UFO 50 50% CHECK-IN! This thread's my new big hangout. Hope you guys aren't sick of essay-style writeups but I can't resist getting my immediate thoughts out there for each of these new games.

21 - WALDORF'S JOURNEY ('86) - It's like a really surreal mixture of a traditional platformer, golf, and maybe Angry Birds? I like the vibes of this one and the simple, smaller-scale plot. But I don't find it terribly enjoyable to play (yet). I know the risky jumps are part of the fun and the items help to mitigate that, but I'd like just a little more guidance when launching my big ol' walrus. I managed to gold this one quickly so I'll see how I feel when/if I cherry it.

22 - PORGY ('86) - Like Golfaria, Porgy requires players to take short, dangerous trips in hopes of bringing back goodies to make those trips longer and slightly less dangerous. My son said it reminded him of Steamworld Dig, which I can kind of see (sea?). It's a pretty good Metroid-like with nice audiovisual elements and some cool atmosphere. It feels like one of the better games of the set, although the limited bases and labyrinthine areas hold it back just a little--I'd like a few more visual landmarks to take note of. But I'm looking forward to playing more.

23 - ONION DELIVERY ('86) - I love this game's funky alien vibe and quirky Crazy Taxi style gameplay. Buuuut I'm having a heck of a time adjusting to the tank-style controls. I get 'em, but I don't really get 'em. I regularly get the directions mixed up and it leads to a lot of chaos. I've only been able to get to the third day so it's not quite clicking with me. Too bad because onions rule and the goofy aliens add a lot of silliness (I'd feel much worse driving over real people. Sorry aliens!).

24 - CARAMEL CARAMEL ('86) - I'm admittedly bad at shmups but this game was tearing me apart for like 2 hours. I can make some headway in Gradius and Ikaruga, but Caramel Caramel's first boss (and miniboss to a lesser extent) are absolutely brutal for the point in the game they're in. With no checkpoints/respawning and very limited hits, I was worried this promising game would be a single-stage affair forever. However, I did finally manage to beat the first boss and then I started having fun again! The cute-em-up graphics are lovely and I really like the camera mechanic. That egg boss is just ridiculous though.

25 - PARTY HOUSE ('86) - This might be the most beloved game in the collection if you ask the hardcore gamers out there. I can see the appeal; deck builders are one of my weaknesses as well and this one is really quite clever and fun. At first, it feels like you're just clicking on a door hoping for the best, but once you start formulating a strategy with your guests and having them synergize (like any good deckbuilder), it's easy to get sucked right in. I'm gonna have to go with the crowd on this--Party House is a great addition to this package and one of 8 games (so far) to earn my "Favorite" heart. I've done the first three scenarios and am looking forward to playing more.

I've also played some stuff with my daughter, such as Mooncat, Bushido Ball, and Kick Club. Now that I'm halfway through I think I'm going to slow down on starting new games for a bit and play some other stuff (100%ing DK Bananza, trying out Shinobi). But first, a sure-to-change-in-the-future preliminary ranking list! Stars mean I've beaten it, two stars is cherry.

[Not my thing]
25) Devolition
24) The Big Bell Race*
23) Onion Delivery
22) Velgress*

[Okay]
21) Block Koala
20) Planet Zoldath**
19) Barbuta*
18) Waldorf's Journey*

[Good]
17) Caramel Caramel
16) Mooncat*
15) Kick Club
14) Campanella
13) Ninpek**

[Very good]
12) Avianos*
11) Attactics
10) Paint Chase*
9) Porgy

[Favorites]
8) Golfaria
7) Camouflage**
6) Magic Garden**
5) Warptank
4) Bug Hunter**
3) Mortol*
2) Party House
1) Bushido Ball**

@TriforceBun

The Bushido Ball love continues! Have you played Windjammers?

Definitely keep these updates coming. I've been pretty swamped at work lately with not much time to play games, but I love reading your UFO 50 thoughts. I'm curious how your progress is going in the longer games in the first half of the collection.

@Secret_Tunnel
I have not! I hadn't even heard of it prior to playing UFO 50 but looking into it, now I'm eyeing Windjammers 2 on the Switch. EDIT: It was just at $6 a few days ago! Okay, adding to the wishlist.

Bushido Ball just kind of clicks with me. I really dig the controls and the feudal Japan vibe and I can get into a crazy flow state with the game. It's not long but I'm enjoying playing through with each character and seeing their end screen. And it's one of the few games with both a Vs and co-op mode! The co-op mode actually makes it very easy to get the cherry too--just have to win 2 matches without losing (with a friend helping you) rather than 5 in a row. That said, it's not on a pedestal because I do think its light amount of content can be beaten by something else (like Party's House's endless mode), so we'll see.

One of the great things about this game is that everyone has their own favorites and personal tier lists can really vary. I think all of the games have merit though, even the ones that don't click with me as much. I can easily point out several specific things my bottom-ranked games do very well.

Got the trophy in Bushido Ball! And was only one defeat away from the trophy. Yeah, this one is fun.

The journey continues!

26 - HOT FOOT ('86) - Kind of surprising that this is only the second sports game in the package. First up, the control limitations are a little unfortunate here as there have been plenty of times when I instinctively mash the button to throw a bean bag but just end up passing it between teammates. It all just feels a little "sticky" due to the sluggishness of the characters, so it lacks that immediate satisfaction that the best action games here have. On the flip side, I love Hot Foot's whole presentation--it may be the funniest game yet. The whole middle school gym class vibe, characters crying from being picked last, (the eyepatch kid only has one tear lol) the lackadaisical coach and the fun little interactions between kids (plus the little twists near the end). It gets bonus points for all that, and there have been times when I've really gotten into the groove of it.

27 - DIVERS ('86) - At last, an RPG! ...And in classic UFO 50 form, it does something completely different with the genre for better or worse. This plays like a weird hybrid of Dragon Warrior II and that darn dam Turtles level. Seems like this game makes for a trilogy with Barbuta and Mooncat, which stokes my imagination a little (my hopeful theory is that we're maybe playing a flooded version of those worlds?). In 1986 this would've been pretty mind-blowing but its tiny scale and lack of towns/downtime does remove some of the stuff that makes RPGs appealing. Still, like the other "Thorson Petter"-led games, I really like the vibes and atmosphere. It's oppressive and a tad eerie and I would say "I'm here for it" but I kind of hate that phrase. So far it's pretty opaque and grindy. Like Hot Foot, its distinctive feel make me glad it exists in the package even if it's not super-fun to play.

28 - RAIL HEIST ('87) - It's kind of an action/stealth hybrid that reminds me a little of Steamworld Heist and Metal Gear Solid, but with plenty of its own flavor too. Fun setting and music and I love the big blue horse! I died a whole lot getting a handle on how the mechanics work, but this feels like one of the better games in the package so far. Some neat ideas here with ample room for improvisation. I also like the medal system--definitely a more modern idea but it boosts the replay a lot in a stage-based game like this so I think that's a worthy trade-off. Sometimes I feel like I can get in a situation where death is inevitable which feels a little wonky but I might just not be familiar enough with it yet.

@Secret_Tunnel
Glad that it started clicking with you more! Although now my favorite game might be Party House! I keep coming back to that one even after cherrying it, and the terminal codes for it contain even more replay value. Chalk it up to my love of Dominion and Slay the Spire, etc.

@TriforceBun

Divers and the other JRPG in UFO 50 feel impossible to me! Are you just supposed to grind? Where's the anachronism when you need it!?

I've tried everything in the first three rows! I'm going to once again slow down on playing these and enjoy the ones I've unlocked.

29 - VAINGER ('87) - I've only put a few minutes into this game but I'm already quite impressed. I've been itching for a no-frills Metroid/Mega Man style mid/late-NES-era action game for a while and this one seems to fit the bill. The reason I stopped is because I think my kids would like to see me play through this one now that I finished Golfaria. So I'll save it for them and hopefully there's not any grisly imagery or sudden cursing lol. But yeah, Vainger so far has smooth controls, an in-game map (!), and a cool Warptank-style gimmick. It almost feels like it could be a halfway-point between Metroid 1 and Super Metroid. Looking forward to playing more.

30 - ROCK ON! ISLAND ('87) - I've always liked tower defense games so I'm pleasantly surprised UFO 50 has one. This reminds me a lot of Kingdom Rush, which is a good thing. What's not as good is that the challenge level in this genre always feels a little off to me. They're typically tough to dissuade spamming, but unlike most games, I'm often not really sure what I did wrong in tower defense that caused me to lose so spectacularly. So there's some trial-and-error involved and I'm not fully sure on how the different unit upgrades work yet. Tar and wheel feel potent but I guess I'll just have to feel out the others to see how they work best and what they're strong against. All in all, I'm enjoying this one too and I think it could rank highly if its system ends up being balanced and approachable.

I've also since finished a few more games in this collection. Golfaria is a little weird but really quite a neat game and I got a laugh from the last boss. Warptank is strong, one of the best games in the collection. I was surprised by how meaty it was and the design was smart throughout most of the adventure.

@Secret_Tunnel
Divers does feel pretty impenetrable. When I learned how the weakness mechanic worked (everything's weak to one of the three elements and strong against another) it kinda clicked more with me, but I have had to grind a lot to make some headway. DQ1 was a lot like that too but at least there you have other towns you can set up camp in and various characters to dole out lore and story elements. But I'll stick with Divers and see where it goes; I admittedly have a lot of patience when it comes to old (style) RPGs.

EDIT: I played nothing else last night except Rock On! Island. Uhhhh I think I really like this one! I got kind of obsessive about perfecting a couple of the stages and started to learn how to use the chickens and fires. Really addictive! On a sadder note, the more I play Block Koala the less I like it. It's a shame because I really love single-screen puzzlers like Lolo and Catrap and Mole Mania and Donkey Kong '94 but this game's unintuitive mechanics just tick me off.

I kind of bounced off Party House the first time around because I had no idea what was happening. But you guys wouldn't stop gassing on about it so I gave it another shot and yeah, it's great once you realize what to do. One of the best for sure. I like how you have to kind of keep modifying your strategy a bit as things go on. I just beat the first scenario, will play more for sure.

You thought I was done with UFO 50 just because I've been Shinobi-ing around lately? Guess again!

31 - PINGOLF ('87) - I like pinball. I like golf. I like Pingolf! Although I didn't at first, coming away from the game with a brutal +37 score. But once I learned the courses a little more and got used to doing the ball bounce move, I was able to cut dozens of strokes off my score. I still haven't beaten it but it's satisfying feeling like I'm making an improvement every attempt. The downside is similar to several of the games here: no options for trying small snippets of the game. I don't even think Pingolf needs more than one 18-hole course, but it would've been way better with a way to play each individual stage and save a high score for each one. It can't have been for authenticity, right? If a stage select feature was in the collection's 6th game, why not its 31st? It kinda chews to have to play through the whole dang thing if I want to just practice, say, the last hole.

32 - MORTOL II ('87) - Speaking of that sixth game, we've reached our very first direct sequel! Not counting The Big Bell Race. Unlike the original Mortal, Mortal II takes place in a single larger world with no extra lives. Instead, you'll start with 99 and must use them wisely to help the team collectively reach the end. And now you've got five types of soldiers who each have their own specialties and sacrificial powers. It's unlike anything I've played, which makes it a good follow-up to the first game even though I probably prefer that one. Mortal II is the kind of game where you'll need to sit down with it and learn the world, make a plan, then optimize your route. I look forward to giving it another solid go soon. It's got kind of a cool morbid vibe to it rather than a comedic one.

33 - FIST HELL ('87) - At first I was wondering if the game's use of "Hell" in its title was really necessary, but within a minute of playing it made a lot more sense. As the name implies, Fist Hell is the first of these games that's really not for kids, but the horror elements are kind of neat in their own right and help it to stand out. What's less neat is how sticky this game is to play; most UFO 50's games take a genre and turn it on its head, OR they'll make the controls feel really modern, quick and slick to give the vibe of a retro indie game. This one doesn't really do either; it feels as sluggish as Double Dragon 1 but without the novelty of Double Dragon 1. Your punches are slow, your throws are slow, even your dash is slow. The moves require a lot of commitment but not in a way that feels terribly fair to me. As of now, I'm not too impressed with this one.

@Zero
Yep! While it's not obvious at first, after a few plays it was pretty clear to me that Party House was very heavily based on Dominion (my favorite tabletop game). It's essentially a deckbuilder with a fun theme, and it hits the right notes that good deckbuilders should, such as solid balance and room for player experimentation.

@TriforceBun

I need to sink my teeth in Mortol II one of these days. There seems to be a lot there, and it's fun that all the heroes feel overpowered.

I bounced off Fist Hell immediately, I felt the same way as you: there doesn't seem to be much of a twist there.

The next issue of NF Magazine is going to have our biggest review ever: a 14-page UFO 50 review! That's right, we're devoting a mini-review to every one of these games, across 9 different reviewers. I'll be handling 5 of them myself (so far I've nabbed Bushido Ball and Rock On! Island in our game-review-draft-pick). Better get some practice in by writing impressions of the next set of games:

34 - OVERBOLD ('87) - Hey, I've seen this one before! It's a roguelike, but one very much unlike the kind of games actually made in 1987. Overbold clears the anachronism hurdle by being fun and addictive despite its limited content. Whereas this "get in and don't die" formula didn't quite land for me in Space Pirate Alpha's original adventure Velgress, it very much does here. This feels a little less frantic than that and the risk/reward mechanic is balanced really well with the upgrades and the enemy AI. It's simply a lot of immediate fun and the first gold I got in a while. My only real issue with it is that there's kind of a tiny amount of game here when you get down to it. A few more enemy types or some sort of endless mode would've been terrific.

35 - CAMPANELLA 2 ('87) - I've never played Derek Yu's previous indie hit Spelunky but I have seen some people compare Campanella 2 to it. Unlike Blaster Master, the gameplay out of the vehicle is still roughly as enjoyable as the gameplay in it, but it took me a little bit to become accustomed to how things worked in this game. It's another one-(life)-and-done kind of game which means it's going to be a while until I even see more than half of the adventure so I can only speak to the ten or so attempts I've made thus far. I find Campanella 2 to be decent. Not really grabbing me as much as some of these but I think it'll be rewarding to master. While I like the challenge of UFO 50 I think a few of these games could afford to turn down the heat a little.

36 - HYPER CONTENDER ('88) - I'm not a fighting game fan so I went in here with a little skepticism but what I got was something more like Smash Bros or a 2D Power Stone. It's combat but with action-platformer controls, and it's very fast. The Bushido Ball fan in me enjoys the immediacy of the controls and the learning curve is gentler than most of the games here. It's a little easy though; I beat it on my first attempt with only a single continue and that was without knowing how to do some of the trickier moves like dodging. For one of the smaller, quicker arcadey games, Hyper Contender seems to get the job done well enough.

37 - VALBRACE ('88) - If you asked me what my least-favorite genre ever would be, I might say "first-person dungeon crawlers from the '80s." Well here comes Valbrace to make a fool of me, and the big fix here is simply...the map! Yeah, with a little extra context in the corner and the ability to see where you have and haven't been, navigation actually works perfectly fine here. Better yet, the unusual real-time combat is unlike anything I've played before and pretty fun! It's probably closest to Punch-Out, but you've got more space to move around. The sprites are large and lovely (this might be the best-looking game yet) and there seem to be lots of mysteries to uncover. The dungeon-crawling can get a little dense at times and a few things are pretty opaque, but I'm eager to play more.

@TriforceBun

As a massive Spelunky fan, I couldn't quite get into Campanella 2 despite a few of its structural similarities. I think they're more different than people give them credit for. They on-foot sections weren't my thing when I tried it, but maybe the game will grow on me when I return to it.

Hyper Contender and Valbrace both stuck out to me as being worthy of a closer look.

But I'm in Emerald Rush mode now.

That massive review sounds fun!

I beat the second Party House scenario.

And I tried random mode but like, how random is it? I had literally only ONE type of guest that could make me money, the "rich friend" who only brings in $1. So it was nearly impossible to expand my slots much.

I also played a bit of the one that is like a pog sliding battle game or something. Was alright.

Coincidentally, I just discovered an old Neo Geo game called Cross Swords, and when you Google it, one of the first results is a thread comparing Valbrace to it!

More news on the NF review--apparently I'll be rating the game itself! In addition to Bug Hunter, Bushido Ball, Golfaria, Porgy, and Rock On! Island. Which means I'd better keep playing, starting with the last few on the fourth row:

38 - RAKSHASA ('88) - He looks like Karnov but he plays like Arthur, and I do not like Ghosts n' Goblins Sam-I-Am, so Rakshasa left a sore first impression. I'm not inherently opposed to stiff, committal jumping (I do like Castlevania) but the systems need to be built around it and this is another one of those games that feels so punishing it messes with my enjoyment. The concept of being able to revive by playing a sort of minigame is neat, but as said minigame quickly becomes undoable it effectively doesn't mean much in the long run; you're going to have maybe 4 or 5 hits before it's back to the beginning with you. I've managed to make it to the second stage a single time and I'm sure I'll play more, but my gut says this is one of the ones I'll be less inclined to return to.

39 - STAR WASPIR ('88) - This is another genre I suck at, but I do like shmumps so I'm fine with seeing a vertical one in the annals of UFO 50's set. This game is blazingly fast which is pretty cool, and there's an interesting power-up mechanic that forces you to make a bunch of quick decisions on the fly. It's also brutal but does seem beatable with some practice (I've made it about halfway), and the different ships to play as are a nice touch. Even so, there's something a little lacking here. It might be the simple, fairly-static backgrounds which effectively make the levels feel more like a series of Galaga waves than a true journey through dynamic worlds like in Star Soldier. So far, I think I prefer Retro Game Challenge's Star Prince to UFO 50's shooters.

40 - GRIMSTONE ('88) - I have a lot of patience for old RPGs so I've found Grimstone to be quite enjoyable so far. Divers was really more of an experimental, small adventure with turn-based combat, but this one is a full-on JRPG, complete with town and exploration and treasure, all that good stuff. And it still manages to have some freshness too with the setting (cowboys in Hell, that's a new one), and the premise of an angel saving only four people from disaster to determine your party. Thus far Grimstone lands a lot of the RPG gameplay; the mechanics are sound with fun wrinkles like timed hits, the economy is balanced, the music is strong, and while it's challenging, it's also forgiving with the save/revive system. Time will tell if it overstays its welcome but 2 hours in, I'm a fan.

That's 80% of UFO 50 checked out so far! I'm still going back to older games too, of course, since there's lots to see. But I do want to shuffle my list around a little and give some newer thoughts.

* = beaten, ** = cherries

[Kinda bad, actually]
40) Fist Hell

[Not my thing]
39) Block Koala
38) Rakshasa
37) Onion Delivery
36) Devolition
35) The Big Bell Race*

[Okay]
34) Velgress*
33) Divers
32) Star Waspir
31) Barbuta*
30) Planet Zoldath**
29) Hot Foot
28) Campanella 2
27) Waldorf's Journey*

[Good]
26) Caramel Caramel
25) Mooncat*
24) Hyper Contender*
23) Kick Club
22) Pingolf
21) Campanella*
20) Ninpek**

[Very good]
19) Avianos*
18) Mortal II*
17) Attactics*
16) Paint Chase*
15) Porgy
14) Valbrace
13) Rail Heist
12) Golfaria*

[Favorites]
11) Vainger*
10) Camouflage**
9) Magic Garden**
8) Overbold*
7) Warptank*
6) Grimstone
5) Mortol*
4) Bug Hunter**
3) Bushido Ball**
2) Rock On! Island*
1) Party House**


A few notes: most of these I appreciate more as I revisit them. Fist Hell is the opposite--I like it less and less every time. It just is sticky and slow and unpleasant to play and the zombie charm has really worn off and it just feels kinda nasty now. I do not like this game and think it's one of the only games on here where its NES analog (River City Ransom) is clearly superior.

Bushido Ball is fantastic but it's been dethroned! There's just more game value in Party House and lots of ways to play. That Dominion-based foundation is just too strong and it's been the only game here my wife has really gotten into. Rock On! Island has become kind of an obsession for me; perfecting each stage is like a big action-based puzzle that tickles my brain. One level to go for the cherry! Bug Hunter gets better and better and I've got a 12-streak on it. Overbold is a little light on content but is my go-to pick-up-and-play action game right now. Vainger was solid fun even if the map design was a tad generic. Valbrace has lots of potential. Mortal II is a neat environmental puzzle with lots of solutions but you have to set aside a little time to go for it. Pingolf would be a tier higher if they had a Hole Select. Hyper Contender is pretty fun and has good character variety. The Big Bell Race still feels phoned in, even though it's fun to play. Block Koala fell off after the first few stages; it's just too unintuitive to wrap my head around the weird number mechanics to be a great block-pusher like Lolo or Mole Mania.

That's all for this megapost! Looking forward to the last chunk of games I can finally attempt.

@Zero@Zero

As far as I know, the random selections can be very difficult but I don't think any of them are impossible (like, say, only having Dinosaurs as your star guests and no trouble mitigation). Having no other source of money except Rich Friends is tough but apparently it can be done if you buy all the Rich Friends early.

Guess I'm gonna have to check this game out.

OMG Night Manor is legit scary. It's like a point and click Resident Evil 3 or something what with the stalker villain who can appear anywhere and kill you instantly.

I'm trying to get into Pilot Quest but it's not clear to me what it even is. Exploration game of course. But like... also an idle game of a sort? It sucks when you run out of money to buy meat or the meat guy runs out of meat and you need to just like, let it sit for awhile.

@Zero
I haven't gotten to this one yet but I think it runs when you play other UFO 50 games, so just hop around and come back to it later.

Pilot Quest is one of my favorites. It does run in the background while UFO 50 is open. It becomes less of an idle game and more of a Zelda game as you accumulate more resources!