November's Weekly Topics

Every week, we discuss a specified topic with each other on the Discord server (#weekly-topic) and on the forums in the "Chat" section. In the RAnews, we are compiling all the reactions received to the topic, and see what the opinions are of the community! This month, we will be covering the topics of October.

November 4th - November 10th

What achievement set exceeded your expectations in creativity or difficult challenges?

"What makes the achievement sets on RetroAchievements special is that we often don't stop at just beating a game or going for in-game completion. Maybe the developer is so familiar with the game even, that they throw out the most creative challenges out there fitting of the game, like using unconventional moves to finish a stage designed to use other moves in. What is a set you remember specifically for challenges that were creative, difficult, but especially fun with it giving you perhaps a new view on the game as a whole?"

Several sets were mentioned this week, where the sets very much enhanced the experience the user had with the game. The sets mentioned could essentially be split into two categories:

(Developer) challenges that were hard but reasonable, striving the user to push even further than they normally would to make them feel like they truly mastered the game. While some could say 100%ing a game means you have seen everything, these challenges made the player even more advanced at the game. Examples mentioned include:
- DoDonPachi (Arcade), with it being a very though-out set and structured well to prepare the user to 2-all the game eventually--which is very important in difficulty shoot 'em up games like these!
- N+ (Nintendo DS), which is by default a challenging platformer, but developer Amir96lx took some inspiration from the sequel to ensure the set has similar challenges to the ones showcased there.
- Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (Game Boy Advance), as well as the Donkey Kong Country trilogy which shares set developer GalacticSpear, where the creative challenges made the player think out of the box more often than not, and showcased some interesting things you normally wouldn't come across when playing the game.
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PlayStation), which similarly to Kirby features a lot of challenges that makes an overall fairly easy game quite different in approach.
Sets that use the achievements, be it their objective or the visual indications like achievement art, titles, or descriptions, to showcase easter eggs or act as hints for the player to unravel as for what they have to do. Examples mentioned include:
- Myst (3DO Interactive Multiplayer, which is by itself already a puzzle game where you unravel clues to progress. This game is enhanced by the achievement art especially, where it's set up in such a way that if the achievement is unlocked, it will show the clues you have found in the achievement art. If they are locked, you are unable to see the clue, and that is really cool!
- Terranigma (SNES/Super Famicom, which has a lot of achievements focusing on side content and Easter Eggs. Playing this set made user Tordah confident that they have truly seen everything the game has to offer!

November 11th - November 17th

What is a franchise that has not seen a (new) game in over 10 years that you would like to see get revived?

"Some series are more fortunate than others when it comes to support. The likes of Mario and Pokémon are unlikely to ever go a few years without a new entry, but others have it tougher. Fans are clamouring for them to return, but the question is, which one(s) would you like to see make a grand return that doesn't involve a remaster or collection? And if you could have a say in how the series should return, what would you make sure the new entry has compared to previous games in the series, or would you just let it continue like it used to?"

This was the first topic we also asked on the forums, and as a result we got a lot more answers than usual! To prevent me from being here all day, I'm just going to list them all below in a table (ignoring one-offs) and above it focus on the second part of the question: what would you like to see being done with the franchise?

The subseries Final Fantasy Tactics was mentioned a few time, with user MeloDeathAtmoBlack going a bit more in-depth on their wishes. The main series has evolved a lot over time, with Final Fantasy 14 not even existing before the last Tactics entry--and a lot of jobs can be taken from it. And hey, give the player a bit more configuration when it comes to difficulty, and it would certainly be a game to bring in many old- and new players!

BrightEmber shared a detailed reply on Star Fox (which you can read here!), where the general idea of reviving the franchise would be... just make a new game. Making a sequel to Star Fox Assault would in their eyes be the best way to move forward, where a lot of mechanics were not respected at the time but would be far more appreciated nowadays. Likewise, Spyro the Dragon, Okami, and Project Gotham Racing were also mentioned as series that don't really need many changes; just give us more of what worked with the best games.

Of course, bringing a series back is not always as easily said as done. User endearall, like many others, would like Mega Man Legends to return, with the project started all over again, with fresh new ideas. But how to approach it is the question: the charm of the franchise is that the control system was clunky, but probably not one that would fit well in today's environment. But making the game follow a standard shooter control scheme could also remove the identity.

Series mentioned
Ape Escape	Bangai-O	Banjo-Kazooie	Bloody Roar	Brandish
Breath of Fire	Burnout	Castlevania	Chibi-Robo	Chrono
Dark Cloud	Darkstalkers	Def Jam	Dino Crisis	Dizzy
DonPachi	Donkey Kong Country	F-Zero	F.E.A.R	Final Fight
Forbidden Siren	Golden Sun	Guitar Hero	Hamtaro (YES!!)	Hotel Dusk
Hydlide	Infamous	Jak and Daxter	Jazz Jackrabbit	Kameo
Katamari	Kururin	Lufia	Luminous Arc	Max Payne
Midnight Club	Mother	Onimusha	Parappa the Rapper	Parasite Eve
Punch-Out	Quake	Rayman	Ridge Racer	SSX
Shining	Sin & Punishment	Sly Cooper	Splinter Cell	Star Wars KOTOR
Starfy	Suikoden	System Shock	Team Fortress	Tenchu
Thief	Timesplitters	Tomba	Tomodachi Collection	Toshinden
Twisted Metal	Ultima	Viva Pinata	Wario Land	Xanadu

November 18th - November 24th

How do you decide on what game to play next, and as a bonus for developers, what set to develop next?

"If there is one thing we gamers are (not) good at, it's deciding on what game to play next. Often we even end up spending more time on thinking about what to play than actually playing the game. But hey, maybe you have a consistent way of deciding what is up next on the list? Are events a motivator for you, or do you perhaps use the Game Suggestions or Random Set feature on RetroAchievements to help you pick a new game? Maybe you have a completely original way of picking games, like using a random generator or doing your own personal challenge? And if you are a developer on RA: what motivates your choices when it comes to picking games for development?"

Deciding what to play varies in difficulty when it comes to different users. Some stare at their screen for ages and end up playing nothing, but there's also a big group that has no issue with it, as proven by this week's topic. Many people simply decide what to play or develop based on vibes; I'm in the mood for this, so I will play this. Personally speaking, I envy you all! Games from people their childhood often come up, but mostly it's general vibes--and if you have a vibe but still not exactly sure what to play or develop, user blendedsea commented that when they are in the mood a specific genre, hubs on RetroAchievements are a great way to find new, and possibly obscure games to play.

And the other common answer was unsurprisingly events! We have a wide variety of different events on RetroAchievements, and these are an excellent way of pushing you into a direction when you don't know what to play. After all, not only will you discover new games through events, but you're passively working towards a goal as well while not being struck with thoughts on what to play! For someone who has joined his first event this year in Challenge League 2024, I can confirm it has been a great motivator in deciding what to play, while still giving me the freedom of choice. And people have also made their own sorts of events, like playing a game starring each of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fighters, playing games on RA in chronological order, or my favourite that was mentioned by healape: the ABC challenge! I invented this, nobody else has had this idea before. Not going to shill my own idea here too much because I'm not here for promotion, but think of it as playing 26 games, each starting with a different letter. Also wanted to shout out the comment of user Ashkuso18, who focuses their game choices around anniversaries of video games!

The random selector also came up frequently, be it the features we have on site like "Random Set" or "Game Suggestions", or using another randomizer like ones that are built into backlog sites. After all, those games are already on your list so you bought them with the intention to play them one day... right? Random number generators are also a great way to decide, since then you just compile a list of games you were already planning to play anyway.

Finally, podcasts, streams, and videos are also a great way to motivate yourself to play games. Either you hear a new game on there, or the content creator(s) in question are doing a special challenge for themselves that you may also be interested in, like how user ChocoMilk is working through mastering Nintendo 64 games, based on a streamer that's attempting to beat them all. Suffice to say, everyone has their own way of figuring out what to play, and if you have trouble deciding, maybe any of these strategies are the ones that could help you?

November 25th - December 1st

Are there any users or teams on RetroAchievements you are thankful for for enriching your experience in our community?

"It's thanksgiving week and you know what that means: it's time to give thanks to all those that made sure your experience on RetroAchievements is the best it could be! Different from usual topics, this time it's all about sharing your appreciation with others. Maybe you want to thank the person who introduced you to RetroAchievements, or they helped you out with mastering a set or even developed that set? Or maybe you want to thank a team as a whole for all the work they do on here?"

Now this is obviously a personal topic that I'm not going to cover. I'm not going to talk about why one person gave another thanks, because that is none of my business. BUT!

I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who participated, because this topic completely blew up. It is probably the most wholesome week the community has ever seen, with everyone sharing their thanks to the people or teams who have made sure they have a great experience on RetroAchievements. Honestly, I didn't expect this reception when I made the topic... I literally just pulled it out of my sleeve because I was busy that day with moving stuff and barely had time to think up something, but accidentally I still managed to deliver one of the best weekly topic moments we've ever had. So again, thank you all <3.

And that's it for this month. See you again next month with more topics to cover, and be sure to check out the respective Discord channel or the forum post to have your thoughts heard!