Hack & Slash: Radical Retro Games for Single Players
I love sleek, hyper-realistic video games as much as the next modern gamer, but sometimes no amount of stunning graphics and contemporary themes can compare to the good old fashioned virtual adventures of my 1980s upbringing. If you're in the mood to travel back in time this weekend (from the comfort of your couch, of course), check out one of these totally tubular games inspired the systems, heroes – and, in one case, the breakfast cereal mascots – of one of history's most radical decades.
Saturday Morning RPG
You are Marty Michael Hall, an average kid with a hover board who wakes up from a dream to find he's in possession of a magical Trapper Keeper which bestows upon him epic fighting powers. Traverse through episodic levels, battle snarky foes, and call upon countless novelty items from the 80s while fighting your way through to the end. Highlights of Saturday Morning RPG's nostalgic combat system include a powerful Carebear Stare and a stampede of Fruit Stripes Zebras. This game is so much fun.
Cthulhu Saves the World
The great Cthulhu has risen from his slumber to discover he's been stripped of his mystical powers. In order to restore them (and get back to destroying the world), he must become... wait... a hero?! That's right. Cthulhu must save the world in order to obliterate it. In Cthulhu Saves the World, you play as the great Ancient One, collecting a rag-tag group of allies along the way to glory and inevitable doom. This retro-style game is heavily inspired by classic 2-D RPGs and is positively bulging with evil laughs.
Photo courtesy of ouyalytics.com.