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52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

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droaa:

--- Quote from: bikingjahuty on January 01, 2026, 10:27:13 am ---
--- Quote from: droaa on December 31, 2025, 03:21:19 pm ---Almost 2 years since took part in this. Let's go and howdy yall.

--- End quote ---


Welcome back!

--- End quote ---

Yuh!

realpoketendonl:
All right! 2026 edition, let's go! Last year, I managed to beat 19 games, 17 of which for the first time (and one I beat twice). Not my highest score ever, but not bad. Let's see how I do this year!

Beat:

* Spyro the Dragon (Spyro Reignited Trilogy) [Switch]
* Chaos Faction [PC (Steam) / Steam Deck]
* Chaos Faction 2 [PC (Steam) / Steam Deck]
* inbento [Mobile (itch)]
* Metroid Prime 4: Beyond — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition [Switch 2]
* Sly Raccoon [PS2]
* Rayman Origins [PC (GOG) / Steam Deck]
* Just Dance 2023 Edition (Enter the Danceverses story mode) [Switch]
* Just Dance 2024 Edition (Dance with the Swan story mode) [Switch]
* Anarcute [PC (itch) / Steam Deck]
* Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart [PC (Steam) / Steam Deck]
* Red Alarm [Virtual Boy / Nintendo Switch Online](Purple = started it last year or earlier)
(Orange = already beat it before)


Endless games I'm playing or have played:

* Just Dance [Switch]
* Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream [Switch]
* Donkey Kong Jr. [NES / Nintendo Switch Online]
Abandoned:

* Hollow Knight

realpoketendonl:
1. Spyro the Dragon (Spyro Reignited Trilogy)

And that's the first game of the year beaten already: the remake of the original Spyro the Dragon, from the Spyro Reignited Trilogy. I started this game a few years ago, but I finished it just now. And well, sorry to start the year off on a negative note. I know the original Spyro and this remake are beloved, and I genuinely wanted to like it. But I'm sorry, I didn't. There's a reason I put the game down a few years ago. I found some parts to be fine, but in other parts it was tedious and finicky.

Some sections were outright annoying. I'm thinking of some precise glide jumps that I would repeatedly die to until I made them, with no idea of what I did differently. And the enemies you have to chase with your dash, they can get lost. I always had a little difficulty controlling Spyro, especially when it came to those long glides and in lining up my dash attacks. In some levels the game wasn't bad, but even there it also just never grabbed me. Many times when I died, I just didn't feel compelled to try again. I just wanted to stop playing and pick up something else.

It's a shame. I want to like this game. I love Spyro's character design. I like the idea of a world populated by cartoony anthropomorphic dragons. I know these games are beloved. But this game just did not do it for me. Funnily enough, the first Crash Bandicoot from the N. Sane Trilogy didn't either, so that's an extra thing Crash and Spyro share I suppose. Maybe Spyro 2 and 3 are better, that's possible, but I honestly do not feel compelled to pick them up right now. I've got other games in my backlog I'd much rather play than more of this.

Speaking of which, Metroid Prime 4, you're up.

dhaabi:

--- Quote from: realpoketendonl on January 01, 2026, 10:17:03 pm ---1. Spyro the Dragon (Spyro Reignited Trilogy)
--- End quote ---

If you ever do get around to playing Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon, I think you'll find them to be substantially better than the debut title, though they may still not be games you'll enjoy.

bikingjahuty:
First game of the year down! I was rearranging my collection all day, making room for the few console collections which are still growing, and while moving the Wii games I grabbed a title I've been meaning to return to for some time.


1. Elebits (Wii)

I was one of the lucky ones who was able to get a Nintendo Wii at launch back in late 2006. The reason I was lucky was, a) they were hard as hell to find, and b) I was a broke ass college student who had no business spending the limited funds I had on a hot new game console. Regardless, I picked up Twilight Princess with my Wii and devoured that game over the following weeks. However, once I beat Twilight Princess and had extracted all the enjoyment i could out of Wii Sports at the time, I decided to use a Best Buy gift card I had burning a hole in my pocket to pick up a brand new game that was among the best to show off the Wii's then revolutionary motion controls. That game was Elebits.


It's been nearly 20 years since I last played and beat Elebits and in that time period I've been meaning to go back and replay it. Having finally done so, I can say that this game does a pretty good job with not only showing off the versatility of the Wii's motion controls, but unfortunately does so in a game that has some fundamental design issues and gets way too repetitive way too fast.


The basic premise of Elebits is you need to explore various confined environments to track down the chubby creatures whom the game gets its namesake. The Elebits are essentially beings made of electricity and the more you collect, the more you're able to explore and interact with various other parts of each stage, thereby allowing you to find and capture even more Elebits. As you progress through the game's 30 stages, new elements are introduces including new types of Elebits, new obstacles and hazards to contend with, new puzzles, and of course, new environments to explore. Unfortunately, the game does recycle stages, which is a shame since there aren't a ton of them to begin with, and many are just extensions/variations of others you've previous played. Aside from the recycled stages, all this might sound like this game remains fresh and interesting throughout, however the more this game adds, the worse it gets.


For example, there are stages where you are not allowed to break any objects like dishes or glasses, or you can't make too much noise while overturning furniture and other objects in search for Elebits. The games controls combined with the stage and time constraints you're required to contend with just don't mesh well enough for you to get through them in a matter than isn't either tedious and boring, or needlessly frustrating. With all that said, this is not a difficult game. It is also worth noting there are several Elebit bosses you have to fight throughout the game as well, and beating them requires some sort of unique action or strategy. Unfortunately these boss battles are somewhat half baked and don't make the game really any better, or I suppose worse either.


Elebits was a pretty good looking game for its time. Environments are fairly detailed and have many objects to interact with. This extends to the game's physics which are pretty fun and decently implemented. It's fun to use your Elebit capturing gun to throw objects like lamps, chairs, electronics, and all sorts of other things around a room like a manic lunatic in search of the colorful little creatures. The game is actually most fun when you just get to go insane on the sage environments and the objects within them. Unfortunately, these moments are too seldom and instead you are required to take a much more tedious, restrained approach to complete most stages. But anyhow, this game looks pretty good for what it is and certainly one of the better looking early Wii games.


Finally, there's Elebits' soundtrack which is surprisingly good, albeit not mind blowing by any stretch of the imagination either. There is a decent amount of voice acting too, which is all pretty terrible and wooden. Sound effects of objects being thrown about of the squeaks and cute noises of the Elebit creatures also help give this game a distinct, lighthearted identity as well. The overall sound quality of this game is good, just not amazing...other than the voice acting of course, which is fairly trivial regardless.


I have to admit, I am a tad disappointed I didn't enjoy this game more upon replaying it. I'd forgotten most of my impressions of this game from back in 2006, but do at least remember feeling more positive about Elebits than negative. Unfortunately my new opinion screws slightly more towards the negative side of things, mostly due to how limiting the gameplay can be and also how repetitive this game gets despite its best efforts to avoid that. Elebits served its purpose in late 2006 and Id say even through some of 2007 as one of the best showcases of the Wii's motion controls, however there are far better games that would do this in the years that followed during the Wii's lifespan. Still, this game isn't without its charm and it's certainly a decent little FPS game that you coiuld also play with young kids if you wanted to. (1/2/26) [29/50]

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