A list of retro games I played back in November of 2025, along with my thoughts and impressions.
The list will be updated overtime throughout the month of November.
Original Release Date: December 19th 1986
Played On the Nintendo Switch Online. This is an old school vertical platformer. The concept is simple but easy to understand. Unfortunately the controls are not the easiest for me to handle. Multiple times I kept on either slipping and falling, or not pressing the jump button on time. Either which resulted in my death. Enemies for the most part were not hard to deal with with some exceptions.The music for the levels that I played were nice. While I had to listen to it on repeat as I kept retrying the level, I did not get tired of it. And the look of each level was simple, but did not look bad at all. Due to my own time constraints I was only able to play for over an hour and was able to reach the 3rd level of the first stage. I think if I had a lot more time to grind and take better use of the Switch Online Rewind (I tried to use it as little as possible), I could reach farther into the game.
Current rating: 3 out of 5 (It was alright)
Version Release Date: February 26th 1993
Played the Super Famicom version on the Nintendo Switch Online (hence the date as that is when the Super Famicom version was released). This was a fun falling blocks puzzle game. It took me a few attempts at the game before I got the hang of the game's mechanics. Once I figured out how to get points and raise my score, it became pretty fun. I liked the graphics and the little guys that show up in the game. I played for about an hour trying out all 3 modes that this version had to offer: Single player endless, versus, and a puzzle mode. My favourite mode was playing the single player endless, where you try to survive for as long as you can and try to get a high score. What I found funny was that it was very easy to get the high score in the game if you start from Expert, as it starts you from level 100 and makes your score immediately at 200k instead of 10k if you were to start in normal mode.
Current rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Had a decent fun time)
Original Release Date: July 27th 1989
I played this game a bit on the Wii U back in the day, but it had been so long I barely remembered it, so I'm playing the game again. I got inspired after watching vtuber Ookami Mio play and finish the game very recently. While this game was not released in English officially until 2015, in all ways this is still an old retro game. The gameplay and graphics remain unchanged. Due to the length of this game I was not able to complete it in just a few hours, but the amount I was able to play was still a fun time. It is an old school classic RPG adventure. Combat is simple and easy to understand. I liked the characters and NPCs that I have met so far. And I really love the background music that plays as you explore the world. I plan to play more in the coming days along with the other retro games.
Current rating: 4 out of 5 (fun game so far)
Version Release Date: January 4th 1986
Played the Famicom version on the Nintendo Switch Online. It is essentially a port of a vertical scrolling arcade game. I wanted to play something that I knew would not take me long to get through, and an arcade game was good for this. My main goal while playing was simply to try and get as high of a score as possible. Granted I am not the best at this game. I could only get to the boss of stage 2 after playing for about an hour. The gameplay took a bit of trial and error before I could figure out how to get a good score. However it was pretty simple to get the hang of and fun to play. My only real complaint is that you cannot hold the button to auto fire, so you must constantly button mash to keep on firing. This resulted in some sore thumbs (no turbo controller for me). Besides this from what I played, I had a decent time.
Current rating: 3 out of 5 (an alright time)
Version Release Date: August 22nd 1987
It is one thing to dabble with the game for a few minutes, but it is another thing altogether to seriously sit down and do a proper playthrough of this. Playing this game (on Switch Online) without any help or a guide is very tough and difficult. That being said, for some odd reason I did not feel like giving up while going through it. Despite the tough time I kind of enjoyed the challenge in a strange way. At the very least I was able to (within playing for a few hours) get at least 2 of the triforce pieces. Granted that was after a lot of trial and error. I appreciate this game for many reasons and it makes me grateful how far we have come in the Zelda series.
Current rating: 3.5 out of 5 (challenging so far)
Original Release Date: June 22nd 2001
I played this for about an hour on the Nintendo Switch Online. I was able to reach the Cave levels before stopping. There are some things I do like about this game, like the artstyle, cute bird characters, and the music. I like the game's concept and puzzle mechanics, but levels later on became super tough and challenging. It got to the point where I had to use the rewind function to help me out, just so I didn't have to restart the level all over again. At least restarting is fast and there’s infinite lives so you can just keep trying again. But man this is a difficult game to play. It's unlikely I'll come back to this but at least I played a good amount.
Current rating: 2.5 out of 5 (it's alright but i won't go back to it)
Original Release Date: March 10th 1998
This was played on the Nintendo Switch Online. I played enough to do one complete playthrough of the game, reaching the credits. It was a cute and fun time. The levels were pretty straightforward with a bit of exploration to find a few secrets. The controls sometimes felt a bit slippery to me but I was able to live through it. On the last level however I did utilize the save state that the Switch Online has to help me get through the last level a bit easier (mainly because I kept falling into the void). Overall I enjoyed myself playing this game. I may try the other levels in a future playthrough.
Current rating: 3.5 out of 5 (had a pleasant experience)
Version Release Date: March 18th 1993
I learned while looking up this game that in Europe it's called Solomon's Key 2 and it's the prequel to the first Solomon's Key game (which I haven't played yet). I did not expect that it would be a puzzle game. The concept is simple. You push blocks of ice to get rid of fire. The first few levels are simple enough but once you have the basics down it begins to get challenging. A few times I had to restart the level due to getting trapped or stuck somewhere. I did like how the game looked. I liked the cute story and the characters you meet. Granted I was only able to complete 2 worlds in the hour or so that I played. A good game overall and something to play if I have the brain power for it.
Current rating: 3 out of 5 (good to play if my brain is ready for puzzles)
Version Release Date: October 18th 1985
I played this on the Switch Online and reached the 14th level of the game. Generally I liked the concept, and some of the puzzles are neat, but there's something about this game I just couldn’t get into. It may be because everything looks the same, or that it's very easy to mess up forcing you to restart the level again, or that the enemies can get annoying and in the way of you trying to solve the level. I don't think I'll be trying to go for all 100 levels. The 14 that I did play gave me a good idea of what the game is. At least I can say I gave this game a try.
Current rating: 2.5 out of 5 (wasn't very interested after a short while)
Version Release Date: June 5th 1995
After finishing Earthbound Beginnings, I wanted to give its sequel game a try. This is being played on the Switch Online. I have seen people play this game long ago, and I have watched videos about the localization differences, but it is my first time sitting down and playing it. The game immediately has a lot of charm and quirkyness to it. To me, it's what makes the game enjoyable. I can see a lot of similarities from the NES game and I like how everything has gotten an upgrade since then. At the time of writing I reached Giant Step and got my first melody. I will continue to play the game in the coming days and see where the story goes. I know it'll be a good game to enjoy.
Current rating: 4 out of 5 (charming and enjoyable)