UFO 50

Over the past year -- at the time of this writing, I have put in around 37 hours into UFO 50. I first learned about it due to SnowMan Gaming who did a video on it. And I became fascinated about it. So it's interesting to see Derek Yu and his team answer the question: what if one of those video game compilations was actually...good? UFO 50 is a retro inspired set of 50 games for a fictional computer system that was supposedly popular in the 80s. Think the Pico 8. Or, perhaps more accurately, it reminds me more of the PC-98: graphics and games that started out very simple and as the computer's lifespan went on became very complex with parallax scrolling and detailed sprites. (For more info on the computer, the Basement Bros have a great series about the computer.) Mossmouth definitely ran with the idea and created games that may not be completely out of place on the ol' NES. However, there's a well hidden meta narrative hidden in the game: a company that quickly became too big and imploded in on itself, as well as the inner-office politics that impacted everything. The games were locked into a storage garage until Derek and his friends bought it in an auction, fell in love with the games, and then decided to make them available for everyone. To go through each game would leave me sitting in front of my computer forever. And your mileage will definitely vary because it relies on you liking Yu's design philosophy. If you don't like his games, you're likely going to be miserable. I digress. Games that I've really enjoyed are Barbuta (think La-Mulana single screen puzzle platformer), Devilition (puzzle game about blowing up demons), Kick Club (a soccer version of Bubble Bobble), camouflage (puzzle game staring a chameleon), Warp Tank (puzzle shooter), Divers (a FF1 style RPG that is very atmospheric), Valbrace (action dungeon crawler with Punch Out system), Rock on! Island (tower defense), Overbold (arena style shooter), Campanella 3 (3-d shooter almost like Tempest), Grimstone (RPG with a timing mechanic a la Shadow Hearts), and Night Manor (horror game done in a Macventure style). The other games not listed aren't bad, they just didn't catch my eye as much. For example, I really want to love Elfazar's Hat which is a Rocky and Pocky inspired run and gun. I can't get into it. Looking at these games from a lens of 80s gaming, they would have absolutely have dazzled a lot of gamers. PC styled games may have been a bigger hit on the SNES if they were more like Valbrace instead of Dungeon Master and Might and Magic 3. My mom would have loved Devilition because it has that Dr. Mario / Bust a Move (Puzzle Bobble) vibe of figuring things out. Grimstone would have raised the bar for what an RPG should be on the NES / Genesis. Controls are simple with this game: they rely on D-pad movement with a 2 button mechanic. It's harder to get simpler than this short of it being a single button game. Sometimes it's a little clunky, however I would argue that is by design as old games that UFO is imitating were like that back in the day. Some games are more intuitive to figure out than others, you won't be fighting the controls. Overall, UFO 50 is a great value for its price. It's hard not to recommend it as there's actually a little something for most players. And you can spend hours mastering each game -- especially getting the Cherries (the game's way of stating you mastered a game). It makes me wonder if Mossmouth has accidentally painted themselves into a corner: will they go create another retro console and have X number of games for it? Or will they go in a different direction? Yes, there will be a Spelunky 3 in the mean time. What are they going to do? And it's seriously going to be a tough act to follow.