VideoGame_Discussion

Otaku100 wrote:

Yes, I did play gun Star superheroes a bit on the GBA. It felt pretty good. It didn't blow me away or anything but I'm glad they made it. The one game that really played well by treasure for the GBA was Astro boy: Omega Factor. It still holds up very well.

dunno001 wrote:

I had no idea there was a different version. I may have to give that a shot. The only bummer is the end game where you have to warp around to get to the dragon. I don't know how you're supposed to know what to do.

I don't know how they're rated among gamers, but two games I played the heck out of that none of my friends (save for one) cared about playing are

Little Nemo: The Dream Master on NES

and

The Humans on Genesis

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H5bjSjvONZY


If I had the cash I'd buy the systems just so I could play those games.

Orlandu wrote:

This was a time in Japanese video games of very cryptic puzzles. Tower of Druaga really made a huge impression over there with every level having some kind of secret, many with extremely obtuse methods of finding them. Walk over the exit before you get the key, touch both the far left and far right wall, block an attack from a specific enemy, kill all of one enemy type but none of another... those sorts of things.

Developers of the time went to town on making cryptic and obscure secrets which are required to beat a game. Legacy of the Wizard is a part of that... Legacy.

Nowadays those super random requirements are typically just for bonus secrets or Easter eggs.

Miranda wrote:

Ah, Little Nemo. That's another great game. Had that one as a kid too. Fantastic game by Capcom. I definitely agree, that one was ahead of it's time.

Rollobobo wrote:

You also know it's underrated because it's not $100

As for The Humans, I remember it got a lot of magazine ads when it was released but I never played it and don't remember anyone talking about it either.

Anyone remember Pushover? One of only a select few games where dominoes are the main mechanic

My list consists of relatively newer games:

A Dog's Life (PS2) - why aren't there more games with smell-o-vision? The canine minigames were pretty fun (and not too difficult, if I remember correctly) and the plot was something out of a classic Disney cartoon. I don't recall any game-breaking bugs, and it was an enjoyable experience all the way through.

Summoner 2 (PS2) - vibrant and creative world-building with good combat mechanics and a steady learning curve. I think I only had one game-breaking bug - it was in the Arena and the game would freeze at high levels. I'm not sure why this game didn't get much attention, and I'm disappointed that Volition never did more games in this series (they focused on Saints Row instead, iirc). I wish some dev would snap up the rights to Summoner and launch a reboot/remake. I have Summoner 1 but have yet to play through it. I found the combat to be accessible and an interesting hybrid: it has turn-based mechanics (queuing actions) but feels more like real-time combat.

Majin & the Forsaken Kingdom (PS3) - a solid little game that I found charming. It might not have done anything groundbreaking or innovative in terms of gameplay mechanics, but the things it has are done well. Maybe not a high-budget production, but the quality is steady all the way to the end of the game - unlike, say, Two Worlds 2, wherein the last 4th of the game take an epic nose-dive in quality.

Some great picks here with Beyond Oasis and Little Nemo. I also liked Secret of Evermore (and hope to get another cart someday).

Trax It's a HAL game! (applause)
You play as a silly-looking tank, lumbering along with your rotating turret and shooting stuff. Would love to see this, Lolo GB (European version please), Uchuu Keibitai SDF, and the NES Lolo trilogy on Switch Online.

Monster Tale Well, I wrote a whole dang review for this one. Shame the remake probably won't see the light of day.

Silent Hope Yes, I'm being very loud about a game with "Silent" in the title. It's good, y'all. If you like dungeon crawlers, it's worth playing. YOU. CAN. PET. THE. COW.

sailorneorune wrote:
Monster Tale was on my DS backlog waaaaay back. And then the Nintendo Switch came out... 😅

I’ve gotta mention Wario World. It’s a 3D platformer/collectathon/beat’em-up. It’s a STUPID game with insane characters and a bizarre protagonist—it’s a great experience. Every stage has around 30 mcguffins to collect, tons of weird enemies to bash, puzzle rooms to solve, and a freaky boss to defeat. From an anthropomorphic bull in a speedo to a circus performer whose demented face is underneath his detachable head, you don’t forget these beasts.

Wario has tons of moves to mess around with, like punch combos, pile drivers, shoulder bashes, and Whirling Swingadings. Wario makes all manner of humorous sounds as you play. He grunts on every rung of a ladder, demands that his enemies “have a rotten day,” and taunts you on the pause screen (he stops taunting and apologizes after 50 straight minutes of this). Wario’s funniest move is where he waddles around with his mouth open wide, inhaling money and producing guttural noises. This game is beyond stupid!

It’s a short play, too: There are only eight stages, so right when you think the gameplay is getting stale, it’s over. It’s a wonderful game that you’ll want to play again and again.

@benstylus At least we can agree that Wario World is the superior Wario game. Right? Right?

SupremeSarna wrote:

I picked up Wario World a while back, and I've been meaning to play it. It looks like it'll be a lot of fun!

Scott wrote:
I love Zelda 2. It was my first Zelda game I ever played. It is easily in my top 5 NES games ever, although I know it's not a particularly good Zelda game. There is actually a lot of story and lore to the Zelda franchise that comes from Zelda 2.

One game I feel like mentioning in this thread is Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. It got good reviews, but I feel like it's not given enough love, especially since all of the follow up games were subpar. GW:RE is easily one of my favorite games of all time. I have played the hell out it. I even bought it again on my Steam Deck just because I wanted to have it portable. It's one of the reasons why I need to have an Xbox.

bonham2 wrote:


Oh yeah, this was one of my favorite Xbox Live Arcade titles from back in the day. I spent a lot of time playing the one on DS too.

Here’s a decent one: Spotto! It’s a cute little DSiware game where you chuck bombs in a parabolic arc and try to get ‘em into the mouths of goofy ghosts. Perform trick shots off walls and floating furniture and watch the ghosts blast into pieces!

Intelligent Systems needs to reference this game in some future project. Maybe a Fire Emblem weapon themed after Spotto or something.

Ribbit King (Gamecube) - I will sing this game's praises until my last breath. There is just something so novel and unique about Ribbit King's approach to golf. One of the most fun games I’ve ever played in a local multiplayer setting because the things that occur are just so madcap and absurd. Also, the game comes with a bonus disc that includes a bunch of little vignettes that overflow with charm.

Softball Tengoku (Famicom) - This was released in the US as Dusty Diamond's All Star Softball, but I greatly prefer the Famicom version. A solid NES baseball game where you start each match by picking your team. There are at least 40 different characters to choose from, and most of the characters have unique attributes. You want to make sure the miner is batting cleanup, as he uses a pickaxe and can OBLITERABTE the ball if he hits it well. But for your right fielder you will want to use the bird as he can literally fly, which helps when trying to catch a potential home run. The 5 stages each have unique rules and the variety of different lineups keep the game fresh. I prefer the Famicom version because all the cool characters (the witch, the mouse, the demon) and replace them with generic humans.

Mutant League Football (Genesis) - This one might be too popular to be truly underrated, but screw it, this game rules. Based on the madden engine of the Genesis era, MLF adds some spice to American football by adding murder. My parents were very controlling over what games we could play in our youth, but our fun uncle bought us this game and since it was a sports game I guess they didn’t bother to check the content.

bumsplikity wrote:

For me Mutant League Hockey was the one to get. Never been a football fan and even Mutant League Football couldn't change that.

@benstylus And that game is probably more appropriate for this topic as it's not as well known. We weren't really football fans but since I grew up in the south we knew absolutely nothing about hockey outside of what we learned from The Mighty Ducks.

I didn't spend much time watching pro hockey either. But the NES had both Ice Hockey and Blades of Steel, which were both excellent.

8 bit football was... not so excellent. So I naturally gravitated towards the hockey games in the 16 bit era.

benstylus wrote:

Blades of Steel RULES

Todd's Adventures in Slime World - purely for the co-op w/ multiple different game modes, some competitive some cooperative, even though you can still hurt each other in co-op.

Ever heard of Chalvo 55? It's a practically unheard-of Game Boy game--so obscure, in fact, that it's only really known for starring a character who debuted in a cancelled but leaked Virtual Boy game. I played it, and I thought it was a pretty good puzzle-platformer with satisfying physics and great music. The last stage goes overboard with hazards, but other than that, it's a keeper!

Rock n Roll Racing was also over looked by so many on Genesis and Super Nintendo. Had great music but much like RC Pro Am for NES you can only go around in circles so many times before you need to move on to something else but both versions are always fun and it still holds good value on each system.

Is the 2010 Splatterhouse underrated? I don’t think it reviewed well, but I liked it a lot. Same with the Wanted movie game. That game was pretty good.

Saga Frontier 2
This game introduced a lot of new mechanics that I hadn't seen in a game before, and any game that includes such things gets positive points in my book.
- A storyline spanning generations
- Unlocking new skills based on how much you use your previous skills in combat. Forces you to vary your attacks
- More than one combat system. Traditional turn-based and turn-based strategy via a few wars that take place in the game.
- difficulty, especially towards the end

Bioshock 2 (Multiplayer)
Bioshock 2 wasn't as good as the first game, but the multiplayer was addictive for me. Sadly, the community didn't last long and servers were shutdown early. I don't know what's better than freezing another actual player and then shotgun blasting them to fractals. or timing a lightning shot to fry a player in a pool of water. It was fast-paced, brutal, and unique. Possibly the first competitive FPS I played that went beyond the "everything is military-based" run & gun.

Robotrek
Turn-based strategy on an otherwise traditional RPG style battlefield. You can customize your bot to do different attacks. Change the color of your bot, etc. The customization is what really makes this game stand out. This is Mega Man Battle Network before MMBN. Which by the way is an entire series of games that are probably underrated as well.

Front Mission 3
Special mention because I'm not entirely sure that it was underrated in its time. Despite being an awesome mech building turn-based strategy game from Squaresoft, this game had it's own internet! It was possibly my favorite thing built into the game. You open up the in-game "web browser" and you can venture across many websites. Some are for useful information, others you can make purchases at, and some are just for fun like "downloading" new wallpaper. It really brought the world of the game to life for me.

Without adding more detail, I would also agree with the following games that have been brought up by others:
- Crystalis
- Star Tropics
- Secret of Evermore