Thoughts on RetroAchievements
3 min to read
There’s a little website called RetroAchievements, which, much like the name suggests, adds the modern concept of achievements (much like Steam) to retro games. And when playing your (cough) legally obtained ROMs, you can track progress on special challenges and earn little badges for games that you’ve played. You earn imaginary internet clout in the form of “RetroPoints” based on how difficult the achievement is.
I have some mixed feelings about the whole thing. I’m the type of person who loves to 100% clear all achievements that a game has, so in theory this integration should be my dream come true, right?
There are some flaws in its execution, and it largely depends on what type of experience you want to have.
Hardcore vs. Softcore Mode
There exists an option in RetroAchievements called “Hardcore” mode, which is a toggleable setting. In their FAQ page, they claim this is to emulate the authentic retro gaming experience by disabling save states, fast forwarding, cheats, and other modern QoL features. This is the only way, in their eyes, to truly “master” a game, a reward which comes with a little glowing yellow border around your completion icon.
But I’ll be real with you - who has the time? If an achievement calls for completing the boss without any damage or speedrunning through a series of hoops for a badge, you’d better believe I’d want to save/load states just so I’m not wasting a whole afternoon on replaying unnecessary parts over and over again. The phrasing around hardcore mode being the only true way to play the game is very gatekeep-y to people like me.
Constant Internet Connection is Required
In order to post back achievement info properly to RA’s servers, a constant internet connection is required. Most of the time this wouldn’t be a huge deal, but with the increasing popularity of retro handheld devices (TrimUI Brick, Miyoo Mini+, etc.), feeling tethered to a Wi-Fi connection is the antithesis of these portable handhelds. What good is a little handheld that you can fit in your pocket and play games on the go if it requires you to miss out on logging your achievement progress? Gamers have always been up-in-arms about Always-On DRM, but when it comes to RetroAchievements, always being online is suddenly fine.
It Really Depends on the Game
Your milage may vary when playing with RetroAchievements on, and it largely hinges on the achievement set of the game you’re focusing on. Some sets are succinct - completion requires a standard definition of what it means to 100% clear a game. You collect all the things, defeat all of the bosses, score enough points in the mini game, and then you’re done!
Some challenges feel especially arbitrary. Does it really matter if you collect all of the treasures chests in a dungeon if their contents are lackluster? Does you really need to beat a level in under 60 seconds if it doesn’t provide anything other than the achievement for the achievement’s sake? It really depends on the game and the achievement creator on what the set is like.
There’s a whole philosophy that is cited in their official developer documentation about what makes an achievement set good.
In addition, some achievements are missable: meaning that if you’re not actively paying attention to them, you may have just ruined your chances at 100% completion on your first go-around. Another advantage for using save states, in my opinion!
A Small Community Playing Along With You
With all that being said, let me focus on one of the more positive aspects of the service - when you’re tracking your progress it feels like you have a small community of other people playing the same 20-year-old game along with you at the same time. They’re providing their feedback, their triumphs, their challenges in real time through the comments rich prescences. And on top of that, earning achievements scratches a certain itch for some gamers. So when RetroAchievements works, it works well. There are just some additional hiccups along the way to get there.