"Genre-Bending" Games

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BrawlMan

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Almost anything by Treasure. These guys will blend in a whole ton of unexpected gameplay changes.

In Sin and Punishment: Star Successor, a game that is mainly a rail-shooter, has you playing third-person in some stages; and 2.5D in others (sometimes within the same stage). The game is also a huge bullet hell shooter, and even has one boss where you fight him 1-on-1 exactly like a primitive fighting game.

Guardian Heroes is a brawler crossed with an RPG. I know that this doesn't sound special now, but back in 1996 it was a huge deal for the Sega Saturn. Yes, there were some brawlers like Double Dragon I (NES version) and Knights of the Round that predate it, but not to the level of Guardian Heroes. It also, had a fighting game mode that predated Super Smash Bros. that could have up to 6 players.

Gunstar Heroes and Gunstar Super Heroes is one gameplay roulette. You'll be running and gunning in one stage, saving Flickies in another segment, and doing a SHMUP section in the penultimate stage of both games.

Custom Robo is a mech-fighting, battle-arena game crossed with an RPG. The RPG elements are super light and is only there to advanced the story, but multiplayer is fun as hell. If you got a Gamecube, 4 controllers, and 4 buddies prepare to have some of the best multiplayer on the system.

http://img.gamefaqs.net/box/6/7/0/2670_front.jpg

Killer 7 is a rail-shooter crossed with psychological, surreal, survival horror, and a dash of a political thriller. There will never be another game like it for a longtime.

Asura's Wrath. An arcade game that is an interactive anime (with one of the best stories in gaming The story would work really well in a TV series it's trying to emulate, or a movie, but it wouldn't be as fun.), a brawler, a rail-shooter, and a fighting gameYou fight Ryu and then Akuma in the DLC.. CyberConnect2 is known for doing stuff like this; see their Naruto games for more examples.
 

Elvis Starburst

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CoCage said:
Custom Robo is a mech-fighting, battle-arena game crossed with an RPG. The RPG elements are super light and is only there to advanced the story, but multiplayer is fun as hell. If you got a Gamecube, 4 controllers, and 4 buddies prepare to have some of the best multiplayer on the system.
I'd argue that the RPG elements are so light they probably don't really count, and that the game is probably just a robot arena shooter. I think I see what ya mean though. I love that game a lot personally, it's an absolute blast!
 

maninahat

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Firewatch. People try to call these things walking simulators, but the walking part is often the least important, least engaging aspect. Firewatch is fundamentally a mystery thriller drama story and calling it a "walking simulator" isn't a particularly helpful description.

Also Her Story and Papers Please. Just what the hell genres are these games? Desk simulators?
 

Vendor-Lazarus

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I really suck at describing games so I'm just going the list them with a link to either wikipedia or the games own site..Sry.

Space Rangers, <link=http://www.soldak.com/Drox-Operative/Overview.html>Drox Operative, <link=http://www.soldak.com/Depths-of-Peril/Overview.html>Depths of Peril, <link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellgate:_London>Hellgate London, <link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recettear:_An_Item_Shop%27s_Tale>Recettear and of course <link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enter_the_Gungeon>Enter The Gungeon.
Also, the X Series and every 4X game out there.

Thought the list would be longer..must have forgotten some, as usual.
 

nomotog_v1legacy

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maninahat said:
Firewatch. People try to call these things walking simulators, but the walking part is often the least important, least engaging aspect. Firewatch is fundamentally a mystery thriller drama story and calling it a "walking simulator" isn't a particularly helpful description.

Also Her Story and Papers Please. Just what the hell genres are these games? Desk simulators?
Her story is a kind of a open world detective game. The closest analog is Sherlock Homes Consulting Detective.

Papers Please is basically a puzzle game? It reminds me of the spot the difference games you find in activity books.
 

ThereIsNoSanta

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SweetShark said:
Hehe...I have already a List with games which combine different Genre...however I listed only two games. One of them is the one game above. The other one is this:



Wrath Unleashed [Turn-Base Strategy + Fighting]

This game you control some kind of monsters which at some point they fight like in a 3D Fighting game. Cool game.
Oooo I always wanted a game like that, but on a grand scale. Like Fire Emblem strategy, but when you start a fight, you control it with movesets like Dark Souls.
 

FPLOON

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Xsjadoblayde said:
Rollers of the Realm. Quite literally a fantasy RPG epic with your team characters as pinballs and the land spreads across many tables (for lack of a better word.) It is a self contained story with fully VA'd characters. Charming really.
Speaking of pinball hybrids, Odama for the GameCube is a voice-commanded RTS/pinball game where the main objective is to lead the Nintenbell to the other side of the battle field with assistance from your soilders and the Odama [ball] itself... *blinks* <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/9.881584.22211842>Wait a second... I forgot to thank you about Rollers of the Realm!

OT: Outside of Odama, Virtua Quest is a custom-fighting 3D beat-em-up RPG-esque spin-off game to the 3D fighting game Virtual Fighter...

Other than that, the Persona games went from a JRPG/negotiator sim to a JRPG/school life sim and then some...
 

Recusant

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Combine first-person shooter with RPG and you get System Shock 2; remove survival horror and add in cyberpunk and you get Deus Ex. Remove most of the RPG and you get Invisible War; remove nearly all of it and you get Human Revolution.

Also, take city management and add in RPG and you get King of Dragon Pass.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

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FPLOON said:
Speaking of pinball hybrids, Odama for the GameCube is a voice-commanded RTS/pinball game where the main objective is to lead the Nintenbell to the other side of the battle field with assistance from your soilders and the Odama [ball] itself... *blinks* <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/9.881584.22211842>Wait a second... I forgot to thank you about Rollers of the Realm!

OT: Outside of Odama, Virtua Quest is a custom-fighting 3D beat-em-up RPG-esque spin-off game to the 3D fighting game Virtual Fighter...

Other than that, the Persona games went from a JRPG/negotiator sim to a JRPG/school life sim and then some...
Odama was voice commanded? The Gamecube allowed this? I owned a GC for some while and this is the first i have heard of either. No problem, it's a bit of a unique genre that only makes sense once you play it. Normal pinball is fairly unenticing at the best of times, so i can imagine the concept isn't great for an elevator pitch.

To add more, Rocket league? Football combined with RC racing/jumping/flying. Genius!

Erm...does GTA count? They do intentionally mash styles together.

Galak-z. Roguelike something spoiler maybe something. It can be harsh, but fair. Emphasis on the "harsh" though.
 

FPLOON

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Xsjadoblayde said:
FPLOON said:
Speaking of pinball hybrids, Odama for the GameCube is a voice-commanded RTS/pinball game where the main objective is to lead the Nintenbell to the other side of the battle field with assistance from your soilders and the Odama [ball] itself...
Odama was voice commanded? The Gamecube allowed this? I owned a GC for some while and this is the first i have heard of either. No problem, it's a bit of a unique genre that only makes sense once you play it. Normal pinball is fairly unenticing at the best of times, so i can imagine the concept isn't great for an elevator pitch.
Well, Odama was one of four(?) games that utilized the GameCube Microphone adaption with Mario Party 6 and Mario Party 7 being the more "popular" ones by default... Also, normal pinball is as enticing as golf and bowling in general, so results may vary once you start combining it with another genre altogether...

OT: Apparently, 3 out of the 5 handheld Kingdom Hearts games really want to go beyond just being an action JRPG crossover... Chain of Memories is a card-based action JRPG crossover, 358/2 Days is a mission-based action JRPG crossover with tetris-style leveling and recon/stealth "mechanics", and Re:Coded is an episodic action JRPG crossover with 2D platforming, turn-based, rail-shooter, stealth, and visual novel mechanics at varying times...

Other than that, aren't most Japanese 2D fighting games basically visual novel/fighting game hybrids during their respected story modes?
 

Chessrook44

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What, no mention of Savage? A hybrid of FPS/Hack-And-Slash/RTS with RPG elements and pure multiplayer. And it kinda worked. In fact, just a couple days ago they released an Early Access remake on Steam... Savage Resurrection. Worth a look.
 

BrawlMan

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Elvis Starburst said:
CoCage said:
Custom Robo is a mech-fighting, battle-arena game crossed with an RPG. The RPG elements are super light and is only there to advanced the story, but multiplayer is fun as hell. If you got a Gamecube, 4 controllers, and 4 buddies prepare to have some of the best multiplayer on the system.
I'd argue that the RPG elements are so light they probably don't really count, and that the game is probably just a robot arena shooter. I think I see what ya mean though. I love that game a lot personally, it's an absolute blast!
Thanks! I am glad to see another person enjoy the game. :)
 

Danbo Jambo

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Scarim Coral said:
Well I eagerly awaiting for this indie game Starr Mazer-


As you can see from the trailer, it's a hybrid of shoot them up and point and click advneture!

The creators pretty much answer my question that I thought of many years ago.

When me and my bro and his mate were playing UN Squadron (side scroll shoot them up), he brought up the dicussion of the grunt/ minion airplane that we have killed may have friends and family. This got me thinking that we never really get to know the pilot to the main airplace/ spacecraft in the shoot them up (excluding Star Fox).

I mean does anyone know who or what the pilot look like in R Type or Ikaruga etc? Ok sure they may have been mention in the instruction maunal (old school) but still you know the airplane/ spacecraft more than the pilot itself! The only one that I get to see the pilot was this other shoot them up called Super Aleste cos it had a pilot and this green hair girl with him.

So yeah I'm looking forward to this game (now if only this certain newly joined member get back to me already).
That look brilliant, thanks for posting.
 

Ihateregistering1

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Sacrifice: it's a 3rd person action/RTS game with light RPG elements and an incredibly bizarre aesthetic. Very cool game I'd recommend anyone try.