Summer Games Challenge 2016

[BoneSnapDeez]

I did Metroid and Zelda II back-to-back a couple of summers ago. Great games.

[Markies]

If you have access to Tecmo Super Bowl, play that. It's amazing. My favorite football game of all time.

Best overall team in that game is probably the 49ers

Tecmo Super Bowl was basically my childhood. I came very close to beating the game with every team, but I eventually lost track. I did beat it with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, the two worst teams in the game.

I also beat it with the 49ers where all I did was do Montana to Rice. And now, I want to beat it only using Bo Jackson and the Raiders. I recently did a preseason game where the final was 100-0 against the Colts.

Use either of those teams and doing the Nose Tackle trick basically breaks the game.

But, Tecmo Super Bowl is probably the best sports video game of all time. Even people who don't like sports can get into it. I played against my friend who hates sports where I was Coach and he was a normal player and that was an exciting game.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I did Metroid and Zelda II back-to-back a couple of summers ago. Great games.

Both are fantastic, but I prefer Zelda II. (Metroid has arguably the best atmosphere and music of any 8-bit game, however.)

Right now, I am playing through Kid Icarus, which seems to borrow a bit from Metroid. It starts out incredibly frustrating, but now that I am into it, I love it. I will probably beat it soon, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a game for the Summer Gaming Challenge.

[Sarge]

If you have access to Tecmo Super Bowl, play that. It's amazing. My favorite football game of all time.

Best overall team in that game is probably the 49ers

Tecmo Super Bowl was basically my childhood. I came very close to beating the game with every team, but I eventually lost track. I did beat it with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, the two worst teams in the game.

I also beat it with the 49ers where all I did was do Montana to Rice. And now, I want to beat it only using Bo Jackson and the Raiders. I recently did a preseason game where the final was 100-0 against the Colts.

Use either of those teams and doing the Nose Tackle trick basically breaks the game.

But, Tecmo Super Bowl is probably the best sports video game of all time. Even people who don't like sports can get into it. I played against my friend who hates sports where I was Coach and he was a normal player and that was an exciting game.

I actually did beat it with every team. I was insane when it came to that game. That Patriots run were brutal... but I think the Colts might even be worse. At least the Pats had a couple of decent receivers, and you could swap quarterbacks based on who was in the best condition. And the Colts defense is just awful. Awful. Hey, it's almost like when Peyton played there!

I think I'm on board with it being the best of all time. It's definitely my favorite, one of the few sports games I played incessantly. And the detailed statistical tracking appealed to me a ton.

Can you believe I never knew about the nose tackle trick, though? Man, I could have made things so much easier. As it was, I'd just use a fast linebacker and squeeze through the gaps in the line. I could get to the QB fast, and was usually in a position to sniff out the other plays if I called the wrong defense.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Right now, I am playing through Kid Icarus, which seems to borrow a bit from Metroid. It starts out incredibly frustrating, but now that I am into it, I love it. I will probably beat it soon, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a game for the Summer Gaming Challenge.

I actually considering including this one, but I don't want to include a game that I don't own yet.

Maybe if I snag a copy in the coming months I'll swap out my "troll pick" of Hydlide II.

[alienjesus]

I so want to participate, but I don't think I have enough truly classic games to fill out an entire list. You guys wanna help me?

Apple II:
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

Dreamcast:
ChuChu Rocket!
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
Shenmue

DOS:
LOOM
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge

GBA:
Final Fantasy VI -- but I've beaten the oiriginal on SNES
Pokémon LeafGreen -- but I've beaten the original Red/Blue for GB

Game Boy/Color:
Metroid II: Return of Samus -- maybe? I don't think most people have played this
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins -- never beat that last castle.
Tetris -- is this considered beatable?

GameCube:
Resident Evil 0

Genesis:
Lemmings
Theme Park

N64:
Pokémon Stadium -- not sure what's considered "beaten" here anyway
Pokémon Stadium 2 -- same

NES:
The Legend of Zelda -- okay yeah, this one's a must.
Tecmo Bowl -- maybe?
Ultima III: Exodus


PS2:
Resident Evil Code: Veronica

Wii:
Super Smash Bros. Brawl

I think any of the above are good options. My personal pick of 10 would be:

1. The Legend of Zelda
2. Ultima IV
3. Shenmue (plus I'm gonna play this so we can compare notes!)
4. Monkey Island 2 (prfsnl_gmr was gonna play this, so more comparing notes!)
5. Mario Land 2
6. Metroid II
7. Lemmings
8. Chu Chu Rocket
9. One of the Resident Evils you listed
10. Tecmo Bowl

That covers a lot of classics and a good variety of genres and consoles. It's also generally pretty short too, so nice and achievable!



For what it's worth, both Pokémon Stadium games have endings if you beat all the cups/gym leaders castle. It unlocks a harder difficulty afterwards.

[BoneSnapDeez]

@Keyish

Lemmings is one of my favorite games of all time, but be forewarned:
1. It's probably longer than you realize.
2. It's much much better on a computer (Amiga / PC / Mac / etc) than a console. Does the Genesis port at least have mouse support? Playing the game involves moving a cursor so it's more than a tad awkward with a controller. You can find a DOS version of the game for about $5 shipped - something to ponder.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Right now, I am playing through Kid Icarus, which seems to borrow a bit from Metroid. It starts out incredibly frustrating, but now that I am into it, I love it. I will probably beat it soon, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a game for the Summer Gaming Challenge.

I actually considering including this one, but I don't want to include a game that I don't own yet.

Maybe if I snag a copy in the coming months I'll swap out my "troll pick" of Hydlide II.

Get the FDS version. The 3D Classics version is based off of it, and the game is do much better without passwords.

[laurenhiya21]

Hmm, really having a difficult time narrowing down what I want to play for this year (or if I even want to do it at all I guess).

I can't think of too many games that I have that are classics... I would be ok with emulating stuff but that doesn't exactly narrow it down at all There's just so many classics that I haven't tried yet haha.

The only games that I'm pretty sure I want to try are:
- Super Mario World
- The Ultimate Doom (this is a classic right?)

I'll have to try and figure out what else I'll want to play for this... Not going to start till June though so I guess I have a while to figure it out ha.

[Key-Glyph]

Thanks for the opinions, everyone!

Loved the Tecmo Bowl conversation. I've really wanted to play that one for real, but I wasn't sure it qualified as a classic as much as other games. Same with Metroid II; I'm really into the idea of playing it, but I thought maybe it was a somewhat dismissed installment within the series.

A lot of these games are ones I started but never finished. I think I stopped playing Shenmue basically right before the end. LOOM as well. Lemmings too; I can get pretty far, but as Bone is alluding, things get crazy without a mouse.

I would have bought a Mega Mouse for the challenge, but the internet is telling me it's not compatible with the original Lemmings. Whatever. I can do this.

Edit: To everyone considering playing the original Metroid, it is a must. I played it last summer and it is probably my favorite NES game of all time. For reals.