Summer Games Challenge 2018 - begin when ready!

[alienjesus]

Arguably both GoldenEye and Turok are classics of their era, but while Turok was the first non-Nintendo game to become a Player's Choice, GoldenEye built on its success in many ways AND added a multiplayer component that left Turok 2 scrambling to top it. I vote GoldenEye.

For your RPGs, FF6 is probably the most "classic" of your options, but this is coming from a US perspective.

Star Control 2 is great, but it's sadly more of a hidden gem. Still...play it sometime.

Yeah, you're probably right on all of these fronts. I'm likely to go with GoldenEye over Turok because I think it's just 'more' classic.

On the FF6 front, there's no doubt it's a classic, but I'm leaning more towards the other 2 options because I have them on portable consoles - I'm more likely to finish these games if they don't all require TV time, especially the longer ones.

[pierrot]

Here are my thoughts for this year:

1. Arkanoid (NES)
2. Karate Champion (NES)
3. Landstalker (Genesis)
4. Perfect Dark (360/N64)
5. Legendary Axe (TG16)
6. Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap (SMS)
7. May Together Retro (Shadow Tower)
8. June Together Retro (TBD)
9. July Together Retro (TBD)
10. August Together Retro (TBD)

How’s that look?

I don't know how classic TR Month of July is, but the rest looks all right. I love seeing Dragon's Trap on there. I wish I felt a little bit better about labeling TG-16 games as classic, but at least in the west, it's difficult to point to games that are more than just known by a small segment of TG-16 owners, and niche aficionados.

I had a lot of trouble getting through Landstalker, years ago. It's fairly good, but I just was never able to put more than an hour or so into it at a time before I got kind of bored. It's a looooooong game the way I played it.

On the FF6 front, there's no doubt it's a classic, but I'm leaning more towards the other 2 options because I have them on portable consoles - I'm more likely to finish these games if they don't all require TV time, especially the longer ones.

Go with Suikoden. It's a great game, and a perfect length (only about 30 hours if you go for completion, and more like 20 hours if you don't).



I've grown a bit fond of the list Ack made for me. So, I'm going to stick with that for now, and just leave everything else in reserve in case I don't actually get to Dragon Quest VI, or Uncharted, for instance.

"Final" list, then:

1. Garou: Mark of the Wolves
2. Sega Rally
3. Killer 7
4. Metroid Prime
5. Super Monkey Ball
6. Streets of Rage
7. Zelda II
8. Uncharted 1
9. Virtua Racing
10. Dragon Quest VI

In reserve:

Contra
Ecco the Dolphin
Resident Evil 4
Sakura Taisen
Sorcerian
Atsumare!! Made in Wario
Viewtiful Joe
Shinobi (SMS)
Revenge of Shinobi
Shinobi III
Brave Fencer Musashiden
Rayman
Actraiser
Final Fantasy VI
Super Mario RPG
Crimson Skies
Forza Motorsport
Jet Set Radio Future
MechAssault
DoDonPachi DaiOuJou Black Label Extra
Wonder Boy in Monster Land

[nullPointer]

After a nice exchange with Key, I'm going to put together a list of candidates most of which I'll probably fail to put much of a dent in. All the same, thanks for helping to get me motivated Key! Thanks also to AJ, for getting the ball rolling this year. Although I've participated in past threads, this will actually be the first time I've put together a personal list. Here's my initial list of candidates which I'll be narrowing down considerably (obviously). If I can cross-pollinate any of these with Together Retro selections over the summer months that would be ideal (although at that point I'm not sure which thread I'd post more to ... double-posting here I come!). I haven't quite even narrowed down an order of preference here, though there are certainly some titles I'm more enthusiastic about for various reasons. Shorter games work better for me in this capacity, but I imagine I could squeeze one 'long form' game in over the Summer if I get an early start on it.

• Alex Kidd in Miracle World [SMS]: I've never completed any Alex Kidd game! Might as well start at the beginning.
  
  BattleToads [NES]: This might be getting too ambitious? Still, talk about a white whale; it would be really nice to finally put this one to bed.
  
  Crash Bandicoot [PSX]: Of the main console flagship 'mascots' (they being Mario, Sonic, and Crash), I've never actually completed a Crash Bandicoot game. Although Crash was the shortest lived of these mascots, and maybe there's a reason for that ...
  
  Crystalis [NES]: I've been wanting to play this game forever. But after I've mythologized it in my mind for so long, I'm not sure it can possibly live up to my inner hype. All the same it's definitely a game I need to play.
  
  Ecco the Dolphin [SCD]: Each time I see Key talking about this game, it gets me hyped on it as well. I'd like to get in on all the hubbub. Classic Sega weirdness.
  
  Half-Life: Opposing Force [PC/Steam]: Can you believe I only completed Half-Life just this year!? It would be nice to continue on with this series, and FPS games always feel like a nice fit for Summer.
  
  ICO [PS2]: Another game whose legend might well outpace its actual quality. I need to find out for myself.
  
  Kirby's Adventure [NES]: I've only barely scratched the surface in this long-running series.
  
  Metroid II: Return of Samus [GB]: Has any Metroid title received nearly so much attention in the form of remakes!? And to think that I've never played any version of this title. It would be nice to play the original as a basis of comparison when I finally get around to the remakes.
  
  Mother [GBA]: This one's been in my backlog forever. I had some considerable back and forth trying to decide whether to play the original (scrapped) localized version or the fan translation. According to most accounts that I've seen the fan translation is actually a fair bit better, so I'm leaning heavily in that direction. If I play one RPG as part of the challenge, it will be this one.
  
  Okami [PS2]: I've never even started this game, but like a lot of folks I've always been blown away by the beauty of it. Not sure what kind of time sink we'd be talking here.
  
  Shinobi [???]: Not at all sure what version would be preferable here, though I suspect the MAME version might be the way to go. How close does the SMS version come to capturing the arcade quality?

Those are probably my main choices for consideration. Other titles I'm considering include the following:

• Bully [PS2]: Too much time sink?
• Final Fight [SNES]
• God of War [PS2]
• Mega Man Legends [PSX]
• Mike Tyson's Punchout [NES]
• Rayman [PSX]
• Resident Evil 2 [PSX]: I'd rather save this one for some time around Halloween
• Sonic CD [SCD]: Probably won't do this one since I just beat a Sonic game
• Splatterhouse [???]: Best version?
• Tomb Raider 2 [PSX]
• Turrican [GEN]: Anyone know how the Amiga version of this one rates?
• U.N. Squadron [SNES]
• Ys 1: Ancient Ys Vanished [PC/Steam]: As I said I'll probably only do one RPG for the challenge (if that). Also not sure if the remake version really constitutes a classic. Still I really need to tear into Ys one of these days ...

[lordb0rb4]

Hello all, it is my first time posting here, after SO long visiting the forum, and i can say that the 2018's edition of the Summer Challenge is responsible for it.
I'm putting my list up and it is great to see everybody's list as well.
Since i live in Brazil it will be actually the beggining of winter over here XD but in my opnion it fits great nonetheless, playing video games and listening to the rain is a GREAT setup for maximum immersion.
So, good luck to us all and sorry for my poor writing

[Ack]

Hello all, it is my first time posting here, after SO long visiting the forum, and i can say that the 2018's edition of the Summer Challenge is responsible for it.
I'm putting my list up and it is great to see everybody's list as well.
Since i live in Brazil it will be actually the beggining of winter over here XD but in my opnion it fits great nonetheless, playing video games and listening to the rain is a GREAT setup for maximum immersion.
So, good luck to us all and sorry for my poor writing

Welcome aboard. I look forward to seeing what your list entails.

And don't worry about your English writing, you're doing fine. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[lordb0rb4]

Hello all, it is my first time posting here, after SO long visiting the forum, and i can say that the 2018's edition of the Summer Challenge is responsible for it.
I'm putting my list up and it is great to see everybody's list as well.
Since i live in Brazil it will be actually the beggining of winter over here XD but in my opnion it fits great nonetheless, playing video games and listening to the rain is a GREAT setup for maximum immersion.
So, good luck to us all and sorry for my poor writing

Welcome aboard. I look forward to seeing what your list entails.

And don't worry about your English writing, you're doing fine. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Thank you my friend!
The list's comming up quite nice i think:

Max Payne [PS2/PS4] - Although i have it on steam and physical on PS2 i literally just bought the PS4 "remaster". I'm familiar with Max's saga for a long time and even beat the second and third game but never came around finishing the first one.
Diablo II [PC] - Almost same case here too, played and finished Diablo III on Xbox One and Diablo 1 only last year it is time to finally ger to play this classic.
Perfect Dark [N64/X360] - Since i don't have the RAM thing for my N64 , the XBLA will be the way to go on this one
Castlevania Chronicles [PS1/PS3] - One of the few 2D Castlevania games i haven't played yet, and one of MANY in my list of shame.
Medal of Honor [PS1/PS3] - Piracy was THE major factor that made the first playstation the biggest console for most of Brazilian children and all those Goldeneye and Perfect Dark multiplayer memories i got on MOH over a friend's house, this time is all about single player campaign!
Phantasy Star Online [DC/PC] - This is where it got tricky, you see, i own the Dreamcast ver. 2 and by what i've seen it is just a more polished release of the first one, the Gamecube and Xbox got the second part with more areas.After some research and tweaks i got running on my laptop (High Resolutions , joystick support and all ) the Blue Burst edition offline and it looks AMAZING, so i ask you:
Is the original (Dreamcast) experience worthy enough or i'm better having the complete package altogether?

[pierrot]

• ICO [PS2]: Another game whose legend might well outpace its actual quality. I need to find out for myself. - I will always love this game. It's so moody, and often serene.
  
  Okami [PS2]: I've never even started this game, but like a lot of folks I've always been blown away by the beauty of it. Not sure what kind of time sink we'd be talking here. - Pretty substantial. I think I put 70-something hours into in when it came out. I was pretty much going for completion, though.
  
  Shinobi [???]: Not at all sure what version would be preferable here, though I suspect the MAME version might be the way to go. How close does the SMS version come to capturing the arcade quality? - They're kind of different. I think the Arcade version is ultimately preferable, but I'm not positive.

---

Hello all, it is my first time posting here, after SO long visiting the forum, and i can say that the 2018's edition of the Summer Challenge is responsible for it.

Welcome! It's nice seeing new people joining in.

Castlevania Chronicles [PS1/PS3] - One of the few 2D Castlevania games i haven't played yet, and one of MANY in my list of shame.

I quite like this game, but not everyone feels the same way. I think it was last year sometime about half of the forums coincidentally played this around the same time. I might have been the only one who really liked it, but hopefully that won't discourage you from giving it a shot.

Phantasy Star Online [DC/PC] - This is where it got tricky, you see, i own the Dreamcast ver. 2 and by what i've seen it is just a more polished release of the first one, the Gamecube and Xbox got the second part with more areas.After some research and tweaks i got running on my laptop (High Resolutions , joystick support and all ) the Blue Burst edition offline and it looks AMAZING, so i ask you:
Is the original (Dreamcast) experience worthy enough or i'm better having the complete package altogether?

I haven't really played Episoe 2 or Blue Burst, but I think ver 2 on the Dreamcast is great. I used to play it obsessively back in 2001/2002. I guess it kind of depends on if you're set up for playing online with the Dreamcast version, or if you're happy to play the game solo. It's way more fun with other people, but the single player experience is all right too.

[BoneSnapDeez]

[*]Ys 1: Ancient Ys Vanished [PC/Steam]: As I said I'll probably only do one RPG for the challenge (if that). Also not sure if the remake version really constitutes a classic. Still I really need to tear into Ys one of these days ...[/list]

If/when you get into this you'll want to play the first two games back-to-back. The second one picks up directly after the first and has the same type of controls, graphical style, and so on. In fact, on TurboGrafx CD they are blended together as one large game. Did you ever pick that up on the VC (I don't recall you ever mentioning owning any NEC hardware)??? It's really the best way to play it. That said, Ys Book I & II is 10/10 on TurboGrafx and 9/10 on Steam, so you can't really go wrong.

Phantasy Star Online [DC/PC] - This is where it got tricky, you see, i own the Dreamcast ver. 2 and by what i've seen it is just a more polished release of the first one, the Gamecube and Xbox got the second part with more <span class="skimlinks-unlinked">areas.After</span> some research and tweaks i got running on my laptop (High Resolutions , joystick support and all ) the Blue Burst edition offline and it looks AMAZING, so i ask you:
Is the original (Dreamcast) experience worthy enough or i'm better having the complete package altogether?

First time playing, and offline? I would just go to the DC for a tight succinct experience.

Oh, and most of the changes made to Ver. 2 are immaterial, especially if you're playing offline in 2018.

[lordb0rb4]

Thank you guys for your help, for commodity reasons i'm sticking to the PC version of PSO, the option to play it on the go is great since i wait for my wife 1-2 hrs everyday after-work...
I'm SUPER hyped right now:


Virtua Racing is the newer addition, it would be great if we had some time attack fun (i think another user is settled to play it too).

[marurun]

Arcade Shinobi is probably best, but if you want to go the console route, the PC Engine version isn't bad.