5 Modern Games That Are Perfect For Retro Gamers

As we approach the next console generation video games are bigger, flashier, and more lifelike than ever, but there’s a large portion of the gaming populous that still enjoy blowing into their old NES cartridges and firing up the classics. Modern game releases can be intimidating or maybe just not interesting to some retro gamers, but there a several cases where developers are so inspired by the games they grew up with that they decide to create love letters to their favourite games of the past. Here are just some of the many great modern games that are perfect for retro gamers.

Shovel Knight

When thinking about modern games that are love letters to the retro era, the first game that immediately comes to mind is Yacht Club Games’ Shovel Knight. Inspired by legendary titles of the 8-bit age of gaming such as Super Mario Bros. 3, DuckTales, Mega Man, and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Shovel Knight would have fit right at home on the NES if it were released 30 years ago.

Since its successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2013, Shovel Knight has been released on every possible console and handheld and has continued to be supported with massive content updates for the last seven years. There are several campaign modes featuring boss characters as playable characters, a multiplayer fighting game, a card game, and more. If you’ve somehow managed to not play Shovel Knight yet, you should stop what you are doing right now and pick it up.

Time Spinner

If games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are more your style, Time Spinner from Lunar Ray Games and Chucklefish may be right up your alley. Released on the PlayStation 4, Playstation Vita, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch in 2018, Time Spinner is an action platformer where players control a young girl named Lunais who travels through time to destroy the empire that killed her family. In true Metroidvania style, you’ll collect upgrades along the way that will allow you to access previously unreachable areas, and there’s a freeze time mechanic that really helps out during boss fights. If you’re looking for something short and sweet that gives off major Castlevania vibes, check out Time Spinner.

Yooka-Laylee & The Impossible Lair

In 2015 Playtonic Games, an Indie development studio comprised of some members of Rare Ltd., announced a Kickstarter campaign for a spiritual successor to the beloved Banjo-Kazooie series. Known as Project Ukulele before being officially named Yooka-Laylee, the campaign was a massive success, and the game launched two years later. While many, including us, thought it played it a little too safe with replicating the Banjo-Kazooie formula, all of those critiques were improved upon tenfold in Yooka-Laylee‘s sequel, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. Ditching the 3D platforming for a Donkey Kong Country-esque 2D format, The Impossible Lair took the bat and chameleon out of Banjo-Kazooie‘s shadow and forged their own identities with some unique gameplay mechanics and fun tonic experimentation. While we recommend giving both Yooka-Laylee games a go, if you have to choose between the two go with The Impossible Lair.

New Super Lucky’s Tale

If you’re a gamer born in the late 80’s or early 90’s there’s a good chance you spent a lot of time with the Nintendo 64 and have an affinity for collectathon platformers. From Super Mario 64 to Banjo-Kazooie, the N64 was the golden age of the 3D platformer, a genre that has seen somewhat of a resurgence in the last few years. One of these great modern takes on the collectathon formula was Super Lucky’s Tale, launched on Xbox One and PC back in 2017. The game featured an adorable fox mascot who explored levels in search of clovers that could be obtained by performing tasks such as collecting 300 coins and finding all of the letters to spell LUCKY. Overall it was a pretty good game with some excellent DLC added post-launch.

If that wasn’t enough, the Playful Corp. decided to rebuild Super Lucky’s Tale from the ground up and bundle all of the downloadable content in 2019 as New Super Lucky’s Tale. This expanded Lucky’s horizons to the Nintendo Switch, and the new adventure will also be coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this Summer. If you’re an N64 fanatic give New Super Lucky’s Tale a try.

The Messenger

Some of my earliest childhood memories in gaming include many late nights getting absolutely destroyed by Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos. Being one of my favourite games of all time, I was naturally intrigued to check out The Messenger from the fellow Canadians at Sabotage Studio in Quebec. To say The Messenger is just a Ninja Gaiden clone would be doing it a huge disservice, as the game’s time travelling mechanic between the 8-bit and 16-bit era of gaming, as well as its genre change from side-scrolling adventure game to Metroidvania, make it truly unique. Couple that with some hilarious banter with the game’s Shopkeeper and an outstanding soundtrack from Rainbowdragoneyes and you have the recipe for a perfect retro experience.

So there you have it, those are just five of the countless modern titles that we recommend for retro gamers. Have a game that you think should have made the list? Let us know your retro-themed recommendations down in the comment section below.