 A few years ago I made a video titled Super Nintendo-like Steam games, and by that I don't mean that the games themselves can run on Super Nintendo hardware, or if that's even feasible or whatever. I'm just referring to retro-styled games that fit the same styles of gameplay that were prevalent in the 16-bit era, like turn-based RPGs, 2D action platformers, top-down Smash TV-style shooters, things like that, all presented with a 16-bit visual style. So let's revisit that idea for a part 2, because if you're like me, you might be so caught up in catching up on older stuff that you might not even know that these newer games exist. Starting with Undertale, it's a turn-based RPG and everyone and their mother loves to compare this one to Earthbound, and it's easy to see why, with the art style, the goofy sense of humor, both of which put you off the scent of a surprisingly affecting story. The combat system also has some interesting quirks, like how each enemy's attack is their own Atari-style minigame, where you have to dodge what's coming at you. That's if you decide to fight any enemies at all. Undertale is one of those games where the less you know going into it, the better, so I don't want to spoil too much, I'll just say it's definitely worth checking out. Undertale is available on Steam, PS4, Vita, and Switch. Another obvious one is Stardew Valley, which takes the simplicity of a game like Harvest Moon and expands it a thousand fold. It's a farming sim, but there's so much more. There's combat, crafting, cooking, fishing, relationships and side stories, all sorts of stuff. This part is that it's all presented in such a simple, straightforward manner, with a really easy to use interface. The soundtrack for this one is outstanding, to the point that I find myself listening to certain tracks on their own just to relax. So yeah, if you like stuff like Harvest Moon or Sim City, or any kind of strategy or sim game, then you gotta check out Stardew Valley. It's available on Steam, PS4, Vita, Xbox One, and Switch. The most obvious of the obvious games is Cuphead. You'd have to be living under a rock nut to have heard of this one, so I won't spend too much time on it. From a visual and sound standpoint, this game clearly has nothing in common with Super Nintendo, but the gameplay and difficulty are reminiscent of stuff like Contra 3, Earthworm Jim, and the treasure run and gun games on Genesis. It's a pretty standard run and gun game, and I will point out that a lot of people seem to complain about the difficulty, but if you're already familiar with and are already playing stuff on Super Nintendo Genesis NES or whatever, and you're already used to nut kicking difficulty, then I don't think you'll find this one all that out of the ordinary. The main selling point is obviously the stunning visuals, but you don't need some guy on the internet to tell you that. What you see is what you get here, a great looking game and a massive challenge, and it's well worth it. Cuphead is available on Steam and Xbox One. Cosmic Star Heroin is a retro-styled, turn-based RPG that looks and feels like a natural successor to a game like Phantasy Star 4. It's got that same late 90s anime sci-fi style to it you might see in the cowboy bebop universe, for example. This game really looks great. The combat has some unique twists, sure there's the usual physical attacks, magic spells, and items, but everything can only be used once per battle, and each attack is hinged on a style meter, which you have to build up to make sure you get the most out of that particular attack. My main nitpick with this one is that the story moves along way too quickly, it definitely feels rushed at certain points, but this is still a worthy playthrough. Cosmic Star Heroin is available on PS4, Vita, Switch, and Steam for Windows. Hyper Light Drifter is a top-down action RPG that plays like a cross between Zelda and Diablo, but what really jumps out here right away is the visual style. I'm not sure I've seen another game that looks quite like this one. This is a pretty typical adventure game structure here, you have your central town, you wander off in any direction and find a dungeon which culminates in a boss fight, you're equipped with an energy sword, which you can gradually level up, and each time you make contact with an enemy it grants your other more powerful weapons more ammo. So it's a nice balance of risk and reward. This game is really tough though, and demands you be as quick to dodge as everything as you are quick to attack. Overall, it's a great balance between typical dungeon structure and open world freedom. I should also mention that there's no dialogue here, but the game does manage to tell a good story without it, kind of like Super Metroid in that regard. This is definitely a unique experience that everyone should try out, whether it be for Steam, PS4, Xbox One, or Switch. Lord knows there's about a gazillion Metroidvania games floating around out there, everything from the Guacamelee games to They Bleed Pixels to Ori and the Blind Forest, on and on. And most of them are very good, but there's a few I want to call attention to starting with Hollow Knight, mostly because of how ridiculously deep every aspect of this game is. The game's wiki page has over 350 articles and over 10,000 pages. If you love stuff like Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night, then this is a must play. The atmosphere here feels similar to something like Limbo, the music and sound design are spot on, but the best part of Hollow Knight is the level design. This is one of those games that's hard to put down because I just want to see what's next. And it definitely helps that the user interface is well done also. For instance, to heal yourself, there's no cumbersome menu, you just hold the button and use however many potions you need. Even with warping to different parts of the map, you don't just simply appear there, you ride a giant beetle underground. Yeah, obviously this one's a bit advanced when it comes to what you'd see on the Super Nintendo, but sometimes it's just nice to see what a game like Super Metroid started and where we are with that style of gameplay nowadays, and Hollow Knight is a perfect example of that. It's available on Steam, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One. If you'd rather play a game with a more colorful and vibrant aesthetic, there's games like Fox and Forests. No, Fox News did not start a nature program, that's the name of the game. This one's much more straightforward than Hollow Knight, and it's more reminiscent of games like Monster World 4 for Sega Genesis, as in an action platformer with some RPG stuff thrown in. The main thing this game has going for it is the ability to change seasons at will. Yeah, there's obvious stuff like freezing water with winter and such, but they get a bit more inventive with it. For instance, no way to cross this area, change the season to autumn, and you can jump across falling leaves. No way to get off this platform, change it and climb the ripening fruit. Plus the levels are huge with lots of hidden areas and multiple paths. This game isn't perfect, I mean you can't run and fire your weapon at the same time, which kind of sucks, but it's still well worth checking out if you dig this kind of stuff. It kind of reminds me of Mickey's Magical Quest if it were a run and gun. Fox and Forest is available on Steam, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One. Yet another Metroid-ish action platformer I want to point out is Owl Boy. It stands out not only because it's primarily story-driven, but because the story itself can get pretty bleak. You play as a young owl humanoid named Otis who was born Mute, and because of that, the poor kid has next to zero confidence in self-esteem. It didn't help that his parents just up and vanished one day. But despite being Mute, Otis is very expressive. They did a great job with the sprite work here, and there is tons upon tons of NPC dialogue here. This is one of those games where you'll be rewarded for talking to everyone, even multiple times. The gameplay is about what you'd expect from a game of this ilk, but I should point out that Otis gains allies that compliment his abilities well, so the gameplay fits together nicely in that regard. Make no mistake though, the story is the selling point of this one, and it's well told. Owl Boy is available on Steam, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One. Maybe you want a more straightforward platformer, maybe something in the way of Sonic? Then there's Freedom Planet. Sure, it looks a bit like a blatant Sonic clone, and development did actually start out as a fan-made Sonic game, but it is its own thing. Plus there's the usual modern amenities in this one like split paths and hidden items that can be found with each of the three playable characters' different abilities. It does look and play an awful lot like Sonic, but there's an actual energy meter instead of the whole ring thing, and a special ability meter as well. This is a pretty good balance between the traditional Sonic Twitch controls and level design with traditional platforming. So yeah, if you like what you see here, then go check it out. Freedom Planet is available on Steam, Wii U, PS4, and was just released on Switch. Finally, the Kunio-Kun series started out on NES with River City Ransom being the most popular title. The series continued on Super Famicom, but none of the five games ever left Japan. Developers Konadus Creative said screw it and bought the rights to the series to create their own follow-up, River City Ransom Underground, and it is extremely faithful to the original River City Ransom. It's scary how accurate the artwork, movement, and animation is here. It definitely fits right in with the rest of the series. As you might expect, this plays a lot like River City Ransom, but just more of it. More characters, more moves, more weapons, and the same leveling system as in place. This is a fun beat-em-up that's a must-play if you enjoyed the original US NES game. It's available on Steam, and it may get console ports in the future. Alright, that's 10 titles for you to chew on. Obviously, there's a lot more out there, and maybe I'll get to some of them in part 3. I want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.