I don't know if anyone would be interested in this or not, especially because I'm brand new here, but I'm currently attempting to beat a game a day - every day - for the next year. Since this little challenge isn't just retro and will feature a few modern games and isn't about a particular game itself, i thought I'd post it here.

So, like I said, Nightowljrm's Year of Gaming is basically me trying to beat a game every day in 2012? Why? Honestly, for a number of reasons. I'm in college now and I realized, before long, I won't have as much time as I have now. Especially if things go according to plan, I'll have a job in a little over three years, be married in four, and eventually, have a family. All those things are great and what I've wanted for my entire life, but gaming's great too. So on December 30th, I decided to make 2012 my year of gaming and just go hardcore on the nerdism the entire time. It'd be a challenge that forces me to play the games I simply buy to have or that I had every intention to play but it just slipped away from me. During high-school, I was really into RuneScape (lol) and so I didn't play console games anymore. Regretably, this led to some of them being sold or given away. That is, until 11th grade when I decided I wanted an NES. I really liked it and immediately became a retro gamer. Then after about six months, I fell in love and became collecting retro games and started to "collect" (471 items in the collection and about 420 games isn't much of a collection, though). This past August - December, I realized I was buying more than I was playing, which I didn't like, which is what originally spurt this idea. Finally, the last reason why I'm attempting this is that I want to brag about I did something difficult - something not many other have pulled off - in my golden games of gaming. Beating a game a day isn't easy - much more difficult than beating Ghosts 'n Goblins, which I did September of this year.

All of this is fine and dandy, but I have to prove it, right?  Well... I'm uploading a video to YouTube daily proving my completion. (http://www.youtube.com/user/nightowljrm]). I didn't intend for it to become a YouTube video series, but it appears that it will be. Originally, I was just going to take a picture with my phone to prove it, but hey, this is more fun.

And there's rules! If someone just emulates and uses save states, uses a Game Genie/Game Shark, passwords, or saved games from before 2012, it'd be easy (at least until you run out of games) to beat a game a day! Which is very true, not to mention just lame... so here are the rules I created for myself!

No repeating the same game. For example, if a game is completed on day 3, it cannot be beaten to count as a "game beaten" for any other day.

Kill screens count as beating the game.

No emulating, all games must be played on real hardware; however, they don't have to be games I actually own. Borrowing is okay.

No using passwords to skip ahead.

No turbo controllers or anything that gives a slight advantage.

No cheats, such as the Konami code, and no Game Genies/Game Sharks may be used.

No continuing old saves. Every game beaten must be from start to finish in 2012. This includes save states.

Multiple games can be played in a day. For instance, I can play/beat Castlevania and play The Legend of Zelda a little bit each day. When I get to Ganon, save, beat a different game, and defeat Ganon the next day. Then it will count.

Two games can't be beaten in one day to compensate for a different day in the past or the future.

Remakes or re-distributions don't count. For example, I can't beat Castlevania on the NES then again on the GBA. Also, beating The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, then beating The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D does not count. However, playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time then The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Master Quest does due to significant differences.

Proof must be given. For now, it's YouTube videos. Hopefully I can continue that in the future.

Ideally, the games must be beaten before midnight (central time). However, this is not always possible due to busy days, and in the spirit of gaming, if a game is not beaten by midnight, it may be completed and counted as the day it was started on as long as the game is finished in that sitting.

In short, all games must be played and beaten legitimately.

NIGHTOWLJRM'S YEAR OF GAMING

Day 1: Castlevania (NES) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3lCtDXbkes
Day 2: Robodemons (NES) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irevdp9pi8I
Day 3: Super Dodge Ball (NES) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmbhlk2jxUE
Day 4: Kirby's Adventure (NES) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eexoDiC1chQ
Day 5: Monster Party (NES) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yhmOc6XONU
Day 6: Shining Force (Gen) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgG51zosdno
Day 7: Ocarina of Time (3DS/N64) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUdm58ozO-8

Reserved.

Reserved - post away now.  ;)

I've kept up with it as well, surprisingly enough.  I've been trying to add a new completion to my NES completions every day until such time as I fail, forget, or move on to something else.  So far I've got 9 games on my personal list this year, with 7 straight days with entries (started on New Year's Eve).  I've got nowhere near the level of quality that you have so far though, outside of Metal Gear and Snake's Revenge at the start, and the 2nd being a 4-completion day (first time I've added 4 games in a day to my list since I started tracking dates in '06).  My list is as follows:

Jan 1 - Metal Gear
Jan 2- Snake's Revenge, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Shadowgate
Jan 3 - Fisher Price: I Can Remember
Jan 4 - Fisher Price: Firehouse Rescue
Jan 5 - Sesame Street 1-2-3
Jan 6 - Sesame Street A-B-C

So yeah, kind of a weak week, but I don't have much time or energy after work.  And what that doesn't show is me chipping away at Gemfire the last couple days :P  I doubt I'd keep this kind of pace up though, seeing as I'm on pace to beat 548 NES games this year, and with 80 previously beaten, that doesn't give much leeway in the library, unless I hit Famicom games or something :P

Day 2 was a good day. =P

What do you consider beating Donkey Kong? Just going through the loop a few times?

All I require for looping games is to clear the loop once, and break the high score.  There are slight modifications depending on the game (for example, Galaga I required clearing the first bonus stage and beating the default high score, since it would essentially "loop" upon beating level 1), but for the most part any endless game will have that basic system.  And since there is no default high score on DK or DKJr, I just called them finished when the stages looped, although I did still play through my remaining lives to see if I could do it again...but since I suck ass at those sort of games, I couldn't :P

Lol, makes sense. I'm sure there's some hardcores out there who think only getting the kill screen is beating the game.

I may do the same as your system for these looped games. 'Cause we all know that eventually I'm gonna have to turn to these easy "beatable in a few minutes" games in order to continue beating a game a day.

For sure!

Hillsfar was raping me today, tried to knock out the Thief scenario, but it refuses to give me the next step of the quest line.  Tried playing through it twice to no avail, keep getting stuck at the same part.  Not sure if it's the game or just me to be honest.  Regardless, I knocked out the Mage scenario so I still managed to add a game to the list today :)  And technically it's a new completion for me, since I track each scenario separately (3 quests per, no repeated quests, different endings...means I track it as 4 games, 1 per scenario).  This was the third quest line I knocked out, so hopefully I can find a way past that point tomorrow...may restart it again and see (only takes about an hour and a half to get to where I am stuck), but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

Well, my streak of new NES completions has ended...however, my streak of new completions in general has not.  Knocked off WCW/nWo World Tour 100% complete today, so at least I'm still in the game :P

Holy smokes guys. Some of the games you are targetting are not exactly easy.

I know these arent retro, but my kids and I beat Skylanders for Wii.  We also beat Lego Batman (only 84% total rating, but we are moving on to Indiana Jones next since we consider that beaten)

Al

How was Skylanders?