RetroArch
At last, the ultimate emulator front-end has arrived on Steam. As someone who loves playing retro games, RetroArch has been my personal preference for emulation for the past 3 or so years. While it takes a little getting used to, the features it provides and the emulation cores (the actual emulators) it has are superb.
On top of simple emulation and your standard emulator quality of life (like save states, fast forward, rewind, etc.), RetroArch provides netplay (allowing users to connect each other online for a simulated couch play) though Steam itself also provides this; shaders to enhance how a game looks or to recreate the original console’s appearance with CRT filters; a built-in video record function, achievement support via RetroAchievements; per-game controller bindings and configs; and a bunch more.
– Real player with 50.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Retro Free to Play Games.
Despite there being plenty of problems to complain about - long-standing issues with control mapping being one of the major ones - RetroArch is still easily the best emulation software I’ve ever used, and my experience goes all the way back to Nesticle in the late ’90s.
The major benefit of RetroArch is being emulate pretty much every console or computer system prior to the PS2/GameCube/XBox generation, plus a few more modern ones like the PSP. Not only that, but the available cores also tend to be more accurate when compared to standalone emulators. This is particularly notable for systems like Nintendo 64, PlayStation 1, and Sega Saturn, all of which were difficult to emulate for many years, but today have high-accuracy cores available in RetroArch.
– Real player with 47.7 hrs in game
PlataGO! Super Platform Game Maker
Edit -
8 April 2018 (Less than two weeks following the start of early access)
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Thorough developer support in discussions - bug fixes, suggestions, proper communication.
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Already numerous suggestions implemented in build 0.99142 - triple jump, jump variation
settings, player friction physics settings, and more..
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The bug fixes are coming quickly, within days.
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First roadmap for suggested features tackles roughly 25 features - all planned for introduction by end of next week. Progress is moving quickly and game is being well stress tested.
– Real player with 1132.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Retro Game Development Games.
I have purchase PlataGo! recently and I am really happy about what it has to offer. Its an early access game / engine so I am aware that they are still bugs and even some basic things to add. However I value a few things in this early state:
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Responsive developer, the software is often updated and the dev is on the forums help and answering questions
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There is a lot of stuff added already. There are a very large number of possible elements to add to your platforming game for which you can customize many parameters. This, together with the different graphics packs (you can add your own or download more from the workshop) ensures that you can make your game unique
– Real player with 37.7 hrs in game
Overture Music Visualization
I love this! The whole concept works well for using as a “stream starting” screen. I would love to be able to upload my own images and have the music visualizer over the image as well as use the existing backgrounds. I’m hoping for something to use in October, or for holidays, specific themes for different games, etc.
Edit: It’s been a while, and there hasn’t been many updates. I’ve since stopped using this for a stream opening. The scenes just got a bit stale. It’s fun for a bit, and it works well for it I intended it for. Just would’ve loved to see some fresh scenes, maybe even ones for holidays.
– Real player with 98.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Retro Casual Games.
I am writing this review from the standpoint of private use, not say to visualize my music on social media (although the developer has indictated they welcome such usage). And from that angle it’s quite the neat tool. In comparison to the few programs that allow music visualization (including music players themselves) it has a bunch of options to modify and adjust the visualization itself and a bunch of scenes/visualization styles.
What was important for me - and what I found nowhere else - is that it works with the general sound output of your OS, instead of being dependant on the user selecting songs to play within the program interface. So if you want to have something nice to look at while you listen to sound from Youtube, Spotify or your private music collection, you can have that. Additionally to that, one of the latest updates also added the mic input as potential source.
– Real player with 36.4 hrs in game
PacketStorm
This is not a horrible game, but it is a stripped down game. I would give it a thumbs up if I had bought it for less than $2.00 USD.
The good:
- A relaxing fish tank to watch, with some gameplay elements thrown in.
The bad:
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No explanation as to how the gameplay elements work. Trial and error eventually let you figure out what’s going on but…
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Because there’s no way to delete your out-of-game profile, by the time you figure out how things work, it’s too late to develop a meaningful play strategy because you’re flush with bonuses that dilute any bad decisions you might make.
– Real player with 21.3 hrs in game
Fun game. If your like me and enjoy a casual simulation this will be right up your alley.
Well worth it for the small cost.
– Real player with 13.4 hrs in game
Dominant Mind
Dominant Mind is a Steam version of one of the most popular board games ever!! If you are a lover of logic games, this is the right game for you! People have always been interested in challenging the mind with mind games and exercise the brain with brain training games. Our brain is a muscle and just like every other muscle. It needs exercise to develop and keep fit!
Try in two playing modes to break the code:
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easy mode with 4 pins
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hard mode with 5 pins
The logic and Dominant Mind game rules are very similar to a mind game called Bulls and Cows that was played with a pencil on paper. Ready to get your brain training?
RETRO-PIXEL COLOR PALETTE: Color by Number
I just bought this. but i don’t like the fact its single click per square to fill bulk of colours in. i like to be able to hold down and use one colour to fill in a lot of colour at once, apart from this I do love the creatures. i will most likly recommend and also be getting all the DLC for this game :) keep it up and I hope to see new things coming to this soon.
So you also pullthe colour chart sideways to view more colours, took me a while to work this out. you can not use your scroll button to zoom in or out but there is a slider at the top of the page to zoom in and out so you know what colours go where. i was not able to look up any controls or how to play. i just worked it out myself. this could do witth a few tweaks but over all it is relaxing but it made my wrist hurt doing the flower monster.
– Real player with 0.3 hrs in game