April's Together Retro Theme: Elkin's Eccentric Extravaganza
Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 2:14 pm
LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED.

Classic 90s RTS
Because it was such a damn good theme and a favorite genre of mine, I'm using a Phoenix Down on one of Exhuminator's theme options last month and bringing back Classic 90s RTS. Like Ex said last month, if it's an RTS game released between 1990-1999, it counts. I am gonna make one note here that this only includes strategy games like Warcraft and Command and Conquer, not simulation or tycoon games like Roller Coaster Tycoon or Sim Ant. I know some folks count those as RTS games; I don't.

Army Men Anthology
If you've followed the Games Beaten thread, you'll know that I've been all about Army Men games lately. It's always been a favorite series of mine, and my recent playthrough of the handheld games in the series has renewed interest in the series. There are about three dozen games in the series on a variety of platforms to choose from, and there are some radically different experience to be had. If you've yet to experience this gloriously infamous series, this is the PERFECT opportunity since I'm basically the resident expert on all thing Army Men. As long as it's in 3DO's Army Men series (including the Global Star Software games), it's fair game. The only exception is Army Men: Soldiers of Fortune as that's part of the series in name only.

All Hail the Neo Geo
This is a big category - maybe a little too big, to be honest - but it's one I'm excited about the prospect of. We all know and love the Neo Geo, and if someone says they don't love the Neo Geo, they're lying. Let's honor the king of the arcade and revisit some its greatest games. If you've got an MVS cabinet like I do, play some of the OG games. If you've got Popo-money, fire up an AES and play the Midas-tier home cartridges. If you don't have either, no worries; Neo Geo games have been ported to practically every system under the sun including super convenient compilations for the more modern systems. As long as it's a game or a port of a game that appeared on the Neo Geo MVS, it's fair game.

FMV Frenzy
Let's pay homage to the cringiest of cut-scenes, the most sinful of cinematics, and the most meager of movies from games in the 1990s. Most of us love them, and all of us love to hate them, they're full motion video games! There are a lot of games that count here, and there's a lot of wiggle room for what could count. In general, any game released between 1990 and 1999 and includes live-action full motion video cut scenes counts. It could be games like Corpse Killer that are almost entirely FMV or games like Resident Evil that only have a few. As long as it was released in the 1990s and has live action FMV scenes, it's fair game.

LET'S NEP 'EM ALL UP!
I know these games aren't technically retro, but it's my month, and I think half of you would be confused and/or disappointed if I DIDN'T include this token option. LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THE HYPERDIMENSION NEPTUNIA SERIES. The supreme epitome of fan service, there are more genres represented in the Neptunia series than you might think. Most of the games are JRPGs, but there's also a SRPG, a management sim, a musou RPG, a sort of musou-lite RPG, an action RPG, and - releasing in America in April - a VR experience for PS4. Hell, if you want to stretch it, we could include Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash since it just got Neptunia DLC. Time to get Nep-Nepping.

Classic 90s RTS
Because it was such a damn good theme and a favorite genre of mine, I'm using a Phoenix Down on one of Exhuminator's theme options last month and bringing back Classic 90s RTS. Like Ex said last month, if it's an RTS game released between 1990-1999, it counts. I am gonna make one note here that this only includes strategy games like Warcraft and Command and Conquer, not simulation or tycoon games like Roller Coaster Tycoon or Sim Ant. I know some folks count those as RTS games; I don't.

Army Men Anthology
If you've followed the Games Beaten thread, you'll know that I've been all about Army Men games lately. It's always been a favorite series of mine, and my recent playthrough of the handheld games in the series has renewed interest in the series. There are about three dozen games in the series on a variety of platforms to choose from, and there are some radically different experience to be had. If you've yet to experience this gloriously infamous series, this is the PERFECT opportunity since I'm basically the resident expert on all thing Army Men. As long as it's in 3DO's Army Men series (including the Global Star Software games), it's fair game. The only exception is Army Men: Soldiers of Fortune as that's part of the series in name only.

All Hail the Neo Geo
This is a big category - maybe a little too big, to be honest - but it's one I'm excited about the prospect of. We all know and love the Neo Geo, and if someone says they don't love the Neo Geo, they're lying. Let's honor the king of the arcade and revisit some its greatest games. If you've got an MVS cabinet like I do, play some of the OG games. If you've got Popo-money, fire up an AES and play the Midas-tier home cartridges. If you don't have either, no worries; Neo Geo games have been ported to practically every system under the sun including super convenient compilations for the more modern systems. As long as it's a game or a port of a game that appeared on the Neo Geo MVS, it's fair game.

FMV Frenzy
Let's pay homage to the cringiest of cut-scenes, the most sinful of cinematics, and the most meager of movies from games in the 1990s. Most of us love them, and all of us love to hate them, they're full motion video games! There are a lot of games that count here, and there's a lot of wiggle room for what could count. In general, any game released between 1990 and 1999 and includes live-action full motion video cut scenes counts. It could be games like Corpse Killer that are almost entirely FMV or games like Resident Evil that only have a few. As long as it was released in the 1990s and has live action FMV scenes, it's fair game.



I know these games aren't technically retro, but it's my month, and I think half of you would be confused and/or disappointed if I DIDN'T include this token option. LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THE HYPERDIMENSION NEPTUNIA SERIES. The supreme epitome of fan service, there are more genres represented in the Neptunia series than you might think. Most of the games are JRPGs, but there's also a SRPG, a management sim, a musou RPG, a sort of musou-lite RPG, an action RPG, and - releasing in America in April - a VR experience for PS4. Hell, if you want to stretch it, we could include Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash since it just got Neptunia DLC. Time to get Nep-Nepping.