Play This Set December 2025
Play This Set is a showcase for our passionate community members to write about the games and achievement sets they love. Our inbox is always open, whether you're an achievement developer looking to promote your work or a player wanting to spread the word about your favorite hidden gem. If interested, submit your write-up as a private message to {% rauserpic RANews %}.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 ~Hack~ Orcus |
SNES/Super Famicom | 2D Platforming |
- Set by: {% rauserpic KnusperBKN %}
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic scatter %}
I've played a bunch of SMW and was pretty into the hacking scene back in the day, but never really dipped much into Kaizo. It's always been super fun to watch, and really impressive, but I never thought I had the skills to play any of it myself. There are a few hacks like Learn 2 Kaizo aimed at people like me, and those are great, but they do kind of feel like training wheels. If you're in my position and ready to take the training wheels off, try Orcus! It's not that difficult as far as Kaizo goes, but the levels are varied and well-designed, and you get to feel like you're playing a real romhack and not a practice one (not to disparage L2K, but you know what I mean). It's pretty short at around 25 exits, so it's pretty manageable even if you struggle, and on top of that the set dev has a bunch of custom challenges to bring even more out of the levels. If you're at all interested in Kaizo, then this one is a great place to start, and if you don't think you're up to the challenge, give it a try anyway - you might be surprised.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 ~Homebrew~ ~Demo~ Goodboy Galaxy: Chapter Zero |
Game Boy Advance | Metroidvania |
- Set by: {% rauserpic retrolipe %}
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic 1stPrize %}
Whenever the word "homebrew" is mentioned, you may think of various things, but presumably the most common thought would be the imagination of some short game of any genre some person made in their free time for fun (or beverages you brew at home for non-RA users), and that is in fact very correct. But today there is a game which exceeds all I named by more than a longshot - that is Goodboy Galaxy! Specifically the demo for right now, as I have yet to play the full game. So, what is this about? That is more than simple - this is a Metroidvania (a platformer in a maze-like open-world). The story revolves around a dog crashing into an (to you) unknown planet, and it's up to you to investigate it for any clues on why you're there. On the way you will meet quite a few characters with a lot of flavor text and missions. I don't really wanna spoil anything else because it's pretty fun to play fully blind. Overall, it's a very solid Metroidvania and a very impressive homebrew It's also a good title to try if you're unsure if you wanna start the full game, like me. Just give it a go if you enjoy platforming.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 Penguin Patrol |
Nintendo DSi | Puzzle |
- Set by: {% rauserpic Gudra %}
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic ShadwSonic %}
Looking for a chill little tile puzzle game? Look no further than Penguin Patrol! Your goal is to rescue every penguin and (optionally) break all the ice while making your way to the end. However, not all ice or penguins are created equal, so don't think it stays as simple as the image on the game's page! But you likely won't lose your cool, because the music chosen is quite soothing throughout. Honestly, that alone was the tipping point for me writing this to begin with! So make your way to this winter wonderland! And give that walrus a frosty reception when you catch up to him, alright?
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 ~Homebrew~ SWORDSMAN on the ETERNAL JOURNEY |
Game Boy Color | Turn-Based RPG |
- Set by: {% rauserpic Hexadigital %}
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic Whynot15 %}
Swordsman is a fairly quaint, compact RPG. The story is pretty simple - you play as the aforementioned swordsman in a land besieged by a demon lord and its corrupting influence. You're attacked by said demon and become partially cursed, giving you immense power but also the risk of turning into a demon yourself. Thus starts your quest battling monsters, exploring lands, and ultimately heading out to take out the demon lord and save the land.
The game is fairly standard JRPG fare, albeit executed very well. You talk to townfolk, navigate dungeons, and fight random encounters and boss monsters galore. The art is quite well-done, both for the pixel art as well as the more detailed "portraits" seen in battle. The turn-based battle system is simple with a slight twist - you can attack, use items, or tap into your newfound curse powers to "absorb" enemies, which deals damage and heals you at the "cost" of increasing your corruption. If your corruption gets too high, you'll temporarily turn into a demon, restoring health and giving you heightened stats and the ability to use a magic blast. The more difficult boss battles are all about timing your absorbs to maximize the amount of health you restore from a transformation.
Overall, this is the perfect bite-sized RPG for those looking to scratch a GB RPG itch. The story is a little basic (and the English is a tad broken) and the game is a bit unbalanced (you'll go from struggling in every fight early on to steamrolling bosses in no time), but the game is a fun romp for RPG fans that doesn't overstay its welcome.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 Cash Quiz |
Arcade | Trivia |
- Set by: {% rauserpic Hexadigital %}
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic ManicEraser %}
Picture yourself in a faded British seaside town in the 1990s. The sky is grey and overcast, and a bitter wind chill is in the air. You shelter in an amusement arcade. Throngs of pensioners man the slots and the coin pusher machines. A small group of truanting teenage boys, still in their school uniforms, are playing one of Sega's hottest new arcade games. You hear a mysterious sound emanating from one of the forgotten corners of the arcade, an electronic rendition of Edvard Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King. Forgotten since it was installed almost a decade prior, you see the faded lights of a machine with the words "Cash Quiz".
Cash Quiz is a delightful trivia game made for British amusement arcades in 1986. The untrained eye might see this game as nothing more than a soulless cash grab, something to swallow up your precious ten-pence coins with the tantalising promise of a potential cash prize before giving a series of questions so bafflingly obscure that you wonder how any human being could possibly get them correct. But I believe that, in the fullness of time, this game has taken on a life of its own to become something so much more precious.
More than a mere game, Cash Quiz is a wonderful little time capsule of life in Britain in the 1980s. For the first time ever, users of RetroAchievements can finally quiz themselves on the subjects that are closest to their hearts, such as plots for The Archers, Britain's finest agricultural radio soap opera. Or maybe plots to Britain's oldest television soap opera, Coronation Street, where you might find my personal favourite question, "How much did Vera Duckworth pay for Stan Ogden's window cleaning round?". But perhaps British soaps aren't your forte. Maybe you'll get the opportunity to test your knowledge on the glitz and glamour of Dynasty, where you can finally answer the question of exactly what colour of poison was used in an attempted murder.
Opportunities abound for the sportier ones among you, where you can finally test your knowledge of 1980s English country cricket, where you will find questions such as "What injury did Warwicks' Kallicharran suffer in the 1986 cricket season?". I'm sure that all of this site's American users will be delighted to answer such questions.
All this and more can be found on Cash Quiz. Test your knowledge on a wide range of other subjects, from pop music to movies and even motoring. Relive a bit of 1980s British nostalgia in a way that you could never have possibly imagined.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 Psychic World |
Game Gear | Action |
- Set by: {% rauserpic Sutarion %}
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic 32bitCrush %}
Psychic World is a short platformer that puts players in the shoes of Lucía, a young psychic tasked with rescuing her kidnapped sister after a disastrous laboratory experiment. Armed with an "ESP Booster", players accumulate an arsenal of psychic powers as they traverse different environments and battle a menagerie of bizarre creatures. If you're looking for quick comparisons, I'd describe it as "Mega Man with a dash of Valis" - but not so much that it should dissuade fans of neither.
While Psychic World can be challenging (especially in the later levels), its brevity is part of what makes it addictive. It’s the kind of game you can pick up and put down easily, returning later to learn enemy patterns, practice tricky sections, and gradually master at your own pace. Each attempt feels like progress, bringing victory closer and closer.
The set complements the game well, providing challenges that feel fair and achievable without straying too far from the realm of normal progression. It's a solid set for a short game that rewards persistence, which is why I'd recommend it to anyone interested in overlooked gems.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 Doraemon |
Arcadia 2001 | Maze Chase |
- Set by: {% rauserpic LilCutieSophia %}
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic Kecleon352 %}
One might look at this game and not see all too much on the surface. From all appearances, it appears to be a simple Pac-Man clone with the Doraemon branding haphazardly slapped on. That being said, if you look just a little deeper into this experience, there's actually a bit more enjoyment to be had here.
For starters, the branding is pretty solid all around. Rather than ghosts, you're being chased by mice, which Doraemon is canonically scared of. And rather than generic pellets, you're trying to snag dorayaki buns, which are Doraemon's favorite food. Now, the big question, what truly makes this different from Pac-Man? Well, rather than traversing a single maze, you have nine that are connected on a gigantic grid, and both you and the mice can exit the current maze, go along the walls of this grid, and locate the entrance to another maze to find more dorayaki buns. And if you get cornered by the mice, you actually have some solid options to get out, from the Anywhere Door that spawns in certain spots that you can use to warp back to your original spawn location, to the Helicopter Hat that serves as a panic button that lets you fly over the whole grid of mazes and lets you set down in any block.
Is this game the hardest thing? No, not at all. I can see some people having problems with the slight jank that this game has and struggling with the maze chase gameplay in general, but I didn't find the experience of mastering the game too hard, as you simply need to collect 5,000 points on every difficulty setting (which simply increases the amount of mice chasing you) and make sure to get 3,000 without dying. It's cute, it's simple, and in my opinion, it is very nice to sit through and play.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 Gangan Gan-chan |
SNES/Super Famicom | Arcade, Maze Chase |
- Set by: {% rauserpic Aaamdacuaga %}
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic chumph %}
Gangan Gan-chan is an isometric maze chaser starring a constantly-moving upright cat with shoes & a smile but no torso. Your job is to bring 4 Puyos (blobs) of 4 different colors back to your spawn so you can then collect a key for each color and bring those back too. You can gather up to 8 blobs at a time in a line behind you and even earn a power-up for each 4 combo of the same color, but the 2 or 3 enemies in each stage will chase you down to steal them, scatter them around, or even spit them back at you. Gan-chan can't take a single run-in with an enemy, but he can zing blobs to stun them & oftentimes himself. He is able to turn into stone like Kirby to parry encounters, though each use will eat at his stamina bar and sometimes disrupt the order of your blob chain if done too late. At the end of each world he gets his own fixed shoot-em-up segment.
The sound, the style, everything is cute but not cloying. Visually, there are a tremendous amount of background details in each world that are as busy as the gameplay. There are skyscrapers by the sea in Tokyo, rows of street markets in China, and cattle skulls that clatter around in Egypt to name a few. I tried to tell a sunbathing babe on a Hawaii beach about cheevos, but I got chomped by a shark.
Gangan's set asks you for roughly 7 playthroughs on Normal mode with different caveats, such as completing without using your stone ability, blob-zinging, or even running. Each run is ideally around half an hour long, you have a reasonable amount of lives, and you can combine a few of these conditions into the same run. The set squeezes a lot out of an already very difficult game; don't be fooled by the low scores for many of the achievements. I wanted this game to overstay its welcome, so it's welcome.
Hard mode however....
The very menacing enemy AI does not change between modes, and you're given a few more seconds in most levels after the first world at least. Blobs are now at possibly 3x speed and actively avoid you, and I believe they spawn at a much lower frequency & overall maximum amount on the map. The "Hard" is justified by the balance between depositing fewer blobs & not running out of stamina or time. Mastery, or just survival, also depends on your ability to manipulate both the blobs' & the enemies' movements to deviate to your advantage, and keeping track of the giant enemy-indicating arrows along the sides of the screen that I'm grateful were still in Hard mode. Peripheral vision & perseverance are the names of the game, whose name is Gangan Gan-chan. I put this game down in June after an hour or two; it was overwhelming and required a lot of focus I did not think I had, but was fun enough that it was in the back of my mind throughout the summer. It's an arduous & addicting game in a genre I have very little experience in (outside of restaurant cabinet Pac-Man, who - especially when factoring in his World 2 - sucks).
A large part of the enjoyment I've gotten out of RA has been scrolling through its hubs; there are many titles I would have never heard of had I not been curious about games a few search pages deep with tragically low player counts and even lower completions. Your next favorite game is just sitting in a page for a publisher that made maybe two others total, like Gangan Gan-chan's.... unless they don't even get a page, like Gangan Gan-chan's.
At press time I'm the only player since the set dropped over 2 years ago to have simply Beaten the game (finish all 4 worlds on Normal without getting a Game Over; "simply" is an understatement), though there have only been 16 people who have tried. You, reader, could be the 17th!
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack |
PlayStation 2 | Rhythm |
- Set by: {% rauserpic AlexHylian %}
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic Goodbite %}
C'mon now, who doesn't know AC/DC and also who doesn't like at least one song from them (or at least thinks it's catchy)?
This is Rock Band, the weird cousin to Guitar Hero and I think it's more difficult but more fun than Guitar Hero. Your main goal in this game is to play the song while hitting as many notes as you can in a row, and who doesn't want to do that for 18 AC/DC songs in a row. Sure, you can take breaks, but what's the fun in that?
If you aren't used to these games, you'll probably destroy your hands on harder difficulties as well as spend a lot of money on a guitar controller, but I would say that's definitely worth it if you want to feel like a true rock star.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 Katamari Damacy |
PlayStation 2 | Action, Puzzle |
- Set by: {% rauserpic blendedsea %}
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic kalonZombie %}
Hmm, your RA points are nice, but they could be... bigger.
Katamari Damacy is a game that requires little introduction, but I'm going to make a quick one anyway. It's an arcade-style game where you take a ball called a Katamari and you roll around various levels, collecting items, animals, dogs, people, and more to make it as large as you can in the time you are given. You can start a level as small as a frog and end as large as a building. You're doing this because your father, who is essentially the king of the universe and everything in it, got drunk and accidentally destroyed all the stars. Don't worry about it. It also is VERY quirky and weird, going through little to no localization as a stylistic choice on the part of the team who brought it to the US. It honestly adds to the charm and I think if they had tried an Eat Your Jelly Filled Donut Phoenix Wright approach to the game it would have lost some of its identity.
None of this talks about the set, though. The set looks really intimidating, surely, with 130 achievements to it, but most of those are just 100% collection of the categories of items for the game. You'll get a good chunk of those by just naturally playing the game. What really makes this set, in my opinion, are the challenges presented to you by the set. The set wants you to get the comets in the basic levels (which is getting to the target size within a fairly strict time limit), but also to get certain scores in the levels that score differently from the basic levels. Normally this just includes getting 80% of the target item of the level, but other challenges include hitting EXACTLY 10 meters and getting the biggest cow or bear possible. Finally, the set includes 3 self-made "get this big" challenges, essentially, by requiring you to roll up certain fairly large items in those levels. Those three challenges, to me, were the most fun ones, because it requires some good knowledge of the levels and where to get things in order to roll them up in time.
By the time you're done with the comets, collecting 150 fish, and cursing Make Taurus because this is the fifth time in a row you've hit 5 meters and then accidentally ran into a cow calf floating in the air on a balloon because you wobbled a bit weird on a hill, you'll be ready to start cleaning up your collections. Luckily, there's some pretty easily findable Google Docs you can use to find those items, and a fairly well-written GameFAQ on where to find all the uniquely named characters and items. I would recommend saving that last one for last, as you'll find most of them during normal play, so there's probably no reason to keep track of them or go after them before then. At the time of writing I haven't quite mastered the game yet, but between the docs, the guide, and Youtube videos to help with some trickier bits, it's been a very fun time. Katamari forever... wait, no, that's a different game.