A few weeks ago when I was abruptly dragged away from home for a business trip I went looking for a game to play in my hotel room in the evenings. While I received some great feedback from readers, I actually ended up snagging a copy of Retro Game Challenge for the Nintendo DS for $5 at a local Electronics Boutique.

Retro Game Challenge's premise is a somewhat novel one: you have been kidnapped by a strange electronic avatar and time warped back to the 1980's where you must conquer a number of arbitrary gaming challenges in order to return to your present day life. This quirky premise is used brilliantly as the framework for presenting eight "original retro" games. Each game is brand new, but has been made in the style of a typical NES title, right down to the limited controls (D-pad with two buttons).

Initially only a single game is available, however as challenges are completed more and more games are unlocked. Every new game release is more refined and complex, mimicking the manner in which developers become comfortable with a generation of hardware and are able to squeeze better games out of a system late in its life cycle.

The games each come with (electronic) manuals reminiscent of those that you would find in the 80's: terribly overwrought stories, (intentionally) poor translations, and corny hints and tips. In addition, 15-20 page gaming magazines are occasionally released that contain information on upcoming releases, the current hot title, and previous games. Information in the magazines ranges from general analysis, to game play tips, to outright cheat codes. The campy letters from the editor are also amusing.

The games
It is impossible to discuss Retro Game Challenge without a cursory examination of each of the titles that is packed into it. Be warned that some of this information could be considered spoilers, so if you are interested in a pure play through you want to stop reading right now.

Cosmic Gate: As the first of the retro games, Cosmic Gate is one step up from being a Space Invaders clone. The game is broken into 64 waves of enemies which must be defeated into order to save the galaxy. Enemies arrive in simple patterns, line up across the screen, and then start descending. Occasionally a few baddies will break off and attack you directly. As an added twist, every level contains a flashing enemy; if you kill the flasher first then you open a warp gate.

Cheats used to clear the game: Warp to level 64 immediately.


Robot Ninja Haggle Man - A simple little game, RNHM is reminiscent of any number of early one-screen action titles. As Haggle Man you can run, jump, and throw ninja stars at your foes. Each level has a pile of labeled doors which you can enter, and doing so serves three purposes: enemies hit by opening/closing doors are hurt, you cannot be hurt while behind a door, and chaining doors alphabetically can be used to heal yourself or attack your enemies. The object of each level is to locate the boss (either by killing all the enemies on the level or revealing him from behind one of the doors). The game has sixteen levels of increasing difficulty, and by the end you will be burning through lives semi-regularly.

Cheats used to clear the game: Infinite continues.


Rally King - An offroad racing game, this title is one that I loathed. It should be noted that I hated this style of game as a kid, and so the odds of me holding anything but scorn for a modern version of a racer were approximately zero. Still, fans of this sort of game should enjoy the faithful recreation of an 80's racer, complete with fussy controls, and a tough slide-boost mechanic. Each race lasts two laps, and you must finish 6th or higher out of twenty cars in order to advance. As an added bonus you start in 20th, and every other car receives a head start.

Cheats used to clear the game: No enemy cars!


Star Prince -This is a nifty little top-down shmup in the style of Axelay. You control a ship through four levels and are constantly being attacked from flying enemies and ground-based defenses. Along the way you can find a variety of power-ups to collect or, if you shoot them enough, use as bombs. Each level has a mid-boss and an end boss, and the difficulty ramps up substantially as you penetrate deep into the game. Somewhat amusingly, halfway through completing challenges for this game you are given a rapid fire controller, which alleviates the pain of hammering buttons. Does anyone remember owning one of those little gems?

Cheats used to clear the game: Invulnerability. But only after I beat the game the first time, and then screamed in frustration as I had to complete it again (but harder) because "the enemies were just imitations"!


Robot Ninja Haggle Man 2 -An iteration on the first game in the series, RNHM2 adds in a system of power-ups as well as a lot of tougher enemies to fight. The levels also become a lot more vast, which makes the time limit that is imposed on you that much tougher to beat. This game is a faithful example of the early recipe that game companies used when creating most sequels: minimal changes to a winning formula. (Come to think of it, that's not all that different than today's standard.)

Cheats used to clear the game: Infinite continues.


Rally King SP - Hot on the heels of a "good" sequel comes Rally King SP, a sequel that is an almost exact clone of the first game, except that it's sponsored by a fictitious brand of ramen noodles. The only other noticeable change is that the tracks have a new color pallet, and between each level is an additional advertisement for the cup of noodles.

Cheats used to clear the game: No enemy cars!


Guadia Quest - Long delayed, Guadia Quest is the crown jewel of Retro Game challenge, in my opinion. The game is a Dragon Quest-esque roleplaying game that puts you in charge of a party of three generic adventurers on an epic quest.

Game play, predictably, degenerates to an awful lot of clicking 'A' to attack with each party member, but a helpful 'Auto' feature gets you around that if you're willing to wait. This title is by far the longest of the bunch, but if you see it through to the end properly you will be rewarded by an unexpected little twist.

Some encounters are also quite difficult, so prepare to die fairly frequently. Uncharacteristically, you are able to save whenever you want, and retro RPGers will love how much freedom that gives them to take chances.

Cheats used to clear the game: None


Robot Ninja Haggle Man 3 -RNHM3 takes all of the game play elements of its predecessors and throws them out the window. Instead, this title is a Castlevania knock off that does an excellent job of capturing everything that makes that style of game both great and terrible all at once. Combat and exploration are excellent, however excessive backtracking is required, and the screens can be annoying to constantly repeat. The game also can get very grindy if you don't use cheat codes, since it has all sorts of items that you can buy in order to upgrade Haggle Man.

Of special note is the story in RNHM3 - it is so perfectly 80's that the developers must have stolen it from somewhere. A perfect blend of high drama and absolute wackiness.

Cheats used to clear the game: Max gears, infinite lives, warped to bosses 2, 3, and 4.


Summary
Retro Game Challenge is definitely not a game for everyone, but if you're a child of the 1980's and owned a NES then this game has the power to take you back to the glory days of 8-bit gaming in a way that real retro titles simply do not. By creating new games instead of re-purposing classics, Retro Game Challenge ensures that it is not already old before you pop the cartridge into your DS.

In the end, all that it's missing is the necessity to blow out the game before playing it.