Quick Cut: Top 5 Retro Games

I’ve been getting into retro gaming in the last year as a recreational outlet in absence of roller derby. Here are 5 games that I think are good introductions to retro:

1: Out Run for the Sega Master System. Out Run's premise is simplicity itself: Your goal is to drive as far as you can in the time allotted in one of the coolest cars ever made: The Ferrari Testarossa. The gameplay is absolutely timeless, and the Master System presents it well, using one of the Master System's best tricks: The ability to redraw backgrounds on the fly.

2: Super Mario Bros. 3 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. I had to work hard to choose between SMB3 and SMW, but ultimately I have to go with Mario 3 because it is the true icon of the Mario series.

3: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Genesis. Sonic 1 was the proof of concept, but it's really Sonic 2 that nails the blend of balls-out speed, level memorization, and exploration that makes the best Sonic games so good. Sonic 2 is worth playing through its entire length; Sonic 1 really narrows down its exploratory nature and doesn't take nearly as good advantage of speed following the excellent Green Hill Zone.

4: Final Fantasy 7 for the Sony PlayStation. Final Fantasy 7 was THE game that made JRPGs a genre distinct from their Western counterparts. It is a must-play to understand the JRPGs of today. If your understanding of retro gaming stops at the beginning of the polygon era, feel free to substitute Final Fantasy 6 for the Super NES. FF6 just misses for me as an intro to modern JRPGs (even though I like it a tad more) because its cast is extremely expansive and several of its members are only barely sketched out.

5: Player choice - Streets of Rage 2 for the Genesis or Final Fight for the Super Nintendo. I think both of these games are the apexes of their respective series, hit similar beats, and show off the beat-em-up genre that died off in the 2000s in favor of first- and third-person shooters.

So there it is. 5 retro games that I think would be very good introductions for a new player to get into retro gaming.