2014 Together Retro Calendar

[noiseredux]

Jan - Phantasy Star Online
Feb - Metal Gear
Mar - M.U.L.E.
Apr - Shock Troopers
May - The Lost Vikings
Jun - Psychonauts
Jul - Ikaruga
Aug - Dungeons and Dragons ToD and SoM
Sep - F-Zero Series
Oct - I Have No Mouth & Typing of the Dead
Nov - Ultima IV
Dec - Space Harrier



Well, it's that time of year again...

Anyone can nominate any games they want for next year. Please be as descriptive as possible in case others aren't familiar with the game you're nominating, IE:

TITLE
GENRE(s)
PORTS AVAILABLE
WHY SHOULD WE PLAY IT?

Screen shots and descriptions are highly helpful.

Everyone is encouraged to back-up or debate said nominations.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

-The more ports a game has, the better chance we have of getting lots of folks to join in. (Listing all the ports available for a game that you nominate is helpful as well).

-Together Retro has in the past been a great way to expose others to lesser-played classics. Please check out the list below of past titles, and maybe there's an under-represented genre or facet of gaming that we should be exploring?

So... what do you guys wanna play next year?


Here's a list of past TR titles so you don't nominate games we've already played:

2008:
Mar - Defender
Apr - Ristar/Kid Icarus
May - Samurai Shodown/Lunar: Silver Star
Jun - Marble Madness
Jul - Toe Jam & Earl/RC Pro Am/Diablo II
Aug - Xenogears/Solar Jetman
Sep - Jet Grind Radio/Dig Dug
Oct -
Nov - Castlevania
Dec - NiGHTS Into Dreams/Christmas NiGHTS

2009:
Jan - The Secret of Monkey Island
Feb - Galaga
Mar -
Apr - House of the Dead/Virtua Cop/Ghost Squad/Confidential Mission
May - Snatcher
Jun - Punch-Out!!
Jul - Baku Baku
Aug - Captain Commando
Sep - Crazy Taxi
Oct - Resident Evil
Nov - Wizard of Wor/Smash TV
Dec - Broken Sword

2010:
Jan - Battletoads
Feb - Contra
Mar - Phantasy Star
Apr - Qwak
May - X-COM: UFO Defense
Jun - Outrun
Jul - Ecco the Dolphin
Aug - NBA Jam
Sep - Urban Strike
Oct - King of Monsters/Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
Nov - Wonder Boy/Adventure Island
Dec - Tempest

2011:
Jan - Riviera: The Promised Land
Feb - King of Fighters 98
Mar - Star Wars: Dark Forces
Apr - Deja Vu
May - Zoop
Jun - Gradius III/Parodius
Jul - Rayman
Aug - Populous
Sep - World Series Baseball 95
Oct - Splatterhouse
Nov - Shining Force
Dec - Super Monkey Ball

2012:
Jan - Golden Axe Warrior
Feb - Soul Calibur
Mar - Ys
April - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
May - Wolfenstein 3D
June - Command & Conquer
July - Guardian Heroes/Gunstar Heroes
August -Bomberman 94
Sept - Super Mario Brothers 2/Doki Doki Panic
October - Maniac Mansion/Crush series
November - Panel de Pon
December - Do Don Pachi

2013:
Jan - RPG - Baldur's Gate
Feb - Other - Bubble Bobble
Mar - Sim - Wing Commander
Apr - FPS - Half-Life
May - Platformer - Fantastic Dizzy
Jun - Fighting - Fatal Fury Special
Jul - Racing - Road Rash series
Aug - Beat-em-up - TMNT Turtles In Time
Sep - Text Adventure - Zork
Oct - Horror Double Feature - Zombies Ate My Neighbors & Silent Hill 2
Nov - Rhythm - Parappa The Rapper
Dec - Puzzle - Lemmings

[Opa Opa]

Are we going to keep doing the Month/Genre organization that we did this year?

[noiseredux]

Are we going to keep doing the Month/Genre organization that we did this year?

what did we do last year? I'm kind of forgetting. I was just kind of leaving this very loose and seeing what kind of agreements everyone could come to.

[Opa Opa]

Well last year we assigned a genre to each month and then picked games (...I think that's how it worked. I don't remember too well..) I was wondering if we'll do that again.

[noiseredux]

Well last year we assigned a genre to each month and then picked games (...I think that's how it worked. I don't remember too well..) I was wondering if we'll do that again.

I think more or less we'll get a bunch of good nominations, and narrow them down, figure out which months fit which genres best. So I guess as games start to feel somewhat "agreed" upon we can start filling in a calendar, moving things around, pitting one game from a certain genre against another as needed, and so on. And generally we won't do 2 games from the same genre per year. Basically trying to keep it loose enough at first so we get lots of nominations/discussion. Then we'll sort of all try to tighten it up from there.

[noiseredux]

Here's some nominations that I've kept in the back of my mind throughout this year...


The Great Giana Sisters (Platformer)



I feel like this is an interesting one as it was basically a SMB clone, and one that even caused controversy when it was C&D'd by Ninty. But it also eventually resulted in a huge cult following and eventual sequels.

Platform(s) Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MSX2, Mobile phone
Unofficial ports:
DOS, Windows, Dreamcast, Nintendo DS, Linux, Mac OS X, AmigaOS 4, NetBSD, AROS, MorphOS, Symbian OS


Ultima IV (RPG)



I've never played any of the Ultima games, which feels wrong. This one I'm pretty sure has the most ports of any of them. It's also often mentioned as one of the better in the series right? (It's also free on GOG).

Platform(s) Amiga, Apple II, Atari 800, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, FM Towns, MSX2, NEC PC-8801, NEC PC-9801, Sharp X68000, Sharp X1, FM-7, NES, Sega Master System


Metal Gear (...Action?)



I feel like while most of us are familiar enough with MGS, a lot of us may have missed the original game.

Platform(s) MSX2, Commodore 64, Family Computer/NES, GameCube, Mobile phone, PC MS-DOS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Wii Virtual Console, Xbox 360


Space Harrier (On-Rails Shooter)



Such a classic game, and available in a million places. Has some of the best music of that era. I far prefer Space Harrier to the likes of Afterburner, etc. This would probably be really fun for scoring competitions for us all.

Platform(s) Arcade, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Boy Advance, Game Gear, Nintendo Famicom, Handheld electronic game, PlayStation 2, Sega 32X, Sega Master System, Sega Saturn, TurboGrafx-16, Virtual Console, ZX Spectrum, Nintendo eShop (for 3DS)

[samsonlonghair]

Thanks for posting the past TR titles, noise. This makes me realize that by some grievous error, we have never played Psychonauts on Together Retro. So, without further ado...

I hereby nominate Psychonauts for Together Retro 2014.
Genre: 3D Platformer.
Ports: (deep inhale) Gamecube, XBOX, Playstation 2, Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, Good Old Games, Steam, PSN, XBLA, Mac App Store, and every other downloadable game service under the sun (exhale)
Why should we play this: Psychonauts is clever, unforgettable, imaginative fun. Despite critical acclaim, Psychonauts sold poorly. This project was the brain child of Tim Schafer who made the Monkey Island trilogy, Maniac Mansion, and Grim Fandango.

[Opa Opa]

Ikaruga

Genre: Shmup

Ports: Arcade, Dreamcast, GameCube, XBLA, Android, Steam? (did it pass the greenlight thing?)

Why: You'd be hard-pressed to discuss shmups without this game eventually coming into the conversation. Ikaruga is famous for its bullet eating gameplay in which running into bullets that correspond to your ship's color do not destroy you but in fact power up your charge shot. Throw in some good ol' level memorization, bullet hell patterns, and great visuals and you're in for a treat.

The game is actually affordable as far as shmups go. The GameCube version seems to hover around the $30-45 range; while the DC version is around $40-50ish, sometimes around $35 if you get lucky in an auction. And the game is only $10 on Xbox Live.

[ExedExes]

This year I thought about games throughout the year and I have carefully selected a decent list of games. I hope some of these will be considered.

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Cannon Fodder
Strategy
Amiga/Atari ST/PC/3DO/Jaguar/SNES/Genesis/GBC

It has RTS at heart, but is a lot more action oriented. Few have experienced the humor, action, and surprisingly good gameplay.

-----


Deus Ex
FPS
PC/PS2

Because I really wanted it last year, but gave it up for Half-Life. Way more than just an FPS, with decision making, great story, stats and upgrades to consider, and much more. It is also a cheap pick up on GOG.

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MULE
Simulation
Atari 8-bit series/C64/NES

Last year, this was narrowly beat out by Wing Commander. Fantastic simulation.

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Mortal Kombat
Fighting
Nearly every console imaginable

A good time to explore this controversial series. Why the heck not?

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Super Off Road
Racing
Arcade/Amiga/Atari ST/C64/DOS/Game Boy/Game Gear/Atari Lynx/SMS/Genesis/NES/SNES

Classic arcade racing. Tons of great ports too.

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Startropics I and/or II
Action/Adventure
NES/VC

Zelda style gameplay and exploration, good length and story.

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Solomon's Key
Puzzle
Arcade/Atari ST/C64/DOS/NES/SMS/Xbox/VC

A puzzle game that not many know about and deserves a month for sure.

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Castle of The Winds
RPG
PC

Now officially free to download, this Windows classic is surprisingly deep for an early PC RPG. 2 episodes and tons of ways to customize your character.

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King of Dragons and/or Knights of the Round
Beat em ups
Arcade/SNES/PS2/Xbox/PSP

I put them together because they play nearly the same, and I think they're both really great with tons of awesome action.

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Gods
Platformer
Amiga/DOS/Atari ST/Genesis/SNES

This one is too unknown and it has great action and even some puzzle solving.

[fastbilly1]

I am going to make a power play and say that MULE will be a title next year. We have bounced it around a couple times over the last few years and it was shelved because Space MULE/MULE Returns was supposed to come out and we were going to play it that month as a cross promotion. But that team stopped talking to me so thats off the table.