The Video Game no one's heard of...

[Indurain]

I know a lot of us have that game. The one game that you feel like you're the only one who's ever played it. Usually it's not a new game, but something you've loved for a long time, but have never heard mentioned outside of your living room.

So, here's your chance to share those games with the world...let us in on your dirty little secret.

For me:

Hybrid Heaven (N64): A bizarre mix of RPG/Action/Wrestling all with a fun space alien/clone the president/take over the world storyline. Sure it has its problems (Camera Control). But the game is way too much fun to put down. You play...some guy...who's been cloned in a plot to replace the real president with an alien clone (Cliche? yes. Awesome? You bet!). You wander around this sub-terranian base looking for a way to stop the aliens and during this time the game plays like an action game as you have to navigate through traps and perilous jumps. But when you encounter an enemy, it switches to fight mode where you have to duck and dodge and block your enemies attacks all while landing your own. You can choose from Punches, Kicks, or Techniques (Wrestling moves such as the Piledriver, Neckbreaker, Sleeper). Meanwhile as you fight the more you use a body part, or the more damage a body part takes the more it levels up and you continue to increase until you're pulling off sick combos and laying out alien baddies with your new skills (which you learn by being hit with them).

All in all the game adds up to a bundle of fun...if you happen to see a copy lying around, I'd absolutely recommend it. With 3 difficulty settings and a number of gameplay options, it can keep you busy for quite some time.

Eternal Champions (Genesis): While everyone else was playing Mortal Kombat, I was playing Eternal Champions. Just a fun fighting game with some really cool moves, and characters. Took a while to get used to the fighting system (using start to alternate between punches and kicks) but once you mastered a person's fighting style you felt unstoppable. Add in interactive environments (loooooong before MK did it.) and you've got a real winner!

So...what games do you guys have hiding in the back of your closet?

[Lykan]

Impossible Creatures (PC): Essentially, you get to play a mad scientist and combine a bunch of animals into a new creature to use in a strategy game battlefield. I only have 2 complaints of this game: One, the story mode SUCKED. The main characters name was formed from two more that you may call your dog, and they were all as stupid as sin. The other, is that there was no human specie that you could combine animals with...

Needless to say, I still find it quite enjoyable to put shark heads on the bodies of bears and let them romp around.

RPG Maker (PS): Well, it's exactly what it sounds like... YOu create your own RPG game. Increadibly fun, but the options that it gives you seem to limit your creativity after awhile.

[Bookman]

Phoenix(Atari 2400)
It's the classic back and forth shooting game only you get different birds and then final level there's a big ol space ship.
So cool.......

Shouldn't this be in Gaming(other)

[Miles Invictus]

Metalstorm (NES). You're a giant robot who can control gravity.

Ninja Kid (NES). I had crappy taste in games as a child.

Orb 3D (NES). An insane combination of...oh, hell, it's weird. Each level is a puzzle of sorts, and you have to control this little orb in three dimensions to solve the puzzles. Great game, though.

[Poison_Fish]

Marathon(PC/Mac): Oh Halo fan boys and girls... this is where your god came from.

Realmz(Mac, not sure on PC): Ah, the days of shareware RPG's for the computer. Good times, but had a few flaws where magic would be outclassed by an melee fighter after a certain point. And ranged was never an effective route to take.

[The J Pizzel]

SHINNING THE HOLY ARC (sega genesis)
A first person turn-based RPG that went into bird-eye when you fought. It was insanely fun and I wish I could find it again.

[Ebon_Drake]

Eternal Champions (Genesis): While everyone else was playing Mortal Kombat, I was playing Eternal Champions. Just a fun fighting game with some really cool moves, and characters. Took a while to get used to the fighting system (using start to alternate between punches and kicks) but once you mastered a person's fighting style you felt unstoppable. Add in interactive environments (loooooong before MK did it.) and you've got a real winner!
I've played it and loved it, but only in 2-player mode. In 1-player mode it was possibly the hardest fighting game I've ever played, I often couldn't even get past the second character. 2-player mode was great though, mainly just to try out the stage fatalities. Kicking your opponent onto a bonfire and watching them get eaten by a T-Rex was what that game was really about.


Marathon(PC/Mac): Oh Halo fan boys and girls... this is where your god came from.
I've played that too :smalltongue:. To be fair though, that's only because Bungie have made it available for free download (along with Marathon 2 and Marathon: Infinity.) It is an awesome game, especially when you realise it was from the same era as DOOM and Quake, yet easily puts them to shame.

I'm not sure how unknown these are, but they've all been met with looks of confusion in the past:
Desperados: Wanted, Dead or Alive: A Commandos rip-off set in the wild west. I found it strangely addictive randomly throwing my combat knife at someone then spending the whole level trying to get it back again.

Warlords 3: Darklords Rising: the best turn-based strategy game ever. Its make-your-own army feature alone made me love it.

Star Wars Supremacy: Sure, its technically an awful game, but anything where you can strip-mine Endor, assassinate Lando Calrissian, blow up Coruscant with the Death Star, train Thrawn as a Jedi and rename your flagship "Vader's Pimpmobile" can't be all bad.

[EndlessEnnui]

Ah, Realmz. Reminds me of The Exile Series. Another shareware-based set of turn-based RPG games. Very flexible character-creation, extremely extensive worlds, hilariously static graphics, though good for the times.

Hours and hours happily spent exploring everything inside the non-paid-content boundary...

[Neo]

Yeah, its hard trying to find a good one thats really obscure. As i'm a collector so i've heard of all of the above bar the N64 one. The irony is legendary games are becoming more obscure as time goes on, just look at Syndicate, X-com or the Sierra Quest games :(

[Korith]

Reaching back into the darkness of my early-mid childhood, on a system long forgotten:

Utopia, for Intellivision.

[Artanis]

Massive Assault, PC
--A fairly recent game, Massive Assault is possibly the second-best Turn-Based Strategy game ever (after X-Com, of course). It's the epitome of "easy to learn, hard to master", and its turn-based nature putting the emphasis on actual strategy rather than mongoose-like reflexes made for extremely deep and amazingly fun (if a bit slow) multiplayer matches. Equally impressive is its singleplayer AI: while outclassed by a skilled human, the AI was so smart that it put up more of a fight than ANY strategy-game AI I've EVER seen...and that includes RTS AIs that can ruthlessly whore their speed advantage.

Y'know, come to think of it...if my DC addiction ever wears off, I might just reinstall that bad boy. There were some great times before a variety of factors led to me gradually giving it up a year or two ago.


Atomic Robo-Kid, Sega Genesis
--Fun side-scroller where you control a flying robot (which looks vaguely like a cross between a Cylon and a vacuum cleaner) and try to save the world. Nothing fancy, but addictively fun.

[The Evil Thing]

Project Nomads
Oddball in every sense of the word. Enormous fun once you got the hang of the rather interesting control and combat system. CDV learned their lesson not to experiment quite so much and are now churning out the game clones by the dozen.

Startopia
Perhaps not quite as obscure but absolutely, utterly, totally brilliant all the same. The world lost a magnificent team when Mucky Foot collapsed because nobody bought the damn game!

Evil Genius
Slightly more mainstream. If juggling is your thing then Evil Genius was heaven. If you couldn't multitask then you tended to fail. This probably contributed to the game's failure and subsequent collapse of the devs. Still an real gem all the same.

I also second Impossible Creatures. Relic FTW.

[Om]

Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe: From the company that brought us TIE-Fighter comes the best flight sim ever. There's really little more to say. Except that it had the best manual I've ever seen come with a game.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura: A few of you might have played this gem but it passed the rest of the gaming world by. Excellent RPG with the best game setting possible.

More to come if I can remember them.


Impossible Creatures (PC)I do remember that. Or rather I remember wanting it. It was the first game that I got all whipped up about and in my mind it was the greatest possible game. Its probably better that I didn't get it.


Star Wars Supremacy: Sure, its technically an awful game, but anything where you can strip-mine Endor, assassinate Lando Calrissian, blow up Coruscant with the Death Star, train Thrawn as a Jedi and rename your flagship "Vader's Pimpmobile" can't be all bad.No, it generally is all bad :smallwink:

[Timberwolf]

This may be well known to all but no one I've ever spoken to has heard of System Shock, let alone System Shock 2, the best, most scary survival hooror ever. As far as I'm concerned it knocks the stuffing out of Resident Evil and Silent Hill which try to do with sheer gore what System Shock 2 did with atmosphere, story and even more atmosphere.

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Impossible Creatures (PC): Essentially, you get to play a mad scientist and combine a bunch of animals into a new creature to use in a strategy game battlefield. I only have 2 complaints of this game: One, the story mode SUCKED. The main characters name was formed from two more that you may call your dog, and they were all as stupid as sin. The other, is that there was no human specie that you could combine animals with...

Needless to say, I still find it quite enjoyable to put shark heads on the bodies of bears and let them romp around.

RPG Maker (PS): Well, it's exactly what it sounds like... YOu create your own RPG game. Increadibly fun, but the options that it gives you seem to limit your creativity after awhile.

Everyone's heard of these, the first one was a huge hit. Was number 1 selling RTS for a good while.

Ruff N' Tumble -Amiga 1200-
This was the Amigas most prized posession, being the most graphically intense and gorgeous platformer on any system at the time, and indeed until the release of the Sega Saturn many years later. This game involved you being a small child who had "lost his marbles" in more ways than one(They fell down a hole as he was playing marbles, which he then jumped into, you then had to defeat a mad scientist who was using your marbles to power his evil machines, using your machinegun, lasergun, rocket launcher, etc.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/ruff-n-tumble



no one I've ever spoken to has heard of System Shock, let alone System Shock 2,


That's depressing.

I'll also say Dwarf Fortress.

[Were-Sandwich]

Bushido Blade (PS1) I have a special relatiuonship with this game. I loved it because it was the kind of fighting game I like: None of this "15 punches to the face and I'm still standing" lark, and NO UNARMED COMBAT, just really frikkin' cool weapons. Problem was, I got my copy second hand, with no instruction manual. I had no iea how to do anything. I couldn't jump, crouch, or throw anything, but I could do the basics. If I had the manual I probaly wouldn't have traded it in.

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Bushido Blade (PC) I have a special relatiuonship with this game. I loved it because it was the kind of fighting game I like: None of this "15 punches to the face and I'm still standing" lark, and NO UNARMED COMBAT, just really frikkin' cool weapons. Problem was, I got my copy second hand, with no instruction manual. I had no iea how to do anything. I couldn't jump, crouch, or throw anything, but I could do the basics. If I had the manual I probaly wouldn't have traded it in.

Very good game.

[Were-Sandwich]

Just out of interest, how did you do anything that required pressing more than one button?

[tape_measure]

RPG Maker (PS): Well, it's exactly what it sounds like... YOu create your own RPG game. Increadibly fun, but the options that it gives you seem to limit your creativity after awhile.

Not only do Iremeber it, but i sitll have and passed it on to a freind of mine who developed some 10 hours of game play. They even came out with an updated version (circa 2000). My game never really got very far before my ADD kicked in and I was off to another game. His game, however turned out rather well and the updated version made for an even better game that (if he ever finished) would probably do pretty well on the market. Well...were it still 1989....

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Just out of interest, how did you do anything that required pressing more than one button?

I'm thinking of the wrong game, I'm thinking of Samurai Spirits.

[Artanis]

This may be well known to all but no one I've ever spoken to has heard of System Shock, let alone System Shock 2, the best, most scary survival hooror ever. As far as I'm concerned it knocks the stuffing out of Resident Evil and Silent Hill which try to do with sheer gore what System Shock 2 did with atmosphere, story and even more atmosphere.
I loved those games! The two System Shock games are probably the only two games - of any genre - that made me really, truly afraid while playing. Not even Resident Evil could make me go "oh****oh****oh**** I'm gonna DIEEEEE!" at every little sound the way the System Shock series could :smallwink:

[Logic]

Beyond Good and Evil
PC, PS2, XBOX

Seriously, this has been called the best game no one has ever played by several people in the industry.
And what can't you love about it for barely 20 bucks? Best game for price I have ever bought.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura: A few of you might have played this gem but it passed the rest of the gaming world by. Excellent RPG with the best game setting possible.
Loved that game. A little rough around the edges, like everything Sierra did, but a great concept, story, and gameplay system.

Plenty of people know this online, but most gamers I've met face to face don't know
Lunar: The Silver Star / Silver Star Story Complete (Sega CD, re-released for PlayStation). A fun, well-made if easy RPG with absolutely excellent writing and localization and enjoyable characters. I've actually only played the PlayStation re-release, but it's a beautiful game with excellent dialog. Even the random townie NPCs are great.

I'd like to play the sequel, but I'd have to either buy a Sega Saturn or the PlayStation re-release from several years ago that's still quite expensive from all the bonus stuff.

[Dhavaer]

Comix Zone: Bizarre little beat 'em up game, with a comic book writer warped into his own creation. Very weird.

[Roethke]

Loom

'Nuff said.

[Flabbicus]

Impossible Creatures (PC): Essentially, you get to play a mad scientist and combine a bunch of animals into a new creature to use in a strategy game battlefield. I only have 2 complaints of this game: One, the story mode SUCKED. The main characters name was formed from two more that you may call your dog, and they were all as stupid as sin. The other, is that there was no human specie that you could combine animals with...

Needless to say, I still find it quite enjoyable to put shark heads on the bodies of bears and let them romp around.

RPG Maker (PS): Well, it's exactly what it sounds like... YOu create your own RPG game. Increadibly fun, but the options that it gives you seem to limit your creativity after awhile.

Played the first and heard of the second at computer camp.


<hr>

Sid and Al's Incredible Toon Machine (PC)

Nothing better than making giant Rube Goldberg-esque traps to destroy a cat and a mouse.

[Toric]

Orb 3D
I'll agree, that was one of the weirdest games I've ever played. Using that orb to do everything from playing tic-tac-toe to fighting a giant cat face probably accounts for a small part of the random person I am today.


Beyond Good and Evil
Also released on GameCube. Best 20 bucks I ever spent. Beautiful world, good story, and a nice mix of platforming and stealth.

Curse of Monkey Island (PC) I've only met one person at my university that's played ANY of the Monkey Island series. I've played this and the original Monkey Island, but this one's definitely my favorite. Winning a banjo duel, fulfilling your own death prophecy and using it for life insurance fraud, and who doesn't love the retort-based swordfighting? And then there's Murray, who is pure awesome. I loved that game.

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Curse of Monkey Island (PC) I've only met one person at my university that's played ANY of the Monkey Island series. I've played this and the original Monkey Island, but this one's definitely my favorite. Winning a banjo duel, fulfilling your own death prophecy and using it for life insurance fraud, and who doesn't love the retort-based swordfighting? And then there's Murray, who is pure awesome. I loved that game.

This is extra depressing.
YOU FIGHT LIKE A DAIRY FARMER!

[Neo]

The one that everybody said they loved but never talk about would be SimAnt :D

[Poison_Fish]

Oh, I got some good reminders with the mention of System Shock and Exile. Those were great games.

In addition to that, Lode runner was another I forgot. I liked the side scrolling, burn a hole into the ground, challenge of it. #2 I enjoyed the most, as #1 was a bit before my time.

[TheThan]

Eternal Champions (Genesis): While everyone else was playing Mortal Kombat, I was playing Eternal Champions. Just a fun fighting game with some really cool moves, and characters. Took a while to get used to the fighting system (using start to alternate between punches and kicks) but once you mastered a person's fighting style you felt unstoppable. Add in interactive environments (loooooong before MK did it.) and you've got a real winner!


Played it…



Comix Zone: Bizarre little beat 'em up game, with a comic book writer warped into his own creation. Very weird.

Have it….





Curse of Monkey Island (PC) I've only met one person at my university that's played ANY of the Monkey Island series. I've played this and the original Monkey Island, but this one's definitely my favorite. Winning a banjo duel, fulfilling your own death prophecy and using it for life insurance fraud, and who doesn't love the retort-based swordfighting? And then there's Murray, who is pure awesome. I loved that game.

Played Em…


This may be well known to all but no one I've ever spoken to has heard of System Shock, let alone System Shock 2, the best, most scary survival hooror ever. As far as I'm concerned it knocks the stuffing out of Resident Evil and Silent Hill which try to do with sheer gore what System Shock 2 did with atmosphere, story and even more atmosphere.

Have System Shock 2 somewhere… creep as hell.

Now, for games that I have that no one has ever played:

The Last Blade 2
Possibly the best 2d fighting game ever. SNK pulled out all the stops when they released this puppy. I got lucky and found it in the bargain bin at an EB games for my dreamcast, naturally I snagged it up.


StarWars: Dark forces
Everyone has played Jedi knight, but what they never realize is that Jedi knight is a sequel to this awesome FPS. It’s got better graphics than Doom and you get to mow down Storm Troopers with impunity… what’s not to love?


StarWars: Rebellion
Galaxy spanning strategy game. Perfect for people who love micro-management strategy. You get to subjugate planets with storm troopers (or free them if you’re the rebellion) and blow pesky ones away with your death stars (you do have more than one right?). It took me three months to beat this game. But when I was done, Luke was so dang powerful he could sway an entire planet to my side in a few minutes.


Total annihilation
While everyone was playing starcraft I was playing Total annihilation. Brilliant RTS, really it is. But what makes this game awesome was the ability for players to create and add their own custom units into the game. Too bad TA Kingdoms didn’t turn out as well.

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Despite your ego, I've played all of those games, and at local lans, we still play TA.
I've been playing Supreme Commander recently, it's terrible, it's a watered down TA.

[Toric]

StarWars: Dark forces
Everyone has played Jedi knight, but what they never realize is that Jedi knight is a sequel to this awesome FPS. It’s got better graphics than Doom and you get to mow down Storm Troopers with impunity… what’s not to love?

Played it, still have the CD's somewhere. Never really got anywhere after the first Dark Trooper though.

[Neo]

As a sidenote Rebellion and Supremacy are the same game.

What about Montezuma's Revenge...though that is going waaay back.

[Golthur]

Dark Heart of Uukrul (PC): An old Apple II game that was ported to PC with upgraded graphics. One of the best dungeon-crawl RPGs I've ever played, and there's one spot in the game where I was actually terrified to go on. Extremely well done, good plot, good dungeons, good mechanics. Man, I loved that game.

Re: Monkey Island. Played 'em all. Loved 'em.

Re: Loom. That one was a bit weird for me. I played it, but it was very odd.

[TheThan]

Despite your ego, I've played all of those games, and at local lans, we still play TA.
I've been playing Supreme Commander recently, it's terrible, it's a watered down TA.


It looks like we have something in common, and no I don’t have much of an ego. Really if I sounded egotistical, I didn’t mean to, besides if I ever grow an ego I’ll let you know.

[Zedd]

Sorry, im usually a read-only member but i just HAVE to say

Atlus' BRIGANDINE, for the first ps (how many are there nowadays?)
Loved it for a good long while and unfortunately can't find it anymore.

[TheOOB]

Herzog Zwei
Genesis

You play a plane that can morph into a giant robot. Your goal is to create various military units and use them to destroy your opponents bases while not getting shot down yourself. Very fun.

Road Rash
Sega CD/3D0

Perhaps the best road rash game in existance, it unfortunatly only came out for two systems no one owns. Has a good career mode with fun races and lots of bikes.

Alone in the Dark
3D0/PC

The mother of all survival horror games, predated resident evil by two years, and all in all a better game. Like Road Rash it's another game that primarly was for the 3D0 and because of that did poorly.

[Artanis]

StarWars: Dark forces
Everyone has played Jedi knight, but what they never realize is that Jedi knight is a sequel to this awesome FPS. It’s got better graphics than Doom and you get to mow down Storm Troopers with impunity… what’s not to love?


StarWars: Rebellion
Galaxy spanning strategy game. Perfect for people who love micro-management strategy. You get to subjugate planets with storm troopers (or free them if you’re the rebellion) and blow pesky ones away with your death stars (you do have more than one right?). It took me three months to beat this game. But when I was done, Luke was so dang powerful he could sway an entire planet to my side in a few minutes.
Yeah, I remember once spending an hour and a half convincing my friend that JK2 was the third game in the series. And Rebellion is definitely underrated :smallsmile:

[Timberwolf]

Oh, I got some good reminders with the mention of System Shock and Exile. Those were great games.



I'm so looking forward to Bioshock, the successor, it looks really good.

Another one to look at would be (showing my advanced years now) Desert Strike on the Mega Drive (Genesis to those across the pond). That game rocked, i really miss it. To show how old it is, it was made by EA when they didn't own everything. Also Starships Unlimited, Divided Galaxies deserves an honourable mention (I've seen it slammed but I quite liked it)

[Aidan305]

So many memories. So many monsters.

Eternal Champions remains at top of my all-time great Beat 'em ups, Exile and Realms (Curiosly, Realms uses alot of things from DnD) are near top of my RPG's, Alone in the Dark, great horror and suspense. TA remains high if not top of my RPG's. Have yet to play Supremem Commander though. Marathon I used to love. It was far superior to other FPS's of the time. Never played Warlords III, but Warlords II was good fun. I while'd away hours with that one. Comix Zone I remember well. A very interesting plotline and a fun combat system.

Now for my additions:

Golden Axe - A side scrolling fantasy game. Beat up gnomes and steal their pots to cast magic.

Altered Beast - Another side scroller. Very, very easy to play and beat but still remains prominant in my memory

Battle Chess - Rook eats queen, King shoots bishop, Knight chops up knight. A really entertaining version of chess from my childhood. Found a version of this one online the other day. You can get there from the Wikipedia page.

[endoperez]

Beyond Good and Evil
PC, PS2, XBOX

Seriously, this has been called the best game no one has ever played by several people in the industry.
And what can't you love about it for barely 20 bucks? Best game for price I have ever bought.

Peter Jackson wants to make games that are more like movies. That's Beyond Good & Evil. Down to the somewhat strange ending. It had scripted events that seemed so random that you just thought you were very lucky, you JUST evaded it, you MUST run or you die... and then you JUST make it - just like in the movies! Gameplay was mediocre, but the overall feeling was great.




Loom

'Nuff said.

Hear, hear!

Loom is great. Very, very strange, but great.

[kuja.girl]

Vagrant Story - PS1, published by Squaresoft
beautifully crazy story and great, but complicated, battle system.
Has anyone else beaten it?
I've only met one other person that has. (It's a very hard game, even with new game+)

Roethke mentioned Loom - a good game, but they forgot to add Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max and Grim Fandango - these are just as brilliant old Lucas Arts PC games.

edit: if you just want to let me know that you beat VS - PM me, don't clog the thread :D

[Tom_Violence]

Loved that game. A little rough around the edges, like everything Sierra did, but a great concept, story, and gameplay system.

You mean like everything Troika did. I don't think a single one of there games ever managed to get described as 'polished', which is a shame cos they were all (all 3! Count 'em!) great fun, once someone else made them work properly.

Startopia and Evil Genius were both great games, for a while. Games like that always seem to hit some kind of weird 'critical mass' for me, at which my brain shuts down, my base falls apart, and my patience goes on holiday whilst the game goes out the window. Evidently I am all that is man - I cannot multitask.

Anyone that thought that the first Jedi Knight wasn't a sequel obviously can't read. It was called Dark Forces 2 for crying out loud!

I second the nomination for the old school Sierra Quest games. Does anyone know of anywhere to get ahold of a copy of them these days?

Finally, I'm gonna throw in my vote for one of the greatest CRPGs ever - Darklands. If you like your fantasy to lean very much more towards a more realistic world then look it up. Its also one of the most detailed and content-laden games I've ever seen. Could certainly give Morrowind a run for its money.

[neriana]

Magic Candle 3. Yeah, it's ancient. It had a really deep skill system, lots of characters, you can assign party members to work to make money for you, fun battles, etc.

I loved Beyond Good and Evil too.

[Kaeledra]

Ok, so here's my go at obscurity. Anyone ever play Bubsy for SNES or Zombies Ate My Neighbors?
In Bubsy you're a kind of cat and it's a side-scroller without side scrolling. You're trying to take the yarn back from the aliens who stole it, and there are many references to bad movies. It's cute.
Zombies Ate My Neighbors, I've so far not found anyone who played this game, but this may find someone. You are a kid who beats up undead with your squirt gun, fire extinguisher, purple monster potion, and a host of other very odd weapons. And it's not all undead, it's basically all B Movie monsters ever created.

[Golthur]

Golden Axe - A side scrolling fantasy game. Beat up gnomes and steal their pots to cast magic.
Loved that game in the arcade. I sank so many quarters into it, I coulda bought a new house.


Altered Beast - Another side scroller. Very, very easy to play and beat but still remains prominant in my memory
Same for this one - and Hippodrome, too.


Battle Chess - Rook eats queen, King shoots bishop, Knight chops up knight. A really entertaining version of chess from my childhood. Found a version of this one online the other day. You can get there from the Wikipedia page.
I thought Battle Chess looked cool, but the game play is the same as the original :wink: I preferred Archon.

[Leon]

Played it…
Total annihilation
While everyone was playing starcraft I was playing Total annihilation. Brilliant RTS, really it is. But what makes this game awesome was the ability for players to create and add their own custom units into the game. Too bad TA Kingdoms didn’t turn out as well.

Still one of my all time favourite games, i dont think i'll ever get tired of it
was disapointed with TA Kingdoms as well


Metal Fatigue: never played the full version only the demo as i never ever found the full version anywhere but it was fun

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Carnage Heart

A "Build a robot" style game with a twist, as it played like old classic Battle Isle, or contemporaries such as Advance Wars, except when you hit a battle, you actually took direct control of the battle on a battlefield, with a twist, you didn't have direct control over your big stompy mechs you had built, but rather, they responded to their AI programming you'd input earlier in a "Block" system, setting up IF, EITHER/OR, etc gates, so you could easily make a robot that IF it dropped to 50% health, starting charging towards the enemy, and If it was within 5 feet, selfdestructed.
Great game.


It looks like we have something in common, and no I don’t have much of an ego. Really if I sounded egotistical, I didn’t mean to, besides if I ever grow an ego I’ll let you know.Sorry, it just seemed like you were there going "Ha, I've played these, nobody else has! Ha!". Supreme Commander is horribly dissapointing though.


Vagrant Story - PS1, published by Squaresoft
beautifully crazy story and great, but complicated, battle system.
Has anyone else beaten it?
I've only met one other person that has. (It's a very hard game, even with new game+)

I never bothered, frankly, the story was pathetic, however, I loved the battle system.

[Om]

Comix Zone: Bizarre little beat 'em up game, with a comic book writer warped into his own creation. Very weird.One where the character went from frame to frame? I think i played a demo of that once :smallconfused:

[Miklus]

I've played Road Rash on Windows...if we are talking about the motorcycle game where you can punch each other and so on. It was so much fun in multiplayer.

Darklands was awesome, I downloaded it resently, but the graphics are just too awful to watch now.

Has anyone tried "Angband"? It is kind of a homemade game, that some guy made. The Diablo-series was based on it. It has the same system of random generated levels. But many, many more monsters and an endless amount of levels. It also has NO GRAPHICS, only ASCII-characters!

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

I've played Road Rash on Windows...if we are talking about the motorcycle game where you can punch each other and so on. It was so much fun in multiplayer.

Darklands was awesome, I downloaded it resently, but the graphics are just too awful to watch now.

Has anyone tried "Angband"? It is kind of a homemade game, that some guy made. The Diablo-series was based on it. It has the same system of random generated levels. But many, many more monsters and an endless amount of levels. It also has NO GRAPHICS, only ASCII-characters!

Yes. Try Dwarf Fortress, Rogue, or Nethack.

[team56th]

Operation Flashpoint(PC) by Bohemia Interactive Studios
This is a real FPS masterpiece and the father of Battlefield series. Huge map, many players, tension, realism, team play... It has everything. It is one of the most realistic games ever made and which has the largest modding community. But many people in America don't know this one. To make things worse, its sequel, Armed Assault, is constantly being delayed.

Forza Motorsport(Xbox) by Microsoft Game Studios(developing staffs currently independent as a company called Turn 10, still owned by MS)
GODDAMNIT It is a shame that this freakin' racing classic is not that widely known WTF!1!1!1!!!
Though not that famous, Forza is a GT counterpart of Xbox and is even better in many way. One of the factor that makes Forza unique is its great tuning option including paint tuning. With some large amount of performance tuning and upgrade, you can literally make your own car in paint tuning by sculpting decal or figure you want. Also its physics is really great that you must play it like no other console games by using brake a lot. Sequel is being developed with MS's heavy support on Xbox 360 and it seems promising.

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Forza Motorsport(Xbox) by Microsoft Game Studios(developing staffs currently independent as a company called Turn 10, still owned by MS)
GODDAMNIT It is a shame that this freakin' racing classic is not that widely known WTF!1!1!1!!!
Though not that famous, Forza is a GT counterpart of Xbox and is even better in many way. One of the factor that makes Forza unique is its great tuning option including paint tuning. With some large amount of performance tuning and upgrade, you can literally make your own car in paint tuning by sculpting decal or figure you want. Also its physics is really great that you must play it like no other console games by using brake a lot. Sequel is being developed with MS's heavy support on Xbox 360 and it seems promising.[/quote]

Forza is probably the best Racing Game currently available for purchase.

[The White Knight]

The old Sierra RPG series, Hero's Quest/Quest for Glory, is one that I've loved for quite some time, but have only met maybe two or three others who have experienced them. I trust there are more of you out there.

I would do anything to get my hands on legitimate copies of QfG 4&5 (with manuals, in particular) so I could actually finish playing the series. Blasted copyright protection!

[Golthur]

The old Sierra RPG series, Hero's Quest/Quest for Glory, is one that I've loved for quite some time, but have only met maybe two or three others who have experienced them. I trust there are more of you out there.

I would do anything to get my hands on legitimate copies of QfG 4&5 (with manuals, in particular) so I could actually finish playing the series. Blasted copyright protection!
Count me in on that group. I've got the QFG anthology, so I've played and got them all. Sadly for you, they're not for sale - I like 'em too much :biggrin:

4 was the Transylvanian one and 5 was the Ancient Greek one, right?

My fave was 2 (the Arabian one), for some reason.

[Korith]

Hey, I still remember a good number of Sierra games

The King's Quest Series (although I only actually played #5)
The Space Quest Series (3, 4 and 6 - all beaten!)
Stellar 7 (Dynamix, really - but they're still technically Sierra)
Thexder and Thexder II (A robot AND a plane! We were so spoiled!)

[Charity]

Bushido Blade (PS1) I have a special relatiuonship with this game. I loved it because it was the kind of fighting game I like: None of this "15 punches to the face and I'm still standing" lark, and NO UNARMED COMBAT, just really frikkin' cool weapons. Problem was, I got my copy second hand, with no instruction manual. I had no iea how to do anything. I couldn't jump, crouch, or throw anything, but I could do the basics. If I had the manual I probaly wouldn't have traded it in.

I love this game... get it back I'll teach you how to play..

Right triggers to change up and down stances to raise or lower you CofG, this is a cracking game. Jump and throw are both tricky, yup it's a special move to jump. I belive you go into low stance and then hit low and high stance (both right triggers) at the same time, best used with triangle for an overhead strike.
I have had games of this where one round you're slugging it out blocking and rolling for twenty minutes. The next round, you run at them and kill them in less than a second.
Some of the weapons were difficult to get a result with against others. It's pretty tricky stopping the sledgehammer assult with a sabre!
In the one player game you have to fight with honour to win, you can't hit them while they're down or in the back or throw mud in their eyes (a special move I reserved just for my mate Si)

Get it back!


Herzog Zwei
Genesis

You play a plane that can morph into a giant robot. Your goal is to create various military units and use them to destroy your opponents bases while not getting shot down yourself. Very fun.


Another cracker, possibly the first RTS anyone know? Definately the first for a console.

[Om]

Another cracker, possibly the first RTS anyone know? Definately the first for a console.
I think that goes to Stonkers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonkers). But that's definitely an early one and had a massive effect on Westwood.

[Tom_Violence]

Bushido Blade is a truely awesome game, though it also has the ability to be one of the most horribly frustrating experiences ever if you have a run of bad luck and keep getting killed within milliseconds. If I remember correctly it had a game mode in which you fought against a constant wave of enemies with some reward for beating 100 of them. Try getting up to 90-odd kills and then have some cheeky little !**! hit you in the back of the head. And then try and not throw the whole thing out a window.

Does anyone know if there's a more contemporary game along the same lines in existence?

[Dratsabre Tsabala]

Escape from Castle Wolfenstein NOT the FPS that the entire world has played and, by now, probably given up for abandonware. I'm talking about it's grandaddy, where you play a pixellated little stickman in a funny-looking green jumpsuit trying to sneak and/or blast your way out of Nazi Germany's most infamous (fictional) stronghold. It was a 3rd-Person action/adventure game with a focus on stealth and evasion (at least in the loosest, most Commodorre-64 applicable definitions of the terms) and it was more of a pulse-pounder, to me, than any other game of it's generation. Games like Metal Gear Solid owe a lot to this one.

Fallout and it's one true sequal were and are probably two of the greatest games of all time. It's tough to go wrong with a post-apocalyptic wasteland, especially one with a then-unprecedented level of open-ended gameplay, and the black humor and retro-futuristic style incorporated by the designers made this stand out as less a game than a work of true art. Yes, I know how hokey that sounds.

(And I know a lot of you have probably at least heard of Fallout, but even on teh intarwebs, I run into few people who've actually played it, and OFFLINE even the biggest self-proclaimed geeks I encounter have never heard of it.)

[Charity]

Ah I remember it well, I lost at least one playstation to rage related injuries.
No new games that I know of Tom, even Bushido Blade two had health bars, (japanese import, cost me a fortune damn their hides)

[Korith]

(And I know a lot of you have probably at least heard of Fallout, but even on teh intarwebs, I run into few people who've actually played it, and OFFLINE even the biggest self-proclaimed geeks I encounter have never heard of it.)

Played and beat #1 and #2.

#1: Finished in the low-teen levels. My favorite strategy was to take the Mutate! perk to pick up that Fast-shooting ability, and abuse the Power Fist with HTH upgrading perks. Threw on some Bonus Move perks and I was unleashing 6-12 HTH attacks for appreciable damage every turn...and my maxed Agility combined with high Stealth meant that I would often land some downright evil damage on my opponents. I pretty much took the high road for Karma here.

Favorite part: Saving my game and then proceeding to annihilate the Brotherhood of Steel.

#2: Finished at level 26, technically. If you're really a Fallout 2 geek, you've not only beaten it, but you've collected on the post-game goods as well. And what a lot of goods there are! Strategy here focused more on called shots, since the 1-cost HTH "exploit" didn't work in this version. If you want to play this game to the full extent of it's "Mature" rating, be sure to take the "Sexy" trait from the very start.

Favorite part: Kneecaping the final boss and playing tag.

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Fallout : Excellent game. (EVERYONE always nukes Junktown, also, am I the only person who kept the doggie alive until the end of the game? I reloaded if he died)
Fallout 2: Equally Excellent Game.
Fallout Tactics: NOT AS BAD as everyone makes it out to be, just need to play it on turnbased mode, otherwise it sucks.

RTCW: Excellent game. Loved the boss fight.

[NEO|Phyte]

mmmm, Fallout. My first play through I beat it without getting the Powered Armor, I didn't even realize that I COULD get it. People always seem surprised when I tell them that.

As for general Strategies, I go for the flurry of attacks route. Nothing like being able to swing the Supersledge for 1AP when you've got 10. Or more. Throw in the turbo'd plasma rifle thing for 2AP a shot and as many of the Critical-related Perks as you can get, and you are a being of death.


The Space Quest Series (3, 4 and 6 - all beaten!)
"Hey, you forgot your fish!"
6 is the only SQ I've played, much fun there.

[kuja.girl]

Oh I forgot to mention Heart of Darkness (Interplay) for PS1.
When I first played it, as a teenager, it kicked my ass. When I tried again, it kicked my ass. I'm sure I missed something otherwise this is one of the hardest games I've ever played.
And I'm not incompetent, I worked as a tester for 8 months on EA's The Godfather, etc.

[Voshkod]

Grim Fandango

The best adventure game ever. Best story, best acting, best script, just wonderful. Find a copy.

Trinity

One of the last, and one of the best, of the old text-based games from Infocom. Man, do I miss the old text games. Some people are still making some pretty incredible ones, (http://www.mindspring.com/~emshort/galatea.htm) though.

[Penguinizer]

I played grimfandango a bit a long time ago.

[Toric]

Advent Rising

X-box game that was in development for quite some time, a cool third-person shooter with a sometimes-annoying targeting system that let you juggle firing at different opponents. Big modern/space-age guns, psychic powers, and a decent storyline with a small choice a third of the way through that affects parts of the story for the rest of the game. I was sad to hear that it bombed. The graphics were sub-par but it did have a LOT of characters on-screen during some parts.

[The Evil Thing]

Just reading this thread I realised how many games I forgot.

Grim Fandango is, in my humble opinion, the best adventure game ever made. The last of the truly great LucasArts titles.

EDIT: i.e, What Voshkod said

Beyond Good and Evil was another brilliant game. Really, original though I guess people where put off by what they saw as a photo-'em-up. The game certainly doesn't fall into any mould save for the rather ambiguous "adventure genre".

I enjoyed the Quest for Glory and King's Quest series, though I found the unwinnable situations to be a bit tedious. Overall good, though, so it's a great pity Sierra won't bloody release them again.


Metal Fatigue: never played the full version only the demo as i never ever found the full version anywhere but it was funMetal Fatigue I have and it's not terribly good. It's not bad but you really have to like mecha and all that stuff for it to appeal. The notion of 3 simultaneos battlefields was quite clever but they never really exploited the possibilities with it.

[Om]

Grim Fandango

The best adventure game ever. Best story, best acting, best script, just wonderful. Find a copy.
This thread should be renamed as the list of great games that didn't sell. GF would be right up there as a massive critical success with no sales to speak of.

[Timberwolf]

Thought of a couple more -

Thunderblade (Sega Master System - the Forerunner to the Genesis) Awesome top down / rear view shooter with millions of enemies and a rock 'ard helicopter.

Bandits - Phoenix rising - drive your combat car around a post apocolyptic world. Should have been fun but really wasn't. Still, no one has ever heard of it.

Flashback - brilliant game but really gave me a headache

[Tom_Violence]

Gah! I was literally just about to mention Flashback! Awesome game, though I too never managed to finish the damn thing. Got right up to the last level and then just gave up.

And now I'm gonna go see if I can find it anywhere.

Edit: Well, that took the best part of 2 seconds...

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

The last level was quite hard, with those almost unkillable agents who were made of goo.

[neriana]

I enjoyed the Quest for Glory and King's Quest series, though I found the unwinnable situations to be a bit tedious. Overall good, though, so it's a great pity Sierra won't bloody release them again.

They did release a King's Quest collection very recently, you can probably find it on amazon. Also Space Quest and Police Quest.

[Golthur]

Wasteland: Back when The Bard's Tale (original version, not the new one) was king, Interplay put out a little gem that was like The Bard's Tale, but a sci-fi game after the nuclear holocaust. It was the ancestor to Fallout, and, at the time it was pretty awesome. If you like classic-style RPGs, check it out. Well worth the while.

[The White Knight]

Count me in on that group. I've got the QFG anthology, so I've played and got them all. Sadly for you, they're not for sale - I like 'em too much :biggrin:

4 was the Transylvanian one and 5 was the Ancient Greek one, right?

My fave was 2 (the Arabian one), for some reason.


So... much... envy....

[Golthur]

So... much... envy....
You should be able to find the anthology (which'd have all of them in one box) for sale on eBay or something, or at one of those online "old game" stores, no?

Check out Home of the Underdogs, it should be able to point you in the right direction.

[Neo]

Just they are hella pricey if someone else sees one. Always check second hand shops as I got my Anthology for QFG from there for about £2/3.

There were plans to re-release anthologies for them but they always seem delayed.

Throwing another game on the pile: Dune 2 - The Battle for Arrakis.

Back when nobody had heard the name Westwood or what an RTS was. Also noted for being completely different from Dune by Cryo.

[Umbral_Arcanist]

Was Fallout the one based around A Canticale for Leibowitz ? I've heard about it an thought about getting it... but older PC games are hard to find i've found....



i suppose there is always the internets.....

[The Evil Thing]

They did release a King's Quest collection very recently, you can probably find it on amazon. Also Space Quest and Police Quest.
The same Amazon that is still trying to flog Planescape: Torment for 30 quid? I like the game but I don't think I can afford it. :smalltongue:

[Tom_Violence]

Gabriel Knight!

[Thexare Blademoon]

Reaching back into the darkness of my early-mid childhood, on a system long forgotten:

Utopia, for Intellivision.

I believe that was also on the SNES. Fun game, when I could get my mother to stop playing long enough for me to play.

[Golthur]

Gabriel Knight!
Awesome game. The sequel was kind of meh (or at least I thought so), but the third one was awesome, despite the awkward controls.

[Varen_Tai]

*Gasp!* So... many... classics...

Let's see, I've played:

Arcanum
System Shock 2 (only game EVER to truly scare me out of my wits, both with the long term creeped out feeling and the moment of heart attack when a critter startled me)
Loom
Curse of Monkey Island (Funniest. Game. Ever.)
Lode Runner 1 and 2 and and and and... :)
Star Wars: Dark Forces (beaten several times)
Montezuma's Revenge! (Holy cow, haven't thought of THAT old Apple game in forever!)
Golden Axe
Altered Beast
Battle Chess
Grim Fandango
Darklands (This so rocked. If only the graphics did not cause me actual physical pain when looking at them, I would play it again.)
Archon!!! (Holy cow again! Someone else knows Archon??? I mastered this game on the C64 so that no one, not even my brothers, would ever play me at it again.)
Angband/Rogue/Nethack/Moria
Hero's Quest/QFG series (heh. Does anyone remember the old boardgame, Hero Quest?)
King's Quest
Space Quest
Thexder
Escape From Castle Wolfenstein, the original
Police Quest
Wasteland
bard's tale 1,2,&3! (The c64 versions)
Gabriel Knight 2 (LOVED that game, didn't play the other two...)

That's just from the list that we have so far.

Anyone recall:

Archon 2
Eye of the Beholder (kind of a gimme)
Dungeons of Doom
Jumpman (& Jumpman Jr)
Sword of Fargoal
Cadash (Best arcade game ever with a terribly forgettable name - you could choose wizard, warrior, priest, or ninja - side scroller)

I may think of more as time goes on... :)

[beholder]

i'm just posting here to get email notification....but has any one heard of the gungan frontier? it taught me evrything i know about ecosystems. i loved that game when i was young, which is odd, as it had no violence.

[beholder]

Was Fallout the one based around A Canticale for Leibowitz ? I've heard about it an thought about getting it... but older PC games are hard to find i've found....



i suppose there is always the internets.....

fallouts awesome. do you mean a canticle for leibowitz?

[JadedDM]

Zombies Ate My Neighbors, I've so far not found anyone who played this game, but this may find someone. You are a kid who beats up undead with your squirt gun, fire extinguisher, purple monster potion, and a host of other very odd weapons. And it's not all undead, it's basically all B Movie monsters ever created.

I have that game. It has over 70 levels. My dad has beaten it a couple of times, but I never was able to get too far, myself.

[Roethke]

Another good one...

"Smashing Pumpkins Into Small Piles Of Putrid Debris"

[google it, if you think I'm kidding). Remarkably addictive, with really decent sound for its day, lore has it that it was coded in under 24 hours or so. The name is an acrostic for the cheat code in the original Doom. And man, I wanted to get those pumpkins.

[Tom_Violence]

*Gasp!* So... many... classics...

Let's see, I've played:

Arcanum
System Shock 2 (only game EVER to truly scare me out of my wits, both with the long term creeped out feeling and the moment of heart attack when a critter startled me)
Loom
Curse of Monkey Island (Funniest. Game. Ever.)
Lode Runner 1 and 2 and and and and... :)
Star Wars: Dark Forces (beaten several times)
Montezuma's Revenge! (Holy cow, haven't thought of THAT old Apple game in forever!)
Golden Axe
Altered Beast
Battle Chess
Grim Fandango
Darklands (This so rocked. If only the graphics did not cause me actual physical pain when looking at them, I would play it again.)
Archon!!! (Holy cow again! Someone else knows Archon??? I mastered this game on the C64 so that no one, not even my brothers, would ever play me at it again.)
Angband/Rogue/Nethack/Moria
Hero's Quest/QFG series (heh. Does anyone remember the old boardgame, Hero Quest?)
King's Quest
Space Quest
Thexder
Escape From Castle Wolfenstein, the original
Police Quest
Wasteland
bard's tale 1,2,&3! (The c64 versions)
Gabriel Knight 2 (LOVED that game, didn't play the other two...)

That's just from the list that we have so far.

Anyone recall:

Archon 2
Eye of the Beholder (kind of a gimme)
Dungeons of Doom
Jumpman (& Jumpman Jr)
Sword of Fargoal
Cadash (Best arcade game ever with a terribly forgettable name - you could choose wizard, warrior, priest, or ninja - side scroller)

I may think of more as time goes on... :)

Clearly narrowing down your choices is not a skill that you possess. :tongue:

However, something did jump out at me - Hero Quest, the board game! My uncle still has a copy of that! And yes, on the perhaps once-yearly occasion that I see him I do my best to get him to crack it open.

[The Orange Zergling]

Oo, Oo, I have gungan frontier and Dune 2000... Both great, oldies, but great...

[beholder]

i didint like dune so much

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Both Dune and Dune 2000 : Battle For Arraki are ass kicking class games, lots of time of mine was wasted, I still remember the death sequence in Dune, you ust melted into a skeleton and your ring was left there.

Regarding Dune 2000: ORDOS FTW

[beholder]

which ones the RTS?

[beholder]

Another good one...

"Smashing Pumpkins Into Small Piles Of Putrid Debris"

[google it, if you think I'm kidding). Remarkably addictive, with really decent sound for its day, lore has it that it was coded in under 24 hours or so. The name is an acrostic for the cheat code in the original Doom. And man, I wanted to get those pumpkins.
is this it?

Two computer games were created based on the joke. Smashing Pumpkins into Small Piles of Putrid Debris is a 2D action game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_game) from Jamul Software (which later became Hamumu Software (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamumu_Software)) where you collect candles and smash pumpkins with a red hammer. It was reportedly developed in 48 hours to capitalize on the joke. Hamumu Software later created a similar game called Amazin' SPISPOPD.

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Dune 2000 is the RTS.

[Extra_Crispy]

The Summoning (PC) was a great game, it was made back in windows 95 time and was a dos game only by SSI. Think a worse graphic (of course) Diablo without responing monsters. You had only so much you could carry, weapons broke after some usage, magic was cast by memorizing hand signals much like sign language. There were 4 different magics, sorcery, healing, distruction, and I forget the last and 4 different weapon categories, edged weapons, hacking weapons, pole arms, and ranged. All the catigories had levels and went up as you used them. It was pretty indepth in its dungeon with key holes that could be anything from a actual key to a feather off the harpy you just killed to coins and tokens, there were pressure plates to open some doors and some had to be held down to press others to finally open the door. The story was kinda trite in that you were found by the counsil of mages to stop shadow weaver from conquering the world and then the whole game was going through the multiple levels of shadow weavers maze and tower. It had an interesting twist ending to actually win the game and the Odin runes were funny. When you used it there was a 25% chance to increase a random stat, 25% to decrease a random stat, and a 50% chance to change sex.
Only draw back was it had a early form of copywrite protection, after you installed the game, that came on 2 3.5 inch disks, every time you started it it would ask for what faces were in the top right of a random page in the rule book. I lost the disks long ago but somehow found the book recently and downloaded it for free off line. There goes another few days of my life playing that game

[lrellok]

Strategic conquest An eirly 80s srategic game for mac. one of the first, and the best strategics out there. random maps, land air and naval all essental, and (as i have my evilgasim) 15 levels of opponent difficulty.

MAX another tactical/stratigy game from the late 90s (windows this time). Set maps, set opponents, but eac opponent has its own strengths, and with infinant upgrades on units, it gets strange and interesting real fast. note on this one, opponent difficulty was largely a function of production, easy had a 50% handicap, godlike had 200% bonus).

[beholder]

someone mentioned marathon being released on sharewhare. i cant find it, are there any links?

[Roethke]

Woah. The Summoning. That game took way too much of my time, way back when. I remember the skill system was such that the more you did something, the better you got at it. I spent an awful lot of time "practicing" by throwing rocks at walls. And the weapon breakage rules were brutal. Man, good times

[The White Knight]

*Gasp!* So... many... classics...
heh. Does anyone remember the old boardgame, Hero Quest?

Oh yes. Wonderful bit of stuff for a board game. Wasn't it the reason Sierra had to change the name to QfG?

[NullAshton]

Total annihilation
While everyone was playing starcraft I was playing Total annihilation. Brilliant RTS, really it is. But what makes this game awesome was the ability for players to create and add their own custom units into the game. Too bad TA Kingdoms didn’t turn out as well.

You should download TA spring, then. Open source version of Total Annihilation, and free...

[Ebon_Drake]

someone mentioned marathon being released on sharewhare. i cant find it, are there any links?
See here. (http://www.calormen.com/mwd.htm) It has links to all the downloads you need and a fairly easy-to-follow guide to installing them.

[TheSilverKnight]

Fantist Dizzy(Genesis) - A game where you play the role of an Egg named Dizzy who is on aquest to save his Girl friend who was kidnapped by an evil wizard. Basically you collect items of which you can hold 3 at a time. You use and item to either make a new path avaliable or get another item and you keep trading off like this to reach diffrent goals which also includes saveing all your family members who all have been some how harmed by the wizard.

[hr]

Also mentioned above the Dune games made by westwood were great. I have only Played Dune 2000 and Emperor Battle for dune never heard of Battle for Arakis. I just loved how in 2000 all 3 houses were the same accept for their special unit.

[Umbral_Arcanist]

fallouts awesome. do you mean a canticle for leibowitz?
Yeah, typo on my part, sorry

[beholder]

See here. (http://www.calormen.com/mwd.htm) It has links to all the downloads you need and a fairly easy-to-follow guide to installing them.
thank ye kindly sir

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

You should download TA spring, then. Open source version of Total Annihilation, and free...

And horribly SUCK.
Just play TA. Hamachi still works for it.

[Desidus]

Sacrifice (PC). I remember it mostly as being the first game ever that my old PC couldn't handle... remember it got great reviews, and then... poof, that was it

[Extra_Crispy]

Woah. The Summoning. That game took way too much of my time, way back when. I remember the skill system was such that the more you did something, the better you got at it. I spent an awful lot of time "practicing" by throwing rocks at walls. And the weapon breakage rules were brutal. Man, good times

Did you ever beat the game Roethke? It had three different endings two bad and one good, but the good one was not completely obvious you had to piece it together from all the history and stories you leard through the game?

The bad ending was basically the world was destroyed and remade by an an evil person, and the last was shadow weaver left leaving her armor and you take it up making everyone believe you are shadow weaver and allowing you to use the horde to help others and rebuild instead of destroy.

[MechaKingGhidra]

One of my friends had talked about a game called or at least was about, "A Boy And His Blob". By the way he described it, it's apparently a pretty good time-waster. Feeding a blob........jelly beans, I think? Anyway, the result of this being that the blob turned into a variety of useful items to complete tasks. I don't think it had an overall plot, though. Still hope to play it at some point.

Personally, though, I like "Reign of Fire". I've beaten it 138 times (although I really, really worked at it to see if certain levels even had a higher rank reward than what I already had, still no luck, can't get past bronze or silver medals on several levels), and am still not bored with it. I've had it for my Gamecube for pretty much ever since it hit shelves. Unfortunately, I am still looking for some equally comparable games for my GC because although I want to get on the consumer treadmill, all of these new systems either cost nearly all the money to my name or cost a great deal more. Guess it's time to bookmark this huge collection of games so I can hopefully work through it all and strike gold.

[Extra_Crispy]

Just thought of another one

Planescape: Torment (PC) gotta love a game where you are immortal, if you die you just restart at the dead area, and you have to kill yourself multiple times just to get through your own tomb. The object is to regain your memories from of who and what you are. One of the party members you could have was a pyro wizard that the wizards guild got tired of and tied him to the elemental plane of fire leaving him burning for all time but still alive. Your first companion was a floating skull, and at one point you have a lady cut you open in different areas to see if you hid anything inside yourself. Found a ring of protection in my guts. Wierd by very fun

[Tom_Violence]

Anyone here not heard of Planescape: Torment? :tongue:

[beholder]

me.anyone heard of jazz jack rabbit?

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Anyone here not heard of Planescape: Torment? :tongue:

This. xD. I think on a DnD forum, everyone's heard of this game.

[Roethke]

me.anyone heard of jazz jack rabbit?

Another blast from the past. He was one bad-ass bunny, if I recall. Sort of a sonic-the-hedgehog knockoff, right?

[Roethke]

Did you ever beat the game Roethke? It had three different endings two bad and one good, but the good one was not completely obvious you had to piece it together from all the history and stories you leard through the game?

The bad ending was basically the world was destroyed and remade by an an evil person, and the last was shadow weaver left leaving her armor and you take it up making everyone believe you are shadow weaver and allowing you to use the horde to help others and rebuild instead of destroy.


I did, but it's been so long. The last ending you described sounded familiar, though.

[CaptainSam]

Okay, here's one:

Nuclear War (http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/amiga/nuclearwar.html)

on the good ol' Amiga. I loved this game, even when my cities got nuked, or crushed by 100 tonne weights from space, or got decimated by the rampaging heifers of Cattletech, or even when they blasted off into space.

[Beleriphon]

Beyond Good and Evil
PC, PS2, XBOX

Seriously, this has been called the best game no one has ever played by several people in the industry.
And what can't you love about it for barely 20 bucks? Best game for price I have ever bought.

It is a very, very fun game.

[Gralamin]

Here are two:

Fallen Haven

And

Star Trek: Birth of the Federation (or some such name)

edit: I remeber a game much like the Birth of the Federation but I believe it was warhammer. I remember glowing firey guys that you could get with a cheat. ring any bells?

[Thiel]

Return of the Mutant Space Bats of Doom (PC)
The name say it all.

Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari (PS 2)
You have to collect all kinds of stuff (And I mean all kinds of stuff, from paper-clips to pyramids, you name it) by rolling a ball over them. Very weird. Interesting controls though

[beholder]

Another blast from the past. He was one bad-ass bunny, if I recall. Sort of a sonic-the-hedgehog knockoff, right?
yeah, but with a gun. i can't beleive someones heard of it.i found it when i was young on a floppy disk in the bottom of a crate somewhere

[Desidus]

How I fondly remember Leisure Suit Larry... and how people look at me like a freak whenever I mention him.. *le sigh*

[Roethke]

yeah, but with a gun. i can't beleive someones heard of it.i found it when i was young on a floppy disk in the bottom of a crate somewhere

I, too, frequented "Computer Shows" in the early 90's in search of cheap games. Some of the gems came on CD's called something like, "500 best ShareWare".

Along those lines...
Commander Keen
Crystal Caves
Jill of the Jungle (or anything by Epyx, really)

or for the really, really obscure (but lots of fun),

ZZT

This was an all ascii-character based rpg, (a la NetHack), but pretty deep. Best part was, it came with its own "Object-Oriented" scripting language (called ZZT-OOP, of course), so you could create your own worlds, critters, and some pretty complex behavior, if I recall.

[Katonta]

Commander Keen
Jill of the Jungle (or anything by Epyx, really)



I remember those, they were so much fun, but I never got very far on Jill. But Commander Keen, so many hours wasted trying to beat his archnemisis who is, I think, one IQ smarter than him. Played all of them and loved them all. Except for Commander Keen's dream one.

Lionheart

Only two people I know of have heard of this game, (my friend and his brother), this is another game that was practically overlooked just like Startopia. The basic storyline is that you are the scion of a guy called Lionheart. One day you are taken as a slave in Spain and are accused of being "tainted" (having a spirit inside you) and the spirit is forced to reveal itself. You escape the slaves to Barcelona with the aid of Leonardo DeVinci and are told to join a faction (either the Wielders, main magic people, the Knights Templar, or the Inquisition) where then you are sent to go on a quest to save the holy relics from evil hands. Did I mention this all takes place around the 1400s or 1500s? A very good game that is very tough and pretty long. I still haven't beaten it but it is worth every penny.

[NEO|Phyte]

Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari (PS 2)
You have to collect all kinds of stuff (And I mean all kinds of stuff, from paper-clips to pyramids, you name it) by rolling a ball over them. Very weird. Interesting controls though
Nitpick, its We <3 Katamari

[Shikton]

A series that never got much love until #3 was out is Suikoden, so I'd like to mention the two first for PSOne as two of the greatest games ever made. Classical Japanese RPGs with a great storyline and 108 playable chars to boot! Subtract a few of course who have tasks to do in your headquarters.

In addition to Suikoden there's Azure Dreams. Ok, maybe not the best game in the world, but I still find it fun to waste a couple of hours just roaming around in the Monster Tower. Search for eggs, take them home, hatch them and bring the monster to the tower.

[Dratsabre Tsabala]

Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari (PS 2)
You have to collect all kinds of stuff (And I mean all kinds of stuff, from paper-clips to pyramids, you name it) by rolling a ball over them. Very weird. Interesting controls though

Dude... those games were a massive international phenomenon :smalltongue: .

Anyone here play the original Wild Arms for the PSone, though? The original released riiiiight before Final Fantasy VII, which probably isn't the best way to ensure immortality if you're an RPG. The first one was a perfect melding of Wild Western, Fantasy, and Decaying Wasteland settings, the plot was compelling, and the sidequests rewarding. (I'm having "Defeated Ragu Ragla" included in my obituary.)

Sadly, the sequels ranged from lacklustre to just plain horrible, and the PS2 remake of the original suffers from redesign issues, horrible dialogue translation, sub-par graphics, and a general lack of attention to detail.

[Shikton]

Personally I didn't fancy the original Wild Arms all that much, mainly due to combat. Seemed like it was made by 6 year olds, the quality was just that bad. I played through it just because of the storyline and nothing else, but that wasn't revolutionary to me either. But I finished it at least, which makes it half decent. :P

SUIKODEN!

[RyanJ]

or for the really, really obscure (but lots of fun),

ZZT

This was an all ascii-character based rpg, (a la NetHack), but pretty deep. Best part was, it came with its own "Object-Oriented" scripting language (called ZZT-OOP, of course), so you could create your own worlds, critters, and some pretty complex behavior, if I recall.

Oh man, I spent the better part of my junior high years creating games with ZZT-OOP. You could do some pretty amazing stuff with that simple language if you worked at it.

[Jerthanis]

I have that game. It has over 70 levels. My dad has beaten it a couple of times, but I never was able to get too far, myself.


I'm almost certain I got to the last boss in that game before dying, was the last boss a mad scientist who drank his own formula to turn into a giant spider thingy? Has anyone ever played the sequel to Zombies Ate my Neighbors, "Ghoul Patrol"?

There's a lot of really popular games being mentioned for a thread about games no one's ever heard of. Next we'll hear about Planescape and Thief: The Dark Project! EDIT: Too late

One game I've never heard anyone ever talk about was TRAFFIC DEPARTMENT 2192 It's a top-down shooter of PC-DOS era, about the same time as Doom if I remember correctly. It was the sci-fi story clearly ripped off in some ways from DUNE about a desert planet being taken over by an evil empire for its spice production, and the only force able to stand in their way is the Traffic Department (Don't ask why traffic cops had military vehicles with enough firepower to take on an evil space empire) and the most ****-talking, no-respect-for-authority, chip-on-shoulder-as-big-as-the-moon, Lashing-out-at-the-world, heroine EVER in Lt. Maria Velasques. I recently got to pick it up from an abandonware site and finally beat it. The ending isn't as good as the rest of the game, but it has a very excellent storyline that I'm glad to have seen all the way through.

Also, CASTLE, a game from the extremely early DOS age, made up of ASCII art. You played a guy trying to escape from a locked castle, and you had to take a mixture of dungeoncrawling action and adventure-game style puzzles with the capacity of typing commands into a prompt, like "Drop crystal off balcony", but also walk around and fight with arrow keys.

I think I also played the original Bard's Tale, but I'm not sure now, and plenty of people know about that game anyway.

[RyanJ]

Oh, just thought of one...
Larry Bird vs Dr. J One-on-One Basketball for Atari 7800. BEST BASKETBALL GAME EVER! I've kept my 7800 around just for that game and still play it occasionally. Easily one of the best 2-player head-to-head games ever made.

[Golthur]

Veil of Darkness (PC): A cool RPG/Adventure where your plane crashes (or is made to crash) in a dark valley in one of those "-ania" or "-avia" countries - and you end up hunting down the BBEG vampire. Good plot, you end up fighting zombies, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, etc., and it's pretty funny. The main character looks like one of my roommates from when I went to University :smile:

Outcast (PC): An utterly fantastic scifi action/adventure. Awesome AI, plot, and awe-inspiring environments. Play it either way - shooter or adventure. Did I mention it was utterly fantastic?

[Korith]

Also, CASTLE, a game from the extremely early DOS age, made up of ASCII art. You played a guy trying to escape from a locked castle, and you had to take a mixture of dungeoncrawling action and adventure-game style puzzles with the capacity of typing commands into a prompt, like "Drop crystal off balcony", but also walk around and fight with arrow keys.

Hmm...yes. That one's right up there with SPACEWAR in my mind. SPACEWAR was a space-dueling game for one or two players. I loved setting it up with a planet and gravity, as my opponents seldom grasped the fine art of setting up a stable orbit!

[Dratsabre Tsabala]

I saw "Space," and for a minute my heart leapt with nostalgia at the thought that you were going to say Space Station, for Commodorre 64.

Loved that game. They let you plan an entire Space Station mission, from design to budgeting to setting up launch windows to actually controlling the shuttle during flight and landing, to assembling the station in-space with EVA's (and possibly losing crew up there) and then deciding on the research to be conducted. I'm still not sure that there was even an end to that game, but I wasted many a happy childhood hour playing the middle of it.

While I'm on the subject of early sandbox games, let me just say that Adventure Construction Set, one of the first build-your-own-game games, "pwnz j00 4 free," as the kids say. I may've had a Comodorre and a lot of free time when I was younger, but I'm really not as much of a crusty old-timer as I'd like to think, so I'm not sure if this qualifies as a "game nobody's played" or merely a game nobody not old enough to remember Hill Street Blues has played.

[Kelson]

Genforge. You play a member of a magical order called the Shapers who have the power to create life. There are many ways to proceed through the game, and many ways to finish it.

[Varen_Tai]

I remember Castle, Spacewar, and the Adventure Construction Set! All great stuff!

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Anyone here play the original Wild Arms for the PSone, though? The original released riiiiight before Final Fantasy VII, which probably isn't the best way to ensure immortality if you're an RPG. The first one was a perfect melding of Wild Western, Fantasy, and Decaying Wasteland settings, the plot was compelling, and the sidequests rewarding. (I'm having "Defeated Ragu Ragla" included in my obituary.)

Sadly, the sequels ranged from lacklustre to just plain horrible, and the PS2 remake of the original suffers from redesign issues, horrible dialogue translation, sub-par graphics, and a general lack of attention to detail.

OH MY GOD YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's my favourite console RPG of all time, I love the story, and Rudys plotline made me cry. I ****ing love that game, I remember getting stuck where you had to fire the hamster at someone in the Sanctuary to get them to move so you could get past. I LOVE the game, the music is amazing, the intro is amazing, and I learnt the theme on guitar because I <3 it so.


I found WA2 recently, what a horrible sequel.

[Charity]

I just thought of another one Star Control on the Sega megadrive another real doozy, not only could you have weird ship to weirder ship battles there was also a resource mining building/exploration and tactical game... for the megadrive this game rocked!

Spathi unite!

http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/upload/review_pdf/starcontrolmd.pdf

[Varen_Tai]

And not only was Star Control a great game, but it was incredibly funny too!

When apologizing to the VUX: We were wrong. Boy, were we wrong. Wrong wrong wrong! The wrongest!

That line alone made me crack up for days. Plus, I'm very easily entertained. :)

[Golthur]

I just thought of another one Star Control on the Sega megadrive another real doozy, not only could you have weird ship to weirder ship battles there was also a resource mining building/exploration and tactical game... for the megadrive this game rocked!

Spathi unite!

http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/upload/review_pdf/starcontrolmd.pdf
Star Control II for the PC was even better. It was a full space exploration game, complete with a wicked plot, resource gathering, alliances, alien tech, and lots and lots of combat.

I became the master at using a Spathi Eluder to kill Urquan Dreadnaughts and Kohr-Ah Marauders. I think my record was about 15 with one Eluder before he got killed by a lucky blast.

And just pretend that Star Control III didn't ever exist :yuk:

EDIT:


And not only was Star Control a great game, but it was incredibly funny too!

When apologizing to the VUX: We were wrong. Boy, were we wrong. Wrong wrong wrong! The wrongest!

That line alone made me crack up for days. Plus, I'm very easily entertained. :)

That was Star Control II, not the original :smile: but it was one of my favourite moments. One of the other ones I loved was the Dynarri making you ask about "FLOWERS" if you bugged him long enough.

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Star Control, that was the game with the Asteoids style combat wasn't it? I loved that game.

[Roethke]

SC2, was unbelievable. And you can hardly mention the game without talking about the soundtrack. At the time it was really stellar, and it holds up well. It matched the mood of whatever was happening int he game pretty nicely.

But hardly unheard of-- I think there was a thread a while back on the Gaming board about coverting the Orz to D&D 3.5.

Speaking of, the Orz were probably my favorite race. "Jumping peppers! It is *Smiley* Time". Awesome.


My brother mastered the Pkunk ressurection trick. Man was that annoying. I think he got it right about 21 times in a row. Took out just about my whole armada in Super-Melee.

[Golthur]

SC2, was unbelievable. And you can hardly mention the game without talking about the soundtrack. At the time it was really stellar, and it holds up well. It matched the mood of whatever was happening int he game pretty nicely.

But hardly unheard of-- I think there was a thread a while back on the Gaming board about coverting the Orz to D&D 3.5.

Speaking of, the Orz were probably my favorite race. "Jumping peppers! It is *Smiley* Time". Awesome.


My brother mastered the Pkunk ressurection trick. Man was that annoying. I think he got it right about 21 times in a row. Took out just about my whole armada in Super-Melee.
I never said it was unheard of - it just came up because someone else mentioned the original Star Control. You're making me *frumple*. :tongue:

Soundtrack was awesome. My fave was the Quasispace theme, and the disco-esque Earth space station theme.

The Pkunk thing is interesting. I remember I managed to improve my odds by whacking one of the weapons keys just as I was dying, but never managed to get it down to any sort of reliable method.

[Varen_Tai]

Pkunk resurrection thing what? Never hoid of it.

[Golthur]

Pkunk resurrection thing what? Never hoid of it.
It's from Star Control II, not the original. One of the races (the Pkunk) had very weak, but fast, ships. However, one of its special powers was that it could "resurrect" (sometimes) when killed - with full crew and energy.

[Varen_Tai]

Right - played SC2, so I know the Pkunk. How do they resurrect?

[Golthur]

Right - played SC2, so I know the Pkunk. How do they resurrect?
Like I said, I never managed to get it down to a science, but I seemed to improve my odds by whacking one of the weapons keys (not the one that regenerates your power, but the other one) repeatedly when the ship died.

Then you get the "Hallelujah", and your ship is back.

EDIT: Or maybe it was the power one? I don't remember. It's been many years since I played that game.

[Varen_Tai]

Ooooooo! Nifty and shiny all rolled into one!

[Timberwolf]

[quote=katonta;1576004]

Lionheart

Only two people I know of have heard of this game, (my friend and his brother),[quote]

+1 person, played it, loved it, never beaten it. Very good game.

Also, add Imperium Galactica to the list, well, I enjoyed it :)

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Also, add Imperium Galactica to the list, well, I enjoyed it :)

Yes. And Reunion.

[Serakus_DeSardis]

Elder Scrolls: Arena and Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Everyone has played or heard of Morrowwind or Oblivion but almost no one I've ever talked to has played Daggerfall or Arena. I loved Daggerfall, I must have wait bug robbed hundreds of shops. lol

Daggerfall was the first RPG to my knowledge to allow free roaming of an entire world. I mean a massive amount of area you could wander to. The graphics are poor by today's standards but man was it crazy fun. I've heard that even with how expansive Oblivion is it only covers about 10-20% of the area Daggerfall had.

Also

Ravenloft and Ravenloft 2: Stone Prophet

Awesome old school DnD computer games.

Dark Sun too!

[JadedDM]

I'm almost certain I got to the last boss in that game before dying, was the last boss a mad scientist who drank his own formula to turn into a giant spider thingy?

Yep, it sure was.

[Abardam]

Metal Marines. Seriously. Freaking hard, though. I can't even remember where I got it from.

[SDF]

Omega Boost(PSX): Soundtrack by Loudmouth and Static X. Giant robot game where ENIAC destroys mankind!

Armored Core: Multiplatform, but specifically Master of Arena. Customizable robots blowing stuff up. It's the top of cool!

[Archonic Energy]

ok heres 2

while everyone was raving about Total Anilation another RTS was released Dark Reign.
the imperium Vs the Fredom fighters with the Tolan stuck in the middle... class.

and i'l mention Reunion... i remember spending alot of time in front of this game though i can't remember what is was...

[Neo]

Arena is far less unknown than Daggerfall these days, with the whole 10 years anniversary freeware release.

I don't remember the Adventure Game Construction Set but I recall the Wargame Construction Set or whatever it was called.

Will have to hunt down those 2 Ravenloft games and the first Dark Sun game.

[Varen_Tai]

Played Ravenloft:Stone Prophet. Great game for it's time. In fact, the friend that I played it with and I still talk about the moment when Ankhetepot came barrelling out of the portal right behind us - we both jumped in a huge way.

[WampaX]

Gain Ground (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gain_Ground) (SegaG - '91)
A team based puzzle shooter

I'm curious if there has been anything like it since.

EDIT: Wow, didn't know it was an Arcade game, first.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

How about Ascendancy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascendancy)? One of my favorite games of all time. You control an alien species that is on the path to ascending to a higher plane of existance, going around dealing with other races in the galaxy - you can go to war, can trade with them, can make alliances - and you can win by making everyone close allies, so conquest isn't the only win condition.

[Paperclip]

ZeroWing (SegaGenesis)
we may not have heard of it, it was just another 2d space shooter.

But who can forget this:

AD 2101. War is beginning.
*BOOM*
Captain: What Happen?
Mechanic: Somebody set us up the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What!
Operator: Main Screen turn on.
Captain: Its you.
Cats: How are you gentlemen? All your base are belong to us. You are on the way to destruction.
Captain: What you say!
Cats: You have no chnace to survive make your time. hahahaha
Operator: Captain!
Captain: Take off every Zig! You know what you doing. Move Zig. FOR GREAT JUSTICE!
*BOOM*

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

ZeroWing (SegaGenesis)
we may not have heard of it, it was just another 2d space shooter.

But who can forget this:

AD 2101. War is beginning.
*BOOM*
Captain: What Happen?
Mechanic: Somebody set us up the bomb.
Operator: We get signal.
Captain: What!
Operator: Main Screen turn on.
Captain: Its you.
Cats: How are you gentlemen? All your base are belong to us. You are on the way to destruction.
Captain: What you say!
Cats: You have no chnace to survive make your time. hahahaha
Operator: Captain!
Captain: Take off every Zig! You know what you doing. Move Zig. FOR GREAT JUSTICE!
*BOOM*

As soon as I read ZeroWing I knew it was coming, to be honest Zero Wing was ****e.

[Om]

ok heres 2

while everyone was raving about Total Anilation another RTS was released Dark Reign.
the imperium Vs the Fredom fighters with the Tolan stuck in the middle... class.
There's a good reason that game has been forgotten :smallyuk:

[Archonic Energy]

How about Ascendancy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascendancy)? One of my favorite games of all time. You control an alien species that is on the path to ascending to a higher plane of existance, going around dealing with other races in the galaxy - you can go to war, can trade with them, can make alliances - and you can win by making everyone close allies, so conquest isn't the only win condition.

I remember that, it's currently on my shelf. it was fun.

and Om will die for that remark.

*sends in the martyrs*

[Margerine A Low Fat Cannibal]

Actually Dark Reign 2 was awesome.
Dark Reign sucked though.

[Megalomaniac2]

EINHANDER: Side-scrolling franticness with hulking bosses and awesome music for the first playstation. There's nothing quite like that moment of joy when you get the Riot gun.

Gunstar Heroes: ****-yes quality entertainment for the Sega Genesis. You've got your guy, you've got your customizable weapons and kung-fu, you've got an insane number of enemies who blow up real, real good, now get going. I actually cried at the end. Granted, I was eight at the time...

[Zophiel]

Wow, guys... reading over this thread was like a trip down memory lane. :)

Fallout and Fallout 2 both hold a truly special place in my heart. I actually got misty at the closing scene of the first game.

System Shock 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, although I sadly never did beat it. I played it during a brief period when I had no Internet connection and was unable to patch a bug I encountered late in the game. Ah well... but it was good times just the same!

The Summoning was possibly one of my favorite PC games back in its day, and really only got ousted by Fallout when it was released.

Arcanum was loads of fun, though its mechanics were pretty abusable. Even without exploiting their mechanics, I recall the game stopped really being very challenging after a while. Fortunately, it was still fun to progress through the storyline.

Vagrant Story and Lionheart, I've also played. I beat them both, but they were a little disappointing for various reasons - ironically, opposite reasons as well. Vagrant Story was a fun game with interesting combat, but I hated the actual story. Lionheart was a great story with pretty mediocre mechanics.

There were others people have mentioned, but these were the most personally memorable of the lot.

And for my own contribution, I'll submit Spellcraft. I don't think anyone's brought this game up yet. It was pretty interesting in that you got to make your own variant spells (same basic effect as one of the established spells in the game, but you could alter the duration, damage, cost, magnitude, etc.). I never did beat that game, although I got to the last guy. I'm convinced there was a problem with the game, because I managed to clobber the end villain down to what looked to me like 0 life, and kept on beating on him, and yet that dirty cheater wouldn't die! I found it somewhere on the Internet and played through it again a couple years ago, only to experience the same problem. :smallannoyed:

[Cheats McGee]

Man I've heard of a lot of these games but I haven't played them. I'm just wondering if any one rememebers Battle Toads. That game was awsome for me when I was younger.

And please! Oh please tell me someone here has played Phantom Dust for the Xbox!

[Voshkod]

For those still jonesing for Star Control, there's an open source/public domain version at http://sc2.sourceforge.net/ that's pretty good.

[Barrin]

Hm...I've seen a few I've recognized, but I missed the greatest game of all time, Kid Chameleon for the Sega Genesis...it's near impossible, but fun.

[Varen_Tai]

For those still jonesing for Star Control, there's an open source/public domain version at http://sc2.sourceforge.net/ that's pretty good.

They've added voice acting to it as well, which is surprisingly good, especially the Spathi. What they say is funny enough, but the voice made me laugh just listening to it. Highly recommended!

[Gorbash Kazdar]

Man I've heard of a lot of these games but I haven't played them. I'm just wondering if any one rememebers Battle Toads. That game was awsome for me when I was younger.
It's fairly well remembered, I'd say... on 4chan, there's a meme that whenever anyone asks "What video game is this from?" the answer is always "Battletoads." I have no idea why, though.

[Khantalas]

No loving for Woodruff and the Schnibble of Azimuth?

Really absurd game, and really funny.

[Gralamin]

I remembered another one. F-19, an old school 2d fighting plane simulator.

[The White Knight]

Elder Scrolls: Arena and Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Everyone has played or heard of Morrowwind or Oblivion but almost no one I've ever talked to has played Daggerfall or Arena. I loved Daggerfall, I must have wait bug robbed hundreds of shops. lol

Daggerfall was the first RPG to my knowledge to allow free roaming of an entire world. I mean a massive amount of area you could wander to. The graphics are poor by today's standards but man was it crazy fun. I've heard that even with how expansive Oblivion is it only covers about 10-20% of the area Daggerfall had.

Daggerfall was great. I don't think I ever got into the plot before, but I had plenty of fun just screwing around with different character types. It's true, the game was enormous - unnecessarily huge, in fact. There's simply more ground than you could ever need to cover. At least it feels like you've got an entire world around you, though.

[Varen_Tai]

Anyone remember the old C-64 game entitled Seven Cities of Gold? You were an explorer, Columbus of a sort though you weren't him explicitly. You got funding to explore the Atlantic ocean, you'd buy ships and crew, and explore the Americas, either by conquering the empires or trading with them.

[CaptainSam]

Ooh! How about Stonkers for the Speccy? Dead easy turn-based strategy game, provided you could get to the choke-point first.

The real challenge of the game was getting it to load.

[Roethke]

Anyone remember the old C-64 game entitled Seven Cities of Gold? You were an explorer, Columbus of a sort though you weren't him explicitly. You got funding to explore the Atlantic ocean, you'd buy ships and crew, and explore the Americas, either by conquering the empires or trading with them.

Absolutely. What a fun game. The most frustruating part, though, was when you went to talk with the native "chiefs" and you accidentally bumped into one of the tribesmen. Man did they get angry.

Speaking of the C-64, anyone ever play "Sam & Ed Basketball"? One of the most purely fun games around.

Simple 2-D basketball court, side view, and aach player was an anthropomorhpic basketball, and you could run back and forth and jump. Once you jumped you lost control of yourself, until you bounced a couple of times and regained your feet. The trick was that you couldn't jump high enough to land yourself into the baske on your own, and you had to fake out the other player into jumping first, and bouncing yourself off him. (Or jumping to block and send the other player flying to the other end of the court). Unbelievable gameplay for 2-players.

[Vindemiatrix]

Klonoa 2 (PS2): A wonderful little sidescrolling platformer in "2.5 D". Very bizarre, and very fun.

Shadow of the Colossus (PS2): Your girlfriend's dead, and to revive her, you must kill sixteen enormous stone Colossi with nothing but a sword, a horse, a bow, and your wits. Very fun. Very surreal.

Katamari Damacy/ We Love Katamari (PS2): Roll stuff up into a ball. Sing along with the bizarre music. Pick up the blocky people. Have fun.

Dark Cloud 2 (PS2): One of THE most life-sucking non-MMO RPGs you'll ever play.

[Zedd]

Wow, EINHANDER was really deep in my memory. Thanks for diggint it up!

But no one here seems to have played BRIGANDINE...
Or PHANTASY STAR for the Master System. I'm brazilian and I remember it was a pretty big hit in that country 'cause it was
A- the first role playing game we knew how to play, what got a lot of brazilian nerds started at the trade; and & because
B- it was translated into portuguese. As a lot of 8-years old kids played that, none of them knew english by then

[NEO|Phyte]

Just thought of one.

Second Sight
Never heard of it until it was added to Gametap. It sounded interesting, so I downloaded and tried it. Fun stuff. Without delving into spoiler territory, you wake up strapped to a bed as an amnesiac with psychic abilities, and are trying to figure out who and what you are, and escape the facility you are in.

The game has a bit of a stealthy bend to it, if you don't hide after triggering an alarm (and subsequent spawning of mooks), you WILL eventually get mobbed to death. This becomes more true as the equipment the mooks carry improves.

I have no clue how (if at all) it affects the story, but the game tracks your humanity (which I'm assuming has to do with whether or not you kill people, as opposed to nonlethal takedowns), as well as your stealthiness, and possibly a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head. If it DOES effect certain events, then I can safely say that I've been a violent little bastard :smallbiggrin:

[Indurain]

Einhander...man that game was tough!

A few more C-64 ones:

Hot Wheels!
4th & Inches
Global Thermonuclear War (similar to the game in War Games)

And I thought of a classic NES one that I can't seem to find anywhere, but I was sooooo hooked as a kid but could never quite beat it.

Cobra Triangle.

[Mozric]

me.anyone heard of jazz jack rabbit?
Yep, I can't remember much except a Christmas themed version and lots of fun.


I, too, frequented "Computer Shows" in the early 90's in search of cheap games. Some of the gems came on CD's called something like, "500 best ShareWare".

Along those lines...
Commander Keen
Crystal Caves
Jill of the Jungle (or anything by Epyx, really)
I remember Keen and Jill of the Jungle. Commander Keen was just plain awesome, I loved playing that game. Jill of the Jungle I had it, but can't remember anything except sprite graphics and lots of jumping.

Actually Dark Reign 2 was awesome.
Dark Reign sucked though.
How dare you! I really liked Dark Reign -- I was only dissapointed that I could never get the multiplayer to work and the campaign was pretty difficult. I remember very clearly reading through the instruction manual and really liking the story. I got Dark Reign II for $10 or $20 and I didn't like it at all.

I was surprised to hear Total Annihilation and Arcanum mentioned. I loved those games. Never really though of them as obscure though, although Arcanum has been definately underrated.

Castle of the Winds was a pretty sweet game. Anyone played it?

And old RTSs... 7 Kingdoms, anyone played that? It's pretty cool. Populus was a decent game, fun with the cool powers, but I haven't heard anything about it since I got it though.
I still own the discs and boxes for TA, Dark Reign and Arcanum, and the discs for 7 Kingdoms and Populus.

Ahhh, anyone remember Putt Putt? That crazy little car.

[beholder]

^ yes, and the magic school bus. those two games always went hand in hand for me.
is arcanum really that obscure? i love thaat game, butthe biggest dissapointment is when you put a top hat on your character, it doesnt show it on the character model.such a shame....

[Arbitrarity]

Freespace 2

www.hard-light.net

Got really great reviews, but no advertising. Heck, people who loved the first game never heard of the second. And the community has made some... improvements.

[Dragor]

Goldeneye and Perfect Dark for the N64. Classics that should never be forgotten, ever.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, N64 The thing which started 3D (fairly good looking 3D) adventure off. A pure classic, best end bossfight ever (against Ganon) and probably the only ending ever to bring a tear to my eye.

[Crazy Owl]

Goldeneye and Perfect Dark for the N64. Classics that should never be forgotten, ever.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, N64 The thing which started 3D (fairly good looking 3D) adventure off. A pure classic, best end bossfight ever (against Ganon) and probably the only ending ever to bring a tear to my eye.

You've got to be in the middle of nowhere for no one to know about Ocarina of time.

[purple gelatinous cube o' Doom]

this one's probably more common than I think since it is a Broderbund game. But, most people I know didn't know Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego for the NES existed. It's not a bad game either, but is virtually impossible to play without the encyclopedia that comes with the game. But, with this new fangled thing called the internet these days, you could probably just look everything up online, although having the reference right there in front of you while playing is probably much faster and easier.

[Dragor]

You've got to be in the middle of nowhere for no one to know about Ocarina of time.

But, even some of the best gamers don't know/don't care about it. It saddens (and disgusts me), quite frankly.

Also Majoras Mask, the sequel, which was less well known, mainly because of the new setting (Termina) and the total weirdness of the game. Which I liked :smallbiggrin:

[Dragor]

Populus was a decent game, fun with the cool powers, but I haven't heard anything about it since I got it though.

Populus, regarded by many gaming experts as the start of 'God-Gaming'- along with all the Theme Park games, and also the obscure Dungeon Keeper (another set of games which I love.)

[Crazy Owl]

But, even some of the best gamers don't know/don't care about it. It saddens (and disgusts me), quite frankly.

Also Majoras Mask, the sequel, which was less well known, mainly because of the new setting (Termina) and the total weirdness of the game. Which I liked :smallbiggrin:

Not knowing about Majora Mask I can understand a bit more but I really can't think how anyone who plays Nintendo stuff doesn't know about Ocarina of time.

[purple gelatinous cube o' Doom]

My issue with Majora's mask it that it's a very short game if you just play it though. The up side, is that since there aren't nearly as many dungeons as OOT, there are a lot more heart pieces spread elsewhere in the game.

[Tom_Violence]

But, even some of the best gamers don't know/don't care about it. It saddens (and disgusts me), quite frankly.

Also Majoras Mask, the sequel, which was less well known, mainly because of the new setting (Termina) and the total weirdness of the game. Which I liked :smallbiggrin:

I certainly don't care about it. Zelda bugs the tits off me. I hate the game and have never understood the appeal of it.

Disgust away.

[purple gelatinous cube o' Doom]

geez Tom, why don't you tell us how you really feel. I can respect your opinion if you can respect other people's, but it seems to me you obviously don't. Which in turn really bugs me. I can't stand people who have narrow minds.

[Crazy Owl]

I certainly don't care about it. Zelda bugs the tits off me. I hate the game and have never understood the appeal of it.

Disgust away.

That is not the point, this thread is about games that no one has heard of. By saying you hate your saying you have heard about which was what I was saying. I never said every Nintendo Gamer should like it just every Nintendo gamer should know about it.

[Tom_Violence]

geez Tom, why don't you tell us how you really feel. I can respect your opinion if you can respect other people's, but it seems to me you obviously don't. Which in turn really bugs me. I can't stand people who have narrow minds.

Nonsense. I respect people's opinions so long as those opinions are respectful. His opinion was, as I read it: "Some people don't care about this game. I find that disgusting." Now what's more offensive - me expressing a dislike for a game (a game, for crying out loud!) or someone else saying that my dislike is disgusting? Hell, apparently even if I was ambivilant towards the game it would still be disgusting. Moreover, I was actually expressing a dislike for the notion of "its disgusting if you don't like what I hold to be important."

How dare you call me narrow-minded? Based on one 2-line forum post. Jeez...

@: Crazy Owl - Sorry for taking the whole thing a bit off-topic. I don't doubt that the vast majority of gamers have heard of Zelda, but I still think its a bit strong to suggest that if someone plays Nintendo and doesn't know about Zelda then they're ignorant.

[Drascin]

Let's see... first, some SNES ones, all from my childhood, all of them good, few of them known:

Metal Warriors: What can I say, I'm a sucker for mecha games. So I couldn't go wrong with this. About half a dozen of selectable models, in wonderfully thought stages, and a play system that had you craving for more. I have spent far too many hours of my youth with this game.

E.V.O: Evolve your way through the world's history. It was absurd, and boring as hell... yet, somehow, everyone who has tried it, including myself, kept coming for more until we finished it. I have always wondered if it had subliminal messages or something.

Terranigma: Please, please, tell me no-one knowing about this game around here is a strange coincidence, and it actually was some kind of best seller worldwide. This game was awesome. One of the best things Enix ever put out, and I've played Illusion of Time, so that's saying a damn lot.

Parodius: Gradius, but with an octopus with a vise/winged pig/bathroom-sign man/something equally strange as your ship. And teddy bears and chefs as enemies. And... well, you know what? Go try it. The sheer absurdnes of it is too much to sum up.

Well, I'll have to stop at there for today. Chime in tomorrow for more! :smallwink:

[Logic]

Goldeneye and Perfect Dark for the N64. Classics that should never be forgotten, ever.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, N64 The thing which started 3D (fairly good looking 3D) adventure off. A pure classic, best end bossfight ever (against Ganon) and probably the only ending ever to bring a tear to my eye.
2 of your selections are so well known that there are either commonly known sequels to them, or they are sequels in and of themselves. Your other selection is arguably considered the father of the console FPS. Not a one fits the criteria for "never heard of."
Yes, all 3 are among my personal favorites, but they are nowhere near the obscure bin of your local game store.

[Om]

Anyone played Uplink? I'd heard about it before but only got my hands on it yesterday. Its a little gem of a game that disavows graphics in favour of creating an atmosphere in which you are a hacker for hire. I'm still getting used to it but its been a blast so far.

[xzanar]

No one who I have talked to has really knew this game, altough some FFVII fans have had some info about it but none has played it.

Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring. (PS1)
I found it somewhere on sale, as for it was not very popular game, and bough it. Reason why I got it was that it had Cloud Strife as one character you could play (I was huge FFVII fan at those times). As a game its 3D fighting game, and my opinion is that its about average quality.

[Neo]

I'll submit Rise of the Robots, probably the worst fighting game ever but it did introduce 3d modelled characters. I bought a complete version of the Collector's Edition for £1, just so I could have a copy of one of the worst games ever made :D

[AmberVael]

And please! Oh please tell me someone here has played Phantom Dust for the Xbox!
WOO! Someone who understands the sheer awesomeness!
And I'm sad. No one has mentioned the Legacy of Kain series.
Soul Reaver 2 was the bomb. No one can deny that Kain was a badass.

[Dragor]

Nonsense. I respect people's opinions so long as those opinions are respectful. His opinion was, as I read it: "Some people don't care about this game. I find that disgusting." Now what's more offensive - me expressing a dislike for a game (a game, for crying out loud!) or someone else saying that my dislike is disgusting? Hell, apparently even if I was ambivilant towards the game it would still be disgusting. Moreover, I was actually expressing a dislike for the notion of "its disgusting if you don't like what I hold to be important."

How dare you call me narrow-minded? Based on one 2-line forum post. Jeez...

@: Crazy Owl - Sorry for taking the whole thing a bit off-topic. I don't doubt that the vast majority of gamers have heard of Zelda, but I still think its a bit strong to suggest that if someone plays Nintendo and doesn't know about Zelda then they're ignorant.

I'm sorry if I offended you, mate. I didn't mean it offensively. I just think it's sad that some people miss out on a game that I really love... it's the same for everyone.

And Logic, most of my friends aren't as in depth game fans as me, and had never even heard of Goldeneye, the daddy of 3D FPS's (for consoles, anyway).... only during summer when I brought round my N64 did they appreciate the classic :)

Ah, an obscure NES title then: Shadowgate.

A point-and-click that made me really rack me and my brothers brain. Painstakingly hard to complete, and we both still don't know how to beat the last boss.

[Jade_Tarem]

Ok, so here's my go at obscurity. Anyone ever play Bubsy for SNES or Zombies Ate My Neighbors?
In Bubsy you're a kind of cat and it's a side-scroller without side scrolling. You're trying to take the yarn back from the aliens who stole it, and there are many references to bad movies. It's cute.
Zombies Ate My Neighbors, I've so far not found anyone who played this game, but this may find someone. You are a kid who beats up undead with your squirt gun, fire extinguisher, purple monster potion, and a host of other very odd weapons. And it's not all undead, it's basically all B Movie monsters ever created.

I have played, and have seen played, the zombie game in question. Potion Forever! I don't own it, though.

This may have been listed (I didn't read the entire thread). But... Jet Force Gemini? Ironically, this game has three playable characters (not counting the floyd missions). I've only known one or two people that have even heard of it, and no one who has really, truly beaten it. Basically a planet of these teddybear looking things is attacked by the evil bug people from space (most look like ants standing on two legs) and you play the last surviving squad of the Jet Force : Gemini squad (composed of fraternal brother-sister twins Juno and Vela, and thier ludicrously cybernetically enhanced dog, whose name escapes me at the moment) in order to stop the incursions by Mizar (the BBEG of the game). It allowed you to jump from planet to planet to complete the missions at will and - here's the kicker - you go to all of them twice, as each character. The game is six times as long as it first appears. While getting to the second half (the power up that gives you flight capabilities) is simple enough, finding all the little teddy bears (so that the teddy king, King Jeff (best name ever) will lend you a ship to track down Mizar after he flees the first time) requires extensive exploration and a very high body count. Also, the fun increases exponentially when you find the "Tri-rocket Laucher." While the graphics were a little rough ("What's that ant carrying, a stick? Ahhh! I'm being shot by a stick!") It was basically Rare's answer to the complaint that video games were too short, too railroaded, and too easy. It was also the answer to the complaint about games like Mario 64 and Goldeneye - the great games with "wimpy final bosses." The final boss in this game is hard. Hell, all the boss fights were hard. The people who made this game didn't know what a "boss pattern" was. And the ending was sweet too. This was before Microsoft bought Rare and as such is an N64 game, one I highly recommend if you still have an operable N64 and a few bucks, and like shooting up bugs (lots of easter eggs). Besides, no one says you have to save the teddy bears... a touch is all it takes but the flamethrower is so much funnier...

[Drascin]

I have played, and have seen played, the zombie game in question. Potion Forever! I don't own it, though.

This may have been listed (I didn't read the entire thread). But... Jet Force Gemini? Ironically, this game has three playable characters (not counting the floyd missions). I've only known one or two people that have even heard of it, and no one who has really, truly beaten it.

Add a third person to the list of people who knows this game. Jet Force was great (as was almost anything by Rare around that time :P). I never completed it, though, due to... malfunctions in my N64 (read: my brother managed to make it almost explode. Don't ask me how, I don't know :smallconfused:), but I think I had barely a dozen more Tribals to go. Really, to anyone, I second Tarem's recommendation: grab a n64 and play this. It's worth it.

[Dragor]

I've heard of Jet Force and had the chance to play it, but was thoroughly confused because of the rubbish TV I was playing on. Honest :)

If I find it in a bargain bin anywhere, I'll get it.

[Logic]

And Logic, most of my friends aren't as in depth game fans as me, and had never even heard of Goldeneye, the daddy of 3D FPS's (for consoles, anyway).... only during summer when I brought round my N64 did they appreciate the classic :)

Not trying to sound rude (text only makes this a little difficult) but living under a rock is no excuse for calling something well known obscure.


I have played, and have seen played, the zombie game in question. Potion Forever! I don't own it, though.

This may have been listed (I didn't read the entire thread). But... Jet Force Gemini? Ironically, this game has three playable characters (not counting the floyd missions). I've only known one or two people that have even heard of it, and no one who has really, truly beaten it. Basically a planet of these teddybear looking things is attacked by the evil bug people from space (most look like ants standing on two legs) and you play the last surviving squad of the Jet Force : Gemini squad (composed of fraternal brother-sister twins Juno and Vela, and thier ludicrously cybernetically enhanced dog, whose name escapes me at the moment) in order to stop the incursions by Mizar (the BBEG of the game). It allowed you to jump from planet to planet to complete the missions at will and - here's the kicker - you go to all of them twice, as each character. The game is six times as long as it first appears. While getting to the second half (the power up that gives you flight capabilities) is simple enough, finding all the little teddy bears (so that the teddy king, King Jeff (best name ever) will lend you a ship to track down Mizar after he flees the first time) requires extensive exploration and a very high body count. Also, the fun increases exponentially when you find the "Tri-rocket Laucher." While the graphics were a little rough ("What's that ant carrying, a stick? Ahhh! I'm being shot by a stick!") It was basically Rare's answer to the complaint that video games were too short, too railroaded, and too easy. It was also the answer to the complaint about games like Mario 64 and Goldeneye - the great games with "wimpy final bosses." The final boss in this game is hard. Hell, all the boss fights were hard. The people who made this game didn't know what a "boss pattern" was. And the ending was sweet too. This was before Microsoft bought Rare and as such is an N64 game, one I highly recommend if you still have an operable N64 and a few bucks, and like shooting up bugs (lots of easter eggs). Besides, no one says you have to save the teddy bears... a touch is all it takes but the flamethrower is so much funnier...
I completely forgot about this classic. I could not beat the final boss, put it away, played a few next gen (at the times) shooters, went back and actually beat Mizar.
Add to your list of MUST PLAY ASAP

[Dragor]

Not trying to sound rude (text only makes this a little difficult) but living under a rock is no excuse for calling something well known obscure.

Heh heh heh.... no offence taken.

[RyanJ]

A computer game I just thought about recently is "Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure" from the mid-90's. Anybody I ask has never heard of it, but it was a very well executed game.

Review on adventureclassicgaming.com: http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/reviews/55/

[Cubey]

And I'm sad. No one has mentioned the Legacy of Kain series.
Soul Reaver 2 was the bomb. No one can deny that Kain was a badass.

Well, I had an impression that Legacy of Kain was very well-known. It doesn't make it any less great though. And yes, Kain is badass. But Raziel is emo.


A computer game I just thought about recently is "Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure" from the mid-90's. Anybody I ask has never heard of it, but it was a very well executed game.

Oh, oh, me, me! There was also a sequel, with aliens.

[General_Ghoul]

I saw "Space," and for a minute my heart leapt with nostalgia at the thought that you were going to say Space Station, for Commodorre 64.

While I'm on the subject of early sandbox games, let me just say that Adventure Construction Set, one of the first build-your-own-game games, "pwnz j00 4 free," as the kids say. I may've had a Comodorre and a lot of free time when I was younger, but I'm really not as much of a crusty old-timer as I'd like to think, so I'm not sure if this qualifies as a "game nobody's played" or merely a game nobody not old enough to remember Hill Street Blues has played.

Adventure Construction Set on the C64 was great. I remeber spending a whole afternoon adding flame to the arrow for a flaming arrow attack. The most remarkable thing about it was it had a random generator, yeah it took 2 hours to make a game, but it was a NEW game!


Also on C64, does anyone remember the adventure game where you start in a city and half to clear the abndoned part of town from skeletons, goblins, brigands, etc. It was the first game I ever remember where after killing monster you could take their weapons and armor for use or sale. I gonna say circa 1982-4?

[Dire Penguin]

Cubivore! You're a polygon who's trying to restore wilderness to the world by eating things, mating, and evolving to have more appendages!
http://www.storyhost.com/~dojomed2/media/boxart/GCN/C/Cubivore.jpg

[beholder]

that.sounds.so.freaking.awesome

[Wolfgang]

A weird little Japanese game called Live-a-Live http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_A_Live

It was really good, with a couple awesome characters, some interesting stories, fun battles, great music, and four different endings.

[Om]

I was thinking to myself as to just what obscure games I own, beyond those already mentioned, when it suddenly occurred to me that my favourite series probably falls into this category. Has anyone here had the pleasure of playing the Paradox grand strategy games? I'm talking about Europa Universalis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_Universalis) series, Victoria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_%28computer_game%29), Hearts of Iron 1&2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts_of_Iron) and Crusader Kings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusader_Kings_%28computer_game%29)?

[Logic]

I think am going to compile a list soon, which will include all the games and the systems they play on. If I get something wrong, feel free to correct me, as I will be going for a complete list so anyone can find it based on the short information detailed.

(Right now I am at work, or I would be doing it now)

[NEO|Phyte]

Anyone played Uplink? I'd heard about it before but only got my hands on it yesterday. Its a little gem of a game that disavows graphics in favour of creating an atmosphere in which you are a hacker for hire. I'm still getting used to it but its been a blast so far.
Fun stuff. Its always a pain in the ass when you get caught though. it always takes just long enough for you to think you're safe for them to catch you. What really sucked was when I got caught after beating the game through the 'Good Guy' save the internet from a really evil virus path. All that work, and I get the black screen of you lose because I was too busy working on a very time-sensitive mission to ensure that my tracks were covered while protecting systems from bad things through standard Uplink methods.

For some easter egg goodness, try connecting to either 127.127.127.127 or 128.128.128.128 (not sure off the top of my head which it is)

Also, if you like Uplink, I suggest you look into Introversion's other games, Darwinia (http://www.darwinia.co.uk/) and Defcon (http://www.everybody-dies.com/). They follow the footsteps of Uplink regarding graphics to an extent, and have much fun gameplay :3

[elwood j blues]

Hmmm... I've played many games, lets see what I can remember seeing here that I've played.
Beyond good and evil. completed it, loved it, played it three more times.
Total Annihalation. Loved it, didnt WANT to let it end, so never completed it.
Dark reign (1&2) Loved one, hated two. It lost all it's charms.
Dune, dune 2000, and its sequal emperror battle for dune (although thats probably welll known)
Fallout all three games, own them, played them, prefered the first game in every sense, although two is just as good.

a couple games that ive played, and not seen on this forum, but i dont know if their well known or not, its for you to decide really.
Murder, Death, Kill. MDK for short. brilliant Third person shooter, and from what ive heard one of the first 3D computor games out there.
DRAGONSHARD. DnD based RTS, i think its good, but everyone disagrees with me.
Command and Conquer, the origonal, before red alert, and before tiberium sun. classic.
Starwars: Knights of the Old Republic. D20 based RPG. took me ages to complete, and the endings class. i was dissapointed by the worse, but still good, sequel.
Starship: Titanica, a old 3D RPG written and designed by douglas adams. an interstellar spaceship crashes into your house, and you try to find out all its secrete and get a free upgrade to first class passenger. no prescripted or schoice speech selections, you type what you want to say and everyone will answer. I once asked if there was a bomb on the ship and one of the droids started this obviously fake speech about there being no bomb. very humourous.
The Settlers. ive only played three and four, but i liked them both.
Deus Ex it and its sequal are brilliant rpgs.
empire earth the game reminded me alot of settlers, however, in settleres you cant end up with prehistoric dogs fleeing from nuclear explosions shot from walking gun platforms with lasers.

[Jack_of_Spades]

Blazing Lazers (Turbo-Graphix 16)A Top Down shooter that was fun as hell. Not many people have hear of the system, much less the game.

[wopanese]

Ahh... the days of Lode Runner and Wizardry played on the Apple ][ 's in the computer lab... WAY back when...

and then, the original Leisure Suit Larry - played in Super Awesome CGA graphics on my TURBO XT! (Go 4 color blocky dude!)

... and there was ... The Lurking Horror, a fine text take on Lovecraftian horror...

oh, and Full Throttle and, oh yeah, the Adventures of Sam and Max/Sam and Max Hit the Road... the scene where he gets the message out of the cat sold me on LucasArts for a LONG time...

But BEFORE IT ALL?

Megamania on the ORIGINAL Atari. Sheer manic genius for the home console... and it was cheaper than pumping quarters into the Sinistar machine at the Safeway...

[Closet_Skeleton]

I hate it when these threads get too long, you worry about posting stuff that's already been mentioned.

I don't buy many games. There was a barely inovative RTS called Battle Realms that had quite a good campaign but completly fell under the radar. Most of the games I think of as obscure are things like the original (not THE original, just the one before the sequel) Alien v.s. Predator that tons of people love but forget about half a year later.

[Tom_Violence]

Vib Ribbon! (http://www.vibribbon.com)

If you like very odd games, crazy Japanese stuff, and can put up with (maybe even enjoy!) some mental game-music, then check it out. Surreal, to say the least. And I'm pretty sure that not many people have heard of it.

[SandDemon]

Still reading through this all but how about Master of Magic for the PC - hands down one of the better top-view games like the series (GalCiv, Master of Orion, etc). There was even an open-source project for multiplayer of that game....and it was originally on floppies (that's some dedication - and I mean the multiplayer patch)!

BTW, maybe I'm getting too old but who remembers the original Neverwinter Nights on AOL? Seriously, the old OLD school MMORPG. I think it even dated before The Realm by Sierra.

Ahhh memories (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_%28AOL_game%29)

[The Orange Zergling]

Rampage, for the N64. Seriously, has anyone evuh heard of this? You chose between one of three giant Godzilla-esque titanic critters and basically went on a building-destroying spree. It was awsome... old but fun, I never actually bought it, I rented it over and over... and over again until the game store\rental place went out of business. *cry*

[Logic]

I hate it when these threads get too long, you worry about posting stuff that's already been mentioned.

I don't buy many games. There was a barely inovative RTS called Battle Realms that had quite a good campaign but completly fell under the radar. Most of the games I think of as obscure are things like the original (not THE original, just the one before the sequel) Alien v.s. Predator that tons of people love but forget about half a year later.
I am going to compile a list, and have the OP put in in the first post, so in case no one reads the whole post, maybe they will see the first one and see their favorite was mentioned.

[Fiendish_Dire_Moose]

OOH! Nostalgia, if I even spelled that right, and old games that I swear am the only one who played? Sweet!

I noticed a couple Bushido Blade good game.

American mcGee's Alice
PC
Wnderful game, it was a while aftre Alice's last trip to wonderland, her hosue burns down, she's put into an asylum, wonderland is f***ed up! (In a nutshell) It's a really good gothic horror game for those of you who likes them. I got hooked on it back in 2002 and loved it ever since, played it religeously and am working on purchasing a laptop so I cna play it when I'm on trips or just generally at the local game store.

Clive Barker's Undying
PC
A horror FPS about a family in Ireland, didn't play much of it but loved the living dyalights out of it.

Champions of Norrath 1 and 2
PS2
Also known as "Realms of Everquest". Diablo meets Baldur's Gate in an Everquest type game for the console that was insanely addicting. I've played several hours into this one building up profiles just to see how strong I can get and what awesome armors I can obtain. Wonderful game if you have the time, and can find it.

and there's my happy little list.

[Black Hand]

I must be getting old. Many of those games I remember playing (especially the Amiga games)

I am suprised however that no one has mentioned FTL's Dungeon Master, Which was the forerunner to many first person point of view dungeon games. Along with Faerie Tale which for it's time was HUGE, and very very similar to the layout on games like Neverwinter nights.

Damn! I miss those games, and the only places on the Internet I can find them to download now charge for it wheras a few years ago they didn't (of course it's when I didn't have a computer either :smallannoyed: ...Now I do.)

[SandDemon]

Rampage, for the N64. Seriously, has anyone evuh heard of this? You chose between one of three giant Godzilla-esque titanic critters and basically went on a building-destroying spree. It was awsome... old but fun, I never actually bought it, I rented it over and over... and over again until the game store\rental place went out of business. *cry*

Maybe I'm old, but who hasn't heard of Rampage? Seriously, that was an arcade game for like 10-15 years....it's still at the golf place where I live.

BattleRealms was an awesome game, it was just plagued with the worst internet/multiplayer code ever - had that been stable/useful, the game would have gone places.

And who still plays Subspace? :)

[Dragor]

I was thinking to myself as to just what obscure games I own, beyond those already mentioned, when it suddenly occurred to me that my favourite series probably falls into this category. Has anyone here had the pleasure of playing the Paradox grand strategy games? I'm talking about Europa Universalis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_Universalis) series, Victoria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_%28computer_game%29), Hearts of Iron 1&2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts_of_Iron) and Crusader Kings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusader_Kings_%28computer_game%29)?

I've played Hearts of Iron 2, very hardcore turnbased strategy. After attempting to play as all the Allied nations, I played as Germany and did better than Hitler, and quicker, too....

Good fun, but don't expect to pick it up fast.

[Om]

Good fun, but don't expect to pick it up fast.
Indeed. The Paradox games have unsurpassed depth of gameplay but the trade off is that the learning curve can be quite steep.

[Pocky]

Loved that game. A little rough around the edges, like everything Sierra did, but a great concept, story, and gameplay system.

Plenty of people know this online, but most gamers I've met face to face don't know
Lunar: The Silver Star / Silver Star Story Complete (Sega CD, re-released for PlayStation). A fun, well-made if easy RPG with absolutely excellent writing and localization and enjoyable characters. I've actually only played the PlayStation re-release, but it's a beautiful game with excellent dialog. Even the random townie NPCs are great.

I'd like to play the sequel, but I'd have to either buy a Sega Saturn or the PlayStation re-release from several years ago that's still quite expensive from all the bonus stuff.

If you can find it for a reasonable price, then DO get Lunar 2. Lunar and Lunar 2 are easily some of the best RPGs I've ever played. They're probably two of my favorites, if not my all time favorites (for story).

I may have a personal dislike for Working Designs (and am glad they are gone), but they did bring these games over, so they did at least two good things (well, four, since they did the Sega-CD releases, too.)


Gain Ground (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gain_Ground) (SegaG - '91)
A team based puzzle shooter

I'm curious if there has been anything like it since.

EDIT: Wow, didn't know it was an Arcade game, first.

Nothing I can think of had the same character selection system. I remember spending so much time in the arcades (and later on my Genesis) trying to beat it, getting annoyed when I lost a vital character, and getting frustrtrated when the people that joined in had no clue. ^^;

I never did beat it. I've always come THIS close. >.<


Wow, EINHANDER was really deep in my memory. Thanks for diggint it up!

But no one here seems to have played BRIGANDINE...
Or PHANTASY STAR for the Master System. I'm brazilian and I remember it was a pretty big hit in that country 'cause it was
A- the first role playing game we knew how to play, what got a lot of brazilian nerds started at the trade; and & because
B- it was translated into portuguese. As a lot of 8-years old kids played that, none of them knew english by then

The Phantasy Star series remains one of my top four favorite console RPG series of all time (Phantasy Star, Dragon Quest, Lunar, Final Fantasy). Alis/Alisa was one of the first female leads in an RPG, if not THE first, and the story, while fairly basic, was solid. 2 and 4 were also very good... 3 was okay. ^^;

As for my additions, I was always fond of the 'Shining' series on the Genesis (then later on the Saturn). Shining In The Darkness was a fun, basic RPG with 3D dungeons. The Shining Force series was a good, solid turn-based strategy game with RPG elements.

I also play(ed) (and this will likely be obscure because of a language barrier) the Super Robot Wars series. Two of them have finally been released in English (Original Generations), but I started on the 'licensing mess from hell' games that combined various old mecha anime, like Mazinger Z (Tranzor Z here) and the Gundam series.

Then there's the Sakura Wars series, which is a nice combination of 'adventure game/visual novel' and turn-based strategy game. Not that hard, with beautiful art and designs, great music, and an interesting premise. (In the 1920s, demons have attacked the world. In Japan, a premier force of spiritually gifted women defend Tokyo from the demons and their allies... while maintaining a cover as a musical theater troupe. No, I'm not making this up. ^_^)

[soozenw]

Hey, I still remember a good number of Sierra games

The King's Quest Series (although I only actually played #5)
The Space Quest Series (3, 4 and 6 - all beaten!)
Stellar 7 (Dynamix, really - but they're still technically Sierra)
Thexder and Thexder II (A robot AND a plane! We were so spoiled!)


SPACE QUEST!! I just found them at EbGames redone on dvd. I had played them when I was little (starting around age 6) when they were NEW and cool. Somehow, I never found anyone again that had heard of them. Am currently beating them again! Gotta love pixellated Roger Wilco.

WOO!

[Tom_Violence]

SPACE QUEST!! I just found them at EbGames redone on dvd. I had played them when I was little (starting around age 6) when they were NEW and cool. Somehow, I never found anyone again that had heard of them. Am currently beating them again! Gotta love pixellated Roger Wilco.

WOO!

Genius! I've been looking for those for absolutely ages! I figured they'd just disappeared completely off the face of the planet, never to be played again. This is brilliant!

"In space, no one can hear you clean." :biggrin:

[RoboticSheeple]

I may have a personal dislike for Working Designs (and am glad they are gone), but they did bring these games over, so they did at least two good things (well, four, since they did the Sega-CD releases, too.)


Why? (+10 character limit)

[Pocky]

Why? (+10 character limit)

(re: Why do I dislike Working Designs?)

Well, Vic Ireland tends to take credit for things he didn't do. For example, he gave himself a translation credit in the PS1 version of Lunar 2's opening animation, even though he didn't translate anything. (In the process, he removed my name... it was at the end, in the credits, but it should have been in the opening instead of his).

He was extremely lax in making payments to me and the other translator on the project. (She continued to contract to him for their remaining games, but had to resort to legal action, I believe, to get her money)

Some of the localization he did was admittedly fine. But much of it, like Beavis and Butthead jokes (which I've been blamed for @.@), were just inappropriate and badly done.

I've never met the man myself, but people I know and trust (including a guy who was, for the longest time, their ONLY programmer) have told me that he's a monumental jerk a lot of the time.

I feel bad for the employees of the now defunct WD. But Vic Ireland, no. I hope to God that his next company goes nowhere. There are enough good localization companies that we don't need him or his 'translations'.

Sorry if I seem bitter. :/

[RyanJ]

Genius! I've been looking for those for absolutely ages! I figured they'd just disappeared completely off the face of the planet, never to be played again. This is brilliant!

"In space, no one can hear you clean." :biggrin:


I got the SQ Compilation for Christmas :D
All the games, 1-6, in their original glory, 'cept for SQ1... they put in the VGA remake version from the early-90's instead of the original.

[RoboticSheeple]

(re: Why do I dislike Working Designs?)

{Several very good reasons}

Sorry if I seem bitter. :/

Wow, that's quite a few good reasons. I was thinking from a consumer point of view were WD was one of the few companies to bring over risky titles that I really loved. Sounds like your issue is more with Vic than WD though...

(sorry for all this off topic posting I'll post something on topic now)

DrillDozer for GBA, one of the few GBA games to have a rumble feature. Excellent platformer action.

[Hart av Srednak]

I am suprised however that no one has mentioned FTL's Dungeon Master, Which was the forerunner to many first person point of view dungeon games.

Finally someone mentioned DM aka reason I didn't play Beholders. They seemed like cheap copies of DM. Where are old Ultimas, Prince of Persia, UFO 1, worms, sierra adventures with ega craphics, where are all those times?

[Om]

Where are old Ultimas, Prince of Persia, UFO 1, worms, sierra adventures with ega craphics, where are all those times?The dustbin of history

[Neo]

Where are old Ultimas, Prince of Persia, UFO 1, worms, sierra adventures with ega craphics, where are all those times?

PoP and Worms are the only 2 that have had updates. Ultima, X-Com and the Sierra Quest games all got shafted by their publishers. They're just sitting on the licences so nobody can make a new version of any of them.

[Logic]

PoP and Worms are the only 2 that have had updates. Ultima, X-Com and the Sierra Quest games all got shafted by their publishers. They're just sitting on the licences so nobody can make a new version of any of them.

I thought there was an X-Com 3. Are you sure there are no "newer" versions of this game? (Perhaps you meant remake, I am thinking sequels included)

[Artanis]

I thought there was an X-Com 3. Are you sure there are no "newer" versions of this game? (Perhaps you meant remake, I am thinking sequels included)
I think X-Com ended up with 5 or 6 games, plus one that was cancelled before release, actually:

X-Com
X-Com: Terror From the Deep
X-Com: Interceptor
X-Com: Apocalypse
X-Com: Enforcer (IIRC)

Apocalypse was about the last gasp of the franchise. While a pretty good game in its own right, it didn't quite have the same "magic" that the original had. I think Enforcer was more recent, but what little I've seen of it bears almost no resemblance to the other X-Com games.

I just hope that someday, somebody can bring the franchise back from the grave with a truly worthy sequel :smallbiggrin:

[Tom_Violence]

There are 'spiritual successors' to the XCom throne, but no genuine, official sequels. The successors are the UFO:Aftermath, etc. lot, among others.

[Tussy the Druid]

Battle Toads: You get to play as toads! I was 3 when i played this, don't remember system or much else.

Plus, i lived in Africa at the time; but i still doubt it was very popular.

[TheTick]

Lufia 1 and 2, for the SNES. I picked up the first one when I was hungry for more RPGs but had finished FFIV/FFVI. I enjoyed them quite a bit, but if you play, play Lufia 2 FIRST. It's a prequel to Lufia 1, and you actually replay the END battle of Lufia 2 at the beginning of Lufia 1. So, having knowledge of Lufia 1 actually spoils the ending of 2.

[doliest]

Digimon:Card Battle
A fun old digimon game for the PS,the rules were interesting as was the partnercard system and card fusion,I loved making a specialty deck using the hundreds of cards and beating wormon was real funny!

[Gralamin]

Lufia 1 and 2, for the SNES. I picked up the first one when I was hungry for more RPGs but had finished FFIV/FFVI. I enjoyed them quite a bit, but if you play, play Lufia 2 FIRST. It's a prequel to Lufia 1, and you actually replay the END battle of Lufia 2 at the beginning of Lufia 1. So, having knowledge of Lufia 1 actually spoils the ending of 2.
Do you remember that one puzzle with the bushes? I can kinda remember it as it was evil.

[Gogo525]

Die by the Sword (pc) it was a fighting type game with free range movement. Also every time you hit someone in a specific limb enough it came off (lol)

Any digimon game (all were for ps1 I think except 4) Those were awsome. They just came put after the series died.

Chex quest ( I probably was the only one that played that game lol). I got it in a cereal box when I was like 7. That game ROCKED!

[TheTick]

Do you remember that one puzzle with the bushes? I can kinda remember it as it was evil.

Not specifically, but I'm playing througb Lufia 2 again.

Chex Quest...one last final last spin for the Doom engine.

[beholder]

has anyone played homeworld 2? i just found it in an obscure place, and none of my friends have heard of it. its damned confusing, with proper 3 dimensional movement in space

[NEO|Phyte]

has anyone played homeworld 2? i just found it in an obscure place, and none of my friends have heard of it. its damned confusing, with proper 3 dimensional movement in space
Once you get used to the interface, you'll barely notice.

Also, look into getting the original, as well as the middle title, Cataclysm. I'm not sure as to the general goodness/badness of Cataclysm, but I like it.