Defence Squad: Retro Game Challenge

Normally in our series of Defense Squad pieces, we take games that were (in our opinion) criminally underrated and examine the game's merits. Retro Game Challenge is a little different though. This isn't a game that was unfairly panned. It received pretty good marks, actually. No, this is a game that should have been considered as Game of the Year material, as one of the best and oddly, most innovative games of last year. Vigigames has only been around since the beginning of 2010, but I'm going to say it now: Retro Game Challenge is my favourite game from 2009.

Don't get me wrong – 2009 was a pretty great year for gaming. Little King's Story, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2. But Retro Game Challenge is better than all of those games, or at least I think so. The difference between Retro Game Challenge and those other games is that RGC ends up becoming an incredibly loving, thorough, and thought-provoking (yes indeed!) game that doubles as a trip through gaming's Golden Era. In a lot of ways, it's the closest thing we have as gamers to our own Singin' in the Rain. OK, that's maybe a little too high of praise, but my point still stands – RGC is a classic.

The gulf between what RGC could have been (and what many probably expected it to be) and what it actually is is enormous. On the surface, RGC could have simply been a compilation of NES games from the 80s slapped onto a DS cart and sold for $20 or $30. Luckily for us, this isn't true. Instead, what you get is hands-down one of the best treatments of retro gaming in this retro gaming-mad generation. You play as, well, you. The opening cinematic describes how a man named Arino has become incredibly pissed off about his lack of gaming skills, and has decided to take it out on talented gamers around the world. To accomplish this, he sends you back to his home territory – namely, his house, in the 80s.

At all times in the game, you can see yourself and the young Arino playing the various games that the elder Arino has thrown your way. As well, you can peruse each game's manual (which has been oh-so-lovingly crafted to resemble the manuals of yesteryear, right down to the sometimes hilariously mistranslated stuff) and read the exclamatory gaming magazines that young Arino has on his shelf. This element of the game could have fallen into in-joke territory, but the game is smart enough to make the magazines more than congratulatory backscratching for the gaming industry. Of course, if you're of the age to recall actually reading one of these magazines, it makes the game pretty damned hilarious.

The framing device that the game uses for its fake NES games is actually pretty brilliant. It turns the game into a metanarrative on the social aspects of playing games. There's never a time when you or Arino aren't on screen, and the way that your bodies are positioned, the dialog between the two of you, and the occasional interjections from Arino's mom, all really help to sell this feeling of nostalgia crossed with a really poignant examination of how great that thing that I call "the game outside the game" can be. To actually have something like that included in the game is a stroke of genius.

OK, but the collection would fail if the games it included weren't all absolutely brilliant, and rest assured, they are. They most certainly are. In fact, most of these games are quite a bit better than a lot of actual NES games I've played. For instance, take Cosmic Gate. It's the first game in the collection, and it's a basic Galaga clone. Except, unlike Galaga, it fucking RULES. I never thought I'd have so much fun with a vertical shmup where you could only travel on the x-axis, but Cosmic Gate is that game.

It only gets better. There's Robot Ninja Haggleman, an incredibly fun platformer/beat-em-up. There's Rally King, a clone of Rally X that's also a really fun (and funny) racing game. There's sequels to these games (because, hey, what's the gaming world without sequels?). There's Star Prince. But most of all, there's Guardia Quest, a full NES JRPG that, if you play on Freeplay, can last up to 15 hours.

If the goal were just to play the games from start to finish, that'd be fine. But the developers smartly made it so that you have to complete specific challenges in each game. For instance, in Robot Ninja Haggleman 1, one challenge has you defeating enemies without ever touching the ground. Or another one might have you just going for a high score. All of the challenges really force you to put your mind to work to play the game in a different way than you would if you were just sitting down to play the games, and it works. It really works.

I reject the notion that this should have just been a collection of retro-styled games. That kind of stuff can be saved for the WiiWares or the XBox Live Indie Games of the world. Retro Game Challenge is more than that. Sure, it's a collection of fantastic NES games, but it's also something that made me feel all warm inside. If you have fond memories of waking up at 6AM and playing Air Fortress with your brother or sister on a rainy Sunday morning (OK, maybe that's a bit too specific), this game is tailor made for you. Younger gamers not familiar with gaming's history might not "get" it all, but it's still a fantastic game. Really, this is a game for anyone with a DS.

(Note: I actually haven't finished the game yet, but I'm putting Supreme Commander 2, Final Fantasy XIII and Monster Hunter Tri on hold while I play it, so you can probably tell how excited I am about this game.)