• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Microgenres

Phediuk

Member
Sidescrolling action games with real goofy digitzed sprites

Batman Forever

hqdefault.jpg


Timecop

hqdefault.jpg


Shinobi Legions

400-Shinobi_Legions_(U)-2.jpg

X-Perts and Mortal Kombat Mythologies are both this tooo.
 

Phediuk

Member
Platformers which have a grappling hook (or equivalent) as a primary movement mechanic

Umihara Kawase (and its sequels):
umi4.png

shun2.png


New Super Hook Girl:

Roc 'n Rope, Miracle of Almana, and of course every Bionic Commando game fit in here. Just Cause 2 would be the 3D open-world equivalent.
 

Loptous

Member
(awesome) Minigame collections

Retro game challenge
Retro_Game_Challenge_Coverart.png


GG Series Collection +
tumblr_kyn0sjb1Zy1qzpbds.jpg


Rube Goldberg machine games

The incredible machine
the-incredible-machine-2.png


Coropata
1142456-coro05.jpg


Bad rats
 
Roc 'n Rope, Miracle of Almana, and of course every Bionic Commando game fit in here. Just Cause 2 would be the 3D open-world equivalent.

The 3D Bionic Commando that came out last gen is also a '3D open-world equivalent".

Just not a very good one. May have been better if they hadn't forced multiplayer.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Menu-driven stat-based soccer RPGs
Are there any more of these besides the Captain Tsubasa series?

hqdefault.jpg


55025-Captain_Tsubasa_(Japan)_[En_by_KnighTeen87_v1.5]-1463429091.jpg
I feel like the Football Manager games fill this niche in the modern world, but they've apparently also really gone downhill in the last few years AND the older games are no longer for sale on Steam. :(
 

Pepboy

Member
Evolution focused games with RPG elements

E.V.O: Search for Eden
gfs_40197_2_18.jpg


Seventh Cross Evolution (Dreamcast)
maxresdefault.jpg

hqdefault.jpg

(Sorry, good images of this game are hard to find)

Cubivore
66153-Cubivore-2.jpg


"Rocky" Simulator / Montage Trainers / Individual Management

Punch Club
5gI_mM2E1UUzwJ2q3D02q_WOnhtfWk0GR-E2o_R0FgHn5qxiMEeU8qit3NCB_apGrkp9=h310


Monster Rancher (series)
1-psxfin%202007-08-24%2023-16-06-64.jpg


Princess Maker (series)
img-71.png
 

xir

Likely to be eaten by a grue
(awesome) Minigame collections

Retro game challenge
Retro_Game_Challenge_Coverart.png

I feel like you'd really enjoy ganbare neo poke-kun (where my avatar is from)
it's a neo geo pocket color game where you make this little dude happy and he builds satirical video games for you, but chronologically from pong to RPGs.
 

Pepboy

Member

Odd I played Darwinia, and while (digital?) evolution was the marketing "theme", I found it never made it's way into the gameplay. The gameplay struck me as primarily as an RTS -- I don't remember the creatures ever changing shape or function. I could be wrong though, it's been 10 years or so but I was pretty disappointed by it given my interest in the evolution niche at the time.

Maybe I should be more precise with the title, maybe something like "Evolution games where killing enemies earns you upgrades with RPG stats"?
 

border

Member
I feel like the Football Manager games fill this niche in the modern world, but they've apparently also really gone downhill in the last few years AND the older games are no longer for sale on Steam. :(
The Inazuma Eleven games are definitely a spiritual successor to this. As is the Blitzball minigame in FFX.
Inazuma Eleven.

I presumed that the Football Manager games had you managing rosters and trading and various back-end elements of a sports team. Do you actually make moment-to-moment decisions on the field?

Given the slower nature of play, I feel like baseball could very easily be adapted to the style of play in Captain Tsubasa. Are there any Japanese baseball games like it?
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
Bubble Bobble Clones


Snow Bros:
BxhNM3W.png


Don Doko Don
r1jbbEX.png


TumblePop
eWo5Xfm.png




And many others...
 

Loptous

Member
I feel like you'd really enjoy ganbare neo poke-kun (where my avatar is from)
it's a neo geo pocket color game where you make this little dude happy and he builds satirical video games for you, but chronologically from pong to RPGs.
If it's playable without much Japanese knowledge, I'll try to give it a look, thanks!
 

Spectone

Member
...why would a hacker want a 3D card? It's all about those ASCII terminals!

Assuming those are 'future specs' (in the context of when it was released), it's interesting to see that they're about right in a number of ways.

They want a 3D card because the top level of hacking involves you entering into cyberspace which is 3D. This can either be done by direct neural connection or VR which requires the card.

378087-neuromancer_game_pc25.gif

Neuromancer
 

Platy

Member
Games where you talk to a fish that has a human face and it talks back because you have no friends

You could say it is the
Games where you talk to a single character because you have no friends
And put Hey You Pikachu in there

Platformers which have a grappling hook (or equivalent) as a primary movement mechanic

Umihara Kawase (and its sequels):
umi4.png

shun2.png


New Super Hook Girl:

Don't forget the newly released Flinthook and the best game nobody played : Ninja Five-O (or Ninja Cop in Europe)
 

Freeman76

Member
Side scrolling time trial motorbike games.

The only good ones are Trials, and that series died with Fusion.

HD and Evo sold millions on 360 alone, surely some devs out there could manage a game like those.
 

Chichikov

Member
Games where the levels are generated based on your computer's directory structure and files.

Virus: The Game
ZZl7BTs.jpg


AdventureOS
JhMWO4n.png


Okay, that's not out yet and I actually didn't know about it, but I'm pretty sure there was at least one more game that did this, but I can't remember.
 

Cartho

Member
Definitely "Souls like"

Dark Souls series:
Dark-Souls-3-2-980x551.jpg


Demon Souls:
demon-souls.jpg


Bloodborne:
Bloodborne_Alpha_PlayStation_4_gameplay_screenshot.png


Lords of the Fallen:
lords-of-the-fallen-8-1024x576.png


Nioh:
Nioh_gameplay_screenshot.jpg


All ARPGs but all with a very similar style and flavour. All focus on stamina based combat, timing, doges and have an exacting nature. Levelling up is done through collecting souls / Amata / Echoes / EXP etc from enemies and spending it on attribute points at a specific location / NPC. Any collected is lost on death but can be recollected by finding your body.

Very much a "genre within a genre"
 

Platy

Member
You make it sound like the Souls like genre was created with Onimusha

Side scrolling time trial motorbike games.

The only good ones are Trials, and that series died with Fusion.

HD and Evo sold millions on 360 alone, surely some devs out there could manage a game like those.

If you say side scrolling games with wheels focusing on balancing the vehicle with the focus on time trial you could add MotoHeroz (from the makers of trials) and SnuggleTruck
 

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
Ok so I don't actually remember the names of any games in this category, but I know a few exist! Help me out GAF!

Non music games where you play along with yourself from a previous play through. The game essentially records and replays your inputs and you add new inputs on top of those in real time. The new sequence, consisting of all previous inputs, is then recorded and replayed, and so on.

I'm sure there are plenty of modes in Rock Band and the like that allow to record each track individually. This is the same concept except you're playing a platformer or puzzle game or shooter rather than making music.

I'll try to find the ones I remember playing.. It's a concept that absolutely fascinates me!
 
Side scrolling time trial motorbike games.

The only good ones are Trials, and that series died with Fusion.

HD and Evo sold millions on 360 alone, surely some devs out there could manage a game like those.

The oldest game I remember in this genre is probably Kikstart (1985):
DpPRgMt.gif
 

Platy

Member
Ok so I don't actually remember the names of any games in this category, but I know a few exist! Help me out GAF!

Non music games where you play along with yourself from a previous play through. The game essentially records and replays your inputs and you add new inputs on top of those in real time. The new sequence, consisting of all previous inputs, is then recorded and replayed, and so on.

I'm sure there are plenty of modes in Rock Band and the like that allow to record each track individually. This is the same concept except you're playing a platformer or puzzle game or shooter rather than making music.

I'll try to find the ones I remember playing.. It's a concept that absolutely fascinates me!

Cursor*10 and it's spiritual sucessor "Onore no Shinzuru Michi wo Yuke" for PSP.

Also Blinx the cat
 

Platy

Member
There is also an indie game that does this but images are cming but I can't remember the name =/

Side-scrollers where you control 2 or more characters to progress


Lost Vikings:
tlv1.jpg




Knuckles Chaotix:

32X_Chaotix.png

Brothers : A Tale of Two Sons and singleplayer Snipperclips and Overcooked are basicaly this too!
 

PtM

Banned
Extreme Exorcism does this with the twist that your ghost data is played by enemies. Also screen sized levels.
 

kswiston

Member
One of my favourite microgenres is the Fire Emblem brand of SPRGs. By that, I mean turn-based tactics games featuring fixed class hero units with a class promotion system.

Examples include Fire Emblem of course (though the newer ones have been messing with class changes which I am not a huge fan of):

fire-emblem-path-of-radiance-20051014064231369-000.jpg



Shining Force 1-3:

gfs_45479_2_11.jpg



And the first Vandal Hearts

37766-Vandal_Hearts_[U]-1.jpg
 

Phediuk

Member
One of my favourite microgenres in the Fire Emblem brand of SPRGs. By that, I mean turn-based tactics games featuring fixed class hero units with a class promotion system.

Examples include Fire Emblem of course (though the newer ones have been messing with class changes which I am not a huge fan of):

fire-emblem-path-of-radiance-20051014064231369-000.jpg



Shining Force 1-3:

gfs_45479_2_11.jpg



And the first Vandal Hearts

37766-Vandal_Hearts_[U]-1.jpg

There's also Tear Ring Saga and its sequel, as well as the Langrisser series.
 

Phediuk

Member
Japanese first-person shooters that are actually full-on FPSes and not rail shooters

Star Cruiser
4_star_cruiser.jpg


Gun Buster
hqdefault.jpg


Crime Crackers
3b273373-fb49-4eb5-a5ea-ce06f7a339e6.jpg


Kileak: The DNA Imperative (and its sequel, Epidemic)
hqdefault.jpg


Coded Arms
155766-Coded_Arms_(USA)-1.jpg

Two more to add here that I forgot about.


Geograph Seal
gseal-2.png


Outtrigger
outtrigger-image125154.jpg


Geograph Seal's successor, the Jumping Flash series, may also be considered FPSes, but they're more platformers.
 
Top Bottom