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[NipplesAndToes23]

I was wondering have you ever played an obscure game and think it was okay, but had some great elements in that could make it a whole lot better if it was implemented in a sequel or spiritual successor? I have.

I played some JRPG that never made it across shore called Adventures of Hourai High that takes place at a school and has a Dragon Quest-like battle system. Abilities and stats are gained by joining clubs or sports teams. You even get to recruit faculty members. Unfortunately, the game is hindered by technical issues. When using nova attacks it leaves a weird corrupted image on the battle screen that never fades away until the end of the battle. The game will also crash whenever you revive a fallen party member in battle. The game also has an annoyingly high encounter rate and the mini games are kind of ass.

I doubt it will ever get a sequel, but I can see another dev taking the ideas of it and putting it in an entirely new games without all those flaws.

 

[Strings]

Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines is a game with a ton of interesting systems that I'd love to see expanded on, though I'm not too sure how well it sold.

Basically, it's a RPG where your playable characters are part of a cursed bloodline that ages absurdly quickly (a lifespan of ~2 years?), and you're constantly mentoring the new guard, forging weapons that will be passed down the lineage and grow, pushing deeper into dungeons with successive generations, etc.

It was already a great game, but I'd just love to see more of it in a refined form.

 

[Platy]

I loved Maestro! Jump in Music and it's weird mix of platformer, rhythms and a soundtrack of classics that goes from Beethoven to Ennio Morricone to Animals to 80's one hit wonders

 

[Toad.T]

Is Gurumin obscure? Then that.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers

The amount of optional stuff in this game is crazy. It's locked behind a 100 achievement-like system with multiple levels represented my medals.

There's all sorts of interactions possible the game. For example almost all NPC's have an emotion system. You can make a child happy by giving them a balloon or have young girls chase after you while holding a flower. It was never act used for anything in the main storyline.

The game had a very interesting and fun motion-combat system. Actually your telekinetic powers don't change from enemies to NPC's. There are all sort of weird possibilities.

If they just rereleased the game and had actual NPC dialogue and connected the medal system to NPC quests it would be really great.

 

[duckroll]

Breakdown and Maken X. There needs to be someone brave enough to try a big AAA mainstream first person action game with a melee focus and crazy shit. The popularity of the berserk mode in DOOM tells me it can be done.

 

[yanipheonu]

Skies of Arcadia.

We're in the age of open world games. It'd be a shame not add airships and sky worlds to that.

Plus with FFXV and P5 around I hope we see more JRPGs in general make a come back.

 

[canedaddy]

Base Wars

 

[Davidion]

Metal Warriors - SNES

Yu Yu Hakusho - Genesis

Hell, all the Yu Yu Hakusho games from the 16 bit era.

Base Wars

YES

 

[duckroll]

Metal Warriors - SNES

Yesssssssssssssssssssss. I would love to have this concept, if not the IP itself, revamped as a modern sidescrolling action game with full online multiplayer. Being able to go in and out of mechs, having multiple mechs littered around a stage, the maze-like nature of the level design, especially for multiplayer. Omgggggggg.

 

[dickroach]

cool style, cool ideas, cool game. but it was a bit janky. a Cubivore 2 could've been great

 

[tiebreaker]

A new Jade Cocoon would be rad. The first game was hold back by the level of graphic that could be achieved back then.

Game would be gorgeus if it was made for current gen machines.

 

[jimmygnome9]

I'd love to see some ambitious indie developer inspired by Kenichi Nishi's work on LOL: Lack of Love, creating their own wordless contextual puzzle game with a strong message concerning empathy and environmentalism. It'd probably be far better received these days than in 2000.

 

[pretty done]

Tokyo Jungle

Make it a fully 3D explorable open world with up to four player online coop. I think it could be a decent sized hit if marketed properly.

 

[MagnoSauce]

Robopit as a third-person arena shooter.

 

[Davidion]

Yesssssssssssssssssssss. I would love to have this concept, if not the IP itself, revamped as a modern sidescrolling action game with full online multiplayer. Being able to go in and out of mechs, having multiple mechs littered around a stage, the maze-like nature of the level design, especially for multiplayer. Omgggggggg.

Words cannot describe how much money I would pay for such a game.

 

[CannonFodder52]

.

 

[NinjamicWZ]

Trap Gunner

Bomberman Shmomerman... awesome set of traps, cool characters with their different melee attacks, smartly designed arenas, great split screen vs play, the Helldivers-esque input commands to disarm traps was slick, and the way you could set up rube goldberg sequences with different trap placements and launchers was amazing sometimes.

Very frantic, fun game that kept you on your toes. Would make an awesome local multiplayer and online multiplayer game in today's world, and would be easy enough to do with a nice, modest presentation.

 

[StrategyFan]

sorcerer king

it's an empire-management strategy game (4X game mechanics) that plays like a tower defense srpg instead of like starcraft/civilization

almost every 4x game is shit in single player because the AIs don't know how to turn an empire into a war machine. i want to play more strategy games that are actually fun against computers

 

[jdstorm]

Breakdown and Maken X. There needs to be someone brave enough to try a big AAA mainstream first person action game with a melee focus and crazy shit. The popularity of the berserk mode in DOOM tells me it can be done.

Mirrors Edge Catalyst sort of does this. It somewhat gets lost in all the other changes the game made.

 

[Kyne]

I'd like to a new battle-card game on a current gen console..

 

[Wozman23]

I'm going to run with the assumption that almost all indie games are considered obscure so:

Sound Shapes - It's a phenomenal game as is, but it was fairly basic in the way it integrated music, and the creation mechanics didn't allow for much deviation. Everything was pretty much limited to quarter notes and 4/4 time. As a progressive rock, post-rock, and math rock fan, I'd like to see more subdivide beats, tempo changes, and unconventional time signatures.

Another stellar game, FRACT OSC, allowed for some experimentation within its in-game synthesizer that somewhat scratched the itch for creating, but I'd still rather see a Sound Shapes sequel feature a more musically experimental campaign and more robust creation tools. That seems like an ambitious goal for a sequel and a good justification for one.

Sadly, other than a few small pieces of DLC, Queasy Games and Jonathan Mak have been silent since Sound Shapes released in 2012.

 

[Sheroking]

The idea of possessing easily-killed meat-puppets to fight battles, solve puzzles and advance through a story is a pretty good one, and I think it could be done much better on newer hardware.

 

[Ushay]

Phantom Dust basically!

 

[RedSwirl]

Skies of Arcadia.

We're in the age of open world games. It'd be a shame not add airships and sky worlds to that.

Plus with FFXV and P5 around I hope we see more JRPGs in general make a come back.

This is the ultimate one for me. I feel like they could turn it into an aerial open-world RPG.

Metal Warriors - SNES

Well, there was a bit of a revival of side-scrolling mech games a little while ago. There are a few on PC and on PS4 you've got the Assault Suits Valken remake.

 

[TheGreatDirector]

This was a really fun 3D adventure platformer that sadly gets overlooked a lot. The world was lush and amazing to explore. The enemies were cool and the music was wonderful. The best part about it however, might be how it never took itself too seriously and instead embraced the lighthearted nature of it all.

 

[akira28]

more Trip World

 

[duckroll]

Well, there was a bit of a revival of side-scrolling mech games a little while ago. There are a few on PC and on PS4 you've got the Assault Suits Valken remake.

Have you ever played Metal Warriors? It's not just a "side-scrolling mech game".

 

[Strangelove77]

Robot Alchemic Drive

Still the only game that makes you feel like you're piloting a real giant ass robot. If the actual human character had as much gameplay depth as the robot and the game demanded switching between both often it'd be the best thing ever.

 

[Mozendo]

Unfortunately, the game is hindered by technical issues. When using nova attacks it leaves a weird corrupted image on the battle screen that never fades away until the end of the battle. The game will also crash whenever you revive a fallen party member in battle. The game also has an annoyingly high encounter rate and the mini games are kind of ass.
.

What emulator did you play it on? From my experience some emulators (notably ZNES) don't play well with some translated games.

 

[Eblo]

This was a really fun 3D adventure platformer that sadly gets overlooked a lot. The world was lush and amazing to explore. The enemies were cool and the music was wonderful. The best part about it however, might be how it never took itself too seriously and instead embraced the lighthearted nature of it all.

I remember this, and in fact I've recently been thinking about looking for a copy and playing it again. It was a nice lighthearted take on cliches involving a plane crashing onto a tropical island full of ancient temples and whatnot. It was basically a junior Uncharted in that regard.

 

[Ran rp]

Not exactly obscure but another stab at Folklore could be cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE2wxepy7Kw

 

[Eylos]

I liked this game its kinda obscurece for a Square game

 

[ASaiyan]

El Shaddai

A beautifully bizarre game that no one played. The art style(s) and characters were off-the-charts great. Combat was just okay though, and some sections were just not executed well (looking at you, FF7-aping bike stage). I'm excited to hear the director is announcing something new soon; hopefully he can take what worked in this game and iron out the kinks.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

There was an alternative-sports game on Xbox called Deathrow. It was awesome.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Darklands

• DOS game
• 1992
• Set in a Medieval Germany where local superstitions and beliefs were true. There really are secret witches and doomsday cults all over the place.
• Extremely unusual RPG system whereby you create characters by customising their lives. You go in 7 year increments and describe initially what family they were born into, then later on choose their education and jobs. You can roll with a younger character who has more impressive physical attributes but less life experience, or an old character past his prime who has tons of skills accumulated. Over time, characters age and become less powerful.
• A lot of attention to detail paid to the setting. Days are divided into canonical hours, lots of cities in the Holy Roman Empire are included, although they are not themselves highly detailed due to the technical design of the game.

I would love to see this game get either a full remake, or at least a spiritual successor. I would not want it to be an AAA production, and would honestly probably prefer it be either 2D or isometric. The original game is driven primarily through either the combat screen or a kind of text-based dialogue tree interface that is how you control where you move to and what you do when you get there.

Josh Sawyer loves Darklands and it's like one of his dream projects. I'd kickstart a spiritual successor or outright sequel in a heartbeat.

 

[jetjevons]

Don't know if I'd call it obscure but I'd love a proper sequel to NiGHTS.

 

[Orfeas]

I'd love to see a new Snow Brothers.

 

[afreaknamedpete]

Anybody heard of Achron?

It's a RTS with an absurdly cool concept where instead of playing the second by second you play through a 15 minute window period where you can travel back and forth through time at the cost of resources.

It flips everything on its head about RTS games; you can scout and build a base at the same time, you can reinforce the past with units from the future, all sorts of weird stuff becomes possible.

Unfortunately it's bogged down by ridiculous amounts of micromanaging, to the extent that even if the time travel aspect was completely stripped it would be more complex than Starcraft and its ilk. Pretty much no pathfinding and bad graphics which alone would be forgiveable but coupled with everything looking the same makes much of the game unplayable.

I'd love to see another attempt at the concept; strip down the fat, reduce the unit count, make the actual RTS units simple and AI management friendly and just go all in on the actual fun time travel strategy shenanigans.

 

[Orfeas]

Anybody heard of Achron?

It's a RTS with an absurdly cool concept where instead of playing the second by second you play through a 15 minute window period where you can travel back and forth through time at the cost of resources.

It flips everything on its head about RTS games; you can scout and build a base at the same time, you can reinforce the past with units from the future, all sorts of weird stuff becomes possible.

Unfortunately it's bogged down by ridiculous amounts of micromanaging, to the extent that even if the time travel aspect was completely stripped it would be more complex than Starcraft and its ilk. Pretty much no pathfinding and bad graphics which alone would be forgiveable but coupled with everything looking the same makes much of the game unplayable.

I'd love to see another attempt at the concept; strip down the fat, reduce the unit count, make the actual RTS units simple and AI management friendly and just go all in on the actual fun time travel strategy shenanigans.

Too bad to hear it ended up like that. I was following it for a while in alpha, but I never got around to actually buying it. It seemed like a really cool concept, I just wasn't sure if it would actually be that fun to play.

 

[LukasTaves]

Yesssssssssssssssssssss. I would love to have this concept, if not the IP itself, revamped as a modern sidescrolling action game with full online multiplayer. Being able to go in and out of mechs, having multiple mechs littered around a stage, the maze-like nature of the level design, especially for multiplayer. Omgggggggg.

Yeah, such a shame no one tried to make a game like this yet. It would be perfect for online play.

Trap Gunner



Bomberman Shmomerman... awesome set of traps, cool characters with their different melee attacks, smartly designed arenas, great split screen vs play, the Helldivers-esque input commands to disarm traps was slick, and the way you could set up rube goldberg sequences with different trap placements and launchers was amazing sometimes.

Very frantic, fun game that kept you on your toes. Would make an awesome local multiplayer and online multiplayer game in today's world, and would be easy enough to do with a nice, modest presentation.

Entered this thread to post this. This game was amazing, would love to see it online too.

 

[Tamanator]

Baten Kaitos. It's a real shame that it seems that Monolith are now purely a sci-fi JRPG developer.

 

[Atomski]

A modern Shadowman could be cool and creepy.

 

[Creepy]

It's not really "obscure" per se, more niche... But I'd love to see more games set in the world of Cave's 2009 shoot em up game "Deathsmiles"
I really like the gothic, halloweeny aesthetic the game has, the story is pretty cool too.

I think an RPG or VN or whatever set in Gilverado would be neat.

 

[Zeta Oni]

Since Phantom Dust has already been mentioned....

Pandora's Tower (Wii)

An often overlooked ARPG with a wonderful setting, great story, and satisfying combat. Would love to see what a follow up on the Switch could look like.

 

[StrategyFan]

Anybody heard of Achron?

It's a RTS with an absurdly cool concept where instead of playing the second by second you play through a 15 minute window period where you can travel back and forth through time at the cost of resources.

It flips everything on its head about RTS games; you can scout and build a base at the same time, you can reinforce the past with units from the future, all sorts of weird stuff becomes possible.

Unfortunately it's bogged down by ridiculous amounts of micromanaging, to the extent that even if the time travel aspect was completely stripped it would be more complex than Starcraft and its ilk. Pretty much no pathfinding and bad graphics which alone would be forgiveable but coupled with everything looking the same makes much of the game unplayable.

I'd love to see another attempt at the concept; strip down the fat, reduce the unit count, make the actual RTS units simple and AI management friendly and just go all in on the actual fun time travel strategy shenanigans.

i like the idea of time travel, but i'm not 15 anymore so i couldn't really get behind the idea of adding more management nightmares to what's already a clickfest

it's a cool topic though. i might see if it can work in a turn-based game or indirect control game some day

 

[PinballRJ]

 

[Laieon]

I'd like to a new battle-card game on a current gen console..

I have 0 interest in anything From Software has put out aside from Lost Kingdoms. It was one of my favorite games on the Gamecube, I would love another one or four.

 

[milkham]

not sure it counts as obscure

 

[aravuus]

Does Team Buddies count as obscure?

Either way, I'd love to play this in HD with pals. edit: sorry, buddies