A Year of Retro Game Purchases - I'll Get to Them Soon

I've got a pile of games sat in the corner of the spare room, which I've been adding to since the summer. All 7th Gen or older, so lets agree to call them retro. Nothing expensive - a mix of Mercari pick-ups, in-store bargains and even some CEX purchases from our trip to the UK in August.

Their mere presence has been a source of great pleasure. I'll shoot the stack an occasional glance while I'm working at my computer and be happier for it, or pick out a game while I'm dusting, or doing some other chore, and flick through the manual.

Next month, I'm hoping to get some pleasure from actually playing a few of these, as opposed to just looking at them. I'm told that's what we're supposed to do with games, play them, though I'm far from convinced. 

Once 2023 is all wrapped up -  just the final third of Jusant and all of Alan Wake 2 to go - I'm planning to spend a month catching up with older games. Thirty days, give or take, before Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth turns up, followed by Final Fantasy VII Rebirth a month later, and then, fuck me, Dragon's Dogma 2 in March. That trio will as good as fill the first half of 2024, and I'm both excited and exhausted by the prospect of playing three giant games on the trot.

Of course, I'll never get through everything in the photo above in just a month. Instead, I'll jump between a select few, and only stick with those that really grab me. Similar to what I did last year, when I did some PS3 Backlog Blasting and was blessed to spend five hours in the very unpleasant company of Kane and Lynch. As well as everything in the photo, I also have it on good authority that there's at least one Dreamcast, one PS2 and one Xbox 360 game under the Christmas tree. I am that authority, having bought and wrapped them.

Dear Matt

Merry Christmas!

All my love, always

Matt xxx

I also have a bunch of older purchases I'd love to get to, especially Series X back-compatible Xbox and 360 games - TimeSplitters Future Perfect and Max Payne 3 are top priorities - and an absolute treasure trove of stuff I can access on my Analogue Pocket. January is shaping up to be a busy month! 

I can't play them all, but of the selection in the picture, these are the games I expect I'll put the most time into.

Prince of Persia - 2008 - Xbox 360

This would be a replay, made possible by the wonderful Xbox back-compatibility program. I've been keen to get back to this for a while, and I had a very brief taster a few months back. Otherwise, it's been 14 years since I last played it. It might look a little rough around the edges now, but that art style and the developers' decision to de-emphasize combat has aged very well indeed.

OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast - 2006 - PSP

In the summer, I wrote about how much I enjoyed my week with the Xbox version of OutRun 2 . I'll be very pleased if the PSP expanded port continues to provide more of the same. I'm happy to report that my PSP still works, and the battery has yet to bulge, so we're definitely on for more drifting. Several hours of Coast 2 Coast in January looks like a safe bet.

Loaded - 1996 - Saturn

I remember being fascinated by this game back in the day. It was probably because of the cover image, rather than the game itself - a disturbingly ugly piece of art that stuck with me, despite never having played it. I picked up a copy for a tenner while I was back in the UK, as the PAL version is far more affordable than the Japanese. My Action Replay cart will take care of the region swapping.

The Saboteur - 2009 - PS3

I never played this, despite it being right up my street. A third-person action game (I like) with a historical setting (I like), featuring a very brown palette (I like), and on PS3 (I like). It's probably a 6/10 max (I like). There's a lot to like there (see parentheses).

Resident Evil Revelations 2 - 2015 - PS3

I really enjoyed the first game, which I played on 3DS with the absurd Circle Pad Pro. I didn't get to the second entry, and I'm not really sure why, as I'm always game for more RE, a series that has been keeping me entertained since the mid-90s. And this one has Barry in it, which is a massive bonus. Another bonus: I somehow scored a US copy on JP Mercari for next to nothing, so I'll be playing it in English.

Resistance: Burning Skies - 2012 - PS Vita

Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified - 2012 - PS Vita

I know that these are both supposed to be abysmal, but knowing that just makes me want to play them even more. I am in full nostalgia mode for early-2010's gaming, and Resistance is one of my favourite series of that era, among those that didn't survive the transition to the next gen. As for Black Ops, thinking about someone playing CoD multiplayer on a Vita in 2012 makes me feel equal parts excited and unwell. An experience very much of that time. I don't suppose the servers are still on, are they?

To be honest, there's a chance that all of the above may be abandoned, if one of Total NBA '96, Total NBA '97 or NBA2K1 grabs me and consumes the entire month. I am very susceptible to mid-1990s to early-2000s NBA nostalgia, and it wouldn't take much for me to commit to a full season of Kidd-McDyess-Chapman, Payton-Kemp-Schrempf or Iverson-other players that I won't be passing the ball to. Another potential threat: I listened to a Cane & Rinse episode on Final Fantasy XIII the other day, and briefly decided it would be a good idea to replay it. So that could happen, though it 100% should not.

Aren't video games lovely? I hope you're continuing to get as much joy out of yours as I am mine.