This is a list of all the forgotten games I truly believe deserve a place in the gaming hall of fame. Most of these games sadly never received the necessary attention to be remembered as classics, and thus nobody remembers them.
Speak up if you played or remember any of these games!
OMF was a robot fighting game with some really interesting gameplay mechanics and awesome music. I remember spending dozens of hours in the very addictive career mode. With your hard-earned prize money you could upgrade your existing robot or buy a new one. It was strange how much personality these giant metallic fighters had, and I'm sad that the series never took off like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter did.
If you ask me, Raptor is the best top-down shooter I've ever played. It had great graphics and very satisfying sounds and effects. The main draw of the game was buying more and more weapons for your ship until you were a flying death armada of one, essentially dispensing bullet hell back at your enemies. Talk about fighting fire with fire.
The Lost Vikings may not be totally forgotten, but it still remains largely unappreciated when people talk about old classics. Maybe it was the high difficulty of the endgame that left a bad taste in people's mouths? I don't know. However, I do know that it was a very challenging and charming puzzle game with a great sense of humor.
To be honest, I don't know anything about how this game was received at the time of its release. All I know is that it was a complete blast to play co-op as it was really fast-paced and frenetic. Surely the fact that you got to choose from 6 badass steampunk mercenaries had something to do with my love for this game as well.
This is a bit of a weird entry for me, as I never had much affection for real pinball. For some unexplainable reason though, I could never get enough of Epic Pinball. If I were to guess why, I think the incredible music must have had something to do with it, as I can still recall some of the melodies today just by looking at screenshots of the tables.
Perhaps the first "physics-based" puzzle game ever made? Either way, this game series is as unique as it is whimsical. Sometimes the mechanics felt a bit wonky, and you weren't sure if that was how you were supposed to solve that puzzle, but it was always fun and encouraged experimenting to see what would work and what would not.
The ultimate action-strategy game of the early 90s. I don't think anyone who has played Rampart can deny the appeal of its simple but addictive gameplay. I mean, nobody in their right mind can hate tetris, can they? I would love to see a modern remake of this game as I believe there's a lot you could do with the Rampart concept.
It may not sound all that exciting when you describe it, but Return Fire was a lot of fun to play. Seen from a top-down perspective, it was basically a CTF game with modern military aesthetics. As it turns out, blasting your way into the enemy's (human or AI) heavily guarded base proved to be quite thrilling.
Apogee Software have made tons of great games that I have very fond memories of, and this is but one of them. Crystal Caves may look crude, especially looking at screenshots of it now, but somehow the garish EGA graphics only made it more endearing. Gameplay-wise it was as much of a puzzle challenge as it was a platforming game, which made it really interesting and different at the time.
Ski or Die is one of the few sports games I've truly enjoyed. It was wacky and ridiculous in a way that I could totally get behind. You could compete in 5 different events, but Downhill Blitz was the one that mattered. Also, the PC speaker music in this game was hilariously awesome.
