Play This Set March 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
New Super Mario Bros.	Nintendo DS	2D Platforming

• Set by: {% rauserpic SporyTike %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic ChiiniiTheComet %}

New Super Mario Bros. is a classic 2D Mario game that adds a twist to the original design! I personally love the game for all of its clever secrets and endearing mechanics new to the series (being the Mini Mushroom, Mega Mushroom, and Blue Koopa Shell). The overall game was made with love, and it shows. This was a childhood game of mine that I simply had to master here on RetroAchievements. As for the game's set, searching for the all new Star Coins makes up a large portion, but there are also several challenging achievements that seriously test your platforming skills, as well as achievements for receiving a 1-Up for hitting the top of every flagpole in each world! Fittingly, the hardest flagpole in my experience is W8-8, the last flagpole in the game. Note that you should try to beat the game using the shortest route (W1 => W5 => W8) first so that you gain the ability to save your game anytime, useful for resetting certain challenges if you fail. Give it a try sometime!

Game	Console	Genre
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker	GameCube	Action-Adventure

• Set by: {% rauserpic suspect15 %}, {% rauserpic AlmightyXor %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic ParaGrim %}

The Wind Waker is a fantastic game, and this set is excellently made. It allows you to explore every inch of the Great Sea and provides some difficult but fun challenges for those trying to master the game. The set asks that you obtain every chest of certain types, such as the submarine challenges dotted across the game. Unfortunately, there is no in-game way to track which chests you have and haven't obtained yet, so I would recommend either doing them in one run or using a tracker to help with this aspect of the set.

For the most part, I dislike having to play a game multiple times to master it, but I don't think you can truly have a Zelda set without an achievement for a three heart run. Going through the game again with this added challenge was a fun way to cap off this fantastic set.

Game	Console	Genre
Snowboard Kids	Nintendo 64	Extreme Sports - Snowboarding, Kart Racing

• Set by: {% rauserpic SlyShock %}, {% rauserpic TrainerAbu %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic ChocoMilk %}

Here's a fun little wintery game that's worth playing. Snowboard Kids is a delightful snowboarding game that's oozing personality, with colorful, wacky courses, fun characters, and great music. The gameplay itself is a bit like a kart racer with snowboards; the player glides around on the frosty powder throwing various power-ups at opponents. Probably the most iconic part of the game is the chair lift at the end of each lap. There's a sizable window of time where players aren't allowed on after someone boards, so there's often a small fight to get there first. It's a really fun and engaging mechanic that helps the game stand out, even if it can sometimes be frustrating when you get there second, crash into a wall because there's no chair available, and end up boarding last.

The game features 5 modes, all of which are featured in the achievements in some way. The main one is a standard race between you and 3 other big-nosed kids to see who can complete every lap first in each of the game's 9 courses. Most of them feel good to race on, although some can be a significant challenge with tight turns, exacerbated if the player chooses a character with poor handling. The power-ups similarly can make the game very frustrating at times, as it's very easy to get screwed by bad luck. Interestingly, the game features no "blue shell" of sorts, so if you're able to get in first, you can often hold the lead with ease. There is thankfully one power-up that can hit every racer except you, but it feels like it often won't appear when you need it most.

The other modes include one where you need to collect a bunch of fans on 3 courses, another where you must hit every snowman target on 3 courses, a mode that focuses on high scores from doing tons of tricks, and finally a standard time attack mode. The set does a lovely job at providing fair yet moderately challenging achievements for each of these modes. Having to get decent times with the worst board in the game was a particularly interesting challenge in my opinion, without being too annoying.

All in all, Snowboard Kids is a solid racing game from Atlus that's definitely worth giving a go!

Game	Console	Genre
Super Mario Sunshine [Subset - Max% Pre-Peach]	GameCube	3D Platforming, Collect-a-thon

• Set by: {% rauserpic timenoe %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic IAmChrisAMA %}

Firstly, I have a little bias because this is my #1 favorite game ever made; however, there is so much more to this that I want to talk about. This is my first Mastered set on the site, and it's what started my journey in RA.

With this set, you don't play much of the game. You really only do one main level and a bunch of bonus content. The achievements themselves aren't special, as they're basically all progression-based. The reason this set exists is to fulfill a speedrun category titled "Max% Pre-Peach" (yes, the same as the subset title!). Born out of Pacifist%, this category extension/subset, in my opinion, exceeds my expectations for what breaking a game open should do! I just hope it gets broken even more.

One major fascination I've had since growing up has been video game glitches. I love being able to bend a game to my will. Whether that be A.I. manipulation, ACE, or even just basic glitches — anything the developers never intended. For those in the know, they may be asking what separates this subset from the Bonus subset, which is just doing a bunch of glitches and tricks. I do love the Bonus subset and hope to complete it one day; however, I prefer Max% over Bonus, and I can explain that in one word: balance.

What Max% has over Bonus is that it's not overly difficult. It's doable for pretty much anyone with the willpower, knowledge, and dedication. If you take a look at the mastered list for both sets at the time of writing this, 58 people have mastered this set compared to Bonus, which has 2! The tricks you perform are not just satisfying to learn, but actually have some weight to them.

The phrase "there is more than one way to skin a cat" comes into play with this subset. If you watch this Lowest Percent video, AverageTreyVG goes into how this speedrun was brought down in time significantly due to the tricks learned. These are tasks that can be learned throughout your play and even enhance the original game as well!

One major fallback people have about this is the need to up-warp to the top of Delfino Plaza and fall for about 1 hour and 14 minutes four times! That is not necessarily true. While it does make it easier, it's not required. One glitch you can learn is to glitch the manhole by landing a frame-one jump at the top of the manhole. The setup is available in this video at around the 20:30 timestamp. I also recommend watching the whole run, as it's very interesting how he breaks the game in under 1 hour.

There are moments where I felt discouraged. At the time of beating, I hadn't learned Kinikicks, which is what made the lighthouse shine require not one but two falls from the sky. If I missed one, there go 1 hour and 14 minutes wasted (roughly 20 minutes as I was fast forwarding, but still). The last shine to get for mastering the set was one of the most invigorating moments in gaming for me. My friend {% rauserpic Dragonslay3r1 %} was next to me, and we went ballistic. I don't think I'll ever forget that moment, and neither will he.

If you're contemplating this subset, I'd say give it a try. Overall, this subset is harder than the Hoverless subset but easier than the base set due to some of the crazy tricks {% rauserpic timenoe %} has you do. By the way, shoutout to {% rauserpic timenoe %} for making the SMS sets, as they are fantastic and really deserving of the attention they are getting.

Lastly, I'm going to leave off this article with a note. Don't be afraid to try new tricks and new things in the games you play. Just because a trick looks too hard or impossible doesn't mean you'll never learn it. That goes for any game out there, not just SMS.

Thanks for reading, and I hope I inspired one of you to try this set!

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

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

I'll keep it short and sweet. Snow Bros. is a very straightforward arcade game ported to the Genesis in which you clear the floor of enemies and then advance to the next floor. Each floor that's a multiple of 10 houses a boss, most if not all of which have some strategy that can be employed to consistently approach their fights. Patience will frequently pay off for the boss fights, as there is no time limiting factor beyond your own stamina.

The game is very easy to pick up and understand, as you only use two buttons (one for jump and one for throwing snowballs) and the D-Pad for movement. That said, as you get to higher floors you will absolutely encounter some arcade-era nonsense that was clearly designed with the intent of devouring quarters in the 90s.

The set is quick and fair, with achievements for clearing the first few floors and then each 10 floor stretch, and two score achievements for 50K and 100K points. Thankfully, the game uses passwords as you progress past each boss, so each time you beat one you can treat it as a sort of checkpoint by taking down the password that follows for subsequent attempts.

Overall, it was fun to play through an arcade style game again, and to anyone who's on the fence or looking for a light challenge, I gladly recommend this game.

Game	Console	Genre
~Hack~ Mother: 25th Anniversary Edition	NES/Famicom	Turn-based RPG

• Set by: {% rauserpic Altomar %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic Clefable %}

Mother: 25th Anniversary Edition is a graphical overhaul and QoL hack for Mother that greatly improves the graphics, random encounter rate, and experience curve, as well as reduces the grinding needed to progress tremendously, which in-turn allows the quirky world of Mother to shine. Mother is full of holiday references and Easter eggs, making it the perfect game to play during the holiday season! This hack also retains the some of the Easter eggs that were removed in the localized version, which include fun references to Dragon Quest and Peanuts. As a short JRPG on the NES/Famicom, it's hard not to recommend such a fun and brisk game that can be beaten in a couple of sittings.

The achievement set itself was implemented very well, offering a roadmap to most of the fun little quests and quirky little encounters that can be had in this game, with none of the set being too extreme (outside of grinding the party to level 50), and with none of the missable achievements being too awkward/out of the way to accidentally skip and force another playthrough for more than the first hour or two if missed, and every achievement can be earned in a single playthrough. This is an absolute must-play for the JRPG newcomer, for those who want to play a quick fun game that doesn't require a huge time commitment, and for those who want to experience the start of cult-classic Nintendo franchise that doesn't get the love that it deserves via official means.

Game	Console	Genre
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: Kaznapped!	Game Boy Advance	2D Platforming

• Set by: {% rauserpic radiozebra %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic 14ausher %}

Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: Kaznapped! is a game based off of the hit cartoon Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, which itself was based off of the pop rock duo Puffy, who you may more commonly know as Puffy AmiYumi due to potential legal name conflicts with an American artist.

Anyway, it's a 2D puzzle-platformer where you switch play as two characters. The first is Ami, who has a triple jump, a grappling hook (that's actually a microphone), and the ability to helicopter the microphone such that it lets her float. The second is Yumi, who can run really fast, push blocks with her face on it, destroy different blocks with her face on it, and can kill hostile enemies (Ami can only stun them). Both can send out a projectile that temporarily incapacitates fans, who are basically a less hostile type of enemy that can't be fought normally. You can switch between both characters on the fly at nearly any time, and you need to in order to efficiently get through obstacles and solve puzzles. Overall, both characters are fun to control and the levels are well-designed, being surprisingly interesting to play and varied for a licensed game. Level focuses vary from combat to pushing blocks around and hitting switches to a primarily vertical climbing level to an underwater one where you try not to drown. Things change up enough that it doesn't ever really get old, despite it being fairly simple and easy. The game also features shoot 'em up sections where you control their car, and these are also decently fun, with my only major complaint being the car's hitbox (which is huge visually and thankfully a bit smaller in practice, but it's not super clear overall).

My favorite little thing about the game is that the main character's cats are featured in an important role; Tekiari (the white cat) heals you, while Jang Keng (the black cat) gives you an extra life, which is functionally very similar to just another lifebar because the game respawns you pretty much where you die. Anyway, you naturally gain these things from the cats by petting them; notably, you have to keep petting Tekiari for her to heal you more, so petting her for a while is basically obligatory if you want to get the most out of the heal. Surprisingly, this whole system works fairly well, as it forces you to very intentionally interact with her before you use her heal up, while doing so in a very intuitive and cute way.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with the game and would recommend it to anyone who wanted to play a fun little licensed platformer. The set provides some neat little challenges as well, but is mostly focused on 100%, which there's a surprising amount of stuff to do to get (including some optional collectables and a time-attack mode) and a surprising amount of unlockables as well, including a bunch of costumes.

Game	Console	Genre
~Hack~ Holiday Hex	SNES/Super Famicom	Turn-based RPG

• Set by: {% rauserpic Brandovsky %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic benit149 %}

I haven't played Earthbound whatsoever, so I went into this completely blind and without any nostalgia for the original. It was a pleasant surprise, as the gameplay is adjusted for a more traditional turn-based JRPG experience rather than what is seen in Earthbound. No damage scrolling here - you just straight up take damage like what you would expect, and the in-game Help! guide makes choosing your items or skills very intuitive. For the characters' roles in battle, they're well defined enough. Tina is the attacker and status healer, while Kyle has better magic options, but can still attack as well.

The story is very simple and lovable. No epic "save the world" narrative to sit through. It's just a charming tale of two kids who want to break the Groundhog Day loop and bring the holiday cheer back to Bethel. It's nice to just whip up some hot chocolate and sit down to play this for a little bit. The visuals also bring a ton of charm, whether it's the bright Christmas lights, the white wintry landscapes, or the gloomy dark cavern.

The only challenging part is keeping the kids' level at 10 until you fight one of the bears, since you can accidentally level up with the rats and snowflakes while in town. Maybe the two last bosses will pose some problems, but there are plenty of tips for you to look up. Otherwise, the rest of the set is very easy, perfect for someone who wants a quick mastery. Just be sure to talk to all of the NPCs in town, as some of them are related to plot progression.

Game	Console	Genre
Toy Story Racer	PlayStation	Kart Racing

• Set by: {% rauserpic mario2188 %}
• Write-up by: {% rauserpic sam4594 %}

If you like racing games like Mario Kart, then this is the game for you. This is a underrated racing game for the PS1. You're able to play with all your favourite Toy Story characters like Buzz, Woody, Ham, and even some more obscure characters like Lenny the Binoculars and Babyface. There are many different race tracks and battle arenas. There are 200 challenges to beat, and the game as a whole is really fun and rewarding as you unlock more and more characters as you go along.

Pros of this game include the really good map design, extremely fun battle mode, and the diverse range of characters, which is outstanding for its time. One negative of the game is that some of the challenges can be a bit tedious when you have to run around the map trying to find and collect collectibles in a short time. There's also another game mode where you have to use your battle items to destroy targets around the map in a short space of time, and sometimes the hitboxes for the targets are not very accurate and can be a pain to hit.

All in all it's a very solid racing game for PS1 and I recommend it to anyone who likes Mario Kart and other similar racing games.

Game	Console	Genre
Blomby Car	Arcade	Racing

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

I'm going to get this out of the way: Blomby Car is by no means a good game. It's terrible. The corners don't at all match the turn markers that show up on the screen half the time, and even if they do match, it feels like some corners just have their own imaginary physics engine. There's one corner where if you let go of the steering too early, the car teleports into the outside wall and flips. Some corners let turning lock you to the turn like a Ridge Racer drift, and others just...don't. Nothing makes sense in the world of Blomby Car, and everything comes down to trial and error to just memorize every single corner.

But Blomby Car is more than a game. It is an enigma. Very little information exists about this game, and much of it conflicts itself. Some people argue it's a bootleg derived from Jaleco's World Rally. Others say it's just a knock-off, but the code and assets are all original. I've never even seen what an actual cabinet of this game looks like. I'm still not entirely sure if it's meant to be played with a wheel or just a joystick, though I've tried both and beaten the game with both. Little is known about either company that collaborated on this game, other than they both come out of Milan, Italy.

As jank as it is, though, the jank is a charm of its own. If you have an interest in bizarre, bad games and racing games in general like I do, however, it's at least worth sating your curiosity.