Sunsoft Is Back Retro Game Collection Review (PlayStation 5)

by Jim Smale · September 6, 2024

Sunsoft Is Back Retro Game Collection Review, SUNSOFT is back and it’s bringing some of its 8-bit classics to the West for the very first time! SUNSOFT is Back! Retro Game Selection, discover three of the legendary Japanese publisher’s Famicom games and play them in English for the first time ever! The three games included are The Wing of Madoola, Firework Thrower Kantaro’s 53 Stations of the Tokaido, and Ripple Island. Content creators who enjoy retro games, challenging titles as well as Adventure games will have a lot of fun with this compilation.

Sunsoft Is Back Retro Game Collection Review Pros:

Decent original 8 Bit graphics.
398.8MB download size.
Platinum trophy.
3 save slots per game.
Display settings – CRT filter, border art from all the games, aspect ratio (pixel perfect/4:3/widescreen), and palette (vanilla/game child/game child contrast/virtual child/greyscale).
Three games in one – Ripple Island, The Wing Of Madoola, and Firework Thrower Kantaros 53 stations of the Tokaido.
Two language choices – English and Japanese.
The main menu is original Japanese game carts that are fully 3D and you can zoom in and out and rotate them.
Click into each game to get a video pop-up and a brief rundown of the game story.
Each game has the Japanese and English versions.
The gallery in each game shows off concept art, promo, and box art.
Each game has a rewind feature.
You have an overlay menu (press L1 and R1 together) where you can save and load, reset the game, go back to the game selection, look at the controls, look at the original scans of three manuals (all in Japanese), and change display settings.
Firework Thrower Kantaros game is a side scroller and you have to avoid the enemy and make it to the end of the level to set off the fireworks, it offers a map of progress at the top, power-ups, weapons, two players, and checkpoints.
Each game has a nostalgic Chiptune soundtrack and sound effects.
Ripple Island is a cool adventure game where you have a set of commands like move, talk, investigate, react, and interact with the world and characters. It’s one step away from a point-and-click. The story is good but the writing and characters are excellent and a real highlight.
The Wing of Madoola is an action platformer game, you collect weapons and gear to power up and explore dungeons and attack enemies and bosses.
All games are presented in 2D.
Your display settings carry over to each game.
A really nice addition to gamer preservation and a collection that any enthusiasts should check out.
The collection has a nice mix of genres.
A lot of fun to play.
Offers a good trophy list with 90 percent of them easy to obtain then you get one for finishing each of the games.

Sunsoft Is Back Retro Game Collection Review Cons:

There is no English translation of the manuals.
The menu overlay and rewind controls are a very brief pop-up at the bottom of the screen and easily missed.
You cannot set the display settings per game so they stay seperate.
You cannot remap the controls.
There is no real history of the games themselves.