Favorite underappreciated/obscure games thread

[Qweklain]

I am just going to list a few (or a ton). I have 90% of and still obtaining the rest of the best PS1/PS2 games in existence. I will be forgetting a lot on SNES/Sega though as I am coming off the top of my head. Also I will try to stick to Obscure.

---Sega Genesis---
Gunstar Heroes
Dinosaurs for Hire
Batman & Robin
Phantasy Star series

---SNES---
Secret of Evermore
Secret of Mana
Super Metroid
Final Fantasy III (really is 6)
Super Mario RPG
Rock & Roll Racing
King of Demons (Majyuuou)
Star Wars series
Chrono Trigger

---PS1---
Castlevania Symphony of the Night
Megaman Legends 1 & 2
Star Ocean The Second Story
Vagrant Story
Legend of Mana
Dragon Valor
Chrono Cross
Einhander
Fear Effect 1 & 2
Dino Crisis 1 & 2
Granstream Saga
Colony Wars series
Kings Field 1 & 2

---PS2---
Drakengard 1 & 2
Star Ocean Till' the End of Time
Xenosaga series
Prince of Persia series
Drakan: Ancient Gates
Extermination
Eternal Ring
Kings Field: Ancient City
Evergrace
Dawn of Mana

Okay that is enough for now. I can list MANY more or explain any if you guys wish, or go look them up yourself!

 

[Dead Undead]

^Phantasy Star was awesome. Been so long since I've played it.

 

[Alberto7]

---SNES---
Super Metroid
Chrono Trigger

I don't think that Super Metroid is very obscure or unknown, but I do feel that the entire Metroid series (with Super Metroid being my favorite) is just not well appreciated by the general public. It has a rather vague, yet still brilliant and captivating story. The gameplay in Super Metroid is excellent, the levels are super well thought out, and the enemies are some of the most badass I've ever seen... And don't get me started on the music!

As for Chrono Trigger, I only had a friend (this was years ago) who talked about it all the time, and I did get to play it a couple of times. While I didn't get much experience with it, I did get to see how good of a game it actually was. I'm definitely going to play this one soon, just to check it out.

(Sorry for my SNES and, generally, Nintendo fanboyism... I've just had a lot of exposure to Nintendo games )

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

Oh, I forgot the Goof Troop game. Yeah, it's based off of the Disney cartoon, but it's one hell of a game. And Lufia II. The battle music sounds how every power metal band should sound.

 

[Qweklain]

Oh, I forgot the Goof Troop game. Yeah, it's based off of the Disney cartoon, but it's one hell of a game. And Lufia II. The battle music sounds how every power metal band should sound.

Dude, the Sinistral Battle music is 10x better! I still need to make a guitar cover of that (and like 100 other old RPG songs) and play through that again for the... 34th time?

I don't think that Super Metroid is very obscure or unknown, but I do feel that the entire Metroid series (with Super Metroid being my favorite) is just not well appreciated by the general public.

As for Chrono Trigger, I only had a friend (this was years ago) who talked about it all the time, and I did get to play it a couple of times. While I didn't get much experience with it, I did get to see how good of a game it actually was. I'm definitely going to play this one soon, just to check it out.

(Sorry for my SNES and, generally, Nintendo fanboyism... I've just had a lot of exposure to Nintendo games )

They may not be obscure to us gamers who have been around for awhile (I been gaming since I was 3 and am now 24), but I am going off the fact that most people only know mostly the new stuff. Plus Chrono Trigger and Super Metroid are games that just NEED to be known.

Make it easy on yourself and go download ZSNES emulator and get the ROMs instead of trying and paying for a physical copy. If you have difficulty finding them I have Super Metroid and can find Chrono easily.

 

[Grand Moff Tim]

Because I've always been a sucker for cel-shaded graphics. Throw in David Duchovny and I pretty much had to buy it.

 

[Alberto7]

Dude, the Sinistral Battle music is 10x better! I still need to make a guitar cover of that (and like 100 other old RPG songs) and play through that again for the... 34th time?


They may not be obscure to us gamers who have been around for awhile (I been gaming since I was 3 and am now 24), but I am going off the fact that most people only know mostly the new stuff. Plus Chrono Trigger and Super Metroid are games that just NEED to be known.

Make it easy on yourself and go download ZSNES emulator and get the ROMs instead of trying and paying for a physical copy. If you have difficulty finding them I have Super Metroid and can find Chrono easily.

I completely agree with what you're saying there. They're too good not to be known! Haha
And thanks for the offer man, much appreciated but I already have the Snes9x emulator. I've used ZSNES and liked it, but I kept coming back to Snes9x for some reason. I already have the Super Metroid ROM and have beat it like a million times, and I've already gotten Chrono Trigger. But I still want to get a physical copy of them, just to relive those glorious moments! Hahaha.

This thread has really made me want to go back to my gaming years. I'm definitely going to start getting some more videogames

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

Dude, the Sinistral Battle music is 10x better! I still need to make a guitar cover of that (and like 100 other old RPG songs) and play through that again for the... 34th time?

That may be, but the funky bass gets me every time.

They may not be obscure to us gamers who have been around for awhile (I been gaming since I was 3 and am now 24), but I am going off the fact that most people only know mostly the new stuff. Plus Chrono Trigger and Super Metroid are games that just NEED to be known.

Make it easy on yourself and go download ZSNES emulator and get the ROMs instead of trying and paying for a physical copy. If you have difficulty finding them I have Super Metroid and can find Chrono easily.

I completely agree with what you're saying there. They're too good not to be known! Haha
And thanks for the offer man, much appreciated but I already have the Snes9x emulator. I've used ZSNES and liked it, but I kept coming back to Snes9x for some reason. I already have the Super Metroid ROM and have beat it like a million times, and I've already gotten Chrono Trigger. But I still want to get a physical copy of them, just to relive those glorious moments! Hahaha.

This thread has really made me want to go back to my gaming years. I'm definitely going to start getting some more videogames

Emulation is wonderful. I still like to bust out my SNES and N64, and I have a decent collection of hard copies, but you can't beat having a virtually infinite library of games at your disposal. I agree with Alberto: SNES9X has a certain appeal about it. I like that it's easy to use and has a lot of options. ZNES doesn't seem so straightforward to me. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a decent N64 emulator. God damnit, I want to play Mystical Ninja!

And if anyone is looking for a good Mac-compatible gamepad, the Logitech Dual Action is superb, perhaps with the exception that the USB cable and connector feel flimsy. I haven't had any problems with it yet, though.

TeccStone: Digital Cameras: Logitech Dual Action Game Pad USB

 

[toiletstand]

I love the first lunar game that got rereleased on psone. also a big part of my middle school life.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

They may not be obscure to us gamers who have been around for awhile (I been gaming since I was 3 and am now 24), but I am going off the fact that most people only know mostly the new stuff. Plus Chrono Trigger and Super Metroid are games that just NEED to be known.

While all the games on your list aren't obscure nor under-appreciated (well, to me anyway), I certainly agree with your list, but with a few quibbles aside:

Even with the latter Mana games are all weak, I still love them. Xenosaga is a 2 way street for me. I absolutely adore the storyline, the rest of the game unfortunately left a bitter taste to my gaming experience.

More to add:

Dew Prism / Threads of Fate (PS1)

A story viewed by 2 characters, both need to be played with a theme of Destiny and an unexpected plot twist in the end.

Odin Sphere (PS2)

The Tales series battle engine turned into an entire game. Sure is damn fun too.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

That may be, but the funky bass gets me every time.

You need to play all the SaGa games from SaGa 1/Final Fantasy Legend to SaGa Frontier 1. Kenji Ito slap bass goodness. EDIT: Wait... you've mentioned Final Fantasy Legend already...

And add the SaGa series to the list too... because a majority of players hate them.

 

[Qweklain]

You need to play all the SaGa games from SaGa 1/Final Fantasy Legend to SaGa Frontier 1. Kenji Ito slap bass goodness.

And add the SaGa series to the list too... because a majority of players hate them.

Oh man, Saga Frontier 1 & 2 are amazing. Saga Frontier one is currently my fave. I love the second one too, but it went a little more close-ended and I adored the openess of the first one. Now that I think about it, I never actually beat the second one. I think I remember where I stopped though, which is when you change to that ninja character in the forest. With Saga Frontier 1, you can start a new game with whatever character, take one wrong turn, and next thing you know you are in an area that is for really high levels. You learn real quick the ins and outs of that game!

I never got into the Romancing SaGa's, but I have a few other "one-off" Saga games that I can not think of off the top of my head. I know that Unlimited Saga was a friggin' JOKE though. I bought it a long time ago anticipating another awesome SaGa adventure, and within 30 minutes, returned that shit. That game needs to be completely erased from existence lol.

Man, I have so many PS1/PS2 games I have not even touched (yet) and classics I have beaten many times and want to beat again.

As titstand mentioned, Lunar is awesome also. I have, but have yet to play, Eternal Blue.

Another awesome RPG series that not many know of is Grandia. Also should mention Valkyrie Profile, and I really hope they make more of it. Any Suikoden, Wild Arms, or Breath of Fire fans out there??

Oh, and Bloody Inferno, I can make a gargantuan list if you would like. Like I said though, PS1/PS2 is my forte by far. Unfortunately I miss a good amount of continuation of my favorites (Tales series) due to never being brought to the states and I do not know Japanese.

 

[Demonbrn]

Also vagrant story and xenogears.

Vagrant Story was epic, I hacked my psp just so I could play it, then when they released it on the market, bought it!

Mine is more recent, it did make Playstations Greatest hits, but almost everyone I've ever talked to hated it due to difficulty (it's almost as if the object of the game is to die a lot!) and it's Demon's Souls.

 

[Xaios]

One of the most wonderfully strange games I've ever played was a game called Starship Titanic. It was written by Douglas Adams and had voice acting by Terry Jones and John Cleese, so as you can well imagine, it was hilarious. It featured 16 hours of recorded dialogue. Considering it came out in 1998, that was quite an accomplishment. The premise is that the Starship Titanic has been sabotaged on her maiden voyage and has thus crashed into your house. You're recruited by one of its robotic staff to basically fix the ship.

While the game was entirely too british to be able to solve by any rational person, it was beautiful to look at, highly original and brain-meltingly hilarious. Highly recommended, just remember to use a walkthrough.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Oh man, Saga Frontier 1 & 2 are amazing. Saga Frontier one is currently my fave. I love the second one too, but it went a little more close-ended and I adored the openess of the first one. Now that I think about it, I never actually beat the second one. I think I remember where I stopped though, which is when you change to that ninja character in the forest. With Saga Frontier 1, you can start a new game with whatever character, take one wrong turn, and next thing you know you are in an area that is for really high levels. You learn real quick the ins and outs of that game!

I never got into the Romancing SaGa's, but I have a few other "one-off" Saga games that I can not think of off the top of my head. I know that Unlimited Saga was a friggin' JOKE though. I bought it a long time ago anticipating another awesome SaGa adventure, and within 30 minutes, returned that shit. That game needs to be completely erased from existence lol.

Man, I have so many PS1/PS2 games I have not even touched (yet) and classics I have beaten many times and want to beat again.

As titstand mentioned, Lunar is awesome also. I have, but have yet to play, Eternal Blue.

Another awesome RPG series that not many know of is Grandia. Also should mention Valkyrie Profile, and I really hope they make more of it. Any Suikoden, Wild Arms, or Breath of Fire fans out there??

Oh, and Bloody Inferno, I can make a gargantuan list if you would like. Like I said though, PS1/PS2 is my forte by far. Unfortunately I miss a good amount of continuation of my favorites (Tales series) due to never being brought to the states and I do not know Japanese.

Are you my long lost brother? Every game you mentioned I either played, or have but don't have the time to play, let alone complete.

I actualy ENJOYED Unlimited SaGa. There I said it. And the music was amazing, among my favorite soundtracks in fact. You may like Romancing SaGa 3, that shared the same freedom as SF 1. Romancing SaGa 2 was very similar to SF 2 in terms of playing through a timeline. Also good.

Also if I haven't mentioned it already:

The Shadow Hearts series (PS1/PS2)

Koudelka was rather average with the same battle system as Live A Live, but the Shadow Hearts series ruled.

Bahamut Lagood (SNES)

Bahamut got his own spin off game with the same Front Mission style strategy play. Speaking of which...

EARLY Front Mission Series (SNES/PS1)

The first game ruled. The rest didn't share it's charm with me to be honest. Front Mission Evolved sucked tremendously.

Treasure Hunter G (SNES)

Those who stuck around the SNES' dying days may have played Square's last effort for the console. Amazing RPG game right here.

Samurai Pizza Cats (NES)

Extremely fun platform game with a semi-decent variety going on.

Final Fight (NES)

Yes they released an SD version of Final Fight on the NES, and surprisingly, I loved it.

World Heroes series (Arcade/SNES/NeoGeo)

One of the SNK series that didn't age as well as their bigger brothers, but it was a good fun Street Fighter clone at the time. Come on, you got to play Rasputin with balloon expanding hands and feet!

EDIT:

Parodius series (SNES/PS1)

Gradius and Twinbee were fun, but this is where it's at. And Goemon is also a character here too.

Area 88/UN Squadron (SNES)

Along with Macross Scrambled Valkyrie, this may be my favorite side scrolling flight/shooter of all time. Capcom really got this game right. And surprise, the manga and anime series ruled too.

EDIT 2:

Also good call on the Fatal Frame series.

 

[Mordacain]

I'm actually playing Bahamut Lagoon on my new Droid phone currently. I had wanted to play this years ago but there were never any translations. Lo and behold I found one and am pleased as punch.

/EDIT

I routinely playthrough Lunar 1 and 2 on SegaCD. Still my favorite RPGs of all time. I still have yet to complete the PSX remake of EB. I also need to finish the PSP remake of Silver Star.

Also a hardcore fan of Grandia. Still need to finish 3, but 1 I actually beat on Saturn before it was released on the PSX stateside. Love the combat system in 3.

Also loved the Suikoden series.

I still have lots of RPGs on the PS2 I need to start, let alone finish, notably Xenosage. Xenogears was probably my favorite PSX game.

 

[BigPhi84]

Ah, I forgot about World Heroes!!! LOL. Such an obscure SNK game!

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Ah, I forgot about World Heroes!!! LOL. Such an obscure SNK game!

Did you get to play NeoGeo Battle Colosseum? That was actually quite a great crossover game full of SNK's finest.

 

[The Grief Hole]

Great game.

Two Crude Dudes on the megadrive was a rocking little side scroller.

More recently I love John Woo's Stranglehold on the 360. An amazing game that whilst not perfect has so much cool stuff in it.

I also thought Exile on the Commodore 64 was one of the best/ out there games ever.

 

[BigPhi84]

Did you get to play NeoGeo Battle Colosseum? That was actually quite a great crossover game full of SNK's finest.

Nah. I never even knew the game existed! (And I just read that ADK, not SNK made World Heroes. My bad.) I used to be a big SNK fan. My mom would take me to the PX when I was young and there was an SNK machine there that had Samurai Showdown 3, KOF 98', and some plane shooter (name escapes me right now.)

I used to be a fighting game addict. I didn't choose a "side" in the fighting game wars, I loved all the companies and the games they produced.... Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Fatal Fury, Killer Instinct, etc. (never got into Virtua Fighter though).

When I got a Sega Genesis, one of the first games I got was Samurai Showdown. I still yet out, "Victoly" from time to time and my little sister's cool enough to get the obscure reference. In fact, she got a Siberian Husky puppy recently, and one of the name suggestions I gave her was, Poppy (the name of Galford's Husky).

There are two games that I rented so many times from Blockbuster that it would have been cheaper for me to just buy them... they are Fatal Fury 2 for sega genesis and Tekken Tag Tournament for PS2.

I really haven't been hip to the recent (past year) fighting games. I got MvC3 and I was thinking about buying Mortal Kombat, but fighting games these days don't have much replay value to me, and when you have to spend $59.99 bucks a pop (plus tax), it makes it a harder pill to swallow.

I need to get back into emulators to play some of these old games again. Know of any good sites to hit up?