*Jeremy Duff is a GCN Moderator and will be filling in for Sean “Rothbart” Workman all this week!

 It seems like each and every week, Microsoft releases a new Xbox Live Arcade retro title that is met with disgust and ridicule by the gaming and media community alike. The fact of the matter is, it doesn’t have to be this way. They could release titles that the community could get excited about and it could be done in a manner that doesn’t involve strictly original material. Retro titles can work, just not under the industry’s current definition of the word “retro.”

What do they mean by “retro” and find out what I think should make a comeback after the jump!

The problem with “retro” is the fact that the industry seems to have a strict and unwavering definition of exactly which games fall into the “retro” category. If the industry standards are to be believed, the only games that fall into the “retro” classification are the big hits from the Atari 2600 generation.  That was all well and good ten to fifteen years ago, but this is 2007. I don’t have a problem with seeing a new version of Pac-Man and Galaga on every platform that gets released (even though I won’t necessarily be investing in them), but we should be seeing more than just those same titles over and over again. Is that all we’ll ever see? Are these the only titles in gaming history worth recognizing and bringing back? Are the younger gamers of today to believe that all that we had to play back in the 80’s were variations of Pac-Man? They need to know that there were other classics worth playing.

The generations of consoles that have hit since the Atari age have brought countless numbers of new titles and new gamers. Each of these groups and generations has their own classic titles and games that made a major mark on their era(s). Why aren’t these titles getting acknowledged as “retro” titles or being marked as something worth reliving? There are some very important titles that have been overlooked in the retro releases that we have come to know and “love” (though I use that term loosely). I have to admit that they have been doing better recently, with the release of such titles as Fatal Fury and Cyberball, but I can think of four classic titles that I think are far overdue in terms of getting released under the “retro” classification. Let’s hope that these games are not that far off from getting released.

In chronological order:

Yar’s Revenge (1981): Howard Scott Warshaw’s classic title was the best selling original title released on the Atari 2600 and remains among the least appreciated. Nearly 27 years have gone by and the only subsequent release that the game has seen was a poorly done 1999 Gameboy Color port. A sequel was inspired in the Atari Flashback 2.0 system, but who really knew about that, let alone played it? I absolutely loved Yar’s Revenge and don’t understand how it has been overlooked for two decades on retro gaming compilations. Aside from deserving a re-release in the form of a retro port, I think that the Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network would both benefit from the development of a true sequel to the game and gamers would understand just why the game sold so well back in the early 1980’s.

Burgertime (1982): Unlike Yar’s Revenge, Burgertime has been featured in a compilation or two over the years. The last time that the game saw a commercial release was in Midway’s Arcade Greatest Hits 2 on the original Playstation. If you want to talk about addicting games, then Burgertime would definitely have to fit into that conversation. I still play the original every chance that I get and would love to see a revamped version hitting either of the online networks. The game’s simple and easy to grasp gameplay provided both quick gaming fixes and extended gameplay marathons in my time with the game. Peter Pepper and crew would be a welcome addition to the retro market in my book.

Sunset Riders (1991): With the current resurgence of online, cooperative gameplay, the market needs some classic cooperative games. There were few games that were as fun cooperatively as Konami’s Sunset Rider’s. Imagine playing a full, 4-player cooperative game over Xbox Live with you and three of your best friends playing as Steve, Billy, Bob, and Cormano Wild… good times, without a doubt. The game is a true arcade, multiplayer classic along the same lines of the early TMNT games and it played in the same vain as those titles.

X-Men (1992): Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the one game that I would like to see released again more than any other title. I don’t want to see any scaled down or poorly emulated versions either; I want to see the full 6-player widescreen version of Konami’s arcade classic beat-em up. I know that the biggest problem that exists with a game such as this revolves around licensing issues, but I am sure that they could work it out. X-Men may be the single best side-scrolling arcade game to ever be released. The game looked amazing and played just as well; with each of the six players taking control of one of the six X-Men of that era as they battled the Brotherhood of Mutants. Who doesn’t want to hear those famous words, “Nothing moves the Blob” over XBL or the PSN?

How many people do you think would complain about any of these titles being released on the online networks? It’s titles like these that would freshen up the category of “retro” titles and would perhaps make the retro-genre much more appealing than it has been thus far. I hope that some of these companies are listening because this retro thing can work. The industry needs to realize that there is nothing wrong with “retro.”

The only thing wrong is it’s current definition.

*Jeremy Duff is a GCN Moderator and will be filling in for Sean “Rothbart” Workman all this week!

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