I just feel like commenting on the native language voice line thing, that is incredibly simple or can be difficult depending on which language. In the case of Swedish, I cannot think of a single relevant game that has spoken Swedish in it besides the few that have been dubbed to Swedish after the fact and then the challenge just feels a little pointless and limiting in my opinion.

I think that's a good principle up to a point, but can be overdone. If for no other reason because not everyone participating in the challenge is necessarily going to plan every category and will instead play their 20-50 games in 2025 and fit them into categories as they go(like yours truly). I do understand your point though. Maybe splitting a category like that with an option one could plan around and one that could be categorized after the fact? It's not necessary to twist into a pretzel over this, I was mostly suggesting that we should have some categories that had to do with game stories and not just more arbitrary stuff like length, sequel status, genre, age, stats, etc.

I do think challenges should generally be ones you plan around, since if you're just playing a bunch of games and applying categories retroactively then it isn't a challenge, it's incredibly simple. Those challenges basically require you to know the plot of a game before you play it, which ruins the enjoyment of experiencing a story in many ways.

"Age like milk" is such a universal and common phrase that I find it bizarre that someone is unfamiliar with it

I'm with bgalon on this.
It's universal in english and the entire world doesn't speak it. Sure, the forums are in english but I'm sure there are loads of non-native speakers here. I'm sure if I went around asking people random phrases which are common in english, most people wouldn't get most of them.

I'm not a native English speaker, but fair point and I generally just agree with the sentiment that the clearest descriptor is best or that an explanation is at least in a parentheses.

I can additionally comment that I do also believe 50 games is an unrealistically high number. This year I have played more different games than I have ever before, but despite that I did not reach that amount even considering I was not playing any specific types of games to fit any challenge. "Age like milk" is such a universal and common phrase that I find it bizarre that someone is unfamiliar with it, but that specific wording of a game relating to George Romero made me unsure on what you specifically meant despite googling who he was. Games starting with the letter Q might additionally also be a bit too limiting, but maybe there are ways to make that work.

Unlike previous months, I didn't play much in November so therefore failed to beat many games. Noticing that towards the end I felt that I might as well clear something quick, so I did that yesterday so I could at least contribute with one game.

Shovel Knight Showdown - Nov 29

Had already gone through all the main games included in Shovel Knight; Treasure Trove, but had never actually touched Showdown so I thought that this was a great opportunity to do so. Happy that I did cause the story mode was a quick but nice little time, not a super complex platform fighter but a nice way to transition Shovel Knight gameplay into the genre. Final boss was especially the highlight and this now ended up being the shortest game I've cleared for this, ended up shorter than NES Donkey Kong which was a surprise. A lot of time was actually spent on getting 100% in Link's Awakening, which was a fantastic time and means the next few games on my quest to 100% all 2D Zelda games will be games I haven't played before. Since I had already done a non-100% playthrough of Link's Awakening while tracking games here I just added the 100% time to it without separating it like I always do for games that I replay that I've already tracked. Know for sure that the list of cleared games will be bigger in December, by how much remains to be seen, but a few of Rayman Origins, Banjo-Tooie, Sonic the Hedgehog CD and Mega Man 5 will likely be cleared that month at least.

Continuing with what seems to be the norm for this year, I beat another 5 games in October. Very much a retro focused month, which has been a theme of this year in general. Playing classic games that I had missed out is super cool so I can see what I have missed out on due to my age.

Paper Mario - Oct 1
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Oct 15
Mario Kart DS - Oct 19
Mega Man 4 - Oct 22
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels - Oct 22

After starting it in June but not getting far, I really picked up Paper Mario and played it constantly over the month of September until I beat it a few hours into October. Was my first experience with Paper Mario, or any Mario RPG period, and I enjoyed it a whole lot. Found the world and characters super charming and the combat really engaging. Very much intend to play the later games, looking forward to experiencing The Thousand-Year Door especially. After beating my first Sonic game a few months ago, I beat Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and I vastly preferred that to the first game. Has the great elements from the first game, but has much better level design and I just get into it much more. Mario Kart DS I had sadly missed out on, so finally getting to play it after the previous 4 Mario Kart games was wonderful. The game did hold up very well, control is very good and additionally has some amazing tracks, though the retro tracks are much lesser. Mission Mode was super fun and took up most of time since I went for those difficult 3 Stars, which I managed and it was worthwhile I think. Still playing more Mega Man so 4 was the next one, which was excellent. Really fun stages and just felt better to play compared to Mega Man 3, 4 is my current favourite alongside 2. Finally we have the game I gave up on months ago, The Lost Levels. One of the hardest games I've ever played, in many ways for bad reasons, but after many hours of retrying (with half of it being World 8 alone) I finally bested it and it has to be one of my more impressive gaming achievements. Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA) is the only one of the older home console Super Mario games I've yet to clear now, intend to get to that in a few months time. For November I'll complete my 100% playthrough of Link's Awakening and go through Mega Man 5, aside from that I'm unsure in terms of games I'll track on this website. Just have to wait and see how I feel like.

I think my simple way to go about it is just to just think: "Does this remake give me a different experience compared to playing the original?" In some cases I think the answer is very clear, such as with FF7 but some others I think are less clear.

I played through the N64 versions of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask for the first time this year and I decided to not count them differently, simply my experience was over 90% the same while playing them as the originals. You don't miss much by playing one over the other, despite the upgrades and downgrades that are featured. I think Link's Awakening is complicated, I'm unsure if I would count the original differently.

Generally I think I will mainly play the newest version and won't go back to the older version, but if the newer improved version releases later and is more than graphically different then I would include that one as well I think. I think the "vibes" of each remake are also totally valid to take into account when deciding this.

I managed to beat 5 games this month, meaning tied with the amount I beat in January, March and June. However, these are all shorter games and also older since only one of them released this century. Felt good about experiencing quite a few classics this month.

Mario Kart: Doube Dash!! - Sep 02
Golden Axe - Sep 07
Super Mario Bros. 3 - Sep 07
Mega Man 3 - Sep 16
Metroid - Sep 21

I'm in the process of going through all the Mario Kart games, since prior to this year I only had a lot of experience with 7 and 8, and I've been enjoying it quite a bit. Double Dash!! is definitely my favourite of the first four, controls are quite slippery but it has mostly aged quite well. Golden Axe I simply played cause I wanted something short to simply playthrough, so I took an afternoon to experience an old Beat 'em up for the first time and it was fine for what it is. Never beat Super Mario Bros. 3 without save states before so I did it last month, great game and a classic I'm just personally not too drawn to old 2D Mario unfortunately. Also in the process of playing through all the Mega Man games, enjoyed 3 less than 2 since it felt very padded but had a good time still. Metroid 1 was nice to play after having played its remake, obviously has aged and could not progress at all with a map but with it I had a solid enough time. Most of the month was spent on Paper Mario, which I cleared earlier today so will be included next month.

Started playing Tears of the Kingdom a few weeks ago and is still at it, going for 100% so been quite a time investment so far. Over 70h in and just entered my first dungeon.

I just retired Punch-Out!! Made it to Mr. Sandman and after trying to beat him for several hours I just gave up. This also comes from a person who has gotten the plat in Bloodborne, but he is boss i just couldn't beat.

I only managed to beat six new games during these months, but I did replay a lot of games I have already beaten. Below are all the games I beat for the first time during the first half of the year.

New Games
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - (9/10) Really enjoyable 2D Zelda game. Smaller in scale but still includes loads of fun exploration and tricky dungeons
Arms - (6/10) Played it while it was free. Really unique and interesting gameplay, but didn't really grab me. Also lacks single player content and was done after I beat the Lv 5 Grand Prix
Dark Souls Remastered - (9/10) After I played Bloodborne I was exited to try Dark Souls and it didn't disappoint me. Did every single boss and loved the experience.
Super Mario World - (8/10) Of course a good game, but I didn't have a super great time. Quite a few levels were pretty frustrating and I simply hate lives in games.
Journey - (9/10) Fantastic game with great worldless storytelling. It took me less than 2 hours to beat, but it made a really great afternoon.
Final Fantasy X - (8/10) Great sense of world building and a likable cast of characters. Pretty good main mechanics overall, but the game had loads of dumb difficulty spikes.

Replays
Kirby: Triple Deluxe - (7/10) Simple enjoyable plattformer, but the main game is too easy and a little unremarkable. The optional content is really good however and makes the game worthwhile.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D - (10/10) My favorite game of all time. Amazing atmosphere, dungeons and side quests.
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham - (7/10) A really fun Lego game. I got the plat and had fun for the most part, but the last ten hours sadly really dragged.
Kingdom Hearts - (9/10) Not as good as 2 or 3 but still a fantastic game. Good combat, but a little to simple. The worlds are all really unique and story is simple, but perfect.
Cuphead - (9/10) Unique and truly fantastic art style that makes the entire game a treat. Also filled with really fun and difficult boss fights.
Ratchet & Clank (2016) - (8/10) Fun 3D platformer with loads of planets to explore and weapons too use. Painfully mediocre story though.

I'm about 16 hours into Final Fantasy X and I'm have a pretty good time so far. I'm also really close to getting the platinum for Ratchet & Clank

This month I managed to beat Dark Souls Remastered. I also defeated the final boss of the Grand Prix in Arms, cause I played during the time it was free

I'm currently doing the superbosses in Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind on Lv 99 Critical Mode. They are incredibly difficult