2013 Together Retro Calendar - Looks Like We Made It

[noiseredux]

10/7 EDIT:

And the word hath come down from the boss-man himself. Our 2013 Together Retro calendar is official good to go...

Jan - RPG - Baldur's Gate
Feb - Other - Bubble Bobble
Mar - Sim - Wing Commander
Apr - FPS - Half-Life
May - Platformer - Fantastic Dizzy
Jun - Fighting - Fatal Fury Special
Jul - Racing - Road Rash series
Aug - Beat-em-up - TMNT Turtles In Time
Sep - Text Adventure - Zork
Oct - Horror Double Feature - Zombies Ate My Neighbors & Silent Hill 2
Nov - Rhythm - Parappa The Rapper
Dec - Puzzle - Lemmings

...so feel free to start shopping in anticipation. And thank you to all the community members who took part in this thread, coming up with great suggestions and keeping it civil. This is the first year that the calendar has been decided so heavily by the community itself, and I think we can all agree it's been a success.




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OK, so it was mentioned in the TR thread this month that we might wanna start talking about TR for next year. And that's a good point. Fast has asked me to kind of spearhead things, but basically I want this to be a very democratic thing. So I'd like to do it like this...

Anyone can nominate any games they want for next year. Please do so in this format though:

TITLE
GENRE(s)
PORTS AVAILABLE
WHY SHOULD WE PLAY IT?

Everyone is encouraged to back-up or debate said nominations.

Once we have a pretty strong list of nominations, I'll group them up roughly by genre into polls for each month if necessary, at which point the community will have the chance to vote on the final outcome.

So... what do you guys wanna play next year?

[dsheinem]

sorry to break the rules right off the bat, but these were the "losers" from voting last year. We were promised Baldur's Gate in 2013

Baldur's Gate
Space Channel 5
Puyo Puyo
Ikaruga


Additionally, we have long had these "in the hopper" and listed on the "Upcoming" thread:

MUSHA - Genesis/Megadrive, Wii
MULE - AtariPC, NES, PC
Spy Hunter - Arcade, NES, Arcade Collections

I personally would like to see us clear out the "backlog" and throw these 7 into the mix for next year....

[fastbilly1]

1. Ultima 4
2. PCs, SMS, NES
3. One of the first RPGs where the plot was NOT to kill the ultimate evil. It is an RPG about becoming an Avatar (a spiritual leader) in a fantasy world recently rocked by ultimate evil. It is also a technical marvel with an actual conversation engine for when you interact with NPCs (conversation system is stripped down for console ports). Most importantly, its a solid PC RPG, from the "golden age" of PC games, and it is free on GoG. Fair warning, for those not familiar with old PC RPGs, this game is difficult.

Edit:
The online version of MULE was put on indefinite hold. And Baldurs gate is a better pick than Ultima 4.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Breath of Fire
JRPG
Available on SNES and GBA
(extremely easy to emulate as well - and can be played entirely with a keyboard as it's turned based)

The first game in a great series that really flies under the radar. Easy to pick up and play - you probably won't need instructions to figure out the controls. Interesting characters and plot scenarios, GREAT music. It's "short" by RPG standards (there's no in-game timer but I'd say 25-30 hours MAX) and has enough cryptic-but-not-frustrating situations that would generate some discussion on the boards.

[AppleQueso]

Road Rash (series)
GENRE: Racing (Motorcycle, Combat)
PLATFORM: Sega Genesis/Megadrive, Sega Master System, Playstation, N64, and tons and tons of others
WHY SHOULD WE PLAY IT?
Because it kicks ass, that's why. It's managed to not receive a modern day revival in any way, despite seemingly every franchise on the planet getting a shiny new overhaul, so the series is kinda overlooked I feel. It's also an awesome title from EA's glory days.

Basically, the game is a 3D motorcycle racer. The catch is, though, that you punch and kick the other drivers, steal weapons like batons and chains, knock people off of their bikes, hit big hills that knock you into the air, all while swerving through traffic. Each race gives you prize money, and you use this money to upgrade your bike to help you out in other races.

The third game on the Genesis is probably the peak of the series. It's got a ton of nice litle touches to it, including the absolutely hilarious little video things that play when you win races, lose races, get pulled over, destroy your bike, etc. The computer opponents are really well thought out. They all have names, profiles, backgrounds, and even all have their own racing style quirks and sometimes even make mistakes. They feel like real drivers racing you, not just faceless opponents to outrun.

The game is just full of tons of awesome little moments that you run into during the race. Things like kicking someone's bike over just enough so that the oncoming car just over the hill slams them off the screen.

EDIT: changed to simply nominate the whole series

[noiseredux]

sorry to break the rules right off the bat, but these were the "losers" from voting last year. We were promised Baldur's Gate in 2013

Baldur's Gate
Space Channel 5
Puyo Puyo
Ikaruga

Space Channel 5 would be interesting as we've never done a rhythm game that I know of. Plus it's on DC, PS2, 360 so pretty good console-spread. Anyone else like that idea? Anyone hate it?

Puyo I'm a big supporter of for a puzzle game. And there are so many ports/variations on many many different systems.


Personally I don't really care if we play the "losers" from last year or feel like we have to play games mentioned as "upcoming" from like 3 years ago. Those were just basically ideas Racket & Fast had at the time.

Really, I think this thread is a good place to brainstorm with everyone active in the TR community chiming in. Maybe folks who were into playing last year's losers have left the forum since? Maybe new members who weren't here last year have even better nominations?

[AppleQueso]

Space Channel 5 would be interesting as we've never done a rhythm game that I know of. Plus it's on DC, PS2, 360 so pretty good console-spread. Anyone else like that idea? Anyone hate it?

I'd totally be up for Space Channel 5

[alienjesus]

TITLE: Shock Troopers
GENRE: Run 'n Gun
PORTS: Neo Geo, Playstation Network, Wii
WHY?: Because it is an excellent top down run n' gun, one of the finest ever made. It's like Metal Slug meets Mercs, and it's awesome. There's also an amazing mode where you can choose 3 characters and switch between them on the fly to change how you play, and the characters are all a bit silly and play quite differently, so there's loads of variety.


TITLE: Fantastic Dizzy
GENRE: Adventure
PORTS: NES, SMS, Mega Drive, Amiga, PC, Game Gear
WHY?: Because a lot of the games we play in Together Retro are games which were huge in America or Japan but which were not so prevalent here in Blighty. Here's a chance for you guys to enjoy a series which had an impact on the UK back in the 8 bit days. Plus, this particular game in the series is pretty widespread and fairly cheap, even in the US!


TITLE: Oddworld: Abes Odyssey
GENRE: Puzzle/Platformer?
PORTS: PS1, PSP, PS3, PC, Game Boy
WHY?: Because it's a puzzle game that isn't within the match 3 genre we generally play. It's hard as balls, but its got an incredible atmosphere and minding bending puzzles, and Together Retro might finall motivate me to beat the damn thing!


TITLE: Parappa the Rapper
GENRE: Rhythm
PORTS: PS1, PSP, PS3
WHY?: Because it's one of the granddaddys of the rhythm genre, and it still holds up well. It's got loads of style and it'll be a fun one for comparing scores in too.


TITLE: Mario Tennis series
GENRE: Sports
PORTS: Virtual Boy, GBC, GBA, 3DS, N64, Gamecube
WHY?: Because it's a classic arcade sports game in disguise, but the mario connotations will mean that even those of us who are sports averse will still want to get involved! Plus, there's even an RPG element to some of the games for even more hidden sports goodness!


TITLE: Sid Meier's Pirates!
GENRE: Strategy/Sim
PORTS: Pretty muchy everything ever made ever.
WHY?: Because it's a classic strategy sim game that's available on everything. Plus Pirates! I fully propose we play this on September to sit alongside International Talk Like A Pirate Day on Sept 19th!


TITLE: Game & Watch / Game & Watch Gallery series
GENRE: LCD games
PORTS: G&W, GB, GBC, GBA, DS, DSiWare, 3DS
WHY?: Because it's a high score challenge, which always go down well, plus it's outside of the normal puzzle/pinball/shmup high score challenge. It's proper retro, but the gallery series offers modern versions for those not up for LCD gaming.




P.S Later on I'll start keeping track of whats been suggested and how many people have upvoted them again too, just like I did last year. I'll try and be more exact than before aswell.

[BoringSupreez]

Title: Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Genre: Action Adventure
Ports Available: MSX, PS2, PS3, 360
Why Should We Play It?: It's by far the best of the pre-MGS Metal Gear titles, yet the one the fewest have played. Unlike MG1 and the NES version of MG2, this one actually feels like it's part of the MG series, both in gameplay and in story. Playing this game will increase your understanding of what's going on in the MGS series, particularly in MGS1. As it is not particularly long or difficult, I think everyone will be able to complete this one unlike some other games we've chosen in the past. It's available in Japanese on the MSX, and in English on disc 2 of MGS3: Subsistence (not the Essentials Collection version), as well as in the MGS HD Collection on PS3 and 360.

Oh, and I second Baldur's Gate.

[noiseredux]

Title: Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Genre: Action Adventure
Ports Available: MSX, PS2, PS3, 360
Why Should We Play It?: It's by far the best of the pre-MGS Metal Gear titles, yet the one the fewest have played. Unlike MG1 and the NES version of MG2, this one actually feels like it's part of the MG series, both in gameplay and in story. Playing this game will increase your understanding of what's going on in the MGS series, particularly in MGS1. As it is not particularly long or difficult, I think everyone will be able to complete this one unlike some other games we've chosen in the past. It's available in Japanese on the MSX, and in English on disc 2 of MGS3: Subsistence (not the Essentials Collection version), as well as in the MGS HD Collection on PS3 and 360.

^I'm really glad you remembered to nominate this one, because I had already forgotten. I think this is a great choice and I bet many of us (including me) have never given it a shot.

@AlienJesus: we already played Broken Sword for TR.