the survial horror genre.

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. Most of the modern Castlevania games are patterend after Castlevania Symphony of the night, but the Metroid-like non-linear gameplay of the series really started with this one.

A couple, more off-beat personal favorites:
Pinball Quest - a good example of an early hybrid RPG, combining RPGs with pinball!
Base Wars - baseball with fighting robots. 'Nuff said.

Warriors of the Eternal Sun, an early western D&D RPG for the Genesis. Quite a rare beast back in the day.

Double post.

Awesome guys, keep em' coming! I'm jotting all these down in Evernote. Crystalis is one I'd like to do as it was very unique for SNK. They almost never made RPGs and the one time they did, it was pretty good. While I was researching Rolling Thunder, I also thought about doing a spot on Tengen. I'm still getting my feet wet with both commentary and production but my eventual hope it to go beyond just covering individual titles and doing specials on things like specific companies, franchises or even entire hardware platforms.

Shadowgate/Deja Vu/Uninvited

Really great point and clicks. Although they were multi-system releases, I played the NES versions.

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/Deja_vu_screenshot_nes.png)

shoptroll wrote:

RBI Baseball!

One of my all-time favorites.

I thought about Dragon Warrior, but it seemed too obvious.

RC PRO AM. That is one of my all time favorite racing games.

DrunkenSleipnir wrote:

Shadowgate/Deja Vu/Uninvited

Really great point and clicks. Although they were multi-system releases, I played the NES versions.

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/Deja_vu_screenshot_nes.png)

Shadow gate's grim reaper gave me nightmares when I was a kid.

Two of my favorite NES games, neither of which seem to get too much attention. I think either of them might be fun for a video play (The Guardian Legend - schmup/zelda-style exploration mashup, Destiny of an Emporer for historical Nobunaga's Ambition style strategy RPG/regular DQ style RPG crossover)!

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JohnKillo wrote:
DrunkenSleipnir wrote:

Shadowgate/Deja Vu/Uninvited

Really great point and clicks. Although they were multi-system releases, I played the NES versions.

Shadow gate's grim reaper gave me nightmares when I was a kid.

You mean this guy?

IMAGE(http://i.neoseeker.com/n/5/shadowgate.jpg)

Hubby and I are driving around while shouting out ideas. Besides the obvious retro games (mario, Yoshi, sonic, Zelda, FF , Metroid, Castlevania, megaman), this is what we got:

-Michael Jackson's Moonwalker
-Alex Kidd
-Earthworm Jim
-Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage
-Killer Instinct
-Panzer Dragoon
-Earthbound
-Shining Force
-Phantasy Star (1, 2, 4)
-Goldeneye 007
-Legacy of Kain
-Vampire: The Masquerade
-Vagrant Story
-Monkey Island
-Ultima
-Ducktales
-Q-Bert
-Marble Madness
-Batman (NES)
-Battletoads
-Double Dragon
-Night Trap
-Aladdin
-The Lion King
-Strider
-Tetris
-POKEMON Puzzle League
-Altered Beast
-Contra
-Ghost n Goblins
-Vectorman (1,2)
-Gauntlet
-Bubble Bobble
-Conker's Bad Fur Day
-Knuckles Chaotix
-Link's Awakening
-Gyruss (arcade or NES)
-R-Type
-Gradius
-Donkey Kong Country (1,2)
-Pitfall
-The Guardian Legend

And... we're out of ideas.

EDIT:

-Pokemon Snap
-Punch Out
-Toe Jam & Earl
-Xenogears

Well, considering the reboot Duck Tales was a classic and might garner some interest from those who want to relive/are interested in where it came from.

Alternatively, Out of this World/Another World was a classic gameplay-driven story that really presaged the Half-Life form of storytelling. And probably one of my favorite games of all time to boot.

Alone In the Dark - An early example of survival horror - tough controls but great atmosphere.

The Horde (featuring Kirk Cameron!) - Strategy/Real Time Action Hybrid with classic FMV.

NBA Jam on Sega Megadrive - best sports game ever for parties
Star Wars Rebel Assault - played it at the age of 9-10 on my big brother's 486
TIM - the incredible machines
Dune 1 - ahead of its time with so many different systems (RPG/strategy)
Wonder Boy series - cool action rpg on Sega's systems (can't remember if it was the Master System or Megadrive though)
Sid Meir's Pirates! Gold - Silver Train and Treasure Fleet, anyone?
Warcraft 1 - Water Elementals and Rain of Fire vs Daemon summoning

If you haven't had enough of Amnesia yet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesia_(video_game)

Lufia and Lufia 2! They are great games and a little more unknown so I think a lot of people could really get something out of them.

Zork
wing commander
Night Trap
Zelda
Pac Man
The first D&D games

Bionic Commando. One of the few games that I enjoyed *more* as an NES title than the arcade version.

Hey all. Just thought I'd post a little update in here as it was the best place for it I guess. I have been working on refining my production process and the quality of my commentary a little bit. Progress is being made on both but I still have a long way to do. I can't stand my commentary audio quality right now but I've finally nailed down a solution that's going to sound way more professional. I have two kick-ass headset mics on the way and once they get here, things should improve notably.

I haven't done any of the games people have suggested to me yet, mostly because a ton of them are RPGs and I'm still trying to figure out the ideal way to cover RPGs. Rest assured, I still plan to though. I'm also sticking to titles available on the Wii Virtual Console right now as a combination of waiting for the new mics and other issues with my PC capture setup is making recording stuff not off a console more difficult. I'm working on that as well though and once I get that process refined, I'll be covering tons of stuff from all different system and hopefully, starting to crack into this list.

The easiest way to keep up with the show (aside from subscribing to the channel which I would really appreciate everyone's help with) is to check out the official YouTube playlist which gets updated with new episodes. I'm still cranking these out at a rate of two per week and I've got the process refined enough that barring unforeseen events, I should be able to keep that up.

My biggest thing right now is getting the word spread and getting more viewers and subscribers. My eventual goal is to get partnered with a YouTube network. Not so much for the money (cause there isn't much money to be made from this if you aren't the size of TotalBiscuit or Yogscast) but for the fair use protections those networks provide. Right now, I'm posting these videos and not getting slammed on copyright but if they get more popular, publishers could take notice. Everything I do is covered by fair use but YouTube is spineless and paranoid so they often won't accept that reasoning. When you get partnered, you have certain protections against takedowns. If anyone's on other forums or places where they think people would be interested in this stuff, please ask them to check out my channel if you could, I would really appreciate it. I also put Reddit links up for every episode in both /r/gaming and /r/retrogaming so upvote love is always appreciated too.

Thanks all, much more to come!

Want something shorter? Adventures of Lolo from Hal before they did Kirby.

One for the long list, as this is PC (and RPGish), but: Star Control 2, now known in its Creative Commons/open-sourced second life as The Ur-Quan Masters.

My first strategy game was Sword of Aragon.

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/Sword_of_Aragon_-_Battle.png)

I will agree with this sentiment: According to Retro Gamer magazine, "Sword of Aragon is considered by many to be the best fantasy wargame ever." It's the only box I own from my first computer (PC Jr).

I need to find a way to play it again!

Kloreep wrote:

One for the long list, as this is PC (and RPGish), but: Star Control 2, now known in its Creative Commons/open-sourced second life as The Ur-Quan Masters.

Star Control II is one of my top five games of all time so it's definitely on the list. That one I won't have a problem figuring out how to record from a decent period in because I know as soon as I start playing it, I'll want to finish it.

Do all the Twos. Zelda 2, Super Mario Bros 2, Breath of Fire 2, Super Adventure Island 2, Mega Man X 2, heck even Super Turrican 2. Aaaaaaaaaaaaall the Twos.