At Generation Minus One we're all about our older games, those which we may not have played all the way through, or which we rushed when it seemed like we had too many games to play and too little time.

Sometimes it's just fun to go back and mess around with games, see what new experiences you can have, what new perspectives playing games in different ways can give you. So we present Generation Minus One's Retro Challenges!

Before we begin, we should make one thing clear. All these challenges are for fun - well, fun and gloating rights - so if you're not having fun with any particular challenge, don't force yourself to finish it. We've ranked these challenges by two criteria; how long the challenge should take to complete (Short = less than an hour, Medium = 1-10 hours, Long = more than 10 hours, so take breaks, kids!), and the relative difficulty. So don't come crying to us because Ninja Gaiden kicked your ass.

Shadow of the Colossus was one of the last truly great PS2 releases. Discuss.

Very few games came close to SotC for sheer atmosphere, and showing exactly how a game could tell a story and generate a range of emotions in the player with a minimum of cutscenes and NPCs.

I came back to Shadow of the Colossus a few months ago, and plunged back into its strangely empty world. The hours slid by, and suddenly it was midnight and I had one colossus to defeat. This is one of those experiences where the more you put in, the more you gain. Submerge yourself in the world of the colossi, and see what you find.

Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to defeat all sixteen colossi in a single day.

F-Zero's well known for being fast, and while F-Zero X was nowhere near as fast (nor as incredibly difficult) as the Gamecube follow-up, it's still none too shabby.

If you never got the chance to play this epic racer on its original system, it's currently available on Nintendo's Virtual Console, and well worth a try. If you did play it back in the day, you're probably a little rusty, so here's a nice easy one to start you off.

Start the Jack Cup on Novice, but when the race starts, do not cross the starting line until the clock hits 30 seconds. Now you've given your opponents a healthy head start, win the race!

Way of the Samurai is a flawed game, skipped over by many for its admittedly poor presentation and occasionally dull side-missions. Yet this uncut gem of a game still holds a place in my affections, due to the wonderful hidden depths of the combat system and the branching storyline which leads you down vastly different paths to resolve the troubles of Rokkutsu Pass.

After a time of wandering the streets of Rokkutsu, learning where and when to intervene in the crucial events of the plot - which happily proceed whether you're there to witness them or not - it becomes apparent that you can indeed be the hero. You can save everyone.

But only through an absolute mastery of timing and awase, through developing your abilities and knowing every aspect of your sword, will you successfully win through against all odds.

Reunite the warring clans against the government and complete the game, on Hard difficulty.

Bioware did a great job with the original KotOR of giving you the illusion of choice, whether to become a paragon of Jedi virtue, or embrace the Dark Side in all its death-dealing glory, or even to walk the middle path between the two. Unfortunately, religiously following the path of the Dark Side doesn't tend to feel like an all-powerful Sith staking his claim on the galaxy, but more that of a petty criminal, a repressed dick taking out all his (or her) frustration on the pathetic individuals in the vicinity.

I don't know about you, but to me, mugging someone for a couple of credits should surely be beneath an all-powerful Sith. On that principle your challenge is to take up the mantle of the Sith, fully embracing the Dark Side by the end of the game, yet without being a dick about it. I'll leave the decision of exactly what that entails up to you ;)

Ikaruga is a punishing game, no matter what system you play it on. Treasure are renowned for the difficulty of their games, but search Youtube for Ikaruga videos and you'll come across any number of utterly jaw-dropping displays of precision flying and pixel-perfect pattern memorisation.

Of course, such play requires time, effort and dedication, and as stated above we're not about the perfectionism here at G-1. We're about the fun. So I've got two challenges for the price of one. Pick and choose, or complete both and feel rightfully badass:

a) Complete the first level of Ikaruga on Normal difficulty, without firing a shot.

b) Complete the first level of Ikaruga with a Chain of 100 or more.