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[VGEsoterica]

Since it’s Halloween Season let me grab my virtual soap box and evangelize about Night Slashers for a moment

as a game holy crap is it amazing. Take some absolutely awesome beat up up mechanics...toss us some absolutely beautiful sprites and some really solid gore...make the game the perfect length...and drop in an awesome synth style John Carpenter-esque 80’s horror soundtrack AND YOUVE GOT A HIT! Lol

It should be in the same conversations with Splatterhouse / Streets of Rage / All of Capcom’s arcade beat em ups...but I barely ever hear it mentioned at all

Everything about Night Slashers is awesome except it’s rarity...still hunting for a PCB a year after I seriously started.

but it’s Halloween...go play it! Or who here has?

also; what are your near perfect games that barely anyone else ever knows about? As much as I love talking about stuff I love I equally enjoy hearing about new stuff I may have missed

 

[VGEsoterica]

If you’ve never seen / heard it. The intro track is soundtrack perfection!

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Zelda Breath of the Wild.

 

[VGEsoterica]

Zelda Breath of the Wild.

lol never heard of it

 

[VGEsoterica]

So obscure even finding a decent photo of the cabinet isn’t easy lol

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

I'll get the PCB eventually. Definitely a holy grail game for me.

 

[petran79]

When I was at high-school mid to late 90s,a small barcade near school had one cabinet and I played a little, though could only pass first stage. It was euro version that had edited gore scenes and sprites though. But it had impressed me to the point of looking for it after many years, though it took a while to be added and emulated on mame.

Cab was just black though, no official flyers.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

Finally some love for a non-Capcom arcade beat 'em up. I'm bored of those, once you have played Final Fight they're all more or less re-skinned version of this.

So, I prefer Sega, Namco, Data East, Konami... Their output doesn't feel like constant copy / paste (even if Capcom did that with a very consistent level of quality).

 

[Warnen]

Played it on the switch, I do enjoy all the old arcade ports it gets.

 

[DJR]

I loved Mutant Fighter in the arcade. You could scrap as Hercules, Hydra, a Dragon, Golem etc. There were super throws and some arenas had traps. Many a pound coin wasted!

 

[VGEsoterica]

I'll get the PCB eventually. Definitely a holy grail game for me.

same. I’ve got saved searches for it on pretty much every site ever and a few friends keeping their eyes open. It’s one of those PCBs that even if you wanted to overpay for it you still can’t find one!

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

same. I’ve got saved searches for it on pretty much every site ever and a few friends keeping their eyes open. It’s one of those PCBs that even if you wanted to overpay for it you still can’t find one!

I’ve seen it a couple time in the last couple of years, but it was the US version (maybe world version, I don’t remember) and I didn’t want that one. Can never just be easy.

 

[Fbh]

Tokyo Jungle is a 10/10 local coop rougue like and I'd love to see a sequel or port on current platform.

What other game has you playing in coop and desperately going "Dude we need to take down this crocodile and then rush to find a place where I can reproduce because I'm getting old"

 

[Hulk_Smash]

The best GI Joe game and one of the best light gun games ever:



Also, ZombiU is close to being a 10 in my book. But, most people wouldn’t agree with me. I just found it to strike the perfect balance between action and horror.

 

[Kusarigama]

Little Fighter 2!

 

[VGEsoterica]

Tokyo Jungle is a 10/10 local coop rougue like and I'd love to see a sequel or port on current platform.

What other game has you playing in coop and desperately going "Dude we need to take down this crocodile and then rush to find a place where I can reproduce because I'm getting old"

100%. I did a video on it maybe a year ago. Such a weird and amazing game that everyone should play but barely anyone has!

 

[VGEsoterica]

The best GI Joe game and one of the best light gun games ever:



Also, ZombiU is close to being a 10 in my book. But, most people wouldn’t agree with me. I just found it to strike the perfect balance between action and horror.

Zombi U is legit. It doesn’t get near the credit it deserves. It’s not perfect but it’s a really awesome game and really balances it’s difficulty and tension well

 

[loktaiextatus]

Some of the old IREM games are great like undercover cops and In the hunt. I dont know how obscure in the hunt is, did it get ports to anything later? I have it on PSX and Saturn, almost bought the arcade machine once just because something about it rubs me the right way. It feels like an SNK game that SNIK didnt make, to me.

 

[bender]

With all apologies to the NBA Jam and NBA Street series, Konami's Run and Gun is the best arcade basketball game ever created.

 

[VGEsoterica]

With all apologies to the NBA Jam and NBA Street series, Konami's Run and Gun is the best arcade basketball game ever created.

I agree it may be coming up in a future video! But it’s legit awesome

 

[bender]

I agree it may be coming up in a future video! But it’s legit awesome

I used to own a dual screen cabinet. Wish I hadn't donated when I moved.

 

[Hawks Eclipse]

Since it’s Halloween Season let me grab my virtual soap box and evangelize about Night Slashers for a moment

as a game holy crap is it amazing. Take some absolutely awesome beat up up mechanics...toss us some absolutely beautiful sprites and some really solid gore...make the game the perfect length...and drop in an awesome synth style John Carpenter-esque 80’s horror soundtrack AND YOUVE GOT A HIT! Lol

It should be in the same conversations with Splatterhouse / Streets of Rage / All of Capcom’s arcade beat em ups...but I barely ever hear it mentioned at all

Everything about Night Slashers is awesome except it’s rarity...still hunting for a PCB a year after I seriously started.

but it’s Halloween...go play it! Or who here has?

also; what are your near perfect games that barely anyone else ever knows about? As much as I love talking about stuff I love I equally enjoy hearing about new stuff I may have missed

I played it on Switch where it's released under the Johnny Turbo's Arcade series.

The interesting thing to note is that it's in English but retains the gratuitous, red gore and splatterific dismemberment of the Japanese version. What's not retained is the arrow that says "Go! (to Hell!)".

If I'm not mistaken the Japanese version is easier in difficulty. Eg. The first main boss (Frankenstein's monster) is alone in the JP version whilst he has a high tendency of summoning 3 additional zombies in the US version.

That said, I don't think there's any way to tweak difficulty in the JTA game, or whether it was even a thing on the original PCB.

The emulation seems to be a lot more accurate than the MAME version from what I can tell, the most telltale sign being the one flickering tile on the runaway carriage in stage 2.

Not all is rosy though: it doesn't give you the option of turning off the blur filter that's on by default and the audio seems more muffled than it should be overall.

P.S. Everyone should try and experience the pseudo wrestling match vs the first main boss as Jake. Clotheslines and suplexes for all!

 

[SALMORE]

Excellent beat'um game but unfortunately like most of Data East arcade classics it's was designed to be a quarter muncher !

 

[TintoConCasera]

Little Fighter 2!

Holy shit! Man, I played that a lot when I was a kid.

If anyone is wondering, it's a beat em up with player classes (mages, fighters, archers), lots of combos, skills and a LOT of people on screen.

 

[VGEsoterica]

I played it on Switch where it's released under the Johnny Turbo's Arcade series.

The interesting thing to note is that it's in English but retains the gratuitous, red gore and splatterific dismemberment of the Japanese version. What's not retained is the arrow that says "Go! (to Hell!)".

If I'm not mistaken the Japanese version is easier in difficulty. Eg. The first main boss (Frankenstein's monster) is alone in the JP version whilst he has a high tendency of summoning 3 additional zombies in the US version.

That said, I don't think there's any way to tweak difficulty in the JTA game, or whether it was even a thing on the original PCB.

The emulation seems to be a lot more accurate than the MAME version from what I can tell, the most telltale sign being the one flickering tile on the runaway carriage in stage 2.

Not all is rosy though: it doesn't give you the option of turning off the blur filter that's on by default and the audio seems more muffled than it should be overall.

P.S. Everyone should try and experience the pseudo wrestling match vs the first main boss as Jake. Clotheslines and suplexes for all!

filters that cannot be turned off =worst design decision ever. Why would you even do that!?

 

[teezzy]

My favorite Game Boy game by like a mile is Dexterity. I would literally play this until my brain melted. Simple and addictive. Total "just one more round" kinda vibe. Its Othello on crack.

Dragon Warrior Monsters is still the first thing that comes to mind for me when people talk about Dragon Quest. Dragon Quest VIII and XI are chill. But I like this. Pokemon wishes.
Oh yeah Dragon Quest Builders 2 rules also but I still like this more.

Lots of random dungeons, lots of cool monsters, good soundtrack too. It's a perfect blend of dungeon crawler and monster training game.

Abadox is the perfect shmup for me
I'm not a bullet hell guy, and I love how everything in this game is just dripping flesh. Especially 8 bit dripping flesh. That's because this game as you shooting shit inside the digestive system of a planet sized parasitic alien who ate your planet and you have to rescue the princess of your home planet from deep within its bowels as its immune system attacks you.. because of course you do lol

Nice mix of horizontal and vertical shooter with cool power ups. You cant go wrong.

I fell in love with Chocobo's Dungeon 2 when I used to smoke a lot of weed as a teen. I spent so many nights just exclusively playing this alone in my apartment high off my ass after a shitty night of managing a chicken wing restaurant.

It's simple, it's cute, it's perfect. I dont like weed any longer, but I still love Chocobo's Dungeon 2. Kupo.

All 10/10's - fight me

 

[01011001]

Little Fighter 2!

that game was my childhood... everyone at school had that installed on his PC, and we even smuggled it onto some of the school computers

I remember how I modded the baseball bat into a red lightsaber and Freeze's ice sword into a blue lightsaber lol. (It's super easy to edit sprites, you could even make your own characters, there was a template included)

also, me and my brother would always pick Freeze and Firen when a friend was over, we would play 3 player free for all, but from time to time we would totally troll the third player by fusing into Firzen xD which would regularly result in mountains of salt from said player.

 

[jigglet]

Viewtiful Joe. PERFECTION.

 

[Vandole]

The Magic of Scheherazade

Bad cover art aside, this is the greatest NES game ever. It's like the Legend of Zelda and Chrono Trigger hooked up for one night and did some Arabian Nights role-playing. It was seriously ahead of its time.

 

[The Wheel of Fortune]

Explorers of Sky has one of my favorite videogame stories ever, it's an absolute masterpiece. The soundtrack and the spritework are lovely as well! It's one of my favorite games of all time, as well as Trauma Team, which is just as incredible overall (well, not the story, but it's still pretty solid!)

This RPG was incredibly awesome as well, it's not on my top 10, but man did it take me by surprise back when I first tried it.

 

[Kusarigama]

Holy shit! Man, I played that a lot when I was a kid.

If anyone is wondering, it's a beat em up with player classes (mages, fighters, archers), lots of combos, skills and a LOT of people on screen.

We could play upto 4 players on a single keyboard, that was a neat feature for tight budget and it did get a little cramped

that game was my childhood... everyone at school had that installed on his PC, and we even smuggled it onto some of the school computers

I remember how I modded the baseball bat into a red lightsaber and Freeze's ice sword into a blue lightsaber lol. (It's super easy to edit sprites, you could even make your own characters, there was a template included)

also, me and my brother would always pick Freeze and Firen when a friend was over, we would play 3 player free for all, but from time to time we would totally troll the third player by fusing into Firzen xD which would regularly result in mountains of salt from said player.

Me and my 2 brothers, we used to play it a lot, we too used to do the firen and freeze fusion too and troll our cousins.

 

[teezzy]

Explorers of Sky has one of my favorite videogame stories ever, it's an absolute masterpiece. The soundtrack and the spritework are lovely as well! It's one of my favorite games of all time, as well as Trauma Team, which is just as incredible overall (well, not the story, but it's still pretty solid!)

This RPG was incredibly awesome as well, it's not on my top 10, but man did it take me by surprise back when I first tried it.

Oh MAAAN you're making me want a 3DS/DS again... i wonder how much those flash cart things are... i'm getting ideas

 

[nkarafo]

I guess the original Dungeon Keeper is pretty old and it's game design very niche, so for my 10/10 obscure game i will pick that.

 

[German Hops]

I'll have to chime in a vote for Dolphin Blue:

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

I'll have to chime in a vote for Dolphin Blue:

Good answer. Still haven't played as much of it as I would've liked, but I was honestly stunned by how good of a take this is on the Metal Slug formula. Definitely my favorite Atomiswave cart.

 

[Bonfires Down]

Not as obscure as Night Slashers, which I’ve never heard of, but Knights in the Nightmare is in my top 20 of all time.

Heart of Darkness is up there too.

 

[93xfan]

Illusion of Gaia.

It’s a SNES action RPG with some of the best music of the era. Great locales and just an all around fun and rewarding game.

 

[Rickyiez]

Shadow Hearts Covenant is probably quite obscure . Remained to be my favourite JRPG until this day .

 

[bender]

Shadow Hearts Covenant is probably quite obscure . Remained to be my favourite JRPG until this day .

Judgement Ring was such a great concept from the SH series.

 

[Business]

With all apologies to the NBA Jam and NBA Street series, Konami's Run and Gun is the best arcade basketball game ever created.

Wow I came here to post Soccer Superstars, which is basically the same game but the football version. Amazing games the both of them.

 

[Hawks Eclipse]

filters that cannot be turned off =worst design decision ever. Why would you even do that!?

Honestly I can't fathom the rationale either. Maybe they think sharp pixels would cut our eyes, sigh.

 

[GymWolf]

Not really obscure, but when i was young this stuff was 10\10 for me and nobody even remember the game when they talk about snes classics

Also skullmonkeys on ps1

 

[MasterDerico]

There's too much... Part of my collection is focused on hidden gems and obscure games... I can indicate great obscure games all day!!

 

[Vae_Victis]

I wouldn't call either a 10/10, but two solid games to me I never see anybody mention are MoHo (or Ball Breakers in the US) and Savage Skies.

MoHo was sort-of arena fighter on PS1 (and PC) with robots mounted on a spinning ball, but all movement was based on real-time physics, it accounted for inertia and stuff like that, and it even featured terrain deformations in real time. It was varied enough, incredibly ambitious for the times, and all in all it played really well.





Savage Skies is basically Lair, but with ten times better controls, actual creatures variety, much more interesting artistic design and some fair challenge at high difficulty levels. On PS2/OG Xbox.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Also skullmonkeys on ps1

Man, do I love and miss stop motion animation.
Have you played The Neverhood? It's a short yet sweet adventure game by the same people.

 

[GymWolf]

Man, do I love and miss stop motion animation.
Have you played The Neverhood? It's a short yet sweet adventure game by the same people.

Is it the game they made before skullmoneys?

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Operencia: The Stolen Sun

Deathrow

 

[Northeastmonk]

OP’s game should have enemy names instead of ENEMY1. That would have been cool.

Nightmare Creatures - I didn’t know anyone else who played it back then. I saw it advertised in gaming magazine



I always thought ONE on PS1 was a hidden gem. Again, I didn’t know anyone who played it except for myself.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Is it the game they made before skullmoneys?

Yep! Looks like they are prequel and sequel.

I never played Skullmonkeys tho... might need to fix that soon. Do you think it does hold up well today?

 

[GymWolf]

Yep! Looks like they are prequel and sequel.

I never played Skullmonkeys tho... might need to fix that soon. Do you think it does hold up well today?

Absolutely.

This type of art-style doesn't age at all and the game itself is a good platformer.
The cinematics are fucking hilarious.