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"\n\n[#video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/AwszrzgerAg]\n\n+++lead-in-text\n\nNot to rub this in your faces or anything, but you know *Retro Game Challenge*? I’m playing the sequel, and it’s *way* better.\n\n+++\n\nNamco Bandai’s [pixelated journey through a retrogaming past that never was](http://blog.wired.com/games/2009/02/video-review-re.html) is currently catching on with American audiences the same way it did in Japan last year when it was released on Nintendo DS as *Game Center CX*. It did well enough there that a sequel is already available, and everything’s been overhauled. The graphics are nicer, the fake retrogames are much more varied and deeper, and there are many different play modes that round out the experience.\n\nThe story is the same as the original’s: You’re sent back in time to 1984, forced to play old videogames before you can return to your own time. It’s not a storyline sequel — it’s just the exact same plot over again, as if the first game never happened. The 3-D graphics have been totally redone and look a lot nicer, especially the disembodied head of Game Master Arino, who taunts and challenges you throughout the game.\n\n[![Pict01](/images_blogs/gamelife/images/2009/02/26/pict01.gif \"Pict01\")](/images_blogs/photos/uncategorized/2009/02/26/pict01.gif)  The story mode progresses in much the same fashion: Arino gives you a game to play, and you have to complete four different challenges within it before you can move on to the next. For example, the first game-within-the-game is called *Wiz-Man*, kind of a combination of *Pac-Man* and more action-oriented games like *Bubble Bobble*. You roam around a maze collecting dots, but you can only collect the color of dots that corresponds to the magic wand that you’re currently holding. Also, the wands can all defeat normal enemies, but many enemies are colored, and you have to use the opposite color wand to beat them.\n\nThe first few challenges teach you how to play the game — you have to collect a certain number of dots, defeat a certain number of enemies, etc. Eventually you’re tasked with beating the first few levels. Clear four challenges and you move on to the next game.\n\nWhat makes *Game Center CX 2* more than just a rehash is the fact that the games are much more varied this time around. The first game had two shooters, three platformers, one racer repeated twice, and an RPG. Already in *CX 2*, I’ve played a maze game, a karate game, a side-scrolling Mario style game, and a graphic text adventure. It’s significantly more complex.\n\nNot only that, but if you get tired of playing the challenge that you’re on or just want to do something else, you can choose to leave your in-game house and go down the street to the game store, where you can play games from the original with some changes. There’s a version of *Haggleman* starring his female sidekick Koume, or a significantly altered shooter *Star Prince* that purports to be the version that appeared on the \"MASA-X\" computer — that’s a parody of the MSX. True to form, it’s got weirder, discolored graphics. (It’s funny if you’re from Japan.)\n\nThese games don’t have challenges, but they do save your high scores. And who knows, maybe they play into the larger plot in a more significant way as the game progresses.\n\nBut wait — there’s more\\! Playing off the *Brain Age* fad, *CX 2* features a \"daily challenge\" mode where you can turn on the game every day and play a different challenge that’s distinct from the ones in the story mode. What’s interesting about this, besides the fact that it greatly extends the shelf life of the game, is that you might end up playing games in this mode that you haven’t yet unlocked in the story. For example, the first challenge I played was in *Triotos*, a puzzle game based heavily on the black-and-white *Tetris* for the Game Boy.\n\nAnd if all that weren’t enough, there’s also a fun minigame that you can access from the main menu at any time. The Game Boy-esque \"game trainer\" gives you a randomly-generated series of platform game levels, then challenges you to get as far as you can without dying, keeping track of your score and progress all the way. It’s interesting because the levels scroll automatically, and you’re constantly faced with situations in which you don’t have time to plan out your jumps — you just have to jump and get it right the first time, or die. This was surprisingly fun.\n\nSo thus far, *CX 2* is excellent — even though it’s repeating the same formula, the new, better games and extra modes make it a solid sequel. Here are the other games I’ve seen so far:\n\n*[![Pict01\\_](/images_blogs/gamelife/images/2009/02/26/pict01_.gif \"Pict01_\")](/images_blogs/photos/uncategorized/2009/02/26/pict01_.gif)  Mutekiken Kung Fu*: I thought, originally, that this was a parody of *Kung Fu* for the NES. It’s not — it’s actually a parody of Jordan Mechner’s *Karateka*, which was one of the first successful Western games on the Famicom. Of course, the characters in the game act out pantomimed cinema scenes. And your in-game avatars talk about \"Western games\" and if they’ll ever get any better in the future. Hilarious. The gameplay is much more like *Kung Fu*, though. Lots of fun.\n\n*Demon Returns*: Parody of *Super Mario Bros.* You’re a little demon who can become a bigger demon, and then a demon that shoots tornadoes. The gimmick is that you can ride on enemies that you’ve knocked out. It’s a pretty extensive-looking game with a hilarious Engrish intro. This isn’t quite as fun as I thought it would be — I feel like the jumping physics are a bit floaty and the levels are a bit too packed with blocks and enemies — but it beats the hell out of *Haggleman*.\n\n*Great Detective Kacho:* A graphic text adventure. The *CX* games are not really import-friendly if you can’t read Japanese, because you need to be able to read the text to find out what the challenges are. This is definitely going to stop you in your tracks if you can’t read it. You’re wandering around a town using text-based commands, investigating and talking to people. I’ve only played a bit of this, but again I can’t believe just how much work they’ve put into these games — there was a really lengthy introduction before the gameplay got going. You might also want to brush up on your Kansai dialect.\n\n*Images courtesy Namco Bandai*\n\n**See Also:**\n\n- [Review: *Retro Game Challenge* Reheats the 8-Bit 80’s](http://blog.wired.com/games/2009/02/video-review-re.html)\n  \n  \n- [Japan’s Reality-TV Gamer Just Keeps Playing and Playing and Playing …](https://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/magazine/15-11/pl_games#previouspost)\n  \n  \n- [Japan’s Cult Retro-Gaming TV Show Debuts In English](http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/06/japans-cult-hit.html)\n  \n  \n- [On the Set of *Game Center CX*](https://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/multimedia/2007/10/pl_games_ss#previouspost)\n  \n  \n- [A Tour Through *Game Center CX*‘s Faux Retrogames](http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/11/a-tour-through.html#previouspost)\n  \n  \n- [What Classic Game Compilations Can Learn From *Game Center CX*](http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/11/what-classic-ga.html#previouspost)\n  \n  \n- [Videos of *Retro Game Challenge*‘s Sequel](http://blog.wired.com/games/2009/01/videos-of-retro.html#previouspost)\n  \n  \n\n"
<https://www.wired.com/2009/02/retro-game-2/>