Summer Games Challenge 2015

[alienjesus]

1. Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu To Hikari No Ken (Famicom)
2. Super Aleste (SNES)
3. Banjo-Tooie (N64)
4. Saturn Bomberman (Saturn)
5. Shenmue (DC)
6. Final Fantasy VIII (PS1)
7. Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA)
8. Shinobi (GG)
9. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Vita)
10. The Curse of Monkey Island (PC)

So last night I sat down with a mission to finish Metal Gear Solid 3. Howlongtobeat reckons the game is about 16-19 hours, so I figured I didn't have too long left. 25-26 hours in, I finally hit the credits

I picked up from getting the key to the Groznyj Grad base from EVA, and went through the tunnel, fought The Fury, snuck into the base, got caught, escaped, fought The Sorrow, infiltrated the base again and fought Volgin and the Shagohod, before finall fighting The Boss.

The Fury was perhaps the weakest boss fight for me - he came out of nowhere more than the other Cobra Unit members, and I feel it didn't show enough of him to make me care about him like it did with The End before him. His fight is supposedly one of the easiest in the game, but it sure gave me a bit of trouble.

The fight with Volgin also gave me a lot of trouble due to the 5 minute time limit - I kept narrowly missing killing him. I quite liked Volgin as a villain - he felt much more significant as a foe than Liquid Snake or Solidus from the previous two games. Sure he was silly and over the top, but thats part of the fun of MGS.

The final fight with the Boss was a little disappointing I thought - it felt epic at first, and the set up was cool, but after losing once I realised that it was much easier to be aggresive using flash grenades than it was to try sneaking up on her.

The final scenes of the game were awesome. It really drives home how much more interesting of a character Big Boss is compared to the rather boring Solid Snake in MGS1. The series has definitely spent a lot more time lately focusing on his story, and I think thats for the better. It does make me wish we could have modern remakes of Metal Gear 1 and 2 though, now the story continuity is more flesh out.

I won't go too much into detail about my thoughts on the rest of my game overall (I'll save that for the games beaten thread) but I will let you all know that I loved it, that like every Metal Gear game before it its the best in the series to date and that I think it's a masterpiece.


I have a 3 day weekend this weekend, which in my eyes is 30 hours to take down FFVIII - I've left it stagnating for too long, and I dont even know why as I was quite enjoying it overall.

Until the weekend, I was planning on working on The Curse of Monkey Island, as it's a nice relaxing game to play in the evenings and one which my girlfriend will enjoy playing with me.

Those 7 games are likely to be my lot for this summer, but I definitely plan to play the other 3 over the next couple of months too - it's just that it's probably a bit late for them to count as 'summer' games after that point. I'll chronicle them here as I go though.

[alienjesus]

Double post because I seem to be the only one still going!


This weekend's goal is to wipe out 2 more of the games on my summer list - FFVIII and Monkey Island are the targets.

The Curse of Monkey Island - I pulled together a map, a crew and a boat and set off for Blood Island. Captain Rottingham then stole my map, so I now I need to get it back. It seems like it's time for some rhyming insult swordfighting. About halfway through this, maybe? At a push? It's not meant to be too long overall.

FFVIII: Picked up near the start of disc 3. I'm polishing off a few sidequests - got the Odin and Tonberry GFs. I probably won't do too many of the other sidequests, although I aim to get al the GFs, so I'll be fighting the Jumbo Cactuar, Ultima Weapon and DoomTrain yet.

It looks like most of whats left might be sidequests, so tomorrow I plan to power through a whole bunch of the main quest - maybe I can even close in on disc 4.

[Sload Soap]

Yeah, my challenge pretty much went to pot from the very beginning.

I have been playing a few classics recently though so it's all good.

[alienjesus]

So my mission to finish up the two games I was playing by the end of the month failed, although I made good progress in both.

I'm gonna give myself another week or so to take them out before I call it quits for the summer. Hopefully I can take down the three neglected games before Christmas.

In Curse of Monkey Island I've made it to Blood Island, which is Chapter IV. There are 6 in total, although I'm willing to beat act 6 is probably just the 'boss fight' of the game.

In Final Fantasy VIII I got the Ragnarok and rescued Rinoa a few times. I'm ready to tackle Lunatic Pandora and the games final dungeon, but first I'll grab the last couple of GFs I need.

[laurenhiya21]

Welp, I really meant to play more of Gunstar Heroes, but I ended up not having much time to ><; I didn't even beat that many on my list (2/10) but I couldn't play most of them... but oh well. Maybe next year will be better?

[alienjesus]

I know I was the only one still going anyway, but I'm officially calling it done for the year. I've beaten 7 of my original 10.

1. Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu To Hikari No Ken (FC)
2. Super Aleste (SNES)
3. Banjo-Tooie (N64)
4. Saturn Bomberman (Saturn)
5. Shenmue (DC)
6. Final Fantasy VIII (PS1)
7. Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA)
8. Shinobi (GG)
9. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)
10. The Curse of Monkey Island (PC)

I'll write up more in-depth thoughts on the 2 games I recently beat (Curse of Monkey Island and FFVIII) in the games beaten thread later, but here are my brief thoughts on how much I enjoyed each game.

Fire Emblem:
This unfortunately never got started as I wanted to finish FFVIII first so I wasn't playing two long RPGs at once. I prioritised FFVIII as I beat the remake of this game just this year. I still plan to finish this one this year though - after all, I have about 6 other Fire Emblem games to beat as well! Maybe you'll see another Fire Emblem on next year's list - hopefully one of the Super Famicom games by that point.

Super Aleste
This is the third time Super Aleste has been in my summer games list, and the third time I've literally not played it at all. I fullt intend to sit and play this soon, but don't be surprised if it's on the list next year too...

Banjo-Tooie
I was excited to play Banjo-Tooie as I adored the first game (which I played as part of the summer challenge a few years ago now). Tooie wasn't as good as the first game, but it didn't let me down - it's still easily one of the best N64 games and a must-own in my book. The next game in the series is the almost totally forgotten GBA game, so it won't qualify for next year's summer list!

Saturn Bomberman
Saturn Bomberman was a late addition to my list, and was a much needed short game to blast through. It was a bit shorter and significantly easier than Mega Bomberman on the Mega Drive, but it was just as much fun and less frustrating overall. The multiplayer is as great as ever. It's one of the priciest in the series but it's worth it in my book. At least it's not as much as 2nd Attack on the N64?

Shenmue
This is the last of the 3 games I didn't play and/or beat on my summer list this year, although not for lack of trying. I had some disc reading issues with my Dreamcast, which I've thankfully now resolved. I have a few things I want to finish up first, but Shenmue is pretty high up on my priority list, so I should play it before the year is out. Maybe you'll see Shenmue 2 on next year's list.

Final Fantasy VIII
This is perhaps one of the more controversial Final Fantasy games both mechanically and in terms of plot online. Some people love it, some people hate it. It was the first og my summer games I started, and the last I finsihed. You might assume from the fact that I took over 3 months to beat the game that I fall into the camp of people who aren't so keen on the game, but you'd be wrong. I actually had a blast whenever I played it, and whilst it's perhaps not in my top 3 FF games, it's close. Most of the issues I had were to do with not having the time to play an RPG, or not being in the right mood - nothing caused by the game, thats for sure. I love it. I still need to beat Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy XIII from the main series. VI is a distinct possibility for next year.

Metroid Zero Mission
I am a big fan of the original Metroid, and this builds on it very impressively. New items, faster paced gameplay, an extra post-game section that plays in a completely unique way for the series and it all looks lovely. Although I think this is better overall, there are some advantages the NES game has over this imo - it has a better atmosphere with it's slower pace and darker visuals. Luckily, it's right here on the cartridge too! The only Metroid game I haven't beaten at this point is Other M, so don't expect to see any more Metroid on my list next year.

Shinobi
It's not very often I sit down to play a Game Gear game, and attempting this one reminded me exactly why that is. The Blurry screen definitely caused me some issues. After picking the game up on Virtual Console instead, I quickly found that this is a fantastic portable Shinobi that feels like it's own thing, whilst also being familiar to Revenge of Shinobi fans. The opening few levels are great, but the final stage is a bit brutal and feels cheap sometimes. I might struggle to justify putting the sequel on next year's list, but that doesn't mean I necessarily won't try...

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
This is the third year running a Metal Gear Solid game has been on my list, and it's definitely worth it. Every MGS game I play is better than the last, and this one is no exception - it's easily the best of the ones I've played so far. The atmosphere, gameplay mechanics and characters were all incredibly compelling. At this point I've played all of the unique Metal Gear games worth playing up to the end of the PS2 era (Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, MGS, MGS2, MGS3 and Metal Gear Solid for GBC) and the next major entries in the series are on PSP and PS3, so the series probably won't get onto my summer list from now on. Unless I buy Twin Snakes I guess.

The Curse of Monkey Island
I'm a bit of a sucker for LucasArts adventure games, but unlike most I don't rank Monkey Island 1 & 2 amongst the best of them - I found them a bit obtuse at times, and they rank below Grim Fandango, Maniac Mansion and especially Day of the Tentacle for me. However, The Curse of Monkey Island is up there with the best of their output. It looks great, it sounds great, the puzzles aren't too crazy but not too simple too and it mixes up gameplay mechanics sometimes in fun ways. It feels like LucasArts hitting their stride and it's great.


Lastly, before I go, it's too early to be picking next year's summer games list, but from what I own right now, here's a few thoughts of what may feature. It'll be interesting to compare this list next May and see how it compares:

Rastan (SMS)
Rayman (Saturn)
Shinobi (SMS)
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (GC)
Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
Dragon Quest 6 (DS)
Fire Emblem: Monsho No Nazo (SFC)
Fire Emblem: Seisen No Keifu (SFC)
Blaster Master (VC - NES)
Shenmue 2 (DC)
Super Aleste (SNES)
Blast Corps (N64)
Pilotwings 64 (N64)

[BoneSnapDeez]

Next year's list doesn't look bad. I would just toss Famicom Fire Emblem on it, unless you do finish it before May. Be forewarned - Rastan is hard as balls and not exactly loads of fun. And Dragon Quest VI - I'd go Super Fami over DS for the purposes of this challenge.

I thought you had beaten Shinobi? Or was that just the GG game? The arcade original is on Sonic's UGG if you wanna go that route instead of a port.

I'd strike Kingdom Hearts. It is 1) not retro or a "classic" in any sense and 2) a completely wretched game.

I was going to say that I also had issue with Sonic Adventure 2 Battle until I did some research and discovered it's essentially a variant of Sonic Adventure 2. So I'll let it slide.

[alienjesus]

Next year's list doesn't look bad. I would just toss Famicom Fire Emblem on it, unless you do finish it before May. Be forewarned - Rastan is hard as balls and not exactly loads of fun. And Dragon Quest VI - I'd go Super Fami over DS for the purposes of this challenge.

I thought you had beaten Shinobi? Or was that just the GG game? The arcade original is on Sonic's UGG if you wanna go that route instead of a port.

I'd strike Kingdom Hearts. It is 1) not retro or a "classic" in any sense and 2) a completely wretched game.

I was going to say that I also had issue with Sonic Adventure 2 Battle until I did some research and discovered it's essentially a variant of Sonic Adventure 2. So I'll let it slide.

I count anything 2 generations old as Retro, so Kingdom Hearts being a PS2 game doesn't exclude it for me (nor does SA2B being a Gamecube game). I'm not going to get into the argument about what is and what's not retro, but just know I've put plenty of games from that gen (and in fact, later generations) on my list before, and it's not going to change now. Also, 'Retro' isn't a condition for entry on the list anyway - just classic. I think there are Wii and 360 games old enough to start counting under that term now tbh.

Kingdom Hearts is also a generally well thought of game and is part of what is a pretty defining series for Squaresoft nowadays, for better or worse. I'm not saying I'll definitely like it, but it certainly qualifies in my eyes.

I don't own DQ6 on SFC and I'm only looking at games I do own. My other option would be Dragon Quest 8.

I've not beaten the original Shinobi - the 'Shinobi' I've beaten is the GG one. I've also beaten Revenge of Shinobi and Shinobi III before, so it'd be interesting to take on the first entry in the series!

Lastly - Fire Emblem 1 absolutely would be on next years list, but I want to have beaten it by then. Hopefully I'd have beaten Fire Emblem Gaiden (the second game) by then too. Either way, I feel Gaiden isn't as well thought of as the SFC games - particularly Seisen No Keifu which some claim is the best in the series.

[pierrot]

Why bother with FE: Ankoku Ryu? The first half of Monsho no Nazo is an updated version of the Famicom game. Also, Gaiden is almost completely unrelated to the rest of the series, in terms of story. Worth keeping in mind that the series creator left Nintendo after Thracia. (Sure was nice of Nintendo to threaten legal action against him while he was working on Tear Ring Saga.)

I still need to beat Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy XIII from the main series. VI is a distinct possibility for next year.

Interesting. II and VI are the only two I haven't beaten from the main series. (Unless XIII-2 and Lightning Returns would fit that classification.) I've played a fair amount of both, and I actually like II, but I think VI is pretty crappy. I'd go for XII instead. (Personally, I like XIII better than VI, too.)

Regarding Kingdom Hearts: I really liked it when I played it around release, but when I played Final Mix about ten years later, I HATED it. However, I think that's somewhat attributable to a greater intolerance of Nomura, that I seem to have developed with age. Still, I do love the 100 Acre Woods.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Your views are a bit unorthodox, my friend.

FFVI is generally ranked pretty high in the series. It's my favorite game of all time!

In any case, VI would be the best pick for this challenge. II will drive you mad, aj, especially if you decide to tackle it on the Famicom.