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SuicidalSnowman

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The Best Unloved or Unknown Games

My list of the best games that either no one played or were generally disliked by the mainstream gaming community.

At this time, not ranked in order.

Comments welcome.

List items

  • A first generation PSX game, the physics in this are simply amazing. Few games have ever replicated the balance between finesse and brute force. Add in very competitive, short track events, crazy cars, and varied, balanced tracks, and you have a real winner. On top of that, the physics allowed for some insane crashes.

    I still play this game at least once a month.

  • This game had some rather simple gameplay, bland cars and tracks (except for the fairgrounds F1 track) and horrid sound.

    But it also had some excellent features that were way ahead of its time. With three modes and three different types of cars (sprint, stock, and F1) each with their own unique attributes. The sprint cars had a simple but somewhat deep power slide system, the stock cars were all about drafting and racing dangerously close, while the F1 cars actually required learning a racing line (rare in a Genesis era game). Throw in an upgrade system, a full career mode, and two player cooperative career progression, and you have a deep racing game.

  • A cross between Worms and those green Army men games. Many people say this actually plays something like Fat Princess.

    This game was terrible, however, as a single player game. Poor micro management just really isn't fun. But as a multiplayer game there are few that can compare. Especially the Co-op. With more than one person at the controls, the insanity is full on. Additionally, there was a sort of pause trick, whereby pausing the game the would halt the action, but any live bombs or missiles would complete their arc and detonate. Thereby a grenade user could score unlimited hits with repeated pausing, but inevitably you would also do it, say, when your teammate had taken a dip in the water, causing him to drown and scream at you.

  • I am actually hearing that this game is becoming more and more of a cult classic, but at the time it came out I don't think anyone played it. Nonetheless, it had an awesome story line and interesting, if somewhat broken, character progression. Also, on screen enemies and a very active battle system were welcome additions.

  • Although the action was really slow, this game had some nice co-op platforming and some great levels. I think this may be one of the last "classic" side scrolling platform games released. It had that sort of really stereotypical, but also terribly endearing, art design.

  • This is the red-headed stepchild of the Sim City series. While nothing is really "bad" about the game, it was totally unloved by critics and Sim City fans. The first sim city is a classic, Sim City 2000 is what the first should have been, and Sim City 4 has all the features you could ever want, but in between is this guy.

    Still, this game was a notable step up from Sim City 2000 in terms of graphics and music. Additionally, this is where the series began the "sphere of influence" model for NIMBY and landmark buildings. Also, things like neighbor deals, high tech industry, farms, and real terraforming all were developed at this stage.

  • C & C is a huge PC franchise, but Red Alert - Retaliation actually made a decent transition to the PSX. The maps were large enough to try different things on, but small enough to manage with a controller. Also, good use of the shoulder buttons as hotkeys increased playability. Finally, the 105 skirmish maps meant you could always fire this game up for 30 minutes of war fun.

  • I couldn't find the PSX version of this, but that is what I am referring to here. This game was pretty bad in terms of basic issues like interface and core concept, but for some reason there was nothing more fun than putting in a full money cheat and building absurd roller coasters.

  • Quite possibly the most generic side scrolling shoot em up ever, it also offered players no direction whatsoever in terms of weapon use and strength, enemy hitbox detection, or even level goals. There were so many enemies that you never seemed to be able to kill, some that you never seemed to even damage, but then one day you would miraculously clear a level. As bad as this game was, my entire family, including my father and mother, played the heck out of it.

  • One of the first sports games to feature commentary. Terrible graphics, only three stadiums, and few options. (The only season was 21 games long, but you had to play a three game set to save.) You could really mess with the announcer by changing the infield depth or getting in run downs. Infield in! Infield Back! Infield Normal! So bad, but so good.

  • This game was bad, but also hugely influential. The instruction manual was huge, and contained the games playbook. The season mode was only playoffs, and you could easily throw half back screens 60 yards downfield without fear of interception, but it was quick, somewhat varied, football action. The players all had pretty much the same stats, but for some reason they decided to program different "spike" power into each skill player...

  • Quite possibly the single best Genesis game ever made. Seriously. Graphics that were better than a lot of mid-cycle PSX games. Huge variety in gameplay, ranging from side scroller, top down racer, 3/4ths racer, even some first person levels, and yet the gameplay mechanics for each type were well implemented, fun, and fair. Followed the movie in a completely logical way, but also had its own twist to the story that made sense. Finally, this game was full of charm. Unfortunately, it showed up towards the end of the Genesis life cycle, and carried a decidedly "kiddie" movie tie-in, and seems almost completely forgotten by today's gamers.

  • This might not be appropriate on this list, as this game has some very underground cult followings, but still, this was a decent puzzle game. Once you got the mechanic down, however, it became a little shallow, but the charm and presentation was top notch. Bonus fact: After completing the game, the "Cursor" was introduced as a character during the credits, alongside Yoshi and Baker Mario.

  • An amazing, amazing little known game. Ridiculously frantic and fast 2D action, with an awesome item alchemy system. Some of the bonus door mini-games were enough to play by themselves. This game also had style, charm, and humor that few games have replicated since.

  • I think this game unfortunately gets forgotten, but this was one of Insomniac's best early efforts. The level design was absolutely astounding. You would run around levels for hours trying to find the last few gems, only to find them tucked just out of sight in some creative little corner or ledge. The platforming was second to none, as you never felt overwhelmed, but were always a little puzzled. The environments were expansive and had a great sense of scale to them. This game had its own humor that was consistent and whimsical, and some of the best voice acting on the PSX. A crowning achievement in gaming.

  • I have been looking for the name of this game for some time now, and have finally found it thanks to the Namco Megamix quick look. I remember my mom renting me the NES version one Saturday when I was pretty young, and I played this game for hours. At first I had no idea what was going on, but as I figured it out, I really had a good time with it. It is kind of like when you get a whiff of that perfume your ex used to wear and suddenly you miss her all over again, or when you hear a song on the radio and get taken back to that one summer night on the beach, Dig Dug 2 will always be a special memory of my childhood.

  • Fully 3D racing on the Genesis! This game was awseome in its own way, but unfortunately used some sort of overclocked processor in the cart that inflated the price. Nonetheless, I used to rent this game weekly from my local video store. It also had a replay mode that was way ahead of its time.

  • Although this game had some technical limitations, it was truly one of the better games of its time. Infinitely playable with fun character names and a goofy self-serious "attitude," there was something undeniably enjoyable about backhanding someone named "Biff" off his motorcycle and into oncoming traffic.

  • When Naughty Dog got tired of making platformers, they decided to change it up for Crash's final PSX appearance. What happened was a seminal cart game that is relatively unknown. This game was simply oozing with charm and personality, as all the characters from the Crash universe are well represented and voiced. The story mode was fun, offering race, collect the letters and win, and time trial modes. The courses are varied, challenging, and fun. The power slide and boost mechanic works, the heavy/medium/light balance of characters has enough depth to matter, but also every character is equally useful. Also, all time trial challenges were perfectly balanced, requiring mastery but not frustration. Even the boss fights were fun. The split screen multiplayer works as well. One final note: The hub world was so well designed, it became fun to just cruise around it, but it also had a very, very little app. The crash theme music played, and as you entered each different area, it subtly morphed into that area's variation on the theme.

  • The only Tetris game that I can think of that actually takes the timeless Tetris formula and improves on it. The new game modes and options were all logical and interesting extensions of the classic Tetris formula. Even today, this stands as the ultimate Tetris sequel.

  • Possibly not deserving of this list. This game was decently well received and achieved moderate popularity. Nonetheless, a fun puzzle game that actually had a somewhat compelling single player, as each opponent had a unique personality and playing style. This game also had some very, very fun multiplayer.

  • This was the first baseball game to give a different view of the batter/pitcher matchup. By no means perfect, it represents a decent step forward in baseball game design, and many of the features we consider standard today were developed here.

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mubblegum

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Edited By mubblegum

Can safely say I had not heard of many of these, apart from a few. But I really want to check out that Tom & Jerry one!