I forgot about this so Summon Night: Swordcraft Story again this month.

I could keep nominating Swordcraft Story but I do want to add some variety and I this was a game I just played last month (and am totally up to play more of), plus this is a top tier arcade racer classic, so I am nominating Ridge Racer Type 4

Also question, do Itchmas games count for Game of the Month Games Challenge?

It turned out to have been a VERY long time since I last updated my Challenge list, so I'm gonna post additions from a few months ago as well.

06. A quick completion (less than an hour) - Another Pokemon Game (Completed: 2/27/2024, Rating: 3/10)
07. A game you got for free - Folder Dungeon (Completed: 7/1/2024)
12. A game recommended to you by someone else - Ridge Racer Type 4 (Completed: 6/11/2024, Rating: 8/10)
15. A game that heavily focuses on flight - Bulk Slash (Completed: 6/13/2024, Rating: 7/10)
18-2. A visual novel or text-based game - Galaxy Ballerina (Completed: 7/3/2024, Rating: 5/10)
25-2. A game whose protagonist you would want to be friends with - Google Doodle: Doctor Who 50th Anniversary (Completed: 2/29/2024, Rating: 5/10)
46-1. A studio's very first game - Pokemon Emerald Rogue (Completed: 2/24/2024, Rating: 7/10)

Not all of these have much for me to say on, Galaxy Ballerina takes like 8 minutes to finish and the art was Nice but I have not much to end and what is there to say about a Google Doodle, but I do want to give a big shoutout to Ridge Racer Type 4 for being stylish as all hell. That game really hooked into me for a good two days to the point I started replaying it for fun well after I had finished all the Grand Prix. Certainly not perfect but a great game with an ear worm soundtrack. I also wrote a review for it.

I also wanna give a nice shout to Bulk Slash. That game's a Saturn game from 1997 that never got localized (a Sega Saturn game? Not getting localized? Shocker!) but got a full english translation that not only translated the game but gave it full english voice acting since the voice acting is a bit important to the gameplay at times. It has a quality to it that perfectly fits the english dub of 90s OVAs that Bulk Slash is very much trying to be in a way that even an actual translation might not. If that or the game's intro interests you I definitely recommend checking it out!

Went ahead and finished Folder Dungeon, it was Fine. As kind of a proof of concept / tech demo, I did really like the Vibes it had. Definitely was the main part that got into it, cute art and does use the folder stuff good for aesthetic. Gameplay-wise, it was too easy to break and also too easy to break in a way that causes you to totally ignore the game's systems. Without doing anything outside of basic exploring by the end I had near infinite Chests + Keys, half of the last floor had every enemy die from me entering the room and the only time I entered Heat is when I got lost early. Enemies also didn't do anything unique so it was a bit Eh there. With rebalancing and new enemies it could be fun as the core idea is solid enough.

I'm getting "A password is required to view this page" for the witch game.

- Matt

Sorry my friend hadn't made it public (I thought they did), she did so when the poll went up so you can check it out for voting whenever ofc.

Purple Prose for Purple Hearts: **** the Witch

The Moon Looks Beautiful Tonight

I especially hope the first one does well: It is actually made by a friend of mine who I've known for a very long time, about 15 years by this point, and is their first game project! I've yet to try it out myself but I am very excited to and I am hoping other people can enjoy it too! It was also made for a MenHera Game Jam so ay.

I am once again nominating my favorite game, Summon Night: Swordcraft Story. We were so close to winning last time, give the niche game a shot!



I mean just look at this main character. Isn't that a pretty neat, clean design? It'd be totally interesting to check out!

Oooooh, exciting! I'd love to have a chance at the Switch version!

Probably suffer mental whiplash because thanks to Certain Means my backlog is in the four digits so I would wonder how I found the time.

Considering how well it did last time I am going to once again nominate my personal favorite game, Summon Night: Swordcraft Story. C'mon fellas, have fun with a niche experience! R2D2 loved it!

R2D2 is playing it and it is my favorite ever so I'll nominate Summon Night: Swordcraft Story

C'mon guys, a serious GBA hidden gem would be fun to try out ;)

01. A new game (released within the past year) - Celeste 64: Fragments of the Mountain (Completed: 1/31/2024, Rating: 7/10)
09-1. A remake or remaster of a game - Sega Ages Phantasy Star (Completed: 1/19/2024, Rating: 7/10)
10. A game with 6+ endings - Wheels of Aurelia (Completed: 1/23/2024, Rating: 3/10)
12. A game recommended to you by someone else - Cosmic Star Heroine (Completed: 1/27/2024, Rating: 7/10)

Only 4 games the first month, but hey, I'll still take it. A lot of solid but not amazing games. Celeste 64 is a fun little bite sized platformer and impressive for a week project but the camera controls, some slippery physics and the like keep it from going much higher. Phantasy Star was impressive for a very old school 8-bit JRPG and I greatly enjoyed the vibes, but the combat system is pretty rudimentary even for the time period. The Sega Ages changes definitely helped out with this. Cosmic Star Heroine was a fun one, big mid/late-2000s RP energy in the storyline and the combat system is very interesting but the encounter design and dungeon design is a major hamper plus it neeeeever really tries to reach too high.

I wrote a review on Wheels of Aurelia but tldr: Bad driving controls, story seems like it doesn't follow itself well, great music and good art.

Alpha finally got his wish with this one!

Thank you for making that list, makes things a lot more convenient lol

No problem! I'll keep updating it with new games if I find them too (or if people point out more to me).

Similar to the list about 10% Retirement, I figured some people might have trouble finding games with Purple/Red/Grey HLTB times. So I made myself a collection with a bunch of games (largely ones in my backlog) I found with those times. Like before, it is just the ones that had it at the time I added them so could change later. Sorted it alphabetically this time since rating is useless sorting through games with so few completions.

Since I completed a game recently, time to finally post my list! Will be editing and filling it up as I go, and I might make a Backloggd list or HLTB collection to show it off later as well. But for now...

01. A new game (released within the past year) - Celeste 64: Fragments of the Mountain (Completed: 1/31/2024, Rating: 7/10)
02. An old game (released 10+ years ago)
03. A really old game (released 20+ years ago)
04. An ancient game (released 30+ years ago)
05. A time sink (50+ hours)
06. A quick completion (less than an hour) - Another Pokemon Game (Completed: 2/27/2024, Rating: 3/10)
07. A game you got for free - Folder Dungeon (Completed: 7/1/2024)
08. A game you've been wishing and waiting for
09-1. A remake or remaster of a game - Sega Ages Phantasy Star (Completed: 1/19/2024, Rating: 7/10)
09-2. A game that wasn't translated into your language until some time after its initial release
10. A game with 6+ endings - Wheels of Aurelia (Completed: 1/23/2024, Rating: 3/10)
11. A collection of games
12. A game recommended to you by someone else - Ridge Racer Type 4 (Completed: 6/11/2024, Rating: 8/10)
13. A game whose title could describe your life
14-1. A game with an alliterative title
14-2. A game whose title contains the name of a color
14-3. A game whose title starts with a number
15. A game that heavily focuses on flight - Bulk Slash (Completed: 6/13/2024, Rating: 7/10)
16. A game from a genre you don't usually play
17. A game that is themed around dogs or cats
18-1. A game that features multiple genres, or is a mashup of different genres
18-2. A visual novel or text-based game - Galaxy Ballerina (Completed: 7/3/2024, Rating: 5/10)
19. A game where you play as an antihero or a villain
20-1. A game set in a historical time period
20-2. A game set in the far future
21. A game with a female protagonist - Cosmic Star Heroine (Completed: 1/27/2024, Rating: 7/10)
22. A game without any humans
23. A game where you play as a robot or an alien
24. An arcade-style high score game
25-1. A game set in a world you would like living in
25-2. A game whose protagonist you would want to be friends with - Google Doodle: Doctor Who 50th Anniversary (Completed: 2/29/2024, Rating: 5/10)
26. A game where you play as a bug or an aquatic creature
27. A game that was adapted from another medium (book, movie, etc.) or a game that has been adapted into another medium
28. A game you watched someone else play first (partially or in full)
29. Another person’s favorite game
30. A game with a diverse cast
31. A cornerstone to gaming culture
32. A game that starts with the same first letter as in your username (if your username doesn’t contain letters, pick a random letter)
33-1. A “threequel” (third part of a series)
33-2. A spin-off game
34. A bright and cheerful game
35. A game containing a real or fictional religion
36. A game that heavily features either fire or ice
37. A game that heavily features money, gold, or economics
38. A game with a subtitle
39. A game that surprised you
40. A post-apocalyptic game
41. A game with a short title (4 letters or less)
42. A game that had a red retirement rating on HLTB when you started playing it (10% or higher)
43. A game that one of your favorite artists worked on (artist, developer, musician, voice actor/actress, etc.)
44-1. A game you previously retired or put on hold
44-2. A game that you have beaten before and are replaying
45. A game that is on someone else’s HLTB 2024 Gaming Challenge List
46-1. A studio's very first game - Pokemon Emerald Rogue (Completed: 2/24/2024, Rating: 7/10)
46-2. A studio's most recent game (at the time when you started playing the game)
47. A game that had its HLTB times on a purple/red/gray background at the time you started playing it (color indicates the amount of submitted playtimes, red = low amount, gray = zero)
48. A game that has been a HLTB Game of the Month
49. A game listed on the HLTB stats page, or the stats page filtered for a single platform
50. A game chosen by the HLTB randomizer

Since I am playing through it right now and I know it had legs in some old Game of the Month voting, I'll vote for Cosmic Star Heroine (I considered Phantasy Star as well, could be fun if anyone else has no nomination ideas-)

Ok I went through my whole list, here we are:
Animal Crossing: New Horizons, SpaceChem, Downwell, Terraria, Monster Hunter Generations, Aquaria, Viscera Cleanup Detail, The Sims 3 (2009), Spelunky, Lovely Planet, Dustforce, Reus, Bit Blaster XL, Absolute Drift, The Forest, Lethal League, Just Cause 2, World of Goo, Loop Hero
10% exactly: MudRunner, PC Building Simulator

Went ahead and added these as well. Over 300 games now, big selection for people!

Oh wow, that's really helpful :D
I also went through a couple on my list before stopping, this makes me wanna go back through properly...

These are the ones I found so far:
Barrier X, Darkest Dungeon, Influent, Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator, The Ship, Sir, You Are Being Hunted

I went ahead and added those. Thanks!

https://howlongtobeat.com/user/FrozenRoy/lists/27690/10-or-Higher-Retirement-Games

With all the people wondering about the retirement %, I went through my backlog + completed games + some other games I knew would be 10% or higher (like Gollum) and put them in a collection. I tried sorting it by Rating to make it easier to sift through, but the number of games might still make it difficult. Hopefully it can help people trying to do that Game Challenge this year, and I am up to hearing games not on there to add on if people wanna message me!

Please note some are EXACTLY 10% retired, so even one playthrough might alter the stat.

Playing as a bug or an aquatic creature seems incredibly specific... After going through my list I've found two legitimate ones (Yoku's Island Express, Maneater) and two more if I stretch the definition slightly (Aquaria, Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon) heck you, I'm counting a spider as a bug

On another note, is there any way to check / sort by retirement ratings short of going into each game's page specifically? (I would've thought I could use "Most Retired", but it doesn't seem to work like that...)

I feel like basically everyone would count Spider as a bug for this challenge. I wonder if Pokemon or Digimon would count? You could even do a Bug-type challenge run! (You could also add Frogger games or Spider: The Video Game to your list)

Sadly I have yet to find a way to check retirement rates en masse.

If Spiritfarer is still available I'll take that.

EDIT: And Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 if you don't mind.

I think a very good starting point is any of the Mario RPGs: Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, or most of the Mario & Luigi ones. Post-TTYD Paper Marios are either not normal JRPGs (Super Paper Mario, Origami King) or bad (Sticker Star etc), which is why I'm only going for the first two, but they all tend not to be overly difficult and ease into the mechanics while having great humor and general story.

Funny enough me and some friends were JUST discussing it in Discord, one that came up as a good thought is Final Fantasy IV. To boil it down without spoilers, the game is really good at layering the mechanics and ideas of how to play it as you get through the game, it teaches you the practical basics and the "language" of a lot of JRPGs as it were. The story's rather basic at this point though and I do feel like it more makes an entry point if you are already interested in JRPGs / plan to play more after than alone. Final Fantasy VII is an all time classic that's easy enough to get a handle on and has a bit of a simpler battle system, that would be a good one as well. If you don't mind limited inventory slots per character I would recommend Earthbound and Mother 3, both are some GOAT level JRPGs and the rolling HP system helps ease things in I think. Octopath Traveler II isn't too challenging and I REALLY liked it, beautiful looking game with amazing voice acting and it's one of the best on the Switch IMO. A lot of people will find Persona 5 (Royal) a really good entry point, and if you like social sim elements that's a huge buff to give it a look. I hope some of those helped out and honestly I could dig deeper too!

I think in that case yes!
Persona 3 (excluding portable), 4 and 5 wouldn't count though, since the girls are playable but aren't the "protagonist" imo.
Kotone from 3 portable counts though!

Alright so basically have to realistically feel like the playable / "main" protagonist, fits with what I figured. Thanks!