The UKFF Retro Gaming Thread

[FLips]

Got myself a really good condition copy of the original Punch-Out!! on NES for £15 this week. The series as a whole is one that I've never really meshed with until now but for a relatively low price it was on worth adding to the collection and I'm glad I did. My mate came over yesterday and we had a bit of a Punch-Out!! day, working through the NES, SNES and Wii renditions.

Punch-Out!! NES
Known more commonly as Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, it loses the branding for the PAL release. The main thing you need to wrap your head around to enjoy the game and get the most out of it is that it's not necessarily a boxing game, more an exercise in muscle memory and strategy. Spamming punches might get you maybe a fight or two in before it won't do you any good and you'll need to learn attack patterns, openings and when to move and strike. 

For a NES game it looks and sounds really crisp, there's some great animations on the enemy boxers and they come in all shapes and sizes. A lot of the fun is working out the enemy weaknesses so you'll do a few rounds first of getting unexpectedly battered and not knowing what to do, trying different things until suddenly you get a star for hitting a weak spot, or land a perfectly timed counter to KO them.

Little Mac generally only has a limited moveset. Dodge Left/Right, Block, Left and Right Jab/Body Blow, and a special Star Punch. Three 2 minute rounds, knock them down 3 times in one round to win, or depending on the opponent you can win by decision on points if you go the distance, though this stops being a thing in the later fights.
There's a password system that lets you start from the beginning of each circuit, with those being broken into groups of 3 or so fights. You can however if you look online find passwords to individual fighters too. It's very generous for the time.

We made it all the way to Mr Dream, who is the white copyright-free palette swap of Mike Tyson for this region and he's a fucking nightmare. We saved the password and moved on.

Excellent game once you get over it not being a fighter/boxing game.

Super Punch-Out!! SNES
I've had this one laying around a while but never gave it the time of day. Wish I had now, as it evolves the series just enough to make it feel fresh and has a lot to offer.

Same deal as the original with you this time fighting through four circuits (Minor, Major, World and Special I think it was) each with 3-4 fights a circuit. Aside from one or two opponents this one has a fresh roster of fairly offensive stereotypes such as the rastafarian Bob Charlie, or Dragon Chan who is what you would expect him to be.
They slightly change up the gameplay too, so gone are the weakspot stars you save up for a special punch, replaced by a special meter that you fill with hits and lose by being hit. If that's full you can do a special flurry of blows, or if timed right a powerful uppercut. 

These special moves feel way way meatier than in the original and a lot of the opponents have incredibly satisfying weaknesses you can deal massive damage to with them.

Going from PO to SPO feels like a true generational leap. Quality of life improvements, depth added to the gameplay, graphics that pop off the screen and that wonderful SNES sound font. The password system is also gone, replaced with iirc a 10-slot save function on the battery meaning you can compete for top times and top scores on the cartridge. The previous owner Thomas doesn't even know we were competing with him like, but his name vanished off the scoreboards entering the Major Circuit. Chump.

This one we got to the second fight in the World Circuit and decided to move on. Not through lack of enjoyment though, just because we game over'd and went back to the first fight of the circuit and the save system meant we had a good place to go back to.

Even better than the original in almost every way.

Punch-Out!! Wii
This is the one my mate had when we were teenagers so he was very familiar with it, and I was somewhat from my little memory of it.

This one is a bit of an unusual one in that it takes bits and parts from both games before it and combines them into something that while fun, doesn't feel as complete as Super Punch-Out. It loses SPO's special meter for an updated version of PO's star punch system. This time you can store 3 for a special super punch that depletes all of them.
Opponent weak spots are still there but this time you can get a perfectly timed hit once certain triggers have been met to get a cutscene-inducing early KO. These are very satisfying.
The roster is a bit from Column A and a bit from Column B. I don't recally anyone new added to it, but everyone who returns is updated to give them more character, more moves and new twists on old tricks, and as a result everyone feels the complete version of themselves. Soda-Popinski for example, a late enemy in the original game with fast speed and big health, actually drinks his soda to regain health in this one and you get Stars for smacking it out of his hand.

Graphically is does a brilliant job of giving the "modern" Wii graphics the same aesthetics as the SNES one, almost cartoon-like. Personally I don't think 3D graphics around this era have aged well on any of the three consoles, especially up against sprites which when done right are timeless. This has aged as well as it could though, similarly to Wind Waker or XIII, the cartoonishness still looks better than "realistic" stuff from the time.

I'd say while SPO is my favourite of the three, this one probably comes in second. I think PO and POwii are both great for the time, but SPO is great even now as a complete product. I never got to try them though, but POwii apparently has motion control and Wii balance board control. I imagine that's either amazing or dog shit with no in-between.

All in all a fantastic trilogy and I'm glad I finally gave them the time they deserve. It makes you wonder why they bother with stuff like ARMS when it could be a modern one of these, but alas.

Outside of those I've recently played;

Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers NES which was like DuckTales but not as good. Instead of pogo sticking you chuck boxes at stuff, and instead of picking levels in any order you get a world map that splits up now and again, for example A>B> C or D> E.
The music is fine, and it's a Capcom NES game so it has a solid foundation, but just doesn't feel as fun as Ducktales, or Mega Man, etc. This does have 2 player Co-Op though which I imagine is how the game is intended to be played and could improve it, but I played this between calls at work so I'll get round to it another time.

Super Mario World SNES
It's the perfect platformer isn't it? Everything about it is a 10/10 and it's one of those games that floods back memories of me playing it before school on a morning as a kid. I still remember completing it for the first time as clear as day.
My only nit-pick would be more a personal problem than a problem with the game, in that in looking for secret exits I always find Star Road in World 2 or 3, finish it, go right to Bowser and beat him, missing half the game. I really need to keep focus next time I play it because even without doing Bowser, Star Road messes all the graphics up and changes the enemy sprites and I couldn't do the whole game like that. 

Pilotwings SNES
Was it someone on here mentioned it recently? I can't remember what it was but someone mentioned it and got it in my head I needed to go back and play it. Like Punch-Out it's a game I've tried many a time and it never stuck. This one stuck in a little deeper than usual but it was still only 7 or 8 levels in and I felt like I'd played all there is to play. Love the music, the composer Soyo Oka is a bit of a forgotten name in Nintendo but she did this, Sim City (which is one of the best OSTs on the console) and Super Mario Kart among other stuff. The gameplay just leaves a lot to be desired though but could be fun competing with friends.

Super Mario Kart
I try and I try with this game but without the nostalgia for owning it as a kid (Double Dash was my first) it just doesn't have much to like. The soundtrack is classic stuff that still shows up in modern MK games, and it's bright and colourful, but the drifting is awful, the circuits are tiny and the AI unfair and brutal. If I was going to boot a MK game up for the 2 player as well, there would be no reason for it to be this one. A game of it's era for me, really wish I could enjoy it.

Another World SNES
Technically impressive, responsive-enough and despite a few big slowdown moments works enough. Just a frustrating trial by error torture device though. The format was slowly perfected over time through games like Heart of Darkness and Abe's Oddyssey. Got to a point where we physically just couldn't get any further. Brutal.

Mario Kart DS
Great memories of sitting outside on the swing seat in the garden with my Mum, little fire going on a warm autumn night when I was really bad with anxiety and gastroenteritis as a teenager. Will always have a soft spot for it because of that. It helps that it's a fun game in it's own right, though maybe the difficulty is a little steep at times with some truly spiteful AI. 
DS Graphics have aged oddly well considering, fortified by the slew of "PS1-Style Graphic" horror indie games that keep showing up. They don't like like PS1, they look like DS. 

Mario Kart 7 3DS
Feels closer to Mario Kart 8 than it does Mario Kart DS. In hindsight a truly remarkable game to squeeze onto a true handheld (not a made for TV console with handheld functionality, or handheld that runs PC games). Smooth gameplay, great selection of tracks, and keeps the fun flowing with generous unlockables a much fairer feeling AI. Maybe a bit too easy to complete 100% but like MK8 it was kept fresh with the online which might be functioning still, I'm not sure as my 3DS is hacked so I'm not going to even try connecting to online.

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 DS
One of my favourite DS games that I'll go back to every few years. A 1970s crime noir story game with rotoscope graphics, where you hold the DS like a novel. Really a truly unique game in nearly every sense. The gameplay keeps you moving outside the talky bits, the music is charming and the overally presentation still feels modern today. If you've never played this one I whole heartedly recommend it.

[Dr. Alan Grant]

If tomorrow’s 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy IX isn’t marked with the announcement (or shadow drop) of a remake, I will lose faith in humankind. They’ve been announcing various merchandise and collaborations with other games, but a proper remake would make me happier than Quina at a all-you-can-eat frog buffet. 

[King Coconut]

If I see one more person abbreviate Mario Kart to MK I swear I'll report them. 

[RedTwoster]

4 hours ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

If tomorrow’s 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy IX isn’t marked with the announcement (or shadow drop) of a remake, I will lose faith in humankind. They’ve been announcing various merchandise and collaborations with other games, but a proper remake would make me happier than Quina at an all-you-can-eat frog buffet. 

If nothing is announced tomorrow I’m going to have to assume that the rumoured remake was either scrapped, or nonsense to begin with. 

[Onyx2]

23 hours ago, FLips said:

Super Punch-Out!! SNES

Yeah this is the one. Really tight formula, excellent controls, looks great and it all feels fair. 

Currently ploughing through Link to the Past and while I'm enjoying it it has so many frustrating parts that exist only to piss me off. Those hands that grab you and dump you back at the beginning of the dungeon. Things that bounce you off platforms. Being unable to hit when leaving a doorway, but you can be hit. Oh and like every other Nintendo game beeping incessantly when health is low.

It's undoubtedly well made and I know Mr FLips absolutely adores it but I'm getting a bit irritated at the late stage game where contact with an enemy costs 3 or 4 hearts. I had to put it down last night as it was irritating me too much. I will finish it, but I'm savescumming the hell out of it.

[FLips]

35 minutes ago, Onyx2 said:

Yeah this is the one. Really tight formula, excellent controls, looks great and it all feels fair. 

Currently ploughing through Link to the Past and while I'm enjoying it it has so many frustrating parts that exist only to piss me off. Those hands that grab you and dump you back at the beginning of the dungeon. Things that bounce you off platforms. Being unable to hit when leaving a doorway, but you can be hit. Oh and like every other Nintendo game beeping incessantly when health is low.

It's undoubtedly well made and I know Mr FLips absolutely adores it but I'm getting a bit irritated at the late stage game where contact with an enemy costs 3 or 4 hearts. I had to put it down last night as it was irritating me too much. I will finish it, but I'm savescumming the hell out of it.

Have you found the upgraded armour?

[Onyx2]

3 minutes ago, FLips said:

Have you found the upgraded armour?

...no.

I think that's part of the early 90s game design; there's no indication that armour can be upgraded. The sword has a little "2" beside it, I have the fire shield but I can't see any way to know that the tunic can be improved. I'll go look that up, thanks.

[hallicks]

@FLips I was banging on about Pilot Wings 64 a while back. I only tried the SNES version out briefly but the N64 version felt like a big upgrade. 

[FLips]

2 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

...no.

I think that's part of the early 90s game design; there's no indication that armour can be upgraded. The sword has a little "2" beside it, I have the fire shield but I can't see any way to know that the tunic can be improved. I'll go look that up, thanks.

It tells you about it in the manual but I don’t need to explain how this isn’t useful information to you in the year 2025.

40 minutes ago, hallicks said:

@FLips I was banging on about Pilot Wings 64 a while back. I only tried the SNES version out briefly but the N64 version felt like a big upgrade. 

Ah it might have been that then. Still haven’t tried 64, but did find the 3DS one worth playing for the 3D Effect.

Edited July 7, 2025 by FLips

[Merzbow]

I don't know how many followed him but Patrick aka PatmanQC has recently passed away, one of the loveliest guys making retro game videos for the past few years and despite losing both arms and legs he continued putting out some of the best retrospectives on Youtube. Never heard a bad word come out of his mouth, was by far one of the most positive people in the scene was like us was a big wrestling nerd too.

[Abe_Knuckleball_Schwartz]

1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

I don't know how many followed him but Patrick aka PatmanQC has recently passed away, one of the loveliest guys making retro game videos for the past few years and despite losing both arms and legs he continued putting out some of the best retrospectives on Youtube. Never heard a bad word come out of his mouth, was by far one of the most positive people in the scene was like us was a big wrestling nerd too.

Sad news, I found one his videos by chance about 18 months ago and like his presentation style and thought his voice was great for it as well.

Didnt know he lost both arms and legs either, so incredibly sad.

[Jazzy G]

4 hours ago, Merzbow said:

I don't know how many followed him but Patrick aka PatmanQC has recently passed away, one of the loveliest guys making retro game videos for the past few years and despite losing both arms and legs he continued putting out some of the best retrospectives on Youtube. Never heard a bad word come out of his mouth, was by far one of the most positive people in the scene was like us was a big wrestling nerd too.

His videos were so good. He'd been in and out of hospital recently. Such a shame. 

[BigJag]

https://www.timeextension.com/news/2025/07/arcade-enters-survival-mode-as-it-seeks-to-avoid-closure

I've been impressed by Arcade Club-Leeds. Haven't been to this venue. 

[FLips]

Picked up a few little NES gems through the week off Ebay.

Tiny Toon Adventures

It's a licensed Konami platformer from a time when that was an almost guaranteed seal of quality. A fantastic little game with bright and bold graphics, crisp music and very smooth gameplay with (so far) just the right amount of difficulty.
You'll have to forgive my lack of Tiny Toon knowledge as it's limited to the theme song and a couple of games, but you play as Buster Bunny as he tries to rescue Babs from that little ginger kid, Max I think it is. It plays more in tune with Buster's Hidden Treasure on the Mega Drive than it does Buster Busts Loose on the SNES.
You start each stage by picking a second character from little Daffy Duck, Pink Taz and the Coyote/Cat thing. They all have their own powers, so Buster can sprint and slide, Duck can flap his wings to hover, Taz can do a limited time spin attack, and the Cat thing does something but I haven't tried him yet so not sure. You collect stars through levels to swap on the fly.
Hamton the pig shows up in bonus rooms or to give you advice, and some weird bird with a Friar Tuck haircut has a very rare NES voice sample between levels which sounds like "NOPE NOPE". Don't know if that's his catchphrase?

It has one of the least fair first bosses in any game I've played though, as you start in a room with the ginger lass that pesters the Animaniacs (I think it's the same girl?) and she chases you around. You would think you have to jump on her head, but touching her is an instant death that sends you right back to the start of the game. You actually have to avoid her for about 20-30 seconds and a door spawns in. What's that about.

Overall though it's a quality package that I'm excited to properly sink my teeth into.

Blue Shadow

This one's a sharp little mix between Ninja Gaiden and the Sunsoft Batman game on the NES from Natsume.
It's got dark and detailed graphics that look very similar to games like Shovel Knight that try and replicate this style. The music is decent but none of it so far has stuck around in my head for too long.
The main selling point here though is 2 player simultaneous co-op which, when I play it likely tomorrow, I imagine will be a blast. 

One thing I'm not a fan of so far is the weapon system, which is kind of like the powerup system in Gaiden. You break a chest, a weapon drops and replaces what you have; the issue here is that it's also an upgrade system that restarts. So for example I start with a sword, I get a pickup and the sword gets better, then a third and the sword maxes out, but the next pickup is a new weapon that restarts at stage 1 and it's not necessarily a better weapon. Means you get to a point where it's better to avoid weapon drops which is odd.

RollerGames

Never heard of this one but it showed up in a couple of hidden gem lists I was reading, so went to check the price and it was fairly cheap so grabbed it based off seeing the Youtube gameplay.

It's a side scrolling beat em up based on a TV show, based on an actual rollerderby league I think? It's by Konami though so already off to a solid start.

You can pick between three stages to start the game so it gives you a little bit of freedom there.
It's got a very unique twist to it that you play the entire game on rollerblades so the movement is quick and the levels are just about platforming at high speeds over big ramps and jumping barrels as they are beating up thugs. The gameplay mix is very unique and they also throw in auto-scrolling levels similar to Sewer Surfing on Turtles to keep it from getting stale. The music is punchy too, it's actually a surprisingly fun little unknown game. Very happy with it, and if you're like me and hadn't heard of it, I recommend giving it a go.

---

Going on a CEX run tomorrow and if they haven't sold out should hopefully be picking up Metal Gear: Snakes Revenge and Contra/Probotector. We'll see though!

 

[FLips]

Went on that CEX run I was mentioning and grabbed myself the ones I was after. My mate came over after and we played a few of the bits I'd got earlier in the week. I've also picked up some decent stuff during the week too.

Contra/Probotector - NES - £18 IIRC
Well it's Contra isn't it? It's not a series I can say I'm a huge fan of but I've played them enough to know I enjoy them. I did actually grow up playing Probotector on the Gameboy, not that I was ever any good at it. I played Super Probotector earlier this year/late last year and really enjoyed that. This is where it all started and there's nothing wrong with it playing solo but the real joy to be had here is the 2 player co-op. There's a dozen other similar games that came after including games in the same series, Metal Slug and Gunstar Heroes that surpass this one, but it's still got plenty to offer. Difficult but short enough you could learn it and finish it with enough patience. 

Metal Gear 2 - Snakes Revenge - NES - £22 IIRC
A sequel to the original Metal Gear, however Hideo Kojima was off making a different Metal Gear 2 for the Japan only MSX console so Konami did this without him. Quite honestly it's a load of shit but we got a laugh out of it. A stealth game with bad stealth, where spotlights will spawn on you and alert everyone as you screen transition. An action game where the enemies can shoot diagonally but you can't. A side scrolling platformer where both the scrolling and the platforming are rubbish. It has very little to offer.
That being said, we went in with an open mind and didn't hate it. We struggled and clawed through the start of the game for maybe over an hour, constantly losing track of where we were, running out of crucial items and not knowing what to do. We looked up a guide eventually and it turns out the game is so badly made you need to kinda cheat to make it through.
Collect an item, e.g Rations or Ammo, walk off the screen and walk back on and it respawns, so you need to repeatedly despawn and respawn to get anywhere.

We'll definitely go back to it, and we've played worse, but Metal Gear this ain't. Not one I'd recommend to people.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II - The Arcade Game - NES - £13.52
Won this one in an Ebay auction during the week, it's one I've been after a while, Tried it today and it's rock hard, no idea how anyone would ever complete it. It looks great, sounds great and the side-scrolling action is surprisingly smooth and responsive. The issue is enemies have i-frames after every hit so you have an awkward pause between hits 1 and 2 where they can't take damage but can hurt you. I made it to the 2nd Boss with Donatello on my first go. Maybe in 2 player I'd get further. It's not Turtles in Time, but for the NES I'd have loved this as a kid.

The Legend of Zelda - NES - £32.33
Another Ebay auction win, and this one I'm particularly thrilled with. Listed as Untested, so risky, but the description said the NES had a red blinking light and the same guy was selling Ducktales 2 and Darkwing Duck, two rarities, so he seemed legit. The chances of him having 3 rare games that don't work compared to just having dirty pins in his NES was slim.
Sure enough it showed up today and works like a dream. It's a bit tatty, the gold paint scuffed and scraped off the cartridge all over the place, but it's a UKV PAL A version, which at it's lowest and in worse condition than this I've seen for around £60 and as high as £90, so at the minimum around a £30 saving. It's not boxed Kirby but it's a hell of a bargain for a game I've been after a long time.
All the save files intact so the internal battery still ticking by, which is great.

Blaster Master - NES - £15
Got my Brother to grab me this while he was out shopping away from home. Not played it yet but I had a go on the virtual console a while back and can't do it. Enjoyed what I did play though and wanted to give it a proper shot. This is about £5 cheaper than last time I saw it too which is nice.

Donkey Kong Land 3 - Gameboy - £4.20
My mate brought up a good point there's a bunch of great Gameboy games I could use on my Super Gameboy and they're dirt cheap. Got this one and it looks great on the telly. Looking to pick up DKL1 and 2, Link's Awakening and a few others over time but the Gameboy stuff isn't something I'm rushing around for because it's so common and cheap.