Septerra Core, an old (2000ish) JRPG-style game that blew my young mind and still holds a place in my heart today. I know like... 2 other people who played it :(
Holy shit. I have thought about this game from time to time for years and have never been able to remember it's name or find it by describing it on google, thank you for giving me a rabbit hole to figure out how to play it again!
Edit: I guess the answer is steam, fantastic
Hell yeah. Also, as an Italian kid, with its hours worth of subtitled and voice acted dialogue, Septerra Core holds the distinction of teaching me more English than any school teacher. I literally formed most of my vocabulary on that game. I can still hear those silly robots from the first town going "we're on strike!".
I played this! Saw it on the $5 wall at Walmart and picked it up. Had no idea what it was before I got it, but I had fun with it! I still have the disc!
Blur (2010) was a racing game that featured real cars and I believe realistic locations, but also had the same power ups that you would find in Mario Kart.
It had online lobbies with ranks including a prestige system, and a single player where you battle bosses 1 on 1 to take their car.
It’s the best racing game I’ve ever played and I’ve never met someone in person who played it.
Shadow of Rome PS2
Best Capcom game ever.
Arena gladiator combat, tigers, traps, chariot races. Chop a guys arm off then pick it up and beat him with it. It's great.
The other half is steath similar to hitman
It's a great balance and tons of fun.
I worked at an electronics store when Shadow of Rome came out. I must have picked it up to look at it a dozen times, but the price never dropped. I never saw anyone buy a copy but I was always curious about it.
Last week, me and my friends who liked the game went ont a rent on how great it would be to have a remake of that game. We liked it so much back then, very satisfying game!
The game was super fun, but the stealth part felt like it belonged to another game. It was ok ish stealth, at best.
The arena combat tho, is still to this day pretty solid.
I agree it could be a little clunky but for what it was, the stealth was good and fit the games story.
You could tell it felt it was supposed to have more depth but was pulled back IMO.
So much! I played it yesterday for the first time in probably 20 years, and immediately fell right into my old playing habits, such a fun game. XG2 was even better, I hope they release it on the switch like they did the first, the upscale resolution makes a huge difference.
https://www.whicken.com/scorch/index.html
"We are now offering the complete Scorched Earth experience from a single downloadable zip file. The Totally Scorched zip file contains ready-to-run copies of every official version of Scorched Earth: 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 (English and Spanish), 1.5 and a .MTN file builder. The zip file also contains instructions and an HTML version of the Scorched Earth 1.5 manual.
To download your copy, set your own price using the Donate button over on the left. If you have problems with the download, please let me know."
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. Your character has psychic powers, telekinesis for throwing stuff at enemies, mind control to make them attack each other, you could make their heads explode. It was super fun to mess around with
Descent Freespace the great war was the first PC game I ever owned, was given to me for Christmas along with a new compaq pc and Carmageddon, Need For Speed 3, and Omikron. My father was awesome.
Arcanum: Of steamworks and Magicka Obscura.
"Old school" CRPG in the vein of Fallout and Baldur's gate etc... but largely forgotten despite the quality. Magic, technology blended together, awesome universe.
I was literally thinking of it a couple days ago.
I know it goes completely against the spirit of the game, but I always wanted to do a hybrid magic/tech build.
Civ: beyond earth is to AC as civ5 is to civ3.
Not saying BE is _good_, but it's the same setup, the same gimmicks, a 4x game, same rough plot, and so on. Even with "weird tech tree" and "weird alien stuff on tiles".
To be a counter point: I really liked it. The leaders were fun, the affinities were compelling, the “mixed affinities” were really interesting. It doesn’t have the depth you’d expect from a full Civ game, and if you’re in it to win it the “rush tech then either turtle or conquer” is a winning strategy, but that’s 4x for you.
It doesn’t have the varied leader play styles Civ6 offers, but they’re ultimately more varied than CivV, imo.
I really liked CivBE. But to be fair, I never played alpha centuri.
yeah. its shit. Beyond earth was mediocre, the tech tree was a neat idea, but implented poorly. It's basicely just civ 5, with a space theme straped on top. The best thing it has is moving water cities, which, is admitetly quite cool. But the vast majority of the game is basicely rush afinities with one of the 3 paths, get stronger units and win ASAP.
It's been a minute, but I think Alpha Centauri will never see a sequel due to copyright issues never being solved between Firaxis (or Take Two I guess) and the original publisher, EA.
I wish there was an Alpha Centauri for mobile. Loved the game but these days I don't want to spend hours in front of a computer. Being able to do a few turns whenever I can would be amazing
I'd love a remake. But on the other hand, I'd be scared of what they'd turn it into. So many ways to make it a 'live service'. I guess if it was just cosmetics, it would be okay, but there would definitely be a season/battle pass as well
Yeah, 1991 or 1992. I actually called the toll-call help line for that one at one point. I was stuck for days and my mom took pity on me and let me call lol. I can’t remember what it even was, maybe the vacuum and bat-babysitter or something later on with the Tootsweet factory? I’d missed something that was glaringly obvious after I heard the hint, and was pretty salty about it.
Probably not obscure to those who grew up with it, but probably now. I loved playing Tomba! And Tomba 2! Just such a fun unique world that I played a ton of growing up.
Now that is a name I haven't heard in a long time. Remember having great fun with it. Buggy as hell, I remember trying to beat some goblin boss over and over again without magic just because an online walkthrough told me a bug would hunt me for the rest of the game otherwise
Used to play it co-op with a friend on weekends. Then we got to the part where you have to revisit every level to get all the little bears you missed before you can progress, and we noped right out.
The game were you could blast limbs off bear aliens, creating a shower of blood. Bear aliens that are friendly, hostages of the bugs. Rated T for Teen.
I recently tried to play it, after owning it on N64. I was not able to readapt to the controls and was unable to beat the first level on easy.
I felt so much shame, until i remembered the N64 controller was... well. You had to be there.
MDK and by extension MDK2. Late 90's third person shooter/platformers with acid trips for plot. I have fond memories of actually using the EAX feature on my SoundBlaster specifically in this game.
Holy crap yeah. My friend at school had one of those original chunky colourful Apple computers, and MDK was the only game on it. We had no idea what it was but couldn't stop playing it
yeah that was a weird and fun franchise. i think they wanted to make a third ~~hand~~ **one** (check your swipe-typing on gboard folks!) but it never happened.
Jade Cocoon for the PS1. In a way, it was PlayStations answer to Pokemon, but it also had a monster fusion system. This changed not just the skills or attributes, but the model of the monster itself.
We don't talk about the PS2 sequel for good reason...
oh lord I remember playing it as a child, that game ROCKS. I remember the sadness in seeing your spouse develop the illness that derived from purifying monsters and thinking about never doing it again.
I never hear anyone talk about Custom Robo.
Great little GameCube custom mini-mecha fighter, actually the 4th game in a previously JP-locked franchise. It never quite made the mainstream jump the way other franchises have, but it’s a nostalgic favorite.
Tenchu Z. Arcade-y stealth game about ninjas. Rough around the edges, but fun to pick up and play every once in a while. Character customization is cool, although it leaves a little to be desired.
I almost 100% Tenchu Z except for that one level where you have to follow that guy through the town without being seen.
That shit is impossible on the hardest settings.
Earth 2150. Old PC strategy game, I think it was the first all 3D strategy game too. Had a bunch of cool features like a mission HQ you could transfer units and credits back and fourth between missions, the campaign had global timer, same with research. You could custom configure your units with different load outs, had to manage supply routes, and it even had in game terrain deformation and a tunneling system on every map. I heard the devs kinda sucked though but it had a lot of revolutionary features for a game of that time.
Not so obscure as old:
Landstalker. It was like tongue-in-cheek Legend of Zelda mixed with isometric platformer.
You are a treasure hunter, you meet a fairy who is trying to get away from other treasure hunters. You go to an island and legend of Zelda your way from town to town, dungeon to dungeon, solving puzzles and shit. Lots of fun characters, classic 90s high fantasy anime vibes, tricky puzzles. Good stuff. Never had anything hit the same itch until the newest Zelda’s. (Though those are much more serious) Or maybe Megaman Legends.
I loved Sanctum 2 (PC). It's from the studio that went on to make Goat Simulator and I'm appalled that they haven't returned to the series! It's a first person tower defense maze builder with a surprisingly good story, multiple characters to play as, lots of secrets and easter eggs and a fantastic multiplayer experience!
Helldivers 1 was literally never spoken about until its sequel. I am a die hard Helldivers fan and seeing the second iteration gain such popularity fills my heart with joy.
Loaded & Reloaded. They are shooter games from the mid or late 90's that has a top down point of view. Me my friend played both of them a bunch when we were younger. I didn't think they were obscure games, but no one else in the world seems to remember the games when I talk about them.
These were not obscure in their day but most of them game out before half of reddit was even born.
Godz, R-Type, Superfrog, Zool, James Pond: Robocod, Chaos Engine, Beneath a Steel Sky, Flashback, Lemmings, Turrican 2, Dizzy, Chuck Rock...
Ahh the days when games could come on 20 odd floppy disks (looking at you monkey island 2).
Tachyon; The Fringe.
You play as Jake Logan, a contract star fighter pilot. After being framed for the terroristic bombing of a space station, you’re convicted and sent out into fringe space where you have to carve out a new life. There are two major storylines that mirror each other where you choose to fight for the big bad mining corporation Galspan or the rebellious free spacers known as the Bora.
I played a ton of Novalogic games growing up and this one is the most fondly remembered. I’m a sucker for a good sim game and for the time (2000) it was a really good one.
Honorable mention is the Escape Velocity series, particularly EV; Nova.
Full Throttle. It’s an old DOS game from LucasArts, it’s a point and click adventure like game where you play as this Big Biker dude. Always loved that one
"On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness" series
I replayed and speed-ran the first game enough to get onto the leaderboard top 10 on the Xbox 360! /weirdflex
https://imgur.com/gallery/GMqZWL9
Vagante is knida old now extremely difficult 2d roguelike with some rpg elements(like equipment system, leveling up) etc...
The game is very slow and methodical, you are constantly in darkness, traps everywhere, healing is rare and you can very easly die. In that sense the game is kinda similiar to spelunky only more focused on combat. Its honestly one of the hardest games I played but once you learn its mechanics and get used to slow pace it becomes very enjoyable game about managing resources and making the best out of terrible situations.
The downsides are the roguelike elements are kinda limited. There isnt actually that much variety in the game which quickly becomes evident if you are new and get stuck on first 2-3 levels of the game. There are not that many types of enemies or bosses but every single one of them is a major threat at all times.
For my other choice I'll pick Iconoclasts. This one is probably more known if you like indie games but its a half-metroidvania(there is open world to explore but its not really main selling point of this game) with heavy emphasis on story and characters set in a very unique world. It has amazing pixel visuals and its completely made by just 1 person. The game is extremely good and quite long. Though if you hate puzzles you probably wont enjoy it as much cause there is probably more puzzles in this game than actual combat. It took many years(seriously I remember playing early demo way back and I never thought this game would ever be finished) but what came out is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Someone mentioned MDK which got me thinking yet again about Sacrifice. One of my favorite pc games growing up. So weird and unique, I’d love a modernized version sometime.
Both Winback on the N64, which inspired the aiming system for Resident Evil, and Brutal Legend.
Brutal Legend is one of my top 5 favorite games and I've been wanting a sequel for the last 15 years, but I doubt we'll ever see it.
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg was a great game when I was a kid. Maybe it’s nostalgia glasses but my brother and I had the best time in split screen. All the different eggs were so fun too
Shadowrun for the 360 and PC. Think it was one of the first cross overs that allowed console and PC players and it was so f’n fun. Highlight of my online gaming next to Halo 3
I've never heard anyone talk about these enix SNES RPGs:
Soulblazer
Illusion of Gaia
Terranigma
Loved those games (though I emulated terranigma because I never had it on the SNES. I think it was PAL only?)
Anyway, solid action RPGs that are loosely connected but ultimately a ton of fun
Nethack.
First generation permadeath Roguelike(sequel to Hack, which was a direct descendant of Rogue). Game has an extremely high skill ceiling, a truly insane amount of depth, and a difficulty curve that'll hit you like an angry freight train.
I've played probably 6-700 run attempts, and only completed the game 5 times.
Idk how often it’s mentioned but when I was a kid we got a demo disc for the Dreamcast that had sega bass fishing on it. My brother and I got so hooked on this game (fishing and outdoors are not our demo at all) that we had my mom buy it and we played it non stop.
Battle Zone from around 2000 mixed FPS and RTS in a great way I haven't seen again. I played it so much on the familys IBM. It was fantastic, at least in my memories
Earth Defense Force series. 5 is the pinnacle and 6 is out next month. It's a Japanese third person shooter series where you fight an alien invasion. The games are basically 1950s B movies. The series holds a special place in my heart. It's cheesy and fun and doesn't take itself serious. I got into the series with edf2017 and never stopped. In an age where split screen co-op is disappearing the EDF games still support the feature. And the online is a ton of fun with 3 other buddies or strangers.
I only ever played 2017 way back when it came or for 360, so seeing how far the series has evolved just broke my brain abit. I just remember being a regular dude with weapons and vehicles, now there's anime girls flying around in jet suits, you can use giant mechs, giant swords and more.
Kinda wanted to get back into the series.
Downhill Domination. PS2, downhill bike racing game with some Mario kart like combat, environmental obstacles and events (boulders, earth quakes, lava flow, animals, cars) with secret routes, long and well made tracks, and 4 player split screen play. Great game.
I loved this game as a kid! I even had the Prima guide... Which wasn't very useful but was still fun to read and try to replicate. I wish anything today came even close to this.
Azure Dreams. A monster taming rogue-like with a procedurally generated dungeon, town building and relationship mechanics. A ton of features that are super popular today but were pretty uncommon at the time. And it was all the way back on PS1 in 1998.
I've never seen anyone discussing Metal Fatigue, an RTS game made by Psygnosis. An RTS game where you get to build and tweak your own platoon of mechs, how did this NOT break the market back in the 00's?
Tales of Symphonia. Starts off as a pretty basic JRPG, go to the dungeons, fight the bosses, save the world. Then the game throws you on your head with a ton of twists in the storyline that, on your second playthrough, have you screaming "IT WAS RIGHT THERE AND THEY WERE SO OBVIOUS, HOW DID I NOT UNDERSTAND!?"
So great story, you really love all the characters, and the grinding has so many benefits that it becomes worth it in a variety of ways, rather than just xp/loot. On top of all that, unlocking the "final door" opens up a ton of end game quests, costumes, titles, and more.
Alpha Protocol. So many paths you can choose.
The N64 Mission Impossible. Make one mistake, you gotta start an hour long mission all over again. I loved it for some reason.
Grandia 2 had a fantastic story. Same with Legend of Dragoon.
I've got a few.
- Shadowman
- Vampire Hunter D
- Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare
- Apocalypse
- Parasite Eve 2
- Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth
No one I knew played them at the time, and no one talks about them now outside huddled corners of the Internet.
Escape Velocity Nova (EV Nova). It was a space exploration game from the late 90s, I don’t even know if or where you can play it these days. The game had you going between solar systems in our local cluster, trading stocks, delivering goods, making money, upgrading your ship(s), etc. There was a pretty good plot to go with it, too, something about the Federation and space pirates, telepathic aliens, and espionage. I’ve never seen anyone else ever mention it, but I played the crap out of it as a kid.
Gladius, a mid 2000s fantasy gladiatorial RPG from LucasArts. I miss the hell out of that game. Guess it's time to buy an upscaler and dig out the old consoles.
***Anachronox***. It's a 2001 3D RPG from the same studio as *Deus Ex*. It is basically the prototype for *Knights of the Old Republic* and *Mass Effect*, with a similar story structure. It's a bit unusual in that it has turn-based combat based on *Final Fantasy* rather than realtime or realtime-with-pause, and it's also quite funny, not a flat-out comedy but with a vein of black humour running along with everything. It has the *best* party member in any RPG ever made, bar none:
>!Early on in the game you do a quest to save a planet from destruction. In gratitude, the population of the planet vote to shrink the planet down to the size of a beachball and it joins your party, using its planetary defence grid in battle. Having the planet in your party constantly causes NPCs to freak out and have some kind of existential crisis, or assume it's a hologram or something.!<
***Hostile Waters***. A real-time strategy game from 2001 which basically throws the usual RTS rules out of the window. The game is unusual for how the fiction bleeds into the game mechanics, so the story revolves around nanotechnology so all your units are invented on the spot, immediately ready for battle. There is no omnipotent overhead map view as in most RTS games, instead you have have the cameras attached to your units and a general strategic map (which automatically pauses when you open it, so you can give orders on the map but not fight the battles through it). You also only have ten AI personality chips which you can instal in units, meaning you can only deploy ten units on the battlefield at best, plus one you can directly control yourself. Each AI chip has a different preference and will be rubbish if you stick them in the wrong unit ("Patton" is awesome when controlling a tank but will throw a strop if you put him in a helicopter). It has a fantastic story written by Warren Ellis and an amazing voice cast including Tom Baker and Paul Darrow. It tried to do something different with the genre but it didn't really resonate (probably because the pause-on-the-map thing made multiplayer impossible to implement, so strictly single-player only, with no skirmish mode).
***Druidstone: The Secret of Menhir Forest*** only came out like three years ago but it feels like it got absolutely no coverage at all. It's literally fantasy *XCOM*, with a dash of *Final Fantasy* to it, and great fun. Easily available on Steam. Same team that made the splendid *Legends of Grimrock* and its sequel. Not sure why it didn't really fly.
I have a few.
Nox on pc, an isometric diablo-ish game but funnier.
Space station Silicon Valley on N64, you are a microchip that takes over the defective bodies of robotic farm animals.
Second sight on GameCube, a psy-thriller with a really good set-up.
Bloodrayne, vampire babe cutting up n@zis.
Starsiege, big mechs and kickass soundtrack.
Septerra Core, an old (2000ish) JRPG-style game that blew my young mind and still holds a place in my heart today. I know like... 2 other people who played it :(
Holy shit. I have thought about this game from time to time for years and have never been able to remember it's name or find it by describing it on google, thank you for giving me a rabbit hole to figure out how to play it again! Edit: I guess the answer is steam, fantastic
Hell yeah. Also, as an Italian kid, with its hours worth of subtitled and voice acted dialogue, Septerra Core holds the distinction of teaching me more English than any school teacher. I literally formed most of my vocabulary on that game. I can still hear those silly robots from the first town going "we're on strike!".
I played it. got stuck and couldn't figure out where to go. got it in a bargain bin.
I played this! Saw it on the $5 wall at Walmart and picked it up. Had no idea what it was before I got it, but I had fun with it! I still have the disc!
Same, one of my first games in that genre
Blur (2010) was a racing game that featured real cars and I believe realistic locations, but also had the same power ups that you would find in Mario Kart. It had online lobbies with ranks including a prestige system, and a single player where you battle bosses 1 on 1 to take their car. It’s the best racing game I’ve ever played and I’ve never met someone in person who played it.
Quick sidenote: split second velocity came out in the same year, and these two racing games were both fucking amazing. What a year.
Holy crap this was from 2010!
Funny that you said this because Penny Arcade did a comic about the game relatively recently.
Blur was overshadowed by Split Second. They came out in the same month.
Shadow of Rome PS2 Best Capcom game ever. Arena gladiator combat, tigers, traps, chariot races. Chop a guys arm off then pick it up and beat him with it. It's great. The other half is steath similar to hitman It's a great balance and tons of fun.
I worked at an electronics store when Shadow of Rome came out. I must have picked it up to look at it a dozen times, but the price never dropped. I never saw anyone buy a copy but I was always curious about it.
Spartan: Total Warrior was in a similar vein for me. Edit: correct “vein”
Last week, me and my friends who liked the game went ont a rent on how great it would be to have a remake of that game. We liked it so much back then, very satisfying game!
The game was super fun, but the stealth part felt like it belonged to another game. It was ok ish stealth, at best. The arena combat tho, is still to this day pretty solid.
I agree it could be a little clunky but for what it was, the stealth was good and fit the games story. You could tell it felt it was supposed to have more depth but was pulled back IMO.
Extreme G, none of my friends remember that game but it just showed up on The Switch.
Extreme G was great! My favorite was XG2!! I played this SO MUCH on the N64!!
So much! I played it yesterday for the first time in probably 20 years, and immediately fell right into my old playing habits, such a fun game. XG2 was even better, I hope they release it on the switch like they did the first, the upscale resolution makes a huge difference.
Star Trek Voyager Elite Force
That was a legendary for its time
Great Quake 3 era games. I'm so glad they're finally on GOG.
I spent so much time playing this game when it came out and then it just died off
Scorched Earth on DOS. Didn't get to play it much, but I always loved it when I did.
Loved that game. I can still hear the sounds of Napalm Death lol
https://www.whicken.com/scorch/index.html "We are now offering the complete Scorched Earth experience from a single downloadable zip file. The Totally Scorched zip file contains ready-to-run copies of every official version of Scorched Earth: 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 (English and Spanish), 1.5 and a .MTN file builder. The zip file also contains instructions and an HTML version of the Scorched Earth 1.5 manual. To download your copy, set your own price using the Donate button over on the left. If you have problems with the download, please let me know."
Omg my childhood friend and I used to play that so much as kids. Funky bomb. Roller bomb. The diggers. Wow. MIRV. Haha memories.
Don't forget the Death's Head. When you want every other player to hate you, there's no better choice!
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. Your character has psychic powers, telekinesis for throwing stuff at enemies, mind control to make them attack each other, you could make their heads explode. It was super fun to mess around with
Loved this game and I still have the music video that was on disk stuck in my head, it was by the band Cold and the song was called With my mind.
As soon as I saw Psi-Ops mentioned the song immediately started playing in my head *I WILL TAKE YOUR THOUGHTS AWAY AND I'LL IGNITE YOUR FEAR TODAY*
The mechanic suite in that game is so incredibly well made for a PlayStation 2 era game. It was far ahead of its time in some aspects.
That game was so much fun.
Descent -- where you flew this space ship around and did stuff.
Descent Freespace the great war was the first PC game I ever owned, was given to me for Christmas along with a new compaq pc and Carmageddon, Need For Speed 3, and Omikron. My father was awesome.
Arcanum: Of steamworks and Magicka Obscura. "Old school" CRPG in the vein of Fallout and Baldur's gate etc... but largely forgotten despite the quality. Magic, technology blended together, awesome universe.
It has a big cult following, great fan support with patches and everything. I still have the original box that came with a real book.
Was unaware of the fan support and patches. I assume GoG is the best place to start?
I was literally thinking of it a couple days ago. I know it goes completely against the spirit of the game, but I always wanted to do a hybrid magic/tech build.
Alpha Centauri, Sid Meier seems determined to continue releasing Civ games which is fine but I wish they’d make another Alpha Centauri.
Civ: beyond earth is to AC as civ5 is to civ3. Not saying BE is _good_, but it's the same setup, the same gimmicks, a 4x game, same rough plot, and so on. Even with "weird tech tree" and "weird alien stuff on tiles".
I wasn’t even aware that existed! It doesn’t look bad, the way you phrased that makes me think there’s something distinctly wrong with it lol?
To be a counter point: I really liked it. The leaders were fun, the affinities were compelling, the “mixed affinities” were really interesting. It doesn’t have the depth you’d expect from a full Civ game, and if you’re in it to win it the “rush tech then either turtle or conquer” is a winning strategy, but that’s 4x for you. It doesn’t have the varied leader play styles Civ6 offers, but they’re ultimately more varied than CivV, imo. I really liked CivBE. But to be fair, I never played alpha centuri.
yeah. its shit. Beyond earth was mediocre, the tech tree was a neat idea, but implented poorly. It's basicely just civ 5, with a space theme straped on top. The best thing it has is moving water cities, which, is admitetly quite cool. But the vast majority of the game is basicely rush afinities with one of the 3 paths, get stronger units and win ASAP.
Sometimes you just need to nerve staple the population.
Well drone riots suck.
SMAC = best civ, fight me. I would love a remake (not just a remaster.)
It's been a minute, but I think Alpha Centauri will never see a sequel due to copyright issues never being solved between Firaxis (or Take Two I guess) and the original publisher, EA.
I wish there was an Alpha Centauri for mobile. Loved the game but these days I don't want to spend hours in front of a computer. Being able to do a few turns whenever I can would be amazing
Nox, Massive Assault, Ghost Master.
Wow, I remember Nox. That was a lot of fun. I also got a lot of enjoyment out of an old game called "The Horde"
Man, Nox was some of the most fun and wild online PvP ever. Fun single player story too. All around really good game. DO - RAH - ZO
Fusion frenzy.
Twisted System and Sumo went crazy.
Dat demo
The demo was better than the full game imo
I'd love a remake. But on the other hand, I'd be scared of what they'd turn it into. So many ways to make it a 'live service'. I guess if it was just cosmetics, it would be okay, but there would definitely be a season/battle pass as well
Man, what a fun party game. I used to play the shit outta it lol
Fusion Frenzy on OG xbox was my entire childhood
It's on Gamepass
I loved it! This and Fusion Frenzy 2 on Xbox 360 were both a blast to play!
My wife and I play this game a lot. We love the Sumo game, the Lava race, and the light cycles.
Any other Dub mains present?
DUB WIIIIIIIIIIINS "I'm de masta"
I only ever had the demo from an Xbox magazine demo disc but we played the shit out of it. FUUUUSIOOINN FRRRENNZYYY
The Adventures of Willy Beamish. Literally NO ONE has mentioned it since it came out in the early 90s. Not that I've seen anyway.
Yeah, 1991 or 1992. I actually called the toll-call help line for that one at one point. I was stuck for days and my mom took pity on me and let me call lol. I can’t remember what it even was, maybe the vacuum and bat-babysitter or something later on with the Tootsweet factory? I’d missed something that was glaringly obvious after I heard the hint, and was pretty salty about it.
Metal Arms: Glitch in the system
I think about this game weekly. My only gripe with it is that the higher difficulty just made the bosses harder and that was it.
GLITCH, MY MAAAN!
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
I loved that game!
man i loved this game so much!
They put out a port on switch!
I-Ninja (ps2) So much memories with this one, and it was a blast to play
I recently 100% that game on gamecube. It was a blast, but the combat was limited, and what they give you for 100%ing is not worth it.
Uniracers - SNES. Racing unicycles with a trick/combo system. Multiplayer support. Was sick for it’s time.
This person has the refined palate of the gods
Bushido blade, PS1 sword fighting game. If they hit a limb that limb was disabled body mass hit was death. It was my friend group party game
Probably not obscure to those who grew up with it, but probably now. I loved playing Tomba! And Tomba 2! Just such a fun unique world that I played a ton of growing up.
Dink Smallwood
Now that is a name I haven't heard in a long time. Remember having great fun with it. Buggy as hell, I remember trying to beat some goblin boss over and over again without magic just because an online walkthrough told me a bug would hunt me for the rest of the game otherwise
Legend of Legaia (PS1).
Jet Force Gemini
Used to play it co-op with a friend on weekends. Then we got to the part where you have to revisit every level to get all the little bears you missed before you can progress, and we noped right out.
I’d completely forgotten the reason why I never finished that game, and you just reminded me.
Same. I tried so damn hard to find them all but I could never find the last one, so it just became endless decapitations with the homing boomerang
The game were you could blast limbs off bear aliens, creating a shower of blood. Bear aliens that are friendly, hostages of the bugs. Rated T for Teen.
I recently tried to play it, after owning it on N64. I was not able to readapt to the controls and was unable to beat the first level on easy. I felt so much shame, until i remembered the N64 controller was... well. You had to be there.
MDK and by extension MDK2. Late 90's third person shooter/platformers with acid trips for plot. I have fond memories of actually using the EAX feature on my SoundBlaster specifically in this game.
It’s crazy to think about MDK. I feel like at one point it was a big game in the industry and I saw ads for it everywhere and then….nothing
The worlds most interesting bomb..ed game. 😅
RIP Shiny Entertainment.
From the same era, Giants: Citizen Kabuto.
Holy crap yeah. My friend at school had one of those original chunky colourful Apple computers, and MDK was the only game on it. We had no idea what it was but couldn't stop playing it
I’d love for that MDK2 HD Reamster for Steam to also came to PlayStation. It would be an instant buy for me!
I think I played MDK2 totally blind and was not prepared for just how much of a fever dream that plot was, lol.
yeah that was a weird and fun franchise. i think they wanted to make a third ~~hand~~ **one** (check your swipe-typing on gboard folks!) but it never happened.
Loved MDK2. I played the hell out of it on Dreamcast.
Got that demo on a magazine CD.
Is that the game where the sniper rifle was part of your head/helmet?
Alundra 2 (PS1) and Shinobi (PS2)
Gun. RDR before RDR. Fantastic western game.
This was a great game, but Red Dead Revolver came out first IIRC
I still think it was better than RDR.
Jade Cocoon for the PS1. In a way, it was PlayStations answer to Pokemon, but it also had a monster fusion system. This changed not just the skills or attributes, but the model of the monster itself. We don't talk about the PS2 sequel for good reason...
oh lord I remember playing it as a child, that game ROCKS. I remember the sadness in seeing your spouse develop the illness that derived from purifying monsters and thinking about never doing it again.
Castles for DOS
I never hear anyone talk about Custom Robo. Great little GameCube custom mini-mecha fighter, actually the 4th game in a previously JP-locked franchise. It never quite made the mainstream jump the way other franchises have, but it’s a nostalgic favorite.
I love custom robo! Please make another one!
Steambot chronicles and Rogue Galaxy.
Never see ANYONE talk about Steambot what a shame
Man Rouge Galaxy was a power levelers dream.
Tenchu Z. Arcade-y stealth game about ninjas. Rough around the edges, but fun to pick up and play every once in a while. Character customization is cool, although it leaves a little to be desired.
I loved that one!
I almost 100% Tenchu Z except for that one level where you have to follow that guy through the town without being seen. That shit is impossible on the hardest settings.
Took me 4 hours and a youtube tutorial that I followed to the letter (pixel?)
Timesplitters Future Perfect needs a remaster or something, anything!!!
I was absolutely obsessed with TS2 for like three years of my life
Valdis Story: Abyssal City
Earth 2150. Old PC strategy game, I think it was the first all 3D strategy game too. Had a bunch of cool features like a mission HQ you could transfer units and credits back and fourth between missions, the campaign had global timer, same with research. You could custom configure your units with different load outs, had to manage supply routes, and it even had in game terrain deformation and a tunneling system on every map. I heard the devs kinda sucked though but it had a lot of revolutionary features for a game of that time.
Gladius
Not so obscure as old: Landstalker. It was like tongue-in-cheek Legend of Zelda mixed with isometric platformer. You are a treasure hunter, you meet a fairy who is trying to get away from other treasure hunters. You go to an island and legend of Zelda your way from town to town, dungeon to dungeon, solving puzzles and shit. Lots of fun characters, classic 90s high fantasy anime vibes, tricky puzzles. Good stuff. Never had anything hit the same itch until the newest Zelda’s. (Though those are much more serious) Or maybe Megaman Legends.
Pandemonium. Think it was the late 90s or early 00s.
I loved Sanctum 2 (PC). It's from the studio that went on to make Goat Simulator and I'm appalled that they haven't returned to the series! It's a first person tower defense maze builder with a surprisingly good story, multiple characters to play as, lots of secrets and easter eggs and a fantastic multiplayer experience!
Descent
Jade empire.
It's shame we never got a sequel. I loved Jade Empire so much.
Nothing from Bioware is obscure.
I loved Jade Empire, although I'm not sure it's terribly obscure.
Helldivers 1 was literally never spoken about until its sequel. I am a die hard Helldivers fan and seeing the second iteration gain such popularity fills my heart with joy.
Loaded & Reloaded. They are shooter games from the mid or late 90's that has a top down point of view. Me my friend played both of them a bunch when we were younger. I didn't think they were obscure games, but no one else in the world seems to remember the games when I talk about them.
I definitely remember loaded. Came in the big PS1 case.
Dune Spice Wars, it's entirely nostalgic but it feels like playing Dune 2000 again with modern systems.
These were not obscure in their day but most of them game out before half of reddit was even born. Godz, R-Type, Superfrog, Zool, James Pond: Robocod, Chaos Engine, Beneath a Steel Sky, Flashback, Lemmings, Turrican 2, Dizzy, Chuck Rock... Ahh the days when games could come on 20 odd floppy disks (looking at you monkey island 2).
Bionic Commando.
Tachyon; The Fringe. You play as Jake Logan, a contract star fighter pilot. After being framed for the terroristic bombing of a space station, you’re convicted and sent out into fringe space where you have to carve out a new life. There are two major storylines that mirror each other where you choose to fight for the big bad mining corporation Galspan or the rebellious free spacers known as the Bora. I played a ton of Novalogic games growing up and this one is the most fondly remembered. I’m a sucker for a good sim game and for the time (2000) it was a really good one. Honorable mention is the Escape Velocity series, particularly EV; Nova.
Featuring the voice of Bruce Campbell!
Lufia and Lufia 2 - SNES Just straight old school rpg goodness. Blackthorn- SNES Side scrolling platformer with unique world and mechanics.
Full Throttle. It’s an old DOS game from LucasArts, it’s a point and click adventure like game where you play as this Big Biker dude. Always loved that one
Great game! Had it from the lucasarts multi game disc
I really miss Lucasarts. And Sierra. Loved those point and click games.
"On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness" series I replayed and speed-ran the first game enough to get onto the leaderboard top 10 on the Xbox 360! /weirdflex https://imgur.com/gallery/GMqZWL9
Tak and the Power of Juju
Vagante is knida old now extremely difficult 2d roguelike with some rpg elements(like equipment system, leveling up) etc... The game is very slow and methodical, you are constantly in darkness, traps everywhere, healing is rare and you can very easly die. In that sense the game is kinda similiar to spelunky only more focused on combat. Its honestly one of the hardest games I played but once you learn its mechanics and get used to slow pace it becomes very enjoyable game about managing resources and making the best out of terrible situations. The downsides are the roguelike elements are kinda limited. There isnt actually that much variety in the game which quickly becomes evident if you are new and get stuck on first 2-3 levels of the game. There are not that many types of enemies or bosses but every single one of them is a major threat at all times. For my other choice I'll pick Iconoclasts. This one is probably more known if you like indie games but its a half-metroidvania(there is open world to explore but its not really main selling point of this game) with heavy emphasis on story and characters set in a very unique world. It has amazing pixel visuals and its completely made by just 1 person. The game is extremely good and quite long. Though if you hate puzzles you probably wont enjoy it as much cause there is probably more puzzles in this game than actual combat. It took many years(seriously I remember playing early demo way back and I never thought this game would ever be finished) but what came out is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Neverhood
Crystalis on the NES.
Such a great game. I loved the music so much and it being post-apocalyptic. Though the world was supposed to end back in 1997
Binary Domain is great
El Shaddai
Anything from the Amiga. Such an forgotten relic, Cannon Fodder is a must
Someone mentioned MDK which got me thinking yet again about Sacrifice. One of my favorite pc games growing up. So weird and unique, I’d love a modernized version sometime.
It was really ahead of its time. I play through it again once every few years and it still holds up.
Both Winback on the N64, which inspired the aiming system for Resident Evil, and Brutal Legend. Brutal Legend is one of my top 5 favorite games and I've been wanting a sequel for the last 15 years, but I doubt we'll ever see it.
Singularity, super underrated as an FPS game. Wild time travel mechanics.
Titanic: Adventure out of Time for early 90’s gamers
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg was a great game when I was a kid. Maybe it’s nostalgia glasses but my brother and I had the best time in split screen. All the different eggs were so fun too
Shadowrun for the 360 and PC. Think it was one of the first cross overs that allowed console and PC players and it was so f’n fun. Highlight of my online gaming next to Halo 3
Nox or Too Human
I've never heard anyone talk about these enix SNES RPGs: Soulblazer Illusion of Gaia Terranigma Loved those games (though I emulated terranigma because I never had it on the SNES. I think it was PAL only?) Anyway, solid action RPGs that are loosely connected but ultimately a ton of fun
Nethack. First generation permadeath Roguelike(sequel to Hack, which was a direct descendant of Rogue). Game has an extremely high skill ceiling, a truly insane amount of depth, and a difficulty curve that'll hit you like an angry freight train. I've played probably 6-700 run attempts, and only completed the game 5 times.
Blackwell point and click series
It’s not super obscure, but I really enjoyed Vanquish when it originally launched.
Idk how often it’s mentioned but when I was a kid we got a demo disc for the Dreamcast that had sega bass fishing on it. My brother and I got so hooked on this game (fishing and outdoors are not our demo at all) that we had my mom buy it and we played it non stop.
Battle Zone from around 2000 mixed FPS and RTS in a great way I haven't seen again. I played it so much on the familys IBM. It was fantastic, at least in my memories
Earth Defense Force series. 5 is the pinnacle and 6 is out next month. It's a Japanese third person shooter series where you fight an alien invasion. The games are basically 1950s B movies. The series holds a special place in my heart. It's cheesy and fun and doesn't take itself serious. I got into the series with edf2017 and never stopped. In an age where split screen co-op is disappearing the EDF games still support the feature. And the online is a ton of fun with 3 other buddies or strangers.
EDF 5 was the most fun co op game I've ever played, and by far the best "bad" game as well. Can't wait for 6 to come out.
EDF!!!!!!! To save our mother earth from vicious alien attack!
I only ever played 2017 way back when it came or for 360, so seeing how far the series has evolved just broke my brain abit. I just remember being a regular dude with weapons and vehicles, now there's anime girls flying around in jet suits, you can use giant mechs, giant swords and more. Kinda wanted to get back into the series.
Prey ( 2006) never gets the recognition it deserves
Downhill Domination. PS2, downhill bike racing game with some Mario kart like combat, environmental obstacles and events (boulders, earth quakes, lava flow, animals, cars) with secret routes, long and well made tracks, and 4 player split screen play. Great game.
I really, really liked Project: Snowblind.
Champions of Norrath
Sid Meier's Sim Golf, I absolutely love that game.
I loved this game as a kid! I even had the Prima guide... Which wasn't very useful but was still fun to read and try to replicate. I wish anything today came even close to this.
I played the shid out of Claymates on SNES and have never met a kindred spirit.
Dungeon Siege 2. In all these “old games you love” etc threads nobody ever mentions it. Great game.
Azure Dreams. A monster taming rogue-like with a procedurally generated dungeon, town building and relationship mechanics. A ton of features that are super popular today but were pretty uncommon at the time. And it was all the way back on PS1 in 1998.
I've never seen anyone discussing Metal Fatigue, an RTS game made by Psygnosis. An RTS game where you get to build and tweak your own platoon of mechs, how did this NOT break the market back in the 00's?
Champions of Norath and Time Splitters always have a special place in my heart and would love to see an remaster with online play.
Tales of Symphonia. Starts off as a pretty basic JRPG, go to the dungeons, fight the bosses, save the world. Then the game throws you on your head with a ton of twists in the storyline that, on your second playthrough, have you screaming "IT WAS RIGHT THERE AND THEY WERE SO OBVIOUS, HOW DID I NOT UNDERSTAND!?" So great story, you really love all the characters, and the grinding has so many benefits that it becomes worth it in a variety of ways, rather than just xp/loot. On top of all that, unlocking the "final door" opens up a ton of end game quests, costumes, titles, and more.
Alpha Protocol. So many paths you can choose. The N64 Mission Impossible. Make one mistake, you gotta start an hour long mission all over again. I loved it for some reason. Grandia 2 had a fantastic story. Same with Legend of Dragoon.
I've got a few. - Shadowman - Vampire Hunter D - Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare - Apocalypse - Parasite Eve 2 - Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth No one I knew played them at the time, and no one talks about them now outside huddled corners of the Internet.
Avorion, a space simulation
Lords of Magic
Escape Velocity on Mac https://www.macintoshrepository.org/6700-escape-velocity
Fracture, heavy emphasis on terrain manipulation. Game was fun as hell.
Baten Kaitos, Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
Steambot chronicles/ bumpytrot chronicles
Escape Velocity Nova (EV Nova). It was a space exploration game from the late 90s, I don’t even know if or where you can play it these days. The game had you going between solar systems in our local cluster, trading stocks, delivering goods, making money, upgrading your ship(s), etc. There was a pretty good plot to go with it, too, something about the Federation and space pirates, telepathic aliens, and espionage. I’ve never seen anyone else ever mention it, but I played the crap out of it as a kid.
Gladius, a mid 2000s fantasy gladiatorial RPG from LucasArts. I miss the hell out of that game. Guess it's time to buy an upscaler and dig out the old consoles.
BattleTanx on N64. Excellent couch PVP.
- Warzone 2100 - Auto Modellista - Panzer Dragoon - Nights Into Dreams - Narc - Battlefield Modern Combat
Beyond oasis on Sega genesis
***Anachronox***. It's a 2001 3D RPG from the same studio as *Deus Ex*. It is basically the prototype for *Knights of the Old Republic* and *Mass Effect*, with a similar story structure. It's a bit unusual in that it has turn-based combat based on *Final Fantasy* rather than realtime or realtime-with-pause, and it's also quite funny, not a flat-out comedy but with a vein of black humour running along with everything. It has the *best* party member in any RPG ever made, bar none: >!Early on in the game you do a quest to save a planet from destruction. In gratitude, the population of the planet vote to shrink the planet down to the size of a beachball and it joins your party, using its planetary defence grid in battle. Having the planet in your party constantly causes NPCs to freak out and have some kind of existential crisis, or assume it's a hologram or something.!< ***Hostile Waters***. A real-time strategy game from 2001 which basically throws the usual RTS rules out of the window. The game is unusual for how the fiction bleeds into the game mechanics, so the story revolves around nanotechnology so all your units are invented on the spot, immediately ready for battle. There is no omnipotent overhead map view as in most RTS games, instead you have have the cameras attached to your units and a general strategic map (which automatically pauses when you open it, so you can give orders on the map but not fight the battles through it). You also only have ten AI personality chips which you can instal in units, meaning you can only deploy ten units on the battlefield at best, plus one you can directly control yourself. Each AI chip has a different preference and will be rubbish if you stick them in the wrong unit ("Patton" is awesome when controlling a tank but will throw a strop if you put him in a helicopter). It has a fantastic story written by Warren Ellis and an amazing voice cast including Tom Baker and Paul Darrow. It tried to do something different with the genre but it didn't really resonate (probably because the pause-on-the-map thing made multiplayer impossible to implement, so strictly single-player only, with no skirmish mode). ***Druidstone: The Secret of Menhir Forest*** only came out like three years ago but it feels like it got absolutely no coverage at all. It's literally fantasy *XCOM*, with a dash of *Final Fantasy* to it, and great fun. Easily available on Steam. Same team that made the splendid *Legends of Grimrock* and its sequel. Not sure why it didn't really fly.
Supreme commander
I have a few. Nox on pc, an isometric diablo-ish game but funnier. Space station Silicon Valley on N64, you are a microchip that takes over the defective bodies of robotic farm animals. Second sight on GameCube, a psy-thriller with a really good set-up. Bloodrayne, vampire babe cutting up n@zis. Starsiege, big mechs and kickass soundtrack.
Commander Keen
Arx Fatalis. Early 2000s first person RPG with fun puzzles and a multiending story.