This is for recommendations and general discussion about newer games that use a deliberately "retro" aesthetic and/or design philosophy. Arbitrary examples: Shovel Knight, Retro City Rampage, Mega Man 9 & 10, Broken Age, Azure Striker Gunvolt, Freedom Planet, Rad Rodgers, etc.

I'll start off by recommending Elliot Quest. The name doesn't seem too inspiring, but the art and gameplay are excellent. The toga-clad, arrow-shooting protagonist will remind players of Pit from Kid Icarus (and maybe a little of Wonder Boy), but the overall design of the game is more like Zelda II. Check it out and you'll get a glimpse of what 2D side-scrolling Zelda games could have been like if Nintendo had learned from Zelda II's mistakes, refined the formula, and made more of them.

 

I'll throw in Guacamelee to start with. Mexican culture themed Metroidvania with a focus on mellee attacks and platforming, available on loads of platforms.

 

I will add Axiom Verge. It was pretty popular so it's probably not going to surprise people, but if you want a new Metroid, that's it. May have been my favorite new game in 2015.

 

I should praise Inticreates (Gunvolt, Mega Man 9 & 10) and Wayforward Technologies (Shantae series, Contra 4, Ducktales Remastered) for being a major force in neoclassical platform gaming. Both studios totally "get it". That is, they show a clear comprehension of why older 2D games work without just aping them.

The Shantae sequels are especially praiseworthy. They combine the best elements of Castlevania II and the Monster World games with the charming, fluid animation of Virgin's 16-bit Disney games and a warped sense of humor.

 

Awesome thread and thanks! I've been derailing the retro thread quite enough.

The only downside is there's almost no physical copies.

Although, I do recall some publishing in older consoles.

Either this is probably where I fall into and what I've been looking for. Mark Brown on YT touches so many of these concepts and games.

 

Reposting this here.

 

Yeah, for physical copies you've gotta either jump on a Kickstarter project at a higher level (which is a crap shoot) or hope for a physical release from one of the budget publishers like XSEED/Marvelous. I think Fangamer sometimes does boxed releases as well.

If you're less into fancy boxes and more worried about digital distributors making your games unavailable someday, you can get a lot of stuff DRM-free from GOG, Itch.io, or the Humble store and archive it to physical media. Of course, that's no help if you want to play on consoles...

 

But DuckTales remastered was at least released physically   world of illusion sadly not   But it's beautiful  

 

I've been following Sonic Mania since it's reveal and it is looking to be the first 2D Sonic in a long while to really get what made the classics so fun.

Plus that soundtrack.

 

Wow, that looks heavenly. I love the revolvers and the musical nods to "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."

I've been trying to educate myself on some good neo-retro games, as the only ones I own are Mega Man 9 & 10 and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. I tried the demo for Retro City Rampage and it was all right, but not enough to make me buy it. Abobo's Big Adventure was funny. Been tempted by Ducktales but the reviews have been lukewarm.

 

If you liked the NES game, Ducktales is worth it.

A good game to check out while you're all waiting for Sonic Mania would be Freedom Planet. It's not purely a Sonic clone, but if Sega and Konami had collaborated on a platformer, Freedom Planet is a lot like what you'd get.

 

Being a fan of Harvest Moon - especially the original SNES game - I'm pretty excited for Stardew Valley.

 

Hm most of these seem to be only for PC and the newer consoles.

Anything recommended for 3DS and PS3? I have been thinking about getting the Sega Classics Collection for 3DS, it is cheaper than the individual games on the Nintendo eShop. I watched a video of Shovel Knight at the weekend. I always saw it in the eShop but I thought it did not look interesting, because I prefer 16-Bit graphics over 8-bit graphics and usually I don't even need my neo-retro games even pixelated. I actually would love them to look better, but still use 2d, just higher resolution for screen and sprites, etc.   So that the sprites look like the artwork which we found in the manuals in the 90s. We always had to imagine what the characters and enemies really looked like. Uh whatever, I was going to say that I thought Shovel Knight really looked interesting while watching the game. They have actually interesting gameplay and that's what modern games lack. They have all the same gameplay basically and only different stories.

 

Sega's 3D Classics are excellent, although it's arguable that they're just new editions of actual retro games. Definitely recommended though.

I'm still dragging my feet on actually getting a PS3, so I can't offer much. I've heard good things about Thexder Neo.

On 3DS, there's lots. All three of the currently released Shantae games are on the eShop, as are Azure Striker Gunvolt 1 & 2 and Mighty Gunvolt (8-bit style Gunvolt/Mighty No 9/Gal*Gun crossover). There are a ton of old school RPGs on the platform, but Bravely Default and its sequel stand out as being more like Final Fantasy than Final Fantasy has been since the PS1 era. If you don't mind your games short and unreasonably difficult, Xeo-Drifter is a pretty neat budget Metroidvania title. Speaking of which, Castlevania: Mirror of Fate does a good job of bringing 2D Igavania gameplay to the Lords of Shadow universe. If you wanna dip into the original DS library, Monster Tale is a nice overlooked game that owes a lot to the Wonder Boy/Monster World series.

If you've got a Wii or a Wii U, there's a bunch of stuff there too. Konami's Rebirth series on the original Wii eShop (WiiWare) especially deserves a look, Contra Rebirth in particular. So does Blaster Master: Overdrive. Wii U's eShop also has Freedom Planet and at least one of the Shantae games (I believe both are also on PS4, but not PS3).

 

Not to be bitter, but while everyone was busy ignoring (or laughing at) the OUYA console, it actually transformed into a utopia for these types of games. Much of the best content has since reached other platforms... but a whole lot of it is still exclusive as well. I'll add compilation videos to this post as I find them rather than spamming the thread with a bunch of posts about it. There's too much good stuff to even cover a decent fraction of it though.

OUYA Alien Bastards, Drunk with power and just drunk

 

Can't say i'd recommend continuing to buy stuff on PS3 instead of getting a PS4 or entry level gaming PC, but here's some good stuff that's also on last gen -

Strider 2014, the Capcom classic remade as a Metroidvania.

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX - Amazing Pac-Man update.

Hotline Miami - Top down murder 'em up with an 80's aesthetic.

Rogue Legacy - Rogue with Castlevania gameplay.

Talking of original DS games, Wayfoward's Alien Infestation is worth a look if you can find it -

 

I'm giving VA-11 HALL-A a recommendation. A great homage to MSX and PC-88 visual novels like the Kojima masterpiece that was Snatcher and a loving tribute to many cyberpunk franchises such as the aformentioned Snatcher, Deus Ex, Ghost in the Shell, Robocop, and Blade Runner, adored with great characters, a good plot, and one of the best game OSTs in recent memory.

Another recommendation is La-Mulana. A brilliant, albeit balls hard, tribute to MSX Konami games, particularly Maze of Galious. A surprisingly deep storyline, mixed with brilliant puzzles, good music, and challenging boss fights.

 

I've a suggestion: Mother Russia is Bleeding; streets of rage style Brawler set in iron curtain 80's Russia.

 

The new Shantae game is out!  

 

Worth noting that allot of the games mentioned so far are dirt cheap in the Steam Winter sale, no excuse to not stock up for a few months if you have PC.