52 Games Challenge 2026!!!

[supremeusername]

I actually don't remember that segment of a mission from that stage—particularly the electrified grind rails. It did take me far longer to complete this game than it normally does since I took an extended break from it, though, so either I'm just not remembering that aspect of the mission or I was able to clear that particular mission without issue. I do remember falling off from the pier area of that stage into the water a lot during one of the earlier visits there, and I was thinking about it specifically when mentioning my struggles to regain health as antagonists were pursuing me.

I hadn't looked up anything about whether Jet Set Radio actually performs well on Dreamcast hardware or not. I suppose I particularly was hoping to play the game with the original controller, as I think those sorts of details are important to playing older games especially as they were developed for and intended to play. If the performance is that poor, though, then maybe it was more worthwhile to play the PC port than just waiting to buy the game outright for Dreamcast someday day to play. But maybe one day I'll still do that.

     It's one of the levels in the middle of the story where you're forced to play as either Combo or Cube. Jet Set Radio -- or Jet Grind Radio as the original US release calls it -- runs pretty well aside on the DreamCast, aside from that one level. It's aesthetically pleasing (it's an in-universe depiction of Times Square) and one of the more ambitious-designed levels because it's more about traversing the environment vertically than horizontally. It's more with what you were saying about the game being confusing to navigate, which felt most apparent with that particular level for me. It sucked exploring that level cause I had left the harder graffiti for last, and just reaching those spots without exactly knowing how to get there, AND having to deal with the helicopter & shock enemies was pretty bad. I had played the game before like 6 years ago, which is why I was surprised to struggle at that level when I had probably cleared it in one go the 1st time lol.

     If you can get the DC copy at a fair price, it's more than worth it. I think just playing the PC copy with an Xbox or PS controller is just as fair too (that's what I did the first time playing through the game).

[kashell]

40. Trials of Mana - Mondoragan

I still have some post-game content to do that's required for New Game Plus, but I can chalk this first run up as completed. I chose Angela (L/L), Duran (L/D) and Riesz (D/D). I just got their class four upgrades before posting this and making some progress in Anise's Stockade. This was a great run. I finished the game once on Switch back when it was first released at the height of the pandemic. Now, with the intent of seeing everything for the trophies and trying new parties, I'm feeling just as excited. I'm really I chose Angela as my MC instead of Duran. Back when this game was only available with emulation, patches, and titled Secret of Mana 2, I foolishly chose Angela as my MC. It took her a while to grow into her own in the original. In this remake, she's much more capable and still manages to become as close to OP as possible through natural game play. I played the game on Normal difficulty and while there were some challenges with her in the lead, I still eked out victories. Duran was fine. I won't be using him in any more files. Riesz was still a treasure and continues to shine as my favorite character. Her Dark class changes don't really align with her goal and narrative, but damn are they sure fun. Once the post-game stuff is done, I'll start a new file with Kevin as the MC, along with Charlotte and Hawk.

[kamikazekeeg]

15 - Kumasma (PC 2026) - BEAT - I don't play a lot of these little indie horror type games, though "horror" is maybe stretching things here lol I mostly stumbled across this because I saw a tiktok with some cute art, and what I got is a very short little freebie game.  It's more of a short story, 30 minutes long, very mature themes, that I'm...not sure what was trying to be said with it.  I did get some cute art, it's abit surreal, not like ENA: Dream BBQ level, but something vaguely like that.  Very little actual game here, just wandering to a couple spots and reading.  It's free, it's fine.  Apparently this dev just pumps out these little vaguely horror short story games, either making them free or anywhere from a dollar to 5 dollars.  They've released like 30 of these little games since 2023 lol

[kamikazekeeg]

Frogun Encore (PC 2024) - BEAT - Gotta love some simple low poly platformers.  The first game didn't really nail it for me, kinda slow, ended up dragging abit and didn't beat it, but I saw that they changed things up with the sequel, abit faster paced, a few tweaks here and there, and ended up being some decent fun, no real complaints with this one other than the camera gets a tad wonky in places.