Wish This Set June 2024 - RetroAchievements/RANews GitHub Wiki

Wish This Set is a showcase for our passionate community members to write about the games they love that aren't yet represented on the site. Is there a game you'd like to see receive an achievement set? Let us know by sending a private message to {% rauserpic RANews %}. We encourage you to explain what makes the game so special to you, and you may be featured in a future issue of RANews!

Game	Console	Genre
Bomberman Max 2: Blue Advance	Game Boy Advance	Puzzle

Game	Console	Genre
Bomberman Max 2: Red Advance	Game Boy Advance	Puzzle

• Write-up by: {% rauserpic Digifiend %}

This pair of games are sequels to the Game Boy Color games Bomberman Max: Blue Champion and Bomberman Max: Red Challenger, which already have sets. The sets for these GBA sequels would cover all the same features - collecting power ups, collecting Charaboms, beating bosses, and completing all stages. Bomberman games are always fun and these twin games are no exception. Blue Advance has 22 requests and Red Advance has 6, which might not seem like many, but 907 (Blue) and 389 (Red) have played the GBC games.

Game	Console	Genre
Metal Arms: Glitch in the System	PlayStation 2	Third-Person Shooter

• Write-up by: {% rauserpic TheRoadkill %}

Metal Arms is one of the greatest hidden gems that I can think of when it comes to shooter games. It is a third-person shooter unlike any other that I have played, and because of these things, I believe it deserves a set over many other shooters available.

In the story mode, there would be your obvious progression achievements, but there are other systems that could lead to fun ones to unlock. Every level has collectables that you can find/purchase from the upgrade shop, and they are fun to try and find within the levels. Most levels also have an upgrade shop you can stop at, which allow you to hold more weapons, or make them more powerful. One other very fun mechanic in this game is the Control Tether, which lets you take over unsuspecting enemies. This mechanic could lead to other fun achievements for clearing out areas or killing a certain amount of enemies while controlling one of them.

Outside of the story mode is the multiplayer mode. Normally there wouldn't be anything for you to do playing alone in a multiplayer mode, but in this game there could be potential for more achievements. Because of the Control Tether mentioned before, there are powered down versions of the enemies found in the story mode. An option that you can set in this game is to instead have them on and roaming the map, like AI bots. With this, you could set survival achievements to either survive a certain amount of time, get a certain amount of kills, or a combination of both in the same achievement. This game is a gem to play, and with a fun set that it deserves I believe that more people would discover just how fun this game really is!

Game	Console	Genre
True Crime: Streets of L.A.	PlayStation 2	Action-Adventure, Sandbox, Third-Person Shooter

Game	Console	Genre
True Crime: New York City	PlayStation 2	Action-Adventure, Sandbox, Third-Person Shooter

• Write-up by: {% rauserpic coolscribble %}

If you've ever dived into the vibrant world of Sleeping Dogs, you'd agree it's one of the top-tier open-world experiences around. So, how about adding both its predecessors to the Retro Achievements lineup? While it might not be quite as thrilling as going undercover in the streets of China, True Crime offers a solid alternative for those who prefer open-world games with a touch of reality over the craziness of GTA. Admittedly, I don't know a ton about these two games, but given how phenomenal Sleeping Dogs is, I'm expecting nothing short of greatness from them.

Game	Console	Genre
Dancing Sword: Senkou | Dancing Sword: Flash	Game Boy Advance	Beat 'em Up

• Write-up by: {% rauserpic Hexadigital %}

Dancing Sword: Flash is a side scrolling beat 'em up that only got released in Japan, but is friendly to non-Japanese players as well, with a bit of guesswork. It features five different playable characters, all with different special elemental moves, depending on their weapon and fighting style. Unlike other beat 'em ups I've played, this one surprised me with how complex the inputs for special moves can be. Some characters have special moves that consist of just pressing one button, such as pressing B seven times, but each combo requires you to press buttons in a specific rhythm as well. This turns what could have been a plain beat 'em up into something where each character is unique as you time and match your inputs to their specific fighting style.

Game	Console	Genre
Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix	PlayStation	Action-Adventure, Survival Horror

• Write-up by: {% rauserpic calendario %}

I played this game when it was new and it was one of my best experiences from a PS1 game. I don't remember the plot very well because at the time I had to read about it in gaming magazines since I don't speak English, so I can't say much there. The gameplay is one of the best parts. It's 3D action, but the control is very good without any kind of frustration. It has a roll to avoid attacks, a lot of weapons, and a lot of enemies.

You play with more than 1 character, but this is something I never cared about; for me I don't see a man or a woman, but a "robot" I can control. One weird thing is this game is 4 CDs long, but the way the game swaps is unique. You'll start on disc 1, be prompted for disc 2, then back to 1, then onto 4, then 2, then 3, all with no rhyme or reason. The graphics are incredible, very colorful with a mix of real time graphics and environmental cinematics.

The best part is the puzzles. The only similar game with action and puzzles I can think of is Resident Evil, but these puzzles are way harder. To this day I remember loving the hard mode as well. Hard mode makes all puzzles have different solutions and changes the enemy placements. I didn't have internet and no magazine had a walkthrough for the hard difficulty, but I tried and eventually beat it. It was the best feeling I had because it was 100% my effort.

I do think this game deserves a set with challenges covering shooting, puzzles, and the hard mode, and I'm sure anybody would agree.

Game	Console	Genre
Esper Dream	NES/Famicom	Adventure

• Write-up by: {% rauserpic AmazingBaha %}

If there's something that I would love to see more of, it'd be more Famicom Disk System sets (and translations). It doesn't seem to get a lot of love. There isn't even its own console page despite having more games than the 32X, another console add-on, which does have its own. There's some cool looking stuff in there, and I hope to see a Dev/PlayJam come out of it sometime in the future. Right now there's at least 50 games with translations so far, and ports of other NES games or things like shooters that don't even need translating. Either way I see the potential.

But anyway, I wanted to talk about Esper Dream, as I found it strange that its sequel has a set but the first doesn't. My first time experiencing ED - that's an unfortunate acronym - was a long time ago, when collecting all the game music soundtracks and recordings I could didn't feel like an impossible task. I remember listening to tracks from random games to see if it would get me interested in playing through. This was before quality translations and cycle accurate emulation, so I had no way to actually play, but I remember one track that had me curious about playing through sometime. I remember nights relaxing in bed and wondering what this relaxing dungeon music was all about.

Looking back, the music isn't particularly complex and probably doesn't take advantage of the extra audio channels the FDS has available, but it struck my mysterious gland and that was all that mattered. I finally had the chance to play it, I think it was sometime around COVID, I don't remember. What I do recall is it being a good time. I'm not great with hardware, but one thing that struck me was how nice it looked walking around town. I'm not sure if the sprites and tiles have a higher resolution or if it's a better color depth – whatever it was I remember having a ball watching the little duck family swim around.

The adventure isn't long, maybe 5 worlds, but it is tough. Encounters aren't entirely random; as you explore you come across moving paw prints on the ground, and the encounter only starts when you touch them. From there you're placed in a square arena surrounded by square boxes. Escape is possible by finding the right square wall segment and shooting it until it breaks, but you can also fight. Victory earns a chunk of exp and a random drop which could be either health or gold used to purchase various things. Upgrades are found while exploring, and as you level, new psychic powers are acquired to help with survival. Each world has a different theme, with optional areas to explore sprinkled in.

Toward the end it gets rough. I remember dying a lot and retrying the last boss sequence, but it wasn't anything a little grinding and practice couldn't fix. In a way I could kind of compare combat to Undertale or even the walking parts of The Guardian Legend where each enemy has certain attacks that you have to learn how to maneuver around and avoid, but also while getting your shots in.

Check it out - it's worth getting a set, and maybe it'll get the ball rolling on the FDS earning its identity and spot as its own console.

Game	Console	Genre
SaGa 3: Rulers of Time and Space - Shadow or Light	Nintendo DS	Turn-based RPG

• Write-up by: {% rauserpic Sutarion %}

SaGa 3 was originally released on the Game Boy as Final Fantasy Legend III in North America. This game became my most played Game Boy game, and was one of the first RPGs I played as a child. The game centers around 3 children from the future that have been sent to the past in order to stop an ever flowing fountain in the sky that has flooded their timeline. During their travels, characters can consume animal meat or robot parts to become various monsters or machines with special abilities in combat. You can also mix and match these character types to customize your party.

The game received a 3D remake released on the Nintendo DS in 2011, but was released in Japan only. With no knowledge of Japanese, it was something I couldn't hope to play. Fortunately, an English translation was created many years later. My wish is to play it one day along with achievements!

Game	Console	Genre
Sprung: A Game Where Everyone Scores | Sprung: The Dating Game	Nintendo DS	Dating Simulation

• Write-up by: {% rauserpic jamesbuc %}

Ubisoft during the Nintendo DS era was... Interesting. During this era they did a lot of casual games, mostly under the Imagine series which were mostly marketed for small girls, but they also had a few jabs at the more teen and young adult girl market too, most of which didn't do anywhere near as well. One of these was a shot at a visual novel dating game, and the result was Sprung, which acted as one of the launch titles for the DS in Europe.

The premise is quite simple - at the start you pick either the lovable yet clueless and goofy Brett or the rather generously endowed and ditzy-rom-com relatable Becky as your lead. You then take them through a variety of scenarios, ranging from finding work, going on dates, getting revenge on cheating partners, and getting into a wide variety of mishaps that feel like they could have been ripped directly from something like American Pie or Bridget Jones's Diary.

I will, however, make one thing with this recommendation completely clear though, make no mistake, this is not me calling the game a masterpiece and something that should be played by anyone, absolutely not. The dialogue is crude, the characters are mostly unlikable caricatures that barely resemble people, and the gameplay often resorts to unfair guessing games where logic flies out the window, only to replaced by utter nonsense.

However, despite all this, the game somehow manages to swing wildly in the opposite direction akin to how The Room somehow holds onto public affection despite being absolute trash in all manner of ways. This is simply due to how unhinged the game can get, either through its general situations as every 00s sex comedy trope gets thrown at you all at once, to the ways you can game over, be it through a drug-addled trip as you get lost with a cow-headed hippy woman (don't ask), or through deciding to hurl gasoline/pepper spray at characters at random.

Like I said before, it is indeed a hot mess of a game.... But it's also a ridiculous ride nonetheless, and one that would be well worth getting an RA set.

Game	Console	Genre
Legend of Heroes, The: Trails from Zero | Eiyuu Densetsu: Zero no Kiseki	PlayStation Portable	Turn-based RPG

• Write-up by: {% rauserpic mywifeleftm %}

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is the 4th game chronologically in the Kiseki series, with the first 3 games already having a set on RA. Having just played through the whole game on Steam - it's incredible. How this game didn't get an official western release until very recently is a mystery to me.

Zero not only takes place entirely within the City of Crossbell, a completely different region than the first 3 games, but also features a brand new cast of characters and their struggles. Most notably for the RA side, the game has an in-game achievement feature and basically already comes prepackaged with a good baseline of achievements to work with.

Game	Console	Genre
SaGa 2: Hihou Densetsu - Goddess of Destiny	Nintendo DS	Turn-based RPG

• Write-up by: {% rauserpic Prota %}

The SaGa series has evolved much over the years since first debuting on the Game Boy with SaGa 1 (aka Final Fantasy Legend), but what it was able to achieve on the handheld console was very impressive for the time. The first three SaGa games were recently re-released with enhanced ports in the Collection of SaGa compilation, but the three games also had remakes that have never been released outside of Japan. They have, however, received full fan-translations and, after enjoying Collection of SaGa so much, I've wanted to check the remakes out. Final Fantasy Legend II in particular is often viewed as the fan favorite of the original three games, and the DS remake is a game that I believe deserves a set.

The game already had a lot going for it: party customization with four selectable races (Human, Esper, Monster, Robot) that all have unique ways to get stronger, multiple worlds to explore, and a killer OST just to name a few. The remake takes it a step further by adding new features, some of which are from later games that have become a staple of the series, like the sparking/glimmering mechanic in which characters can learn new moves in the middle of battle. The graphics are completely redone in 3D, extra script was added to expand on the story, the soundtrack was rearranged, a new combo system was implemented, and some quality of life updates were added such as a upgradable mini-map and New Game+. There's also bonus challenges, including two arenas to refight bosses and complete enemy gauntlets to obtain special rewards.

With all the love the SaGa series has been getting in recent years, we're seeing more people getting into the series. It would be great for this game to get a set both for newcomers and those looking to replay a classic with a fresh coat of paint.