Play This Set June 2025 - 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 %}. Please note that we currently have a large backlog of submissions, so it may take a long time before yours is featured.

Game	Console	Genre
The Polar Express	Game Boy Advance	Action-Adventure

• Set by: {% rauserpic Dexterspet %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic Timzy88 %}

I was very surprised by how great this game was. I've never seen the movie so I didn't know what to expect, but this was a solid platformer with a great soundtrack. I really enjoyed the way it told the story and had simple controls. The achievement set was really straightforward, and the game was very forgiving if you missed something. Besides the train levels, you could always backtrack and get everything before leaving. I was really impressed with this game and achievements, and I recommend anyone who enjoys platforming games to give it a try.

Game	Console	Genre
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games	Nintendo DS	Sports

• Set by: {% rauserpic EvZone %}, {% rauserpic Darky %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic FeuerPilz %}

Rediscovered through the RetroAchievemas event, this game was one of my favorites on the DS - but why? I didn't even watch the Olympics, especially not the Winter Olympics. Sports in general? Nah. Mario and Sonic? I didn't even like Sonic!

So why did I like this game? Because it has an amazing story mode, which not only guides you through the sports and dream sports this game has to offer, but also shines with the exploration of the 6 worlds you can travel to. The characters are not only present in their stats they offer for each event, but also appear in those worlds, waiting to be recruited by you playing as Mario and Sonic. This recruitment process sometimes also ends up in playing mini-games, too. Even if you're not a big fan of sports games, the story mode alone could very well be worth your time!

Control-wise the events switch between button controls and touch controls, with the latter actually working quite well here. On average, I definitely had more trouble perfecting events with button controls compared to touch, which just shows that they really cooked with those here.

If you are into sports and the Olympics themselves, there is also a bunch of stuff collectable from past Olympics, including medal designs, torches, Olympic trivia, and more.

The set shows the game in its entirety, wanting you to play through the story mode for 100% and some cool extra challenges, playing the quirky (but probably fun with other human players) extra party modes, winning gold in every event (which makes the set look gigantic, because 3 achievements for getting gold on hard difficulty total), and last but definitely also least: beat the staff ghosts....Oh boy those are a challenge! They will be the toughest opponents you face in this entire game, so you'll definitely need to prepare for them.

Both this set and the game itself are are far from easy, but for that they feel incredibly rewarding to beat and master. I would absolutely recommend anyone that likes Sonic, Mario, or sports games to try to beat the story mode and see if they like it enough to try to master it. The set has almost no missables, except for one wanting you to skip a mission in the story mode, so you can just play ahead, try it out, and see if you want to master it later!

Game	Console	Genre
Parasite Eve	PlayStation	Action RPG, Survival Horror

• Set by: {% rauserpic tele %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic HydroBobOmb %}

This game is often described as a mix of JRPG and survival horror, two genres I am not experienced with. I didn't know much about Parasite Eve, I only knew it was a cult game for some people.

It was a blast for me. It has a cool weapon and armor customization system (watch out for trading cards and super tools and use them carefully, they are very rare). Hidden items are everywhere, and it feels good to find them. The story is gripping, with a very strong ambience and an organic (this is the word I would use for this) soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura.

The thing you have to be careful about is the build you want to have with the customization system. Wasting tools and mod permits/cards can make things difficult, and using a tool to extract a weapon or armor mod/stat destroys it. Moreover, the game has a nasty point of no return after the museum. The game itself is not on the easy side, without being super difficult. Personally, I did the first run without a guide; it is doable, but I suggest to be warned of where the point of no return is. I would also suggest getting one of the "junk weapons" before doing the Chrysler Building in the EX mode (it is a cheevo so you have to get one anyway). It is a game where you have to really think about your choices.

This was a very strong experience for me. I am glad I have played this game, even if it is over 20 years later. Never too late for a game like this.

Game	Console	Genre
Lost Kingdoms	GameCube	Action RPG, Card Game

• Set by: {% rauserpic Falcus %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic WGDragoon %}

This is the first set I mastered on this site, and probably the game I most enjoyed playing for the GameCube Launch Event. The game has a couple of rough edges, but it's got a lot of that early FromSoft charm and a unique take on the deck builder genre to keep things feeling fresh. It's a short game, taking me around 8 hours for the beat and 15 for the master. While the game itself has some issues, the set for the game is flawless. No troublesome achievements, nothing that felt like a waste of time, and excellent integration with the game's rating systems. Perfect, in the sense of making no mistakes. Perhaps more content could have been added in the form of a speedrun achievement or some kind of challenge run, but that could easily have been frustrating considering the questionable AI of some cards and enemies.

In terms of tips for anyone interested in playing this unique game, I've got a few.

• (1) Losing is fine, if you fail a mission your cards keep the experience they gained, and you can always try again with a different deck.
• (2) You really want to do all the bonus missions, especially the four special ones you can unlock from the side doors at Ruh-Arok Temple.
• (3) Experiment with every card you come across, the stats on a card don't tell the entire story. For example, the Land Shark is stronger than its raw stats would imply due to how quickly it moves around. Other cards may be strong, but difficult to aim. Find the cards that work best for you.
• (4) You'll probably miss a few Red Fairies. That's fine, you can go back to stages after beating the final boss to look for the handful that you missed, or you can just look up their locations online.
• (5) You can capture low HP non-boss monsters by throwing cards at them. This can let you acquire powerful cards a bit earlier, stock up on cards to sell for gold, or let you get your hand on extra copies of cards you like.

Game	Console	Genre
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA	PlayStation Portable	Rhythm

• Set by: {% rauserpic lordpsycho %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic Velocifaptor %}

I absolutely love rhythm games, and this was always one of my favorites. I found it at an indie game store when I was in high school, and I grabbed it up really quickly not knowing it was a Japanese game. I was super thankful when I found out the PSP was only region locked with the UMD movies, but not the games. I spent countless hours playing this game through study period and the bus ride home for months. I was delighted to run through this game again with achievements. I haven't quite mastered it yet because RNJesus is not on my side. Trying to unlock the last few items for my final 2 achievements has been one of the grindiest experiences of my life! Nonetheless, it's a great game.

Game	Console	Genre
Snow Bros.	Genesis/Mega Drive	2D Platforming

• Set by: {% rauserpic Falconburns %}, {% rauserpic JAM %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic jpasqui %}

Snow Bros. is a game that really took me by surprise. In Snow Bros., your objective is to turn your enemies into snowballs, and push the snowballs into other enemies. After you beat all enemies in a level, you move onto the next. While the concept is quite simple, it is incredibly satisfying to fling your snowball around the level and watch it bounce from wall to wall, taking out everyone in its path.

Although, the game does have a strange difficulty curve. While the game is easy at first, it becomes pretty hard toward the middle. Specifically, levels 31-40 were the hardest for me. The enemies in these levels were more difficult than the ones in the beginning, and there are a lot of pits that you can accidentally fall into and get softlocked. At first I thought was I doing something wrong or missing a button to get out of the pits, but I believe that these are intentional, which I found quite strange. After you get past level 40, the game seems to become easy again. I'm not sure why the developers decided to make the difficulty curve like this.

When playing this set it's important to know that you can use the passwords that the game gives to you, but you must play the whole set of levels for the achievement, otherwise it won't unlock. Also, while you're in the options setting the game to hard mode, you can also set the player lives to 4, this will give you an extra life without affecting the achievements.

With all that being said, I recommend playing this set. It's a fun, challenging, and satisfying game on the Sega Genesis that I otherwise would've missed without RetroAchievements.

Game	Console	Genre
TimeSplitters 2	PlayStation 2	First-Person Shooter

• Set by: {% rauserpic SlashTangent %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic FlakBlast %}

Developed by Free Radical Design, a company made up of former Rare employees, TimeSplitters 2 is a worthy spiritual successor to GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark. In the year 2401, humanity is on the brink of extinction thanks to the TimeSplitters, an evil alien race in possession of the time crystals, using them to travel back in time and significantly altering human history. Space marines Sergeant Cortez and Corporal Hart have been sent to retrieve the crystals. Whenever Cortez enters a new time period, his body takes the form of another person in that time period, similarly to the show Quantum Leap. Aside from the campaign, the game has a spectacular multiplayer mode. With 16 maps and modes, 126 characters, 35 weapons, and even a MapMaker, it should keep you entertained for dozens of hours.

The achievements themselves are pretty standard: beat story levels across the three difficulties, get gold on all Arcade League matches and Challenges, and find the three minigame cartridges across the campaign. As simple as they sound, the game is far from a cakewalk, even on Normal. There's only one checkpoint per level, and barely any medkits or armor to keep you alive. To this day I still can't beat the first level, Siberia, on Hard. Still, it's a damn good game and set to play through - why not give it a try?

Game	Console	Genre
~Demo~ Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams...	Saturn	Action

• Set by: {% rauserpic guindev %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic BahamutVoid %}

I was pleasantly surprised by this demo; what sets it apart from others is the presentation. You'll fly around collecting Blue Chips in order to recover the 4 Ideyas as in the base game, but there's much more to this smaller release. It features its own standalone story, multiple holidays worth of retextures for the first level, a remixed holiday soundtrack, the first 2 bosses, and is overall a great way to introduce yourself to the series. Every time you beat the boss you're able to unlock various extra content, which can range from artwork to the bonus link & time attack modes and even a playable mode with the first true 3D appearance of Sonic the Hedgehog.

The achievements comprehensively cover all the content crammed into this small demo with room to challenge you further for a satisfying mastery. Getting the A rank and one-shotting the 1st boss are likely the most challenging achievements, but you'll have plenty of practice on the path to unlocking all the bonus content. And once you've mastered this set you'll be in a great position to play NiGHTS into Dreams!

Game	Console	Genre
X-Men Legends	PlayStation 2	Action RPG, Beat 'em Up

• Set by: {% rauserpic TeddyWestside %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic vikdarkbomb %}

The year is 2003. The Fox X-Men films brought fresh blood into the X-Men franchise, and the Ultimate X-Men have found success in taking inspiration from the films. In comes Raven Software, hungering to bring these characters into life. To Activision - it's a no brainer. There really couldn’t be a better time for this. So make it an RPG...right? Yes, it's a no brainer. The X-Men have gone through countless iterations over the years. Of course, we got to have some action going on too. So...let's make it a dungeon crawler! In comes - X-Men Legends (XML).

In XML, there are two plot threads that eventually coalesce. Allison Crestmere a.k.a. Magma, is a mutant struggling with her powers. The X-Men recruit her, while they go on a variety of investigations to figure out a mystery plan that Magneto and the Brotherhood are scheming up. Juggling between the two, it's clear that the Allison thread is the weaker link. There's some bland VO work and uninteresting dialogue here that make her portions a slog to get through at times. The story gets far more interesting when Professor X sends out the squad of (4) X-Men to the varied locales across each act. There are some instances of repeated environments, but it's easy to make up for.

The majority of the main plot is explained through some unflattering CGI cutscenes between each act. XML does try to present itself seriously, much like the popular X-Men media it was based upon at the time, but it's hard to take it as such. The moments of actual interest I had in the story were far too few in between to take seriously. That's not to say the story is bad, but it's unremarkable, with writing lacking some punch to it most of the time. It hits all the typical landmarks of the X-Men genre. For that reason, it's serviceable at best. Besides the Magma section VO work, it's clear that the rest of X-Squad VO came in to elevate the material. The few moments the X-Men do get to banter between one another, though, are great. With a roster that is decently sized here, I'm confused at how we didn't get more personable dialogue.

The cel-shaded look the game is going for has aged nicely, even though the proportions can be kind of wacky. For instance, Cyclops looks built like a 6 foot chimpanzee. There's some weird audio mixing at times, and the OK background music isn't an offense to the ears. The SFX, though, is great. I love hearing "COMBO!" whenever I line up my mutant attacks, and all the powers here are given some good punch.

As an ARPG, X-Men Legends is more part action then it is part RPG. To describe it as homo-superior in either aspect for a typical game of either genre would be an overstatement. The main thing XML suffers from is just a clear lack of polish and depth. In XML, you have three types of mutants in your squad - close brawlers, ranged brawlers, and hybrids. The ranged brawlers will be more energy hungry, so their flashy mutant powers are sprinkled between the close-range brawlers' combo attacks. Ranged enemies need close brawlers and vice versa. The decent enemy variety saves this gameplay loop from being repetitive. Each act comes up with progressively harder enemy types that need a little bit of one mutant more than the other. The good audiovisual design helps too, but the mission objectives leave much to be desired in terms of variety.

Add to that, there is some unremarkable variation in mutant abilities. They all seem to have some combination of the same three skills - a team buff, an acute attack, and a "crowd control" attack. Because of this, there's little incentive to change up your squad from any combination of Wolverine and "friends". Some characters just feel plain useless. Late into the game, you’ll start stacking up "XTreme", which are "power-up" attacks that deal a lot more damage to enemies all across the screen. There's little use to these too, as it's easy to over level yourself with the Danger Room discs scattered across the maps. The game would have benefited from some squad bonuses that we'd see in later titles.

"Variety", along with depth, seems to be the recurrent X-genes that stop XML from really being an excellent title. It's a game that is greater than the sum of its parts. It's clear, though, that some more time in the oven to polish the gameplay loop and bring some depth to the RPG aspects would have made X-Men Legends a much more well-paced game. As it stands, I give it an easy recommendation if you're looking for a nice dungeon crawler to sink some time into, but don't expect a smash hit.

Game	Console	Genre
Um Jammer Lammy	PlayStation	Rhythm

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

Um Jammer Lammy is one of my favorite games of all time, and one of the greats in the rhythm genre that is not nearly talked about enough. From the stylish presentation, to the great tracks, to the colorful and bizarre stages and instructors you find the anxious protagonist finding themselves stuck in while trying to get to her big gig in 15 mins. The songs range from different genres of rock with metal, classic rock and roll, jazz fusion, and hair metal. The reason this set made me fall so much in love with this game is that it has you really understand and master the mechanics of the game to get Cool statuses, beat CPUs in duels, and challenges on songs that really emphasizes the freedom and improvisation that truly makes every playthrough of the song different from the last. Then it hits you with a postgame PaRappa story mode that switches it up with improved mechanics from PaRappa the Rapper as an alternate story line and remixes of the songs in the main story.

It's a fun time that sucks you in with charm and satisfying but challenging difficulty (stage 3 withstanding). The set really has you experience everything the game has to offer, and fair but rewarding achievements make you really feel like a master of the game, without being too frustrating and tedious, all with catchy tunes to have you coming back for more.