The original July planner has vanished from the forum so I'm stepping up to bat!
For me, the summer heat makes it the ideal time to play handhelds, so I've got two options for that!
Playing with Power: Portable Power! (monochrome Game Boy) - I feel like almost everyone has some experience with the Game Boy released in 1989 but then EXPLODED in 1998 with the release of Pokemon and the Game Boy Color in the US. But I know for myself and some others, the monochrome era games are largely mysterious and unknown. Sure, you might know Super Mario Land or Kirby's Dream Land, but have you played Heiankyo Alien or Daedalian Opus? Give yourself a chance to explore the vast but oft-neglected world of old school monochrome Game Boy! What hardware you play it on is up to you: the original GB is kind of rough with its blurry green screen, so folks are definitely welcome to play on a GB Color, Advance, Super Game Boy, or even emulating on a PC. But those black cartridge "Game Boy Color enhanced" games are OUT! Monochrome only!
I'm Not Boy (non-Game Boy handhelds prior to 2004) - The Game Boy was by FAR the most successful handheld in the 90s, but that doesn't mean the other handhelds don't deserve love! This category is for playing Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear, Bandai Wonderswan, or Neo Geo Pocket Color! You could even play Tiger Game.Com or Nokia N-Gage if you really wanted to. As long as you're playing on a handheld released prior to the Sony PSP or Nintendo DS, it's fair game!
Alms for the Poor (games that go for less than $15 each) - The awkward sibling of this months theme, lets play games that can be found on the cheap! I figure $15 cart/disc only games using ebay prices is a good metric ($20 might be allowed but lets not go beyond that). There are still some hidden gems out there and even mediocre games can be fun! Since retro game costs have EXPLODED in the past year and a half, this is a good way to focus on games whose prices haven't risen too much and are still totally affordable. You don't have to be playing on a physical copy but the price has to be linked to the cost of a physical game! So you can't play Silent Hill and say it's only $10 on PSN.
Gotta Go Fast! (Sonic the Hedgehog from pre-2002) - We've all played the Sonic games right? But if you're like me, it's been many years! This choice might not shrink your backlog, but it could be fun to revisit the classic era games! I'll count the Sonic Adventure games as being classics but if we go more recent, I feel like there are just too many games with too much variety. You don't have to play games in the main series though: Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic R, and Sonic Pocket Adventure are all legit choices!