When you think of a game development team releasing a collection of 50 games, most people tend to think they are mini-games or micro-games. That means short and simple games that wouldn’t take long to create the collection. However, that is not the case with UFO 50. This anthology of pure nostalgia in metafiction and retro-gaming released this September was created by Derek Yu, An American Indie game developer known for his popular title Spelunky.
Derek Yu came up with the idea of creating a collection of 1980s-style arcade games to be packaged in a single release and enlisted the help of several Indie developers to bring it to life. Yu also created the story of a fictional gaming studio known as UFO Soft, whose development history is chronicled in his collection. Every game in the collection is unique, but the ongoing company narrative is conveyed through recurring themes, characters, and several sequels.
When you open UFO 50, you are presented with a straightforward interface that you would expect from a casino operator like Betway, with 50 icons leading to different titles. The developers span every genre you can imagine existing in arcades in the 1980s, ranging from shooter to fighter, strategy, and stealth. However, these are not mini-games as every title has a uniquely crafted storyline and progression that’s beautifully packaged with a catchy soundtrack and visuals.
Retro game enthusiasts who enjoy the thrill of online casinos will see familiar mechanics in titles like Gradius, Bubble Bobble, and Streets of Rage. Much like the unpredictable outcomes in games on Betway Zambia, these classic games incorporate unexpected twists to enhance the player’s experience. For example, in Caramel Caramel, players merge traditional spaceship shooting with elements of strategy, reminiscent of placing tactical bets. Similarly, the innovative gameplay of Mortal, where players use their character’s demise strategically to progress, mirrors the risk and reward dynamics found in online casino games, offering a blend of nostalgia and modern gaming challenges.
With challenging levels and little assistance, every game throws you into the thick of things and lets you work out a solution. That acts as a reminder that in the early days when there were no YouTube guides or tutorials, games were full of mysterious things.
While most of these games have NES-era aesthetics, most are in dialogue with the trends and tropes of classic gaming like the Metroidvania progression system in the title Porgy. There are also several interesting curveballs like the Night Manor, which is a genuinely scary point-and-click horror game. If you still don’t know which titles to play, it will only take a few seconds to jump from one game to the other.
As a package, UFO 50 shows how rapidly technology has advanced since the 1980s, starting with the frustratingly clunky game of Barbuta to the sophisticated last game Cyber Owls which combines four different genres. All these games feel generally simple by the current industry standards and there’s excitement in the sense of focus that technical limitations create along with the willingness to experiment. The result is a riotous anthology of pure nostalgia that reminds players of what they might have forgotten in the wake of gaming tech innovations.
See also: The evolution of gaming chairs: from basic to high-tech
