Mine is Lady Sia for GBA. It’s just a platformer but I just love it played and completed more 20 times. Will probably speedrun it in future.
You must log in or # to comment.
Depends on how you’re defining “obscure” and “retro”.
If by “retro” you mean SNES, Genesis, NES etc… the game I was super into for a time was Xevious. A pretty simple top-down space shooter/bomber that for some reason I remember getting absolutely obsessed with completing. It wasn’t even a particularly good game. It was repetitive, and when you DID reach the end it just started all over again. But for some reason I played the absolute shit out of it.
If you move “retro” up to the PS1 era, my favourite seemingly forgotten games of all time are the Colony Wars series (Colony Wars, Colony Wars: Vengeance, Colony Wars: Red Sun) Great story lines and a super fun conceit where in the second game, you’re playing as the now-defeated enemy of the first game, rebuilding after their loss.
Is a game like Vib-ribbon or Devil Dice considered obscure? Because those would probably be tied for my choice.
Maybe not obscure but certainly underrated - Civilization II :Test of Time. You get regular Civ2 plus fantasy and sci fi versions. Sci fi version felt like budget Alpha Centauri
It’s not super obscure, but I think I’d have to go with Star Tropics. Gameplay wise it’s very similar to Zelda, but the setting and story is more like EarthBound. Interestingly the game is a first-party Nintendo game that has never been released in Japan despite being developed there. Another thing is that it’s been almost completely ignored by Smash Bros. I think it got a mention in Brawl’s chronicle, but that’s it. Even Ultimate forgot about it despite having all kinds of deep cuts among the spirits.
Quarantine the killer taxi game including the australian alternative rock soundtrack https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarantine_(video_game)
Not sure if it is considered particularly obscure, but mine would be Rock n’ Roll Racing on SNES. The game was like an improved RC Pro Am from the NES with vehicular combat and a great metal/rock soundtrack (hence the name).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_'Em_Sock_'Em_Robots_Arena?wprov=sfla1
Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots Arena was pretty good. A robot fighting game where you could focus damage onto specific parts of your opponent to knock them off. Not only would they be unable to use that part in that match, but then you’d have the option of swapping out your own parts between matches in the tournament mode.
I’m not particularly fond of fighting games, but the gimmick really drew me in to this one. I remember a lot of fights where I had to choose whether to prioritize just plain winning vs trying to get a specific part for a build.
Gorillas.bas
Yes! And I updated the BASIC code to add cheats. I thought I was quite the let haxor. 😆
Maybe Hover!. Basically hover bumper cars in the future playing capture the flag. Was a lot of fun and never saw any rereleases or remakes or another game like it.
Hey, I know that one!
Seven Kingdoms II: The Fryhtan Wars
I found the disk at a Dollar Tree Store when I was a teen. I spent hours in endless matches trying to build my empire. I remember the spy system in this RTS was incredibly fun and nothing I’ve seen in any other game. Truly a gem with so much potential to become a cult classic with its charming art style.
For me its screamer. It’s a pretty nice PC arcade racer with a great soundtrack. I still listen to it from time to time.
Agreed. Great game and had a LAN mode, and I believe a direct cable mode? Had hours of fun.
my niece thinks Morrowind is retro
Even Skyrim is retro
now that’s just too far
There is less time between the release of Morrowind(2002) and Skyrim(2011) than there is between Skyrim and right now.
Morrowind is ancient lmao
Look, I was born in the 80s, I played Morrowind about the time it was released (closer to GOTY edition, but whatever), but even I have to kinda agree with your niece at this point.
Though its gameplay and world-building certainly aged better than Oblivion’s.
I don’t know how obscure this is. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong. illusion of gaia/illusion of time was one of my favourites growing up. It had a cool story, kind of a dystopia fantasy. I don’t think I ever actually finished it. Come to think of it, that might be a good idea to put on my list for this year.
I’m so happy and surprised to see you bring up IoG! I think the game qualifies as obscure these days since I never see it mentioned outside of SNES retro groups.
It’s my favourite story of any game on the SNES. For those who haven’t played it, it’s a coming of age story about a group of friends travelling together. What makes it so special to me is that although your character (Will) is the only one in the party who does any fighting (you’re not a typical RPG fighting party) your friends are still travelling through some dangerous situations with you. Outside of combat, your character is just another one of the group, albeit the main PoV character for the story.
I love it so much! The story was written by a woman science fiction writer, Mariko Ohara, which I think was pretty rare at the time. I didn’t learn this fact until recently and as a kid I never would’ve known but looking back at it, the game is so much the better for it. The characters just feel so much more like real people than I’m used to from games of that era. Even the Final Fantasy games of that era, as great as they are, have characters that feel more like cartoon characters than real teenagers.
I was going to bring up Soul Blazer, which i think is an earlier game in that series. it’s a very straightforward top down action rpg but i played it a lot.
Round out the trifecta with ActRaiser 😊
The music in that game is an absolute banger:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CnP0Po665vU&pp=ygUYYWN0cmFpc2VyIGZpbGxtb3JlIHBpYW5v
Big Castlevania vibes
Oh wow! I didn’t know that. Now that you mentioned it, the actual game I played was Terranigma, a later installment of the series haha.
It’s a difficult name and I always forget it.
I really like the old PSP Patapon games. They’re catchy. After playing, I find myself humming the beat. The original creators are making a spiritual successor called Ratatan. Still not out yet, but I’m looking forward to playing it.
