Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1984) - the narrator insulting the player indirectly in a humorous tone if what they're typing makes no sense, Space Quest III (1989) - has you rescue the game's creators "Two Guys From Andromeda" and take them to Sierra On-Line to make the Space Quest games with Ken Williams, Space Quest IV (1991) - travel back in time and revisit the bar from an authentic version of Space Quest I (and take crap for your hi-res looks from the locals), Monkey Island (1990) - The Loom ad, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990; a couple of characters being held prisoner in cells give you their frequencies by tapping on their cell wall - to decode it you need the manual), Mortal Kombat (1992) - decapitated developer heads, Doom (19939 - NIN room, Virocop (1995) - a game within a game themed level, Curse of Monkey Island (1997) - a fourth-wall joke poking fun at LucasArts' own adventure games by acknowledging criticisms of them being too easy as well as wittily mocking storytelling conventions, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997) - When Maria Renard asks Alucard if he knows Richter Belmont he responds that he knew a Trevor Belmont and has a thought bubble with a NES-style portrait of Trevor, Planescape: Torrent (1999) - features a "meta-setting", Animal Crossing/Forest (2001) - date-based content
Carnival (ARC, AY8910)(Juventino Rosas - Sobre las Olas/Over the Waves) - first in-game and polyphonic chiptune track that's longer than 30 seconds
New Rally X (ARC, Namco 3-channel WSG) - Several polyphonic tracks w/ multiple waveforms and a relatively long in-game track which is an original composition
Snafu (Intellivision, AY-3)
Super Locomotive (ARC, 2x SN76496 at different clock speeds)(Yellow Magic Orchestra - Rydeen)
Pole Position (ARC, Namco 6-channel stereo WSG)
Mr. Robot and His Robot Factory (Atari 8-bit, Pokey), The Tail of Beta Lyrae (Atari 800 XL, Pokey)(Gary Gilbertson (composer for both games) - Passionately)
More Notable Retro Game Examples: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987/1988) - The roughly U-shaped difficulty curve, Fester's Quest (1989) and NAM 1975 (1990) - difficulty spike at the final boss, Wipeout (1995) - silverstream course, Vib-Ribbon (PS1, 1999) - sudden difficulty spikes, N+ (2004) - very frequent checkpoints+infinite retries
More retro game examples of risk/reward: dnd (1975) - amount of gold carried affects the difficulty, BurgerTime (1982) - waiting to drop buns until enemies are on them, Pengo (1982) - speedrunning and lining up star blocks for extra points, Flicky (1984) - collecting more birds nets more points but also makes you a larger target, TwinBee (1985) - bell system (power-up cycling), They Stole a Million (PCs, 1986) - making the lookout go inside, Skate Or Die (1987) - extending tricks, Final Fantasy II (1988) - losing over half of current max HP/MP gives the highest chance of growth, Herzog Zwei (1989) - rushing (relies on bug exploits), Eye of the Beholder (1990 or 1991) - resting, Ski or Die (1990) - extending tricks in the downhill+half-pipe and chaining tricks in the aerial event, Final Fantasy IV (1991) - Darkness/Dark Wave ability (dark knight class), Rocket Knight Adventures (1993) and Pop'n TwinBee (1993) – melee attacks do more damage than ranged attacks, Ridge Racer (1993) - nailing a drift when turning, Brain Lord (SNES, 1994) - speed boosting cape, MechWarrior 2 (1995) - heat management, Diablo (1996) - four of the shrines, Armored Core (1997) - arms that are weapons have 0 defense against solid or energy rounds, Final Fantasy VII (1997) - limit breaks and Powersoul weapon, Apocalypse (PS1, 1998), Baldur's Gate (1998) - resting, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1999) - chaining tricks, Bangai-O (DC, 1999) - bullet vicinity, SimCity 3000 Unlimited (PC, 2000) - triggered disaster relief gamble
More Retro Games with Fast Travel: Star Raiders - warp via the map (need to steer on harder difficulties), Wizardry (PCs, 1981) - teleport w/ coordinates (can die), Ultima III (PCs, 1983) - teleport via moongates, The Goonies (MSX) & SMB1 - warp to a later level, Starquake (Multi, 1985) - teleport using location codes, Brain Breaker (Sharp X1, 1985) - teleporters, Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II (1985), Alcazar (Multi, 1985) - within dungeons, The Arc of Yesod (C64/Spectrum, 1985), Saboteur (C64 etc, 1986) - the trains, Starflight (PC (1986/MD, 1991) - away from trouble/back to ship, Bouken Roman MSX - back to beginning, Main Frame (1987) - teleport beacons, Knightmare II: Maze of Galious - back to the last password room+all opened sub area doors, Legacy of the Wizard/Dragon Slayer IV: Drasle Family - town portal (crystal)+some shortcuts, Zillion - a couple of teleporters, Tecmo's Deception: Invitation to Darkness (1996) - warp to power/trap rooms within the castle w/ a spell
Some More Retro Game Examples Featuring Player Immortality: Moving Adventure Psy-O-Blade (MD, 1990) - besides two scenes, Planescape: Torment (1999), Animal Crossing (2001)
More Retro Games with Hub Maps or Overworlds: Dragon's Eye (1981), Dragon Buster (1985) - hub map, Zelda II (1987), Super Mario World (1990) and Super Mario Land 2-3 (1992/1994), Commander Keen series, Mega Man X series, Lufia 1-2, King Colossus, Breath of Fire, Shining Force 1-3 (see Dragon Quest), Betrayal at Krondor - 3D, Flink, James Pond 3, Ogre Battle, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, Crusader of Centy/Soleil, Donkey Kong Country 1-2 (3 had an overworld), Demon's Crest, Breath of Fire II - ability gating, Terranigma (1995), Odyssey (AMI), Crash Bandicoot (1996), Suikoden 1-2, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996), Tomba!/Tombi! 1-2, Alundra 1-2, Mega Man Legends 1-2, Tron Bonne
Hub worlds/areas in the same engine - Venture (Multi, 1981), Chakan, Milon's Secret Castle, Wonder Boy III & Monster World IV, James Pond 2, Hexen, Mario 64 and Quake, Banjo-Kazooie, Robo: Rocket on Wheels, Spyro series, Crash 2
More Retro Games with a Bestiary feature: NetHack (1987), Ys II in a way - complete ver. only?, D/Generation (1991), Angband (1993), Ancient Domains of Mystery (1994), Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat (1995), X-COM: Terror from the Deep (1995), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (MD, 1996), Civilization 2?, Pokémon, Diablo in a way, Shining Force III, Mega Man & Bass, Final Liberation: Warhammer 40K Epic, Grandia: Digital Museum (SAT, 1998), Fallen Haven, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Ape Escape (1999), Age of Empires 2, Final Fantasy Origins, Kingdom Hearts, etc)
More Retro Games with Manual Stat Allocation: Mail Order Monsters (C64, 1985), Wizard's Crown (PCs, 1986), Wasteland (1988)(can also train specific skills at libraries+there's use-based progression), Worlds of Ultima 1-2, Seiken Densetsu 1 & 3, Gauntlet IV (1993), Dungeon Explorer II (1993), Super Mario RPG (1996), Daggerfall (4-6 points which can be added to any of the 8 attributes/main stats), Diablo 1-2, Fallout 1-2, Baldur's Gate 1-2 and Icewind Dale (thief skills, weapon proficiencies and sorcerer class spells), System Shock 2, Planescape: Torment - gain a Main Stat point on level up and there are 6 stats in total, Deus Ex (2000) - skill points+between two augmentations at a time via found canisters
alianger's comments