[Shion]

NES
- The Guardian Legend
- Crystalis
- Little Samson
- Metal Storm
- Crisis Force

Master System
- Master of Darkness
- Power Strike II
- Penguin Land

Mega Drive / Genesis
- Battle Mania Daiginjou
- Monster World IV
- Langrisser II (Warsong II)
- Sub-Terrania
- Alien Soldier
- Ranger-X
- Twinkle Tale
- Starflight
- Alisia Dragoon
- Bubba n Stix

PS1
- Panzer Bandit
- Rapid Reload
- Devil Dice

Nintendo 64
- Rocket: Robot on Wheels

PS2
- Legend of Kay (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKhz5958itI)
- Kya: Dark Lineage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp1v3uCpG0U)

[Syril]

Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator One of my favorite hidden gems on the PC.

Oh man, I really wanted to like this, the world was such a cool concept. But the battles just dragged on in the most excruciating way with the enemies spamming weak attack that had overly long animations, and I never even got far enough for the plot to pick up.

I'd go with "not really often mentioned online" and/or completely unknown or forgotten. But feel free to post whatever you think is appropriate or deserves more recognition.

Okay, then let's start with


It's turn-based strategy with real-time combat when two units fight. Kind of like Archon, except ridiculously more expansive.

Instead of a chess-like board with static armies, you have lots of maps to choose from, ranging from small to enormous, and you have an allotment of points to build an army and buy traps and enhancements to place and assign prior to the battle. The objective of each battle is to find and kill the enemy's orb keeper, a unit selected by each player after setup is complete and given greatly increased stats.

Some units are clearly more suited for fighting than others, but almost everyone has a special ability that gives a benefit outside of combat. Wizards can freeze enemies in ice for several turns, seers can reveal invisible enemies and traps, illusionists can conjure other units for little cost that fight just as effectively but die in one hit, vampires can resurrect enemies they kill to fight on your side, phantoms are invisible when not performing an attack, templars can heal allied units, water elementals can teleport between bodies of water, and so on.

The great part was with all the strategies you could pull off with these abilities. You could create an illusionary demon out of sight to provoke the enemy wizard into wasting his health freezing it or give the orb to a low-priority target that the enemy wouldn't suspect, for example.

This was actually developed by Silicon Knights, and was the game they made immediately preceding Blood Omen. If it got much attention when it came out, it probably lost it when WarCraft came out later that year.

[water_wendi]

Okay, then let's start with

i freaking loved Dark Legions! i have many fond memories of playing via modem with friends. The animations for the summonings were so slick! 1994 was a good year.

[Jive Turkey]

Oh God this stupid thread is going to cost me so much money on GoG I can just feel it.

[mclem]

Exile. Arguably *more* impressive than Elite, on the same hardware.


(All those random pixels around the edge? The game was so detailed that on the Electron, the weakest system which it was released on, it had to use the screen RAM to store game data)


* Nonlinear gameplay
* Single massive world
* AI reacting to noise, sight, memory
* Fast travel (after a fashion)
* Physics engine


While it's not *that* impressive a *game*, I *always* boggle whenever I think of when I, Robot came out.



* Filled, shaded polygons
* Adjustable camera angles

1983.

[sp3000]

^respect for keeping game boxes, especially Starsiege.

This has happened. Several times, I believe. And oh god it hurts. I can kind of understand the apathy for Elite since it's very tough to get into nowadays but Thief is very much a modern game. And it's still brilliant, goddammit.If this doesn't show up on GOG tomorrow, I will go a little crazy.

You can say the same for a lot of other games also. Usually threads about turn based games like Panzer General, or space sims Freespace, X3, or any old adventure games don't go past a page on this forum.

I hope that GoG gets more attention on this site, because it really deserves it. Also, Thief is already on it.

[BassForever]

The soul blazer trilogy







If you haven't played these games you need to, great gameplay and deep stories that make you think a lot.

[NIN90]

Both were fucking awesome.

[WoodenLung]

Black and white. One of my favorite games ever and people seem to have completely forgotten about it. :(

[sp3000]

We need more Blade Runner

[tkscz]

Fucking love this game. It is like my third favorite game (Behind MegaMan Legends and Super Mario Bros. 3). Amazing platforming, Adventuring and presentation. This game was he reason I was mad when my little brother broke his PS1 ( I had N64).

[Doomsayer]

Black and white. One of my favorite games ever and people seem to have completely forgotten about it. :(

Is this the game where you're a god (or something) and fight with other gods?

If it is I might just have a meltdown because that game was fantastic and I can not remember the name!

edit: HOLY SHIT IT IS! You have creatures and you build towns. AHHHHHHHHHH

[John Blade]

Oh man, I really wanted to like this, the world was such a cool concept. But the battles just dragged on in the most excruciating way with the enemies spamming weak attack that had overly long animations, and I never even got far enough for the plot to pick up.

I know what you mean. I think I was somewhere around 40% in the game when I just say fuck it and use the walk through just so I don't have to go back and forth to find stuff and quick way to kill the enemies. Make the game much more reasonable for me. Also, someone make a fan make of this game on RPG Maker for the PC. Look interesting I have to say.

Another game on this list.


Hamtaro: Ham Hams Unite! for the GBC.

[Jharp]

[Nickiepoo]

Only cyberconnect2 game I ever enjoyed.

Makes me happy to see this mentioned. Pretty much the only action game on the PSX worth a crap.

Loved this game.

In case anyone cares, example of gameplay here

[Jhriad]

[captmcblack]

This is usually where I post "Crusader: No Remorse".

[TucoBenedictoPacifico]

I need (once again) to namedrop Space Rangers 2.






It mixes half dozen of genres (RPG, RTS, simulation, 4X, text adventures, etc) and it really feels like playing those awesome games from the past like Star Control 2, Master of Orion 2, Master of Magic.
It's from Katauri, the same developers of King's Bounty, and it's a criminally overlooked masterpiece. I have yet to find someone who bothered trying it without loving it, as the userscore on Metacritics clearly shows:
http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/sp...the-dominators

[Totobeni]

We need more Blade Runner

huh?..how in the hell this is unknown or forgotten? it's a classic that always show up when people talk point and click adventure games or cyberpunk games.

Admit it you just wanted to post it. (it's ok you are cool)

[Icicle]

I don't think I've ever seen this game mentioned on GAF.

The 4th Coming


MMORPG that peaked in popularity around 2002, and my first foray into the genre. I remember riding the bus to school and trying to explain the concept of a massively multiplayer game to a friend... he couldn't comprehend it.

[Dick Justice]

From the makers of Deadly Premonition:



It's janky as hell, with hilariously bad writing and voice acting, but dammit, I'm having so much fun with this game.

Love the disguise mechanic, though the AI is pretty bad, and the sneaking animation is so SLOOOOOOOW.

I don't think it was promoted at all when it came out, which explains why it's barely known.

[Totobeni]

From the makers of Deadly Premonition: It's janky as hell, with hilariously bad writing and voice acting, but dammit, I'm having so much fun with this game. Love the disguise mechanic, though the AI is pretty bad, and the sneaking animation is so SLOOOOOOOW. I don't think it was promoted at all when it came out, which explains why it's barely known.

This was as bad as Deadly Premonition, so it was the same developers huh..I guess they didn't improve at all after all these years.

[bangladesh]

[Quikies83]

Took a quick pic of the box nearest me. Take your pick. Disregard Privateer 2, Braveheart, and Prince of Persia 3D.

Nocturne was great. Loved playing as The Stranger. I miss terminal reality.

[b3b0p]

are you trolling or being serious?

[BrownieVonTurdmeisterIII]

[Orayn]

The RPG series time forgot...



I highly, HIGHLY recommend reading the article about it on Hardcore Gaming 101.

[StalkerUKCG]

Overshadowed by the AVP games and such but its a fantastic doom clone full of atmosphere.

[rj118]

Shadowrun for the SNES, I was obsessed with this game for a long time

I own this but I've never played it for more than 5 minutes. I'd give it a shot now but I'm not at home.

[sixteen-bit]

are you trolling or being serious?

Maybe he really, really appreciated that $4 Six Flags coupon.

[JaCy]

The Deception series, the last one was on the PS2 and it was incredibly short. I'd love a current or next gen game.

[Spanx McFranks]

I bought this game on a whim and sunk so many hours into it.

[vocab]

Primal Rage is far from forgotten.

Also Shadowrun SNES needs more exposure. Cyberpunk mannnnn

[wolfmat]

Dungeon Master

and Chaos Strikes Back

[Lionel Mandrake]

It may not be as great as Rogue Squadron, KotOR, etc. But this was a quality action game with fun gameplay. Much better than the movie it was a tie-in to. The final levels got pretty brutal, though.

[Conciliator]

I bought this game on a whim and sunk so many hours into it.

Man! I was seriously about this post this. Cool game.

To list a recent example:



Genuinely original audio/visual design backed up by solid gameplay mechanics and good encounter design. Seriously love this thing...check it out if you have some interest in surrealism. Cure for same-old world design in most video games.

EDIT: Shadowrun on the SNES is some magic shit. That really does feel like a lost gem. Clearly so much thought went into its design(kind of predicts Planescape's famous awaken-from-your-grave setup, several years later) but you never hear about its design or the people behind it. At least, I haven't. I'd be interested in reading about that.

[Mr Nash]

[SparkTR]

Sacrifice (PC), a third person RTS done right.





Pod is also a racing game that has been forgotten, pretty basic but awesome atmosphere, tracks and aesthetics.

[bonesquad]

Ooga Booga came out late in the life of Dreamcast, but I had a blast playing it online. That is until you started having to pay for an online Sega pass that cost $10/month.

You could play as Lincoln before it was cool! Boar polo anyone?

[VoteForPedro]

I have no mouth and I must Scream, based on the short by Harlan Ellison. A great Graphic adventure and truly one of the most eerie games I've ever played.




Arcanum; I'm fully aware that this game is totally broken and even back when it came out it didn't look so hot, but goddam if it isn't one of the most immersive RPG's I've ever played. I love this world, where else could you play an Elven gunslinger roaming across a victorian steam punk metropolis? Awsome OST as well.

[wolfmat]

Re-Volt
Jaguar XJ220
Kult

[Fathead]

Yes

[~Kinggi~]

Game was huge, like a giant dark Zelda game. You hunted serial killers and shit.


Had fricken amazing music too.


And some also really disturbing shit.

[Arcteryx]

Oni, Ground Control, Rune, Commandos, Flashback (Apple variant for me), Chuck Yeager's Air Combat (still have some combo discs of this plus other Mac games)

I still have my two tester cd's (SP + MP) for Ground Control

edit: yep, diggin in my closet now for my old games box. ahhh yea nostalgia in high gear

[Gilgamesh]

Pretty cool XCOM-lite from the creator of XCOM.

He also designed Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars for the 3DS, which (along with Paper Mario) is a major reason I want the system.

[Kangi]

Such a fun strategy game.

[wolfmat]

Rings Of Medusa
North And South
Defender Of The Crown

[GCX]

I bought this game on a whim and sunk so many hours into it.

A remake for DS was announced back in 2004 or 05 but we never saw anything about it.

[SapientWolf]

I've never seen anyone here mention MTG:Battlegrounds, but it was pretty interesting. I think it would have done well on XBLA if it had existed back then. It's essentially a cross between a fighting game and a real time strategy game.

[Gileadxv]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stunt_Island It was basically a part flight-simulator, part movie-maker game with great graphics for 1992. You could create your own stunts in real-life places like the Golden Gate bridge or do one of the many pre-coordinated stunts the game offered. You got to create how it looked via camera angles, pans, etc and could add sound effects later on. Being a flight simulator, the game was challenging; you essentially could make it as challenging as you wanted depending on how daring your stunts were. One of the funny parts was when you crashed because you were sent to the doctor who would diagnose you (via a German accent voiceover) with varying injuries depending on the severity of your crash. I always seemed to get a broken nose. Granted I was a kid when this released in 1992, it felt like such a feat to complete a really tough stunt. Great game!

Well done, sir! I would lose entire days to this game. It's on my top ten list of personally influential games of all time. I used to love trying to fly a jumbo passenger plane below the Golden Gate bridge.