Retro Game Crunch

The game are all garbage with the exception being Shuten. But it on a massive discount.

polished and fun game

Little late for this review, but I absolutely loved this little collection of games. I wish they had made a sequel or something to it!

Not all 7 games are amazing, but three of them are, and they're worth it! I wish there was a sequel; I came to this store page to see the "more like this" page, but none of them compare, so I'm leaving this overwhelmingly positive review instead.

Great, inventive games, but WHY NO CONTROLLER SUPPORT? Using Steam Controller overrides makes the controllers really sloppy and using the keyboard for arcade action games like this is so stupid. Am I missing something here? I'll gladly update my review if there's a secret controller option hidden somewhere, the games themselves are awesome.

The games here are premium quality, with each one offering something new and fresh in its respective genre. Each game is also highly polished. These games may look like the typical indie fare you could play for free online, but the extra effort is obvious and guarantees that each game is worth your time (though each person will probably find at least one game they didn't enjoy).

Add to the above the multiplayer functionality in most games, and the price tag is more than justified. If you get at all excited by the preview images, buy this game!

This is a bundle of 7 NES like games made to feel like true retro games. It wouldn't be a proper review if I didn't discuss all of them, so here they are in the game's listed order:

1. Super! Clew Land Complete 👍
A 2D sidescrolling platformer built around exploration that unlocks new areas through evolution aspects.

I liked this game! It has a functioning map with a minimap overlay for your main screen. The evolution minigame in the bottom corner was interesting and added an extra layer. The exploration felt fresh throughout the entire game. The endgame was fun and different from the rest of the gameplay. The hitboxes felt fair. The only qualm I had was not being able to damage any enemies throughout the game to get them out of my way sometimes, but it was obviously made that way to make it just a little bit more challenging.

2. End of Line 😶
A top down puzzle game where you're a robot spending your time wrecking repair bots so you can commit suicide.

This game has a very interesting concept where you spend your time trying to kill youself to progress. The problem is that it got very repetitive very fast, and there wasn't constant fresh additions to what was happening to keep it intriguing.

3. GAIAttack 👎
An arcade sidescrolling game where you kill enemies to progress up to fight a boss at the end of the level (I looked it up because I had no clue what the lore was, and apparently you're warriors fighting against sky pirates). After you kill the enemies on screen, the screen auto scrolls up and kills you with spikes if you stay on the bottom.

This game was so boring that I literally played it for two levels just to see if the second level was any more engaging than the first. Spoiler; it wasn't. You punch enemies/containers then climb up until you get to a boss fight, then you punch him about 50 times, then you get transported to the bottom of the second level. I never got hit except by the boss in the middle of a juggling combo, and it didn't damage me when it hit me. It was super easy, very bland, and just not enjoyable at all. The screen scrolled up so slowly that I jumped into the spikes at the bottom to make sure they killed me, then the round continued from where I died but my points had reset to 0.

4. Paradox Lost 👎
A metroidvania adventure where you play Abby, a pilot that crashes her plane on a strange planet. While exploring, she finds a time machine gun and shoots between the past, present, and future saving captured people.

Sounds interesting, right? Well that's about all this game has going for it. You have platforming capabilities where the levels are a bunch of landforms and that's about it. They make you shoot into crystals to reflect the shots into yourself to transport between timelines, all just as bland as the last. I ran into a couple of enemies and they were overly easy to take care of. I was excited when I saw this game start out, but it felt so hollow playing it.

5. Wub-Wub Wescue 😶
A music rhythm arcade sidescrolling puzzle platformer where you play a pug trying to save your owner from an unforgiving environment.

I can't really knock this game... it's not the game's fault that this isn't something that piques my interest. I feel like if this game came out in the arcade era of the 80s, it would've been a hit. You solve little puzzles as you try to save your owner. The problem is that I build complex levels in Levelhead that involve far harder puzzling techniques and require a substantial amount of switches working together to make the level work, so lighthearted puzzle platforming is just boring to me.

6. Brains & Hearts 😶
A one or two player card game that's a mix of Rummy and Cheat (aka BS) where you make runs or sets of 3 or more to clear your deck first.

This is the same to me as the last game; I find regular card games boring. The way the game is set up is good, the character design is nice, and the game is very easy to understand and works exactly how it should... but I wouldn't chill online with a friend and play this game.

7. Shūten 😶
A co-op shoot em up style game where you play as samurais fighting against enemies that fly at you like Galaga ships.

This game has a certain appeal to it; it's interesting to see a shoot em up that isn't a spaceship. Having a store to upgrade is a nice concept, and using a world map to level select was a cool touch as well. The way you can take the enemy attacks to use them is a fresh concept... but the problem is that aside from those few things, this is just like every other generic shoot em up. You get hit once and you die but you can deflect enemy bullets so it makes it too easy. Most of your challenge is to not physically run into enemies, but when you're attacking short range they can still glitch through your attack while they're dying and kill you, so there's just no point to use short range unless you're deflecting.

Now when I was looking this up to find out what the heck that GAIAttack game was supposed to be about, I found out that these were all made in a month each, and by only three people... I think? Makes sense why most of the games feel like they lack content and they're shells of games that could be packed with so much more.
I bought this on sale for $2, so I definitely got my money's worth on this... the problem is that I wouldn't want to go back to any of the games except Super! Clew Land Complete, and that's only to show people it because I beat it 100% in around 35 minutes. Having this sit in my Steam Library for one game I enjoyed for less than an hour is going to be more annoying than the two hours I spent finding out I didn't like any of the other games.

Developers... I suggest selling your games separately as add-ons to the Retro Crunch base, because you'd attract a better fanbase with a lower pricetag (even if you sold them at $1.50 a game, that would make up for the $10 price), you could add more games to it if you decide to make more and it would be easy to add to a OS you already have (this isn't an idea I came up with, it's what The Sega Collection/Tabletop Simulator does for their collections and I think the concept would work well for your product), and when people find a game they enjoy, they'll rate it well... as opposed to when they like one and they have a bunch of others they're stuck with (I read a couple other negative reviews and there's not one game that seems to shine above the rest, but everyone seems to like at least one game and they're rating the product down as a whole). Individually, I would have reviewed at least one of these games as a positive, probably one or two others as well because I put into account my tastes as opposed to someone that would be looking for that type of game when I don't like something that was well done... but as a whole, this isn't worth it imo.

This bundle is worth it for Super! Clew Land, Shūten, Gaiattack, and Paradox Lost. End of the Line was okay. I couldn't get into Wub Wub Wescue because the dog was slow, hard to control, and very fragile, and I still don't understand how to play Brains & Hearts. I also have not played anything with real people yet. Most of the games in this bundle are either action-based or platform-based (or both), so if you like either of those things, there's probably something for you in here.

some of these games are great, and some i have no clue how to control or what to do. i'd pay the full price of this game just for that one green blob game that one was my favorite thats good game

Got off on the wrong foot with this collection as the artwork and trailer implied all the games were co-op when fact is only 2 of the 7 are. I'll review each game separately:
Super Clew Land: Plays like Kirby but you need to manually digest bugs to evolve. The final flying form makes for a good challenge exploring the map to collect the eight gems.
End of Line: Took me ages to work this out. To beat each level you need to kill every last medic robot. Then kill yourself. Not your usual gimmick but it leads to some good puzzles.
Gaia-ttack: Ice Climbers with punching. 4 players but only half an hour long.
Paradox Lost: Metroid with a past, present, future gimmick. Awkward to get around the map. Gave up on this one.
Wub-Wub Wescue: Naff platforming game with a super repetitive soundtrack. Gave up on this one.
Brains & Hearts: That’s Numberwang! Not a clue mate. Gave up on this one.
Shuten: A solid 2 player shoot ‘em up with plenty of levels, abilities, shop items and boss fights. Took four solid hours and it made Retro Game Crunch worth buying on its own.

Hello friends. I remember i was gifted this game awhile back by one of my friends. This is basically a bunch of games together that you can play. It features some shooters, some metroid type games, and other random games. I remember i really enjoyed the metroid like games i found on it. The graphics are old school, so if you purchase this, be aware of this fact.

I recommend for taking you back to the beginning ages of gaming.

controlls are confusing at first.
so you get 7 games, they're pretty good.

Super Chew Land Complete - 2D Spore frog game were you evolve and earn new moves and stuff.
End of Line - Weird confusing Megaman game - best soundtrack
GALAttack - probs my fav - simple fighter+platformer
Paradox Lost - cool story and concept.
Wub Wub Wescue - Another Fun Platformer
Brains & Hearts - Weird Card Game
Shuten - Weird Fun Confusing samurai game

7.5/10
:^)

Retro game crunch is a collection of games that resemble NES games of old. This has many
genres leading to quite a bit of variation. The music Also has A lot of effort put into it, as none of these games have a bad soundtrack. Each game does vary in quality in other regards so I will try and break it down.

Super chew land- Reminds me a lot of E.V.O. The search for eden on the SNES but focused more on exploring. You eat to evolve and as you evolve you can explore the area more. And also unlike E.V.O. You can't choose how to evolve, but it makes up for it with exploration and some puzzle solving. I should mention the boss is really well designed and fun. One of the better games on the pack.

End of line-this is more on the puzzle side of the collection. It's really good as it does a fine job at scaling the difficulty and teaching new mechanics quickly. You are trying to destroy repair bots so you can destroy yourself(the repair bots heal you when you die) and it can get complicated with different forms and traps. I should also mention this has my favorite soundtracks in the collection. The downside is later in the game it can have a bit too much trial and error and can get frustrating. Still one of the better games on here.

Gaia attack-A beat-em up/platformer that's pretty fun. It feels satisfying to hit enemies and does a great job in feeling retro, more so than the other games. The down side is that it's rather short. Only four stages(there is a scoring and leader board for replays though). And like many brawlers it does get repetitive(so maybe it being short isn't that bad). One of the better games in this collection

Wub Wub Wescue-A game in the same vain as the classic arcade game donkey kong. It has
interesting ideas involving record's giving you power over enemies and slowing down time. The design of the dog is also really cute. The music does a good job at giving a very big jungle vibe considering it's 8-bit. I do feel the first two acts start off slow. Around act three though it starts picking up. Also some of the puzzles are a bit annoying.I should say kind of in between as far as my favorites here, but I can see others getting more out of it.

Paradox Lost-A very metroid style game that has it's ups and downs. You travel through time and explore, finding captives and power ups. Though it's most interesting feature leads to it's biggest issues. The level design can be really confusing since you have three eras to navigate and the eras all overlap. This can also make backtracking a pain since it's easy to go the wrong way. This might be just me but, I also had some bad glitches when I moved through time. Sometimes I wouldn't go through to a different era only to go through the second time (in the same spot) and that might be due to enemies but it did make me get lost a few times. At one point I passed through time and glitched into a wall and warped to the other side of the map. These issues are disappointing as this had the most potential in the collection. As it stands it's the most frustrating to play.

Brains and hearts-A card game in the vain of...well anything you'd do with a deck of cards, and hard for me to review as I'm not a card player. The rules aren't complicated and the rules are set up so you can always do something every turn. I don't find anything wrong with it really, as far as card games go. But I can't dive into it like the others so I have to stay neutral on this one, but if you like card games I don't see why this would let you down.

Shuten- A shoot'em up that feels the most complete to me and is my favorite in this collection.Fast paced and lot's of upgrades and weapons. You can take weapons from enemies in the middle of game play, leading to lot's of variation. The enemies all have different but predictable patterns but it throws a lot at once. So you can mess up quick, but you can deflect shot's back at enemies with your sword(separate from your weapon) making the game have tense moments. It's not perfect though, while the bosses are good, I don't like the recycled ones very much, as it feels a bit repetitive after multiple times. And maybe it's just me but the last level has a massive difficulty spike. It has a ton of enemies everywhere and the last boss is multi-formed with the most difficult patterns in the game. Replay levels and upgrade a lot is all I have to say.

Overall while I like some of these more than others, it's worth a look. I'm not sure if it's
worth full price but I do recommend it.

A set of six fun games styled after many of the classic action, adventure, and puzzle games of the 2D era.

Each game is long enough to explore a few variations on the core mechanic, but short enough to remain fun throughout (usually about an hour or two). These games also strike a good balance between being challenging enough to be engaging, and easy enough to just pick up and play.

The best part about these games is the design:
- Real levels. Maps are clearly designed, not randomly generated segments tossed together
- Real goals. Each game has a definite goal (not just "see how many points you can get, then try again!")
- Real endings. You can actually get the satisfaction of finishing the game before moving on to the next (no infinite levels or endless grinding in a "challenge mode")
- Real direction. You learn how to play by being put in situations that let you discover each new mechanic (no big instructions to read upfront, and no annoying interruptions mid-game telling you to press a button to do something)

Given all that, I'd happily purchase a sequel that explored another half dozen game styles.

Also, there's a card game.


Completed or Quit: Completed

I'm so about this. I love how different the games are, I love the cute pixel art, I love the music, I love the challenge of each. Honestly, one of my most favourite purchases. Because of how many games there are, it's not over quickly plus you can save and switch back and forth like I do if one is too much for your brain or you need a change of pace. I definitely like the pug rescue more because that dog is so darn precious.

Retro Game Crunch reminds me a bit of the Indieszero developed DS game titled Retro Game Challenge, but without the really fun and charming story mode that went along with that amazingly overlooked handheld title. What Retro Game Crunch does well over Retro Game Challenge however is include a much more fun lineup of titles. This, much like Retro Game Challenge however I'm afriad will go unnoticed by most people.

Retro Game Crunch is basically just a collection of individual retro inspired games that all have a sort of NES look and appeal to them. All are completely new and original though, drawing only inspiration from games of past. Most of the games have a nice learning curve from casual to intermediate, with only 1 really having a higher learning curve, that being the 1 non action game in the bunch. 6 of the games range from various action subgenres from platformers to shoot em ups, with a 7th game being a sort of number based card battle game. The stand out title for me is definitley Super Clew Land, a platformer where the main character evolves throughout the game as you eat different objects and play a color match game within the game. Evolving gives you new abilities, such as being able to swim, and break through blocks. Another standout is Shuten, in which you play a sword wielding guy who can steal his enemies moves to use against them. It is also a fun casual shoot em up.

The graphics are all nice and have good clean and chunky sprites, and the music is pleasant and fitting. There is also built in controller support, with preloaded mapping that makes sense for the individual games, as well as keyboard support.

All in all, a solid collection of games. My only gripe is that the UI does not allow you to exit a game to go back to the main menu, unless you minimize the window, and select quit from the file options. Small gripe, and nothing major. It just would make more sense to include the option to go back to the main menu within the game.

I actually do recommend this if it's like a buck or something. It's "fine," just not particularly great. Games range from decent/slightly charming to just plain filler.

Doesn't seem to recognize dxinput and every single game uses a different keyboard scheme so joy2key is a pain. Inconsistent framerates, maybe because it seems to be Shockwave Flash or something?

A good collection of games that don't do anything ground breaking but are all pretty unique & fairly original. They do some things similar to other games you've probably played but that's not really a bad thing. They're all simple, fun & easy to pick up & play.

I'm not going to review each game seperately since the entire package viewed as a whole is better than viewing everything on its own. Each game is short & varied in how it plays. One game has you go around eating critters to evolve, another has you jump up platforms & defeat enemies/bosses, while another is a metroidvania type of game, one is a shmup, one is a classic arcade style puzzle platformer, one is a 2 player card game, then another has you trying to kill yourself. Yep. Pretty unique, right?

They all control solid, they all have different style graphics & color palettes, they all have their own soundtracks & they're all fairly good games. A few of the games also have local 2 player modes which is also nice.

Overall, everything is pretty good. You get a mixture of short games for about the price of one. Some games are better than others & nothing is really amazing but nothing is really bad either. It's all fairly average in overall quality but there's nothing wrong with that, unless you just have really high standards.

Disclaimer: I come from the same area as Shaun Inman. This is the only real indie game from Chattanooga that has gotten any real press. That above all other reasons is why I bought this game.
The games:
As this is 6 game loosely connected I will review them all by
Super Clew Land: I first played this as the flash game version. That version was incomplete and lacks an ending. This version causes you to leave out of boredom. It looses steam quickly after the original flash version ends. Not really worth the time to finish.
End of Line: Puzzle game about suicide. Shows the whole theme idea kind of bite them. Repetative and hard in pretty bad ways.
Gaia Attack: fun beat-em-up. Kind of like Super Crate Box, and well worth your time to play.
Paradox Lost: While I like Metroidvania games, this never really spoke to me.
Wub-Wub Rescue: The stand-out of the collection. A game as adorable as it is brutal and repetative (in the it's your fault kind of way). Here is how adorable it is, the pause menu says PAWS. If only this were polished into a full release.
Brain and Hearts: Fine. Sort of a cute take on old windows pre-install games. Can be pretty hard, but unlike Solitare it is never unwinnable.
Shuten: Fine shoot-em-up. One of the better games. Fun Japan Samurai stylings, and some cool mechanics.
This collection is really lacking in coding polish. The only way to exit out is to press escape then close the window. There is no way to close out using a controller, which I think means it would break big picture mode. I have not tried this. This collection delivered exactly what the Kickstarter promised, as bunch of jam games made of the course of a year. Now the extra time gave the team time to make something better than jam games, but worse than full release games. This is by no means greenlight trailer bad, but I wished they had polished the interface more. The art, game design, and game feel are great, though. You might want to wait for a sale, but ten bucks for six games is pretty good, though. Many of these games are better then some full release games, though. Shows what Kickstarter can really do for Indies.

Wish Valve had a thumbs in the middle for this game. The individual titles are all enjoyable and some can be a time eater if you start to get into it. That being said, a lot of the games in this feel as if they focused more on copying the look of 8-bit era games (specifically NES), but not the feel of the games from the era. This does detract some from the experience. With that said, there's some entertainment to be found here. I'd recommend a purchase if you can catch it during a sale.

Though I'm saying I don't recommend it, I will say that this title has interesting ideas and it executes some of them well. However, it has glaring issues that prevent it from being truly enjoyable. As of this writing, I've beaten three of the offered games, with one of the others being a card game which has no end and one being a hack and slash gauntlet-type deal that's based more on high-score than completion. The other two I have no intention of finishing.

There are seven games featured here, but each will last you only about an hour to an hour and a half from start to finish. Which is pretty cool, I'd pay 50 dollars for seven hours worth of quality content. However, this leads to the issue of none of the games really 'sticking' with you, with one solid exception. I'll give a brief overview of each of the games without spoiling any content, as best I can:

-An open-world platformer where you grow into a stronger creature to get more powers to access new areas. This is a cute title, where progression is easy and a puzzle element is mixed in. However, in order to grow, you need to eat smaller enemies. These don't respawn until you have eaten every single enemy in the area, which is annoying. The open world is solid, but the game moves at a rather casual pace. Imagine a combination of Super Meat Boy and VVVVVV, only walking a bit slower and with flutter-jump mechanics as opposed to gravity or speed wall-hopping. Good intentions are here but they don't all come together, and the slower pace of the title really shoots it in the foot.

-An action-puzzle game ala Adventures of Lolo, wherein you have to eliminate all enemies and then kill yourself. This is a nicely built game, kind of a Mega Man vibe to the graphics and soundtrack. The issue I find is that, simply, you can easily put yourself in an unwinnable scenario later on. The joy of puzzles is figuring out the next step, not repeating previous steps, which would require a minute or so to recreate. It's a good concept and if you like the Eggerland series, this one won't do you wrong, just not my cup of tea compared to good ol' Lolo.

-An arcade action game where you beat things up. It feels good and responsive, hitboxes are fairly solid if strict. Not a lot of depth to it, I felt, but it's a fun distraction.

-An open-world platformer that's pretty much 'hey we wanted to make a Metroid thing. Here's some Metroid for you'. Honestly it has a very clever concept, wherein there are three overworld maps and you warp between them as different 'time periods', making for a very well thought-out map system. The issue is that, unfortunately, the game is dull. There is no sense of danger, very few enemy types, only two boss battles (which are both very easy), and no real environmental hazards outside of a few rooms. This leaves for a very barren-feeling map, as opposed to a Metroid title, where lava, various terrain obstacles, and a variety of enemies kept the player engaged. It's... rather dull work, honestly. Which is a shame, as the core controls are very good.

-An arcade platformer similar in vein to Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr, wherein you're a helpless creature who has to use the environment to get past obstacles. There's some clever concepts, but like the afformentioned DK games, the main character moves at a snail's pace and can't survive long jumps. This makes repeating segments unbearably slow. Unlike DK and Son, additionally, enemies follow set patterns, so there's no element of action or randomness to react to; it's just figuring out the puzzle and hoping you're fast enough to do it. It was fun through the start, and the graphics and style and undeniably charming, but it grates and I doubt many will finish this segment.

-A card game. Frankly, it's just a unique concept that doesn't pan out due to being a single-player card game that you likely won't be asking a friend to play with you.

-A vertical shooter set in feudal Japan. If there's a game that's worth your money, it's this one. Different enemies giving different types of shots, being able to reflect enemy fire with quick enough reflexes, an upgrade system, managing your special weapon types, and reasonable enemy placement. It's a bit on the easy side, but mechanics are well thought out and constantly engaging. Easily the best of the bunch.

The issue with Retro Game Crunch is that it's a game that doesn't quite live up to its potential. It's very solid, but for a fifteen dollar asking price and competition as stiff as VVVVVV, Meat Boy, and Eversion for 'simple concepts harkining to a retro time period', it really does not hold up. If this game goes to $5 on a sale, I'd say it's worth your time. Odds are one will appeal to you, and that one might even be really good. But I'd wait until then, and not jump on a 50% off - wait for the lower. I love retro games, the entire retro vibe, and I want to see more from this developer, they're smart people. This outing just leaves a poor taste in my mouth at the end, unfortunately.

If you think this is sold on NEStalgia alone, think again.

Super Clew Land and Paradox Lost both rethink the Metroid formula well, first allowing you to acquire your abilities rather rapidly, and then re-exploring the world once you have them. Shuten's system allows you a choice of weaponry through the gameplay itself, rather than some sub-menu; then throws formations that are tuned to one type and not another - effectively letting the player choose their own 'easy part' and 'hard part' of each stage. The level design in Wub Wub Wescue and End of Line take very few elements and do a large variety of things with them which keep the game fresh and fun. The AI of Brains and Hearts is challenging and competent, and yet totally beatable - it's just a player with the understanding of the rules, after all. And GAIAttack is just a fun, brilliant balance between Smash Bros fighting and Kid Icarus-style vertical platforming (sans the screen-wrapping); it's tough as nails! You will Game Over plenty, and just resetting your score is the perfect punishment/compliment to infinite continues, and it's Souls-like bonfire continue points.

This package is a ridiculously awesome deal, but not because it's retro. It's because it's freaking brilliant. The only thing it leaves me hungry for is a top-down adventure game from them, since End of Line has the adequate framework for that already. But if all is good, this team will stick together, and continue to crank out the brightness.

Beautiful 8 bit graphics and sounds in 7 varied games.
This will take you back to the days of buying a cartridge multipak and make you pine for the 80s.
Much like those carts, the presentation is spartan, booting straight into the select screen. A splash screen for the collection would be nice.

Using a pad is great for the games themselves but the game never tells you what button does what. Tip- If a game ever tells you to press tab, it means left shoulder button.

There isn't an easy way to switch games, you have to take the game out of fullscreen and quit to bring up the selection menu and I feel there should be an easier way, such as pressing B.

The games themselves are fun, some are deeper than others. Gaia-ttack, the side scrolling brawler has local co-op, but the button config looks like a nightmare to play. I don't understand the card game properly but it will probably see the least play even if I did. Each game is crafted with care, but you may not like them all.

At the full price of $14, it makes each game $2, but it still feels pricey. Without wanting to devalue the hard work of the devs, the experience feels like something in the $10 range. Maybe steam spoils me and I'm a bad judge, but for the full steam price, I think more care should go into game pad support, switching games and giving the selection menu a splash screen title that fades into the menu wouldreally help tighten the experience and push the game firmly into the $10+ price point.

It's still fun.