Retro Game Challenge

Developer: Indies Zero
Publisher: XSEED Games
Release Date: Feb. 10, 2009
System: Nintendo DS
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web site

In a nutshell: Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1989.

0:00 As a big retro gamer, the idea of playing a game based on playing retro games intrigues me. The actual gameplay in Retro Game Challenge didn't actually intrigue me that much for the five minutes I played it at E3 '08. Let's see if that changes...

0:01 Some quick static and old-school TV test patterns flash by, then some retro-sounding bells play as the title appears on a slow-scrolling starry background. And I didn't even have to blow in the cartridge!

0:02 My gender choices are simply M and F. I name my guy Ace and we're off, with the story scrolling by in Star Wars-style yellow-on-black lettering. "Having been utterly defeated by his friends in every current-gen multiplayer game, Arino longed to become a game master." So he digitized himself into a DS and haunts gamers with retro challenges. "You have been challenged ... on his home turf ... the '80s." Yes! I love the '80s!

0:04 "Now you've done it! You've turned it on!" says an angular 3-D face that reminds me of Brain Age's Dr. Kawashima, except he's wearing a crown. He's Game Master Arino. "You're quite the gamer, yes? It's so obvious!" What gave me away? With a cry of "Gaaaaaaaame! Oooooooooooon!!" he turns me into a kid and sends me back to the '80s.

0:06 So it's 1984 but it's not the real 1984 because Cosmic Gate just came out and that's like not even a real game in the real world, but anyway me and this other kid are on the bottom screen and the TV is on the top screen and the other kid is Arino and he says "Who're you? What are you doing in my house?" and I tell him the story of how a future version of him sent me back in time and he says "Wow, you're kinda weird," and I think this game is kinda weird...

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer