Weekly Topic [14 Apr. 2025 - 20 Apr. 2025]

Every week, we engage the community into a weekly topic discussing anything gaming-related, be it on RetroAchievements or their life outside the community. This is done both through Discord in the #weekly-topic channel, as well as here on the forum! The topic of this week is as follows:

What makes achievements interesting to you?

Philosophical questions, ah yes, my favourite. There are many things that unite us here, be it retro games, Sonic the Hedgehog, or of course achievements. But for as simple as the concept of achievements are, the interest many people have in them can be completely different. Some people do it to challenge themselves beyond what the game asks of them, while others like it to be an additional checklist while going through the game. And for others, it is simply just a neat bonus on top of playing games they want to play. What is it that makes you (pro)actively hunt for achievements? And how well does RetroAchievement sate those desires? Let us know in this new Topic of the Week!

If they force you to play a game in a different way or force you to get good.

This isn't an achievement but someone created a challenge in GTA IV where you had to walk from one end of "Manhattan" to the other (north to south or vice versa) while maintaining at least a 3 star wanted level the entire time. That was a fun and interesting challenge to try.

I also just like it as a way to say that I mastered a game.

Just having a little badge wall feels good to me, it's like a scouts vest but for games, adding a pin you really put in the work for feels extremely theraputic

Similar to SBCAT, it always feels like once you are done with a game, there is nothing that stays with you after you finish the game
But a mastery badge displays proudly on your profile. It's a lot more fun than "official" achievements like on Playstation or Xbox, because you can see exactly the game you have mastered, but also easily see what others are doing

I like this badge system a hell of a lot more than steam, the fact I can organize my game completions means the first thing they see isn't that I've mastered 5 shovelware cat finding games.

I think of them as guidelines for games that makes me enjoy the entirety of a game, because if it weren't for them I would totally miss extra content or stop playing once beaten, which add some replayability and game life. Also it feels good to have a physical representation of your hardships.

I always was a completionist and tried to find everything in game I played. Achievements usually have great guidelines to complete the game. Also I love to challange myself.

I see them as virtual memories, or something like that. Like a photo. And having badges for said mementos is cool too, gives you another reason to play games that you like. Regarding RA specifically, achievements are usually extra-appealing to me when:

- They showcase hidden or not-so-obvious content, easter eggs, or secrets that can actually help you with your playthrough.

A Mega Surprise (1)

comes to mind as a great example.
- They push you to go for 100% in games where you get rewarded with new skills, alternate endings, or anything that makes the grind worthwhile.
- They force you to change your approach and play differently in order to win a certain stage, or maybe the entire game. Not to the point of actively crippling you, of course.

I'll still play games I really like even if the things I mentioned above are not present. However, if they *are* present, it makes the whole experience leagues better.

1. ADHD (I am diagnosed). Pure ape brained dopamine seeking behaviour from a brain that has trouble regulating it. I always loved the idea of achievements/trophies but was not interested in 7th gen and beyond games. As I'm really into retro gaming - RA seemed like a great fit!
Great site and community to boot! (This dopamine seeking behaviour isn't compulsive BTW, I am actually enjoying myself!)

2. I am a physical collector of games and badges are like collectibles! Getting a reward for finishing these sets and pushing through for the badge is my personal idea of fun.

3. It's great to push your skills to whatever that particular set requires from you. Not all sets are equal in difficulty but when you crack those hard but well designed cheevos - it feels so good... kinda looped back to the dopamine thing again. My brain likes it!

1. Te hace sentir bien, pero lo mejor de todo es que puedes volver a jugar a esos maravillosos juegos con cosas extra.

2. Las insignias son bonitas y alegran tu muro.

3. Pero como un dato a reclamar, yo haria version facil de logros para un juego y en el mismo juego una version dificil, creo que con eso captaria a mas jugadores, asi satisfacciendo a toda clase de nivel de jugadores, dandoles a elegir que version quieren.

4. Muchas gracias por hacernos felices.

For me its no just achievements, it's *Retroachievements*. I don't have any 100% game in my Steam profile but I got super addicted to this site because:

1. Achievements are really a perfect way to get to know everything (or almost) of a game. Either if you master it or not, because of the sets you already know that some secret exists in the game, or maybe some challenge, etc

2. The badge system. The dopamine thing is real! for me at least, it's a real pleasure to see these badges in my profile. And i looove to see other people's profiles with amazing murals, it encourages me to seek some masters i haven't thought before. And ngl, i have some games in my backlogged that I'm going JUST because the badge looks cool, and others I'm avoiding because i don't like the badge. I entered RA thinking i was going to be a 100% softcore gamer, now i only do hardcore.

3. the Community! it feels so united! I found amazing the everything here is really made by Community effort. the sets, the events, the site maintenance, the problem solving, EVERYTHING. It really inspires me to do something to help the site too.

Overall, they give me a very valid reason to not only test my skills but also further increase my knowledge in games. But thanks to Hardcore, I can Show it Globally in the same place.

Achievements are a great way to show what you know and what you love to others, while Nintendo Switch and probably Switch 2 ONLY tracks time you spent in a game, no one can really see what's done in it, and that's sad and lame IMO.

When I got my competitive spirit full force, I realized I was WAY better at Retro Games than I gave myself credit, as before discovering the site, I relied on Save States way too much.

So I am a completionist who loves to explore every aspect of video games and reach 100%, but most of my favorite titles come from generations of consoles that didn't support achievements, and that's where RA comes in.
I just couldn't believe it; I was able to play all of my favorite titles of the older generation and show my progress online with other people? I'm thrilled!

That and exploring so many different titles on RA that I would otherwise never play by participating in the various events of RA.

One last aspect of interest is the hardcore mode; I always swayed away from abusing emulation functions such as rewind, savestates, and fast-forward so this mode is my ideal way of earning achievements (for fast-forward, I just use it for extremely grinding sections)

That's what makes it so interesting for me.

They simply give me “reasons“.

Reasons to:

- Replay games I’ve played in the past, like

[Series - Tenchu] (Hubs)

,

[Series - Kamen Rider] (Hubs)

,

[Series - Ace Attorney] (Hubs)

and

Danganronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei (PlayStation Portable)

. Without RA, it’s very unlikely I would ever replay them.

But there is a reason (below) why I slowed down in this direction (if not I would’ve moved onto e.g.,

[Series - Metal Gear] (Hubs)

,

[Series - Onimusha] (Hubs)

or

[Subseries - Mega Man X] (Hubs)

)

- Went further on games I’ve played in the past (for example I never touched

Tenchu: Fatal Shadows (PlayStation 2)

’s extra battle modes or reached

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (Nintendo DS)

’s true ending)

- Beat the games I failed to beat in the past. Right now I don’t have a single successful example but it would be those long RPGs or horror games I stopped playing halfway and never picked back up.

- Finally play games I thought of playing but never did. I found this is more fun that replaying games I’ve played so lately I pivoted more toward this direction. They are games like

Corpse Party (PlayStation Portable)

,

Steins;Gate (PlayStation Portable)

and

999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (Nintendo DS)

, which I know exist and have heard good things about but never personally played until now.

- Indirectly since I played some anime games from RA, rewatch or first time watch their media, haha (such as

Planetarian: Chiisa na Hoshi no Yume (PlayStation Portable)

has a continuation movie)

I always liked how you could show off how good you are at a game by having all its achievements. its something that not a lot of people tend to do, so its sort of fun to try something that nobody could bother to do.

also giving me another excuse to play pikmin is always appreciated.