Retro Games Good for a Commute?

[mkol103]

I recently got an RG35XX SP, but even though it's in my bag, I don't often use it during my commute. Whenever I think to pull it out, I tend to scroll through the games before putting it away lol.

I think run-based games, score-based games, and roguelikes would be great, but I don't really know much about those kinds of games. The games I find myself playing the most on this device are Tetris, SFIII 3rd Strike, F-Zero, and Super Mario Land 2.

Does anyone have any good suggestions for good pick-up-and-play games that an RG35XX SP could run well (think Dreamcast and earlier, but not Saturn/N64 for the most part)?

 

[Spike]

Maybe The Minish Cap?

 

[Gorse]

RG35XX SP

Woah woah WOAH, I'd never even heard of this device and now immediately want one. How's the screen and the controls? Any input lag? Would you recommend it for the price?

For GBA games under the criteria you've listed, I highly recommend:

• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red, currently the best roguelike on the system.
• Digimon Battle Spirit, a very fun arcade-y fighting game that can be fully cleared within 30 minutes.
• Bit Generations Coloris, a minimalist score-based puzzle game about colour and sound. Any of the Bit Generations games make a great choice for transit, but this one's a personal fave.
• This Super Mario Advance 4 hack, which has all of the game's additional e-Reader levels unlocked, making it one of the finest platformers available anywhere.
• The GBA version of Puyo Pop Fever, which is probably the best version of Puyo Puyo (a frantic score-based puzzle game) you'll be able to get on this device.
  

 

[It's Thinking 2]

My list of games for that handheld are all from Game Boy and Game Boy Color, that includes rom hacks and fan translations that can be found on CDR.

Donkey Kong ('94)
Super Mario Bros. DX (GBC)
Super Mario Land DX
Super Mario Land 2 DX (get the sound improvement one)
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 Colors Edition + Movement Hack
Wario Land II Uncensored
Wario Land 3
Donkey Kong Land: New Colors Mode
Donkey Kong Land 2 GBC Edition
Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong and Dixie Kong (pretty much DKL3 in color)
Donkey Kong Country (GBC)
Metroid II EJRTQ + Canon Samus
The Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening DX (get the Redux hack)
Kirby's Dreamland DX + Revised
Kirby's Dreamland 2 DX
Kirby's Pinball Land DX
Kirby's Tilt 'n' Tumble Accelcerometer Removal Patch
Mega Man World: Dr. Wily's Revenge GBC
Mega Man World II - GBC Edition
Mega Man World 3 DX
Mega Man World 5 DX
Mega Man Xtreme
Mega Man Xtreme 2
Dr. Mario DX
Dr. Garfield DX
Pokemon Team Rocket Edition (this one is a little glitchy but fun)
Pokemon Prism (great hack, not on CDR)
Pokemon Red: Full Color
Pokemon Blue: Full Color
Pokemon Yellow (I hear Thunder Yellow is good but it's not on CDR)
Pokemon Gold (also look for Super Gold 97, not on CDR)
Pokemon Silver (also look for Super Silver 97, not on CDR)
Pokemon Crystal Legacy
Pokemon Puzzle Challenge
Pokemon Pinball
Pokemon Pinball Generations (this is a real hack but it's not on CDR. It's all gen 2 Pokemon)
Pokemon Trading Card Game
Pokemon Card GB 2: GR Dan Sanjou!
Pokemon TCG Neo
Super Robot Pinball
Pocket Billiards Funk The 9-Ball
Castlevania Adventure Autoboot + Speed + Whip Hack + Improved Controls
Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Autoboot + Speed + Improved Controls)
Dragon Warrior 1 and 2
Dragon Warrior 3
Dragon Quest Monsters Delocalized
Ultimate Dragon Warrior Monsters 2
Final Fantasy Adventure DX

 

[mkol103]

Woah woah WOAH, I'd never even heard of this device and now immediately want one. How's the screen and the controls? Any input lag? Would you recommend it for the price?

For GBA games under the criteria you've listed, I highly recommend:

• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red, currently the best roguelike on the system.
• Digimon Battle Spirit, a very fun arcade-y fighting game that can be fully cleared within 30 minutes.
• Bit Generations Coloris, a minimalist score-based puzzle game about colour and sound. Any of the Bit Generations games make a great choice for transit, but this one's a personal fave.
• This Super Mario Advance 4 hack, which has all of the game's additional e-Reader levels unlocked, making it one of the finest platformers available anywhere.
• The GBA version of Puyo Pop Fever, which is probably the best version of Puyo Puyo (a frantic score-based puzzle game) you'll be able to get on this device.

Anbernic (the maker of the RG35XX line) has been making retro handhelds for a while now, and they're pretty good at it. The RG35XX line is the best budget retro handheld out there right now. Of course, if you want to emulate more systems, you'll need to spend more money (and probably buy a Retroid device), but for the price it's a good value (about $60-75). Like I said, you get some dreamcast and everything below it (with hit or miss PSP/N64 and barely playable Saturn). You also get Pico-8 and a bunch of native ports of games like Shovel Knight and VVVVVV. The screens and controls are good, and I haven't noticed any bad input lag. Just a heads up, it's best to use custom firmware with these kinds of devices if you end up getting one. The most popular for this line of devices is MuOS.

Anyway.

I think your suggestions are really good. I feel like I was actually thinking of that bit trip game but could not remember the title of it. Puyo Pop would also be good, though I would have to actually get good at Puyo Pop, which I have always wanted to do but haven't yet.

 

[mkol103]

My list of games for that handheld are all from Game Boy and Game Boy Color, that includes rom hacks and fan translations that can be found on CDR.

Donkey Kong ('94)
Super Mario Bros. DX (GBC)
Super Mario Land DX
Super Mario Land 2 DX (get the sound improvement one)
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 Colors Edition + Movement Hack
Wario Land II Uncensored
Wario Land 3
Donkey Kong Land: New Colors Mode
Donkey Kong Land 2 GBC Edition
Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong and Dixie Kong (pretty much DKL3 in color)
Donkey Kong Country (GBC)
Metroid II EJRTQ + Canon Samus
The Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening DX (get the Redux hack)
Kirby's Dreamland DX + Revised
Kirby's Dreamland 2 DX
Kirby's Pinball Land DX
Kirby's Tilt 'n' Tumble Accelcerometer Removal Patch
Mega Man World: Dr. Wily's Revenge GBC
Mega Man World II - GBC Edition
Mega Man World 3 DX
Mega Man World 5 DX
Mega Man Xtreme
Mega Man Xtreme 2
Dr. Mario DX
Dr. Garfield DX
Pokemon Team Rocket Edition (this one is a little glitchy but fun)
Pokemon Prism (great hack, not on CDR)
Pokemon Red: Full Color
Pokemon Blue: Full Color
Pokemon Yellow (I hear Thunder Yellow is good but it's not on CDR)
Pokemon Gold (also look for Super Gold 97, not on CDR)
Pokemon Silver (also look for Super Silver 97, not on CDR)
Pokemon Crystal Legacy
Pokemon Puzzle Challenge
Pokemon Pinball
Pokemon Pinball Generations (this is a real hack but it's not on CDR. It's all gen 2 Pokemon)
Pokemon Trading Card Game
Pokemon Card GB 2: GR Dan Sanjou!
Pokemon TCG Neo
Super Robot Pinball
Pocket Billiards Funk The 9-Ball
Castlevania Adventure Autoboot + Speed + Whip Hack + Improved Controls
Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Autoboot + Speed + Improved Controls)
Dragon Warrior 1 and 2
Dragon Warrior 3
Dragon Quest Monsters Delocalized
Ultimate Dragon Warrior Monsters 2
Final Fantasy Adventure DX

Thanks! I was just thinking that games designed for portable systems would naturally be a good fit, but I didn't know many. This is a good list

 

[mkol103]

Maybe The Minish Cap?

That's a good suggestion. I actually got like 75% of the way through that game on another device, so it would suck to start at the beginning, but enough time has passed where I don't remember anything lol

 

[Inkingsama]

You could try the adventure of little ralph for the psx. I don't think it has an english translation but it almost has no text. It's a little platformer game that really encourages you to get a high score and the games changes genres when fighting bosses to a fighting game. Fairly challenging and somewhat long for a platformer.

Klonoa: Door To Phantomile and the gba klonoa games are good too.

 

[mkol103]

You could try the adventure of little ralph for the psx. I don't think it has an english translation but it almost has no text. It's a little platformer game that really encourages you to get a high score and the games changes genres when fighting bosses to a fighting game. Fairly challenging and somewhat long for a platformer.

Klonoa: Door To Phantomile and the gba klonoa games are good too.

I've never heard of Adventures of Little Ralph. I was surprised to see that it has a Portuguese patch but no English patch. That could be a good suggestion.

I also have played a bit of Klonoa 1 and have really liked it, but I never sat down to give it a full playthrough (though I think I might do that on the remake). I have tried the Klonoa GBA games and I remember really liking them, so I think those also might be good.

 

[Waiting For The Rain]

I'll recommend Picross to anyone at any chance I get.

If you like it, you're looking at dozens of game across various Nintendo platforms, but the retro ones I'm familiar would be Mario's Picross and Picross 2 for GB, Mario's Super Picross and for SNES. There are some other ones for the SNES too, but I haven't tried those yet.

I would recommend Mario's Super Picross the most out of those three.

 

[mkol103]

Great suggestion. On my RG351P I played a lot of Pokemon Picross. Now that's a good game (and the pokemon theming doesn't hurt)

 

[Waiting For The Rain]

Great suggestion. On my RG351P I played a lot of Pokemon Picross. Now that's a good game (and the pokemon theming doesn't hurt)

The GBC unreleased Pokemon Picross? I have the ROM, but I haven't booted it yet. There was one for the 3DS that was cool, too, but it was F2P so of course it had a limiting mechanic on how many plays you get. I'm sure that can be circumvented on CFW but I haven't looked into it.

I like Picross a lot more when it has a theme. I even bought and enjoyed the Kemono Friends and Overlord ones on Switch despite knowing nothing about either franchise. I'm looking forward to playing the N games on SNES since each one is themed on a different Nintendo game.

 

[mkol103]

The GBC unreleased Pokemon Picross? I have the ROM, but I haven't booted it yet. There was one for the 3DS that was cool, too, but it was F2P so of course it had a limiting mechanic on how many plays you get. I'm sure that can be circumvented on CFW but I haven't looked into it.

I like Picross a lot more when it has a theme. I even bought and enjoyed the Kemono Friends and Overlord ones on Switch despite knowing nothing about either franchise. I'm looking forward to playing the N games on SNES since each one is themed on a different Nintendo game.

I still have the default Picross solving theme in my head years later. Pokemon Picross is a great game and it's a shame they never released it officially. I prefer it over the GB Picrosses because it's in color.

 

[Another Iori]

Woah woah WOAH, I'd never even heard of this device and now immediately want one. How's the screen and the controls? Any input lag? Would you recommend it for the price?

If you haven't bought any of these devices, then save some money and get a Retroid Pocket 5, which costs more, but also has an AMOLED screen and the ability to emulate up to Wii (no PS3 or Xbox 360 though) [the resolution goes up to 1080p and supports up to 60 frames per second].