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Each year I like to just see what everyone thought of each game we played for TR that year. Which games did you play? Which did you skip? How come? Which was your favorite? Which was your least favorite? Did any one game surprise you? Etc...

Jan: Baldur's Gate - Right, so I skipped this one. Which was a trend for much of the year sadly. 2013 was probably my worst participation in TR since I joined RB. I think the main issue was that it was January, and I had just gotten a bunch of new games for Christmas, and at the time my PC was not good enough to play games on. Funny, if Baldur's Gate had been scheduled 6 months later, I probably would've played.

Feb: Bubble Bobble - Played the Saturn port for a bit. It was alright. Not as great as I remembered from being a kid (NES), but part of that might be that this is a better game in co-op, and my wife and I were too busy packing up for our move to find the time to play a game together. Also of note, I discovered Rainbow Islands because of the Saturn port, which I actually found I liked even more than Bubble Bobble.

Mar: Wing Commander - Totally skipped this one. I popped the Sega CD version in one night, and couldn't for the life of me figure out what was even going on. The manual was huge, and we had just moved into the house so I just didn't feel like I could focus on this one.

Apr: Half-Life - This was my TR GOTY. I played the DC port because I'm a funny guy. Totally feel in love with Half-Life, though. Have since picked up pretty much everything Valve has made on Steam.

May: Fantastic Dizzy - Fired up the Genny game on an emulator. Seemed terrible to me. Again, for most of the year we were so busy getting things situated w/ the new house, so if a game didn't catch me right away, I just didn't feel motivated to spend my limited time on it.

Jun: Fatal Fury Special - Total bummer. Fatal Fury Special sucks. This is my big disappointment for the year. I mean, I love so many SNK fighting games. Heck, Mark of the Wolves in my top 5 fighting games of all time. But, man. What an awful game.

Jul: Road Rash - I played a bit of the Saturn game. It was pretty fun. I never bothered to beat it, but I did beat 2 or 3 tracks.

Aug: TMNT Turtles In Time - A game I've played through many times. I used the month as an excuse to unlock the arcade version on PS2.

Sep: Zork - I played this a bit. It was more interesting than fun. I didn't beat it, but I'm glad I was given an excuse to play it first hand.

Oct: Zombies Ate My Neighbors - Didn't play it because I never found a cheap Genesis copy.

& Silent Hill 2 - Played a bit of the PS3 version. I don't know why I just couldn't get myself motivated enough to play it through though. Maybe because I had a pretty sizable stack of horror-themed games I wanted to sample throughout the month along with this one.

Nov: Parappa The Rapper - Skipped it. I had planned to play it on PS3, because I thought the PS1 game was available on PSN. I was wrong.

Dec: Lemmings - Played a few levels of the DOS port. Didn't hold my interest as much as I hoped it would.

I sucked this year, but I'm really pumped about 2014. Lots of stuff I want to play. Got the Dreamcast hooked up the other week for PSO.

I'm surprised Lemmings was so unpopular. Or is the game so popular that nearly everyone had already played it?

I didn't play any to completion except for Half-Life and Fatal Fury Special, though I tried out at least 2/3 or so of them for various periods of time. I think I am looking forward to next year's calendar much more.

What a year for TR! I fully participated in all 12 months.

Jan: Baldur's Gate - The first WRPG I sat down and took a good stab at. It wasn't as difficult or as complex as I thought it might be. It turned out to be a real fun surprise!

Feb: Bubble Bobble - Anything arcade-y will always be fun for me. I took it like a real arcade challenge, seeing how far I could go on a credit. I even had time to check out Bubble Symphony on Taito Legends 2.

Mar: Wing Commander - I have played it on the SNES years before and I finally got a chance to try it on the PC. It took me nearly the whole month to complete it, but it was a good feeling to make ti to the end.

Apr: Half-Life - I never gave this FPS any sort of respect, not realizing the leaps in enviroments and storytelling that this game introduced. I am glad I was able to play it.

May: Fantastic Dizzy - Was I the only one playing this? Lots of backtracking and item management, but it still was fun.

Jun: Fatal Fury Special - I played as Jubei Yamada through all the available ports. Have a new found respect for cookie tossing.

Jul: Road Rash - I played and completed the 3 Genesis games as well as Road Rash Jailbreak for the GBA. How I had the time to do it, I still don't know.

Aug: TMNT Turtles In Time - In a TR first, I was actually able to play the real arcade machine, as well as the SNES port and I even played Hyperstone Heist.

Sep: Zork I - I died a lot more than I cared to, but to play this early pioneer of text adventures, it was a great experience.

Oct: Zombies Ate My Neighbors - A game I always wanted to complete but was never able to, finally accomplished.

Silent Hill 2 - This game really re-defined horror for me.

Nov: Parappa The Rapper - I was frustrated with it at first, but once I finally knew the timing to press everything, it was a good time, and it was a nice light break from all the other demanding games this year.

Dec: Lemmings - A true brain exercise, frustrating in spots, but lots of "ah-ha!" moments.

So despite the fact that I had such a year acquiring new games I haven't even put a dent in yet, and as demanding and time consuming as this year's calendar was, there were games I've played but not completed, series I've never seen before, and lots more, this was a successful year in TR.

BoneSnapDeez wrote:I'm surprised Lemmings was so unpopular. Or is the game so popular that nearly everyone had already played it?

It was popular enough to make it, but I too am a bit disappointed, seeing as how there were many ways to play it, and even all the games in the series to play.

I think it's fair to say that December is always a busy month for a lot of folks though. I personally opted to spend most of my gaming time for the month catching up on my 2013 backlog instead.

I didn't join in much last year due to a lack of money. I hope to take part more this year though.

Jan: Baldur's Gate - Skipped this one.

Feb: Bubble Bobble - Played this on Master System. Played almost nothing during the actual together retro month. Beat it later during the summer challenge. Started off not liking, ended up enjoying it well enough.

Mar: Wing Commander - Skipped this one. One day I'll finally get to Wing Commander III on 3DO.

Apr: Half-Life - Blurgh. Skipped.

May: Fantastic Dizzy - I have the Mega Drive version, and I actually beat this one. A lot of people didn't seem to enjoy it, but I personally quite enjoyed it. Glad to have played it.

Jun: Fatal Fury Special - Skipped.

Jul: Road Rash - Skipped, although I've played the 3DO game to death before.

Aug: TMNT Turtles In Time - Skipped. Would have loved to take part on this one, but it was too pricy for me at the time.

Sep: Zork - I played this a bit. Didn't get into it as much as I hoped.

Oct: Zombies Ate My Neighbors & Silent Hill 2 - Didn't play either.

Nov: Parappa The Rapper - Finally one I played. I was a little disappointed. The timing seems off - I had more luck freestyling (which is supposed to be for experts) than just following the notes.

Dec: Lemmings - Skipped. Just couldn't be arsed for this one.

I also played and beat Fantastic Dizzy.
I played (and think I may have submitted a score) for Bubble Bobble.

I was going to try and finish Baldur's Gate but I couldn't find my old (many years old) save files. Similarly I thought of trying Lemmings again after many years as I don't remember actually clearing all levels.

I also thought of joining Wing Commander, Road Rash, and Parappa, but didn't due to logistic difficulties and chronic lack of time (which isn't to say I didn't have free time, but I may have been playing other stuff).