Play This Set October 2021 - RetroAchievements/RANews GitHub Wiki

Kirby: Squeak Squad (Nintendo DS)

  • gameid: 14700
  • set by: pinguupinguu , StingX2
  • writeup by: pinguupinguu

Ahoy! Join the adorable, pink puffball in your next adventure as you fight off the Squeak Squad! Travel through the vast grasslands, the clouds of the sky, and even the galaxy to complete your adventure! As you travel through these levels, make sure to collect every single treasure that you see along the way. But, beware! A few Squeaks might try to steal the prize you so rightfully discovered.

What a perfect adventure to bring to RetroAchievements! This collaboration achievement set between StingX2 and pinguupinguu provides a fun amount of progression and challenges to keep you playing this game! Highlights in this set include your basic progression, mini-games, and even some boss challenges! I also heard that Kirby may be a hired…. Hitman? You’ll have to find out for yourself! If you like challenge with a hint of mystery, then this set is for you!

Special thanks to StingX2 for set design, and badges. Huge thank you to Zpeligo for helping to maintain this set. (It was cursed after all!)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Game Boy)

  • gameid: 595
  • set by: Pebete
  • writeup by: Pebete

One of the firsts Yu-Gi-Oh! of all times, no trap cards no effect monsters no sacrifice just a bunch of magic cards and a lot of monsters, numbers pure and hard from the weak Skull Servant to the fearsome Blue Eyes White Dragon. The game relates the histories of the Duelist Kingdom where the magnate Maximillian Pegasus appeal the best duelists in the world included Seto Kaiba the number 1. About the game it's very simple, there are no phases just a Main Phase where you can summon a monster or play a magic card and the classic Battle Phase where you can attack the opponent monsters or directly hit. The set includes achievements about wins against the various duelist that appear in the game and obtaining his cards, unique fusions like the Black Skull Dragon, summon Exodia, miscellaneous and complete the different chapters of the game.

Jetsons, The: Cogswell's Caper (NES)

  • gameid: 1763
  • set by: DoctorV
  • writeup by: DoctorV

The Jetsons: Cogswell's Caper was released late in the NES's lifetime. The SNES had been released, but Natsume and Taito stayed behind to create this little hidden gem. Based on the animated sitcom from the 60's, you play as George, the patriarch of the Jetson family. Ordered by his boss Mr. Spacely, George is sent out to stop Mr. Spacely's rival, Mr. Cogswell, who has started up a mining factory on planet M38 and is making lots of money (how dare he!). George must prevent the destruction of this planet and save the aliens living there. The game consists of 12 stages, ending with a boss on most of them. While it may sound short, the high difficulty of this game can certainly make it last longer than you think. Thankfully, this game features infinite continues, resuming the game at the start of the stage you lost your last life on. The music in the game is also a highlight, with catchy tunes that will get stuck in your head. You'll be humming along to them in no time. There are also similarities in gameplay to Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, as George can mostly only attack by picking up boxes and throwing them at enemies, but the similarities end there. I call this a hidden gem, since I suspect not many have played it, or even heard of it. But if you like The Jetsons or challenging platformers, then this is a game for you! The set contains both easy progression achievements, but also harder achievements such as reaching a boss without taking damage or beating the bosses damageless. If you want a true challenge, try your hand at beating the game without losing a single life. Have fun playing!

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Game Gear)

  • gameid: 12636
  • set by: mopain85
  • writeup by: mopain85

It's morphin time! An iconic line from an ever-popular series! Power Rangers is one of the great tv shows, movies, and video games that I grew up with. Most of us can relate to one another in our love for this great series! Regardless of which version you started watching, we cannot forget where they came from. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the first iteration, and my personal favorite. Growing up I was excited when they started releasing Power Ranger video games! In 1994 the first Mighty Morphin Power Rangers video game was released. It debuted on numerous consoles and handhelds and was met with great success. Game gear was a handheld I couldn’t get my hands on growing up, but I am glad to finally knock another Power Rangers game off my bucket list! Power Rangers makes a fantastic display of the capability of this handheld's graphic potential, and the power rangers sounds we all know and love. Choose your favorite power ranger and set off to defend the city from putties and a slew of Rita Repulsa's evil monsters. After the puttie invasion and a one-on-one battle with Rita's monster (surprise, surprise) she's up to her old tricks! Magic wand make my monster grow! Once the monster grows there’s no choice but to call in the Zords and have the street fighter style battle ensue! One on one fighting with Zord power moves executed from our favorite button smashing combinations is sure to excite anyone who chooses to play. Nothing compares to fighting the forces of evil and saving the day!

Turok - Rage Wars (Game Boy Color)

  • gameid: 4108
  • set by: N/A
  • writeup by: mopain85

When you start talking about dinosaurs, mutants, and humans in a 4 player deathmatch...SIGN ME UP! The Turok series is a beloved series that started on the Nintendo 64 and has evolved over the years. We love the gameplay, the far-fetched story line, and saving the world. Well, my friends in Turok Rage Wars, throw all resemblance of a story line out the window and hand me the controller. We're here for one thing and one thing only. Pure mayhem!

Turok Rage Wars pits the player against other players or bots in a quake style deathmatch. The single player campaign mode is designed to give you some exciting gameplay shifting between kills, flag captures, and a tag the monkey mode. We also earn some achievements/medals (yes Turok Rage Wars had unlockable medals within the game itself!), and overall, we're looking to expand our multiplayer character selection library. Characters are unlocked through completed a previous character’s single player campaign. If you're looking for fast action, borderline chaos, challenging, and sometimes rage quitting criteria death matches, look no further. A game I would recommend to anyone who's not familiar with it but likes deathmatch video games. Drop yourself into a match and revel at the ability to inflate the enemy to the point of popping! Come get your hands dirty and rage on!

Space Manbow (MSX)

  • gameid: 4023
  • set by: BigWeedSmokerMan
  • writeup by: BigWeedSmokerMan

Space Manbow. What kind of name is that? Only the name of one of the best MSX titles you’ve never heard of, I would reply. This game took me by surprise, on my journey to develop a set for each currently supported console, I came across Space Manbow (1989, Konami) for the MSX. Initially drawn in by its interesting name, I discovered it was a bullet hell auto-scroller. Perfect. Bullet hell being one of my favorite genres I decided to take the plunge. The impressive use of the tech available to the Konami team really stands out here, the auto-scrolling and movement of the sprites is both so smooth and reactive, it really stands out from a fair number of other titles on the system. The game is chock full of powerups and boosters to aid you in your journey, even allowing for two mini ships to be added to your fleet to fight alongside you. It consists of 8 major sections (9 as the final boss is split in two) that get progressively harder. At a short 30–40-minute playthrough, it’s both surprising and welcome to find a continue option when running out of lives. The highlight of Space Manbow, to me, is easily the visual design of the different stages, they’re all unique and look incredibly detailed. At one point the player encounters a sort of body-horror-esque boss, representing a human head rooted to the ground with horns and a blue power source in its forehead. The amount of detail in this scene alone is dramatically impressive to me for being a 1989 release. The OST has such a perfect 80’s sci-fi vibe to it, you could listen to it separate from gameplay and certainly enjoy it, but there’s something about defeating the final boss, seeing the end cine begin to roll, and hearing the twinkly, triumphant sounds of victory resonating. Space Manbow is a part of the Thunder Cross series which is an adjacent series to both Gradius and Nemesis. If you like bullet hell, 80s vibes, or just slapping the space bar really hard, check out Space Manbow for the MSX.

Blue Dragon Plus (Nintendo DS)

  • gameid: 16634
  • set by SapphireSuicine
  • writeup by: SapphireSuicine

"It's a gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame, it's worth a playthrooooooough!" - Davidvinc. I don't know if my set for this game is good, but even without a set, this game would still be worth a playthrough. This game is a real-time strategy RPG with 15 main playable characters, all with different skillsets. Skills are linked to "Shadows", and each character starts with their own unique shadow. With prisms, you can give up to two extra Shadows to each character, allowing them to have 3 different skillsets at a time. In addition to the wide cast of characters, you can assemble Mecha Robos to add to your party. There are over 100 different types of Mecha Robos, and each can be customized with Mecha parts. If you played the original Blue Dragon, you would remember what happened at the end of the game. Shu and his friends are exploring the Atomic Cube, with over 20 locations to explore. On top of that, you will have the opportunity to complete 30 side quests, ranging from synthesizing items, stopping monsters, and even fighting extremely powerful dragon super bosses. If you enjoy strategy RPGs, or even if you haven't played one before, I think you'd like this game.

Pokémon WaterBlue Version (Game Boy Advance)

  • gameid: 16195
  • set by: stfN1337
  • writeup by: adamjohnny5

With the current and seemingly frequent addition of Pokémon Hacks and Subsets lately, I felt it necessary to inform potential players of a hack that doesn't seem to get a lot of attention. I'm talking about Pokémon Waterblue, a FireRed Hack for the Game Boy Advance.

This hack plays out a lot like FireRed and LeafGreen before it, however with an interesting twist. This time, and seemingly for the first time (at least for Retroachievements) you play as Ash's Rival Gary. With a brand new story that turns your expectations on its head, and does a good job filling in the gaps in the Red and Blue story (like, how did he get those Pokémon?), WaterBlue is the perfect hack for Pokémon fans. It's also a top quality hack with very few issues.

The set is the standard fare for Pokémon games, with I personally like with hacks that I'm not sure about the quality of ahead of time. Beat all the trainers, access all the story mode points and, of course, catch them all are the achievements you will be going after. And it'll look great on your profile next to FireRed and LeafGreen too!

Run Saber (SNES)

  • gameid: 3248
  • set by: MeCKooLL
  • writeup by: Chauckles

The year is 2998. Earth has been polluted to extreme levels and is near uninhabitable. A new program developed by Dr. Gordon Bruford is deployed to cleanse the planet, but due to the immense radiation humanity must transfer to a space colony until the process is complete. However, Dr. Bruford himself stayed behind, becoming an evil mutant stripped of his humanity and has started building a mutant army to take over the world. Now it's up to cyborg warriors Allen and Sheena to destroy the mutants and end Dr. Bruford's plans.

Run Saber may be short, but its densely-packed stages and radical 90's-as-hell aesthetic will rock you to your core the entire time. Fans of Strider will feel at home with the game's fast-paced do-or-die style, and anyone looking to scratch their arcade action itch will easily be satisfied with the cyborgs' powerful movesets.

The mutants' ranks are growing. Are you a bad enough bot to stop them?

Diddy Kong Racing DS (Nintendo DS)

  • gameid: 9546
  • set by: AlexGatao
  • writeup by: CanadianLooni

Originally released in 1997 for the Nintendo 64, Diddy Kong Racing (DKR) was developer Rareware's attempt to capture some of that Mario Kart magic. DKR received high praise upon release, and is one of the N64's best selling titles. Despite Microsoft's purchase of Rare in 2002, Rare continued to release ports onto Nintendo's handheld systems throughout the mid 2000s, with one of those ports being DKR DS. The DS version is not a straight port of the N64 original, as it features improved graphics, a larger character roaster, new and modified tracks, and some significant gameplay changes.

Mastering AlexGatao's great set will take players through pretty much everything the game has to offer. For better or worse, Rare decided to take full advantage of the DS's touch screen to implement some new gameplay modes, and modify existing ones. The silver coin challenges from DKR N64 have been replaced by an on-rails challenge where the player has to pop gold balloons that have been scattered throughout the track, and there's a chunk of achievements related to finishing those; fortunately, you do not have to pop all of the balloons in each course for the achievements! These on-rail courses also have a varying amount of silver Rare Coins sprinkled throughout each track, and there's a chunk of achievements that require you to find and collect all of them in each track. While these modes would be best played with a touch screen, it still works fine with a mouse. If you are having trouble, try upping the mouse sensitivity in emulator options. Another set of achievements require the player to collect 10 balloons with each character within one game session. This can be done while playing through the two Adventure modes that the game has to offer, which is required anyway for a mastery. Collect 10 balloons with one character, then swap to another one. All of the characters have different stats compared to the original game, so this will be a new experience for everyone. There's also some achievements for trying out the new race tracks that Rare made for this release, as well as coming in first place in the challenging Trophy Races.

While the changes that Rare made to this version of the game are generally considered to be, well, not great, any fan of the original should still give this game a go. Many thanks to AlexGatao for making this solid set.