“Selection” is the operative word of this review. Sunsoft is Back! Retro Game Selection is exactly the type of gift you’d expect from that one aunt whose birthday gifts were those confusing games you’ve never heard of because it’s all she could find at those thrift markets where she shopped.
If you’re a very specific style gamer, you know this is meant as a compliment. Japan-only Famicom releases, the selections here are odd and largely unknown. At least they were to me, and I was very much alive and playing games at the time of their release (albeit in the midwestern U.S., which was far removed from their geographic and legal availability). Shall we look at the three games included here?
I started with Firework Thrower Kantaro’s 53 Stations of the Tokaido, because how could I not with a title like that? This is a side-scrolling action game in which you must throw an unlimited supply of fireworks at an unlimited supply of enemies. Why? To prevent evil merchants from turning the fireworks into weapons. Ironic? Absolutely. Difficult? That, too.
That’ll be a theme across all three games (difficulty, not irony), and it’s exacerbated here not only by the lack of instruction when you first play (you’ll have to check the controller setup to see how the game works), but also by the arc of the explosives. Most games like this see you throwing/shooting your weapons straight ahead without fear of the laws of physics slowing or pulling them down. Firework Thrower Kantaro, however, just kind of lobs his fireworks ahead a few feet with the hopes that the enemies move underneath them at the right time. It’s hard from the get-go, and it quickly gets harder. But it’s also nutty fun if you don’t take it seriously…and aren’t concerned about finishing it anytime soon.
Also difficult? The less interestingly titled The Wing of Madoola. It’s another side-scrolling action game, this time more akin to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. You play as Lucia, a woman who must battle through 16 levels of enemies and bosses to retrieve the titular Wing of Madoola from King Daltos.
It’s a tough mission made tougher by Atari 2600 E.T. the Extra Terrestrial-type controls. Just using a ladder requires an apprenticeship in precision, and you’ll have to button-mash to kill even the wimpiest of enemies. Gluttons may find incentive to power through the adventure, but I preferred to journey with my bro Kantaro.
Finally, we get a decidedly different game in the RPG Ripple Island. This may have been one of the earliest examples of a simple villager heeding the call of his King to prevent an evil emperor from invading their lands. As such, the basic commands for adventuring (move, look, talk, take, use) are all performed by clicking on an action bar. Medieval!
The graphics are so basic that it may as well have been a text-based adventure.
It’s easy to get lost as you wander about; there’s little to guide you on the proper path, and advancing requires plenty of inventory-based puzzle-solving. The inventory is weird, too. Most games allow you to carry an amount of items that no human could handle, even with a horse cart. Here, if you come across a berry bush, you get to pick one. Just one. Those berries are for the village, my friend, not your selfish adventuring needs.
None of these games are terribly long, but their difficulty does prolong their lifespans. That’s good, because the selling point for this “selection” is the general oddity of the games, which only carries them so far. Of course, Red Art Games adds in plenty of extras to appeal to the target demographic. You can adjust the display to match the TV technology of your preferred era. You can rewind the action to overcome your mistakes (or repeat them, if you play like I do). You can save your progress. You can view the promotional materials and pine for the days of instruction manuals and box art to display.
These extras add to the appeal of Sunsoft is Back! Retro Game Selection, but not as much as the price does. The package is only $9.99, on sale for $7.99 through September 13th. That’s a fantastic price for these games; you’re likely to get your money’s worth even if you don’t complete any of them. Observing the consternation of friends as they attempt Firework Thrower Kantaro’s 53 Stations of the Tokaido for the first time is worth that price by itself.
So, if you’re at all into retro gaming, give Sunsoft is Back! Retro Game Selection a go. You may not finish any of the games included, but you’re not likely to forget them, either.
