I am an avid retro gaming fan. I mostly play JRPG games like Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger but recently I’ve had very little time to enjoy big, complicated games. I am looking for recommendations for retro games that can be played over a longer peroid of time, but don’t require a big time investment (re-) learning the systems or remembering the story. I play most of this stuff on emulators, so anything that can be emulated on my phone’s Retroarch setup goes. Thanks in advance! :)
There’s plenty of fun platformers, puzzlers, action games, and arcade ports on portable systems like the Game Boy and Nintendo DS etc. Nintendo has always been a master of “pick and up and play”-ability.
Some classics include the Super Mario Land and Wario Land series, Kirby, Donkey Kong GB (it’s the original arcade game plus a brilliant puzzle platformer), and the Zelda titles. There’s even some lighter weight RPGs like the Pokémon games etc.
There’s also Game Boy ports of the Game & Watch titles which are great short time wasters - Game Boy Gallery and Game & Watch Gallery series.