Games You Finished in 2026

[Dikkun]

I've beaten before. The Japanese arcade version and Super Famicom version multiple times. The World/US Arcade version is hard for the wrong reasons, missing move sets, and use a beta version of the Japanese version for some reason.

Which version did you play specifically?

I beat Advanced Variable Geo 2 for the first time. First time I played it as well.

I do remember it was the US one, but that was quite a while ago lol

 

[BrawlMan]

I do remember it was the US one, but that was quite a while ago lol

For now on, stick with the Japanese Arcade version or SFC version. If you ever do play the US version, make sure it's the Alpha Renewal version. It's still has the name changes, but has easier, but challenging difficulty of the Japanese version. It includes the finished versions of all the stages, and puts back in the missing move sets of all three playable characters.

 

[Nickakyoin]

4th one done. Definitely the worst of the 3 games from this semi-unfortunate series.

There are good ideas here and there, but I really hated how the games mandatorily wants you to find Pit's strength upgrades rooms otherwise you'll have to button mashing grind to beat those bosses. Fire Snake was definitely the worst being the most impredictable, but Skull Wing needed way more hits than it should ever be allowed imo. Level design is mediocre.

I love that the ending is a reference to the actual Icarus from the Greek Mythology.

 

[TinRattler]

The secret of monkey island(PC)

Great point and click game

 

[Ikagura]

The Japanese arcade version and Super Famicom version multiple times. The World/US Arcade version is hard for the wrong reasons, missing move sets, and use a beta version of the Japanese version for some reason.

I dislike how the western release of games were butchered...

Post automatically merged: Jan 3, 2026

View attachment 141619

4th one done. Definitely the worst of the 3 games from this semi-unfortunate series.

There are good ideas here and there, but I really hated how the games mandatorily wants you to find Pit's strength upgrades rooms otherwise you'll have to button mashing grind to beat those bosses. Fire Snake was definitely the worst being the most impredictable, but Skull Wing needed way more hits than it should ever be allowed imo. Level design is mediocre.

I love that the ending is a reference to the actual Icarus from the Greek Mythology.

I kinda dislike that the Gameboy had ports that were sold as sequels.

Like Battletoads GB being technically a new entry with the same first level then they added back an actual port with a completely different name.

 

[BrawlMan]

I dislike how the western release of games were butchered...

That's one part of gaming I'm glad that stayed dead.

I decided to play Street Fighter II: Champion Edition (Genesis) on Hyper Fighting Mode. The game holds up super well. Scratchy voices aside and as long you've got a 6 button controller or playing on emulator. I did a playthrough with Ryu, and then as Chun-Li. Playing this game takes me back so much when my brother and I would play against each other like crazy.

 

[Nickakyoin]

I kinda dislike that the Gameboy had ports that were sold as sequels.

Like Battletoads GB being technically a new entry with the same first level then they added back an actual port with a completely different name.

?

I'm sure you're just saying it in general (and I agree, especially for the Battletoads matter), but this Kid Icarus one is a completely different ("new") game from the NES original.

Post automatically merged: Jan 3, 2026

I feel I would be cheating, but: done Ninja Gaiden for Game Gear. Hands down the easiest, shortest and most busted game of the whole franchise.

 

[BinaryMessiah]

I'm still working on the list. There was well over 100 unique participants that posted at least one finished game last year. I lost my work originally and had to start over. It should be done tonight.

Post automatically merged: Jan 4, 2026

UPDATE: Forgot you can't edit old posts. I should have waited to post this thread until I was ready. whoops. The only posts considered were actual listed games. A single number felt like minimal effort.

Number of unique participants in 2025 who posted at least one game finished: 179

TOP 10 WINNERS

1. @Nickakyoin 93


2. @TheImmortalP 75
3. @dropsmegamega 62
4. @BinaryMessiah 53
5. @ichigoww 52
6. @RebelofDaNeonGod 48
7. @RetroDrew 44
8. @nintara and @TheMinuMaster 41
9. @Tronky.it and @stormesp 34
10. @stealthRUSH 32

ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS (for the lolz)

Most tabs I had to open to count games: @Taukyrie
Most detailed list: @Nickakyoin
Gave up counting games on: @Ikagura
Hardest user name to read: @chkai.906 @Nidoking
Most CTRL+F'd user name: @Yousef
Most useless post: @Deleted member 257420
Post that gave me the most cancer reading: @Nelson2001
Best use of a spreadsheet: @snes9x
Would have been in the top ten, but is no longer with us: @Deleted member 746185
Best use of periods: @Overlight
Most allergic to capitalization: @nintara
Best picture book list: @Trainer Red
Best resized box art: @Taukyrie
Jesus Christ, resize your fucking box art: @bigguBosso01 @Nickakyoin @Luxfin
Best proof of finished game that can be used in court: @Nickakyoin
Best admission of masturbation: "I forgot to mention that earlier this year I beat OFF. With the remaster I may just beat OFF again." - @Guinea

 

[Nickakyoin]

@BinaryMessiah Good job for the list and thank you very much! It was very funny and satisfying to read.

Aaaanyways, here's another one.

The Master Class had no rights to be this punishing from the get-go. You have to do the races perfectly (every drift, boost, not letting the other racers surpass or they get that obnoxious moment and leading the race until the end). The most enraging thing is that you have the minimum possible time limit. You screw few turns here and there, you won't make it to checkpoints after Lap 2 or 3.

This game is actually a technical gem for the SNES, just like Star Fox (which actually does plenty of cameos in-game, both with Fox McCloud face and the Airwings). You can tell the original creator, Takaya Imamura, worked on this game alright. He's also on Twitter actively for anyone interested on his fan arts and works (his most important and recent one being Omega 6, also avaiable on Steam).

Yes, the game may run at the same framerate of StarFox. And if there are hackroms to make this game running decently then it's easily IMO a 8/10. But even with delay and mentioned choppy framerate, it has a charm I really appreciated. The game by default is indeed pretty good (and really impressive for '94. Same year the PS1 came and the earliest launch games didn't looked that much differently).

I'm aiming currently for:

• Ninja Gaiden for Master System (at Chapter 2).
• the arcade Kunio-kun (I know, feels like cheating...but I'm planning to do basically two months only for the remaining main FFXIV expansions ).
• Breath of Fire 2 (seriously, I can't wait to get into the PS1 games that look really cool! But I do liked this one as well).

 

[BinaryMessiah]

I'm keeping a running spreadsheet this year. I think it would be fun next year to post EVERY SINGLE person and their tallied games and then on the 2027 thread I will post the top ten. I did not expect so many people to post in that thread last year. It took me 4 hours to go through and just find every unique user and figure out who had more than 20.

 

[Taukyrie]

First game I finished this year was Mario Tennis Power Tour, which I actually started last year.

A shockingly fun game for something that is very simple, but I guess that's what happens when you put a lot of love into your Tennis RPG. It's great once you really learn how to play.

Though I guess my boyfriend said this was from back when the Mario Sports games had a lot of love put into them, so I guess it shouldn't be surprising that it's a really good game.

 

[Aerolite]

I got scared seeing people already beating games so I had to finish at least 1 this week

I mean it only had 11 levels, but still

 

[Cu-Neo]

For now Zero 3 and 4

 

[Ikagura]

Aaaanyways, here's another one.

The Master Class had no rights to be this punishing from the get-go. You have to do the races perfectly (every drift, boost, not letting the other racers surpass or they get that obnoxious moment and leading the race until the end). The most enraging thing is that you have the minimum possible time limit. You screw few turns here and there, you won't make it to checkpoints after Lap 2 or 3.

I wish there was a way to make it smoother.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

My first finished game of 2026 is the dragon quest 1 2DHD remake

 

[GamingWarthog]

My first two finishes are Metroid Prime 4 and Sonic Racing Crossworlds (don't feel done with it but I got to the credits and that feels like an agreeable benchmark). Maybe I'll keep a proper list for this in my files.

 

[Nickakyoin]

Finally beat this and...oh boy if I have to say a lot. And not entirely positive.

Easily, by far, the worst Ninja Gaiden game I've ever played. The Game Gear one was much better.
The game looks pretty good, especially for its times. And the soundtrack slaps, especially because the madmen have put copyright-friendly Iron Man from Black Sabbath:

You know what was one of the biggest disappointments? The sword is a very temporarily upgrade. Few hits and then you return with punches-only.
The biggest frustrations were definitely Stage 4 for this (I swear,
cling into these branches didn't worked to me at all. I had to rely over and over with respawn and scrolling).

And then Stage 6. Oh god. Yes, we all loved the JoJo references there (Stone Mask and Whamoo/Pillar Man), but having those few checkpoints and enemies that one-shot was nightmarish, especially the semi-last 3 guys which had to kept being thrown away.
But still, yay: I did it.

Overall it was a 4.5/10.
Still better than Double Dragon, but it doesn't mean much.

Had a chuckle though when the game ended up and I got this screen:

 

[BinaryMessiah]

Dang everyone is already finishing stuff. Of course, I'm not playing short retro games that can be finished in a couple of hours on an emulator. I'd like to finish bigger games this year. I mean I have some open world games still on my HDD from 10+ years ago I haven't finished.

 

[TinRattler]

Monkey island 2 lechucks revenge

Haven't played these games for over 20 years. Still get a laugh out of them

 

[RebelofDaNeonGod]

Already starting off the year beating Enclave, the Starbreeze game. Yes, Payday Starbreeze.

 

[Badseed Badseed]

We finally found something to hold against Nintendo.

WHAT?? How much time do you have? There is a LOOOONG list of grievances

Post automatically merged: Jan 5, 2026

Myself, I have just embarked on a Necromancer run in Oblivion Remastered

 

[Nickakyoin]

I feel this game is a breeze for anyone accostumed with Touhou. In the semi-last stage they put way more health hearts, and rightfully so since enemies comes out from nowhere and seems impossible to avoid.
Bosses may take more hits than necessary, but not to feel aggravating. But it's very intense as a bullet hell with also very rare slowdowns/lag (that could help in many situations ngl).

Game is a 16-bit joy for the eyes. And definitely worth of your time. Also playable in co-op.

Dang everyone is already finishing stuff. Of course, I'm not playing short retro games that can be finished in a couple of hours on an emulator. I'd like to finish bigger games this year. I mean I have some open world games still on my HDD from 10+ years ago I haven't finished.

IMO pacing out longer/more hours committing games with shorter but still challenging and intense ones is a good way to enjoy a proper backlog of games to finish. But more power to you if you keep with longer games only!

I mean, in my case I'm kinda pushing too much on this retrogame short games side. I'm definitely guilty on this. But I'm playing also stuff like Breath of Fire 2 and planning to do other games that are averagely more long than the retro ones. Especially very soon Halo Reach, Lost Planet 1, Castlevania Curse of Darkness and this year both Shadowbringers and Endwalker will take 2 whole months for sure knowing my pacing.

 

[Ikagura]

View attachment 142312

I feel this game is a breeze for anyone accustomed with Touhou. In the semi-last stage they put way more health hearts, and rightfully so since enemies comes out from nowhere and seems impossible to avoid.
Bosses may take more hits than necessary, but not to feel aggravating. But it's very intense as a bullet hell with also very rare slowdowns/lag (that could help in many situations ngl).

Game is a 16-bit joy for the eyes. And definitely worth of your time. Also playable in co-op.

One of my favourite cute them up.

I absolutely love the song version of the first stage theme

 

[Nickakyoin]

One of my favourite cute them up.

I absolutely love the song version of the first stage theme

...a lyric version that is basically an anime OP song. What. This specific one was SNES only, right? 'cuz I know only the original TwinBee arcade.

 

[blahbleh]

The 3rd Birthday
MegaMan Maverick Hunter X
Tenchu Fatal Shadows
Ninja Gaiden 3(NES)
Journey to Silius
N.O.V.A. Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance
Gear Fighter Dendoh
Kirby’s Adventure
Ghost Sweeper Mikami
Mayor Ou/King of Demons