Play This Set April 2026 - RetroAchievements/RANews GitHub Wiki

Play This Set is a showcase for our passionate community members to write about the games and achievement sets they love. Our inbox is always open, whether you're an achievement developer looking to promote your work or a player wanting to spread the word about your favorite hidden gem. If interested, submit your write-up as a private message to {% rauserpic RANews %}.

Game	Console	Genre
~Hack~ Super Pinkgold Peach 64	Nintendo 64	3D Platforming

• Set by: {% rauserpic LilCutieSophia %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic SolidPilson %}

Want to play some Mario Kart 64? Yes, you do. In this hack you take the role of Metal Peach Super Pinkgold Peach, in order to collect the 6 7 stars in the track as fast as possible.

The graphics are ok for a hack, no extra wacky stuff to give you headaches. It even blends the castle from Mario Circuit into the gameplay, and this time is fully accessible. You can play some stages in the castle, maybe the full game? But that's not your mission, so get out.

The music comes from Mario Circuit. So ∞/10. Bonus points for driving in the grass sounding like a bomb.

The gameplay. Well, your boots are a kart and the wheels don't spin. You're made from pink gold, so no wacky stuff please. You can float if you hold the jump button, and you can dismount from your kart. That's it. But yeah, the challenges are fun, and some may take a tiny bit of retrying, but it's so wacky you'll do it anyway.

The story is great. Super Pinkgold Peach goes around the track and challenges dudes with foul mouths. Bonus points for Emeraldgreen Koopa. Go Sports.

The set is ok, one achievement for every star. One notable for doing the entire thing in 8:45. You're better than me, you'll get it faster.

TL;DR: Fun, wacky set. 8/10 from me, a total noob.

Game	Console	Genre
Chindouchuu!! Paul no Daibouken	Wii	2D Platforming

• Set by: {% rauserpic Layton %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic authorblues %}

Pole's Big Adventure is a parody platformer poking fun at the franchises that defined the genre. Throughout the game, strange jokes and gags occur, such as collecting a mushroom which gives Pole an erection, or entering the Konami code to go Super Saiyan, or getting a look at Pole's travel photos after a trip abroad. All the time that this is happening, a narrator, something like the format of a livestreamer commentating their own gameplay, talks about all of the weird things that are happening in-game.

Unfortunately, all of this narration is in Japanese, and so it is mostly inaccessible to a non-Japanese speaking audience. For many players, this issue was hardly an issue at all. You see, most of the jokes are visual gags, and even if you don't speak the language, you understand what makes it funny. You just have to endure a commentary track over top of it. Thanks to a bit of technical wizardry by {% rauserpic Layton %}, however, the first-of-its-kind translation is finally available for the game. It isn't a complete translation. The cutscene text is still untranslated (though the game's story isn't why you're playing, and it leaves a lot to be desired). But the over-the-top narration that complements the visual gags has now been translated, and the experience is all the better for it.

It's a pretty short mastery, but this is a notorious game that is now at least partially accessible to non-Japanese speaking audiences. This game often carries a reputation for being kusoge, though it isn't really bad in any way that earns it that reputation. It plays well and it is a really charming experience. Truthfully, Pole's Big Adventure is classic bakage. {% rauserpic Layton %} went above and beyond to really polish this experience, and now players everywhere, even beyond the borders of RetroAchievements, will be able to experience this unique game slightly closer to the way it was intended.

Game	Console	Genre
Golden Balls	Wii	Game Show

• Set by: {% rauserpic Guinea %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic jhonen124 %}

Sometimes when life has you by the balls, you just have to play your hand. When I was browsing the RetroAchievements catalogue for recent Wii games to double dip for and do a task for some bonus roll for RAWR 2024, I decided to just play this game. It's weird and interesting for sure. The characters look kind of like some amalgamation between a gonk Pixar character and a MAD magazine caricature. The game has about as much depth as a puddle, the gameplay is kind of just pressing skip and going off RNG. But it's easy and just feels like a meme set overall for free points. So basically what you do in the game is you pick a random character, doesn't matter what profession or gig they have, and you play a game of telling the truth or betraying people in a group of three other equally slimy people. It mostly is just bluffing or telling the truth all the way to victory, and hoping the AI is dumb enough to just give you the money. Then you try again and again to get the other achievements.

So why did I even write a Play This Set for some free point game that most people would move on by the end of the day and forget about? Mostly because it's funny, and because why not? I get to share a spotlight with a Wii slop title that is most likely in the bargain bin in some places. I think {% rauserpic Guinea %} did a fantastic job with what they were given. Maybe the memory was baby easy or pointer chain hell and I'll probably never know . With the Wii Launch Event still going on and obviously an Evergreen coming at some point in RA's lifetime, here's a free points set with a funny name that you can do for 2 points in a single afternoon.

Game	Console	Genre
Octomania	Wii	Tile Matching

• Set by: {% rauserpic pandakar %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic Frenchy70 %}

Octomania is one of the most unique puzzlers I’ve come across during my time on RA. It’s a tile matching game focused on catching octopi in numbered nets that will leave behind smoke trails to combo into the same colored octopi and get rid of urchins on your board, made by the creator of the Puyo Puyo series to boot. It’s a great game to feature alongside Dr. Mario, Puyo Puyo, and the other physics-based puzzle games for the Wii Launch Event.

I had a fun time getting the hang of the mechanics, playing through arcade / story mode, and trying to get different licenses based on play styles at the end of endless mode. The set does a great job at directing players toward the secret bosses you can unlock through story mode, and balancing the requirements for the endless mode achievements to feel doable. Though what I enjoyed most, and will be the most memorable thing about this game, is the infamous English voice acting dub.

As a fan of anime, I remember growing up with some pretty phoned in voice acting, but this is in the range of “so bad it’s good” to the point where I recommend not skipping the cutscenes because it’s that funny. Special shout outs to the hip hop tree that raps terribly, the goddess doing her best impression of Misato from Evangelion, and the talking takoyaki that get isekai’d into this world and beg the main character not to eat them.

So if you’re interested in checking out a unique puzzler for the rollout event, I can’t recommend this one enough, with the beat only taking a few hours and it being in the No Motion Compatible hub.

Game	Console	Genre
Uncle Poo	Arcade	Action

• Set by: {% rauserpic lizstar %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic Carca %}

Uncle Poo is a maze game in which the objective is to collect loot while the area slowly gets flooded, nothing that hasn't been seen before or since its release. What distinguishes Uncle Poo from its competition is his special ability, an ability so strong that it can knock out enemies and even destroy walls, an innovative, silent but deadly attack, and probably a first in gaming history: his farts.

It is very liberating to send a foe to Valhalla by releasing a well-timed thunder from down under, to the point that sometimes one tends to forget that the goal of the game is to get rich, not break wind. The soundtrack is on point, with every level ending with a chiptune rendition of Bizet's Carmen Suite No. 1. The bonus level, in which one must utilize the best of their backfiring abilities to blow mud bubbles at lines of foes, is appropriately scored by Khachaturian's Sabre Fight. A death is accompanied by Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, better known as Funeral March. Uncle Poo is truly a delight for the erudite classical music connoisseur and the true archeologist in search of the obscure stinker game.

Game	Console	Genre
~Hack~ Super Mario Bros. Peach's Adventure	SNES/Super Famicom	2D Platforming

• Set by: {% rauserpic Alena %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic kalonZombie %}

You know, Peach has usually gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to things. Only recently did she get a game all on her own that wasn't a big joke about how women can't control their emotions, and until then she's either been kidnapped, or possessed, or possessed AND kidnapped, or the least chosen character because her floating ability isn't really all that useful and why would you choose her when Rosalina is RIGHT THERE and you finally unlocked her?

This hack is great, not just because it gives Peach a spot in the limelight (finally), but it doesn't change the basic fundamentals of SMW. You control the same. Your hitbox is the same. There's even some fun quality of life changes, like the ability to angle fireballs up, custom powers that don't show up in base SMW (including some unique to a single level), and a stylistic choice that puts the graphics into 8-bit while being able to do some things that the NES just absolutely would not be able to handle. The levels are all at least interesting, and most of them are great. The amount of levels I didn't really vibe with could be counted on one hand. If you love SMW, and you're looking for more SMW... well, this is it.

The reason I'm talking about the game so much instead of the set is because since it's a romhack, you might not know what you're getting into right away. Don't worry though, the set is just as good as the game. It showcases what the game is all about. Collecting all the big coins, playing all the levels, getting a good look at all those power-ups both custom and not, it's all here. There are some very interesting boss challenges, too. Yes, some of them are as simple as "don't get hit", but the King Thwomp boss wants you to not jump at all, which was something I wasn't expecting. Even Boom-Boom, simple as he is, gets a pretty interesting challenge pretty late in the game. It even shows off the fairly robust post-game that the game has, something I wasn't expecting from a romhack like this. Again, the amount of cheevos I didn't gel with could be counted on one hand. Everything else was an amazing showcase of what this game was like.

So are you looking for more SMW without it being too hard? Here you go. Are you looking for a fun set that will ask you to do some challenging things but not too hard, all while nothing is missable? Here you go. Are you looking for a cute, fun platformer with some clever level design and a post-game that's a celebration of everything Mario? Here you go. I can't stop gushing about this game, or set, enough.

Game	Console	Genre
Mega Man & Bass	Game Boy Advance	2D Platforming

• Set by: {% rauserpic MeCKooLL %}, {% rauserpic lonegraywolf2000 %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic Sniwott %}

The Mega Man series is well known for its excellent soundtrack across most of the games, tight gameplay with an addicting loop and variety, and most of all, its difficulty. Despite that, the Blue Bomber has managed to capture our hearts, even with some of his games not being the greatest (looking at you X7). One of these games, in my opinion, doesn't deserve to be called 'bad', that being the GBA port of Mega Man & Bass. It has often been regarded as the worst classic Mega Man game thanks to its difficulty, and the screen crunch certainly didn't help with that. However, this version of the game is excellent, and the RA set to go with it ended up being one of my favorites among all of my masteries.

As with most Mega Man games, this set asks you to beat every Robot Master without taking damage, but it goes even further than that; for the mastery, you'll have to beat all of them as both Mega Man and Bass, damageless AND buster only at the same time. This requires a lot of practice and pattern learning for certain bosses, while others require solid timing in order to perform the task. Either way, there's a couple of easy bosses to fight as both Mega Man and Bass, namely Cold Man, Magic Man, and Ground Man. The other bosses are generally more difficult, but thankfully you can make it a bit easier on yourself by buying some power-ups, which is especially helpful for Bass. By the end of it all, you'll be a master against all of the Robot Masters as both characters, which comes in handy for Warm Up the Buster, since you'll have learned their patterns by this point, as well as beaten all of them while only using the buster, which made getting Warm Up the Buster a surprisingly relaxing refresher, even with the difficulty of the King stages. Speaking of, the set also asks you to beat most of the King/Wily stage bosses buster only as both characters, with a separate damageless achievement to go with them. Once again, the power-ups will be your best friend here, and it also helps to give you great practice for eventually tackling Warm Up the Buster. Overall, even if those achievements are generally very difficult, the set does push you to get better at the game without needing to rely on power-ups or boss weaknesses for the fights, which truly makes you feel like you've mastered the game. Isn't that exactly what a good achievement set should do?

Of course, there are some other interesting achievements that are pretty fun to get, like Stick to the Ground, which would basically require you to save Cold Man as one of the last Robot Masters to face in order to buy one of Bass' powerups (namely the one that boosts the power of his buster). This ends up being interesting in and of itself despite being a damageless achievement and no-jump achievement tied into one, since players will usually start with Cold Man as their first Robot Master since he's considered the easiest of the 3 you can start with. Gotta Go Fast is another notable achievement, which requires the usage of Bass' Treble power-up to snag it, a simple enough achievement that encourages you to use arguably the most underutilized power-up in the game.

All in all, I believe the difficulty of Mega Man & Bass is overblown, and the game is extremely fun and rewarding once you learn how to navigate the levels and boss fights, especially once you get more efficient with them and rely on power-ups less, which is exactly what this set encourages. Don't let the supposed difficulty scare you away from this amazing game and excellent set!

Game	Console	Genre
Agress: Missile Daisenryaku	Arcade	Sliding Puzzle

• Set by: {% rauserpic Sines %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic Ezezin %}

Missile Daisenryaku is an arcade spin-off of the "well known" (kind of, depending where you live) Japenese strategy game Daisenryaku with a twist: this is not a strategy game!

This is an old arcade puzzle game in which players must slide the blocks on the screen one at a time to form a randomly generated figure shown in the image. While there isn't a time limit like you would expect in these kinds of games, there is an opponent vehicle (and a mecha for some weird reason) that constantly shoots missiles at you. By completing the figures in time, your own vehicle will shoot missiles at your opponent, effectively intercepting them before they hit you. If you manage to complete each level fast enough or make the figures where the special missiles are located, you can destroy everything on the screen and conquer 1 of the 15 regions, earning even more points. You also have 2 bombs that destroy every missile on the screen.

At first, I was not expecting much of this game; usually puzzle arcades are not that good or extremely difficult with only 1 continue. However, as I was playing this for PlayJam, I was pleasantly surprised with this title. It is hard, yes, but there is some strategy involved to make the figures as fast as possible, and if you are good enough, you can move all blocks to take advantage of the special missile to destroy all enemy missiles and the vehicle in one shot, earning a huge amount of points.

The only bad thing is that it can be hard to understand or play at first, since everything, including the tutorials, are in Japanese. However, after 10 or 15 minutes of getting used to the controls, it is not hard to understand what the objectives are and how to take advantage of the bonus missiles in the board.

Game	Console	Genre
Catan	Nintendo DS	Board Game

• Set by: {% rauserpic multonic %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic heytallman %}

I played A LOT of Settlers of Catan in college. I had a little group of friends that was obsessed with the game. We'd get together, spin up classic rock albums, make piña coladas, and waste our nights away hurling the most obscene insults at one another when one player cut off another's road or someone hit someone else with a well-timed robber.

Fast forward to more recent times, and my current obsession is Retro Achievements. It is the fall of 2024 and I have just set up RetroArch on my phone in order to achievement hunt on the go. And what do I see get a set other than a DS version of the board game I loved so long ago. I played through it, mastered the set, and moved on. But the reason I'm writing up this Play This Set for it is because of how criminally underplayed this set is here on the site. There are fewer than 100 players who have gotten an achievement, and I'd love to see a couple more give this one a go.

If you're unfamiliar with the game, the way it was pitched to me back then is that it's a bit of a mix of Monopoly and Risk. You and the other players will place settlements on an island filled with resources, and you'll build out across more and more of the island as the game progresses to claim them. Each game is a randomized board, with resources and dice roll numbers shuffled and distributed differently each time. To me, this was one of the biggest draws of Catan, as no two boards will be quite the same.

I've played a couple board game sets (well, mostly Monopoly), and where this one differs from the others I've looked into is that this game actually features a decent little campaign mode. New rules are added every few chapters, and the AI continues to get smarter as you go. It's not the simple bare-bones "this is just the board game but digital" one might expect. In addition to playing through the campaign, there are a few challenge achievements to get in free play mode, some of which were quite difficult to complete.

Overall, this was a fun little set that I think for sure needs some more love.

Game	Console	Genre
SNK Gals' Fighters	Neo Geo Pocket	2D Fighting

• Set by: {% rauserpic guindev %}, {% rauserpic lordpsycho %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic JetDusk %}

SNK Gals' Fighters is a really charming fighting game I discovered when it was rereleased for Switch a while back. Seeing it have an RA set gave me a lot of joy, as it's visually impressive and super responsive for a portable fighting game.

The roster includes many of SNK's best ladies, including Mai, Yuri, Nakoruru, Athena, and the suplex queen Shermie. I find most of the women in King of Fighters to be a lot of fun to use, with a ton of flashy special moves and satisfying supers. This game in particular goes for a chibi / cartoony depiction, with the girls getting big hands for punches and slaps along with incredibly amusing faces reminiscent of Looney Tunes shenanigans. The controls are snappy and very faithful to the original games, and while some inputs can be difficult to perform, they are impactful when they land.

Shermie is a character I have to hype up especially; since she's a grappler all of her throws look great, and landing the super where she does 5 suplexes in a row is fantastic. The game is goofy fun, with arcade endings being silly instances, like Shermie using her ultimate wish for a bigger hamster cage since her pet had babies recently.

It will certainly be a challenge to master, but it's a simple beat, and a lot of fun just to see the silly expressions. It's also vastly superior to SNK Heroines on Switch, which is a much worse fighting game that is also incredibly uncomfortable, while Gals' Fighters celebrates its female cast along with keeping them cool and cute.