10 Modern Games That Perfectly Capture The Retro Vibe

[@secondchance6603]

1:27 Sonic Mania 2:56 The Messenger 4:21 Xeno Crisis 5:55 Horizon Chase Turbo 7:26 Blazing Chrome 8:58 Undertale 10:28 Ion Fury 11:56 Aggelos 13:19 Legend of Grimrock 14:50 Thimbleweed Park

[@chuckobscure5622]

It's like they did their list backwards lol, and where tf is Shovel Knight?

[@goldenboy4034]

Valfaris is a top !

[@Bman32x]

Would have put Streets of Rage 4 on here too. Just like I spent weekends playing SOR2 with my older brother, my 2 sons beat SOR4 from pillar to post with me pretty much all of COVID spring and summer

[@hardkoregamer1981]

Retro City Rampage, ShakeDown Hawaii, the Mami Hotline games, TMNT Shredder's Revenge and Streets of Rage 4 are also top tier retro games that capture the feeling of the 80's and 90's retro gaming scene imo.

[@sonicmario64]

Considering the fact that "Sonic Mania" is featured on the list, another retro-style game that deserves a mention would be "Freedom Planet", since it was originally created as a Sonic fan game before it was made into something new and original while still containing similar gameplay as the 2D-style Sonic games while also having elements from other 16-bit titles such as "Mega Man X" and "Gunstar Heroes". Not only that, but the game was even released before "Sonic Mania" by three years during a time in which everyone was longing for a new Sonic game that features the 2D-style gameplay that some fans preferred over the 3D titles in recent years.

[@Trowelhands]

The best thing about Legend of Grimrock was being able to use photos from your computer as character portraits, so you could literally "be anybody or anything"

[@txmetalhead82xk]

Yeah, that is a cool feature. I have played an RPG for the ipad , and I would use photos of Bullseye, Wolverine, Gambit etc lol.

[@gergelymagyarosi9285]

It's also painful that Eye of the Beholder was not mentioned as LoG's obvious inspiration. Might & Magic 3 was turn-based, not real-time, like Grimrock.

[@GonzoDonzo]

The worst thing was my ocd and having to check every single wall

[@blunderingfool]

Note that Iron Fury runs on the BUILD engine just like Duke Nuk'em 3D, Blood, and Shadow Warrior.

[@jediguy634]

Yes! Blew me away! Civie 11 review of the game and how it all works makes it even more incredible.

[@CatManDoom84]

*ion ;P Also you should check out Cultic if you havent already! Amazing!

[@DanoLefourbe]

It is a slightly modified version of the engine to be fair. But it's still pretty insane how far they pushed it.

[@blunderingfool]

@@DanoLefourbe Oh yes. I imagine Keb Silverman must have been surprised to get the licence request.

[@jordicoma]

yes. Iron fury doesn't try to recreate the 90' aesthetics it uses literally a 90' engine (well with enchancements). Great game.

[@army103]

My buddy and I recently got hooked on BroForce. It's a Contra-like game that turns 80's & 90's action movie nostalgia up to 11!

[@Tostiv]

Huntdown is also a great title that did it for me. The gameplay is a bit different though.

[@mschmalfeldt]

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon really brings back that ClassicVania feel and the sequel Curse of the Moon 2 is second only to Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. For a game that's only around because it's a stretch goal, I like it even more than the main Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night series.

[@thorocomments]

I’ve heard the exact same thing. Gotta play it.

[@mschmalfeldt]

@@thorocomments dude, it's so good

[@Xoulrath_]

I played it. It's got that Castlevania feel, but I'd rather just replay old Castlevania games. It just felt really rough around the edges compared to Castlevania.

[@brotbrotsen1100]

​@@Xoulrath_ I thought they feel even more polished than classic castlevania

[@vishnuskov]

​@@brotbrotsen1100100% more polished

[@jestemwojtek4175]

Personally, I'd also add Infernax to this list. It's just as amazing and nostalgic as it is difficult. Still, it's a must play.

[@Jesse__H]

Infernax absolutely deserves a place on this list.

[@revanneverender9145]

I third this motion. I came here just to mention Infernax. That and Unepic. Both of them are spectacular games.

[@tomek2736]

Shovel Knight and Cyber Shadow would be my picks for the list.

[@Euruk1]

Cyber Shadow is definetly underrated. Honestly one of my favorite indie games.

[@justins4814]

The messenger is a 10/10 for me. Been humming that soundtrack for a few years now!

[@linusnyman429]

Honestly the best game I have ever played. Flawless.

[@pitchblack189]

The game is awesome and has some amazing writing too

[@Maesterful]

I enjoyed it up to the point I couldn't beat that flying dragon boss and gave up

[@matteste]

To me it was just so-so. It just took way to long for them to introduce a central mechanic and all the backtracking in the later parts of the game was quite the chore given just how far you had to travel in some instances.

[@simonhirschhorn1937]

I’ve never played The Messenger, but I’m really looking forward to Sea of Stars later this year! I need to try the messenger too.

[@portugacrl]

The main inspiration for Horizon Chase turbo was actually the SNES game Top Gear. (Or Top Racer if you want to get american about this). For some unknown reason, that game was HUGE here in Brazil. A must have for every SNES owner. The developers even got the original soundtrack composer of Top Gear to create the soundtrack for Horizon Chase. And the tunes are almost identical. Pretty neat.

[@whosaidthat84]

Top Racer? Nah it was Top Gear here in America. Maybe Europe called it Top Racer.

[@portugacrl]

@@whosaidthat84 you're right, Just googled it, it was Top Racer in Japan.

[@lucasspeedy]

Yeah, was about to say this. Horizon Chase Turbo is a tribute to Top Gear/Top Racer.

[@Shuttle128]

Even some of the music was scored by the composer who created the soundtrack for top gear. A few songs are remixes of the original songs as well.

[@culturia3555]

The following game in the list, if I remember correctly, is also made in Brazil

[@Morraak]

Why is this the first time I've heard of Legend of Grimrock? That looks great!

[@Seediem]

It's one of my favorite games of all time, I can't recommend it enough. If you like that style of dungeon crawler, you won't be let down

[@tarouyamada2686]

Ah Legend of Grimrock, dev Petri Häkkinen patched accessibility features in a day IIRC, after a short exchange happened in one of its blog posts leading up to release. And that's pretty awesome🤙

[@klausheino6986]

Suomalainen Sisu. Finnish Sisu.

[@yup8865]

Point and click games are straight up my childhood. They can still be awesome today when story telling takes a front seat. Just recently played through Full Throttle and loved it!

[@SprocketWalker]

I'm looking forward to trying the Legend of Grimrock. Thanks for the video!

[@Superabound2]

Legend of Grimrock is one of my favorite games of all time. Played through it multiple times. Unfortunately the sequel never clicked with me for some reason

[@broceollomon]

The sequel being more open takes something away from the experience. The original being in a single cramped dungeon works so much better than expanding it to an entire island. Also, the puzzles feel better in the first Grimrock.

[@mikesol1162]

When I think of Legend of Grimrock, I think of Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder.

[@guntermangelinckx5433]

The actual Dungeon Master map is available for this game, and it's pretty close to the original.

[@Dornpunzel]

As a 42 years old man, starting with a 286 12mhz pc around 30 years ago, this video totally hits me right there on point. loving it and always looking for that pixel retro feeling in games. Ty guys Edit: if you dig up more recommendations, pls let us know. :)

[@thewhyzer]

Plenty more great retro style games. In the FPS genre alone there's also Dusk, Amid Evil, Dread Templar, WRATH: Aeon of Ruin, etc. For classic style point & click adventure games, look no further than just about everything developed and/or published by Wadjet Eye Games - my personal favorites being the Blackwell series, Unavowed, Technobabylon and Primordia. For NES/SNES era JRPG style games, check out Zeboyd Games titles such as Cthulhu Saves the World and Cosmic Star Heroine. If you're a fan of Super Metroid, check out Axiom Verge and the roguelite A Robot Named Fight.

[@Dornpunzel]

@@thewhyzer Thx for the hints. Wadjet eye games i played some. Hob's Barrow was the last one and i was a little bit disappointed how it turned out or how sudden it ended. My Favorite so far from them must be Gemini Rue and i couldnt force myself to continue the "Blackwell" Games after Part1 since i was disappointed as well how sudden it ended and how pointless game one felt. Do you got any other recommendations?

[@thewhyzer]

@@Dornpunzel I haven't played Hob's Barrow yet. What disappointed you about the Blackwell Legacy ending? Classic-style Point & Click-wise, I also liked Kathy Rain (the ending in this one was disappointing though, but I hear Director's Cut version might have fixed it), Fran Bow (warning: it's technically first half of a story so don't expect a final conclusion), and Memoria (sequel to an underwhelming Chains of Satinav tho),.

[@Dornpunzel]

@@thewhyzer About that Blackwell game part1. I wasnt expecting it to be such a short thing... felt like part 1 of a series/season and i thought it would have at least some kind of ending and not that abrupt thing. I mean it almost nothing happened so far. And ohhhhhhh YES - MEMORIA - how could i forget about THAT? The writing, the (english and german) voice acting is one of the best i've come to witness. Have to play it again. And it is one of the few games where the end really left me sitting and thinking for about 15 minutes. Wohooo.

[@thewhyzer]

@@Dornpunzel Well, Blackwell part 1 really was .. part 1. It resolved the main mystery, did it not? Part 2 is pretty short as well IIRC, but parts 3 and 4 are longer. Unavowed is a complete game that takes place in the same universe and has cameos by a few characters from the main Blackwell series.

[@Bellpipe41]

Ion Fury is good, but I’d have definitely picked Dusk as an fps entry.

[@Linkous12]

This. Ion Fury and Amid Evil both were good, but DUSK was something else entirely.

[@wes788411]

Dusk is fantastic. I really like Ion Fury, but weapons just weren’t that great. Other Build engine games had such awesome and over the top weapons and Ion Fury’s were just adequate.

[@CasepbX]

@mushy Yep that sounds like Dusk.

[@miloshp7399]

"Slipstream" is even better retro racing game for me. The sights, the sounds are so on point I feel like I'm on an arcade in a local cinema.

[@B0redom13]

Infernax was an amazing combo of Zelda 2 and simons quest, I couldn’t stop trying to get all the endings. Such a gem

[@taal223]

The best part about Horizon Chase Turbo is they got the same composer of the old school games (Top Gear, Lotus) to return to game composing for the soundtrack.

[@kosmosyche]

This is a great list I could almost completely agree on (I've played 8 out of 10 games on the list, and I loved them), if not for one glaring omission - Shovel Knight. In my opinion this was and is to this day the biggest retro-inspired release of them all and for good reason. It absolutely nailed the feel of retro-platformers, especially made by Capcom during the NES era, but it was also a true gem of a game in it's own right. Timeless classic. To not include it in this list is frankly a mistake.

[@TheMrCrown]

Agree, it is THE modern retro game.

[@Mermete8]

Wargroove brought back the classic Advance Wars feeling while also added much more charm to the formula

[@childofthe80s1981]

I hope you do a sequel to this list as I love games that have a retro feel.

[@MetalGearTrav]

I think Unmetal needs to be mentioned. It didn’t have much advertising but if you liked metal gear type games from NES you would like Unmetal (and plus the game is really funny too).

[@lasoliribelsson226]

Yeah i agree. What a gem

[@eisi800]

I think some more titles that could or should be mentioned are: The FAITH trilogy, an homage to old-shool Mac and PC horror games and excorcism movies Basically any Puppet Combo game, horror games in the style of the PSX Dusk, a Doom style shooter that completely draws you in

[@TheManInTheLongBlackCoat]

“And Number 1, Unmetal, a comedic tribute to the original Metal Gear’s-“ Oh.

[@KRS2000]

Super Cyborg really gives off that classic Contra feel. It's like a continuation of Super C, basically being a borderline clone. It has the same weapons, too (spread, flame thrower, laser), as well as new ones. I found it harder than the Contra games, but that's just me.

[@omega0075]

I expected Signalis to be on here, for sure. Maybe Bloodstained, Curse Of The Moon would be a good fit as well.

[@ownageDan]

ZeroRanger is a loveletter to shoot em ups that more people need to play. Phenomenal soundtrack, nice aesthetic and great gameplay. For players that arent familiar with the genre, there's even a motivating continue system that keeps you going.

[@OzymandiasWasRight]

OMG Aggelos is a game I need to go buy like right now. Dragons Trap is one of my favorite games of all time. I was like 5 when my brother played it and it's never aged to me. It's the Master Systems masterpiece.

[@julesgamingnstuff]

We played WB in Monsterland like every day growing up. I still remember ALL the secrets. I loved the Genesis/MegaDrive version a ton too).

[@davidmitchell005]

I might have added Scot Pilgrim vs the World. It’s a fun, side scrolling beat-‘em-up that we don’t see much of these days.

[@marketman2187]

Look for Shredders Revenge, Streets of Rage 4 or River City Girls

[@OddballEddie]

Well, Scott Pilgrim did take tons of inspiration from River City Ransom, it would fit the list.

[@badbones777]

Loved Eye of the Beholder (and so also legend of Grimmrock) - great video

[@BuzzaB77]

I'm currently playing through Ion Fury. It's bloody awesome gotta say.

[@MM-pl5ed]

we need even more youtube videos like this, enchancing old classic games with ultra HD textures

[@gfear24]

Horizon Chase Turbo was such a good game. It felt like a cross of Rad Racer/Out Run from the 8-bit era with the driving mechanics of Gran Turismo.

[@aldreymenezes7652]

It could be said that it is a remake of Top Gear from SNES

[@DioBrando-qr6ye]

@@aldreymenezes7652 exactly, the Top Gear franchise is the direct inspiration for Horizon Chase Turbo. The nitro, the comic balloons and the refueling, if taken separately may be present in other games, but only Top Gear has them all. The music is also in the same style

[@SmileyTrilobite]

In case you wondered like me, 13:36 - 13:48 is Shining The Holy Ark (Sega Saturn).

[@IofSheikah]

The Thimbleweed Park characters look like Scully and Mulder!

[@pandahsykes602]

Renting Snes and Sega games at Blockbuster on Friday night after going to the drive in movie theaters… ahh man , the 1990s was amazing.

[@jcsmiley1255]

Imo I thinks tnmt shredders revenge should have a spot on this list. Love yalls video though. Keep up the great work!

[@guysmiley4830]

Grimrock IS THE TITS. So much fun. I even did a playthrough with only 1 hero instead of four. Obviously chose the farmer class.

[@ericjenkins2737]

Vampire Survivors scratched my retro thirst perfectly. Gauntlet or Robotron with a touch of tower defense with the weapons upgrades and a horror theme? Sign me up.

[@shenloken2]

Hotline Miami - It’s like they took Die Hard for NES and made it much more awesome!

[@Ghileo]

Mentioning Grimrock without mentioning Eye of the Beholder series is a grave sin. Great video!!

[@ClaudioMichel]

I loved Horizon Chase Turbo! Unlocking all the cars, getting max results on all the tracks, etc. 🤩 I like that you didn't focus on the already known "big" titles like Cuphead, Shovel Knight and the Mummy! 👍

[@DioBrando-qr6ye]

I like it too but I find avoiding the other cars extremely frustrating, maybe I'm just too old.

[@CasepbX]

Amid Evil and Dusk are some of my favorite FPS ones.

[@ZX81v2]

Have to agree on "Legend Of Grimrock", if you remember playing Dungeon Master/Chaos Strikes Back by "FTL" then you will REALLY enjoy this game and it's follow up. There is a MOD for the game that turns it into Dungeon Master :) Fun games for Retro 16bit gamers :)

[@cicada_games]

Wow, I randomly stumbled upon this video and am myself a developer creating a nostalgic retro game while improving it with modern conveniences. Thanks for making this!

[@toddbegin5217]

Was hoping for a mention of mega man 9. They nailed that one with the retro feel!

[@darthwiizius]

I'd have Axiom Verge on this list.

[@Atticus711]

Owl Boy and Shovel Knight deserve to be on this list.

[@LigH_de]

A retro game family I recently enjoyed a lot: The Darkside Detective (+ A Fumble In The Dark). Even the translation of low blow puns in German usually worked pretty well. Now also with plushie merch!

[@CMON75]

Grimrock already 11 years old, it's practically retro as it is 😂

[@SquallRanger]

I like Horizon Chase Turbo so much I had to platinum it. Great games cool music

[@bpblitz]

Horizon Chase Turbo straight up has mechanics and music from the Top Gear games. I love it so much.

[@FunkyBaconArts]

I believe its the same composer for both games.

[@soniaasi5831]

Dusk and Infernax are lovable retro games, TRUST ME

[@acejon2162]

It's a good thing that we can still play many of the old games on modern consoles from the compilation re-releases like Sega. Mega drive classics, Samurai Shodown anthology, Metal Slug anthology, Capcom Arcade Stadium 1 & 2 etc.

[@Matheus29001]

Oniken and Odallus, also produced by Joy Masher (out of curiosity, it's a Brazilian company) are games that convey this retro feeling well. Freedom Planet too! Another curiosity, the 3 games were developed in Clickteam Fusion, the same engine used by Scott Cawthon to develop the Five Nights At Freddy's games.

[@knightofvirtue613]

Great video. Some games worth mentioning: Infernax and Prodeus

[@Mankey619]

I’ve played some of the retro style indie games and I’ve enjoyed so much of those games. Now that you’ve given me more games to play.

[@brunomantovaneli6076]

In the Horizon Chase Turbo bit, you mentioned pretty much every retro racing franchise except Top Gear, which was the main inspiration for HCT 😅. The game even features the original theme from Top Gear and the studio got Barry Leitch (original composer in TG) to do the rest of the soundtrack for HCT

[@bjchit]

Tormented Souls, a great throw back to the '90's survival horror games. Fixed camera angles in narrow corridors, limited ammo, running is a valid tactic, and jump scares plenty.

[@calessel3139]

If you really want to take retro games to the next level, I'd suggest David Murray's (aka The 8-bit Guy's) creations. He not only writes modern retro-games but he does so for old Commodore 64, Apple-II, & PET computers (and their modern replicas). Written in machine language on 5-1/4 inch floppy disks, the games are sold in glossy boxes with 1980s retro style art along with printed manuals - they're literally indistinguishable from the real thing. His games are really quite an amazing achievement!

[@joet6434]

Your mention of Chemical Plant Zone from Sonic 2 reminded me of the music to that level that burrowed into my brain when i was a child & never left, love it, have it as my ringtone, sometimes i forget to answer in time because i want to listen to the music rather than the caller whomever they may be.

[@herald1953]

man those lucasarts point and click is such a timeless genre even for today

[@TAGanimation]

Thanks for recommending Aggelos! I managed to get the game for $3 while it was still on sale for PS4!

[@williamfrederickiii1683]

I’m old enough to have played retro text only games that I typed in from Byte magazine and saved on cassette tape. Scott Adams’ Pirate Adventure? Pyramid of Doom?

[@abefroman81]

Great video. I just added several games to my wish list.

[@anesia707]

If you're gonna play Legend of Grimrock, make sure to get Grimrock 2 in a bundle deal. #1 is a full game and plenty challenging and fun (i have 78 hrs), but almost a demo in comparison to how much bigger and more fleshed out #2 is. I played the main campaign 3 times, and 3 of the most well made player mod compaigns I have ever seen (328 hrs).

[@lwwells]

Aquiris… “acquire us”…. GENIUS NAME

[@LomanLawson]

Legend of Grimrock and #2 are fantastic!

[@tobivan3190]

Project Warlock deserves a mention as well

[@stepheng1523]

Project warlock is so good

[@nihilex5838]

Legend of Grimrock is an obvious homage towards Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder. Weird not to mention either.

[@SonofSethoitae]

...they did mention Dungeon Master, at about 13:50

[@zaturnneo]

The Vita version of Horizon Chase was decent. Thankfully the mod/Homebrew community is thriving!

[@ShingenNolaan]

The list I never knew I needed.

[@schar1024]

The Messenger is good, but when it comes to a retro experience, i prefer Cyber Shadow over it.

[@OddballEddie]

I guess it shows my age considering I played most of these games due to the nostalgia, the only ones I haven't played were Aggelos, Undertale (Which is on my backlog and installed on my laptop) and Thimbleweed Park. They're all really good, I'm even replaying Ion Fury and just waiting for the expansion and the sequel. About Xeno Crisis it also had a Neogeo, Neogeo CD and Dreamcast release! It's nuts how they ported this to so many systems but it is a really good game though, tough but fun.

[@judsongaiden9878]

All you TripleJump folks are PASSIONATE and ANALYTICAL at 100% maximum power! 2:50 Cool that they made Shadow left-handed like OG Link, but why'd he pumping an SMG that isn't a Jatimatic? 5:58 Who remembers S.T.U.N. Runner? 9:08 Toby Fox made John Carmack his 817CH by proving that story DOES matter in video games. 9:40 Sans's Vash the Stampede-style Angel Arm. Sans is left-handed, but that doesn't mean his left arm has to become his Angel Arm. Btw, there's a Trigun reference in Undertale. 11:09 The fact that you can use a police/riot-style multi-launcher as either a grenade launcher or a shotgun just by swapping ammo types is a clever way to represent a realistic "flak cannon" of sorts. 14:22 Like Shadowgate (which has an awesome soundtrack).

[@RetroGamesCouple]

A really nice list! THank you!

[@armandostockvideos8386]

It's nice to see Aggelos getting some love.

[@natannoel5974]

This is really best games of childhood ever! ❤️😄👍

[@the-engneer]

If they would just give fans and mod communities the budgets of triple A games the entire industry would be fantastic!

[@Asterra2]

I'm guessing the only retro throwback that deserves to be spoken in the same breath with Undertale, Yacht Games' Shovel Knight, was left unmentioned because everyone already knows about it?

[@kerbal666]

Surprised Axiom wasn't here

[@fuji302]

I loved Sonic growing up, my son also loves the same sonic games. He breezed through Sonic Mania in a week. Fun old games never stopped being fun so it makes sense that games made today with that motif will still be fun.

[@TheJesterGuy_]

Sonic Mania has support for mods so wait until you and your son finds out about them. Might be worth a second playthrough with them.

[@EpicLebaneseNerd]

SUPER CYBORG is an insane good time, just sat around all afternoon and finished it on all three difficulties in one sitting on switch, such a good CONTRA clone.

[@jodysgamingchannel9480]

For the modern take on the point-and-click adventure: Disco Elysium. Sure it does have a bit of the RPG elements with the level up system, but all in all, it's about a dude wandering around a strange-but-familiar cityscape while you click on things.

[@cloudtx]

Anyone looking for a game like the old-school Castlevanias (not RPGs like SOTN) should definitely try Odallus: The Dark Call. It's by the same Brazilian developer that made Blazing Chrome and it's a ton of fun to play.

[@KarasuTheClumsy]

Ik its a little too recent yo judge for sure where it stacks up but Pizza Tower ABSOLUTELY deserved at least an honorable mention. It takes what Warioland 4 did and ramps it way the fuck up and I see an ton of Jazz Jackrabbit in it too

[@nickman187]

Needed Shovel Knight and Infernax.

[@forthrightgambitia1032]

Mighty the Armadillo was from Knuckles' Chaotix which, whilst not an amazing game, was for the Megadrive 32X and was part of classic era Sonic. I remember him in the comics of the time.

[@ralphmcmahan2139]

actually a good list, well done

[@BlackGold-fc7tu]

I played Maniac Mansion as a kid. And I think I only actually got inside the mansion once

[@rockylauncher]

YES Legend of Grimrock is one of my all time favorite games!! This is the first time I’ve seen any gaming channels talk about it. Thank you!

[@BuzzaB77]

Blazing chrome was the first game I installed and played on my Steam deck to test it. And instantly I was transported to my days owning a Game Gear! I.e. Having bigger, more powerful hardware than Nintendo but with much less battery life 🤣

[@anonymousinfinido2540]

It has less battery life because it is more powerful.

[@fo1k1ore]

I really enjoyed Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus, great retro metroidvania

[@hobbymartgames]

Very good video. Thank for sharing 😄

[@chessoc7799]

Impressed the ninjas were dressed in blue the colour real ninjas wore. Apparently in the dark black is easier to see than blue which is why ninjas wore blue.

[@jacobgreene5128]

Modern(ish) point-and-click games with pixelart: Kathy Rain Technobabylon The Excavation of Hob's Barrow Unavowed All of the Blackwell games (The early ones are a bit more simplistic, but still fun. The later ones get very, very good.) Whispers of a Machine Shardlight There's more but I can't think of them off the top of my head. These were all extremely good, though. Fran Bow was also an extraordinary point-and-click game, but it's not pixelly.