Favorite underappreciated/obscure games thread

[BigPhi84]

Ah, Mischa beat me. I was gonna say Tomba too! Great platformer/puzzle game. You mounted pigs doggy-style and threw them!

Chip and Dales: Rescue Rangers (NES)
Commandos series
Fear Effect.... seriously that game haunted me for a bit.
No More Heroes... yah, it's not obscure, but I think it's underappreciated.
Streets of Rage
Bubsy
Earthworm Jim
Startropics
WCW vs NWO: World Tour (N64)


There's an NES game that I can't remember the name of. There was a peripheral that you would put on top of the controller. Player A would control the main character and Player B would control red and blue gates opening/closing.

 

[Grand Moff Tim]

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

There's an NES game that I can't remember the name of. There was a peripheral that you would put on top of the controller. Player A would control the main character and Player B would control red and blue gates opening/closing.

Gyromite!

And everyone who played Smash Bros Brawl should know R.O.B by now...

At the time, I thought Gyromite sucked tremedously actually....

 

[leandroab]

Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf

 

[Severance]

Ace combat 4 nuff fuckin said.


if you never played it watch all the cut scenes in it its epic.

 

[Alberto7]

Ace combat 4 nuff fuckin said.


if you never played it watch all the cut scenes in it its epic.

I think I love you for posting this one. I love the Ace Combat series with a passion. I only played the 2nd one years ago (which I believe was for the first PlayStation; I can't remember well) and Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, for PS2. They're such incredibly fun games. And the cut scenes tend to be all epic.

And btw, the song playing on that video is one of the most beautiful pieces for classical guitar that I've ever had the pleasure to hear; one of my favorites for sure.

 

[Tomo009]

Gyromite!

And everyone who played Smash Bros Brawl should know R.O.B by now...

At the time, I thought Gyromite sucked tremedously actually....

Yeah, it isn't actually MEANT to be a 2 player game haha....

And I wasn't there "at the time" but I sure thought it sucked when I did first play it. Such a gimmick with no actual game other than watching R.O.B do his thing.

 

[Dead Undead]

Painkiller. Could you call that obscure? Fucking awesome nonetheless.
In my little world Custom Robo is rather obscure. One of my favorite games ever though. The GameCube one, not the DS one. That one blew goats.

 

[SirMyghin]

Mother/Earthbound series

Another awesome RPG series that didn't get appreciated outside Japan until Ness and Lucas jumped on the Smash Bros roster. With all the J-RPGs of it's time, this is one of the more original games with self-referencing jokes to B-grade culture and a hint of sinister undertones. And it was pretty damn hard.
.

Earthbound was a game I just cannot enjoy, I tried to plow through it hearing how good it was but it just doesn't sit well with me.

 

[GuitaristOfHell]

Pac Man and God Of War.

 

[BigPhi84]

OOOOOOOhhhhhhh!!! I forgot "Little Nemo: The Dream Master"!!!!

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

Earthbound was a game I just cannot enjoy, I tried to plow through it hearing how good it was but it just doesn't sit well with me.

You have no soul, Earthbound kicks ass. Honestly, though, I think it mostly appeals to eccentrics. It's a well-structured game, and I really wish that they would come up with a US release for Mother 3 already. I have the Japanese version, and while it's fun, I'd like to know what the hell is going on.

Speaking of eccentric, I'm going to put the Wayne's World game on the list. It's extremely challenging (read: idiotic and frustrating), and the only reason I played through it was because of how tacky and sometimes deliberately self-deprecating it is.



Metal Wolf Chaos. Just watch the video.



Burger Time. Great arcade game adapted for a couple of different consoles.

Robotrek was mentioned, and I agree that it was an excellent game. The music gets repetitive at times, but that happens even in big name games. I don't see why developers overlook the fact that most of the time in an RPG is spent in battles, and that it gets super annoying when you only hear one clip of music in each and every one. I appreciate that the Mother/Earthbound series addresses this.

Gunple: Gunman's Proof. Like Link To The Past, set in Japan's conception of the Wild West.

Secret of Evermore. Excellent gameplay, just camp enough, and music to die for. In my opinion, it has Secret of Mana beaten on most fronts.

Mystic Quest Legend. First of all, the name is ridiculous. It's a Final Fantasy offshoot without random encounters, and a standard RPG plot. A nice refresher if you want the feel of a classic game without playing something that you've been through fifteen times before.

Final Fantasy Legend III. Gameboy game, lots of gameplay. If i have one complaint, it's too big for the platform.

The Jak and Daxter series. Everybody I know who has played it agrees that it's fun, but I feel it doesn't get enough apreesh.

Viva Piñata: Party Animals. Oh my fucking god, this is a fun multiplayer game. There isn't a lot to do, but it's very competitive and high-energy. Anyone can pick it up pretty quickly, so it's good for parties.

The Spyro games (the Playstation ones, anyhow). Smooth and easy gameplay, and I always thought that the visual design was nice.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

^ The man knows his games as well as his theory.

Also add: Seiken Densetsu 1/Final Fantasy Adventure (GB)

The very first Mana game, and it's both underappreciated and overlooked at the time. Even it's remake Sword Of Mana for GBA is also fantastic. Among the better games of the Mana series too.

EDIT: Add Live A Live (SNES)

Old obscure Square RPG where you control various characters in different time zones. Every character world was like a tiny RPG in itself.

 

[Tomo009]

I do like the mother series, they seemed to improve with each addition. The story finally held it's own in mother 3 for me, the story was rather thin in the first two, but the fun was there.

Also enjoyed the mana games, Sword of Mana, if that was the gba one is the exception for me, it was less than 5 hours long and I don't even remember feeling like dying was possible.

EDIT: I assume they dumbed it down for the "modern" audience.

 

[Severance]

Also vagrant story and xenogears.

 

[Triple-J]

I think Actraiser on the SNES deserves a mention as it was a very unusual blend of Castlevania style platforming and a Populous style RPG which worked very well plus the soundtrack was absolutely stunning.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Also vagrant story and xenogears.

I think Actraiser on the SNES deserves a mention as it was a very unusual blend of Castlevania style platforming and a Populous style RPG which worked very well plus the soundtrack was absolutely stunning.

Great choices.

I confess that I purposely avoided mentioning either, probably because they were appreciated in their time. Actraiser was a pseudo sequel to Soul Blazer, same premise and all but as a platform game that absolutely ruled... shame Actraiser 2 sucked. Xenogears developed a massive cult following that if it weren't for such terrible camera controls, would have been on par with FF7 greatness. Not just IMO, but fact.

 

[Nile]

Ah, Mischa beat me. I was gonna say Tomba too! Great platformer/puzzle game. You mounted pigs doggy-style and threw them!

Chip and Dales: Rescue Rangers (NES)
Commandos series
Fear Effect.... seriously that game haunted me for a bit.
No More Heroes... yah, it's not obscure, but I think it's underappreciated.
Streets of Rage
Bubsy
Earthworm Jim
Startropics
WCW vs NWO: World Tour (N64)


There's an NES game that I can't remember the name of. There was a peripheral that you would put on top of the controller. Player A would control the main character and Player B would control red and blue gates opening/closing.

Earthworm Jim!!!!!!!!!



Also, Fatal Frame will fuck you up. Your weapon is a goddamn camera that zooms in on the fucking ghosts.

 

[Zei]

I'm gonna have to go with Tales of Symphonia and the Star Ocean series. ToS was the first RPG to really HOOK me. I literally stayed up two straight days playing it with my cousins on our first play through. Took us 40 hours, but we then celebrated with Mountain Dew in wine glasses.

Oh, how I wish they would remake THAT game instead of TotA for the 3DS.

Star Ocean 3 just mindfucked me once I got to the last 3/4 of the game... that was a brilliant twist. Still haven't beaten that game. I don't like it when the hardest boss I've ever faced becomes a common enemy right after I beat it...

 

[Dead Undead]

I had Super Robot Taisen on the GBA and thought it was pretty awesome. Not sure if it's obscure but it's the only copy I've ever seen here. It's like Gundam meets Fire Emblem.