Summer Games Challenge 2016

[Ack]

The definition of summer seems to change with each individual's personal taste for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. Some of us consider the first day of May or June to be the start of the season. Others wait for a particular event, such as the end of the school year or semester. Still others wait for holidays like Memorial Day in the US(May 30 this year) or for the day of the summer solstice. In Iceland the First Day of Summer, or sumardagurinn fyrsti, is the first Thursday after April 18, meaning April 21, 2016.

Whatever your choice, it has become an annual tradition for us here at Racketboy to attempt to play through the "classics" every summer. These are the big names, the vital games in video game history that have had a considerable impact, the award winners that receive "best of" accolades. The titles that are synonymous with the genre and the ones that spawn and inspire long lineages of game design.

This tradition dates back to 2010, when long gone member Snickerd00dle decided to play through a list of 10 titles over his summer break that he believed to be "regarded as classics by most people." Snicker invited other members to discuss his journey with him and also suggested other members try out the games he was playing at the same time so they could swap experiences. Though Snicker has not logged into the Racketboy forums in nearly four years(and has not posted in nearly five), his challenge has become a major event, full of gamers developing titles and challenging themselves to take down the big names.

It's even become a major event to select the list in the first place, as members wage verbal combat over whether certain games could ever be considered "classic" and how the boundaries of the term are shaped. In effect, the lead up discussion is almost as much of an experience as the games themselves. Once most lists are set and people begin, it then becomes an even bigger challenge to finish them all, and only a handful of people have ever had the patience and the willpower to get through 10 games on their list.

The question begs: Are you willing to try?

Welcome to the Summer Games Challenge 2016.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Yes! Thank you, Ack!

For this year's summer gaming challenge, I am going to try to play ten classic games from ten different genres. Here is my tentative list:

.....

1. Adventure - Broken Sword (iOS), Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father (iOS), or Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Special Edition (360)

2. ARPG - Seiken Densetsu 3 (SFC)

3. Beat 'em Up - Guardian Heroes HD (360)

4. FPS - Perfect Dark HD (360)

5. JRPG - The 7th Saga (SNES) or Phantasy Star IV (GEN)

6. Platformer - Banjo Kazooie HD (360)

7. Racing - Mario Kart 64 (N64) or Virtua Racing (PS2)

8. Rail Shooter - 3D After Burner II (3DS) and/or 3D Space Harrier (3DS)

9. Run 'n Gun - Ikari Warriors (PS3)

10. Shmup - Radiant Silvergun (360) or Raystorm (SATURN)

and if there is time (or if the mood strikes me), I wouldn't mind finally getting through a...

11. Bonus Game that Defies Classification! - Legacy of the Wizard (NES)

.....

Which of these should stay on? Which ones should come off? Help me pick!

[noiseredux]

broken-record talk: Every year ya boy says he's not going to do a Summer Gaming list, then gets sucked into the fun of talking about lists, then makes a list, then bails on it after one or two titles are crossed off.

That said, for me "Summer" is June, July and August. So it's way too early for me to think about this routine. I think.


@Jordy:

Broken Sword - keep.
EDIT: Assuming you have played Day Of The Tentacle? Cuz the HD version is out now...

Guardian Heroes is overrated.

Anything "Phantasy Star" is awesome in my book.

Radiant Silvergun is wicked overrated. The Ray___ games are alright. Not classics to me.

[Sarge]

I love Radiant Silvergun. Not much better, in my opinion, but then, I'm a shmup scrub.

[Ack]

Prfsnl, for number 5, Phantasy Star IV is much more of a classic than 7th Saga. 7th Saga is a niche title at best that is either forgotten or reviled by most of the masses.

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I intend to go for a slightly different approach to my list this year. Instead of creating a proper list of 10, I want to present a much larger list that I have to pull from. This is in hopes of preventing game fatigue, giving me options for different titles, series, and genres to try out, and will make the discussion process much more interesting and invigorating since there will be more titles to talk about(as well as potentially less painful since taking games out of consideration will be easier). These are the games I'm considering putting into the selection pool for now:

Alone in the Dark
Bioshock
Castlevania
Crusader: No Remorse
Dragon Warrior
Gradius III
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
John Madden Football
Little Big Adventure
Magic Carpet
MDK
Mortal Kombat 3
NHL '96
Sanitarium
Sim City 2000
Super Punch-Out
System Shock
Thief Gold
Thief 2
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Turok
Ultima II
Ultima III
Ultima IV
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

This is by no means an exhaustive listing of my unbeaten classic games, but it's enough to get the ideas circulating. So what do you guys think? Any in particular that I need to remove? I think keeping 25 in the pool is a good idea, so whatever gets taken out, I'll be attempting to put something else in to replace it.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Broken Sword - keep.
EDIT: Assuming you have played Day Of The Tentacle? Cuz the HD version is out now...

Guardian Heroes is overrated.

Anything "Phantasy Star" is awesome in my book.

Radiant Silvergun is wicked overrated. The Ray___ games are alright. Not classics to me.

Thanks, Noise! I have not played Day of the Tentacle, and I really want to play the HD release. (In fact, the HD release is what prevented me from putting the SD release on my list.) It is not yet available for iOS, however, and since it will inevitably makes its way to that platform - which is great for point-and-click adventure games, BTW - I will wait for it to get there.

Also, I am leaning toward RayStorm/Galactic Attack. It is on a couple of EGM's "greatest games of all time" lists, and IMO, at least, it is the ultimate evolution of the "xevious" shmup formula.

Prfsnl, for number 5, Phantasy Star IV is much more of a classic than 7th Saga. 7th Saga is a niche title at best that is either forgotten or reviled by most of the masses.

I know. I did promise to play 7th Saga this year, however, and I will probably end up emulating it on my PSP and playing it while I am on vacation this summer. I will be vacationing in Maine; so, I might as well be playing one of Bone's favorite games while I am there!

Comments on your list...

Alone in the Dark - Classic. I have it on my iPad, and I plan on diving into it into October.
Bioshock - Probably a classic, but not quite old enough for our purposes.
Castlevania - Definitely a classic. Play this.
Crusader: No Remorse - I have read that this is a good game. It isn't a classic, though.
Dragon Warrior - Definitely a classic. Play the GBC version.
Gradius III - Great shmup. Very difficult. Not a classic.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - Definitely a classic. Go for it!
John Madden Football - Also a classic. Better played in fall, however.
Little Big Adventure - I've never heard of it. Not a classic.
Magic Carpet - IMO, it's a classic. Others might disagree.
MDK - Sorry. Not a classic. Skip it.
Mortal Kombat 3 - Not a good fighting game. Not a classic.
NHL '96 - Play '94 instead.
Sanitarium - Nope.
Sim City 2000 - Play the original instead. If you've already played that, then play something else.
Super Punch-Out - A great game. I love it; I think it's a classic; others will probably disagree.
System Shock - Classic. Go for it!
Thief Gold - Classic.
Thief 2 - This too!
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon - Maybe...Why did you include this?
Turok - I think it qualifies, but I think it is probably a bit painful playing through this now.
Ultima II - Play Ultima IV instead.
Ultima III - Play Ultima IV instead.
Ultima IV - Play this.
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - Not that much better than MK3. Skip it.

I hope that helps!

[noiseredux]

fair enough. Do you already own Galactic Attack?

@Ack:

Alone in the Dark - no. This is October's TR game. Wait and play it then.

Bioshock - awesome. I recently reinstalled this. I was like 3 hrs in when I last left off.

Castlevania - approve.

Crusader: No Remorse - no idea. I got this free from Origin though.

Dragon Warrior - this was on my list last year. I didn't really play it though.

Gradius III - meh.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - great game.

John Madden Football - approve heartily. Which version are you playing?

Little Big Adventure - sure.

Magic Carpet - don't know. It's like Nights right?

MDK - don't know.

Mortal Kombat 3 - sure.

NHL '96 - why 96?

Sanitarium - don't know.

Sim City 2000 - I can see this. I have this free on Origin too I think.

Super Punch-Out - meh. I never liked Super.

System Shock - sounds good.

Thief Gold - sounds good.

Thief 2 - you really want 2 games from the same series on the list?

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon - I guess?

Turok - cool.

Ultima II - you really want 2 games from the same...

Ultima III - you really want 2 games from...

Ultima IV - nice. Wish I had played it more for TR.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - you really want 2 versions of the same game?

[fastbilly1]

Ack, we can coop Ghost Recon in a couple nights. Sadly Magic Carpet only has a vs mode, no coop. And I dont think you want to play a 6dof with me.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I placed comments on Ack's list in my previous post.

fair enough. Do you already own Galactic Attack?

I do, and I will probably play that version. I also have the game on Taito Legends Vol. 2 (Xbox) and on iOS. I will use the iOS version to practice some of the later stages so that I can make it through the game on the limited credits provided by the Saturn version.

[Sarge]

Magic Carpet (and the sequel) are awesome. Classic Bullfrog stuff. I watched my brother play the mess out of those. They're a bit hard to describe, but the moment-to-moment gameplay is a little like Descent. Except with access to awesome magic spells.