Games are weird, aren’t they? Well, so are the people who play them. GotX is the Retro Handhelds Discord‘s version of a book club, though more than one book is available and nobody is happy with any of them. For the month of August, Retro Handhelds is getting a little weird and playing games with unique or strange imagery and themes.
What is GotX?
GotX is short for “Games of the X“, which can be split into three categories: Game of the Month (GotM), Game of the Quarter (GotQ), and Game of the Week (GotW). Games of the Month are chosen according to a theme selected by community users who have previously beaten a GotM game for the prior month, aka “GotM Champions”.
Three games in total are selected, each falling within a range of release dates, nominated and voted upon by the GotM Champions. Winners each receive their own thread in the GotM channels in the Retro Handhelds Discord, where discussions, arguments, and ultimately fun are had by all.
Game of the Quarter and Game of the Week are selected independently in styles that are slightly different from Game of the Month, and they also don’t follow the same theme as the Games of the Month. Games in these two categories have either a runtime of under two hours (GotW) or a minimum runtime of 25 hours (GotQ), according to HowLongToBeat.
Completing a game (by posting a screenshot with ending credits, a date, and your Discord username) gets you an imaginary internet point that can be redeemed towards very real merch on the RH Store.
Game of the Month (Pre-’96) — EarthBound
- Console: SNES
- Genre:Â JRPG
- Time to Beat: 27.5 Hours
Also known as Mother 2, Earthbound focuses on a young boy named Ness, along with his friends Paula, Jeff, and Poo, who journey to collect eight melodies in order to save the world from the evil alien Giygas. Earthbound is a standalone experience that builds upon the foundation set in the previous game, Mother 1, but it’s not a direct continuation of the story outside of the antagonist Giygas appearing in both games. Gameplay consists of seamlessly traversing villages, cities, and dungeons, fighting enemies that you encounter along the way and earning experience points towards the growth of your party.
This one feels like a long time coming for GotM, as Earthbound is widely considered a classic of its genre. Mother 3 was already a previous GotM winner, and since then many have been clamoring for Earthbound to get a shot as well. Containing an excellent soundtrack, quirky humor and dialogue, and some truly bizarre characters and locations, Earthbound feels right at home with this month’s theme.
Game of the Month (1996-2001) — Conker’s Bad Fur Day
- Console: N64
- Genre: Action, Platform
- Time to Beat: 11 Hours
Oh boy, looks like everyone’s favorite edgy Squirrel has found its way into GotM. Known rather infamously for its crass humor and scatological references, Conker’s Bad Fur Day puts the player in control of the titular Conker, a foul-mouthed, alcoholic squirrel looking to return home to his girlfriend Berri after a night of binge drinking.
Similar to a lot of Rare’s offerings on the N64, the game involves free-roaming 3D environments where the player will navigate Conker around a variety of locations with combat and platforming sequences. Unlike some other Rare games, however, this one is not a collectathon. Conker’s Bad Fur Day is more focused on its mature and comedic narrative and action-focused gameplay than it is on exploration and item collection.
Game of the Month (2002 and later) — Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
- Console: Nintendo Gamecube
- Genre: Action, Horror
- Time to Beat: 13 Hours
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem has the player controlling Alexandra Roivas, who is investigating her grandfather’s murder at his ultra creepy Rhode Island mansion. She finds the “Tome of Eternal Darkness”, a mysterious book that recounts stories from various people of the past. The narrative of the game focuses on switching between Alexandra in the mansion and the other characters described in the chapters of the aforementioned tome, as they explore strange locations while combating ghoulish enemies and solving puzzles.
This game is likely known to many due to its unique gameplay elements, known as “sanity effects”, that try and directly interact and affect both the characters and the actual player. Through the in-game Sanity Meter, players must monitor their character’s sanity in order to avoid increasingly bizarre and horrifying effects. While I won’t spoil any of these, it’s safe to say this game is indeed very strange.
Game of the Quarter — Dragon Quest 3: Seeds of Salvation
- Console:Â NES and SNES
- Genre:Â JRPG
- Time to Beat:Â 28 Hours
If you’re looking for a meatier game to sink your teeth into, then the Game of the Quarter has you covered. GotQ consists of games that meet a minimum criteria of at least 25 hours to beat according to HLTB. Each quarter, four games are pulled at random from an extensive list of games that meet the minimum criteria and then community users vote on which game they’d like to play for the next three months.
Completing a GotQ will still net you a single point, but there is also an opportunity to earn two additional points if you manage to 100% the game by completing all of the achievements through RetroAchievements and posting this as an additional screenshot.
We’re still playing Dragon Quest 3 for the GotQ, which started last month and will continue until the end of September. Acting as a prequel to the previous two Dragon Quest games, the player takes control of Hero to save the world from the evil Baramos.
As is typical JRPG fare, the player will traverse an overworld, spend their time walking around multiple locations and villages talking to NPCs, and fighting monsters in dungeons via random encounters.
Along with the NES and SNES versions, the excellent (depending on your tolerance for 2.5D games, which consists of combining pixel art sprites with 3D environments) Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is also on the table for those looking for a more modern spin on the game.
Game of the Week, aka RetroBits
If short games and easy points are more your speed, then each Saturday at 5 PM PST, a new GotW is announced. Each game comes with a completion time of 2 hours or less, and must be completed before the new GotW is announced the following Saturday. Completion of the GotM and GotQ will earn you one point (three if you 100% the latter), but GotW will only net you half a point. Unlike the aforementioned GotM and GotQ, the GotW is chosen entirely at random by the GotX overlord Rapid99, selected from a large database of sub-two hour games.
If you’re new to Retro Handhelds or the GotX community, come join us!
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