Retro XP

Retro reviews, analysis, and thoughts about retro games I’m playing, and think you should be playing, too.

Featured Posts

Apr 02, 2025

Past meets present: Cleopatra Fortune

Cleopatra Fortune isn't a series Taito kept going back to, but it's still a worthy puzzler.

Marc Normandin

Mar 28, 2025

It's new to me: Zusar Vasar

A racing game on the Dreamcast featuring robot animals pulling chariots. And it somehow gets weirder than that.

Marc Normandin

Mar 26, 2025

It's new to me: Last Legion UX

Hudson and Yuke's partnered together on a mech combat game on the N64, but only for Japan.

Marc Normandin

Mar 21, 2025

Past meets present: Sutte Hakkun

Nintendo put a game with Satellaview origins on Nintendo Switch Online, and we're all the better for it.

Marc Normandin

Mar 17, 2025

It's new to me: Valkyrie no Bōken

The first of the Valkyrie games, and still a Japanese exclusive nearly four decades later, this game had its own take on the emerging "Zelda-like" genre.

Marc Normandin

Mar 12, 2025

Re-release this: Ganbare Goemon 2: Very Strange General McGuinness

The Japan-only sequel to The Legend of the Mystical Ninja deserved a worldwide release over three decades ago.

Marc Normandin

Past meets present: Cleopatra Fortune

Cleopatra Fortune isn't a series Taito kept going back to, but it's still a worthy puzzler.

Marc Normandin

Mar 28, 2025

It's new to me: Zusar Vasar

A racing game on the Dreamcast featuring robot animals pulling chariots. And it somehow gets weirder than that.

Marc Normandin

Mar 26, 2025

It's new to me: Last Legion UX

Hudson and Yuke's partnered together on a mech combat game on the N64, but only for Japan.

Marc Normandin

Mar 21, 2025

Past meets present: Sutte Hakkun

Nintendo put a game with Satellaview origins on Nintendo Switch Online, and we're all the better for it.

Marc Normandin

Mar 17, 2025

It's new to me: Valkyrie no Bōken

The first of the Valkyrie games, and still a Japanese exclusive nearly four decades later, this game had its own take on the emerging "Zelda-like" genre.

Marc Normandin

Mar 12, 2025

Re-release this: Ganbare Goemon 2: Very Strange General McGuinness

The Japan-only sequel to The Legend of the Mystical Ninja deserved a worldwide release over three decades ago.

Marc Normandin

Mar 07, 2025

It's new to me: Cosmic Wars

Not every Gradius game is a shoot 'em up, as Cosmic Wars' proto-4X design reminds.

Marc Normandin

Mar 05, 2025

It's new to me: Tokyo Highway Battle

Or, Shutokou Battle '97: Tsuchiya Keiichi & Bandou Masaaki, or, Drift King '97. The important thing is this is where Tokyo Xtreme Racer first used 3D and came into its own.

Marc Normandin