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It's coming up for that time again!

For the 8th(!) year in a row, it's time for the annual Racketboy Forum Summer Games Challenge. Every summer, for the past 7 years, members of the Racketboy forum have set themselves a goal to play some of the classic games they've been neglecting.

It was started by long-since-left-the-forum user Snickerd00dle back in 2010, and has run every summer since. Here's the challenge exactly as Snickerd00dle described:

what I thought I would do is pick ten games that I own and have never beat, that are regarded as classics by most people and are also games that I really wish I had played through, games everyone talks about that I never ended up finishing, and beat all ten of them by the end of the summer.

The original definition of summer used was from the start of June to the end of August, but you're free to adapt this - starting earlier and finishing later will give you more time to take out your list! I plan to begin in Mid-May myself!

So, which games are you ashamed to have never beaten? Or even worse, never started? Which classics do you wish you could discuss when they come up in conversation? What classics that have been on the shelf untouched for the past 5 years? Time to clear your backlog!

Pick your list of 10, and get to it over this summer. Don't worry if you don't beat them all, or if you don't like them all, but at least try and give them all a go at long last!

Some ideas for me...

Here are some of my ideas for what I'm going to play. It's always more fun to play a game alongside a fellow forumite, so share your ideas and see if anyone is up for taking on the same things you are.

Here are the games I played in previous years for the challenge:


Here are some of the games I'm considering for this year:



My initial thoughts, based on trying to select from a selection of systems, avoid too many long games and try and get some different genres represented are:



Soleil is pretty debateable as a classic (It's US name is Crusader of Centy) so other possible options in it's spot are Crystalis, Clockwork Knight, Legendary Axe and Resident Evil imo. I wanted to try and get more 16 bit representation on the list though.

Obviously it's early days yet and I'm open to suggestions, or swapping out some games to play alongside other people! This thread is always more fun when people are playing games alongside you!

EDIT: To make it easier to find later: My final list:

1. Bionic Commando (NES)
2. Blaster Master (NES)
3. Life Force (NES)
4. Bonk's Revenge (PCE)
5. Final Fantasy III (SNES)
6. Crash Bandicoot 3 : Warped (PS1)
7. Mario Golf (N64)
8. Pilotwings 64 (N64)
9. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (GC)
10. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (GC)
11. Devil May Cry (PS3)

In my opinion, Crystalis is a way better pick than Crusader of Centy. It's a true "classic" and is just 100 times more fun as well.

Yay Life Force!

And most certainly play Final Fantasy VI (III). It's the best game ever.

A Sega-free list would make me a bit sad though

Yeah, I was happy to see Life Force on your list. I have two R-Types I need to beat too, but 1 shmup is plenty I reckon.

DKC 2, Lords of Thunder and Dragon's Curse are great picks too (but I've beaten them all before). Wonder Boy 3 (Dragon's Curse) is one of my favourites. I'm a bit of a loyalist towards the original Master System version though

this would be a good chance to try and knock out some classic PC games for me - something on my resolution list...

fair warning for n00bs, every year I harass people in this thread about whether the games they selected can reasonably/remotely be considered "classic", so prepare thine defenses!

I see a couple of questionable chooces already...

Are 7th gen games old enough to be considered "classics" at this point?

And yeah Dsh called me out on my list last year. He was right though, most of the games I picked weren't "popular classics". But since we don't have an "obscure retro game challenge" thread...


edits: It's monday morning and I can't grammar.

dsheinem wrote:fair warning for n00bs, every year I harass people in this thread about whether the games they selected can reasonably/remotely be considered "classic", so prepare thine defenses!

I see a couple of questionable chooces already...

I can't wait.

7th gen stuff is debateable I'd say. I mean, some of that stuff is 10 years old now! It's worth noting that even Snickerd00dle had some current gen stuff on his list when the challenge first started. The point was to be able tot alk about classic games people refer to a lot in forums and are amazed you haven't played, so I don't see why something like Bioshock or Dark Souls shouldn't be included in that - people are surprised when you haven't played those just as much as if you haven't played say, F-Zero or Gradius.

The only 7th gen thing on my list is a HD remaster of a 6th gen game, but I wouldn't feel bad necessarily if I had put Portal 2 on my list. I don't think it's reputation is likely to change much in the next decade.

I feel pretty good about my list's classic status personally, with the possible exception of Soleil which I've highlighted. I just really want some Sega representation

alienjesus wrote:Portal 2 (XBox 360)
Blaster Master (NES)
Devil May Cry (PSN)
Resident Evil REmake (PSN)
Final Fantasy III (SNES)
Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)

My initial thoughts, based on trying to select from a selection of systems, avoid too many long games and try and get some different genres represented are:

1. Bionic Commando (NES)
2. Life Force (NES)
3. Final Fantasy III (SNES)
4. Soleil (MD)
5. Mario Golf (N64)
6. Pilotwings 64 (N64)
7. Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (PS1)
8. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (GC)
9. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (GC)
10. Devil May Cry (PSN)

Soleil is pretty debateable as a classic (It's US name is Crusader of Centy) so other possible options in it's spot are Crystalis, Clockwork Knight, Legendary Axe and Resident Evil imo. I wanted to try and get more 16 bit representation on the list though.

Obviously it's early days yet and I'm open to suggestions, or swapping out some games to play alongside other people! This thread is always more fun when people are playing games alongside you!

At the top are your choices that I like a lot. I'm always especially curious about newcomers going into Blaster Master, because I can see how it can be quite challenging and overwhelming in figuring out where to go. I know the game like the back of my hand though and love it. But even so, the final level is so insanely hard I've only beaten it legitimately once or twice in 25 some years of loving it (maybe a few more times on emulators).

Have you not played those others like FF6?

REmake is probably the best remake of a game of all time. It feels like the same classic masterfully and respectfully updated with refinements and tiny additions that feel like they were already there originally. Mikami worked his magic on this one and as I'm a huge fan and continue to replay these games, I'm starting to think REmake is my favorite RE of all time.

Devil May Cry is incredible but I don't see it get much love thesedays. DMC1 is actually very serious and it wasn't until DMC3 that made the TMNT pizza loving jokestar Dante that we all love and know now, cause DmC doesn't exist. DMC1 is clunky, as it has its remnants of being RE4 in there with some of the camera angles and all, but I think it's incredible game with amazing gothic atmosphere, music, good action, etc. You say PSN, but I would highly recommend the HD remaster. The HD trilogy is one of the best I've seen by far. I got a lot of Demon's/Dark Souls vibes with the atmosphere in DMC1.

I can't get very far in Life Force haha.

I don't think I've ever done these challenges. No idea where to start. I mean, you gave me a big list of some stuff here and there recently maybe I can work off of. I am very meticulous about lists and my backlog, keeping it all organized. I could maybe just throw 10 of them in a pool, but a handful of it would be current gen or last which apparently will get me spanked here.