Ultra obscure games that only you know exist

[x0ny]

There's this crappy little game called Starshot: Space Circus Fever I remember playing on the N64. It had a fantastic and quirky premise, but the controls were utter shit (like most 3D platformers at that time) and the game suffered for it. Luckily enough, history seems to have forgotten about it. Rest in peace you uncontrollable bastard.

Got Starshot for Xmas 2000. Traded it in a week later for an expansion pack so that I could play perfect dark properly.

OT: NS Shaft. Fall onto lower platforms to avoid the spikes at the top as the screen scrolls downwards. Don't fall too quickly (ie: off the screen) or you'll die. Slightly addictive.

 

[Mushroomfreak111]

Every time I mention Outlaws by Lucas Arts people wonder what the hell I'm talking about... It's my favorite game ever!

 

[x0ny]

I seem to be the only one who remembers one of the best PS2 games ever:

[spoiler/][img/]http://www.8bithero.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/rezboxart.jpg[/img][/spoiler]

wasn't that game increadibly short? Like... 5 levels? I remember you start off as a bloc and gradually evolve into a ... human shaped thing. The music and the controller vibration were in sync, which I think was it's main selling point :/

 

[Will the Great]

Well, this discussion has finally convinced me to stop lurking and make a flippin' account, mostly because just about everyone in this thread has gotten "obscure" mixed up with "not recent". Psi-Ops? CTR? Starfox 64? These are all games that were well-known and well-sold at launch, with the possible exception of Psi-Ops which was outsold only by Second Sight. Phantom Crash (mentioned earlier) was so popular it had a cross-platform sequel, S.L.A.I., and Parasite Eve is a Squaresoft game and is therefore exempt from obscurity because half a billion Square fanboys ranted about it when it was new, and I laugh at the notion that TOMBI and Oni could ever be considered obscure.

With that in mind, I thought I'd stroll in here and blow everyone's socks off with some TRULY obscure titles. Watch and learn, kiddies.



"Wtf is this?" you say? "Starflight is the father of the space trading sim" you say? Well yes. Yes it is. But its Sega Genesis port is surprisingly unknown, which is a shame because it's much more accessible than its DOS grandpappy.

[img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/3199F28336L._SL500_AA197_.jpg"]

Another space trader that went unknown, conceived as Starflight 3 except the developer couldn't get the rights to the name.

[img src="http://homeoftheunderdogs.net/games/n/noctis/noctis.jpg"]

This is Noctis, a freeware procedurally-generated space exploration game. There's a chance you might have heard of it, it gathered a lot of popularity a few years ago when it was featured on Home of the Underdogs. Big selling point here is the procedurally-generated galaxy, large enough to put William Shatner's ego to shame. Between everybody playing over the last several years, only something like 2% of it has been explored and charted.

[img src="http://www.adeptsoftware.com/jetpack/game4.gif"]

It's an indie-developed 2D platformer from the mid 90's. And it's awesome. You don't get much more obscure than this.

[img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/Hardwar_Coverart.png"]

I'll give a cookie to anyone who actually owns a copy of this. Half a cookie to anyone who'd even heard of it before today.

[img src="http://homeoftheunderdogs.net/games/r/rama/rama-c.jpg"][img src="http://homeoftheunderdogs.net/games/r/rama/rama.jpg"]

Another relatively unknown title from the days of Sierra's adventure games. RAMA was very much a niche title, because few who read the works of Arthur C. Clarke also enjoyed playing adventure games (apparently).

[img src="http://homeoftheunderdogs.net/games/r/retring/retring-c.jpg"]

Same problem, except replace "Arthuc C. Clarke" with "Larry Niven".

[img src="http://homeoftheunderdogs.net/games/a/allegiance/allegiance-c.jpg"]

Maybe not so obscure, but noteworthy in that it's a Microsoft game that went open-source.

And that, ladies and gents, is what "obscure game" means. I've got dozens more if need be.

 

[ParadoxBG]

There was this old game, it was CAH-RAZY Japanese, involving this girl whose seven sisters were stolen away by demons and had to fight through seven levels based on the deadly sins to save them, with the aid of an arm growing out of the side of her head (like I said, Japanese )...can't remember the name, though. Sretch...Panic? I think. Yeah, my brother confirmed it. Stretch Panic. Anyone play that?

 

[ParadoxBG]

Any body ever hear of Littlewing? They're an obscure games developer who exclusively make Pinball simulations. They've made 8 to my knowledge: TRISTAN, Crystal Caliburn, Loony Labyrinth, Angel Egg (My Favorite), Golden Logres, JINNI ZEALA, Monster Fair and Fairy Tower. Has anyone ever played one of these? Becuase nobody I know has. Angel Egg happened to be my favorite, because I liked the music, and the gameplay was GREAT. You had to collect 'Eggs' by bouncing the ball of certain things or going through certain places... Then when you have enough you can Hatch one of 7 Angels, each with their own special rewards for doing so. AWSOME

That sounds like fun, is that computer or console?

 

[Will the Great]

The Edit button: Use it.

 

[Julianking93]

I seem to be the only one who remembers one of the best PS2 games ever:

[spoiler/][img/]http://www.8bithero.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/rezboxart.jpg[/img][/spoiler]

wasn't that game increadibly short? Like... 5 levels? I remember you start off as a bloc and gradually evolve into a ... human shaped thing. The music and the controller vibration were in sync, which I think was it's main selling point :/

I thought it was like 9 levels. Oh well.

The game was still awesome.

 

[ejb626]

"Impossible Creatures" on PC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_Creatures

An RTS where your army is made of hybrid animals that you can make yourself. You can combine animals together, like a lion and a hunchback whale (among many other walking, flying and swimming animals). You can choose which body part from which animals they get and what abilities they can get from the animals that they're made of.

It's just as awesome as it sounds. I barely even actually played the game though, I mostly just sat there and made a whole buttload of funny looking hybrid creatures.

No lie, less than two weeks ago I went looking for this online but I couldn't find any freeware even though it's been out for nearly ten years, the developers said they weren't going to go anywhere with it, and no one actually plays it anymore. I played the demo with my wee fingers when it first came out, so good memories accompany it. Archerfish-snow owl hybrid, FTW!

I remember wanting that game so badly in 3rd Grade but my dad wouldn't let me buy it because our computer couldn't handle it, then it sold out so I never experienced it.

 

[A Bearded Wolf]

Definetely Evolva

"You're a member of the Evolva and control a group of four Genohunters whose abilities increase from level to level, mainly by absorbing the meat of other creatures. For example, when a parasite creature has a new weapon and one of your Genohunters kills it, the Genohunter gains the use of that weapon via absorption."

Edit: Actually i think it did reasonably well in terms of sales, but no one i know has heard of it.

 

[cj_iwakura]

AKA Langrisser. This game has some of the most epic battles in any strategy RPG ever.

And it's a 16 bit game.

Original cover:

 

[Dark Knifer]

LEGO Rock Raiders, obviously.

I love that game so much. Especially when you got something with a laser and shoot the rock monsters with it and then they do backflips. I need to find that game again....

 

[Moosebomber]

Ethnic Cleansing. Some racist game where you go around killing minorities.

 

[SturmDolch]

LEGO Rock Raiders, obviously.

Yess... Although a surprisngly large number of my recent friends played it as well.

Also, Lego Island.

Mafia. No one seems to have played it, but its amazing.

Timesplitters: Future Perfect. The best FPS of the Gamecube/Xbox/PS2 era in my opinion.

 

[CD-R]

This was a great FPS, made with the Wolfenstein 3D engine. It was fucked in terms of sales however, as DOOM was released a week later.

I'm not so sure if this was obscure or not, but I'd certainly never heard of it until a friend from school gave me a copy of it burned to disc. I know the previous Total Annihilation game wasn't obscure though.

An action RPG done in a sort of Japanese style, made by a British developer. Maybe not that obscure, but if I mentioned it to any of my friends, they'd have no clue what I was talking about. Two characters were controlled in third-person with combos and stuff, and the other two were controlled in first person, firing a gun and a staff respectively.

Spoiler: Incidentally, the Japanese box art for Sudeki, which was changed to appeal to that market, is much better in my opinion.

I remember Sudeki. I remember how when you killed an enemy they like exploded in a cloud of blood which just seemed really unncecary an out of place in my opinion. Like the publisher said "This game needs more blood kids today love them some violent video games". The chick with the blue hair was annoying, but Buki the beast woman with the metal claws was awesome. Also the hall of heads freaked me right the fuck out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULCwGbughF8

It's at 5:13

 

[Wildrow12]

Strife.

(Yeah I know! I am continually surprised at the incredible number of people that have not played this one!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strife_(video_game)

Think of it as a post-apocalyptic fps--as seen through the eyes of a heavy metal album cover illustrator.

 

[Will the Great]

Strife was the best use of the Doom engine to date.

 

[Durxom]

I don't know if anyone has said it yet, but Snowboard Kids 1 and 2 for the N64.

And the DS re-launch of the series, which I just happened to find at a local gamestore a while back.

 

[Redemption003]

I'm probably not the only one that knows of this game but I'm sure only about 10 people know of it.

Make that 11. I know of it but never got to play it. D:

12, and I still own it :O! Was a pretty quirky game and I enjoyed it.

To the guy who mentioned Doshin the Giant, my flatmate has a copy of it and I've been tempted to play it...only to have other games draw my attention away from it.

Evil Genius and War of the Monsters also were great...alas the only copy of War of the Monsters I knew of is now not working. As for Evil Genius...I think it is in my older brother's possession.

I'm kinda surprised to have seen ICO in this list, as far as I remember I used to be really annoyed because I personally hated it yet every Playstation magazine I read kept banging on about it.

Other games from this thread I've had the pleasure of enjoying: Kula World, Hogs of War, Star Wars Starfighter, the Oddworld games (one of my favourite series), Theme Hospital (which is sitting on a shelf in plain sight of me as I type this), Star Fox 64. Always great to hear people talk about the great games of old...nostalgia is brilliant.

Think I'll mention the same game I always mention in this kind of discussion: Kurushi (or Intelligent Qube). A simple yet awesome puzzle game. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurushi