Summer Games Challenge 2025 - GET EQUIPPED

[Key-Glyph]

sounds fun i will give it try...

i have beaten every level in Ecco 1 without cheating except welcome to the machine and the final boss

wish me luck

Yay, welcome in, Quag Boi! I too finished the first Ecco game through the use of cheats back in the day (I couldn't get past Dark Water), then went through it all again cheat-free later on. Good luck, you can do it!

2. Super Metroid (SNES)* - Putting an asterisk on this one, because I have played this game before and got deep into it twice, but managed to get stuck both times and never beat it. I want to finally beat this one! Also, when I was young I got this game in the summer, a few months after the initial release, so I always associate it with this time of year.

3. Yoshi’s Story (N64) - Enjoyed Yoshi's Island on the SNES. I've heard mixed things about this one, but I'd like to give it a go for myself. Also, haven't shown the N64 much love this year, so it'll be fun to spend some with it.

5. Resident Evil: Code Veronica (DC) - This is another series I tend to associate with the summer, mostly because I played the first release a ton during that time of year. Well, I've never beat this one before, so I'm hoping to finally get to it!

Really excited about these. I started playing through all the classic Metroids during the Summer Games Challenges, so Metroid = summer forever to me and I'm going to love having it back in my landscape by vicariously living through you!

Yoshi's Story is one of the two games I had for N64 back in the day and I really did love it -- it blew my mind that a 2D platformer could look so soft and endearing on a system that was geared towards 3D polygons. (I think back then I was even surprised that a 2D platformer had been made for the N64, since it felt like the world was moving beyond that.) My advice is that if you want it to feel challenging, try to find all the muskmelons in every level; don't eat any other fruits.

And does this mean we could have a trio of Code Veronica players this year?! Wild! Let's see if we manage to get to it!

Clock Tower Rewind has (as the name would imply) a rewind feature where you can rollback several seconds of gameplay. It also has a new animated intro and a few other quality of life improvements.

I'm grateful you spelled this out, because I did not actually know that "rewind" referred to a rollback feature. I think that's great! What other QOL improvements were there?

I only got two endings, one of the canonical endings and the one where you drive away in the car with no regards for your friends lives (I didn't know that would end the game lol).

Everybody does this. It's the true experience of the game.

[pierrot]

mado monogatari 1 GENASIS

Madou Monogatari I is a really great game, with an incredible soundtrack that not many people get to play. Does it have an English translation now?

4. Crusader of Centy (GEN)
5. Resident Evil: Code Veronica (DC)
Bonus: Radiant Silvergun (SAT)

Man, everyone is planning on playing some of my favorite games. I am excite.

As much as I love Xenogears, picking Vagrant Story is probably for the best since it is much shorter. Xenogears is about 60-70 hour game on the first playthrough. It will take much longer than that if you are looking up all the philosophical and psychological reference it makes. Of course, you could always watch Resonant Arc's 21-part story analysis instead.

Looks like I could save about 30 hours that way, at least.
Yeah, as much as I'm interested in playing Xenogears, I just don't see myself finishing it this summer. Devil Summoner is probably close to the same amount of time, but I partly feel like I need more SMT in my life right now, and I also feel like I've been neglecting some of the Saturn RPGs I still have to play through, even though I've knocked out 90% of the ones anyone really knows

I only got two endings, one of the canonical endings and the one where you drive away in the car with no regards for your friends lives (I didn't know that would end the game lol).

Everybody does this. It's the true experience of the game.

I actually avoided this somehow. The game kept me from leaving, for some reason.


-------

Ys Origin:

I've been playing this as Yunica on Normal difficulty the past couple nights. I enjoy the gameplay a fair amount, but it's time to preface with my Falcom speal while Bone doesn't seem to be around--. So, I don't really like Ys I or II. I'm a Dragon Slayer series bump-combat person all the way--I don't really understand how or why they're different, but I swear they are--and a devout evangelist of the Kiya Yoshio faith (Dragon Slayer creator; 'the man who built Falcom'). 1993 is a clear line of demarcation for me with Falcom: The year Kiya left Falcom, after finishing the first Legend of Xanadu on PC Engine. By the end of 1993, Falcom was also trying to release new Ys games (Ys IV) four years after losing the two primary developers for the Ys series, Hashimoto Masaya and Miyazaki Tomoyoshi (coincidentally they moved on to form Quintet and make Actraiser, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma, etc).

Anyway, all that is to say that my relationship with post '93 Falcom is a bit strained, and I generally see their releases since then as trying to reclaim the massive losses they sustained from Kiya, Hashimoto and Miyazaki walking. Ys Origin fits in to that while also being a story prequel to a pair of games I really don't care about very much. On top of that, Adol isn't involved at all due to how far in the past it's set, which just feels kind of odd. So everything here conspires to be a story I just don't really care about, but where I'm at (Floor 14, probably about halfway through Yunica's story) also feels like it just tried to speed run the hero arc. I don't dislike Yunica, although part of me almost feels like I should, but this story just isn't it, dog. I'm thinking, based on timing of releases, that it might resemble the Trails games in that regard.

Good thing is the game itself, as well as the soundtrack (in typical Ys fashion) are pretty bangin'. (One thing I do have to hand to the Ys franchise is that it did really solidify the Falcom Sound Team as some Zuntata-level musical mad lads that carried their work forward into later Dragon Slayer entries.) It's quite nice to look at running on the OLED Steam Deck, as well.

My main gripe with the gameplay is that while there are some nice tools in the action combat, some of the inputs for them are pretty janky and finicky. For the most part, you have a basic rush-down combo by mashing the attack button, a kind of similar air combo when jumping and holding the control stick in a direction, a rising upper attack when attacking on the incline from a jump with the control stick neutral, but then there's the special attack that does multiple hits in all directions and has a chance to reduce enemy defense executed by tipping the control stick in a direction and letting it return to neutral position before hitting attack, or the drop attack with a chance to stun that's executed by attacking with the control stick neutral while on the decline from a jump. Those last two are the most useful, but also really finicky to execute, particularly the defense reducing attack. Along with that, Yunica also has three elemental "Skills" that she can use to damage enemies, or use for progression in some places, and those can be tapped for a basic quick attack, or charged for a much larger and/or more sustained attack.

There's also this thing called Boost that charges up over time and can be 'released' to boost defense and MP regeneration, at least. Can't remember if there was really anything else to it. At any rate, everything comes together into a fairly fun package, it would just be that much better if those two attacks were assigned to controls in a way that made them more consistent.

We push on ever onward and upward.

[Note]

A solid list. Code Veronica really needs a remake on the RE Engine. Summer Game Fest is right around the corner and it has been 2 years since RE4 Remake. Could this be the year?

Thanks, bmoc! Appreciate that, glad to hear it has your approval.

To be honest, I do not have a copy of either of these, but I do have an Everdrive for my Genesis and a knock off one for my NES, SMS, and SNES. So I am playing on the original console even though I do not have the official cartridge.

Since I am playing on an Everdrive... I am tempted to use the double XP & money patch for Phantasy Star... the grinding is fun, but sooooo slow.

I am playing PS and DQ5 at the same time, I am enjoying the play style of PS more (don't get me wrong DQ is my favorite RPG franchise) but DQ5 is so much more rewarding.

That double XP and money patch sounds awesome. I wasn't trying to knock you or anyone else for not having a physical copy of the game they're playing. I just don't have an Everdrive or a reproduction copy of Terranigma, and would prefer to play on original hardware. Whatever works for you! In regards to the knock off Everdrive devices, what are those called?

Really excited about these. I started playing through all the classic Metroids during the Summer Games Challenges, so Metroid = summer forever to me and I'm going to love having it back in my landscape by vicariously living through you!

Yoshi's Story is one of the two games I had for N64 back in the day and I really did love it -- it blew my mind that a 2D platformer could look so soft and endearing on a system that was geared towards 3D polygons. (I think back then I was even surprised that a 2D platformer had been made for the N64, since it felt like the world was moving beyond that.) My advice is that if you want it to feel challenging, try to find all the muskmelons in every level; don't eat any other fruits.

And does this mean we could have a trio of Code Veronica players this year?! Wild! Let's see if we manage to get to it!

I'm excited to revisit Super Metroid as well. The game made a really big impression on me when I was young, always loved the character design and atmosphere. In regards to Yoshi's Story, I totally missed it when it was released, but seeing that it came out in 1998, that was a stacked year for releases.

Man, everyone is planning on playing some of my favorite games. I am excite.

Glad to hear these are some of your favorites! Looking forward to chatting about them. Also, will be interested to hear your takes on the games you end up choosing. Vagrant Story is a game I'm interested in picking up, so will be curious about your thoughts on it.

[Ack]

________MEDIEVAL II: TOTAL WAR__________

With the Antwerp Fiasco in full swing, and my forces preparing to invade Scotland, I received a notice from the Pope: a crusade had been announced to attack Cairo, and I must send troops and a commander. Of all the rotten...fine. I put together an even larger force than requested from the southern end of Great Britain, load everyone into a boat, and send it to circle around the Iberian peninsula and to the far side of the Mediterranean.

And then I put off my nobles and launch an assault on Edinburgh instead and the Scottish king. Edinburgh was not well defended, as I timed my invasion with them sending troops north to conquer Inverness. While they were wiping out the last traces of Pict society, I hit them hard. They attempted to divert forces from their invasion, but it was too little, too late; I killed their king and took their city, pushing their remaining forces back up to Inverness.

And then the Pope complained that Christian nations shouldn't fight and threatened excommunication to anyone who continued the battle. Pretty lousy treatment for the only kingdom that participated in the stupid Cairo Crusade, but whatever. I brought up a diplomat to show I would play nice.

And then the Scots played their hand, launched a new invasion, and tried to lay siege to Edinburgh. Since they had now attacked first after the papal warning, Scotland was excommunicated, and I was free to pursue my strategy. I beat back the siege and sent an army north to hunt their invasion forces, kill their new king, and sack Inverness. With that final stronghold taken, the Scottish threat collapsed, the whole of the British Isles fell under my control, and I was free to go after...*sigh* Antwerp.

Not fast enough, apparently. As my crusaders made landfall in Egypt, my invading force marched along the southern side of the English Channel to lay siege, but my whiny nobles still didn't find it good enough that I was actively invading. They apparently had wanted it conquered yesterday, so they still whined. So I decided instead I'd simply wait and starve out the defenders. Cairo, meanwhile, proved to not be so bad; I took it with little trouble and successfully completed my mission. The Pope rewarded me by releasing an Inquisitor in my territory, because I'm too heretical despite literally just winning a crusade for him. Dick.

But conquest must continue, so while I wanted for Antwerp to give, I also prepped an invasion for Scandinavia. A short while later, I attacked Oslo, right as the people of Antwerp grew fed up and attacked my forces. Both battles went my way, with Oslo proving the easier of the two because of how I divided up my siege equipment. Antwerp proved far whinier, so I placated them with Catholicism.

And as I focused my attention on marching troops towards Stockholm, the Holy Roman Empire showed up with a 1000 man army to sack Antwerp, completely out of the blue. Despite having never laid eyes upon the Holy Roman Empire, we are now at war over a city I didn't want to bother with in the first place. Remind me to behead those stupid nobles that started the Antwerp Fiasco.

The Papal States refused to ally with me, despite again my WINNING A CRUSADE. I am now putting together invasion forces, because I was nice before, but France is allied with the Holy Roman Empire, and they must pay for the mistake of angering me. I am also considering sending envoys to the likes of Spain, Portugal, and Denmark, because I am tragically short on allies due to the Pope being a useless prick. But first things first, Stockholm must fall.

I hate Antwerp.

[Key-Glyph]

As my crusaders made landfall in Egypt, my invading force marched along the southern side of the English Channel to lay siege, but my whiny nobles still didn't find it good enough that I was actively invading. They apparently had wanted it conquered yesterday, so they still whined. ...

The Papal States refused to ally with me, despite again my WINNING A CRUSADE. ...

Ack, I am loving this sass. Last year when you were off conquering the world you were an unstoppable reaper-esque force, steamrolling everyone with unquestioned authority and iron-clad gravitas. This year you're like a tired parent of teenagers. You are so over it. The contrast is so funny to me.

[marurun]

Gunboat

This is a simulator for a Patrol Boat, River class ship which released in 1990. You engage in missions in Vietnam, Honduras, and Panama. The controls are complicated in that early PC-gaming kind of way, so I had to track down a set of the Amiga controls and translate to DOS; thankfully they pare up pretty well.

Hey, this is your chance to play the really chunky TG-16 version! Gotta have that sub-optimal console experience! I kid, DOS is gonna be the way to go, for sure.

8. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PS1)

It's June 1st, so I decided to start the summer challenge today. I figured I'd start with an 'easy win' type of game to get one on the board, so I picked up Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 as I figured it would be short and relatively easy considering I've beaten other games in the series before. However, it turned out to have a little more bite than I expected as I definitely struggled with the older series mechanics. I've 100% completed the first level in the Warehouse and done most of the goals from the School, Marseille and New York levels too. However, I'm still missing the Sick Score and all money goals from School and New York - figuring out how to get to some of the cash icons and landing combos good enough for the sick score are consistently giving me issues. On Marseille, the first competition stage, I also haven't managed a gold medal yet - only managing a silver so far.

Out of curiosity, have you considered the Dreamcast version of THPS2?

My main gripe with the gameplay is that while there are some nice tools in the action combat, some of the inputs for them are pretty janky and finicky. For the most part, you have a basic rush-down combo by mashing the attack button, a kind of similar air combo when jumping and holding the control stick in a direction, a rising upper attack when attacking on the incline from a jump with the control stick neutral, but then there's the special attack that does multiple hits in all directions and has a chance to reduce enemy defense executed by tipping the control stick in a direction and letting it return to neutral position before hitting attack, or the drop attack with a chance to stun that's executed by attacking with the control stick neutral while on the decline from a jump. Those last two are the most useful, but also really finicky to execute, particularly the defense reducing attack. Along with that, Yunica also has three elemental "Skills" that she can use to damage enemies, or use for progression in some places, and those can be tapped for a basic quick attack, or charged for a much larger and/or more sustained attack.

I have been playing this a little lately and I also have a lot of trouble with precision jumping, like that first boss where you have to jump up his arms to get to his head. I fell off a lot because the perspective just kept messing with me. Additionally, in some places you need to use that spin move to extend a jump, but if you loiter on the button too long it starts to charge and then comes out too late when you release the button. That's been bugging me, too.

[alienjesus]

8. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PS1)

It's June 1st, so I decided to start the summer challenge today. I figured I'd start with an 'easy win' type of game to get one on the board, so I picked up Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 as I figured it would be short and relatively easy considering I've beaten other games in the series before. However, it turned out to have a little more bite than I expected as I definitely struggled with the older series mechanics. I've 100% completed the first level in the Warehouse and done most of the goals from the School, Marseille and New York levels too. However, I'm still missing the Sick Score and all money goals from School and New York - figuring out how to get to some of the cash icons and landing combos good enough for the sick score are consistently giving me issues. On Marseille, the first competition stage, I also haven't managed a gold medal yet - only managing a silver so far.

Out of curiosity, have you considered the Dreamcast version of THPS2?

I picked up the DC version of the game a long long time back when it was the Together Retro game of the month. I remember finding it to be horrendous to control the character movement and gave up and sold it. Now, whether I am just more forgiving of the controls this time round or whether the PS1 version controls better than the DC I don't know, but this is the version I have now and I'm getting on with it far more.

Either way, if I have an opportunity to not have to use the Dreamcast controller, I'll normally take it - even if I don't especially love the PS1 pad either.


Speaking of Tony Hawk's:

1. Final Fight CD (MCD)
2. Sonic CD (MCD)
3. Daytona USA (Saturn)
4. Radiant Silvergun (Saturn)
5. Mega Man Legends (PS1)
6. Suikoden (PS1)
7. Tenchu: Stealth Assassins (PS1)
8. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PS1)
9. Mario Golf (GBC)
10. Pokémon Pinball (GBC)
11. Super Monkey Ball 2 (GC)

That's the first game beaten of the challenge - I played through a few levels yesterday evening and finished up with the final stages - Philadelphia and The Bullring - today. I got to watch a video of skaters bailing on tricks and got told to do better because I don't have a gold in all competitions yet.

I'm intending to continue playing and finish up the remaining challenges in each level, but I had a rough day at work and I was way too grumpy to deal with failing high score challenges over and over, so that's me for this evening.

My remaining challenges are essentially the sick score (read: very high score) challenge for all the regular levels plus find all the money in each stage, and to get gold on the 2nd and 3rd contest. I'm struggling to get the scores I need for things consistently in this game the most - I find my tricks can be very inconsistent to pull off, especially special grinds, which are normally my bread and butter. Other methods for racking up points I used in later games are missing too so I have to adapt.

[pierrot]

My main gripe with the gameplay is that while there are some nice tools in the action combat, some of the inputs for them are pretty janky and finicky. For the most part, you have a basic rush-down combo by mashing the attack button, a kind of similar air combo when jumping and holding the control stick in a direction, a rising upper attack when attacking on the incline from a jump with the control stick neutral, but then there's the special attack that does multiple hits in all directions and has a chance to reduce enemy defense executed by tipping the control stick in a direction and letting it return to neutral position before hitting attack, or the drop attack with a chance to stun that's executed by attacking with the control stick neutral while on the decline from a jump. Those last two are the most useful, but also really finicky to execute, particularly the defense reducing attack. Along with that, Yunica also has three elemental "Skills" that she can use to damage enemies, or use for progression in some places, and those can be tapped for a basic quick attack, or charged for a much larger and/or more sustained attack.

I have been playing this a little lately and I also have a lot of trouble with precision jumping, like that first boss where you have to jump up his arms to get to his head. I fell off a lot because the perspective just kept messing with me. Additionally, in some places you need to use that spin move to extend a jump, but if you loiter on the button too long it starts to charge and then comes out too late when you release the button. That's been bugging me, too.

Oh, nice! Company.
Yeah, I wasn't really thinking about the imprecision in jumps because of how lenient death is. I generally haven't been to fussed by it, but I think it could be partly due to the game seeming to have a target control scheme of mouse and keyboard. There are some options in the menu that I've found to help a little bit with controls: Always dash and hold main attack button to charge skills. I was curious if changing the control stick from analog to digital would help at all for getting the whirly attack out, but I didn't really notice any difference. What I've found kind of helps is just trying to remember to not tip the control stick 100% in a direction when trying to use that attack. If I only deflect it like 60-80% before letting it go to neutral I seem to have better results. That could just be the tiny difference in timing between when I'm trying to hit the button, though.

I haven't had any trouble that I can think of with trying to use the wind skill and having it come out late from starting to charge, but I also tend to just run around with charged skills all the time since setting the toggle to the main attack button. I will say, with that setting you can still get the basic skill attack out from the normal attack button, but it takes a few milliseconds of holding it for it to start to charge, and then releasing it does the basic skill attack. However, if you release the skill charge on the main attack button before the skill is fully charged, and start to try to mash the attack button for regular attacks, it will often rapid fire the basic skill attack and tear through your MP in only a few moments. I've done that a fair amount.

Also, yeah, I was constantly falling off that boss' arms on the first attempts after it was downed. Was kind of annoying.

What's your impression of the game overall, so far?

I'm struggling to get the scores I need for things consistently in this game the most - I find my tricks can be very inconsistent to pull off, especially special grinds, which are normally my bread and butter. Other methods for racking up points I used in later games are missing too so I have to adapt.

From what I remember about THPS2, a lot of getting 100%s on skaters is building up stats to max to do stupid things like huge tricks onto endless grinds on rails that loop.

Was Spider-Man unlockable on the PS1 version?

[QUAG BOI]

Finally after months of on and off attempts i was finally able to beat ECCO 1 without cheating.
i had been putting it off for some time but this summer challenge gave me the motivation and a reason to get back to practicing.

SWEET VICTORY.jpg (363.38 KiB) Viewed 159 times

let me tell you my heart was POUNDING whale on that last fight and i can not name the amount of times i had to play welcome to the machine.
but now that's its done i am never playing that level again.
when ever i play the game again and get to that point I'm just going to cheat because its almost impossible to beat.(for me at least lol)




but over all i still love everything about Ecco 1.......................................except welcome to the machine witch if you ask me they should have called it this instead

download (1).png (139.34 KiB) Viewed 159 times

it just fits ya know

2 more games to go
everyone good luck with your games too

[Ack]

Jokes on you, Marurun. The TurboGrafx version of Gunboat is actually considered good!

________MEDIEVAL II: TOTAL WAR__________

I'm gonna let you all in on a secret: sometimes, I stress conquer. After losing Antwerp to the Holy Roman Empire, I needed a pick-me-up. Stockholm provided it, giving me control of the southern section of Sweden and the Scandinavian peninsula. Unfortunately, this marked the end of my northern escapades for the time being, as Helsinki is in the hands of the Russian empire. Denmark is also an empire in its own right, and it's allied with Russia, so an invasion either way seems like a waste of resources.

But my nobles wanted more. Not happy that I had lost Antwerp to a surprise foe, they began clamoring for expanding diplomatic relations. My navy now found itself ferrying diplomats around the continent, establishing trade with the likes of the Byzantines, Hungarians, Milanese, and Sicilians. I also declared a truce with the Egyptians; Cairo is already a pain to control as I slowly convert the masses to Catholicism, so I don't yet want another fight in the Sahara. This set of conversions also pleased the Pope, which worked well for me.

Until he died, at least. With two English cardinals on the council, I had two votes, so I backed the Hungarian cardinal in an attempt to get influence. The gamble paid off, turns out the Hungarian was well liked. He was, however, also quite short lived. A year later, I found myself up against another vote. This time I favored the Sicilian over the Milanese. That...was a mistake, it turns out. The new Pope isn't a fan of me, and I was given a mission to knock off my war with the Holy Roman Empire.

Fine by me. While they had stormed Antwerp, I had won naval engagements, so when their haughty diplomat showed up to sue for peace, I was fine with it. Make the Pope happy and buy time for further invasions, simple enough. I moved more troops across the Channel to Caen and swung an army around to hit the unclaimed rebel territory of Bordeaux.

This gives me total control of the modern French coastline. Unfortunately, it also apparently annoyed several other nations that wanted to colonize that region. Spain immediately embargoed my port at Rennes, so I embargoed their port for Toledo. But while facing naval conflicts, France decided to attempt to take Bordeaux. So I sent a powerful force down to Angers. The force is strong enough, France pulled their army from Bordeaux to try and link up with their other armies and protect their settlement. I have no intention of letting that happen and have another army ready to go in Rennes.

If I were to conquer all of France right now, that would give me the amount of territories I need and also knock out the second faction I have to destroy, so this will now be the focus of my game. Spain is annoying, yes, and I do want to teach them a lesson. But it's still right now only a small potato instead of the victory that awaits me if I take out the French.

And then my nobles popped up again. They want me to reinvade Antwerp. *Sigh*