GameTZ

Renaissance2K

sailorneorune

Slickriven

SwiftJAB

SupremeSarna

WithinTemptation

How do I play?

The Birthday Extravaganza is comprised of six different game series of one or more titles. The games span a variety of eras, platforms, and console generations, though the various franchises skew towards "retro." Because I'm old.

The goal is to complete a game in as many series as possible. The first time you finish a game and check off a series, you earn your R2Kake Badge, which will initially be decorated with the series that you just completed. Continue to finish more series, and your cake will be increasingly blinged out. Completing series also makes you eligible for other prizes and raffles, which we'll talk about later.

Each game series also has an additional objective to "gild" each series' badge and give it a gold border. In some cases, it's completing a specific in-game objective. In others, it's completing a specific game in the series. In all cases, these bonus achievements highlight a certain aspect of each sprawling game series that carries special weight or unlocks a special memory for me. There's a slight raffle bonus for completing them, but don't go to pieces if you feel like a few of them are out of your reach.

Bedazzled badges will be featured here and in the Retro Talkshop Thread.

The game starts on October 1 and ends on October 31. Feel free to use the lead time to acquire games, research strategies, or make ageist jokes at me.

Why are we playing these games?

All the games series featured in the Birthday Extravaganza are important to me and the 35 or so years I've been a gamer. I go into more detail about this in the posts that follow, but needless to say, beyond just pure hours played, each of the games in our scope have been an important part of my gaming identity in some way.

This final list is actually quite a bit different than the one with which I started, which included Bionic Commando, Burgertime, and Crazy Taxi; all of which hold sentimental significance. Since the Retro Talkshop Thread featured each of these games this year, I wanted to keep the lot fresh rather than exhaust an option we recently visited.

Of the series that are left
- They all originate from eras that we universally consider "retro".
- Almost all of them are still accessible in some modern fashion without raiding thrift stores and eBay.
- Almost all of them have modern, semi-modern, or remastered entries that appeal to modern platforms.
- The genres vary: one racing game, one flying game, and a variety of different action titles.
- Most of the games in these series are fairly short. Many entries can be completed in an hour or less, and most of the remaining ones are just a few hours. No hundred-hour epics here.
- Acknowledging this is subjective, the games don't suck. Yes, I did spend an unfortunate amount of time in my youth playing Where's Waldo? for the NES. No, I'm not going to make y'all do it.

That excludes a lot of my favorite franchises. Tekken has been my favorite fighter since 1995, but we already have a "must include" fighter in the list. Final Fantasy is a borderline obsession, but all the games take 30+ hours to complete, so it's out. I worship the original Unreal titles, but Epic yanked them from all the digital marketplaces earlier this year for no obvious reason. There are similar excuses for Diablo, Burnout, WipEout, SoulCalibur, and a number of other great franchises, but I guess we'll just to have to save them for the 50th Birthday Extravaganza. Ha.

So, what exactly are we playing?

https://youtu.be/gyo...
In the posts that follow, I've tried to include the cheapest and/or easiest way to legally get a hold of a game in each series. If you know of a better option, please share, and I'll update these posts.

21-Sep-23 12:25am
#2

Renaissance2K

Mega Man

Play through any numbered Mega Man game to unlock the Mega Man badge.

Play through Mega Man 2 on any platform to gild your badge.

What is it?

If you're on GameTZ and haven't heard of Mega Man before, let me be the first to welcome you to Planet Earth. The Mega Man universe encompasses countless games and spin-offs, animated TV shows, guest appearances, merchandise, and other media instances that have cemented the Blue Bomber as one of gaming's most recognizable figures.

Mega Man's original recipe of "running, gunning, platforming, and stealing boss' powers" saw six 8-bit entries on the original Nintendo console, one 16-bit entry on the Super Nintendo, and one 32-bit entry before a long hiatus. As indie pixel art crested in popularity during gaming's seventh generation, Mega Man re-appeared with two games - Mega Man 9 and 10 - in his original 8-bit stylings, only to disappear again shortly after. Mega Man's latest outing - Mega Man 11 - attempted to reinvigorate the franchise with 3D graphics, multiple play styles, and a variety of other modern trimmings.

Why are we playing it?

I wanted the 8-bit era to have a place in this event as a callback to the console that made me a gamer in the first place, but both of my first-choice franchises to represent it - Super Dodge Ball and Bionic Commando - have already been Retro Talkshop Thread Games of the Month, the latter as recently as this past June. With other options being too obvious, too long, or too lame, Mega Man stood out as a classic, polished franchise that still remains extremely accessible today.

One of my fondest old school gaming memories is watching my friend play through Wily's Castle in Mega Man 2, only to start over from the beginning and show me how the little blue dude got all those cool weapons in the first place. Mega Man was also the subject of my first retro "binge" after picking up the Mega Man Anniversary Collection, and short of maybe Super Smash Bros. Brawl, I don't think any Wii game release excited me nearly as much as when Mega Man 9 appeared on the platform briefly as an exclusive.

Mega Man is no stranger to my YouTube channel, having been featured in both Game Music Challenge videos and a handful of longplays. The last Mega Man game I played was Mega Man 7, this past December for the Retro Talkshop Thread Game of the Month.
-

Rockman 2 Complete Works - PlayStation longplay
-

2022 Year in Review
-

30-Day Game Music Challenge
-

30-Day Game Music Challenge 2022
-

Mega Man 2 - Genesis longplay
-

Mega Man 7 - Super Nintendo longplay

How can I play it?

Play Mega Man 1-3 on

Nintendo

Genesis (Mega Man: The Wily Wars)

PlayStation

PlayStation 2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

PlayStation 3 (psOne Classics)

PSP (psOne Classics)

Vita (psOne Classics)

Wii (Virtual Console)

3DS (Mega Man Legacy Collection, Virtual Console)

Wii U (Virtual Console)

Windows (Mega Man Legacy Collection)

PlayStation 4 (Mega Man Legacy Collection)

Xbox One (Mega Man Legacy Collection)

Switch (Mega Man Legacy Collection)

Play Mega Man: Powered Up on

PSP

Play Mega Man 4 on

Nintendo

PlayStation

PlayStation 2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

PlayStation 3 (psOne Classics)

PSP (psOne Classics)

Vita (psOne Classics)

Wii (Virtual Console)

3DS (Mega Man Legacy Collection, Virtual Console)

Wii U (Virtual Console)

Windows (Mega Man Legacy Collection)

PlayStation 4 (Mega Man Legacy Collection)

Xbox One (Mega Man Legacy Collection)

Switch (Mega Man Legacy Collection)

Play Mega Man 5-6 on

Nintendo

PlayStation

PlayStation 2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

Wii (Virtual Console)

3DS (Mega Man Legacy Collection, Virtual Console)

Wii U (Virtual Console)

Windows (Mega Man Legacy Collection)

PlayStation 4 (Mega Man Legacy Collection)

Xbox One (Mega Man Legacy Collection)

Switch (Mega Man Legacy Collection)

Play Mega Man 7 on

Super Nintendo

PlayStation 2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

Windows (Mega Man Legacy Collection 2)

PlayStation 4 (Mega Man Legacy Collection 2)

Xbox One (Mega Man Legacy Collection 2)

Switch (Mega Man Legacy Collection 2)

Play Mega Man 8 on

PlayStation

Saturn

Vita (psOne Classics)

PlayStation 2 (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

GameCube (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

Xbox (Mega Man Anniversary Collection)

Windows (Mega Man Legacy Collection 2)

PlayStation 4 (Mega Man Legacy Collection 2)

Xbox One (Mega Man Legacy Collection 2)

Switch (Mega Man Legacy Collection 2)

Play Mega Man 9-10 on

Xbox 360

PlayStation 3

Wii

Windows (Mega Man Legacy Collection 2)

PlayStation 4 (Mega Man Legacy Collection 2)

Xbox One (Mega Man Legacy Collection 2)

Switch (Mega Man Legacy Collection 2)

Play Mega Man 11 on

Windows

Xbox One

PlayStation 3

Switch

Mega Man 8 and the first four Complete Works versions of the first Mega Man games are still available on the PlayStation Stores for PS3 and Vita for $5.99, though the game menus for the Complete Works games are in Japanese.

Mega Man 9 and 10 can still be purchased as standalone titles on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 marketplaces for $9.99. They were both offered as PlayStation Plus monthly freebees many years back.

The Mega Man Legacy Collection is still on modern digital storefronts for $14.99 and frequently goes on sale.

Loose copies of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection may be available for slightly less.

Anything else I should know?

When Mega Man defeats a robot master, he keeps their weapon for himself. Each boss weapon is another boss' weakness. As a result, nearly every Mega Man game has a canonical "boss order" that begins with him beating Boss 1, who's weak to the Mega Buster; then Boss 2, who's weak to Boss 1's weapon; and so forth. Finding and executing the correct order will make boss fights a whole lot easier.

21-Sep-23 12:25am
#3

Renaissance2K

One Must Fall

Play through One Player Mode or Tournament Mode in either One Must Fall game to earn the One Must Fall badge.

Play through Tournament Mode in One Must Fall 2097 to gild your badge.

What is it?

Before Epic Megagames was Fortniting, licensing the Unreal engine, and suing Apple, they were one of the original shareware powerhouses. One Must Fall 2097 - a one-on-one brawler with giant robots, an anime aesthetic, a deep career mode, and a booming soundtrack - was, for years, the best PC exclusive fighter in existence. The game managed to cut through all the limitations of the platform, including clunky keyboard controls, to deliver an entertaining Mortal Kombat-style fighter that lived on as a cult classic.

Developer Diversions Entertainment attempted to revive the franchise in 2002 with an over-the-shoulder 3D 1-on-1 fighter called One Must Fall: Battlegrounds. Other than featuring giant robots, however, not much of the fun or the charm carried over from the original game. A rushed, buggy release and a lack of polish caused the game to receive mixed reviews, and the franchise has since faded into obscurity.

Why are we playing it?

One Must Fall 2097 was my barometer for PC power when I was in middle school. Serious PC gamers had a copy and a machine that could run it, and everyone else had likely never heard of it. Similarly, I knew I had entered the realm of PC gaming when my family finally retired their dusty 286 in favor of a Pentium Pro-powered Gateway 2000 that could successfully send the title screen's trademark thunderclap through its beige speakers.

Through the advent of the 3D era and with the relative disappointment of its sequel, One Must Fall is still a useful tool for old school gaming testing and a great distraction when there's no work to be done. I described One Must Fall as my "endgame" for the MiSTer's ao486 core (a feat the device now handles deftly), and I booted the game dozens of times during the pandemic as I struggled getting sound to work on my retro PC's MS-DOS partition.

I played through the career mode of One Must Fall 2097 in 2020 as part of my Year of Replays. It's featured in a handful of my YouTube videos.
-

30-Day Game Music Challenge
-

Jean-Paul arcade mode longplay

How can I play it?

Play One Must Fall 2097 on

MS-DOS

Play One Must Fall: Battlegrounds on

Windows

One Must Fall is 2097 is honest-to-goodness freeware and runs beautifully in DOSBox. If you have any trouble setting it up, please reach out, and I'll be happy to help.

Anything else I should know?

While the CPU opponents will never use them on you, One Must Fall 2097 has two tiers of "end of match" finishing moves: one that's a simple parting blow, and one that reduces your opponent's HAR to rubble. Other than glory and points, there isn't much of a benefit to using them, but they're fun to pull off.

21-Sep-23 12:26am
#4

Renaissance2K

Warhawk

Finish the game to unlock the Warhawk badge.

Unlock the "best" ending to gild your badge.

What is it?

Before Omicron was an infamous variant of COVID, it was humanity's last hope against the forces of Kreel, a gritty reboot of the Kool-Aid Man who's scorching the earth in search of magical fruit punch. (More or less.) The Warhawk - Strike Force Omicron's secret weapon - is a highly-maneuverable air fighter with hover capabilities, the only ship that can stand a chance against Kreel's forces. To win, you have to fly the Warhawk into six different warzones, disable or infiltrate the defenses, and retrieve the stolen payloads before Kreel - or your cranky commander back at home - finish you off.

Warhawk never received a direct sequel, and a planned PC port was cancelled. Sony released a reboot/reimagining/shameless harvest of a dormant brand called Warhawk for the PlayStation 3, but other than featuring some new models highly-maneuverable aircraft, the multiplayer-only third-person shooter - and its sequel, Starhawk - had little in common with its namesake. A more apt tribute to the game was featured in Twisted Metal Black, which included more than a few less-than-subtle nods to the Warhawk and its characters.

Why are we playing it?

My first PlayStation came with Interactive CD Sampler Pack, Volume 2 which, among other things, included a playable demo of the first level of Warhawk. Most of the other playables on the disc found a lukewarm reception in my household, but my brother and I would pass the controller back and forth replaying the entirety of Warhawk's Desert Zone level ad nauseum. Warhawk ended being the first time a demo sold me on picking up the retail version of the game, which I received for Christmas that year.

Warhawk is a moderate amount of fun, though it's repeatedly brought up in retro circles as the quintessential "didn't age well" game. It has cheesy live action cutscenes, lots of texture warping, unfair AI, and it's painfully short. Warhawk's soundtrack, on the other hand - like many/most of Singletrac's game soundtracks - knocks it out of the park. It's cinematic, well-orchestrated, and complements the action on screen perfectly. Nearly singlehandedly, Warhawk ignited my decades-long obsession with video game music.

I last played through Warhawk in 2020 as part of my Year of Replays. It's featured in a handful of my YouTube videos.
-

30-Day Game Music Challenge
-

PlayStation longplay

How can I play it?

Play it on

PlayStation

PlayStation 3 (psOne Classic)

PSP (psOne Classic)
*vita* PlayStation Vita (psOne Classic)

Warhawk is still available on the PlayStation Stores for PS3 and Vita for $5.99. Loose disc copies can easily be found online for less than $10.

Anything else I should know?

The manual notes that you can eject your pilots from the Warhawk by mashing all four face buttons. You lose one of your three lives as a result. Other than being the ultimate mic drop, there has to be a use for it...

21-Sep-23 12:26am
#5

Renaissance2K

MDK

Finish MDK or any version of MDK2 to unlock the MDK badge.

Watch the original music video ending of MDK to gild your badge.

What is it?

Despite a title that allegedly stands for "Murder Death Kill" and the "On a good day, only 2.5 billion people will die" billing, MDK's brooding main character and alien aesthetic is heavily spiced with the wacky antics of its cousin, Earthworm Jim. Aided by his boss Dr. Fluke Hawkings and his six-armed robotic dog Bones, protagonist Kurt uses a definitely-not-BDSM-or-anything coil suit to infiltrate six city-sized minecrawlers that are stripping the Earth of its resources and leveling civilization in the process. The suit is equipped with an arm-mounted chaingun and a head-mounted sniper rifle that allows Kurt to get the drop on enemies up to three miles away.

MDK is largely forgotten today, but critics and gamers alike praised it upon its release for its varied gameplay and environments; its quirky sense of humor; and its gorgeous graphics, which leaned heavily on sprawling, colorful environments. Bioware - yes, that Bioware - developed the aptly-titled MDK2, which turned all three of the original main characters into playable protagonists, each with a dramatically different playstyle. The sequel is much more heavy handed with humor, lore, and other modern game mechanics, but it holds its own.

Why are we playing it?

Do you know how everyone has a "can we be friends" movie that they show to dates and acquaintances as a snapshot into their personality? MDK is that, for me, in video game form. On the way to a Memorial Day picnic in 1997, I made my family detour to CompUSA to pick up a copy of MDK, which launched in a glorious embossed big box. Since then, I've played through it countless times and introduced it to any number of potential gamers that could be interested. It was actually the first game I launched on my Steam Deck after booting it for the first time. (Spoiler alert: it plays great.)

While MDK's core gameplay is solid and its sniper mode was novel at the time, the game's greatest strength is simply how silly it is. Recurring pickups include the World's Smallest Nuclear Explosion and World's Most Interesting Bomb. Enemies taunt you by shaking their butts and making wakka wakka noises. There's a brilliant, brillaint sequence in the first level involving a broken Alert Robot that I will leave unspoiled. And, if you play through the original version of the game (which is thankfully the version sold on Steam), the game ends with a French music video featuring a live action Kurt Hectic. Madcap brilliance.

I last played through MDK in 2020 as part of my Year of Replays. It's featured in a handful of my YouTube videos.
-

MDK - PlayStation longplay

How can I play it?

Play MDK on

DOS & Windows

PlayStation

Play MDK 2 on

Dreamcast

Windows

Wii

Play MDK 2: Armageddon on

PlayStation 2

Play MDK 2 HD on

Windows

MDK and MDK 2 are both available on Steam and GOG for $9.99.

Anything else I should know?

You have a sniper rifle on your head. Don't be afraid to go for head shots. If a larger enemy seems unfazed by a blow to the head, switch to a bigger bullet, or aim for their eyes instead.

21-Sep-23 12:26am
#6

Renaissance2K

Rollcage

Play through the Career mode of Rollcage, the Career or Scramble modes of Rollcage: Stage II, or the Campaign mode of GRIP to unlock the Rollcage badge.

Unlock Yuri in Rollcage to gild your badge.

What is it?

People of a certain age may remember the Ricochet, a remote-controlled car with wheels so large that it could effectively never be upside-down. The original commercial promised powerful, pulverizing stunts as the car would flip itself over and ride up halfpipes, always to land on its figurative feet. Developer ATB turned the concept into a futuristic combat racer (not totally unlike another game franchise that almost made an appearance this month) powered by neon, techno, and for some reason, Engrish.

Rollcage was followed up with a sequel - Rollcage: Stage II - that added more tracks, more cars, more weapons, and the puzzle-like Scramble mode, but that was the last outing before the franchise faded into relative obscurity. The game developed a quiet following in the retro gaming scene, which prompted a few of the original developers to launch a Kickstarter and bring the combat racing formula to modern consoles. The Kickstarter was abruptly pulled, but the game - called GRIP: Combat Racing - did eventually reach Early Access, followed by a full retail release. The complicated Campaign Mode and overloaded Garage reek of content bloat, but the game does a fantastic job of capturing the spirit and chaotic racing of its spiritual predecessor, provided you're playing on a platform with enough horsepower.

Why are we playing it?

Rollcage is possibly the greatest bargain bin pickup of all time. After playing the one-track demo to death, the game showed up on the local GameStop's shrinking PC shelf for $10 in its original full-size box. The game is a fruity, satisfying snack. For a while, I introduced it to people as a game so good, I couldn't help but play all the way through it every time I re-installed it following hard drive format or some other catastrophe. You can imagine my surprise and delight decades later when it turns out the game I thought nobody had heard of actually had developed a bit of a cult following, not to mention a spiritual successor.

I last played through Rollcage in 2020 as part of my Year of Replays. As of yet, that's the only one of my YouTube videos in which it's been featured.
-

2020 Year in Review

Play Rollcage or Rollcage: Stage II on

PlayStation

Windows

Play GRIP: Combat Racing on

Windows

PlayStation 4

Xbox One

Switch

What's the cheapest/easiest way to play it?

One of the original developers publicly released Rollcage Redux and Rollcage Extreme, complete patched versions of the original two titles that are more compatible with modern machines.

Loose copies of Rollcage and Stage II for PlayStation can easily be found online for less than $10. PC copies of the original used to be quite common and inexpensive as well, but they seem to be a lot rarer these days, for some reason.

Anything else I should know?

Unless you're playing GRIP, which has an actual air control mode, inertia is going to make turning during or just before airtime a really bad time. Use the lead time before a ramp to line up your trajectory so your graceful, high-speed landing doesn't turn into a bellyflop.

21-Sep-23 12:26am
#7

Renaissance2K

Twisted Metal

Play through the One-Player Mode or Story Mode in any Twisted Metal game to unlock the Twisted Metal badge.

Play through the One-Player Mode of Twisted Metal Black to gild your badge.

What is it?

For gamers that have been with the PlayStation since the very beginning, Twisted Metal needs no introduction. The franchise is remembered fondly for its perfection of the vehicular combat genre; its quirky cars and characters, most notably Sweet Tooth and his trademark ice cream truck; and for Calypso, the creator of the titular tournament and granter of wishes, most of which grab at The Monkey's Paw. Singletrac (the same developers as Warhawk above) produced two Twisted Metal games - the first taking place in the Los Angeles, and the second going all over the world - before surrendering the IP to Sony as part of their purchase by GT Interactive. Sony's 989 Studios produced two more follow-ups, but the new engine and awkward dependence on Rob Zombie failed to capture the personality of its predecessors.

The original developers rejoined with Sony as Incog Inc. and made up for lost goodwill by developing the family-friendly Twisted Metal: Small Brawl, a portable re-imagining of the world tour in Twisted Metal: Head-On, and their masterpiece, Twisted Metal Black, which leaned hard into a nighttime aesthetic and gorey, horror-inspired storylines for its rogues gallery. Vehicular combat fell out of favor as console first-person shooters took over the landscape, but Sony rebooted Twisted Metal one final time on the PlayStation 3 and took the franchise online with mixed results.

Twisted Metal's latest incarnation is as a Peacock-exclusive TV show that has cars, colorful missiles, and a big angry clown named Sweet Tooth, but not much else in common with the eponymous video game series.

Why are we playing it?

When I announced at school that I had a bought a PlayStation, the first response from one of my friends was, "Now, you need to play Twisted Metal." Twisted Metal 2 took on the role that Mario Kart did in many other friend circles. We'd waste weekend hours blasting each other halfway to the scrap heap and watching the trippy ending movies, and on my own, I'd go back and explore the levels, find new destructable Easter eggs, and appreciate the incredible soundtrack. When the Greatest Hits line was annouced with Twisted Metal as one of its inaugural entries, I didn't hestitate to pick it up, even though it's a functional subset of what you get in its sequel. I suffered through Twisted Metal III, and didn't even bother to finish Twisted Metal 4, considering Singletrac's loss of control one of my earliest examples of being screwed by corporate machinations.

Few gaming memories, therefore, can compare to booting up Twisted Metal Black for the first time. After thinking the series would never return to form, the original developers were back (albeit with a new studio) with an entry for the months-old PlayStation 2. After midnight, with all the lights off, the game booted to the opening riff of "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones; a grisly introduction to the John Doe character; and a dark, cinematic battlescape running at 60FPS. The rest is history.

I played through multiple Twisted Metal games in 2020 as part of my Year of Replays. The various playthroughs are featured in a number of YouTube videos.
-