Favorite Obscure Games

Bob McDob · Post by **Bob McDob** » 2004-01-03 03:21am

Which are your favorite obscure, independent, or just plain bizarre titles? This is the thread for little-known gems others might not be aware of, especially freeware and shareware.

Space Chickens from Outer Space: At least, I think this is the title. You fly around Subspace-like maps in a tiny spaceship, trying to gather all the chickens and avoiding aliens and obstacles before time runs out. And it has quotes from the Bible before every level. Odd.

Ganja Farmer: Like Missile Defense, except you're a Rasta ex-soldier defending your weed crop from "The Man". Shoot down government paradroppers, bombers, helicopters, and the like. Also, aliens.

New Beetle Tracks and Gaps:A freeware puzzle game developed by Volkswagon as a promotion for the New Beetle. Entirely in German, but pretty intuitive and easy to decipher. Lead your beetle from one end of the level to the other. Also includes a level designer. Nice graphics and music.

Cal Wright · Post by **Cal Wright** » 2004-01-03 03:37am

Kabuki Quantum Fighter

Hands down one of the BEST 2D games. It was on the NES and every now and then I'll find someone who's played it. I have never played a game that damn hard, with controls that until now have been rivaled. (and that's only because of all the buttons on a controller)

Post by **Kuja** » 2004-01-03 03:41am

Lightning Force, a side-scroller for the Sega Genesis. It had me and my cousin obsessed for months on end until one nerve-wracking night when we finally beat it after hours of play.

Nowadays, it seems like nobody's even heard of it.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-01-03 03:59am

Shadowgate for the NES. rather nifty title that had me and a friend of mine obsessed with it for months.

Deja Vu (also NES). another little gem along the same veins as shadowgate, except more along the lines of a film noir detective story rather than high-fantasy.

Maniac Mansion. i'm sure this one requires no explanation for the older gamers, but it seems like not too many people have heard of it nowadays.

Marcao · Post by **Marcao** » 2004-01-03 04:07am

River City Ransom for the NES is one of my all time favorite games. I just enjoyed that game so much.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2004-01-03 04:23am

Its all about Soldat, folks.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-01-03 04:28am

Panzer Dragoon Saga. Almost impossible to find in the US and I bought a used Saturn just to play it.

Also, X-Com UFO Defense, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary and Tie Fighter. These aren't so much obscure to the seasoned gamer, but ask one of your "modern" gamers about these titles and they'll look at you with a blank stare.

Datana · Post by **Datana** » 2004-01-03 04:31am

I've tried to list these in chronological order, from earliest to most recent.

1. River City Ransom for the NES. It was extremely hard to find even when it was being published -- I've only known two people personally that actually own the cartridge, and I'm one of them. It's an evolution of the Double Dragon gameplay style that incorporates RPG-like stats and character growth.

2. Metal Storm for the NES. You controlled a gravity-flipping robot fighting your way through stages in a timed rush. Very easy to initially learn, but the difficulty rises exponentially (you'll hit an absolute wall in the third stage on your first playthrough). I've never been able to beat the final stage, myself (it's a Megaman-like boss rush).

3. Vice: Project Doom for the NES. Sure, it's a Ninja Gaiden clone, but it does it with a good deal of style. The semi-futuristic plot was also pretty interesting for an NES game, and it was unusually dark for a game that was Nintendo-approved.

4. Genesis / Terranigma for the SNES. This was a Japan and Europe only sequel to Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia that manages to improve on the strengths of both of its predecessors. Enix's spat with Nintendo kept this out of the U.S. in the waning days of the SNES.

5. Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner for the PS2. While the first game in the series outright sucked (notable only for its MGS2 demo), the second makes up for all of the flaws in the original, and then some. Not kidding when it advertises "high-speed robot action." Listed here as nearly everyone I know overlooked it despite seeing it in stores.

6. Melty Blood for the PC. This is an extremely obscure fighting game (at least in the U.S.) released a year or two ago. It was apparently a complete independent effort, yet is pretty fun and looks professional. It's only available in Japanese, but that doesn't really detract from the gameplay. Worth a playthrough only to see such things as a battoujutsu-ing maid and the strangest Apocalypse rip-off ever to grace a fighting game.

(EDIT: Fixed a few caught typos.)

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-01-03 04:31am

i remember the 25th anniversary one.it was on the NES wasn't it?

Super-Gagme · Post by **Super-Gagme** » 2004-01-03 04:41am

Elvis in Space. Brilliant game

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-01-03 04:47am

Darth_Zod wrote:i remember the 25th anniversary one.it was on the NES wasn't it?

No, this was a PC game. There was a Star Trek game on the NES, but it wasn't all that good.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-01-03 05:26am

beurocracy and hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, info-com/douglas adams.

*dons Peril sensitive sunglasses*

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2004-01-03 07:11am

Last year I snagged a copy of River City Ransom from a flea-market bargain bin for $2.

One thing I really liked about it was the AI. In the much more "advanced" Final Fight, a thug would step over a knife to fight to the death with his fists. In Ransom, he might try anything from a direct attack, to finding a garbage can to throw at you, to running away.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2004-01-03 01:48pm

Geneforge -

A gem of a game. It is an RPG reminiscent of the old days.
It is very open ended, you can be a bad guy or a good
guy. You belong to a group of people called "Shapers"
who use magic to shape life to suit their needs. It is shareware
so you can play the first 25% of the game just to see if you like it.
Graphics are poor, but the story is rich and involving.

Here is a link for those that are interested. I recently d/l Geneforge 2
but have not had a chance to play it.

http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/geneforge/

Tasoth · Post by **Tasoth** » 2004-01-03 02:18pm

X-com Baby, that and Deer Avenger. Something about ambushing deer hunters as a antropomorphized deer is satisfying. Is Lightning Force the one with the Options that you recieve half way through the game that charge the giant lightning daggers of doom? oh, Bio Hazard Battle, Ranger X and Mazinger Z for sega....

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-01-03 02:27pm

leather goddess of phobos for you perverted infocom types.

Post by **Dalton** » 2004-01-03 02:41pm

Skies of Arcadia is pretty obscure.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2004-01-03 02:50pm

Panzer Dragoon Saga: Fuck you Sega for making something around 5,000 of them....though now my copy is worth nearly $100+. Very good RPG

Shining Force 3(all of it): Once again yay Sega...part 1 of 3 doesn't help. I got 2+3...had a friend help me through and saw it all through him and FAQs.

Skies of Arcadia: both DC and GC versions.

Guardian Heroes: Now there was a gem of a game.

Shadow Hearts: Screwy but fun RPG

Persona 1 & 2: Even with a shitty translation the games are still fun.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2004-01-03 02:51pm

Pirates! for the NES. A fun game where you sailed the Caribbean, snagged ships, raided towns, and did various other things.

AnimeJet · Post by **AnimeJet** » 2004-01-03 02:56pm

Fallout, best RPG.. EVAR.
I don't know how obscure it is here, but most people have never heard of it, blah.

Another game i'm sure no one has ever heard of is Eggmania.. its a tetris remake with you being an eggs, you try to build a tower with tetris peices, the more solid (no holes!) you make it, the better. Weird, i know. Another one would probably be Top Shop for PS1, kinda like monopoly, but you get to upgrade shops in a mall and sell items in each shop.. and uh.. yea.

Post by **Dalton** » 2004-01-03 03:06pm

Pablo Sanchez wrote:Pirates! for the NES. A fun game where you sailed the Caribbean, snagged ships, raided towns, and did various other things.

I absolutely adored the Genesis/SNES versions (though whichever one had the ten greatest deeds thing was better).

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-01-03 04:46pm

I liked the original PC version, keep thinking about it too....

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-01-03 05:24pm

another little known series state-side: Super Robot Wars 3. very nicely done.

then there's Star Ocean, a nifty RPG for the SNES that sadly was never translated into english. though there is a 40% english ROM of the original game.

Anarchist Bunny · Post by **Anarchist Bunny** » 2004-01-03 07:56pm

Phantasia or something like that , I think it recently got GBAed, more RPGish action RPG, fights were an Action/RPG mix, but everthing else was straight RPG.

I'll me too this, RIVER CITY FUCKING RANSOM! If you haven't played it, do it by means that I can't discuss on this board NOW!

Captain Skyhawk on the NES, usually don't like those one hit one kill shooters, but this game was cool.

Master Blaster, also NES.

Post by **Dalton** » 2004-01-03 08:00pm

anarchistbunny wrote:Phantasia or something like that , I think it recently got GBAed, more RPGish action RPG, fights were an Action/RPG mix, but everthing else was straight RPG.

...Phantasy Star?

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

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