Games You Should Be Playing: RETRO GAME CHALLENGE

Developers put tons of money into making games, regardless of whether they are good or bad. Sometimes, these games serve as a "make it or break it" title that can easily determine whether that genre can be successful on a specific platform. Madworld became an example of a mature title that couldn't bring home the bacon for Wii. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars also did the same for the DS. However, sometimes a great title just isn't being picked up due to lack of awareness. That is the case with Retro Game Challenge.

Retro Game Challenge is an extremely fun and addictive DS title, bringing all twenty-something year old's back to their gaming roots. RGC features a slew of full length 8-bit titles, played one at a time in a linear fashion. Taking place in the 1980's, the evil Demon Arino is challenging your gaming abilities, giving you goal after goal to accomplish. The more missions you complete, the more games you unlock.

Each game is fun and surprisingly deep, especially compared to the titles they are obviously influenced by. Cosmic Gate is a Galaga type space shooter. Rally King is similar to RC ProAM and Robot Ninja Haggle Man is the most unique, taking its design (and name) presumably from Japanese retro titles. In the game, you even hear references to gaming pop culture, including the best gaming film of all time, The Wizard.

After playing all of the games, you'll be craving for a sequel, and luckily one was created! However, due to poor sales in the US, we'll doubtfully see its released. This is an example of a title that has everything you would want in a retro gaming experience, but gets penalized for a lack of consumer knowledge about the title. That's the only excuse I can come up with that this game isn't a best seller.

Retro Game Challenge is a game you should be playing.