Retro Game Challenge for Nintendo DS Reviews by Gamers

Retro Game Challenge takes you back to the 80's to play some classic games. Or at least knock-off's of classic games. There's a paper-thin story but you won't pay any attention to it. You're given one game at a time to play and four challenges for each of them. They're usually along the lines of "get a high score" or "get to level four". Once all are beaten, you move on to the next game. Repeat until bored.

Thankfully, once you beat a game you unlock it for freeplay so you can go back any time and just enjoy yourself. Sadly, the games themselves are rather repetitive. There's a shooter, a racer, a platformer and an RPG... and then there's a shooter, a racer, and two more platformers. The problem is that you're given games like Haggleman (the platformer) and then later you have to play Haggleman 2. Then Haggleman 3. The unlocked games are mostly just 'upgraded' versions of their counterparts.

It would've been really nice to have eight different games, instead of five games with multiple sequels for each. This can be really awful if you don't like one of the games, such as the racer, which is forced upon you twice.

Overall, it's not a bad game. The presentation is top notch and really gives you that eighties gaming vibe. It's just that the games themselves are repetitive after the second or third iteration.

Good:
+Presentation
+The shooters

Bad:
-Too many sequels
-The racer

I'm not very good at the challenge part(especially shooters, which is the first set you have to complete). However, even without completing challenges, there are 3 action, 2-3 racing, 2 shooters, and even one RPG to play in free play mode. I concentrated mostly on the RPG(guardia quest), which seemed very similar to dragon warrior II. Even the graphics are the same. Guardia quest concentrates more on dungeon exploration rather than overworld and storylines. It's easier in some ways, because of the ablitiy to save whenever and wherever you want. You also have a warp spell that allows you to warp to wherever you have already been, including dungeons. When you need to revive your characters(if you didn't loose the whole party) you just return to the castle town and talk to the magician and he'll do it for free. Eventually there will be a spell that you can use as well. If you like the old school level up and explore type of RPG's, you should like this game. If you don't, maybe you will like one of the other ones.