[EVENT] The Sonic Stadium 52 Game Challenge 2024! - New Prizes every week! Current Prize: Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) profile gift AND Sonic's Birthday Bash challenge for additional prizes! (2024)

Games Finished/Completed List:

PowerWash Simulator (XBOX One) - Finished 25/02/24
Unpacking (XBOX One) - Finished 07/03/24 - 100% Complete (All Achievements Unlocked)
Tecmo Bowl (NES (Switch Online)) - Finished 09/03/24 - 100% Complete
Sonic the Fighters (XBOX 360) - Finished 10/03/24 - 100% Complete (All Achievements Unlocked)
Super Mario Bros. (Super Mario All-Stars Version) (SNES (Switch Online)) - Finished 21/03/24 - 100% Complete (Star Worlds Included)
Donut County (XBOX One) - Finished 24/03/24 - 100% Complete (All Achievements)
Open Roads (XBOX One) - Finished 31/03/24 - 100% Complete (All Achievements)
Kirby’s Dream Land (Game Boy (Switch Online)) - Finished 13/04/24 - 100% Complete (Extra Game Completed)
Sonic Spinball (SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis (Switch Online)) - Finished 14/04/24 - 100% Completed
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Super Mario All-Stars Version) (SNES (Switch Online)) - Finished 28/04/24 - 100% Complete
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Game Boy (Switch Online)) - Finished 30/04/24 - 100% Complete (Bonus Levels Unlocked and Completed)
Super Mario Land (Game Boy (Switch Online)) - Finished 18/05/24 - 100% Complete
WarioWare Inc. - Mega MicroGames (Game Boy Advance (Switch Online)) - Finished 19/05/24 - 100% Complete (All Games Played Through)
The Day of the Tentacle Remastered (XBOX One) - Finished 21/05/24 - 100% Complete (All Achievements)
Alleyway (Game Boy (Switch Online)) - Finished 23/05/24 - 100% Complete

Hey Guys!

It’s that time again for me to give you an update on my progress in the 52 game challenge and update you on any new additions to the list. First off, a progress update: whilst I haven’t managed to complete the LEGO Indiana Jones playthrough yet, I am still very close to getting it finished - just those last few artefacts need to be found. I have also managed to complete Amy’s story in SA1, and Gamma’s story is close to being finished too, whilst I have also been able to grab some more emblems for Sonic and Tails, and I now have all the emblems for Big the Cat as well. Furthermore, I have returned to my Super Mario 64 run, and have made quite significant progress in beating the second Bowser boss battle, and obtaining almost all the stars in three of the levels (Dry, Dry Docks, Snowman’s Land and Wet-Dry World), so I am getting ever closer to gaining all 120 stars for the completion. Aside from that, I haven’t added many more games to the finished/completed list, except for three - so let’s check them out, shall we?

Game 16: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade) (TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection) (XBOX One) - Finished 29/05/24 - 100% Completed

COWABUNGA!

When the evil Shredder attacks April O’Neil’s apartment and sets it on fire, it’s up to everyone’s favourite crime-fighting reptiles (sorry, Vector and Espio) to save the ravishing roving reporter from the evil forces of the Foot Clan!

As a massive TMNT fan, it felt good to get the opportunity to play one of the most iconic arcade games of all time, and whilst I unfortunately don’t own the Arcade 1UP cabinet of this particular game (or an actual arcade cabinet for any game, for that matter), I was able to play this awesome beat-em-up through the Cowabunga Collection that was released a few years back. Digital Eclipse are some of the masters when it comes to emulating old games, and their emulation of the arcade classic is absolutely brilliant, but trust me when I say it, if you aren’t familiar with the original TMNT arcade game, you’ll probably need to hold on to your butt (and the controls) - it can be very difficult at times.

Nevertheless, you can take control of your favourite turtle out of the awesome foursome, (I played as Leonardo on this occasion), and use their attacks and their various weapons to take out various hordes of enemies, from fetid Foot Soldiers, to Mousers and killer robots. Then at the end of each level, you’ll need to use all your ninjutsu skills to defeat the various iconic villains, such as Bebop, Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, and many more, eventually making your way to the Technodrome for a final showdown with Krang, and Shredder (and his clone), the final boss. (His anti-mutant ray attack is an insta-kill, BTW, so be careful or you might end up being more frustrated!)

Overall, for someone who hadn’t previously had the opportunity to play the original arcade game before, I believe that this game has helped to peak my interest in trying out other beat-em-up style games, and I was impressed with how much it felt like you were playing the game as if you were watching an episode of the original TMNT cartoon series from the late 80’s/early 90’s. If you’re looking to experience one of the best arcade games of all time in a home setting, I would definitely recommend that you seek out a copy of the Cowabunga Collection at some point if you don’t have one already - trust me, you will be in for a real treat that will be worth spending your money on. (Side note: this was my third attempt to complete the game - I had tried to complete it last week to coincide with World Turtle Day (of course), but it got abandoned as I was finding it hard to work out the controls, but I eventually figured it out, and I was able to complete the game the whole way through.)

But hey, why settle for just one slice of the pizza pie (sorry)…

Game 17: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time (Arcade) (TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection) (XBOX One) - Finished 02/06/24 - 100% Completed

…when you can take advantage of our 2-for-1 giveaway meal deal! (Sorry, again. - I ordered a takeaway pizza for me and my parents this week, hence the pizza puns.)

Just when the Turtles think that they can rest soundly in their shells, Shredder ends up stealing the Statue of Liberty from New York on live TV - which leads to the four main protagonists to embark on a time-travelling adventure to stop the Foot Clan before the space-time connections go all out of whack!

The gameplay is pretty much similar to the original arcade game, although this time around there are more stages to complete, with plenty more enemies to kick the shell out of, plus more bosses to deal with, such as Leatherhead, Tokka and Rahzar from the second live-action movie, and upgraded versions of Krang and Super Shredder, all of whom have even more powerful attacks designed to make you lose more lives.

I chose to play as Michelangelo this time around (my favourite of the turtles, in case you were curious), not just because he has many close quarter attacks that he can use to deal with the various Foot soldiers, but his special attacks (activated with the Y button) can be used either to hit enemies that are further away, or involve him spinning his nunchucks together to get multiple hits off of targets.

Furthermore, in addition to the pizza boxes that you can pick up to restore your health, keep an eye out for the special boxes with a bomb on the lid, as you can pick these up to begin a special attack that you can use to take care of multiple enemies at once, which can come in handy when there are quite a lot of bad guys on the screen at the same time.

Watch that last step, Shredder!

Once again, this particular conversion of another arcade classic is further proof as to why you should have a chance to look for a physical copy of the Cowabunga Collection and to give it a try if it’s not already in your game library. Sadly, it seems that Konami, as the empty hollow husk of a game company that they once were, may unfortunately be about to delist this particular collection, which is a real shame, as if you are a TMNT fan, or just enjoy playing their games and want to relive the memories, I cannot recommend this particular compilation highly enough. Both the original arcade game and Turtles In Time were fun experiences for me, and they are ones that I would hope to revisit again in the future.

Game 18: Sonic Drift (SEGA Game Gear) (Sonic Origins Plus) (XBOX One) - Finished 02/06/24 - 100% Complete

At the last minute, I came to the realisation that the racing challenge that was set involved actually finishing/completing a racing game, rather than just putting up a screenshot of a title that you were playing through. Until I found this out, I had planned to put up a screen shot of Team Sonic Racing, but when I realised that you actually had to complete a game, I had to fall back on an alternative. And given that Sonic Drift was the game that was being advertised for the racing challenge, I figured that I would give it a try, especially since other forum members have been completing this particular game, the first one to feature the Blue Blur in a proper racing game.

And so, I opened up Sonic Origins Plus on my XBOX One to try it out, thinking it would be a doddle, right? Well, no. Even though I managed to play through the various Grand Prix races, and eventually wasted my weekend trying to get first place in each of the three GP’s - I have to say that I found the whole experience frustrating, as I could not get used to timing myself with accelerating and breaking at the right times in order to make it round the turns. Not to mention that I found the collision detection to be rather iffy at points, meaning that I would sometimes hit an obstacle when I wasn’t anywhere near it. Nonetheless, I did persevere to try and get first place in all the races, and whilst I didn’t manage to get the wins all the time, I would keep playing through the races over and over again to try and make sure the 1st places were in the bag.

Ultimately, I did manage to complete all three of the Grand Prix as Sonic, but at that point, I had got so frustrated with the problems that I had with this particular game that I decided not to bother with going through the process of playing through all the races again as the other characters (Tails, Amy and Eggman), but the races were just the same no matter which racer I chose, so I believe that I have finished the game, probably 100% completed as there isn’t really any difference to any rewards you get for completing the full game aside from the ending screen depending on which character you played as.

At the end of the day, whilst I did end up finishing/completing Sonic Drift, I believe that it may have been better for me to try playing through a different racing game in an attempt to get a better chance of finishing it, but due to my confusion over the rules relating to the challenge, and the lack of time that I had to find playing games overall this week, aside from those that I previously mentioned, it meant that I had to sort out my time playing through this game at short notice. Ultimately, I don’t think I will be returning to this game, nor will I try to play through the sequel any time soon. But I needed to make sure that the racing challenge was completed so that I didn’t miss out, so… yeah.

That’ll be all from me for now. See you in the next update.

Games Finished: 18

Games 100% Completed: 17

BONUS RACING CHALLENGE BONUS: Complete

P.S. Happy Pride Month everyone!