First of all, I resent Ack's forcing my hand so early this year. I don't give a flying fuck when those heathens in Iceland have their Summer, this is 'merica and there's no reason to even start thinking about Summer until after Memorial Day: think of those who died serving our country, THEN think of hot dogs, pools, baseball, thongs, and the Summer Challenge. Besides, last week up here in real 'merica, where we have four distinct seasons, we still had snow! You can't trust a southerner to know shit about when summer begins and ends as God keeps them festering in a perpetual year round hell on earth to recompense them for losing the Civil War.
Anyway, as is the case every year, this thread is once again full of immense bravado, shortsightedness, ignorance, and general foolishness. I am here to once again set the record straight and try and correct your mistakes for you. By calling out your bad choices, placing them on my wall of shame, and forcing you to reconsider your sad, pathetic lives, I am doing you an immense favor, trust me.
So, without further adieu, here's the first round of candidates for...
WALL OF SHAME: Existing picks you morans made that can't/shouldn't reasonably be considered classics:
-Raystorm - a fun shmup for sure, but not a classic. Radiant Silvergun is a much better choice and noise's apparent hatred of Treausre is not a reason to pick this also-ran mid-90s shmup.
-The Seventh Saga - I actually let Ack get away with this one a couple of years ago, and he has now confirmed what I suspected: it is a waste of goddamn time and not deserving a spot on your list over faaaar better games. The game is a C+/B- game at best, so give it a pass.
-Legacy of the Wizard - you do realize that I
told you several years ago to knock this shit off, right prfsnl_gmr? The game doesn't defy classification; it can be classified as "not a classic"
-Little Big Adventure - hey! The first candidate to reproduce the yearly sin of someone listing something that is "old and obscure" and, therefore, "A CLASS1K!!" Nope. This one has no business here.
-Magic Carpet - I once considered this one myself a few years ago, then I stopped huffing glue. I think this is a classic example of selecting a game that was well regarded at the time but has had virtually no legacy since.
-NHL '96 - This is an easy fix, as I know you just wrote "6" instead of "4"
-Sanitarium, Crusader: No Remorse, and Ghost Recon - putting these on your list makes me want to punch you in the face because I know why they are here, and can even sympathize with the arguments, but fuck it: they aren't regarded as classics. Has your mom heard of any of these? Have my 18 year old students heard of any of these? Have most people outside of a retro forum heard of them? Have most people ON a retro forum heard of them? If the answer to two or more of those questions is no, drop it from your list as you don't need them: you have better choices.
-Gargoyle's Quest - a strong cult following doesn't make this a classic, even if the series it is associated with has some classic titles. Great game, but no business on a Summer Challenge List.
-Hydlide II - While I am sure this is considered a classic amongst masochistic assholes, I'd like to think that we aren't a group of those. Perhaps you should find a different forum to engage in your strange summer proclivities?
-Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic - Just play Super Mario Bros. 2 and don't be such a fucking hipster.
-Wonderboy III: The Dragon's Trap - A decent game in a middling and forgettable series. Not a classic.
-Kirby's Pinball - see "Gargoyle's Quest" above
-Adventures of Lolo - No no.
-Vectorman - this one is super-marginal, as it is certainly a classic of the Genesis library but had virtually no staying power as a franchise people cited, cared about, etc. after about 1996. I'd say there are better choices to be made on the Genesis.
-Outlaws: Handful of Missions - See "Magic Carpet" above.
-Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - This is the post that poked the bear in me and forced me out of hibernation. Not only is the game not even 6 years old, but it is widely regarded as a tremendous abandonment of much of what people loved about the Castlevania series prior. Even if it ages well, at this point a classic it is not. It may look nice, but it basically rips off far better games that I don't think you've played (e.g. Devil May Cry and God of War), and you should play those instead.
I'll leave it to y'all to fix these ASAP (I see some have been tentatively scuttled). Perhaps it is ultimately a good thing you are making your mistakes a full two-plus months before summer actually starts, as the errors in judgement are unconscionable and some of you have a lot of fixing to do before you have decent lists. You will need the extra time, clearly.
