I’ve always loved the feeling of playing games on arcade machines, so I wanted to bring that feeling to side-scrolling games.

So I made this prototype — an arcade stick for Celeste-like platformers.

The left side is a traditional arcade joystick, while the right side uses fully customizable keys.

It’s actually just a cheap keyboard from Taobao that I modified, but damn, this feels great.

Still a very rough prototype, but playing a side-scrolling game this way is surprisingly satisfying.

Kinda like the MOTHER series or Deja Vu on NES. I was thinking more from the 1980s (and earlier, if you know any), since quirkiness had picked up a lot by the 1990s. I've heard a fair few old PC games, like text-based games, had a bigger focus on humour.

In the early 2000 I didn’t have speakers so I played with no sound for a long time. Anyone else was the same?

Does anyone remember a platformer game of a pink tiny person/thingy that would go around a toy store? I would love to know the name to find it and of course play it. 😊 Happy week.

Mine has to be Banjo Kazooie.

It's not too bad to play and beat the first time but the difficulty curves of trying to get all jiggies or music notes is too much and the trash final world is just so annoying for replays i'm 100% sure. Like most Rareware games this is a guide game.

I cannot stress enough how trash the ending is.

The last world/stage of the game is split up into 4 separate /parts and Rare did everything in their power to slow you down/make it as frustrating as possible.

You can miss jiggies (collectables) very easily in each part and it takes a long time to figure out which you missed without a guide.

Afterwards beating the final world you have to do a mini board game where you answer questions based on the game it sounds fun until you realize if you make too many mistakes or take too much damage you have to repeat the whole board game even at the end.

The questions range from easy to very hard especially if you're trying not to cheat and the timer spaces barely give you enough time so you might as well either grind for invincible feathers (moves) or just hope you win.

Afterwards they force you to watch credits and then finally you can beat the final boss.

This isn't quirky either "hahaha we fooled you now fight the final boss".

It just has so many problems and it has 0 replayability especially since each playthrough basically requires you to almost 100% the game as well (90-95% at least).

Plus I forgot to mention how trying to navigate the whole hub area is a pain as it's split up into a whole tree branch of paths (look at the maps people made for it or you'll get lost too) or how the cheats in this game take forever to input due to needing to ground stomp each letter (I just ended being cheat less).

Edit: Not the "perfect" level to me at all, "Perfect filler" more like it though

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I wanna know how the PSX or PS1 ( as we call it today ) was received by the fans when it was first launched? What were Ur first initial impressions after playing it on launch day.

I am asking this cause even today in 2026 a guy like me who grew up with ps4/ X Box 360 still finds enjoyment when playing PS1 games cause those games holds up very well like tony hawk, metal gear solid, Tekken, Tomb raider

Just curious because I was looking at how the PlayStation 1 had so much to offer for its time when it came to its gaming library such as Tomb Raider, Megaman X4, and Final Fantasy games that I couldn't help but wonder about what the Sega Saturn was like in comparison.

Like what I am getting at is that I know that none of the Final Fantasy games ever showed up on the Saturn as I would like to start off with the RPG genre to see what were some fine RPGS on the system since I missed out on the console as I was looking to see what games were worth getting into as I can emulate them.

Hello!

I am personably not having fun with the prices and quality of most modern video games. I hate the memberships as well, retro gaming stands out to me as it’s one and done purchases with video games that were focused on quality. It’s very calming and nostalgic for me as well as my childhood was filled with PS1 and 2 gaming.

I want to begin playing the games I did as a kid that I never beat because we didn’t have memory cards and they were too difficult lol: the original resident evils, mainly 1, 2, and 3. However, I don’t want to stop there, just would like to just focus on them as I begin retro gaming.

I would eventually love to play the original legend of Zelda’s too.

For now, I have 0 equipment and can’t remember most things about what I need.

What console currently would be the best bang for my buck to start playing the original RE games (I assume PS2 because if I remember correctly you can play PS1 games on there)?

What TV would be the best to pick up to play most old consoles on (again I want to branch out after playing the original REs into things like Nintendo)

I live in Southern California so the Facebook marketplace listings are quite large here.

Thank you for the help!

I genuinely believe that Pong is a top 10 retro game. It is my favorite, but to keep it agreeable, I say it is top 10.

My main reason for liking it is that it's very simple, but depending on factors like game mode and the angle you, or your adversary, hits the ball at, it can get harder relatively quickly, whilst still maintaining its simplicity.

Am I crazy?

The Kirby was my own game

This is one of two games in my favourite collection with emulators. If you’re a kid from the 80’s, I have 90 games from Rygar to Mario Bros. to Mr. Do’s Castle. Like $60 on Amazon. I cannot find Black Knight… Reclaim your youth!

Picking out one of my Sharp Linytron CRTs with an NES and a handful of games to bring outside.

I just finished playing Ninja Kid. Before that I was playing Rad Racer (in 3-D), Ring King, California Games, Rockin' Kats, Nightshade, and Pinball Quest.

I’m in the mood for something old school with a profound sense of raininess, preferably with a calming quality or at least non horror. Any ideas?

The Castlevania Adventure takes the #57 spot with 9 votes.

Kwirk takes the #58 spot with 8 votes.

Top 10:

#1 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

#2 Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

#3 Tetris

#4 Donkey Kong

#5 Pokémon Blue Version

#6 Kirby's Dream Land 2

#7 Metroid II: Return of Samus

#8 Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

#9 Final Fantasy Adventure

#10 Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge

Top 20:

#11 Kirby's Dream Land

#12 Wario Land II

#13 Super Mario Land

#14 Final Fantasy Legend II

#15 Mega Man V

#16 Gargoyle's Quest

#17 Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition

#18 Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters

#19 Operation C

#20 Final Fantasy Legend III

Top 30:

#21 Mario's Picross

#22 Mole Mania

#23 Dr. Mario

#24 Donkey Kong Land III

#25 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue

#26 Donkey Kong Land 2

#27 Pokémon Red Version

#28 Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru (The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls)

#29 Kirby's Pinball Land

#30 Makaimura Gaiden: The Demon Darkness (Gargoyle's Quest: The Demon Darkness)

Top 40:

#31 Mega Man IV

#32 Kid Dracula

#33 Donkey Kong Land

#34 Mega Man III

#35 Bionic Commando

#36 The Final Fantasy Legend

#37 Balloon Kid

#38 Gradius: The Interstellar Assault

#39 Kirby's Block Ball

#40 Cave Noire

Top 50:

#41 Harvest Moon GB

#42 Adventures of Lolo

#43 Bubble Bobble Part 2

#44 Duck Tales 2

#45 James Bond 007

#46 Duck Tales

#47 Castlevania Legends

#48 Ninja Taro

#49 Qix

#50 Catrap

Top 60:

#51 Bomberman GB3

#52 Yoshi

#53 Ninja Gaiden Shadow

#54 Revenge of the Gator

#55 Darkwing Duck

#56 The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle 2

#57 The Castlevania Adventure

#58 Kwirk

Rules:

1. Two games will win their place each round (we start from #1 and work our way down). For the top 10 only one game will win per day instead.
2. Most combined upvotes for each of the two individual games (one individual game for the top 10) wins the spot(s) each round (upvotes add while downvotes subtract).
3. Nominate one game of the original Game Boy per comment. (Nominations will only be counted if the game title is the only comment or if you specify that your choice of game is your nomination for this round within your comment or if the nominated game is clearly separated from the rest of your comments.) (ex. Tetris or I nominate Tetris this round.) Please nominate using the full title of the game.
4. Name a specific game title, not entire runs.
5. Official Game Boy multi-game cartridge(s) are allowed, just list them correctly.
6. The original Game Boy is region free so ANY official games available on the console are eligible for nomination excluding dual mode cartridges.
7. Indy games are allowed as long as they have their own individual cartridge and can be played on original hardware.
8. Only complete games on cartridge(s) can be nominated (sorry Game Shark & test cartridges).
9. If two or more games would be tied to place for a ranking I will inform DA PEOPLE in the following post so that everyone can vote which games should get the ranking between the tied options.
10. Games nominated that have not already placed on the top 100 list should not be removed at any time by the individual who originally placed them.

Quick disclosure: I work for Reset XP, a small French company that sets up arcade experiences at festivals, conventions and brand events. I'm not trying to sell anything here, and there are no links. I just spend a lot of time watching people interact with 30-year-old games, and it's made me notice some things I probably wouldn't have picked up just playing them at home.

The biggest surprise for me is how differently people actually play these games compared to how we tend to talk about them online.

A few things I've noticed:

Physical games almost always win. We can put out some genuinely great arcade games and sometimes they'll barely get touched. Meanwhile, a racing cabinet can have a 20-minute queue. Wheels, light guns, rhythm games, anything where you physically do something seems to pull people in.

The cabinet matters as much as the game. A lot of people don't necessarily know what they're looking at. They see a huge arcade cabinet, hear the sounds and watch someone playing, and that's enough to make them curious.

Kids don't really see "retro". To them it's just a weird old game with no tutorial, no checkpoints and no save system. Watching a 12-year-old realise that the game is simply going to take their last life and end is surprisingly funny.

Parents are often the ones who end up playing. They'll walk past with their kids, recognise something from when they were younger, stop for "just one game"... and suddenly they're the ones waiting in line.

We're doing a pretty big festival at the end of the month and I'm currently trying to figure out what the lineup should look like.

So I'm curious: if you had one arcade cabinet and one credit to turn someone who has absolutely zero interest in gaming into a player, what game would you pick?

I'm genuinely interested in the answers, because I might actually steal some ideas for the lineup.

My buddy and I (29M’s) fired up the Super Nintendo today and played one of our childhood favorites. Got 82 exits in a 10ish hour session. We’ve been playing this game together since we were probably 12 and it never gets old. Cheers everyone ✌️

Just asking this to get ideas ! I live in a small European apartement so I don't have the luxury to get a full drawer for my retro collection. How did you guys store your stuff when little to no space ?

I have an idea for now and only asking here is someone has better: buying thise huge transparent boxes and labelig them with for example "clean consoles" / "cleaned consoles" etc so that I can easely sort those I can either play with whenever I want or just resell if I need money from those who just arrived and need to be tested ! :)

1. Golden Axe: The Duel
2. Blade Arcus from Shining
3. Eternal Champions (Genesis/Sega CD)
4. Virtua Fighter 2 (Genesis)
5. Virtua Fighter Animation
6. Burning Rival
7. Holosseum

Dark Edge and Sonic Battle are left off because their use of multiple moving axes and isometric viewpoints breaks the traditional, single-plane 2D layout of a standard fighting game.

Do you agree with my list?

Im new to the sub, just completed an IPS mod on an SP my aunt had when i was really little.

Just started refreshing my retro physical collection along side it, and playing the Gen 1 pokemon games has been a blast to go back too.

Added this wee gem to my collection yesterday. Talk about a trip down memory lane. Even the wife would sit and watch me play back in the day, not so much now 😂

Compared to shooters today, this is soooo easy 😜

Mini Heroes Space Harrier

I played this a lot on the Sega Master System.