52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

[bikingjahuty]

30. Mario Kart 7 (3DS)

Up until today, I've never once played 2011's Mario Kart 7. After doing so and beating it several times, I was left a bit surprised by how much this game feels like a prototype to Mario Kart 8 than its own distinct Mario Kart game. Don't get me wrong. MK7 dos have enough of its own unique stages, music, and visuals to set it apart from 8 or any of the other Mario Kart games, but I guess I was surprised by how similar the gameplay mechanics were between 7 and 8, as well as most of MK7's better tracks being included in MK8, many of them within the vanilla game. While Mario Kart 7 was certainly a very appealing and attractive game for its time, particularly with it being a handheld exclusive, it still begs the question as to whether MK7 is still worth playing or if you should just immediately play MK8 Deluxe on the Switch instead.


For a 15 year old game (God, saying that makes me feel super old) and even mostly by today's standards, Mario Kart 7 is a good looking and sounding game. While it didn't have the best 3DS graphics, they'e still no slouch in MK7. Stages, characters, animations and everything else your eyeballs can absorb look so vibrant, colorful, and creative. That trademark Nintendo charm is absolutely on full display here, and if you like other Mario games and other first party Nintendo titles, you're bound to love the visuals here. Audio is also great with some very good tracks in this game, yet overall, I wouldn't necessarily say it's the best in the series when it comes to music and overall sound design.


Where I feel MK7 shines the brightest and leaves its most noteworthy mark is in its gameplay. Having spent hundreds of hours playing Mario Kart 8, I felt right at home with the mechanics and gameplay of MK7. However, it must be said that compared to its younger brother, 7's controls do feel a tad more floaty and imprecise. That's by no means a massive ding on this game either; controls are still good as is being able to place your racer where you want them and have them do what you want as well. MK7 and MK8 mostly share all the same power ups and as mentioned earlier, many of the same stages.


Stages are split 50/50 between tracks introduced in MK7 and ones that are from previous Mario Kart titles, albeit with a 3DS coat of paint. While I did say earlier that many of the better stages in Mario Kart 7 where recreated a few years later in 8, not all of them are. And what I found was many of these still MK7 exclusive courses are actually better than the majority sent over to the WiiU and Switch. And going one step further, some of the tracks that are shared between 7 and 8 actually flow and work better in the older game. I'm looking at you Neo Bowser City. But yeah, tons of great tracks in this game across 8 different cups will keep you occupied for some time.


So is MK7 irrelevant? No, it is not. However, if you are coming back to this game after spending a lot of time with MK8, or maybe you're like me and have never played 7, you will find a lot of redundant tracks and gameplay that just worked way better in MK8. Still, those stages that MK7 did better combined with the ones that will likely always remain locked on the 3DS alone make a playthrough of Mario Kart 7 worth it. (4/2/26) [37/50]

[marvelvscapcom2]

24. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest [SNES] - finished - March 27th, 2026




"Don't be K.Rool. Girl Id Never Be that K.Rool to you" - Bobby Brown


Donkey Kong Country 2 is a masterpiece, it is also the hardest platformer I have ever beaten. I didn't know going in that it was constantly mentioned among difficulty giants like Super Ghouls and Goblins on people's top 10 lists for hard SNES games but halfway through I quickly realized that we are dealing with a different beast than the first game. Packed with tons of new ambitious power ups, level gimmicks and systems to master. It truly gives you a world of adventure in just 50mb of grey plastic housed software.  And for it's difficult journey it rewards you with jest, mockery and beratement. Oh the glory days of Nintendo.


Where as most of the game derives it's challenge in exciting and adreanline thumping ways. Some of the levlels garner is from abuse. Web woods is an outlier In that the level web woods, the game sets you upon the mighty endeavor of using a red spider with tiger stripes on it's ass to build webs to traverse around enemies small and large.  Sounds fair enough in concept. But it is something I'd liken to chinese water torture with how mundane and repetitive it is. For whatever reason it is one of the longest, most tedious and annoying levels in donkey kong country history. Not deriving it's challenge from adrenaline pumping tests of pure skill and reactionary wit. But instead it's this long winded, blindsiding nonsensical grabasstic bafoonery level that garners it's challenge from being annoying and unfair. It really did a whole lot to kill my mood coming into the final leg of the game. But it humbles you to slap you back awake with insane pace in future levels. This level was where beating it felt like a triumph of attention span rather than skill. It's rage bait. It really is.  To put random npcs in sky fall locations that the player can't see or possibly predict AFTER about 20 minutes of shooting webs. So unless you can predict the next 7 wavelengths of the future to know exactly what the game intends to throw at you. You die. You die. Over and over. It Is cringe.  To make webs that were just fired disappear yet ones that have been around for 20 seconds stay makes it hard to find a pattern to the spiders abilities. It feels reactionary to spite you. And I'd prefer solid rng.  It was a brutal level where Diddy and Dixie arent even playable through most of it. Truly it's annoying.  It's a miracle I even stuck it out.

But what is left after the ashes of insanity. Is fun.  Pure unadulterated fun.  The same fun pilots must have felt using untameable jet aircraft in the prototype phases of aviation.  It's living on the edge when you play the game.  Yes it is hard. But when you finally conquer it or learn it's levels. It feels like you are worthy.  Like you made something happen. You are no longer a product of the games environment. The game's environment is a product of you.  These thorn sequences where you get like 1 nano meter, 1 8th of a nat's testicles to traverse. It feels so good when you nail it. It's rewarding in that design and 98 percent of its challenge is never at the expense of fun.  It keeps the fun at the forefront.  And for that I admire it. Because i'm typically not one for brutal games but this series is Rareware at their best pumping out pure gold.


BOSSES AND MUSIC


The main advantage 2 has over 1 is the bosses.  The bosses are deliciously entertaining this time around. The patterns so varied. The ideas so fresh and cute.  Some bosses are defeated by tossing items into specific hit areas to cause the boss damage. This is stereotypical 90s game stuff. Some are beaten by jumping atop classic style.  Some are flying, some are racing, some are firing canon balls. But most of all. ALL of these bosses are drenched in these vicious noises, soundtracks and effects that feel like a real collosal movie sequence.  The music really pumps you up.  Some real John Williams level stuff.  From monotone ghoulish tones, to these energetic redbull adreanline peaking guitar rifts everytime Dixie finishes a level. It's rock n roll. It's 90s. It's sex and Camaros. The whole thing is BAD ASS. Truthfully. I think it's much better than the first game in all of these regards. And that's a tall act to follow.


DIXIE


Ah, our beloved Dixie. What would we do without her. Die 2000 more times most likely lol.  Dixie is a new addition. Diddy Kong's main squeezes.  Her head is a helicopter essentially. Pony tail carries you in a float for far further than any other characters jump. Think Peach's float ability in Mario games. It's like that. And in some of the trickier sequences. It makes up so much ground. It allows for more precise navigating mid air. And it looks so cool.  Having 2 similar sized characters was a daring and bold move coming of donkey and diddy tag teaming as the classic "brute/speedster" combo.  This was a refreshing change of pace. 


DIDDY


Diddy however is made to be essential so brilliantly by the developers.  Diddy scales ropes faster, has a slightly smaller hit box so he can jump between barage attacks more accurately and hes faster in general. Jumps higher. So in speed or rope climbing sequences. He is usually the best bet. And dixie takes the back burner. This was a brilliant way of making the more overpowered character not take over the entire game.  So smart to design the levels to challenge each of the two characters.  You can feel where and why the devs intend you to swap. And you almost always are inclined to do so.  I love that both of these two contrast beautifully and both are needed.  In the end despite Dixie's hair powers being so praised by the community.  I am unsure which character I ended liking more.


Diddy Kong quest is a stained glass window to peer into a simpler and more magestic time of platformers. It is one of the best games of the franchise but tough as absolute nails.  Be warned.

Rating - 91/100

[dhaabi]

16. Ꙩ || Browser || 03.30.2026



As I looked for something to play among a list of itch.io games I have saved, I found myself settling on Ꙩ. I think the game initially caught my attention several months ago from its name, so I began playing really based on that aspect alone.

While I did know that Ꙩ features some sort of shoot-'em-up gameplay, I really didn't know anything else beyond that. Since my experience with the broad genre is limited, I often forget that multi-directional shooters exist which is the kind of game Ꙩ is. By design, its gameplay is arcade-focused with no other objective beyond besting one's own high score, so I really wasn't sure how long my interest would be maintained since that's a style of play that doesn't usually captivate me. Utilizing a combined use of WASD and mouse controls, the game is all about clearing unending waves of enemies that skirt across the small field and can even be pushed back when shot. I generally found it best to cling to the outer edge which seems obvious, though I never really practiced full 360° coverage that would have been far more beneficial had I become more comfortable with the controls. Regardless, I generally maintained my position at the bottom edge of the field, though players will quickly discover that they can actually depart the field altogether. However, this comes at the cost of losing ship visibility alongside the ship's rate of fire being greatly lessened. At the same time, veering too far from the field will result in losing one unit of health and then being respawned at the field center, which inevitably will be populated by enemy ships.

So with the above description in mind, one may assume that gameplay is without much depth. And that would be true, were it not for the implementation of a randomized boon system that significantly impacts the success of each run. Once each wave is cleared, players will be required to choose one of two boons presented to them. There are several types that are temporary or semi-permanent, including changes relating to damage output, current health total, score multiplier, and total enemy count. Some are straightforward without any caveat, but a significant number of them are designed in a risk-and-reward type fashion such as higher damage output in turn for a higher number of enemies to spawn. Of course, certain selections will grant players a higher success of longer runs, but Ꙩ remains fun to play even when chance isn't in one's favor since runs are often short (for me, anyway.) There are some elements that I'm actually unsure if they're implemented correctly or not, such as the score multiplier being able to be set to 0, meaning players won't be able to accrue any points at all until another boon overwrites it. Also, while a certain level of luck is necessary to attain longer runs, a large portion of that possibility ultimately lies in skill.

As mentioned above, the only real objective is to reach greater milestones in the form of a high score. There are no timers implemented in a traditional sense beside the player's health that needs to be maintained, so runs have the potential to last indefinitely. And though there are screenshots from others on the game's store page that display almost unfathomable scores that show a skill level I doubt I'd ever be able to achieve, my time playing even only ever once clearing six figures after playing off-and-on for nearly a week was enjoyed.

Something also worth mentioning is the game's presentation. Including its simple three-color scheme, everything is refined in a way that's impressive when recognizing the game's original 36-hour development cycle. Perhaps it's because of the simple gameplay loop that allowed other aspects of the game's design to have been given much-needed attention that's evident—regardless, it's sleek and is eye-catching. Very little information is needed to be conveyed visually beyond the actual gameplay, and the game's developer demonstrates that. The only constant UI element is the player's score total at the bottom, although other elements such as the scores being awarded by each downed enemy also constantly appear. Meanwhile, both level progression and the player's current health total is integrated into the field design without any text or icons involved. A high level of tension is also frequently conveyed with a dynamic free-moving field that ebbs and flows with a fluid circle outline that has the capability to spike while the screen subtly shakes as players are inundated with enemies.

Even though I have little experience with shoot-'em-ups, I feel that Ꙩ demonstrates a higher level of polish than most of its contemporaries with similar arcade-focused play. It's objectively a simple game, but I find the gameplay loop to be exceptional and more than capable at maintaining player interest.

[marvelvscapcom2]

25. The Simpsons Wrestling [PS1] - finished - April 5th, 2026




THIS GAME GETS WAY TOO MUCH FLACK


I remembered this game being hated by all kinds of influencers but I was unaware that IGN literally gave this game a 1 out of 10. Which is not surprising considering that the integrity of that company just is abysmal. But it's unfair a tad. I'd like to play lawyer or devil's advocate to the game today lol.  Is The Simpsons Wrestling a technical tribute of puzzle solving interconnected within a flushed out picture perfect fighting game like Punchout is? No. It's not Tekken 3. But sometimes it seems the sheer amount of hatred this game gets is perhaps overblown and I dare say hive minded from the opinions of YouTubers who are not only critical of this game but all Simpson's IP games or just go in ready to hate games based on other media. I get the criticisms but not the amount or direction of some of them. I played it unbiasedly. I am not even that huge on the fighting game genre. I don't know what people are seeing with this one. Maybe it's me and that's fine. But I will lay out the reasons why the game is not a 1. And why I feel it's a worthy addition to a backlog.

Perhaps a show as idealogically stimulating and revolutionary as The Simpsons was, maybe the expectations are set higher.  But if i'm being honest.  The game is labeled as this unintriguing dumpster fire of shovelware slop that has no depth and broke controls.  Considering each character has it's own individual powers and specialities, considering each character is voiced and includes catch phrases, and factoring that there are multiple changing challenges within the matches themselves already makes the game worth a play. And imo it's totally servicable.  To say a game can have all that yet be a 1 is just lazy reviewing imo. And it annoys me a bit.  Disliking a game heavily and calling it a 1/10 are two different things.  Parappa the rapper is just as broken if not more mechanically (I say much more) and just as limited in depth yet is revered. But I will give the game it's fair just dues from my own subjective POV.  Keep in mind. I may be the only human who likes the game. Maybe it's like the movie Shalllow Hal where I am seeing beauty in the ugly.

THE MEAT AND POTATOES


You have 3 championship tournaments to enter.  One unlocks the next. The first is the new comers challenge which then evolves into more major titles and the defenders cups ect.  You pick your favorite Simpson... for me that was the loveable Lisa. And you just go match to match kicking wholesale Springfield ass. Now what is striking is that the game has unique character abilities that are pretty cute and novel.  Barney the local bar fly wields an encompassing noxious belch that essentially provides a toxic film over the ring that continuously hurts the opponet like a poison status effect in pokemon.  During matches special items enter the ring.  Collect all 5 letters of the word TAUNT and you can then taunt your opponet which creates invincibility cloak. Then some food items have aggrandizing health effects that boost your life to handle more blows.  Which is cool. I found myself leaving combat to seek the letters to try to gain upper hand. That's literally rpg elements. 


Most of the fights can be won by trampolining off an opponets head over and over which is an actual strat that opponets also try so it's canon to what the devs intended. I would call this a broken part of the game but some characters intentionally defend against it by jumping when you jump or have outside forces to stop you. Pogo pouncing, it feels a lot like a wacky mall arcade. The physics are essentric. But there. The game functions.

Then you also get a special attack which is powered by your special meter. In Lisa's case this was biting the opponets arm and you can keep chewing until the enemy fully depeltes their counter meter by mashing shoulder buttons which is the same way you kick out of a pin. Thumb tapping serenity becomes adreanline when you play in the tougher levels.


Characters like Mr. Burns has a sort of outsider effect where he will throws nukes into the ring to hurt you. Makes for a challenging match againt his butler Smitthers.


So 1/10 equates a unplayable game with not a single good thing to it's credit.

1. Actual Voice Acting
2. RPG Elements
3. Unique Character Abilities
4. Unlockables and strategy based fighting
5. Challenging difficulty and Accurate levels

The cons

The pin mechanics seem ugly or forced which they can be. The hit boxes arent perfect sure. And the graphics are a little blocky and ugly even for the time.  So with all that said. A 4 or 5 minimum would be fair. But the game just isnt as bad as the consensus. Most haven't played it objectively and I will die on that hill lol.  I found a lot to enjoy here. It's even worth a laugh or two like Lisa quoting the philosopher "Homer" which is a bit profound retrospectively.


The thing is fairly rad tbh. The Alvin to my Theodore, a damn buddening sand pit pal from yesteryear that was abused by it's peers but ended up giving you his milk at lunch time. But I don't feel nostalgia goggles are causing my skew in opinion. It's far more quality than I was told. I have played much worse simpsons games and definitely much worse IP shovelware. Much worse beloved PS1 software.  Simpson's Wrestling has it's dull repetitions and mundane difficulty curve that can definitely frustrate. It is clunky at times. But it's also a cute arcade style fan fare packed Jelly donut where the jelly is the fun lol. The game actually surprised me.

Rating - 67/100

[2ko]

I was left a bit surprised by how much this game feels like a prototype to Mario Kart 8 than its own distinct Mario Kart game. Don't get me wrong. MK7 dos have enough of its own unique stages, music, and visuals to set it apart from 8 or any of the other Mario Kart games, but I guess I was surprised by how similar the gameplay mechanics were between 7 and 8, as well as most of MK7's better tracks being included in MK8, many of them within the vanilla game.

It's funny how playing them in this order can change your judgement on the game. It's like playing Mario Kart DS after Mario Kart 7 and pointing out how they play alike and that some of the best tracks from DS are in 7.

Not saying you're wrong. It's factually the case that 8 is an improvement over 7. But that's kinda the case for the entire series (outside of the latest entry imo).

Just thought it was funny how the order we play games can affect people's perception on games. One of the reasons I tend to play games in release order when I try a new series.

[bikingjahuty]

I was left a bit surprised by how much this game feels like a prototype to Mario Kart 8 than its own distinct Mario Kart game. Don't get me wrong. MK7 dos have enough of its own unique stages, music, and visuals to set it apart from 8 or any of the other Mario Kart games, but I guess I was surprised by how similar the gameplay mechanics were between 7 and 8, as well as most of MK7's better tracks being included in MK8, many of them within the vanilla game.

It's funny how playing them in this order can change your judgement on the game. It's like playing Mario Kart DS after Mario Kart 7 and pointing out how they play alike and that some of the best tracks from DS are in 7.

Not saying you're wrong. It's factually the case that 8 is an improvement over 7. But that's kinda the case for the entire series (outside of the latest entry imo).

Just thought it was funny how the order we play games can affect people's perception on games. One of the reasons I tend to play games in release order when I try a new series.

That is true, however DS and most other MK games feel very distinct from one another. DS and 7 feel and looks completely different from one another, whereas 7 and 8 almost feel like the same game often, albeit 8 looking way better. And being similar to 8 is absolutely a good thing (8 is my favorite in the series), but it does make me wish 7 felt a bit more unique and distinct.

[marvelvscapcom2]

RECENTLY ABANDONED GAMES

1. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2025

I was heavily disappointed with my experience of this game.  The game uses a flawed and outdated version of Bing maps. I wish Microsoft would have swallowed pride and done better. I was under the impression that albeit poorly textured. The game had rendered cities across America.  The cities are worse than PS2 fidelity and missing so many geographical landmarks that my city doesn't look nor feel like flying over my city even in a polygon PS1 world. It ruins immersion and is fairly trash. Wish I didn't pay launch price for this. If anyone wants it for cheap or trade for some 20 dollar game. Hmu 


2. Halo 2

Again I feel like I'm kicking someone's grandfather lol. But it is shocking to me that the king of first person shooters doesn't have an allocated aim mechanic.  I remember loving this game as a kid. I know it's a fan favorite.  The plot hasn't gripped me and the aiming system is very dated versus modern fps. It hasn't aged well Imo


3. Cyborg Justice

I may return to this one. The concept of ripping the enemies arms off is cool and novel. And it has epic soundtrack. Is fairly customizable too. But I suck badly at this game. Like it's so brutally hard. 

[kamikazekeeg]

13 - Retro Rewind: Video Store Simulator (PC 2026) - BEAT - Over the past couple years, these "simulator" games have become more of a thing, and not like Powerwash Simulator, but usually it's about you running a store, or a business, and you do tasks, earn money, expand your business, etc...Generally I'm not super into them, they often feel abit low effort, usually very asset flip heavy, they might have a gimmick that's mildly entertaining (The TCG card one seemed okay), and I don't know if I would say this game doesn't feel slightly similar (I think it's content is original, but not 100%), but the nostalgia of running a video store is nice enough to draw me in.

I hit Level 20 which is the games current level cap for earning anything new, so it's where I'm counting it as complete, though I still have stuff to buy, more store expansions to get, but I'm good as is right now with it.  The gameplay loop is simple.  Get to the store, put away movies brought back overnight, restock snacks, then check out people and help with requests, and close.  You can get up to 2 employees, my main one just does movie returns so I can focus register.

I feel where the game falters is the gameplay loop is fairly basic, there's not a lot of friction or variety to events or things that could happen throughout other than if someone has a late charge fee or broke a tape, they can get upset about the fee and refuse to pay for their new rentals, pushing them off the counter, and that's mostly it.  I think it could definitely use more depth and the NPC's that seem to be original as far as I can tell, don't have any designs that feel very 90's, music playing is sorta synthy, but I wouldn't say are strong 90's, though the store itself is good enough.  The art is another thing that's not great, as to have lots of movie variety (Supposedly there's 14k "original" movies), all the art is kinda like cheap clip art feeling, that then can be re-used among the genres or in different ways.  It makes sense, but it looks bad.  New Release movies luckily get all original art and movie standees that look good at least and are usually parodies of Alien, Rambo, Star Wars, and a few others that I've seen so far.

It's not worth the 20 bucks with the content it has, but it's fine if you can get it on sale.  They are planning to add more to the game with free updates, including video game rentals as it sold a lot better than they expected it too, so that'll be a fun to have.

[bikingjahuty]

31. Pilotwings 64 (N64)

I feel like all gamers have those special comfort games they play when life isn't at its best or maybe they just need to be reminded of simpler times. In my case, I felt like I needed both. I found out last week I'm getting laid off from a job I've had for 8 years. I don't work from some mega corporations where layoffs are the norm and the company is certainly small enough to where everyone is fairly connected to everyone else, even the executive management team. So the fact that I was one of about 40 people that were told we're getting let go soon came as a complete shock. This unfortunate news derailed my playthrough of Chrono Trigger, a game from a genre I struggle to get into even when I'm not dealing with life changing events. When I finally did feel like doing something other than frantically navigating a terrible job market, I decided to play a game I've thoroughly enjoyed since I was a young kid, and one that reminds me of those simpler times better than most.


I've probably played and beat Pilotwings a dozen time since it came out in 1996. It honestly makes me feel ancient even thinking about this game being 30-years old this year. But over the past three decades, this game has always made me smile. Whether it's the surprisingly good, and fun gameplay, the almost perfect OST, or the fact that this game still looks fairly impressive, even with how aged N64 graphics are typically seen now. Pilotwings 64 is a legitimately enjoyable, well made, and special game.


My only gripes with this game involve the camera, some of the controls, especially when playing the unlockable modes, and yes, the graphics which are very impressive for a game in 1996, but have lost most of that luster they once may have had. However, all these issues are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. Anytime you get frustrating trying to control the hang glider or hit Giant Hawk with a missile, playing the birdman mode instantly makes all those frustrating melt away.


I know this game isn't typically discussed when the upper echelon of N64 games is brought up, however I feel like Pilotwings 64 almost belongs in that conversation. If you grew up with this game like I did, you'll no doubt be unable to resist its mid-90s video game charms, but more than that, the game and its various modes still control and play very well, and its various areas all have a distinct charm to them, even of they are relatively small in scale. Pilotwings 64 is an absolute must play on the N64 and a game I'm very thankful to have right now. (4/10/26) [39/50]