Wish this Set January 2023
Wish This Set is a showcase for our passionate community members to write about the games they love that aren't yet represented on the site. Is there a game you'd like to see receive an achievement set? Let us know by sending a private message to {% rauserpic RANews %}. We encourage you to explain what makes the game so special to you, and you may be featured in a future issue of RANews!
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 Nicktoons Unite! |
PlayStation 2 | Action-Adventure |
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic LimeJinjo %}
Nicktoons Unite! is an action-adventure sort of beat 'em up game developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment. The game follows 4 Nickelodeon icons from the early 2000s: SpongeBob SquarePants, Danny Phantom, Timmy Turner, and Jimmy Neutron. They all have unique abilities that you will have to utilize to make it through the worlds of these 4 characters. As you progress and defeat enemies you will be able to upgrade your characters' moves to make traversing the stages easier.
If you are a fan of any or all of these shows, the dialogue and the way the characters interact will shine through to you. All of the characters feel true to their TV counterpart, and plenty of nods to episodes of their shows are thrown in. Every level will have fans of the show in awe; it feels very satisfying to fight through detailed versions of Fairy World, Amity Park, Bikini Bottom, and even inside Jimmy's beloved pet robot dog.
It's not the best beat 'em up in the world, but it is certainly worth a playthrough if you are a fan of these shows. All these years later I can't see this game as anything other than a delightful experience.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 Soul Nomad & the World Eaters |
PlayStation 2 | Tactical RPG |
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic Sines %}
Coming straight from the NIS golden era, Soul Nomad & the World Eater is a SRPG that mixes the traditional turn-based movement grid from Fire Emblem, the squad management from Ogre Battle, and the mostly wacky but serious at times story from Disgaea. For the longest time this was the closest thing you could get to a "modern" take on Ogre Battle and I can assure you that if you loved the SNES or N64 entry this game will be right up your alley!
The main character is not really the mute redhead (male or female) that you control, but the guy on the box art - Gig, also known as the Master of Death. The good news is that this very rude man has been sealed in a sword! The bad news is that you are now in charge of it and Gig will spend a lot of time either insulting you and your companion or try to tempt you to give in to his power. It's now up to you to try to save the world, but of course things wont be so simple. The squad management and battle systems appear quite simple at first glance, but get more complex as time goes on, and you will soon realize that good formations trump brute force most of the time. There are multiple main "routes" and endings (a lot of them early bad endings similar to Disgaea), so it's the kind of game you will want to replay multiple times - the perfect excuse for testing different settings every run.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 Virtual Pro Wrestling 2: Oudou Keishou |
Nintendo 64 | Sports - Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) |
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic Kingsombra %}
During the time of the so called Monday Night Wars in the late 90s and early 2000s, we got the taste of some of the best Wrestling games in gaming history, like WWF No Mercy and WCW/nWo Revenge. But all the way in the far east in Japan, the people at AKI where working on the Japanese only titles Virtual Pro Wrestling 64 and Virtual Pro Wrestling 2. While this game has features that replicate the style of the WCW and WWF games of the time, it differs in the rosters. It features several wrestlers of the time that wrestled in the big Japanese promotions like AJPW and NJPW. The roster features greats like Jushin Thunder Liger, Masahiro Chono, and Kenta Kobashi, and also features legends like Mil Mascaras, Bruiser Brody, and the original Tiger Mask. It was also the first wrestling game that added Shootfight rules like you would see in the UFC today. That's why the roster also had shootfighters like Bas Rutten and Kazushi Sakuraba. It features a mode that is quite similar to WrestleMania 2000's Road to WrestleMania called the Royal Road mode. In the tradition of Japanese Puroresu, you fight big wrestling trophies in Tournaments instead of Championship Belts. With over 100 characters to choose from, a create a wrestler mode included, and an English patch to get, this game is a dream for fans of Japanese wrestling who need an alternative to the American product.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| Transformers: The Game |
PlayStation 2 | Sandbox |
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic Breadn %}
Transformers was one of the first games I ever played, and was probably my most played game for my first few years of gaming. I originally played it on Wii and didn't get very far due to being so young (6-7), but spent a lot of time in it due to its open-world goofiness. I would spend hours driving around and playing pretend in my head. I would pick it up again a few years later when I got a PS3, and was finally able to complete it and truly appreciate its quirks and attention to detail.
It's one of the few movie games I've seen that don't feel like a lackluster cashgrab. There are so many fun secrets, collectibles, and careful details that pay respects to both the movie and original cartoon from 1984. Each "chapter" has its own world full of main and side missions, collectibles, and unique characters. Think like GTA, but you get to travel around the world.
You may be wondering why I wish for a set for a game that already has achievements on seventh generation consoles, and that's a good question! Well, because it's always fun to have an excuse to try the same game on different platforms. You get to admire the platform-specific optimizations and nuances. For example, the PC version has a bug that makes it nearly impossible to use the climb mechanic on higher end PCs. The PS2 edition has less traffic due to hardware limitations. There are probably much more but I haven't touched this game in ages.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| Marvel: Ultimate Alliance |
PlayStation 2 | Action RPG |
- Writeup by: {% rauserpic StingX2 %}
Let me paint the picture for you. The SHIELD helicarrier is under attack and who shows up but Thor, Captain America, Spider-Man, and Wolverine. Together as a team they fend off a bunch of goons, Scorpion, Bullseye, The Winter Soldier, Radioactive Man, and then go into an all out battle with Fin Fang Foom. That's just the first level of this epic Action RPG by series veteran Raven, makers of the excellent X-Men Legends games.
While X-Men Legends was hyperfocused on putting you in the role of a girl whose just awakened her powers (Magma) that wasn't familiar beyond a surface level of the mutant world, Ultimate Alliance does the same but without a character to represent the player. It's a bit odd for Vision to tell Iron Man his life story, but it's amusing nonetheless.
There are many stories to tell in Ultimate Alliance as in between missions you get to learn much about the characters directly or indirectly helping you. Only the most jaded comic fans would feel off-put by the likes of some of these heroes regaling you with tales of suspense. There is even a mode called comic book simulation where you get to relive direct moments as these heroes. Captain America's adveture is him battling the Winter Soldier before he launches a rocket, something shown off in the Winter Soldier MCU film years later. Blade ends up in a trip to Arcade's Murderworld, Wolverine has a misadventure on the helicarrior. These aren't pushover missions by any mark, but the rewards are worth it.
Where this game sets itself apart from its predecessors and sequels is the focus on COOL COSTUME UNLOCKS! Each hero starts with one, gets another for completing their simulation mission, and the others are unlocked for reaching X amount of kills. Each character has a bunch of variety with their costumes, and each come with different powers that make the game really replayable. Combine that with the literal giant roster this game has and you have a winner that could make a gigantic set.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 Burnout Revenge |
PlayStation 2 | Racing |
- Writeup by: {% rauserpic HolyRayne %}
Burnout Revenge is a very interesting title in the popular franchise often overshadowed by the excellent Burnout 3: Takedown. You still have your breakneck speed racing and brutal smashing of your opponents into various objects to take them out, but this game features a controversial feature: Traffic Checking.
No longer does traffic flowing in the same direction as you pose a threat. In fact, these civilians will find themselves becoming your weapon of choice as you ram into them and send them careening off into the distance toward an unsuspecting racer ahead of you in order to ruin their day. The removal of the dangers of traffic in your lane and the increased offensive capabilities of this feature will cause a few fans to complain that it makes the game too easy, but it's hard to argue that it isn't a ton of fun. This feature would make a nerfed return in Burnout Paradise, but Revenge is the game you'll want to play if you want to cause levels of mayhem that would make the Mercenaries series blush.
You'll get to play around with this game's unique traffic feature in the many assorted types of events present. Race, Road Rage (take down as many opponents as possible), Burning Lap (time trial), Traffic Attack (traffic check like crazy!), and the always fan favorite Crash mode (attempt a damage high score in a set scenario) plus many more mean you'll be racing on the edge of your seat for the foreseeable future once this game gets support.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| Half-Minute Hero: The Second Coming | Yuusha 30 Second |
PlayStation Portable | Action RPG |
- Writeup by: {% rauserpic BloodParade %}
Played the first game and want more? If so, the sequel's a must-try! While it does not have the additional game modes of the first game, and requires a fan-patch to be in English, the core game returns better than ever. Once again, you must defeat the big bad, and you only have 30 seconds! Thanks to a money-hungry Time Goddess though, a small donation will let you refresh the timer.
While this aspect has stayed the same, practically the entire game has been polished to a T. The OST is one of the best I've heard for a PSP game, the story got a major upgrade as you progress through a 500-year dynasty of heroes, and the gameplay received additions that give the game even more content. Collect classes and party members! Pilot a big customizable mech! Need to briefly slow down and go back to the good old grind? Grind outside the stages to increase your Global level, increasing your starting level in each stage, and play through dungeons!
If you've played the set for the first game, you will likely understand how much potential the sequel has for both a set and competitive leaderboards, with even more to unlock with additional collectibles. Not only that, the second game even has a stage editor, opening up possibility for a potential community subset!
Both the first and second game are so quick and easy to pick up that you should absolutely at least give them a try, especially with them being IMO some of the best that PSP has to offer. Then, if you enjoyed it, consider giving it the set it deserves!
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| Dog's Life |
PlayStation 2 | Sandbox |
- Writeup by: {% rauserpic YahwehTzVaoth %}
I’m not going to bury the lead: in this game you play a dog. Not an anthropomorphic dog like Snoopy or a funny animal character like Goofy, no, you play a dog. And who’s a good dog? You’re a good dog? Aren’t you!?! Oh yes you are!
The game itself is fairly simple. It is an open world action game with a series of objectives and things to find. There are also a series of mini games wherein you compete with other dogs to gain dominance and eventually advance to the next area. In truth it would be a fairly boring game if it wasn’t for the main hook of the game: you play a dog, albeit one that has human like thoughts. This isn’t Hawkeye Vol. 4, No. 11.
You can dig holes, run, jump, pee on things to mark your territory, eat stuff no sane human being would, and bite sometimes. Mostly other than the mini games you complete fairly simple missions to help people, like a good dog. There sadly, is no Dark Ending where you’re put down because you mauled too many people. There’s only so much freedom. And while you can’t be viscous, you can smell things.
A feature not seen in many games, and certainly not implemented to this degree, is the Smell-O-Vision. Dogs have a sense of smell drastically better than our own and get most of their information about their surroundings from their cute wet noses. To approximate this sense of smell in the game you can switch to a first person perspective where the smells of various people and things are represented in little color coded clouds or trails of clouds for when you want to track something or someone. It works surprisingly well as a means to represent a hidden world of smells only dogs and other animals can sense.
The game is fairly easy and should make for a fun set. A set where hopefully there is at least one achievement for doing various things with poop. Don’t judge, you’re a dog and you do doggy things in this game.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 Ys Seven |
PlayStation Portable | Action RPG |
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic ladynadiad %}
Some may be aware of the Ys series and its fast paced action and amazing music. As things stand now, Ys Seven is the only game in the series on supported systems lacking a set now that Ark of Napishtim has a set. Definitely something that I'd love to see changed!
For those not familiar, the Ys series follows the adventures of the red haired Adol Christin as he travels around the world finding all sorts of trouble. Despite this being the seventh game in the series, there is no need to play any of the others to understand the plot here. On top of that, it has very smooth and fast paced gameplay, an amazing OST, and a bunch of different party members that will appeal to any taste in playstyle. There are ranged fighters, close up bruisers, fast and agile swordsmen, and so on. On top of the different playstyles, each character can learn a variety of skills to further enhance their ability to kick monster butt.
On top of that, there's plenty of solid content for a great set for this game. Falcom games tend to be easy to come up with solid challenge ideas for. There are multiple difficulties and all are available right at the start. Falcom games also tend to run well in PPSSPP and allow for saving anywhere outside of cutscenes and boss battles, which is definitely a plus for devs. Truly, I'd love to see a set for this game, and I think whoever grabs it will have plenty of fun making it as players will have playing it.
| Game | Console | Genre |
|---|---|---|
 Ikaruga |
Dreamcast | Shoot 'em Up, Bullet Hell |
- Write-up by: {% rauserpic Erodion %}
It's surprising that the most famous Treasure game doesn't have a set, but maybe it is because after its original release for arcades and Dreamcast it got ported to 5 other platforms, 3 of which have a set of achievements. Ikaruga is probably the most acclaimed shmup ever by both press and players, and it is for a reason. Amazing 3d graphics that aged perfectly, an epic soundtrack, 5 stages with big bosses approaching at full throttle, 3 distinct difficulties, and a black and white polarity system tied to chaining enemies and bullet absorption for maximum points. A set covering 1CCs, scores by chapters, pacifist runs, and the corresponding leaderboards could be the perfect reason to play this game again, or for those who never did, to taste the finest the genre has to offer.