Alongside our staff-voted Game of the Year awards, each of our writers have crafted their own personal lists, covering their top five PlayStation 4 titles of 2019. Today, it's the turn of reviewer Jamie O'Neill.
5. The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors
In a similar way to Blazing Chrome, the pixel art in The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors feels like the continuation of SNES style visuals, but with detail, effects and general 2D pizzazz beyond the capabilities of the 16-bit era. I spent a lot of time with The Ninja Warriors Again on Super Famicom, so I hotly anticipated Tengo Project's terrific remaster of the SNES side-scrolling beat-'em-up, and it also inspired me to play the original 1987 The Ninja Warriors as part of Arcade Archives on PS4 to get a feel for the series while enjoying this fan-pleasing release.
4. Shenmue III
Following E3 2015's three big surprises, The Last Guardian met my expectations, and Final Fantasy VII Remake looks set to impress in 2020, but Shenmue III seemed like it faced the greatest struggle to release, by mixing ambition with development by a smaller studio. I was excited when my Kickstarter pledge arrived in the post, but I purposefully chose not to rush, as the sedate setting of Bailu Village was so relaxing that I returned to it on a spare save slot even after I'd reached the bustle of Niaowu. Shenmue III makes my Top 5 list through admiration of Ys Net's determination to ensure that this game even exists.
3. Blazing Chrome
I've been a big fan of side-scrolling run-and-gun games since discovering Contra in a seaside arcade around 1987, and Blazing Chrome really impressed me with its intense 2D action and set-pieces. It clearly takes inspiration from the genre's classics of the 16-bit era -- not just in its visual style, but JoyMasher took the gameplay mechanics like hanging underneath platforms, juggling weapons and the feel of the controls, all mashed together from the framework of the brilliant Contra III: The Alien Wars. I know I'll be playing Blazing Chrome as a quality run-and-gun game for years to come.
2. Resident Evil 2
Capcom's triumph was in maintaining the atmosphere and feel of the 1998 game's template -- including backtracking to uncover mysterious statue puzzles, and searching for codes and keys -- yet updated with extra PS4 graphical oomph, and gameplay enhancements viewed through a modern third-person perspective. The claustrophobic design of the Raccoon Police Department is daunting, but keeps you exploring, as the hallways interweave and wind back together. The incredible tension ensures you stay nervy, with Lickers crawling on dark ceilings, while the Tyrant's daunting footsteps hound you around every corner. Resident Evil 2 has set a new standard for future retro remakes.
1. Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled
There's a running thread of nostalgia and retro themed games throughout my 2019 Game of the Year picks, and playing PSone Crash Team Racing alongside the gorgeous yet authentic remake is one of my favourite gaming memories of 2019. After buzzing from Nitro-Fueled at launch, I returned for bonus tracks like Prehistoric Playground, which pleasantly reminded me of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'s wonderful Dino Dino Jungle. Plus, another extra track called Twilight Tour has an Egyptian themed music section that sounds like The Offspring's guitar riff in Come Out And Play, which is just one of many reasons that I love this kart racing game.
Do you agree with Jamie's personal Game of the Year picks? Whatever your opinion, feed us your thoughts in the comments section below.
Comments 17
Big cheers to Push Square and Nintendo Life, as always, for giving me the opportunity to write about retro games. It's also cool to me that my Top 5 2019 list was published on New Year's Day.
All of my picks take me back to fond memories of specific retro games, so nostalgia is heavily involved in my choices, but each game has been boosted by a PS4 lick of paint.
I hope that 2020 is an awesome year for everyone, and it's going to be especially exciting for Push Square with the upcoming release of the PS5.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!
I keep coming back to Crash Team Racing to see all the new free content. Great support and I’m glad to see it in a someone’s top 5 of the year.
@JamieO. Good pick jamie0 the legend. Much respect to you picking retro games.and indies.im playing ruiner now.and shadow tactics blades of showgun.also check out blasphamous.and did you play contra anniversary collection.word ☝ up son 👍
@playstation1995 Thanks lots for you kind comment, I always appreciate the positivity you bring to the comments section of Push Square's retro articles and reviews.
I still need to buy the Contra Anniversary Collection. I held back from getting it, because I already own many of the games in various releases on other systems, plus I wanted to wait to play Contra: Hard Corps until my girlfriend bought me a Mega Drive Mini for Christmas. I'll still pick up the collection at some point, though, especially for the convenience of having so many classic Contra games in one place on PS4.
Cheers again, and have a fantastic 2020, mate!
Thanks.haha.check out valfaris.it plays like contra.and i bought capcom beat em up collection.beat em up is still my favorite Video games genre of all times.double dragon.final fight and sega genesis streets of rage is my number favorite sega genesis franchise ever.happy 2020 playa.word ☝ up son
My favourite top 5 so far! Will be checking out Blazing Chrome and Nina Saviours (but first back to the Castlevania Collection!)
Blazing Chrome! Nice to see some appreciation for what, imo, is the only real Contra game released this year.
I love CTR NF to the moon and back. So glad with how it plays and appreciate all of the Grand Prix content. I love it just as much, maybe more, than the original game.
@Kidfried Thank you kindly, all the best to you!
Great to see some different games on this list.
@JamieO I’m getting an arcade stick delivered tomorrow mainly for Tekken and Street Fighter, but I want to get some retro and arcade games to play on stick. Any you would recommend for that?
@JamieO some great choices, I'd have Resident Evil 2 top but its great seeing the marvellous Blazing Chrome getting some love and Konami should be hanging their heads in shame for what they did to Contra and being completely embarrassed by a small indie team. The Messenger was also another top effort of modernising Ninja Gaiden
@Kienda I don't actually have an arcade stick set up on my PS4, so I may not be the best person to make recommendations, but one possibility would be to focus on buying retro coin-ops on the PS4, because by their very nature they were built to be played with an arcade stick.
I particularly like retro pixel art games following on from the style of the 16-bit era, and if you have similar taste, plus you enjoy one-on-one fighting games, then Neo Geo games are a great pick. The ACA NeoGeo games from Hamster Corporation cost £5.79 each, and include classic one-on-one fighters like The King of Fighters '98. If you search for 'ACA NeoGeo' on the PlayStation Store there are also shoot-‘em-ups (Blazing Star, Pulstar, and Last Resort), side-scrolling beat-'em-ups (Sengoku 3), and top-down run-and-gun games (Shock Troopers, or Shock Troopers 2nd Squad).
SNK Playmore has also released Neo Geo games separately to Hamster, so sticking with one-on-one fighters you can find the excellent Garou: Mark of the Wolves for £11.99. It's not that well publicised on the PS Store, but SNK Playmore also has Neo Geo compilations on PS4 that were originally released on PS2.
Buying collections of games is a cheaper way to get more retro games in a bundle to use with your new stick, so a few SNK Playmore examples are Art of Fighting Anthology (£11.99), Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol.2 (£11.99), and Fu'un Super Combo (£11.99 for two less well known SNK fighting games, Savage Reign and Kizuna Encounter). As for side-scrolling run-and-gun games the PS2 compilation version of Metal Slug Anthology is an easy way to get lots of Metal Slug games in one purchase of £15.99.
Aside from the Neo Geo, if you do a separate search of 'Arcade Archives' on PlayStation Store, there's lots of choice of retro coin-op games from beat-'em-ups like Double Dragon to Vigilante, and recent releases like Irem's graphically detailed shoot-'em-up In The Hunt. Again they cost £5.79 each.
If you stick with coin-op collections, I highly recommend the Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle for seven quality arcade Capcom brawler games, with online co-op available. If you like older arcade shoot-'em-ups, Konami’s Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection has eight games, and most are shooters, including Gradius, Gradius II, Salamander, and TwinBee.
It's worth checking each game that I’ve mentioned to see if it includes online multiplayer, or if they only allow for local multiplayer games. Take into account that I play most of my retro games through local multiplayer with friends, so online multiplayer is not hugely important to my retro purchases.
I hope this gives you a few ideas of retro coin-op games for your new arcade stick. Cheers!
@JamieO
Cool list. Even though my list differs a bit, I still like the fact that you truthfully named what games interested you despite the fact that they aren't all triple A big known games. I think lists like these are good in the long run, it gives other people the opportunity to see games they most definitely woulda missed upon releasing. Happy 2020 everyone!
It’s nice to see personal favourite 5 games of the year, rather than a consensus of 5 best games of the year. Seeing these different opinions helps us all appreciate that everybody loves different games and different genres.
@JamieO I feel ya. Have you tried the messenger yet? As a life long MEGA fan of ninja gaiden im dying to try it!
@JamieO Wow! That is a lot of info and I really appreciate it. I will now take the time researching these games and the collections to choose what is the best value.
I’m sure these games will work great with the arcade stick and I will have fun hammering away at them and showing my son some of the classics.
You have given me some fresh things to look at. I appreciate your insight. Thanks again.
@carlos82 and @Gmork___ I went to a party on New Year’s Eve at my cousin's house, and he was also recommending that I should buy The Messenger. From what I've heard I would really love the visual design, as it shifts between 8-bit and 16-bit styles. I'll definitely keep The Messenger in mind.
@Kienda Just as a follow up, it's worth mentioning that I buy many of my digital retro games in sales. For example, if you search 'Anniversary Collection' on the PS Store at the moment you can find Konami's Arcade Classics, and Castlevania, or Contra collections all on sale. The same 'Anniversary Collection' search will bring up Street Fighter 30th Anniversary, and SNK 40th Anniversary collections, all of which are better than half price in the PS Store's current January sale.
As a general response to the comments here, I also think it's cool how many people are saying that they like the diversity in the picks of our Top 5 games of 2019. There's been lots of variety in Push Square's Games of 2019 individual writers' lists, and it's spot-on that the readers are open to the team having varied tastes in gaming. It's heartening to receive a positive response, because it makes it possible for us choose more obscure and unexpected indie and retro games. Thanks again, everyone!
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