What is the most unique game you ever played (at the time)?

Obviously, most ideas are reused if they are new and unique...but what was the most unique for its time that you played later or at release. IMO something like Shadows of Mordor's nemesis system made it unique. Seaman, and the balls they had released a game where you...wait to play. Sonic at the time, platformers were hard enough now you want me to move super quick. (I know many hate sonic but on paper that was a unique idea.) Power stone 2, biased but I think the comparison that it's a worst smash bros is unfair. Been wanting to review this game but can't put into words well enough why it works and people usually that dismiss it don't "get it". The game has simple controls for pick up and play and yet has depth with how you outthink your opponent so a new player can be better than a vet just by thinking not memorizing layouts and inputs and frames...This game never shows well to new people but given time the game actually is good. Shenmue, for its ability to say f u, this is real life simulator. Sims for their basically Sims-like game...Life is strange, never forget going into a room I broke into and turning back time so I'm in it before I went into it plus all the rewinds for dialogue choices. There's a reason the first hasn't been surpassed. Bunch of others but let me know more in the comments.

I wanted to really consider this because it would be easy, in my experience, to say something like Grand Theft Auto III, even having played Grand Theft Autos on PS2 it never seemed plausible that a game like that would happen at the time that it did.

It turns out that no SEO God has figured out how to make "most unique video games" a very searchable term, either - search engines seem keen to surface "best", "innovative", "scariest" and so on...that's interesting!

I think you make some interesting proposals. I never had that Wii moment a lot of families had, but The Sims 2 was a game I was asked to install on my grandmother's bedroom computer during post-Christmas present festivities. At the time, the whole family got together in true Midwestern fashion, so not only did it strike me that my grandmother wanted to see what this game was but the entire extended family (by quick estimate, as many as 35 people?) was excited to see what I was hoping to get up to back home by way of this woman in her '80s' processing PC that somehow had a graphics and sound card capable of producing that game thanks to a pair of uncles with long careers at IBM. Under that kind of pressure, it was tough to achieve any kind of goal, obviously (my being 14 couldn't have helped matters) but as she'd pass away just two years later in the fall of 2006, it was one of the final non-sad memories I made with her and the only time I can remember her thinking video games were in any way interesting.

But I suppose that's a unique experience with a game, right?

So...I keep thinking...scrolling the PS4 through PS5 history I'm always privy to via looking at my profile on the console and seeing art after art representing games that explicitly built on what came before in iterative ways that diminish their ambitions of uniqueness in large and small ways throughout their design...

And I think I arrive at Bushido Blade. I almost said Tekken, before realizing I'd probably played a decent amount of Soul Blade in arcades and thus Tekken would've primarily introduced the limb system but little else...Bushido Blade, meanwhile, was probably the first time I felt like I was actually doing whatever the game was suggesting I was trying to do by pressing buttons on a controller and watching the results develop on screen. I loved to play that game over and over, intentionally attempting to prolong or abruptly end fights depending on what story I was trying to tell myself, and the magic of that game was (in memory if not true function) you were pretty capable of doing just that. This then developed into a significantly engaging two player battle to introduce to friends who'd never played the game - you could really toy with your opponent in ways that felt far simpler than "I know the combos and you don't" like it was with Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. In turn, you could suffer the consequences of your hubris quite abruptly.

I tried to think about why I settled on this more, because I'm sure there was something that inspired that game in some way or another, but when I thought about the feeling of playing that game, the only analog I could think of was those first few months with Nidhogg, one of the last games I frequently played in a local multiplayer environment, and how laugh out loud hilarious it was that all you needed to get good at that game was a mastery of the high, mid, low weapon alignment and the way those little stick men could move around those environments. Seven years later, I wonder if I could be fascinated by the magic of that sort of gameplay just one more time, but I'm fairly certain it's the one thing in gaming I've truly loved yet rarely found over my 33 years.

Spanky's Quest is not a great game but it did have a cool mechanic that I've not really seen done anywhere else. You basically press a button to produce an orb, bounce said orb off Spanky's head to make it more powerful then press a button to turn it into a sports ball. Eg. you might bounce once for a baseball, twice for a US football, 3 for a whole mess of basketballs etc. and use these balls to kill enemies through an otherwise basic platformer.

Probably Frog Fractions based on people not even being able to describe the game

Shenmue springs to mind, walking around talking to anyone, coming home early so i don't worry Ine-san, getting a job in a video game, using my wages so i can feed a cat, QUICK TIME EVENTS! Even now the only games i would say are similar are its sequels and the Yakuza series, which is the direct spiritual successor to it.

I suppose that level of superfluous world interaction had been done in RPG's before, but not in a fully 3D rendered world like this, its innovations are many but one of the easiest to point out are the new standard it set for video game faces, lets compare two games from 1999.

I wanted to use this face from the "Passport" disc, which while rendered in real time on a Dreamcast and came with the game, was not a part of the game proper, but yo, this was 23 years ago...

I almost said GTA3 from Nodima's suggestion, there really was nothing like it at the time and it blew me away, but you know, there were shooters, there were driving games, games like Urban Chaos combined them before, it just did it all to a new absurdly high level.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures with four GBAs. I only got to do it once, but it's still one of my favorite things I've ever done in the realm of gaming (and maybe outside it).

To this day, I think Resonance of Fate's battle system is the most one of a kind out there. Tactical RPGs are plentiful but there is nothing like this gem.

It is a little complicated and grindy but boy is the game stylish and rewarding when you execute your plan properly.

Short Peace Ranko Tsukigimes Longest Day.

About 1-2 hours long

Crazy stuff happen. I do not want to talk to much. Just google a couple minutes and decide for yourself.

One of the most unique games i played.

The Last Remnant's battle system which was pretty unique and not used again in other JRPGs. The battle system of Legend of Legaia is another example. A very cool and original battle system that was never used again.

@nodima: Bushido Blade is a good choice. I've played a lot of other one-hit-kill fighting games trying to chase that high, but there is still nothing quite like it.

FTL felt pretty darn unique when that first came out!

Deathstranding is probably the most recent game I've felt was unique while simultaneously being enjoyable.

I also find Elden Ring to be "unique" but I recognize I'm incredibly late to the Fromsoft party so that obviously doesn't count.

Most unique game? Have you checked out this 2D platform game called Eudemons Online? I played this game before and I also spend a lot of time leveling up my gears and pets. You can check it out. :)

At the time the fist Gran Turismo was teh most unique. It was doing something on consoles that was very interesting. Its was sim-ish while still having good joypad characteristics and really it was a 'feel' that was not on PC that often was too sim or too arcadelike. It certainly was the best looking game on PSX, and I'd say it was far and above MGS. Both games strove to look great on limited hardware, but Gran Turismo was simply revelatoryon consoles.

I'll throw Dead Rising into the mix. A fully functioning location with a ton of improvised weaponry on hand. And the biggest crowds we'd seen at that point. And the entire structure felt fresh. Hell, it still feels unique given how Capcom rolled back many of the things that made Dead Rising stand out.

Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses was pretty unique for 2001, and it's still pretty unique now.

Circus Maximus: Chariot Wars!!!!!!!! https://youtu.be/07d0-smKhlk

Metal Gear Solid. I think the last game i played before it was either Jumping Flash or one of the Toshindens. The whole package of MGS is something i still honestly think about at least once a week. I hadnt played either of the first two Metal Gears so i didnt know at the time that some of its tricks had already been done but man, that game holds a special space in my mind

I.. Cannot believe someone beat me to this. Yes, this is THE game.

Find it. Play it.

Major Havoc (ARC, 1983) - Rail Shooter/Maze Platformer hybrid w/ floaty physics that would make the LBP devs jealous

Dragon's Lair (ARC, 1983) - FMV Action/QTE. Still a bafflingly stupid idea.

Marble Madness (ARC, 1984/MD etc., ) - Isometric Ball Labyrinth/Racing thing

Lode Runner (C64/AII, 1983/ARC, 1984) - Puzzle Platformer/Trapping

Solomon's Key (ARC, 1986/NES, 1987/SMS, 1988) - Single Screen Puzzle Platformer built around creating and removing blocks

APB/All Points Bulletin (ARC, 1987) - Driving/Police Chase, GTA in reverse basically

Gain Ground (ARC, 1988/MD, ) - Arena Shooter/Tactics/Rescue Mission bend for two

Quest For Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (PC, 1989)/VGA ver., 1992) - Quest Adventure/RPG hybrid

@alianger: Nice, but these are all kinda old. Can you place any newer ones. I don't recognize these but looked them up and i can see how they were original at the time. Good stuff. Seems you have a knack for this, post more if you find some.

Oh absolutely, it's just I had this huge list and I started from the beginning :)

Deus Ex (PC, 2000) - FP ARPG w/ manual stat and skills allocation, interactive dialogue w/ fully voiced NPCs, open-ended misions. The interesting sociopolitical commentary mixed with conspiracy and dead pan humour also makes for one of the funniest games ever.

The Typing of the Dead (ARC/PC/DC, 2000) - Typing Sim/Rail Shooter Hybrid. One of the few successful edutainment games and one of Sega's best

Within a Deep Forest (PC, 2006) - Non-violent 2D Platform Adventure/MV-style game where you play as a ball that changes materials

Mother 3 (GBA, 2006) - A JRPG with some of the best writing in the medium, a more personal story in a world that feels intimate and alive, rhythm-based combat and various satirical elements

Phantom Dust

World of Warcraft, I never really got to play because I had helicopter parents in high school, but TBC was an amazing gaming experience and social one, once I went off to college. Made life long friends through that game on campus and other friends through them too. Loved it.

Runner up would be UT2k4 when I started making skins and map making, taught me photoshop and illustrator. So I went to art college.

Katamari Damacy.

killer 7