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[jesu]

This early game from the Manic Miner/Jet Set Willy Dev isn't very well known I think

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx_(Spectrum_video_game)

Not sure I ever got past this first screen

 

[Cmerrill]

I remember when I was kid, my friend had a game on his computer where you had to put lips on boobs to suck the milk out of them before they exploded......

I'm pretty sure I didn't dream this.

 

[Dr Campino]

How about the game within Encarta the MS Encyclopedia?

Yes! My friend had Encarta and we'd play this all the time.

I played tons of computer games as a kid, like Hover and various EA Sports games. But one that might be considered somewhat obscure is Sink or Swim. I was not very good at this game as a kid.

 

[zerotol]

Don't know if it's considered obscure. played this a bunch though

 

[Lux R7]

maybe Battle Beast?

 

[BKK]

aha true. it's on the DOS games archive as freeware! i just tried it out with dosbox. it's infinitely harder than i remember. good lord.

I think that's a big issue with playing retro games. Game mechanics have changed since then. Before a lot of it was down to memorisation, and if you invested a lot of money in the game, you were prepared to invest the time into learning how to memorise the enemy patterns etc. Now that you can download them for free, there's less incentive to spend that time into learning those patterns, maps, etc. So when we play those games at first now they seem difficult, but with a bit of effort they can be mastered.

Well, I haven't played this game, so I have no idea if what I said applies to it, but I think that it often makes games seem harder nowadays than they actually were, or are if you invest the time into them.

 

[pgtl_10]

Does Betrayal at Krondor count?

 

[fade_]

Rise of the Dragon

Don't really want to call it obscure as it came out on sega cd as well as PC but I have yet to meet anyone in real life (not online) that has played it. It in fact is what got me so into PC games at a young age because I found the level of freedom amazing. For instance I could choose to walk outside naked but if I did the game would realize it and I'd get arrested. Something simple now but back then was amazing to me. Being a cyberpunk adventure game both some of my favorite genres didn't hurt either.

 

[Vol5]

Probably Driller. Ran like complete dog shit on my Amstrad 464. Didn't know what the hell I was supposed to. I only recently discovered it was a puzzle game! I was so young back then though. One notable other was pinball wizard on the mighty Vic20. It only worked a few times then the tape died. Good old shitty magnetic media from the early 80's...

 

[woopWOOP]

Medieval Chess. It was like chess, except you'd get a realtime battle between units whenever two pieces would come in contact. The units' remaining HP would carry over too, which was kind of neat.

Gruntz was basically a RTS/Lemmings puzzle game hybrid. It had a basic, but functional level editor and also an online multiplayer mode where'd you have to capture the other player's castle.

Superfly for DOS. You're a fly swatter and you have to swat X amount of flies before they lock you in. Crazy addicting.

 

[KiraXD]

Man there was a game i used to play back in the 90's... it was a Cartoony Space Trading game and i cant remember what it was called.. it was pretty much exactly like Outpost Kaloki, but it was a PC game from the 90's.


(Found it... Gazillionaire)

 

[BKK]

So I used to spend the weekends at my father's house, a lot of it playing his C64. The one I remember playing most; Radar Rat Race, which was good because it was a cartridge game, so you didn't have to load it up. I used to be great on this, the guy in the video doesn't seem to realise that you have to use the radar! I admit the music does get a bit grating after a while. What he says is true, that tune (three blind mice) is still ingrained in my mind thirty years later.

Edit: To be fair, re-watching the video, he must be using the radar.

There's another game that I remember playing, a cassette game. You were a deep sea diver and had to collect the pips ... searching for it I can't seem to find the name of it. Anyone remember this one?

 

[AzBat]

These BASIC games...

played on this machine...

Or all 8 of the cartridge games made for my IBM PCjr.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Loved this flash card game too

I played amazon and yukon trail too.... Was sooooo pissed when i found out there was no hunting. Luckily amazon trail had "fishing" atleast...

 

[Nightmare452]

Shogo: Mobile Armor Division

One of the first fps I played on PC. Don't remember being very good at it thought. Did not remember it was made by Monolith also.

 

[Dynomutt]

Abuse - It was a metroid type game. Pretty fun!

 

[Bombless]

Reunion. Yes, that is indeed an 11 minutes intro and it is awesome. Fantastic game and fantastic soundtrack. My parents ended up using the keyboard lock my pc had to stop me from trying to (and sometimes succeeding) sneak in the living room in the middle of the night to play it some more (I just took the key from the pc of my best friend at the time, we had the same locks).

Noctropolis. It's an EA game so probably not obscure but I don't know anyone around me that ever even heard of it. Comics inspired art and story with FMV characters inserted in. I loved the atmosphere of that game and used Darksheer/Peter Grey as my early online handle for the longest time before I moved on. Recently I managed to find a copy of the game in perfect condition on Ebay, including the paperback comic that served as the introduction to the game, for a steal.

 

[ShapeGSX]

K-RAZY Antics for the Commodore VIC20. It was a cartridge. CBS Software. So obscure you can't even find a YouTube video of it.

 

[Peaky]

There was a pseudo adventure shareware game I used to play. You were a female super hero / super human who travelled around town killing bad guys/ levelling up/making decisions on situations etc. It was pretty primitive, I just remember how adult/edgy it was. It came on one of those '1001' Shareware games CDs, which turned out to be half a dozen real games and a bunch of card game clones or something. I remember it having that Indiana Jones desktop adventures game on it, and a wolfenstein clone with smiley face enemies.

The other one was one of those 'x moves per day' browser games. It was a first person RPG where you started in town; you could travel out into the wilderness and fight monsters/craft items/fight in the arena etc. I dropped it once I found out about runescape.

 

[Red]

Can't remember the name, but it was a sort of interactive story involving parrots. There were a lot of bird puns. I think their house burns down or something.

The only other one I can think of is Sierra's Stellar 7.

God, what was that name of the virtual pet that littered JCPenny's in the late 90s? I think you needed a microphone to interact with it. Looked like some kind of weird teal lizard-bird creature.

 

[2blackcats]

F29 Retaliator

Made during the end of the Cold War, based on speculation on future aircraft. Don't really remember much of it.

Zulu alert? (the instant action mode)

The only flight sim I ever really got in to.

Amazing game.

 

[reelbigtink]

I dunno how obscure it was or even if it was good but I played the crap out of that 1992 Trolls game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFE2J9IVEjU

Whatever happened to those toys?

 

[trikster40]

I used to play a Jungle Book reading game on the Apple IIC. You explored, searched caves, and occasionally find a story to read. I loved that game.

 

[MadMike22089]

Played this game a lot when I was young, because I was fascinated by dinosaurs and Paleontology. I think I probably got it from a cereal box or something.

 

[The Technomancer]

Local library had a copy of Marble Drop that I loved

 

[Count of Monte Cristo]

Castle of the Winds

All of these are available for free from their original creators in different places, I think.

I absolutely loved Castle of the Winds. Its what got me hooked on RPGs to begin with. Good to see it in this thread.

 

[The Technomancer]

Actually I'm going to go one level more obscure: the first RPG I ever played (and got super into) was Taskmaker. This game rocked. I think

 

[old]

Quarantine - driving a taxi around a twisted-metal like city.

Capture the flag - still a great game. Would love an update.

Indy 500 - you had to answer trivia questions out if the instruction manual to start the game.

 

[-Gozer-]

The Jetsons: By George, In Trouble Again (MS-DOS)

One of the very first games I ever played was a game called Rasputin on the ZX Spectrum. I never see it mentioned (I don't think it was actually any good), but it's a significant game for me personally.

I owned the C64 version of Rasputin.
Love the soundtrack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O1g5DSYPfA

maybe Battle Beast?

First time I've seen anyone else mention Battle Beast ever. I still have my Battle Beast mouse pad.

 

[androvsky]

Can't remember the name, but it was a sort of interactive story involving parrots. There were a lot of bird puns. I think their house burns down or something.

The only other one I can think of is Sierra's Stellar 7.

God, what was that name of the virtual pet that littered JCPenny's in the late 90s? I think you needed a microphone to interact with it. Looked like some kind of weird teal lizard-bird creature.

I remember Stellar 7, I bought it because it reminded me of a Commodore 64 game a friend had called Arctic Fox. Arctic Fox was pretty amazing for the time since it was kind of a 3D open world with variable terrain and camera guided missiles. Sure it was all wireframe and the mountains were pyramids, but you could drive up them.

Anyway, back to Stellar 7. When I bought a Soundblaster, it was the only game I had that was voiced, so I used it to show off the sound card. Only problem is my computer was a Tandy 1000 with two 5 1/4" floppy drives and no hard drive, so the voices intro took about ten minutes to load... if it didn't encounter an error and simply lock up.

 

[Red]

God, what was that name of the virtual pet that littered JCPenny's in the late 90s? I think you needed a microphone to interact with it. Looked like some kind of weird teal lizard-bird creature.

THIS MOTHERFUCKER

FIN FIN ON TEO THE MAGIC PLANET

A dolphin-bird hybrid monstrosity that occupied clearance bins at JC Penny's across the nation.

He didn't understand anything. He'd just screech at you in his horrible dolphin voice, trapped in a world of horrible early Windows era sci-fi-esque wallpapers.

It was like a Tamagotchi for people who didn't want to leave the house, and who hated their eardrums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSbq7nc_oqo

Watch this inscrutable nonsense. You can not imagine the hours I wasted trying to convince myself this was good.

 

[petghost]

Gladiator, a top-down DOS game where you hire an army of fighters to wage battle. Classes of fighters include soldier, barbarian, elf, archer, mage, cleric, thief, druid, orc, skeleton, elemental, slime, fairy, and ghost. You can switch between any of your fighters to control during the battle.

The music is still etched into my brain. Please get it out.

Thank you so much for bringing this up I've been trying to recall the name for like 10 years.

 

[Badlucktroll]

 

[AcademicSaucer]

Does anyone remember a mario kart clone with worms ?

 

[Mental Atrophy]

Capture the flag by Carrsoft

I loved the turn by email feature back in the AOL dialup days.

I played the shit out of this game while listening to Final Fantasy MIDIs.

 

[Red]

Does anyone remember a mario kart clone with worms ?

Super Worms?

 

[novenD]

There's a text adventure called Amnesia that was released by EA back in 1986.

It is not the game I'm going to tell you about.

Amnesia is a text adventure released in 1995 by a man named Toby White, and it may as well not exist. Finding any reference to it online, let someone who's actually played it, is nearly impossible.

The game itself plays like a fever dream; When you first start the game, you awake on the surface of the Moon next to a hatch in the ground and a flower in a pot. Nearby, there is a "Wiggly" key which resists your efforts to "Get" it. Once you have the key and open the hatch with it, you discover an aquarium which contains a "SAD FISHY PORCUPINE" (sic).

This is the first ten minutes of the game.

In the twenty years since it's release, nobody has actually beaten it.

 

[Uriah]

Lost Eden, an adventure game for the PC. I was young and had no idea what a point-an-click adventure game was, but I loved dinosaurs. I never made it very far because I couldn't figure out where to go.

 

[Ashtar]

Abuse - It was a metroid type game. Pretty fun!

Pretty sure I played this

 

[wihio]

Actually I'm going to go one level more obscure: the first RPG I ever played (and got super into) was Taskmaker. This game rocked. I think

I came here with this in mind. Gaming on a Mac was nowhere near its best when this game came out, but I played the hell out of it. Sure beat all the Hypercard games of the time!

I also enjoyed Spectre VR (could fit on a floppy disk, no problem!)

 

[VizVal]

Particularly the special edition, I dunno if it's really obscure but it's definitely old and I don't think it reviewed well.

I still have the instruction book (yes it was practically a book that had a substantial amount of info and fluff, which I loved reading) and have fond memories of using cheats to claim my opposing faith's legendary creature before the end of the first turn. I usually picked the Chaos faith so I'd buy Lancelot from Order for a ton of ill-gotten Gold, Gems and Ale.

 

[AmyS]

F29 Retaliator

Made during the end of the Cold War, based on speculation on future aircraft. Don't really remember much of it.

Yep.

I played F-29 Retaliator on my friend's PC.

BTW the artwork for the cover is taken from the artist concept of Lockheed's ATF in the mid-late 80s.

Before stealth became a major priority in the YF-22 / F-22 Raptor.

 

[Altazor]

There's a text adventure called Amnesia that was released by EA back in 1986.

It is not the game I'm going to tell you about.

Amnesia is a text adventure released in 1995 by a man named Toby White, and it may as well not exist. Finding any reference to it online, let someone who's actually played it, is nearly impossible.

The game itself plays like a fever dream; When you first start the game, you awake on the surface of the Moon next to a hatch in the ground and a flower in a pot. Nearby, there is a "Wiggly" key which resists your efforts to "Get" it. Once you have the key and open the hatch with it, you discover an aquarium which contains a "SAD FISHY PORCUPINE" (sic).

This is the first ten minutes of the game.

In the twenty years since it's release, nobody has actually beaten it.

this sounds like the beginning of a creepypasta.

 

[Heratiki]

The most obscure for me was Clowns and Balloons (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wogBGAM2px0) for the TRS-80. But it was only obscure because not many people I knew had a computer until the Apple II.

 

[louiedog]

Big Red Racing. I've never seen or heard it mentioned anywhere on the internet in the 20 years since it released, but doing a Google search now is showing some others remember it. I recognized it as bad at the time, but there was something really fun about it. Maybe it just needed a bit more development time.

Just look at how 90s that art is.

Big Red Racing was planned for release on 6 different systems: DOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, 3DO, Nintendo 64, and Atari Jaguar, but they were all cancelled except the DOS version.

 

[Jakten]

I don't think this is obscure as I probably think but I'll say ZZT:

One of the first things that got me interested in game development along with Logo Writer:

 

[professor denim]

Paradise Café on the ZX Spectrum. Actually my first contact with erotic/porn content as a kid. Videogames stole my virginity.

https://youtu.be/o64qCT0lLI0

 

[Lebon14]

I don't know if that counts but Elasto Mania (aka "Elma").

Back in the day, it was an awesome indie game.

 

[zenosparadox]

I don't know of anyone that played Battle Bugs. A kind of RTwP puzzle game.

 

[antitrop]

I don't think this is obscure as I probably think but I'll say ZZT:

Love ZZT. There used to be directories on AOL just full of ZZT games.

The Code Red series stands out as particularly memorable.