Every year on Racketboy, we host the annual Summer Games Challenge. In this challenge, we try to play 10 classics games we've never played before over the length of the summer.
Every year, I always get excited and start making this thread super early so we can start planning games to play too!
What is this challenge then?
All you regulars probably know the drill, but if you're new or haven't joined in before:
The Racketboy Summer Games Challenge is an annual event started a solid decade ago now by SnickerD00dle, a member who has long since left the forums.
The premise is to choose 10 classic games that you've never beaten before, and to try and play through all 10 over the course of the summer.
What do you mean by a 'classic' game?
In keeping with the original concept, the idea is to play 'classic games'. These are the types of game that often come up as must-play, definitive games for a system, developer or genre. They might be games credited with inspiring hundreds of games to follow, kick-starting a new genre or just super high quality games that top best games list for a system.
Now you might be a little short on those games i've you been in the hobby for a while, so we do allow some wiggle room to drop in cult classics or games from obscure genres or hardware that may still be significant in those scenes - but try and prioritse the stuff people will know, and avoid random stuff. Basically, Super Mario World is a better fit than
Lufia, but Lufia is still a better choice than something random like Bonkers on SNES.
What do you mean by 'The Summer'? That's pretty vague!
It sure is, but that's by design - people can start and finish as early or late as they would like. You could give yourself a strict 3 month window and play from June - August, or you could start in May and finish in September or anything you want. It's just for fun after all!
That's the reason this thread is up early too. People who want to (especially whilst things are still somewhat locked down in some places!) can start preparing a list and discussing ideas ahead of starting in May should they want to
Do I have to play 10 games? I normally only beat that many in a year! Also, how do I decide what to play?
The original premise of the challenge was to play 10 games, but of course you can adjust it to whatever works for you. If you want to do 5, or 3, go for it. If you blast through games like Doomguy blasts through demons, play 20! The important thing is that you get to experience those classic games and discuss them with your fellow racketboy forum buddies .
Speaking of which - part of the fun is playing along with everyone else, so if someone posts that they're gonna play a game you've not played before, you should strongly consider adding it to your list - it's great to share your thoughts as you progress!
And with that - let's get planning our lists!