Summer Games Challenge 2025 - GET EQUIPPED

[Key-Glyph]

While on the subject of Phantasy Star music, the Crater stage BGM from Ep IV uses the title screen music from Phantasy Star III in places:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CRKUy ... tNLOaIx-0M (Most apparent at 2:13).

ARGH WHEN THAT MELODY HITS!!! Ugh, I love the PSIII main theme so. Much. Thank you for sharing this. I never got to play PSO and I'm wondering if I would have loved it.

The only other F-Zero game I have played is the original for the Super Nintendo. I don't recall being particularly good at it, but I was fairly young when it came out. I remember falling off the course a lot.

This made me laugh. That was my experience with OG F-Zero for a while too. My partner is actually good at it because he grew up with it, but one of his favorite things to do is deliberately drive the wrong way because I find it hysterical. The way the helmet cars come at you when you do this is hilarious. I've never played anything else in the series, though, so your experience with this later one was an interesting read!

By coincidence I had started playing GoldenEye out of the blue just a couple days ago. I read through all your posts and kid me got excited all over again.

Aww, that's so cute. I'm glad you had fun revisiting this. I did unlock one cheat, actually: DK Mode. Which is amazing. (Me, before the level started: "What's this gonna do? Will there be bananas???") I keep forgetting I have it on, then see myself in the opening shot or something and crack up.

You know what else I just discovered? That you can apparently drive tanks in this game. (Nathaniel: "Yeah, I'm pretty sure getting in a tank is like, the first thing you do in one of those levels?? ") Whoopsienoodles. Well, just let it be known I took out that trio of rocket launchers in Street ON FOOT, friends.

[Note]

Yeah, I played it with PSG sound via the Mega Drive version, and that version of Medusa's Tower is still great, but I prefer the FM version for just listening to.

Tricktrack part 2 is VR Space Ship in Ep II, but plays when fighting stuff, so I could understand not really recognizing it from being distracted by combat. Here's the normal exploration version (doesn't have the Medusa's Tower motif):
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=hLUDz ... GasxGxGlSU

While on the subject of Phantasy Star music, the Crater stage BGM from Ep IV uses the title screen music from Phantasy Star III in places:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=CRKUy ... tNLOaIx-0M (Most apparent at 2:13).

Ohh, the normal version I recognize. You're totally right about being distracted while battling, especially at higher levels, when there's just swarms of enemies coming at you from everywhere.

Now, the second song shared from Episode IV, I'm very familiar with, from grinding a ton in a Maximum Attack mission. I forget which exact mission it is now, but I played a lot of MA once I hit a certain level. Those missions are intense! This background song is amazing and one of my favorite in the game.

I really love the music in PSO, definitely a great video game soundtrack. It really adds a lot to the atmosphere in the game.

ARGH WHEN THAT MELODY HITS!!! Ugh, I love the PSIII main theme so. Much. Thank you for sharing this. I never got to play PSO and I'm wondering if I would have loved it.

It's very fun and addictive. There are still some methods to check it out, as there's a few private servers up for the DC, GC, and XBox versions of the game. There's also a server called Ephinea for PC play, based on PSO Blue Burst, which has implemented some nice QOL updates, and has become the go to server for many players. This version is also completely free. Worth checking out, IMO!

[prfsnl_gmr]

My Summer Games Challenge is moving along. I am through Ys I in Ys Book I & II (TGCD). I hit the level cap in Ys, and Daek Fact was a pushover. I’m now a good way into Ys II. I’ve placed all the Ys books, spent some time grinding levels in this one guys’ basement, and knocked out the “ice” section. I just started the “lava” section, and I’ll try to push through that tonight. As many of you know, Ys II is more of Ys I, but better. The soundtrack, in particular, is just awesome.

……

Final thoughts on others lists:

@Syndicate

I have beaten a lot of games on your list: Super Metroid, Super Krusty’s Funhouse, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Chronicle of Riddick, Daytona USA, and Phantasy Star.

Super Metroid is awesome; still one of the best, most well-designed “metroidvania” in an increasingly crowded genre. It absolutely blew me away when I first played it in the ‘90s. (There weren’t so many metroidvania as back then!) I rented it from a local mom ‘n pop video store on a Friday after school, and I started playing after dinner. I could not put it down, and I kept pushing to the next goal. I crashed at some point during the night and woke up face down on my controller about 10 AM the next day. Ah…to be a carefree teenager again!

I am not sure I would consider Super Krusty’s Funhouse a “classic” game, but it is definitely a hidden gem. Just a solid little puzzle platformer that you can knock out in a few hours.

Panzer Dragoon Orta is so, so good; right up there with Rez and Sin & Punishment 2 as one of the best rail shooters of all time. It’s just a weird, beautiful game, and I love it to death. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Likewise, Chronicles of Riddick is just great. It is very much a first-person action adventure game, and not a FPS. That is, it’s mostly sneaking, stabbing, talking, and puzzle-solving and very little shooting, which is very much in line with the source material. It is also a canon prequel to Pitch Black, the first Riddick movie, and a must play if you’re a fan of the franchise. Again, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. (To my shame, I have not yet completed the sequel, Assault on Dark Athena, but it’s on my short list.)

I’ve written previously about Daytona USA and Phantasy Star, and my thoughts on them haven’t changed. They’re great!

@Quag Boi

Ninja Gaiden is, as I’m sure you know, one of the best action platformers on the NES. Its graphics and sound have ages wonderfully, and it absolutely holds up. (Those cutscenes!) I’ve been through it probably a dozen times, and I’m confident you can get there too. (If you can handle Ecco the Dolphin, which is radically more difficult and frustrating, Ninja Gaiden will be light work!)

My two-word review for Ecco the Dolphin was “NEVER AGAIN.” I’m glad you got through it, but the last few levels were just too much for me. It’s like the F-Zero GX of Sega Genesis games. I want to like it so much, but it’s just too frustrating. (How’re the sequels? Did Sega ever tone down the difficulty?)

Finally, it’s super cool to see someone playing Mado Monogatari! I have the Game Gear games, but not the Genesis one, and I’m anxious to get your thoughts on it. I have not played any, but I do love a good first-person DRPG.

@Note

Phantasy Star, Super Metroid are both great games, as I’ve noted earlier. Can’t wait to see what you think about them. I’ll also be joining you for a Resident Evil: Code Veronica play through this summer, and I think it will be cool to go through the game with you, Key, and others(?) at the same time.

[o.pwuaioc]

You know what else I just discovered? That you can apparently drive tanks in this game. (Nathaniel: "Yeah, I'm pretty sure getting in a tank is like, the first thing you do in one of those levels?? ") Whoopsienoodles. Well, just let it be known I took out that trio of rocket launchers in Street ON FOOT, friends.

The tank can be tricky to activate, so for the first time playing through, if you go up to it, press B, and nothing happens, I can see someone thinking it's just scenery. Maybe the biplane in the third level should tip us off that it's accessible, but then again, the truck in the first level is not. So, yeah, understandable mistake. I went straight for the tank this time, but if memory serves me, there is a reason to go about on foot. There's body armor near where you meet Valentin. You don't need to meet him in Agent, so just hopping in the tank and praying you don't run over too many civilians is the way to go.

[alienjesus]

1. Final Fight CD (Mega CD)
2. Sonic CD (Mega CD)
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)

I started up my second game today with Tenchu on PS1. First impressions are pretty positive - it looks pretty nice for the system and the music is great. It really sets the tone for the game, which is a much more down-to-earth take on being a ninja. No ninjitsu magic or shadow clones or whatever else Ninjas like to do in media nowadays - just sneaking about in the dark and stabbing people in the neck from behind.

Unfortunately, or possibly fortunately, the audio quality doesn't carry across to the voice acting, which is hilarious bad in a way that is really funny. The 2 main characters have super sassy american voices whereas everyone else in the game seems to be talking in an atrocious and fairly racist exaggerated Japanese accent. It's definitely a product of it's time and I kind of love it for that.

I played through the game's tutorial and first 2 levels today. They were short but I did each one multiple times because I needed a while to adjust to the gameplay. You move about with tank controls and there's no independent camera control, and the first person aiming for throwing shurikens and grappling hooks is inverted to boot - which used to be my preferred control option but I've become too accustomed to the standard non-inverted modern controls for first person stuff these days.

The game gives you a ranking for each missions based on how many times you were caught, how many enemies you killed with stealth assassinations and how many you killed in a fight after being detected. Getting the best ranking essentially requires you to not get caught, or to at least make up for it by doing a lot of stealth kills to make up for it. You get rewards for the best ranking on each level with new ninja tools becoming available to use in future, so there's an incentive to get it. It took me about 5 attempts to get this ranking on the tutorial, and I haven't even attempted going for it on the main stages yet (although I was very close to getting it on stage 2 - I was caught by the last enemy in the level about 3 seconds from the goal!).

The main levels I did I played twice each. The first level I needed to replay for a decent rank after figuring out where I needed to go, as it was surprisingly open and I got caught a ton figuring things out. The second one I actually died on - you need to cross a large city mostly via the rooftops, but a bunch of enemy ninjas are up there and I lost the fights with them after being caught too many times. Combat is super clunky as enemies move around quickly and it's hard to aim your attacks with the tanks controls, plus enemies take a long time to kill this way so it's much better to stay hidden and assassinate targets which kills them in one hit. The second time I stuck to rooves further from the centre of town and picked my way across - only being caught by the aforementioned ninja on a bridge I didn't spot right before the end.

I don't think it'll take too long to finish Tenchu - although it took me a while to work through the stages I played thus far, they're only about 5-10 minutes long, and there's only 10 total, other than the Tutorial. A few hours should get me through the rest of the game, at which point I'll need to decide if I want to revisit levels for the Grand Master ranks and their respective rewards or not. Either way, I'm quite looking forward to it.

[Note]

@Note

Phantasy Star, Super Metroid are both great games, as I’ve noted earlier. Can’t wait to see what you think about them. I’ll also be joining you for a Resident Evil: Code Veronica play through this summer, and I think it will be cool to go through the game with you, Key, and others(?) at the same time.

Glad to hear you're enjoying Ys Book I & II. I played it for the Summer Games Challenge a few years back and really liked it. I had been sleeping on the Ys series, so I'm glad I finally got into it. Better late than never!

I'm really liking Phantasy Star so far. The visuals are super impressive for something released on an 8-bit machine. It almost looks 16-bit, and the scrolling as you move in the dungeons are super smooth. The soundtrack is also really good. My only nitpick so far is that I wish there were some additional details in the dungeon walls from time to time, because I've found it easy to lose track of where exactly I am.

I don't think it'll take too long to finish Tenchu - although it took me a while to work through the stages I played thus far, they're only about 5-10 minutes long, and there's only 10 total, other than the Tutorial. A few hours should get me through the rest of the game, at which point I'll need to decide if I want to revisit levels for the Grand Master ranks and their respective rewards or not. Either way, I'm quite looking forward to it.

That's awesome you've started Tenchu, AJ. There are a few levels that are on the longer side. I think the first longer level is Stage 4. The last level is also quite long. Just a heads up on those, as they both took me a few attempts before I finally got through them. In regards to combat with other enemies when you're caught, definitely get the blocking mechanic down, if you haven't already!

[pierrot]

Man, the F-Zero GX slander in this thread, smh--. I played a stupid amount of that game in high school. Beat the story mode, cleared all tournaments, unlocked everything not requiring an AX cabinet. Best racing game of my life (probably). Nothing like hitting a jump that clears 15% of a track going a couple thousand km/h.
Really worth watching some speedruns for that game. Honestly, I can't even stand to play any other F-Zero game. (Actually hated the original F-Zero from the moment I played it in a KB Toys.)

Now, the second song shared from Episode IV, I'm very familiar with, from grinding a ton in a Maximum Attack mission. I forget which exact mission it is now, but I played a lot of MA once I hit a certain level. Those missions are intense! This background song is amazing and one of my favorite in the game.

I really love the music in PSO, definitely a great video game soundtrack. It really adds a lot to the atmosphere in the game.

MAE4? The year-round version of the Ephinea anniversary event quests? I think that's the only one with West Crater (as opposed to just Crater Interior).The 4th Stage maximum attacks for each episode I only ever do resets on (not attempts to actually finish them), but I do like the MA4-1 series and MA4-4 series for different things. It helps that they're original Sonic Team quests, since I don't really like playing the custom quests outside of MAEs. MA4-1 I played a lot of on purple Ramarl for my Psycho Wand drop, and MA4-4 was a good one for blue Racast to get my Limiter. For leveling rangers, I also do quick resets up to the first laser fence on MA4-4 to get a break from doing Dragon resets on TTF.

ARGH WHEN THAT MELODY HITS!!! Ugh, I love the PSIII main theme so. Much. Thank you for sharing this. I never got to play PSO and I'm wondering if I would have loved it.

PSO on the Dreamcast was the first Phantasy Star I ever played, and was my intro to online games in 8th/9th grade. Played a ton of it, and even more of Ver2, online. It essentially is Phantasy Star to me, but while there are a lot of callbacks to the original PS series that I've only been able to appreciate more recently, it's a semi-procedural, multiplayer looter, hack and slash, ARPG dungeon crawler with bosses that inspired the Monster Hunter series. Sorta like a 3D Diablo in space with 'photon weapons' that resemble, but are legally distinct from, light sabres. So, it's definitely not like traditional Phantasy Star, for the most part.

The story in EP1 is actually my favorite story in the Phantasy Star franchise, though. It's very cool. (RICO!!! )

You might want to check out the rest of the EPIV Blue Burst OST, because I think there are some other examples of it using melodies from the Phantasy Star III soundtrack. I just don't really have a good memory for the PSIII soundtrack. Either way, like Note said, the music in PSO is transcendental, and EPIV is no exception.

[MrPopo]

On foot is the fastest way to beat Streets.