I love me some retro gaming on XBLA, I just think that there are some absolute stunners that should be cleaned off and given a second life on XBLA/PSN, and here is my personal top 10 games I want to see resurrected.

10. Desktop Tower Defense (PC)

One of the few flash games that has ever truly grabbed me, Desktop Tower Defense is a free to play game at Kongregate.com. The aim of the game is to build up a maze of different attack towers to filter the oncoming enemies into and hope the meet their doom before the get to the exit, very simple, very fun! The control system might be hard to port to a console, but hopefully they can find a way.

9. Knights of the Round (Arcade)

Probably my favorite side scrolling beat-em up ever, Kinghts of the Round cast you as either King Arthur, Sir Lancelot or Sir Percival in a quest to do, er… Something?!? The game was a great multiplayer blast, and following the success of TMNT the arcade game, maybe there is room for more classic arcade ports.

8. Iron Man Ivan Stewart’s Super Off Road (Megadrive/SNES)

A beautifully simple off road racing game, Super Off Road had 4 cars racing round about 20 different circuits, nitroing and jostling for position for 5 laps at a time. Prize money would be awarded based on finishing position, which allows you to buy upgrades for your truck. The multiplayer aspect of this game was fantastic, and for that reason I think it would work well on XBLA.

7. Destruction Derby (Ps/PC/Saturn)

One of the greatest driving games ever! The Playstation classic Destruction Derby does exactly what it says on the tin. There was a racing mode in the game, but that was nowhere near as fun as the actual Derby mode, where the objective was to survive in a bowl of automotive carnage. Flatout recently tried to recreate this, and wile it was good, I’d happily lay the dollars down to play a 16 player online destruction derby!

6. Rock & Roll Racing (Megadrive/SNES)

‘Rip is in another time zone’, words that will be forever ingrained into my brain from the sheer amount of play I gave this game. The greatest combat racing game of all time? Probably… The sound track was excellent to, boasting excellent midi versions of such classics as Highway Star, Paranoid, Radar Love and many more… The gameplay was simple but addictive, and having been re-released for the GBA a few years back shows there is still a market for this game.

5. Rise of the Triad (PC)

A favorite of ours here at the ‘bag, Rise of the Triad was a groundbreaking PC FPS that introduced such amazing new features as jumping and looking up and down, and completely over the top death animations. Other than that, the game is pretty much Doom all over again, but I ask you, is that a bad thing?

4. Road Rash 1/2/3 (Megadrive)

EA’s timeless motorcycle carnage racers, the Road Rash series, with their simple but addictive gameplay are still fun to this day, granted they feel a bit dated, but give them a fresh lick of paint and a new soundtrack and you’d be good to go! Maybe some 8 player multiplayer support too? That’d be awesome! Or maybe if they released Skitchin’ instead?

3. Audiosurf (PC)

Audiosurf is currently available through the Steam download service for the PC, and there were rumours a while back that it was to be ported to XBLA, but they were quickly poo-pooed by the developers. The thing is, it would work so well on the 360, as the 360 wired controller is best way to play it on the PC. The game involves collecting coloured blocks along a raceway, the thing that sets Audiosurf apart is that the block patterns and the undulations of the track are generated by your own music files from your PC, so the game could instead utilise music stored on the 360’s hard disk.

2. Rampart (Arcade/Megadrive)

Originally released in the arcades back in 1990, Rampart was one of the few trackball arcade games I ever played. The game was later ported to the Megadrive, where I played it even more. The idea of the game is to build up your castle, place cannons and defend it from the fire of incoming ships. While the graphics are nothing to shout about, the quick pick up and play style of the game is still great even to this day. Give it a quick modernisation, and I see an XBLA classic in he making.

1. Chu Chu Rocket (Dreamcast)

Chu Chu Rocket, what can I say about this Dreamcast classic? A simple 4 player game that sees you trying to guide mice into your house while steering the cats at your enemies. The gameplay was fast and furious, and more importantly, feverishly addictive. Make it playable online, and I think you’d have one of the best multiplayer games ever on live arcade!

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