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52 Games Challenge 2026!!!
supremeusername:
5. Dr. Mario 64 | 2001 | Mario & Wario "Story" Campaign | Nintendo Switch 2 (originally N64) | 1/30:
I recently renewed my NSO subscription after about 2 years of Switch 1 neglect. Dr. Mario 64 was one of the last games I expected to play when booting up the N64 Switch app for the very first time. I love puzzle games, but I've been most comfortable with ones that emphasize logic: stuff like The Witness, or even a game more universal like Sudoku or Picross. I'm not the best when it comes to games like Puyo-Puyo or Tetris, and Dr. Mario 64 was a big reminder of that.
Even after putting the game on Easy for my 2nd playthrough, this game still kicked my ass. Like the aforementioned Puyo-Puyo, you will want to stack and build combos to crush your opponent. It may seem optional, but in some modes like "Marathon", it's almost mandatory to use combos in order to get a higher score. In other modes like "Story" -- which I spent most of my time playing -- you can clear stages by only focusing on eliminatining Viruses (thankfully).
This game is a lot of fun and I do feel like I did get better at it -- even after abusing the "Rewind" function more times than I would like to admit. The story mode is short but there are different endings to get, depending upon the difficulty beaten and whether or not you beaten the game without using continues. The endings aren't super crazy or anything, but it does add more replayability to the mode.
There's a lot of content in Dr. Mario 64 to play through however, so there's an abundance of replayability and chances to improve. It's very barebones in terms of using the power and hardware of the N64. I would've liked to see more work go into the models of the Story mode and more expressive animations during gameplay. I still had a good time regardless. Grade: B-
kashell:
11. Mega Man ZX Advent - Ashe
I did it for the booty. Compared to ZX, Advent is ten steps above. Even the horrid voice acting adds to the charm. It's similar in a lot of ways to ZX, but it offers more things to collect, more forms, and better data management. Transforming into old bosses feels like such a surreal thing. I've played nearly all Mega Man top to bottom, and being able to fully transform into a downed RM or Maverick is something unheard of. I forgot how fun it was to do so. We'll see if I do a Gray file. The Star Force collection is coming out next month and I feel like this is a great way to get ready for it.
12. Star Ocean: First Departure R - Timeless Treasures
The Timeless Treasures ending was the one I was the most worried about getting, but really it wasn't bad. Using the Publication Super Specialty, everyone was able to have level 8 affection with Roddick. Then, rotating them between the final boss fights boosted the affection to 9. There was no need to worry about dialogue options or Private Actions. Seeing that ending was heartwarming - I'm glad I took a few extra steps to get it. That aside, this has been a great replay so far! I feel like this is an underrated iteration in the series. Yeah, it's one of those games where it's short length feels padded by lots of backtracking, but it's a lot of fun since it copies the design from the original Second Story which is still fun to play and highly regarded.My final party is Roddick, Cyuss, Ioushua and Millie. I took some time to grind levels with the silver trumpet and it made a world of difference for the final challenges. Will it help with the upcoming Cave of Seven Stars? That's TBD, but I'm looking forward to it.
dhaabi:
06. Finding Father || Browser || 01.31.2026
Although I can't remember how I came across Finding Father, I imagine it was during a time while searching for hidden object puzzle games. More than likely, the reason why this game in particular stood out to me is how it subverts the genre.
Whereas in traditional hidden object games players are presented a series of visual objects or descriptions of those objects to find, Finding Father offers no objective information in such a fashion. What I mean is that, instead of an icon, a cropped image, or even a word that describes what to find, the only clues as to what's needing to be found are brief audio recordings. Interestingly, there is a simple story setup that does provide a reason why we as the player would be tasked with such an activity, and it serves its purpose well. Throughout the game, players are freely allowed to revisit these recordings as they search across the environment, clicking on objects while hoping that the sound they make is a match to the recording. There is never just one object needing to be found which helps alleviate becoming stumped, meaning players will need to actively select a specific recording in order to successfully discover the object it represents.
When clicking the environment, many of the objects in frame create sounds. Some are similar, though many differ from another. An aspect I appreciated is that there are instances of multiple objects of the same kind that sound different from another. For instance, one recording players are tasked to find is of a bird call. Though there are several birds to click, many have individualized sounds alongside there being only one bird to find that matches the recording. And while there are a number of objects to find throughout the game, they're divided into sections. At first, what players are tasked to find is easy and shouldn't be a sound that players question as to what it may be. But as the game continues, audio recordings become more vague. You as the player may think you have an idea what a sound could be and are actively looking for an object that may make it, but what's really needing to be found is something different altogether.
While much of the game's short experience is through its sound recording audio, there are other aspects worth highlighting. As previously mentioned, there is a story of sorts that's narrated. I did encounter once instance when this voiceover provides added context to the supplied audio recordings, but it can't be replayed. So, in the event players weren't paying attention as it's easy to skip past or even ignore, valuable information is lost. To be expected from a game with this scope, there is only one cityscape screen environment to inspect. Though simple in design, the game's black-and-white illustrative style is eye-catching albeit uninspired when compared to other games within the genre. Also, while players do have the capability to zoom in and out, it's not possible to zoom out fully to look at everything all at once.
Overall, Finding Father offers a novel take on the hidden object genre by replacing a core visual element that's objective to something that's far more indistinct. With that said, however, I feel as if this idea limits the gameplay to be either too easy or too difficult with no real in-between as a thoughtful but manageable challenge, since sounds will either be too obvious or too nebulous.
kamikazekeeg:
1 - Peak (PC 2025) - BEAT - Finally beat this, I've been trying for awhile, I have 13 hours in the game, and that's just me trying to get to the top ONCE lol That's maybe a dozen tries at this point, I'd basically just play till I die and then that would be it, but it's not a long game. If you have a solid run, I think it's maybe an hour'ish, but it's so easy to die. One bad leap, running out of food, not enough supplies. I probably could've made it like 2 runs back, but I was trying to get an achievement which gets you a costume and I accidentally killed myself in the last zone lol
The game is fun, it's built around co-op, but it's very playable solo, you just don't get any extra help which is good for like bad falls and what not. It's a little survival oriented, needing supplies, there's decent randomness to it as the two middle zones can be a variation of 2 different ones per zone, and each week they put out a newly created version of the mountain, so it's randomized, but not every single time so you can learn what routes are bad or good for that week to help get through, it's a nice middle ground.
No real complaints, it's exactly what it needs to be and I dug it. Plus it's super cheap and I can see if you got a group of friends eager for this, it's a perfect co-op game.
marvelvscapcom2:
--- Quote from: telekill on January 05, 2026, 12:54:47 pm ---And the first game I've completed for 2026 is TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (Arcade) from the Cowabunga Collection on PS5. Played some co-op with my son for a fun time.
--- End quote ---
Really rad! The arcade version of this game is 10x better than the console version imo. Love they included it in the collection. Shredders Revenge is also a blast of a time for co-op.
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