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52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

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marvelvscapcom2:
2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories [PS2] - finished Jan, 20th, 2026




For anyone who knows me and my childhood, there may not be any one entity let alone video game that was as important to my soul on a meta-physical level as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City...  it was that up until 3am with your Cousin trying to blow up Diaz's boats, it's that symphonic loving cocoa made by a grandmother, it was Santa Claus magic that some how mere mortals with low income were able to make happen under the guise of luck overloaded atom sacks we call children. It was to me what imagination and cocaine were to Stephen King.  And tbh.  This game (vice city stories) titular successor had a lot to live up to.  But by no means did I desire to compete the two.  So I enjoyed the game as it's meant to be enjoyed.  As a seperate all alienating experience from it's big sister in it's own side universe and for what it is. It did find that gooey, sensitive nostalgia berry located deep within my thorax and find a way to crunch into it. And that's enough for me.  I had a good time


Story -  The story? Is a prequel to what takes place in the more popular Vice City. So before Tommy Vercetti's arrival at vice city or anything involving italians or Sonny. The game is centered around Lance Vance's brother Victor Vance and his unwilling or unmeant thrusting into the world of debt, cocaine crime and the criminal underbelly of Vice City, FL.   The games story starts off perhaps spotty.  At times it felt like I was doing missions sporadically for random people but the plot really gets footing when it focuses on the troubled and often times sad relationship between Vic, Lance and their mother and then as well as the entire overseeing plot which is ultimately a debt owed to Mendez brothers.  Best to think of them as basically El Chapo and Escabar as siblings but with the government in their pocket.  And it has a lot of cool soundtrack choices such as Talk Talks "its my life" and time transporting motife that the Houser brothers do best. 


The game has elements that combine San Andreas with Vice City.  The missions already are very memorable and even the memories of my life are fairly intertwined. It doesnt necessarily improve on vice city. But it does an amazing job laying a predecessor or prequel footwork to the origin stories of Lance Vance and his brother. It shows some areas of Vice City looking wildly different such as the cubano drug torn area in vc is utopia here. 


Also has some sick Celeb cameos that are truly shocking.  It was a good tme for what it is. 


Cons are. It starts slow and gets its footing about half way through.


Rating - 81/100

marvelvscapcom2:
3. Madden NFL 2005 [PS2] - finished Jan 24th, 2026



Perhaps the most adaptive and transformative of the madden games to be created. I find a lot within this game that not only elevate the existing Madden 04 Title but that are knockout levels greater than the newest 26 entry and it's truly not even close. Madden 05 was a time period when EA was competing with multiple combatants in the arena of sim football. And also competing with the legacy of their own marketed product. And what this led to was a innovative title that many consider to be the goat..  and here is why were dealing with perfection here.


HIT STICK + Tackle Feel

Madden 05 has far more control over the way you play defense than any other madden before or recent. The hit stick I have found to be a top 5 quintessential video game franchise decision let alone Madden games. It seriously takes a square to tackle rudementary game to 4 different slam tackle moves and still square for basic wrap ups.  This feature gives you dynamic control of risk, when and where to apply brutal hits to force fumbles, and when a run is more warranting of a wrap up tackle for example counter rushes or lateral pitches where a runner is sprinting around.  It makes the beauty of d line trench warfare magical in this entry and it truly is far more essential than one realizes.  In contrast to both Madden 04 and it's new sister Madden 26.  It gives it more depth and control.  It never get old lining someone up. Clicking the stick and watching these beefy pops that can knock helmets off (literally. The helmet comes off in game. It doesn't in newer ones. Absolutely insane how much detail you get when a studio is fighting for their existence and not just your money)


Franchise

Madden 05 introduced the EA Sports show with Tony Bruno.  Which is a radio show that plays as you menu surf or make trades in franchise mode. This thing has cameos from NFL elite of the day which is nostalgic and almost sad how painfully it irks that funnybone of childhood.  But it also implemented a genius way to immerse you.  The fans would call in to discuss your recent games. Things like "dude Chad Johnson was lighting it up. And I gotta face this guy in my fantasy team. Guess I lose this week. I just wish I coulda been there. Over 350 yards? Unreal" in direct referende to what your player just performed on sunday night.  This level of immersion shames the new product and its not even close. Its embarassing to compare. I haven't felt like my gameplay mattered to an npc in madden since this era.  The glorious PS2 era.  Franchise mode also features training camp.  Training camp has 10 mini game style outlets to play which are fun as playing Horseshoes with your high school crush at a pool party on LSD.  Perhaps with pizza on top.  You can run routes. Block as a defensive back. Practice percision passing through bronze and gold rings.  Pure excitement but not for nothing. It also is used to have a meaningful impact on your player roster and directly improve stats of key players.

Graphics and Soundtrack


Madden 05 is a soundtrack and presentation beast. Little things like fireworks in the endzone. Cheerleader and nfl player sequences pre game. Halftime shows. And dynamic weather. Yes fucking dynamic weather in 2004-2005. A game will start rainy and end sunny, then transfer to gloomy night time situationals. Songs comprising the game are Green Day, Funky Bunch, Ludacris, Grunge and emo pop punk bands of the day. It's a sweet mix of bling era hip hop, corny school rap, and dad rock.  It's like a time portal when you play these games.  Graphics? I notice reflections and shadowing.  A caveman version of ray tracing but still pretty and it holds up because of its arcadey vibe. It wasnt trying too hard to be something its not.

John Madden calls every game. And while he becomes redundant the more you play because of recycled lines. He is iconic and just hearing his voice ilicits happiness. He also is more in tune with the game it seems. Like the npc voice knows more of how or why you are running schemes and plays. Making wise cracks and such.  Perfection. Sweet science!


Madden 05 has practice modes. New and improved create a teams. Create stadiums. Mobile phones. And boom stick.  The whole thing took the franchise to the next level. And if it doesnt end up being the best. It is the most important id reckon.

It also introduced madden cards. Back before madden cards were micro transactional trash made to make teen kids broke. They added status effects to players, were collectibles and earned through game accomplishments. It was incredible.  Cool art styles too.


Rating- 95/100

marvelvscapcom2:
4. NFL Street 2 [PS2] - Finished Jan 28th, 2026




BEST SPORTS GAME EVER



In my quest to try and finish all football games I return to a familiar face. I've beaten this game a few dozen times in my life.  And truthfully it is bar none the golden standard when it comes to arcade football games.  It takes everything NFL Street failed to do with the first outing such as varying game modes, style variety and such. Then trims down the absolute disgusting 32 games NFL street 1 forces you to play back to back to streamline your experience and avoid needless repetition.  It boosts your vibe with celeb cameos like Xzibit from pimp my ride and an entire team xzibit centered around him. Which basically has all the nfl greats of the day.  It's pure nostalgic hop-scotchin, wall hoppin bliss.


The game gives the player an insane amount of control over the characters. User controlled recievers can press L1 and up to perform wall and style catches.  Wall elements add a whole other layer of sickness to the ways you can make broken ankles of meer man's follies of trying to bring down your center of gravity in a centrifugal manner with the intent to bring your rump to grass land.  The game entails the same fun you expect. Trash talking, creating a team of players you create that you upgrade with dev points. Dev points are earned by doing challenges. An example of a challenge may be like "stop the cowboys from scoring on this drive" and such. Its addictive. Consumable. And adds to the internal human high of mini rewards that give a virtual reward. Sorta like a attribute casino.


The game slims down the areas were street 3 tried too damn hard. But also made magic where nfl street 1 just wasnt enough.  Jewlery. Soundtrack. Wall jukes. All timeless. New crush the carrier, and jump ball, 2 on 2 street events are a blast.  The game is a glowing example of when EA had competition and behaved as such. Its a very glorious game.


Rating - 100/100

marvelvscapcom2:
5. Parappa The Rapper: Remastered [PS4] - Finished Feb 4th, 2026




GAME IS BROKEN


To be frank... this game is less than shit. And I highly advise anyone to not buy it if at all avoidable. I regret heavily even purchasing this. And what it does with nostalgia and brevity which can be worth a few smiles. It destroys by being an input lagging dumpster fire with one of the worst UIs in video game history. Imagine a game with the most finicky and precise demands for rythym that you had to be within a gnats mustache of accuracy even back in the 90s yet also not accounting for HDTV set settings and forcing a 1.3 second input delay on you with no remedy or calibration to fix or adjust. If I could get a refund I would. Why anyone would release this predatory piece of unfinished trash to a consumer is biblical level betrayal and I can't even stomach how awful and uncoordinated the design is for this remaster.  No art? No making of? No calibration? Even the cut scenes are unpolished. I wish I researched this port or even the original that was being ported.  I enjoyed 2. So I took a gamble but yet this game has aged like human breast milk in the trunk of a hot Ford Bronco.


As mentioned the main issue with this port which is general consensus on all forums is that it is brutally inaccurate with prompts and has a huge delay. For example to register a perfecy input you have to hit maybe 1.5 seconds later than normal or what you see is accurate. But the odd part is. Some levels that delay is off by maybe 2 seconds. Some feels closer to normal.  You can hit the wrong buttons entirely and still get closer to "good" rating then hitting the games buttons perfectly synced with audio.  It also seems the worse Parappa actually raps in the game the more the game rewards you. So if it sounds bad coming through the speakers (robotic and off beat) it means you're doing well.  From what ive read. The original was not exactly a beacon of engineering either.  And the PS4 version carries over all its flaws and the modern age of gaming puts a magnifying glass upon them. The gleam of high definition judgement but albiet sloppy. The game is also unfortunately ALSO lazy. For example...


They rendered and remastered the play sequences to be pretty as seen above but left cut scenes a PS1 era 240p of some sort in a 4x3 rectangle in the center of the screen. With this tacky vibrant overlay on the edges. The overlay is modern and 4k. The cut scenes are choppy and old. Its hideous and lazy. Even AI could have remade the cut scenes.  This is pure cash grab and belongs 2.99 on some sony classics catelog.  But nope. 14 99.  A disgraceful price that has truly pissed me off today and rubbed me the wrong way.  The devs, studio and even Parappa himself should feel deep shame. I cant speak on the OG. I always wanted it. But why on earth does the game have a pause screen with no back to menu option? Everything is a cluttered mess in the options menu and the final level is only beatable on easy on my set.  Its a disaster. Truly. 


The only reason it gets 37. Is because Parappa is cute and his gf is a pink flower and her dad is a coffee cup who happens to be a decorated Sergant in the marine corps.  That alone is wild enough to say its cool. Maybe the OG is better :) 


Rating - 37/100

bikingjahuty:

--- Quote from: marvelvscapcom2 on February 04, 2026, 05:36:30 pm ---5. Parappa The Rapper: Remastered [PS4] - Finished Feb 4th, 2026




GAME IS BROKEN


To be frank... this game is less than shit. And I highly advise anyone to not buy it if at all avoidable. I regret heavily even purchasing this. And what it does with nostalgia and brevity which can be worth a few smiles. It destroys by being an input lagging dumpster fire with one of the worst UIs in video game history. Imagine a game with the most finicky and precise demands for rythym that you had to be within a gnats mustache of accuracy even back in the 90s yet also not accounting for HDTV set settings and forcing a 1.3 second input delay on you with no remedy or calibration to fix or adjust. If I could get a refund I would. Why anyone would release this predatory piece of unfinished trash to a consumer is biblical level betrayal and I can't even stomach how awful and uncoordinated the design is for this remaster.  No art? No making of? No calibration? Even the cut scenes are unpolished. I wish I researched this port or even the original that was being ported.  I enjoyed 2. So I took a gamble but yet this game has aged like human breast milk in the trunk of a hot Ford Bronco.


As mentioned the main issue with this port which is general consensus on all forums is that it is brutally inaccurate with prompts and has a huge delay. For example to register a perfecy input you have to hit maybe 1.5 seconds later than normal or what you see is accurate. But the odd part is. Some levels that delay is off by maybe 2 seconds. Some feels closer to normal.  You can hit the wrong buttons entirely and still get closer to "good" rating then hitting the games buttons perfectly synced with audio.  It also seems the worse Parappa actually raps in the game the more the game rewards you. So if it sounds bad coming through the speakers (robotic and off beat) it means you're doing well.  From what ive read. The original was not exactly a beacon of engineering either.  And the PS4 version carries over all its flaws and the modern age of gaming puts a magnifying glass upon them. The gleam of high definition judgement but albiet sloppy. The game is also unfortunately ALSO lazy. For example...


They rendered and remastered the play sequences to be pretty as seen above but left cut scenes a PS1 era 240p of some sort in a 4x3 rectangle in the center of the screen. With this tacky vibrant overlay on the edges. The overlay is modern and 4k. The cut scenes are choppy and old. Its hideous and lazy. Even AI could have remade the cut scenes.  This is pure cash grab and belongs 2.99 on some sony classics catelog.  But nope. 14 99.  A disgraceful price that has truly pissed me off today and rubbed me the wrong way.  The devs, studio and even Parappa himself should feel deep shame. I cant speak on the OG. I always wanted it. But why on earth does the game have a pause screen with no back to menu option? Everything is a cluttered mess in the options menu and the final level is only beatable on easy on my set.  Its a disaster. Truly. 


The only reason it gets 37. Is because Parappa is cute and his gf is a pink flower and her dad is a coffee cup who happens to be a decorated Sergant in the marine corps.  That alone is wild enough to say its cool. Maybe the OG is better :) 


Rating - 37/100

--- End quote ---


I'm glad I'm not the only one who really dislikes this game. The gameplay is terrible and makes it next to impossible to actually follow the beat. I can't for the life of me see why this game is held in such high regard.

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