Overview – developed by SUNSOFT and published by Red Art Games, SUNSOFT is BACK! Retro Game Collection is a special release of three Famicom games that are in English for the first time. Experience the 53 Stations of the Tokaido, The Wing of Madoola and Ripple Island, which have been officially translated for the first time ever! This release is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series, with a link to each version of the game at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank Red Art Games for providing the copy of SUNSOFT is Back! Retro Game Selection used for this piece, via the Keymailer service. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review. As this is a collection of classic games, I will be covering the details of each game in this bundle, then move onto the overall package. I will be referring to the game as SUNSOFT is Back for the sake of brevity. Please note, story details have been taken directly from the games.
Firework Thrower Kantaro’s 53 Stations of the Tokaido – 1986
Your Fiancée Momoko-Chan is waiting for you in Edo. Begin your journey across the 53 stations of the Tokaido to reach her. But Wait! Gozaemon, a rival merchant, asked his goons to stop you and steal your firework crafting techniques. Use your blasting weapon to make your way to your date! Make your way through 21 stages of challenging action on your way to Momoko.
This is a traditional side scrolling platformer, where the player controls Kentaro and they must make their way through 21 stages. In each stage enemies will appear to halt progress, including thugs that jump around and a ronin that will deflect grenades with his sword. Kentaro can throw fireworks or drop them on the ground to defend himself. The thrown explosives go in an arc, often flying over enemies and the dropped explosives go off after a short time.
When throwing bombs, there is a chance for items to be uncovered which can power up Kentaro. These are usually coins, which can be used for a few purposes, like paying to get through checkpoints. However, the biggest use for the coins is to open up the secret warp, which can allow players to jump 3 or 6 stages. This can be useful as there are no continues for this game, with a game over starting the player from the beginning again.
The Wing of Madoola – 1986
A dark time lurks. Daltos, a vicious fiend from a rival clan, is using The Wing of Madoola’s power to summon an army of monsters and plans to conquer the land. Lucia, It is your duty, as the last magic wielder of your clan to take back the powerful artifact and seal it again. As Lucia make your way through 16 challenging stages in this action RPG, battling monsters to stop Daltos and save your beloved Prince.
Lucia, a fierce warrior who can wield magical power, sets off on a journey to retrieve the Wing of Madoola. This powerful relic is possessed by the evil king Daltos, who also has imprisoned Lucia’s beloved Prince. In order to stop the evil king, Lucia travels across varied lands, caves and labyrinths to retrieve the Wing of Madoola. This action RPG adventure is made up of 16 stages, where the player as Lucia, must fight monsters and collect the orbs to reach the next stage.
The stages are a mix of linear and non-linear stages, with the later stages becoming more labyrinthine in nature. As players make their way through each stage enemies will appear, spawning endlessly and attacking the player. These enemies can be fought off with Lucia’s sword, but there are magic power-ups that can be obtained. In each stage, doors will appear that can transport the player to relic rooms, where magic attacks, upgrades and even healing springs can be found.
The relics that can be found include a fire sword, magic bomb and boots that will increase Lucia’s movements speed. Magic will use up MP, which appears as a number at the bottom of the screen. Relic rooms aren’t the only areas that players can find behind doors. Some of the doors will send the player to different areas of a stage. Every stage has a boss room, where Lucia will be locked in a deadly battle, with victory being rewarded with an orb to get to the next level.
It is entirely possible to miss relic rooms, due to the labyrinthine nature of later stages. This adds to the high difficulty present, made more challenging by the endlessly respawning enemies that can swarm the player with ease. Sometimes, these enemies will drop items that increase the maximum health and magic. There is also a continue option, that allows players to select a stage by pressing Select then Start. The bosses from cleared stages and collected relics do not respawn.
Ripple Island – 1988
On the Ripple Island, humans and animals lived together in peace. However, one day terrible things happened changing everything. Now, the king of Ripple Island is counting on your bravery to find a way to save his daughter, kidnapped by the Emperor Groaker, who plans to conquer the kingdom. As Kyle, explore and interact with the environment and its peculiar inhabitants to find a path to free Ripple Island and get the reward the king promised.
This title is a Point and Click adventure, where the player explores the different areas of the island, interacting with the inhabitants. As Kyle, the player can perform actions like, Look, Talk, Interact and more. The actions like look will provide environmental details, whereas Talk will allow Kyle to interact with the different residents of the island. Players can also find different items, like fruit on bushes that can be picked up and given to people.
The game itself plays out through linear area progression, with multiple objectives that need to be completed in order to progress. These objectives involve talking to the different residents, interacting with objects and moving around the current area. The movement system is very simple, with the player being able to move in four directions. The available directions will be shown on screen, with arrows pointing up, down, left or right.
These puzzles are often relatively simple, providing the player an experience that isn’t overly complex or overwhelming. There is also a lack of a significant fail state for the majority of the adventure. There are instances of decisions leading to a bad ending that can occur during the adventure, but these are few and far between. This makes for a relatively relaxed adventure, that isn’t overly complex or cryptic, allowing players to lose themselves in the experience.
Now with the games covered, I want to discuss the other aspects of this package, starting with the overall improvements and quality of life changes.
Improvements – as these titles are being emulated, there have been additions made to give the best possible experience. These are official English translations for the first time ever, along with save states to freeze the game at any time and a rewind feature. There is even a gallery of art for each game. Unfortunately, there is one area that this collection falters. Manual scans are present, but are only in Japanese, meaning players miss out on the secrets and tidbits hidden within.
Difficulty – both The 53 Stations of the Tokaido and The Wing of Madoola, are challenging if not punishing games that have a very high skill ceiling. However, the use of save states, rewind and for the case of Madoola, continues, make them less unforgiving than their original versions. There is a lack of Continues with 53 Stations, which is a significant roadblock for players. Ripple Island is the easiest game in terms of challenge, as it has little in terms of fail states during play.
Controls – the controls have been emulated well, with smooth and reactive inputs. Players may find the action titles more slippery and cumbersome, but that was how they originally were, so it is not a fault of this release. There is a controller diagram that can be brought up during play, refreshing players on the inputs. The menu inputs show up at the bottom of the screen, which occurs during the title screens. Overall, the games are comfortable to play with any control set up.
Presentation – the sound and visuals for all three titles have been brought over well, with clean sprite work and color that is as close to original as possible. The music is crisp and clean, with no distortion or issues in terms of quality. Additionally, there is a CRT filter and multiple color options, to give the games a look similar to a variety of older screens like the Game Boy. These filters are alongside several aspect ratios and border wallpapers, featuring art from the three games.
Final Thoughts – I have been a longtime fan of SUNSOFT, with games like Hebereke and the Super Famicom version of Lemmings bearing their name. I was also aware of 53 Stations of the Tokaido and The Wing of Madoola, thanks to the Japanese gaming variety show GameCenter CX. That made it easy for me to jump onto this collection, as I enjoy challenging retro titles, but I was not ready for what was in store for me. 53 Stations in particular was a rather treacherous experience.
If you are a fan of older action and adventure games, this collection is for you, these titles are hidden gems with the best of the three being The Wing of Madoola. All three games are challenging but fun to play, with a hope that more of the Japanese exclusive titles in the Sunsoft library can come to the west in the future. There is a lot of content on offer in a rather modest package, with some areas that could be improved, but otherwise a very good selection.
In the end, I give SUNSOFT is Back! Retro Game Selection a final score of 4/5. This is a very solid collection, offering players three classic titles in English for the first time ever, with quality of life additions to make these challenges more approachable for a new audience. If you want to check out this collection for yourself, a link to each version of the game will be below.
Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)
Link to PlayStation version (HERE)
Link to Xbox version (HERE)
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