Favorite Games You Played For The First Time In 2017

[Skippy B. Coyote]

One of the most fun aspects of being a retro gaming enthusiast is discovering new games that you might have missed back when they were first released, so I thought I'd make a year end wrap up thread for people to discuss their favorite discoveries from this past year. It doesn't matter whether your favorite games of the year were new releases that just came out this past year, ancient treasures from the pre-crash era, or anything in between; all that matters is that you played them for the first time in 2017.

I'll start things off by counting down my Top 5 favorite "new" games from from this past year...





5. River Raid 3 for Atari 2600
Starting off the countdown at Number 5 is a very recent discovery that hasn't been made available on cartridge yet but has already surpassed the outstanding homebrew game Lead as my new favorite shoot 'em up on the Atari 2600. River Raid 3 is a hack of the classic River Raid done by Nukey Shay, and holy cow does it ever add a whole new level of excitement and intensity to the game. The spread shot, fast missiles, turbo speed, background color variations, and statistical tables give River Raid 3 (Game 16 in particular) a decidedly contemporary feel that should definitely appeal to any fan of modern shoot 'em ups. The only thing it's missing is some kick ass tunes to blow stuff up to, but given the limitations of the 2600's hardware I can't fault it for the lack of music. Definitely check this one out if you like vertical scrolling shoot 'em ups!





4. Donkey Kong PK for Atari 7800
Coming in at Number 4 is without a doubt the single greatest home console port of Donkey Kong ever conceived. Tep392 did an incredible job on this game, copying all the enemy behavior and other game elements direct from the original arcade source code. The only complaint I could possibly make about Donkey Kong PK is that I stupidly sold my copy back in the spring when I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to stick with the Atari 7800, and who knows how long it will be until there's another production run. If you like Donkey Kong and can get your hands on a copy of this game though then by all means go for it.

 

 

 

3. Doom for Sega 32X
You might be surprised to see this notoriously flawed Doom port on my list of favorite games for the year, but in spite of all it's oddities it's still Doom and I've never met a version of Doom that I didn't like. I grew up with a Sega Genesis as my main childhood gaming system and have always loved playing the original PC-DOS version of Doom, but back then I would have never imagined that the humble 16-bit Genesis could have been capable of running any version of my favorite first-person shooter (even with the help of a magical power boosting mushroom device) so when I got a 32X earlier this year Doom was the first game I picked up for it. And you know what? Even with only 2 of the 3 chapters of the original Doom included, no BFG-9000, a letterboxed screen, enemies that only face forwards, and some strange quirks like the rockets coming out of the launcher backwards and hair on your character's animated avatar randomly reversing it was still a ton of fun to play. I did two complete play throughs of all 17 levels on both Ultra Violence and Nightmare difficulties and had a great time with it, and I particularly enjoyed the bassy Genesis sound chip renditions of classic Doom tunes along with the sheer novelty of just being able to play Doom on my Sega Genesis. For all this game's flaws it's still a very playable and fun version of Doom, and that's why it made my favorites list for this year.





2. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition for Nintendo Wii
Coming in second place this year is a port of another game that I played a ton of in my younger days, though this one is actually a major upgrade over the original that came out on the GameCube. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition takes everything that was great about the GameCube survival horror classic, adds in all the extras and unlockables previously exclusive to the PlayStation 2 port, then polishes it off with some of the best motion controls you'll find on the Wii. Aiming and shooting with the Wii remote is as fast and precise as can be and—dare I say—at times actually makes the game feel a little too easy. With the Wii remote's motion control you'll be blasting the heads off the infected with ease all day long, though for those who prefer a more traditional and challenging control option the game does support the Wii Classic Controller. With all the extra content and options for how to control the game I can confidently say that the Wii Edition is the definitive must-own version of Resident Evil 4.





1. Cursed Mountain for Nintendo Wii
I bought this game on a whim for $6 from a local Half Price Books and ended up loving so much that I did a full play through of it in a single week. I just couldn't put it down, and I would go as far as to say that it's the best survival horror game I've played in the last decade. That may largely be due to how much time I spent studying Eastern philosophy in college though, as Cursed Mountain does expect you to have a decent working knowledge of Buddhism and related terminology. For instance, if you don't know what the concept of dharma or a Yogini is the game might leave you more confused than entertained much of the time; but if you're reasonably familiar with Buddhism then you'll probably find it to be a fantastic and very unique survival horror game. I know I sure did, because Cursed Mountain for the Nintendo Wii is my 2017 game of the year!

Edited December 18, 2017 by Jin

[doctorclu]

I'm sure many guessed mine...

 

[HoshiChiri]

Oh, this is easy- Bosconian.

 

I found a Namco Museum Vol. 1 for PlayStation by chance at a local thrift store. I don't think I even tried everything on it- once I got to Bosconian, I didn't want to play anything else. Super fun!

[BydoEmpire]

Bought a FloppyEmu and got around to playing a game I saw a lot of ads for back in the 80s, but never actually owned or played. I thought it would be cool and it is!

 

[Tanooki]

Well I don't know if they're favorites as that takes some serious time, but stuff like Zelda Breath of the Wild, Skyrim on Switch, Doom on PS1, Everspace on GoG/PC all come to mind.

 

Zelda made me enjoy let alone like the franchise again as it was beyond stale. Skyrim I just never had a taste for nor gave it time, but Zelda being a semi-similar style sold me and it's amazing too. Doom on PS1 I just never touched, but I found it cheap locally then read up how it was like the best version made for many years PC aside and it is so I keep it around. And Everspace being uniquely a mix of a space combat shooter, mining, and all around rogue style game I kept pumping hours after hours into it inching a little further with no regrets as it's (as I said) unique and very fun.

 

I'm sure I'm leaving out something but those jump out the most.

[Eltigro]

Ms Pac-Man (Atari 2600) I had played Ms Pac Man in the arcades before, of course, but had never played this version for the 2600 until this year. I got it from a new game store that opened up in the next town over. It's just amazing how much of an improvement over the Atari Pac Man game this is. And when playing with a Genesis arcade stick, it really comes close to the arcade feel. I haven't noticed any cutscenes between stages, but the maze does change, and the fruit moves around the stage and actually looks like fruit and not just a rectangle. A great game for the VCS!

 

Ni No Kuni: The Wrath of the White Witch (PS3) I had never played any PS3 games before this year, because I never had a PS3 game before this year. Ni No Kuni was a fun RPG and the cartoon style graphics are amazing. It really does look like a Studio Ghibli film. The music is excellent, also. On the PS3, when you highlight a game on the home screen, the home screen changes to a scene of that game. On Ni No Kuni, music starts up, too. Great orchestral music with brass... really fits the game to a T. The PS3 really had some great power. I still haven't finished it because I fell into that rut of trying to grind for a trophy instead of progressing the game, but I have reason to believe I'll go back to it eventually to finish it up.

 

Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt (XBox One) I don't think that I had ever even heard of the Witcher series until this one came out. It has turned into an excellent game... guess all the glowing reviews were right. Open world. Monsters. Varied quests. Romance options. Tons of weapon choices (I mean... mostly swords, but still). Intriguing storyline. Secrets to find. Beautiful scenery (and that's not just in the brothel). If you liked Skyrim, you'll like Witcher 3. They're really very similar, and that's a good thing.

 

Raiden (Atari Jaguar) Another one where I had played other versions, but not this one. Raiden is what Raiden is. Vertical scrolling shmup, lots of enemies and action. I love non-bullet hell shmups and have enjoyed Raiden on other systems. Raiden on the Jag is not without its issues... no auto fire option... right side of the screen taken up by scoreboard... and I think I still prefer the TurboGrafx version over this one, but Raiden is still a great game.

 

Panzer Dragoon Saga (Sega Saturn) Emulated this one... could probably never afford the real thing... but it was still pretty great. Loved the music and battle system. Good story, too. Certainly not worth what people pay for it, but it is a great game. There needs to be a greater variety of enemies for one thing. I think there were a max of like two, maybe three different enemies in any particular area. But I think my biggest complaint was that it just wasn't big enough. I wanted more... larger towns... more towns... more people to talk to... more quests to discover... more shops to visit... more things to buy... Maybe games like Skyrim had spoiled me with things to do and I just wasn't as happy with a more focused story. At the time, the game was huge... I mean, it covered 3 discs!

[Austin]

I went through my list of completed games this year (which is *a lot*) and I only finished two new games I hadn't played before. Crazy.

 

The first game would be Dark Souls on the 360. It was always hyped up as being an amazingly difficult game. It was surely tough, but to me for a lot of the wrong reasons. I did enjoy it regardless and clocked about 100 hours into it, but I ended up raging on my most recent playthrough and put my plans to try the others on hold for a bit.

 

The second game is Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I'm not normally much into open world games, but I got sucked into this one. Clocked nearly 150 hours into it. Really enjoyed it overall and I need to revisit it soon (I played and finished it in the first two weeks it was out).

 

I guess there are a lot of other games I played for the first time this year, but nothing I've sunk much time into.

[Gabriel]

Super Robot Wars V

 

Accidentally ran across a video of it. Saw the Yamato. Saw english subs. Bought it. Played it all the way through. Then started a new game and played it all the way through again.

 

Stands as the only TRPG I've played all the way through twice back to back. I'll be playing it again in a a couple of weeks. Because I get to control the Yamato, Nadesico, Strike Freedom Gundam, Nu Gundam, Gundam Z, and many other units I had no idea how much I'd end up liking. It even introduced me to Cross Ange, and I ended up buying the anime series and liking it.

 

Best purchase I've made for my PSTV (Vita).

 

If it had Macross mechs, I'd probably hardly ever play anything else.

 

 

Dragon Warrior III

 

I've had it for decades but only recently spent much time with it. Now I wonder why I haven't been playing it all along. Definitely a true great and something that will be going into my regular rotation. (I play Dragon Warrior 1 from start to finish every couple of years.)

 

Just the joy of being able to select classes for my characters, name them, and then explore a huge overworld was wonderful. I had almost forgotten how much I used to enjoy getting a ship in these types of games and being able to wander the world to any compass point I desired.

 

But I wish it had more prestige classes other than just the Sage.

[spacecadet]

Tough one, because I played a whole bunch of games that were new to me in 2017. The ones that immediately come to mind (and that I therefore think must be the most memorable):

 

1) Outrun 2/2006. I got to play the arcade Outrun 2 and the PSP version of Outrun 2006 in 2017 for the first time, and wow! What great updates to the original. Still had the same feel, but with amazing graphics and perfect updates to the iconic music.

 

2) Radiant Silvergun (Saturn). Well, I love Treasure shooters and have been a slave to the developer for a while, owning pretty much every other major game they've made, so I kinda knew I'd like Radiant Silvergun. I just never got to play it before because it's rare and expensive (and I don't really do Saturn bootlegs). It's exactly what I hoped it'd be.

 

3) Bayonetta/Bayonetta 2 (Wii U). I played the demo for this on PS3 when it came out and loved it, but never got the full game until I got my Wii U. And it is just one of the most fun hack and slash games I've ever played. It is just pure GAME. A lot of games wrap themselves up in "story" or "strategy" or some other thing to try to make themselves seem deeper or more "artful" - Bayonetta is about as pure a *gaming* experience as you can get in the modern era. And it's executed really, really well - everything works, looks, and feels just like it should in a game like this.

 

4) House of the Dead: Overkill (Wii U). I'd heard the polarized responses to this at the time and even though I didn't have the right controllers for it (it's also on PS3, which I did have, just no Move controllers), I had decided not to bother. But after playing it, I think it's so over the top and ridiculous that it makes total sense. It's basically a parody. It's intentionally stupid but also really, genuinely fun as a HotD game. After comparing it and HotD 2 side by side, it's clear that Overkill is the better game. HotD 2 just feels outdated now.

 

A couple of new arcade games that were really memorable and that I don't see a huge number of people talking about:

 

1) The Walking Dead. A light gun game where you get to shoot a crossbow like Daryl! It's the reason I went back and bought the HotD games for Wii U, but none of them are even CLOSE to what The Walking Dead arcade game brings to the genre. It's just a crazy game with a lot of stuff going on. I am dying for a home port.

 

2) Space Invaders Frenzy. This is kind of a novelty but it's intense and really innovative. If you haven't seen it:

 

 

In person, the screen is HUGE, and it's made up of individual lights, it's not an LCD. It's pretty crazy looking, and really wild to play.

[BassGuitari]

Looking back, I've honestly done so little actual gaming this year that it's hard to come up with many. Nevertheless, a few come to mind:

Demons of Dex (VIC-20): I don't usually do homebrews, but I love roguelikes, and I have a soft spot for the VIC. And for a VIC-style "micro-Rogue," DoD hit it out of the park.

Sword of Fargoal (VIC-20): Another roguelike for the VIC-20, this one being an original title from BITD. A little slow and somewhat clunky compared to Dex, but also a little more involved, and still a nice game to lose yourself in.

Galax Attax (TRS-80 Color): It's Galaxian. Not much else to say other than it's arguably the best (and fastest!) version of the game for the CoCo, and a relatively faithful one at that.

Guardian (TRS-80 Color): This obscure title was certainly a diamond in the rough--a competent and playable Defender clone for the CoCo that, thanks to its lo-res semigraphics mode, is also one of the most colorful CoCo 1/2 games I've seen. (Sidebar: emulation does not do this game justice.)

Blue Star (VIC-20): Lotta VIC-20 and CoCo games, I know--they were the last systems I had out that I found new-to-me games for that I actually played. Regardless, Blue Star seriously impressed me--a sort of hodge-podge of elements from Jet Set Willy and Metroid that made for a surprisingly deep and eminently playable action-adventure, considering it runs in 3.5K of RAM or whatever a stock VIC-20 has.

Smash (Odyssey 400): I've had an Odyssey 400 for years but it mostly sat dormant...until this summer. Even among pong systems I actually keep out, Smash (Odyssian for "Handball") is not a game I go to. But my girl wanted to try it when I pulled the 400 out to finally fix it (it sat dormant for so long because it had issues I never got around to resolving), perhaps thinking a game called "Smash" would be exciting or something. To my surprise, it actually kinda was.

[+thegoldenband]

This thread made me curious what games I've played this year that I'd even consider nominating, so I looked over my notes:

 

Tail of the Sun (PlayStation) - quirky sim/open-world game set in prehistoric times

Night Trap (Sega 32X) - more fun than I expected, also more stressful to beat 100% than I expected

Buttsubushi (PlayStation) - goofy cross between Pengo and Bomberman (sort of), plus a puzzle mode

CT Special Forces (PlayStation) - nice run-'n'-gun for co-op play

Bomberman 64 Japan, aka "Arcade Edition" (N64) - sure, it's a bunch of minigames and rehashes, but it's a pleasant bunch of etc.

Super Final Match Tennis (SNES) - decent but overlong SNES tennis title

Steel Machine (CD-i) - sort of a remake of Uridium, with ridiculous controls and super '90s vibe

De Zaak van Sam (CD-i) - short but amusing (and surprisingly risqué!) Dutch FMV game about a private detective

Tommy Moe's Skiing & Snowboarding (SNES) - SNES version of Val d'Isère on the Jaguar; irritating but utterly addictive Freeride mode

Porky Pig's Haunted Holiday (SNES) - bizarre, moody platformer with astonishingly dissonant soundtrack; the result is very early Looney Tunes, in its funny way

Crossfire (NES) - intriguing run-'n'-gun in which the distant background comes into play

 

I don't know that I 100% stand behind any of these games, but the ones I played with my wife -- Night Trap and De Zaak van Sam -- will certainly stick with me, thanks to their goofy songs and amusing corniness. I think they were the most fun too, along with CT Special Forces.

 

OTOH Steel Machine and Tommy Moe's were ferociously tough and therefore satisfying to beat, especially Tommy Moe's which became pretty addictive as I tried to beat Freeride mode. I don't know how fun they were per se, though, since both had me unleashing torrents of expletives on many occasions.

[carlsson]

My discoveries during the past year, that I believe I might play again:

 

Getaway (Atari 8-bit). It was played in the HSC and new to me. I thought it would be a dull maze game and didn't look forward at all to play it. However I almost spent 3 hours over the course of two weeks on this game, which is a lot by my standards.

 

Bowling (Atari 2600). Since I didn't have a 2600 as a child - and still don't have one except for the Atari Flashback Portable - the entire 2600 library is foreign to me. While it might be a bit simplistic, I found this is a great game to play in bed right before going to sleep.

 

Save Mary (Atari 2600). Ditto about this one, which I understand never was released commercially. A unique puzzle action game that probably could've sold well on a different format than the 2600 in 1990.

 

Yar's Revenge (Atari 2600). Not kidding, this was unknown to me until early April 2017 when I played it for the first time on my AFP in the car the day before my birthday.

 

Honorable mentions:

 

Micro Hexagon (C64). I found this homebrew game in January 2016 and so far played six sessions of varying length. Definitely one I will play more, and I think is a great party game, in particular if the C64 is connected to a projector and a speaker system pulsating the music.

 

Ladder (CP/M). I entered the world of Ladder in May 2016, nearly 35 years after its release. Despite it is ASCII based, it offers great action and has been featured on my N8VEM board thrice so far. It is just a little cumbersome to set up the board as I haven't got secondary PPIDE storage to work yet and haven't connected a standalone terminal so I'm running it in a terminal window on my PC.

[Silverfleet]

Here are some of the stand-out games I played for the 1st time in 2017:

 

Dragonfire: Atari 2600

I saw an episode of Classic Gamer Room where Mark was playing it, and I knew I had to pick up a copy. I had heard about this game for years, but never had a copy or got around to playing it until this year. For a few weeks, I was addicted! It's a great arcade-style game that I'm happy to have in the collection.

 

Axiom Verge: Xbox One

I had heard mixed reviews on this retro-style MetroidVania game for a while, and snagged it on Xbox Live when it was on sale. I dig it! The weapons and abilities are cool, especially the "glitch gun" which seemingly allows you to "mess up the game code" to access new areas and change how enemies behave. The music is also awesome.

 

The Legend of Zelda - A Link Between Worlds: 3DS

I bought a 3DS just to play this game. It was worth it. I'm still making my way through, but it's a great callback to A Link to the Past while adding new innovations. Looks great in 3D, plays great, IS great.

 

Shantae and the Pirates' Curse: 3DS

A few weeks after picking up the above mentioned 3DS, I spotted this one on clearance at GameStop. Knowing that it would be hard to find someday, I snagged it for the collection. The shocker? This much hyped up game DELIVERED. It quickly became one of my favorite titles on the system, and I recently completed it and now want to 100% the game.

 

I feel like I should have played more new games instead of the same old ones I keep playing over and over.

[+save2600]

7800 - Donkey Kong PK. What a masterpiece! Only wish it supported the AtariVox for saving highscores to instead of those other products that don't really exist. Yet.

 

7800 - Mean 18 Golf. Only have it thanks to a multi-cart, but the reviews are pretty spot on: surprisingly good!

 

2600 - Scramble. Stellar conversion for the beloved VCS.

 

2600 - Super Cobra Arcade. Like it so well, that my boxed PB version has been relegated to the sale/trade pile.

 

7800 - reserving this spot for BBCQ, or T:ME Salvo. Haven't played them yet, but will soon.

[HoshiChiri]

 

2) Space Invaders Frenzy. This is kind of a novelty but it's intense and really innovative. If you haven't seen it:

 

 

 

In person, the screen is HUGE, and it's made up of individual lights, it's not an LCD. It's pretty crazy looking, and really wild to play.

 

Plus the seats/guns vibrate when you fire. Definitely one of the best classic-to-redemption machines out there right now.

[Punisher5.0]

The only thing that comes to mind is the Uncharted series for PS3. I beat the first and played a decent amount of the second.

[Eltigro]

Heh... just played another one that I'd like to add to the list. Usually light games are pretty meh... but just played Shooting Gallery for the Sega Master System and I feel like it may be getting a lot of play time. So much better than Duck Hunt or Safari Hunt. Much more variety and challenge. Plus the Sega Light Phaser looks so much cooler than the Zapper. Great light gun game.

[digdugnate]

My three faves (i'm not gonna count current-gen systems) were three homebrews for the TI 99 4A:

 

Tex Turbo

Mad Marvin's Great Escape

Snake Plissken

[derFunkenstein]

Top 5 games I played for the first time in 2017:

 

1. Dracula X (PC Engine CD)

2. Military Madness (TG 16)

3. Guardian Heroes (Saturn)

4. Wheel of Fortune (Genesis - also tried SNES and SegaCD versions, but the Genesis was my favorite, and my wife's too)

5. Donkey Kong Country: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)

 

These games are basically all "old hat" around here for you guys, but I rediscovered a lot of my favorite old games this year, and also played some "new" old games.