Sunsoft is Back! Retro Game Selection

Across the board, the emulation is excellent, and the package has been enhanced by beautiful 3D renders of the original Famicom cartridges, as well as artwork and high-resolution scans of each game’s manual. This is a well-done and loving bundle, then, but the games themselves are ancient and demand a very specific mindset if you plan to extract any actual entertainment value from them.

Yet, despite being well presented, Sunsoft is Back! is a bit bare-bones for a collection. While the three games included do showcase the versatility and charm of the studio's output, there isn’t much content to explore.

Is this Bundle worth your Gold Coins? I would say “it depends”. Even with the facilitators, the gameplay is still very difficult by today’s standards, which may put off some of the more casual players. It was a different era, when games had to be excessively difficult so that they could have a longer lifespan in the player’s hands. Furthermore, when you compare the refinement of the gameplay with gems like Super Mario Bros 3 or the Mega Man series, the player feels more frustrated than challenged to try again. The product is aimed at those who are nostalgic or a curious player who wants to explore little known games. Now, if we take into account the fact that these are titles that were previously exclusive to Japan and are coming to the West for the first time, this makes the collection more than indispensable for every video game fan, even if it’s just out of curiosity.

I personally appreciate being introduced to games I’ve never experienced and found a deeper appreciation for the rich history of SUNSOFT. I’ve really grown fond to Ripple Island in particular. For enjoyment however, it can’t compete with the company’s first cartridge on Evercade.

It is always good for the preservation of video games that companies provide us with compilations worked with never-before-seen material from development, manuals, etc. In this case, Sunsoft includes all that and encourages more by bringing three games that had never reached western shores, for which for many they will be original 8-bit premieres from the 80s.

Sunsoft is Back! Retro Game Selection is more about peculiarity than playability. If you're into NES-era oddities, all three games will deliver despite their difficulty. Priced to move, it's a fun collection to experience. Just don't expect that experience to last.

I'm all for game preservation, and it's great that finally got three more Sunsoft classics in the Sunsoft is Back! Retro Game Selection. The emulation is spot on, and the added digital game manuals and artwork are a nice touch. I do wish there were more than three games in this bundle, but the good news is the price is right at only $9.99.

Really when the only complaints I have about this set are that the rewind timer is a bit short, the audio gets briefly weird when loading a save state and that I wish it had something related to the VS version of Wing of Madoola in here, this is just a great set of three fun gems worth discovering for the first time ever.

An eclectic mix of NES-era titles that have flavor, but whose main appeal may be more for historic interest than fun

Sure these games are not going to hold up today. They are difficult, confusing, and a product of their time, but being able to access them on just about anything with a controller is fantastic. I highly recommend checking out this compilation if you have any reverence for Sunsoft. Seeing some of their early work is as much fascinating as it is informative.