Off the beaten path

Tek7

Tek7

CGA President, Tribe of Judah Founder & President
Staff member
Okay, so many of us have played StarCraft. Most of us have played Counter-Strike. We've probably all played World of Warcraft at some point.

But what about the lesser-known titles you've played and enjoyed? Most of my favorite "games that most people have never heard of" are for consoles, so let's open this discussion to both the PC and console gamers.

What rare or obscure titles would you recommend to others?

Maybe it's a PC game by an independent developer. Maybe it's a console RPG that flew under the radar. Maybe it's a modern-day shmup that found its home with a niche group of gamers.

Whatever it is, share your recommendations here.
 
Hmm, it's kinda old, and I really have no idea how popular it was, but for PC I got it + soundtrack years ago, and just the other day for $1.50 at Gamestop on PS2:

Oni

<3
 
SNES

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs
Brawl Brothers
Cool Spot
King of the Monsters 2: The Next Thing
The Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Metal Warriors
Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage
Stunt Race FX
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Yoshi's Cookie

Arcade

Out Run; Out Run 2; OutRunners
Virtua Cop

Sega Genesis

Golden Axe
Jurassic Park
Streets of Rage 3
Virtua Racing
X-Men 2: Clone Wars

MS-DOS/PC

Strike Commander
Syndicate Wars
The Journeyman Project
Worms 3D


Half of the games on my list could likely be lesser-known titles, such as Stunt Race FX.
 
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I absolutely love Maximum Carnage, in fact, I think I had it on Genesis and[/] SNES for no good reason at all. It really makes me hate how popular this gaming thing is in conjunction with the popularity of eBay....over $60 for a "wonky" copy of FF7 that might not work? Seriously?

And I will to this day buy anything with "Battletoads" in the name.
 
Corpfox said:
Worms 3D
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I LOVED Worms 3D.

As for great games I'd never heard of, I had actually never heard of Deus Ex until a few years ago and proceeded to wonder where it had been all my life. :rolleyes:

Traitor's Gate was a trip. Never did beat it. But a game where you have to infiltrate and steal THE Crown Jewels without killing anybody is definitely something that sparked my interest. (PC title)

And for being the utter and chaotically buggy/glitched/unfinished product that it was, I actually enjoyed Advent Rising for the Xbox. I wish they'd make it available on the 360 and fix some bugs while they're at it... (Won't happen, but I can dream. :cool:)
 
Commander Keen, and Scorched Earth (the old little 8-bit game). I also agree with Battletoads. Though one game I like is Crescent-Hawks Inception (old, old Mechwarrior game)
 
ajmucha said:
Commander Keen, and Scorched Earth (the old little 8-bit game). I also agree with Battletoads. Though one game I like is Crescent-Hawks Inception (old, old Mechwarrior game)
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Nice. Scorched Earth and Commander Keen.

Stunts was pretty old too. It was the best driving game at that time, especially when you could built and drive your own track.

Jazz Jackrabbit was old too, I actually played part 2, real fun.

And a couple others too:

Prince of Persia (Played that on the Apple)
Command and Conquer
Cyberia
Dark Seed 2 (Scary!)
DOOM (Only played the demo that time)
Heroes of Might and Magic II
The Need for Speed
Quake
Raiden
Raptor: Call of the Shadows (Best game I've ever played, even as the shareware version)
Rise of the Triad
Ultima VIII (Best RPG I've ever played, never beaten it)
Warcraft II
Wolfenstein 3D
Spear of Destiny


The whole time I've played all those games,
I badly wanted to play Wing Commander 3 and Descent: FreeSpace - The Great War full versions!
 
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I have to agree with everyone ... the Battletoads games were amazing. I really wish they would have done more with such an awesome series.

Tek7 said:
Okay, so many of us have played StarCraft. Most of us have played Counter-Strike. We've probably all played World of Warcraft at some point.
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Yes I have played Starcraft. I have only played CS:Source, but I have never played World of Warcraft and probably never will. I'm not a huge fan of RPG's and I really don't like the idea of having to pay monthly for a game that I've already payed for.
 
I have Starcraft. I've never opened it. Seriously. It's in the shrinkwrap. Somewhere in my mom's house there is a lonely copy, my buddy and I both got it from his sister for Christmas one year, and I think he said his is still sealed.
 
blackgravity said:
I have Starcraft. I've never opened it. Seriously. It's in the shrinkwrap. Somewhere in my mom's house there is a lonely copy, my buddy and I both got it from his sister for Christmas one year, and I think he said his is still sealed.
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That is perhaps the saddest thing I have read this month.

/cry
 
Tek7 said:
That is perhaps the saddest thing I have read this month.

/cry
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LOL

:D

Will you play the decade old game, or will you re-sell it, blackgravity?

When will you say your favorite, "rare or obscure titles", Tek7? :confused:

Looking through Wikipedia, I can honestly say, 2 of my games are seriously "rare or obscure titles", since Wiki couldn't find them!

Iron Blood

Deus

My Iron Blood is a copy from China, and the game crashes on the 3rd level.

And in Deus, I died from hypothermia! X_X

There are a total 22 ways to die in Deus, the most easy are food poisoning, infection and hypothermia. Also make sure your food and water is clean before eating \ drinking it, try boiling the water or using water purification tablets on it.
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These are only off the top of my head and are all PS2 games. They also just happen to be all short games to VERY short games that offer little replay value but all have a very Classic Snes feel (Shadow of Colossus was beaten in 2 days without even trying to but those two days were awesome!). They are of course not perfect but I definitely recommend them as each offers a memorable experience I would not pass up. I don't think any of them had much objectionable content (maybe a d-word or 2).

ICO: It is like a heroic fairy tale. It's a prime example of quality over quantity in content. GET AWAY FROM MY GIRL YOU SHADOW MONSTERS! :p

Shadow of the Colossus: While I actually preferred ICO over this prequel it is certainly not to be forgotten. I have couple moral issues with the plotline especially the ending (ok so there is not much of a plotline until the ending but that's ok). Also while I understand the point of not having enemies other than the Colossuses the game could have stood at least something to make the approach to each colossuses seem like you where approaching evil. As it stands you will ride to each colossus fight it then ride to the next that's it. There are no puzzles or fighting other that the (uh 12?) bosses. Most of the colossus fights are extremely good though (just a couple seem to be too similar IMO) Really this is a different experience and should be played expecting one it just could have been a tiny bit better. I know of no other game that gives the same feeling as this one. The soundtrack is excellent also and I never tired when it kicks in. I think I cared about the horse more than the girl by the end though :p.

Rygar: A remake of the original (which I never played). The plotline comes off as rather campy (check out the werid embrace Rygar gives at the end. It's like she wanted to be let go of o_O) but it's ok never the less. The areas, gameplay and especially music all come together for a classic experience.

Prince of Persia: The first remake of the PC series on the PS2 game is worthy of being a Classic Snes game. Of note the main character is both likeable but shows human flaws avoiding atypical and making a great plot. The gameplay is wonderful so much so it's been copyed for many other games. The areas are approprate. I never tired of it's upbeat arabian sountrack that fitted the game so perfectly as opposed to the horrible, horrible soundtrack of the second game. Possible objections (and I am nit picking) is what could be infered as a "intimate" love sceen but because it's so very vague I doubt it's what was meant, the girl's outfit or lack thereof and the final boss should have been more impressive. BTW Extreme wall running FTW! (note the sequel to this was so bad I did not play the third game in the series).

Second Sight: A largely overlooked game that uses the Timesplitters game engine.
The ending is rather terse but it's not a bad one. Mainly It's fun being psychic and the plotline is quite good!

Red Faction: This game may NOT appeal to everyone because I enjoyed it for it's campy factor. It borrowed a lot of it's gameplay from the predominate FPS of the time Half Life. It may sound cruel but I found it funny the way the NPC's would scream "RED FACTION!" then run into enemy fire and die. I will always remember the jeep level as being amusing as well. Who needed the gun on it when the crunching sound of running over enemies was so satisfying (ok cruel I know but you had to be there).
I did not llike the sequal.

Deus-Ex: It was a cult classic PC game but I played it on the PS 2. Has multiple paths but if you are like me you play though each choice then reset to get the one you want :p

I'd like to emphasize just how great the music in Shadow of Colossus, Prince of Persia and to a slightly lesser degree Rygar is. It's just so appropriate and contributes so much to the "classic" feel I cannot help but thinking of the music when I think of these games.

I think I played Counter Strike for about 2 minutes and I've never played World of Warcraft :p
 
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I just picked Shadow of the Colossus up. Hoping to find time to play it, I'm still trying to burn through the MGS Essential Collection.

Edit: How easy to find is ICO?
 
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Ico was a common game back in the day it just didn't get much press. As far as finding it now I have no idea (looking...yup Ebay has some, overpriced of course :p). Neither Ico nor Shadow will tax your time as they are exceedingly short. Both games have what I'd call an "arty" presentation so you know. Hmmm the wiki on ICO says it's creator was influenced by the creator of "Another World" a.k.a. "Out of this World". That was a great game too.
 
Have to agree on ICO, as I watched my wife play through the game (in Japanese) and was fascinated by the artwork and gameplay. She just got Shadow of the colossus from her mom in Japan and plans to play it after finishing Zelda:Twilight Princess, so I am getting anxious for it as well. Also love Rygar, Red Faction, and DeusEx....always wondered why they didn't get more press as they all had new groundbreaking ideas in them.

Some others that I have played and enjoyed are:

Sega Genesis:
Toejam and Earl
Starflight
DesertStrike
JungleStrike

PC:
No One Lives Forever I & II
Red faction I & II


Will post more soon....have work getting in the way of my forum trolling. :D
 
the No One Lives Forever Games are so awesome. In fact, those, Deus Ex, Invisible War, and Battlefield 1942 are the only PC games I even have on my desk anymore.
 
Corpfox said:
When will you say your favorite, "rare or obscure titles", Tek7?
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Well, I'm almost two years late, but I've returned to the thread and am ready to answer the question.

I've already discussed imports here, so I won't re-list those titles.

Some of my favorite obscure releases with a US release are:
  • Abuse (PC)
  • Boppin' (PC)
  • A Boy and His Blob (NES)
  • Cool Spot (SNES)
  • de Blob (Wii)
  • Dragon Power (NES) (I had no idea at the time that the game was based on Dragon Ball, but with all references to the anime series and manga removed)
  • Epic Pinball (PC)
  • Forsaken (PC)
  • Grandia II (Dreamcast) (Even if the story did tank in the last 1/3 of the game)
  • Hocus Pocus (PC)
  • Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)
  • Jazz Jackrabbit (PC)
  • The Munchables (Wii)
  • Muramasa (Wii)
  • Mystic Towers (PC)
  • Okami (Wii) (Maybe not obscure, but didn't sell all that well, if I remember correctly--which is a pity, because it's an amazing game)
  • One Must Fall 2097 (PC)
  • Planet Puzzle League (DS)
  • Pocky & Rocky (SNES)
  • Raptor: Call of the Shadows (PC) (Arguably the best PC shmup of all time)
  • Rise of the Triad (PC) (DEFINITELY not one for the kids)
  • Samurai Shodown IV (NeoGeo)
  • Star Control 3 (PC)
  • Starflight (Genesis, PC)
  • Soul Bubbles (DS)
  • Stargunner (PC)
  • Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis) (Not sure if this counts as obscure, though)
  • Supaplex (PC)
  • Terminal Velocity (PC)
  • Toejam & Earl (Genesis)
  • Typing of the Dead (Dreamcast, PC)
  • Tyrian (PC)
  • Wacky Wheels (PC)
  • ZZT (PC)
If I think of others, I'll be sure to post.
 
*looks into Xfire gaming history*

Total Annihilation anyone? I mean, who wouldn't love robot wars.
I also fondly remember playing Star Wars Galatic Battlegrounds and Empires: Dawn of the Modern World when I was younger.
And I've recently started playing Heroes of Might and Magic III again, which was one of the first PC games I played.

So while I don't have the extensive memory of all you adults, these are my old school games ;)
 
Stc95 said:
*looks into Xfire gaming history*

Total Annihilation anyone? I mean, who wouldn't love robot wars.
I also fondly remember playing Star Wars Galatic Battlegrounds and Empires: Dawn of the Modern World when I was younger.
And I've recently started playing Heroes of Might and Magic III again, which was one of the first PC games I played.

So while I don't have the extensive memory of all you adults, these are my old school games ;)
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HoMM III is a very good game.

The Mighty Gerbil said:
Prince of Persia: The first remake of the PC series on the PS2 game is worthy of being a Classic Snes game. Of note the main character is both likeable but shows human flaws avoiding atypical and making a great plot. The gameplay is wonderful so much so it's been copyed for many other games. The areas are approprate. I never tired of it's upbeat arabian sountrack that fitted the game so perfectly as opposed to the horrible, horrible soundtrack of the second game. Possible objections (and I am nit picking) is what could be infered as a "intimate" love sceen but because it's so very vague I doubt it's what was meant, the girl's outfit or lack thereof and the final boss should have been more impressive. BTW Extreme wall running FTW! (note the sequel to this was so bad I did not play the third game in the series).
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This, but the actual SNES platformer Prince of Persia, where you had a time limit, but couldn't alter time.
 
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