''Retro Game Challenge'' is a

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game developed by

indieszero is a small video game development company headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan. It was founded on April 21, 1997, and has developed video games for other video game companies, including Nintendo, SEGA, and Square Enix. Overview The n ...

and published by

Namco Bandai Games is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and ...

and

Xseed Games Xseed Games is an American video game company founded by former members of Square Enix USA. It later became a subsidiary of the Japanese game company Marvelous, providing the localization and publishing services for video games and related mat ...

in North America. It is based on the television series ''

GameCenter CX , also known as ''Retro Game Master'' in other regions, is a Japanese gaming-variety show television program produced by Fuji Television and Gascoin Company. The name is a combination of "game center" (the Japanese term for an arcade) and Fuji TV ...

'', and

Shinya Arino is a Japanese comic duo from Osaka working for Shōchiku Geinō, the second largest comedy talent agency in Japan following Yoshimoto Kōgyō. Yowiko are known otakus, even appearing on the variety show ''LINCOLN'' cosplaying as Char Aznable ...

gave much input into the game creation process. The game was released on November 15, 2007 in Japan and February 10, 2009 in North America. A sequel, '' Retro Game Challenge 2'', was released in Japan in February 26, 2009 and was never officially localized into English by Xseed, but received a

fan translation Fan translation (or user-generated translation) refers to the unofficial translation of various forms of written or multimedia products made by fans (fan labor), often into a language in which an official translated version is not yet available ...

Gameplay

In the game, the player controls a boy or girl who plays retro games in order to appease the Demon Arino (based on the TV show's host Shinya Arino). The Demon Arino gives four challenges to complete for each game. Each game is original but with graphics, sound, and game-play elements which make it look old or retro. Many of them are similar in both gameplay and appearance to real

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...

games. They come with fully illustrated manuals. Occasionally there will be a fake gaming magazine, Game Fan Magazine, that has articles about the games, rankings (with other fictional games named), and "game advice" from ''

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who have appeared over the seasons of the TV show. In the case of the North American version, the pseudonyms of journalists better known in English-speaking countries were used. Some parts of the various games are inspired by actual challenges that Arino has faced in his TV episodes. For example, the bonus character in the second half of stage 1 of "Star Prince" is taken from his attempt to get bonus points from playing ''

Star Force also released in arcades outside of Japan as ''Mega Force'', is a vertical-scrolling shooter computer game released in 1984 by Tehkan. Gameplay In the game, the player pilots a starship called the ''Final Star'', while shooting various enemie ...

'' in season 1. The various "special" continue tricks (like in Haggle Man) come from the several instances in which Arino must use these features to complete tasks on the show. Even the ending to the game pulls a trick from ''

Takeshi no Chōsenjō , officially translated as ''The Ultimate Challenge from Beat Takeshi'' and popularly known as ''Takeshi's Challenge'', is a 1986 Japanese action-adventure video game developed by Nova and published by Taito for the Nintendo Entertainment System ...

'' from season 1.

Reception

The game received a score of 33/40 from ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

''. As of June 24, 2009, ''Retro Game Challenge'' had sold fewer than 100,000 copies in North America. This was viewed as disappointing for its North American publisher,

, discouraging them from also localizing the sequel. Director of Publishing Ken Berry stated that sales were initially strong but died down.

Sequels

''GameCenter CX: Arino no Chōsenjō 2'' is the sequel to ''Retro Game Challenge'' and was released on February 26, 2009, in Japan. Like the original, it largely consists of

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

-styled games reminiscent of actual games released in the late 1980s through mid-1990s. However, this game also features games styled after

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

, and

Famicom Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System or just Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Nintendo Entertainment System, Family Computer home video game console, released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary flopp ...

games, as well as variants on games included in Retro Game Challenge and a "game trainer" modeled after a ''

Game & Watch The Game & Watch brand ( ''Gēmu & Uotchi''; called ''Tricotronic'' in West Germany and Austria, abbreviated as ''G&W'') is a series of handheld electronic games developed, manufactured, released, and marketed by Nintendo from 1980 in video gam ...

''. All together, this title has 15 games in one. The game received an English fan translation in 2014. Another sequel of the game, named ''GameCenter CX: 3-Choume no Arino'', was released for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

in 2014, exclusively in Japan.

Reception

The magazine ''Game Informer'' put it on their list of the best games of 2009.

Notes

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official US website
*
Retro Game Challenge
' at Hardcore Gaming 101 2007 video games 2009 video games Bandai Namco games Nintendo DS games Nintendo DS-only games Retro-style video games Single-player video games Video games based on television series Video games developed in Japan Video games set in the 1980s Fan translation Video games about video games Xseed Games games Indieszero games