Have you ever gone digging through a bunch of old games that you've never heard of, and come across one that was actually good?
Seems that I have on a good number of occasions. In my own opinion anyway, I can understand that some of you may think differently, and this is completely understandable. Finding retro gems is a matter of opinion after all.

One that I came across recently on the NES is "Felix the Cat".

Watch Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2UQEGOwzIY

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I've come to find out that this is actually based on an old cartoon,
and checking out several others that were put in the same situation, this often doesn't end well.

This game is a rare exception.

Taking in to account the console hardware that this game is on, the audio is actually quite good.
The graphics aren't too bad either, considering. Near as I can tell, they remain faithful to the styling used in the cartoon.
With 9 worlds to go through to boot.

Overall gameplay has proven to be an intriguing factor,
this game's engine is quite well made, given the era it was released,
You gain powerups by collecting these Felix head tokens, after so many, you will either get a heart, or 3 milk bottles.
Pick up the heart to upgrade your current powerup, and with it, your health meter.

Yes, much like Mario, your health is determined by your current powerup, but this goes to this goes a step further.
You have your current powerup for a limited time, measured by 2 rows of hearts, once these are depleted, you go back to the previous.
If you upgrade, or take damage and downgrade, this meter is refilled.

There are actually 4 powers available.
In order from no health to max health:
Magic Bag, (Which is apparently one of those giant extending boxing gloves.)
Stars,
Car,
Tank.
These powerups change depending on the level type you are in.

I am actually unclear on the games storyline,
I think the bad guy is after Felix's magic bag, and has kidnapped his girlfriend, or something along those lines.



I have yet to complete this game,
but from what I've seen so far, I think that I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is in to retro titles.
For more information, See this Wiki article.


Have any of you found any retro gaming gems?
If so, why not share it with the rest of us?

I haven't played a lot of retro games (or video games period) lately. As for games I've found in the past, NES Open Tournament Golf will always be one of my favorite "pleasant surprises." I spent an awful lot of time playing that game a decade or so ago.

In my most humble opinion the effect that time has on games is even more devestating than the effect it has on tv and movies.

I find 90% of retro games unplayable these days.

Even Mario 1's controls feel a little sluggish and unprecise, and that is one of the games that holds up the best.

i wouldn't go quite as far as to say 90%, but i agree with you that many games really don't age well. a lot of old rpgs are really grindy and seem to enjoy obfuscating where to go next, like the original dragon warrior. zelda 1 sort of counts, even though it's not a rpg; i can only enjoy that game if i have a guide for it. i don't even want to talk about zelda 2, because that one is a pile of horses***

many old first person shooters can be a pain in the ass to play if they don't have an adequate control setup. this is the worst with console shooters, because you can't just go out and get a controller with another analog stick for some of em like goldeneye. even some of the early dual-stick shooters, particularly on the ps2, have that weird legacy setup where "move" and "look" aren't split neatly onto the two sticks. granted, goldeneye plays pretty well if you set the controls up turok-style so that you look with the stick and move with the c-buttons, but other shooters, particularly ones on the gba and psp, don't transition quite as well

Some retro games have held up quite nicely. The original Zelda and Super Mario Bros. 3 are two 8-bit games that have aged gracefully. A lot of Super NES games are still great fun - Zelda: A Link to the Past, the Donkey Kong Country games, Yoshi's Island, and Final Fantasy VI come to mind. In some ways I actually prefer the original, Spiny Shell-free Super Mario Kart from 1992 over the newer sequels. In many cases, the blocky 3-D graphics and awkward control schemes of the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 1 era have aged poorly, but you still can't go wrong with classics like Zelda 64 and Zelda: Majora's Mask. Some older games do indeed have serious flaws (like older RPGs' tendency to rely excessively on level grinding to add length and challenge), but I can't say that modern big-budget games are always flawless. True, the graphics have come a long way in recent times, but graphics aren't everything, and if you look around, you can find some excellent games from the 90's and even the 80's.

Not to mention those that were bad to begin with,
Like that massive pile of LJN games that got made...
Sorting through only those is quite the chore, but even they made one.

"Spider-man: Maximum Carnage"

Finding that was enough to make the AVGN cry.

Super Smash Brothers retro or whatever still great game.

Do you mean the N64 version?

'64 and gamecast. I think it was dreamcast, that nintendo console. Don't quite recall its name.

the gamecube?

that one had smash bros. melee, and that particular smash is probably the best if you ask me