/vr/ - Retro Games

Robo Warrior

A game about using bombs to destroy blocks and enemies, and uncover items. It's actually an official spinoff of Bomberman. As a kid I really liked this game, but I was too young to get very far. I like the way the environment looks when you blast it with your bombs, and there are a lot of neat items and secrets. There are a few annoying things, such as standing in water too long will kill you, and it's very easy to get caught in your own bomb explosions.

Wacky Races

This is actually a platformer and you play as Muttley (Dick Dastardly's canine sidekick). There are ten stages to go through, each ending with one of the Wacky Racers in a boss fight. I like the power up system, which works like Gradius. This is a pretty okay game, maybe too easy, but I wish it wasn't based off of a corny old tv show that doesn't even make sense for the genre.

Arkista's Ring

It plays like an arcade game: you defeat all the enemies, grab the key, then head through the door to the next stage. Sometimes the enemies drop powerups, which you can activate from your inventory, causing various effects. It's a simple game but still enjoyable.

>>5066279
Crossroads & Crossroads II: Pandemonium on Commodore 64

Released as type-in games in issues of Compute! Gazette in 1987 and 1988, these are the best games on the system as far as I'm concerned. They never got a physical release, though. My older brother typed in the machine language code manually, and made disks for us to play. Crossroads is a top-down shooter in a maze-like setting. It pits you against hordes of enemies all hell-bent on collecting little discs called "Shield Spars". Enemies can pick them up as well, and gain their benefits (taking extra damage). It's intentionally programmed to be super-chaotic, and the enemies all have a bit of AI to them, where they will form alliances, and seek out certain groups to kill. We spent countless hours playing simultaneous 2-player with these, and it's a real shame these games never got the attention they deserve. Crossroads II added more power ups (fire rate & walking speed), and a bunch more enemies.

Cameltry aka On The Ball

>>5066284
>tfw when I could've bought this for 50 bucks.

>>5066284

it was probably originally a different game and they decided to throw the wacky races license into it

I know this is retro games, but Endless Ocean for the Wii is an unknown MASTERPIECE.

mech assault

known but forgotten about

>>5066386

no wait thats not it...

>>5066279
Tatsujin Ou (top tier challenge, fun movement and weapons, very memorable moments within it. Not as loved overall due to overlength)
Wolf Fang (check it out and you'll immediately understand why. it's overly long too and controls are hit and miss with people)
Kyukyoku Tiger II (fun, classic ride, too easy for some)
Metal Storm (unique little platformer, simply not that well known nor that outsdanding)
Warzard (fighting game with more emphasis on single player play. that alone is unpopular in of itself, but it's quite a cool release that barely gets mentioned)
Omega Fighter (definitely janky but it's still quite interesting, and it's one of the first shmups with scoring systems similar to what would be the norm some years later)
Gradius Gaiden (not unpopular but I still think it doesn't get enough attention considering it's probably the best console game I've ever played and it's only talked about a bit)
Hyper Duel (less talked about that other Technosft games while kicking ass. Probably a victim of not being THAT great to grab the attention of arcade fanatics, and the fact that console players that tend to value stuff like Thunder Force more don't give as much thought to arcades or their 1:1 ports)
Brave Blade (intriguing not as popular Raizing release, won't find another shmup like this. some of the overall mechanics and maybe execution aren't as well loved by players of the genre)
PolyGame Master games as a whole. This Taiwanese arcade system board is home to tons of good shit, most of it underlooked. Cave (more well known) and IGS (less so) games deserve at least a look. Check out those beat 'em ups!

>OP starts a thread about less than popular games
>not a "please spoonfeed me hidden gems" thread
>not a "lets shit on games" thread
>actually posts a few to get things started
Good man, I'll contribute.

Solar Jetman.

I know I've probably mentioned it a few times here, and at least one other anon has played it. This is a game that attempts to simulate gravity physics on the NES with 2D and 360 degree turning. Amazingly enough, it pulls it off. The game has a steep learning curve, and it only gets harder as it goes along, but has some damn good gameplay. If you wanna try something that isn't like anything else on the console, give this a go.

Captain Skyhawk.

Another early NES game from Rare like Solar Jetman, almost standard shoot em up fare. Except this game involves changing your altitude as you fly through the maps shooting at enemies. You can fly into mountains, and anything is a 1-hit kill, so it's brutal hard. After beating missions you do 1st person perspective missions like Top Gun for credits. Then you need to manually land at your space station, and spend those credits on upgrades and weaponry. Of course, landing is kinda tricky for new players, so you can probably expect to game over there on your first playthrough. Far more fun than the more standard shoot em ups on the console, and no one ever talks about it.

>>5066279
It's a hybrid adventure/RPG that is loosely based on the Tolkien books. Unlike most adaptation stuff, they really do their homework, down to posting stuff in Tolkien's constructed languages (but only if you need to read something when nobody in the party has the appropriate lore skill), having elves talk about their 'ethnic' conflicts, and the Bree people talking about local gossip.

It's not very hard, especially if you've played it more than once; there's often no reason not to duck a fight, but it's worth a look.

Colonization. Always gets overshadowed by all the other games from the same maker, like Pirates! and the Civilization series. Which is unfair, since Colonization is a damn good game. Pretty simple, and painfully simple unit choices for combat, but I'll always love the graphics and the historical military songs in the soundtrack. Reminder that playing as France is hardmode regardless of difficulty chosen, since their special ability is ass.

>>5066415
The best part is as tough as it is. I would say Solar Jetman was Rare's most fair game on the NES. With the exception of the final challenge, that part is bullshit.

Wonder Boy in Monsterland.

Always gets overshadowed by either it's sequels, or the original game that was re-skinned into the Adventure Island series. Too bad, since it's really a damn good home version of a brutally hard arcade game. It's not as close as the PC Engine re-skin Bikkiruman(sp?), but it's toned down to the point where you can reasonably beat it without abusing continues like the PC Engine version. My cousin's SMS actually had this as the built-in game, which was bad ass.

Platformer action game, with minor RPG element in the form of getting gold to buy better gear and health refills. Your sword is as small as your penis, so hitting enemies without taking damage yourself requires practice. Also there's a somewhat hidden subquest throughout the game to get your hands on some item you can trade in right before the last level for your choice of two special items. One tells you when you've taken the right direction in the final level's BULLSHIT maze, the other cuts half the health off the final boss. The last level is absolute bullshit, but the game is fun overall. The ending is pure engrish, and feels halfassed as hell. It must be witnessed to be believed.

>>5066441
The funny part is the final challenge isn't that bad if you know that THE PHYSICS HAVE SUDDENLY CHANGED AND NOW TOUCHING THE WALLS WILL FUCKING KILL YOU FAST. As long as you know that, it's not too bad. The final level leading to it is just a painful slog that demands the best ship, tons of gear, and multi-warhead missiles.

>>5066460
I actually used star bullets instead of missiles. Those things are busted. Military bullets are definitely mandatory though

>>5066279
I really liked Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi. I just looked it up the other day and saw there was an AVGN episode about it. I don't really watch his content, but checked it out since there isn't really much about the game. He made it seem like it was the biggest pile of shit ever made.

Solstice is an awesome game that is rarely talked about here. Beautiful Isometric graphics, great gameplay and an SNES sequel called Equinox that has almost nothing to do with the original! You get to play as a fucking RIPPED wizard (see pic attached) with a fucking gangster hat who has to go save princess Eleanor. What more could you ask for?

Super Solvers : Challenge of the Ancient Empires

I'm sure a lot of people remember the Super Solvers series of edutainment games. But people always talk about stuff like Midnight Rescue, Treasure Mountain, Treasure Cove, or Gizmos and Gadgets. No one ever talks about THIS one. This one was the most gameplay filled of the Super Solvers edutainment games. It was a lot of platforming and careful use of the abilities the game gave you. Puzzles everywhere and enemies you had to neutralize or avoid. I never beat the game completely. You won't even notice the game is trying to teach you history, since it only does it when you solve the final puzzle for a level. If you had this game on your school's computers, your childhood was awesome.

Here buddy, Let's play Team Buddies!

Cacoma Knight (SNES)

You walk on the edges of a corrupted painting frame, and can cut out the corruption layer by going inside to trace lines, and once you complete rectangles it comes off. Once enough corruption is cleaned you clear that round. Depending on what part you cut you can get treasures, some needed for 100% completion. You and your line thread have to avoid enemies, some walk on the edges, some on the inner part.

It's very short. This gameplay is common to arcade porn games but without that appeal. Had fun with it while it lasted. Same developer did Kendo Rage (or Makeruna Makendou)

Basically like if Rez was on the famicom. Interesting little game.

Mickey's Tokyo Disneyland Adventure (SNES)

Cheap licensed platformer. Has two moves needed to progress - air balloons to float, water balloons to serve as platforms or projectiles, but there's so much variation in how these can be used, and the level design really requires you to master that to progress.

Not by Capcom, who suprisingly did one similar theme park themed one for NES that's also good. Best to avoid the GBA one by Konami.

(just in case it's not obvious, those last three aren't OP despite similar formatting)

Genjuu Ryodan (SNES)

No relationship with Hunter x Hunter. Does much of the same as Super Famicom Wars but kicks it ass in most ways. Here you also have different races that have race-exclusive unit types besides common units, mana pylons to capture asap to secure enough for summoning more units, environment hazards... Much harder and longer than Advance Wars games.

Pieces (SNES) / Jigsaw Battle

Goal is to put together a jigsaw puzzle, except it's a 2 player race, each one can gain items if they combo fast enough, and those items sabotage your foe's next moves. Uses SNES mouse, very addictive.
Nip version has bare nipples and harder puzzles.

>>5066279
Volfoss, original Saturn Baroque (not that shitfest of a "Remake"), entirety El Dorado Gate, very first ever Megami Tensei which was done by Telenet and NOT Fartlus (yes, really. VERY FIRST Megami Tensei-licensed game EVER made is NOT Fatlus' creation), Giten Megami Tensei (SUPER-hard to play these days, as game's speed is hard-locked to CPU's frequency/clocks, so on modern hardware it's literally unplayable without IMMENSE downclock) - it's also VERY unorthodox of a Megami entry as it has ACTUAL hentai and GURO in it. I'd also recommend ORIGINAL very first Neverwinter-licensed game, but unfortunately it was and AOL-made MMO and thus can't be played nowadays anymore (it used fucking TELEPHONE LINE-based online).

>>5066284
This game was fucking SUPER-popular in Russia during 90s Dendy-era crisis times. It was always included alongside on Chinese pirate knockoff carts with Felix The Cat.

Might and Magic 2.

Everyone praises 4+5 and 6, and even go as far as to tell new players to the series to start with 3. I feel Might and Magic 2 is a wonderfully broken RPG and fun because of it. You can boost every stat to 255 except Endurance due to a bug, which can only go to 180ish or so before it loops around to 0. You can upgrade your equipment to give a magical bonus of +63. You can buy cheap potions that give you temporary +5 levels per use, with 5 uses per potion. You can have a fully customized team of six and two hirelings. You can get so much health the game won't even tell you how much you have. You can get into fights with 1,000+ enemies, and they can call for reinforcements by the hundreds. You can encounter enemies you have no hope of beating no matter how powerful your team is. It's rough around the edges, lacks many modern conveniences, is cryptic to the point of being incomprehensible with clues, the plot is silly as shit, and the game never plays fair. Still, I love this game.

Misc eurotrash post (SNES)

Asterix and Obelix
Licensed comic book game. Good animation, somewhat good platforming, unforgiving timer, boss battles are button mashing events. Emulate or use turbo controllers.
It's 4/6th the full concept. Some scrapped assets from a discarded world were reused for a GBA port (and removed another world from the SNES version) but its level design was recycled for the most part, and GBA ports are shitty, so you're not missing on much.
Still recommend.

Spirou
Ditto. Level design is average to mediocre. Hit detection is spotty. Bad soundtrack. Still playable, even enjoyable. Game is absolutely beautiful, though it suffers some censorship and missing effects on SNES compared to the Genesis version. A Game Gear version version fixed the level design and soundtrack. Attack weapon and password system are a joke.
A few years after that on the Game Boy Color, Ubisoft developed a follow up with parkour moves with a Prince of Persia feel going for it and amazing presentation and level design, but short.

Tintin Prisoners of the Sun (1)
Tintin in Tibet (2)
Same comments about Spirou but harder a sell. Maybe you'd love it if you dig that Pocahontas thing on Genesis?
SNES version is superior. It's still absolutely beautiful.

Super Danny
A food commercial. A poor man's Lost Vikings, but with beautiful graphics. By David Cage.

Prehistorik Man
Not perfect, but good. Absolutely beautiful and well designed. Play on higher difficulties since easy mode cutoff is very late into the game.

Most of the stuff above (sans Prehistorik Man) was worked on by newbies who then joined Ubisoft later to help with Prince of Persia, Tonic Trouble, Rayman, etc. or help with support development. Later games in the Asterix (GBC 1999, XXL 1/2, mobile 2009) and Tintin ("Objectif Aventure" on PS1) licenses were slightly better as a matter of fact, but didn't set the world on fire.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

When people talk about adventure games, they talk about Kings Quest, Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones The Fate of Atlantis, Sam and Max, Gabriel Knight, and stuff like that. People don't seem to talk about the Last Crusade. Very close to following the movie or at least letting the player choose to follow the movie's scenes. The game is rather open-ended in giving you many options on how to solve situations and complete the game. It also has a boxing minigame that is surprisingly fun, which is good since you'll most likely end up needing to fight sooner or later. If you like either graphical adventure games or Indiana Jones, you should play this. I still have my copy of the "Grail Diary" feelie/copy protection that came with the game.

This game is pretty infamous in certain circles. You basically aren't going to beat it without farming for cards that have a 1% drop rate on certain opponents beaten under certain conditions. They pretend your opponent has a hand of five cards like you, but in reality their hand can be as big as 20 cards (half the deck). Finishing the game comes down to grinding for hours and then getting extremely lucky. There's no way any kid ever beat this.

That's why I love it though. It's such an RNG nightmare where the deck is heavily stacked against you, it makes beating it feel that much more satisfying. Takes a certain person to enjoy it I guess.

>>5066554
Asterix & Obelix sucks ass, but Asterix & The Power of The Gods is SUPER-FUCKING AMAZING.

>>5066573
>This game is pretty infamous in certain circles.
Right, the one that comes expecting the established card game rules. This was a weird early thing.
>There's no way any kid ever beat this.
It helped sell action replays. That is the reasonable option to get those needed cards. You can also just cheat your way to victory but where's the fun in that (except the unwinnable fights that have a quote for just that "lol nope let's redo it")

>>5066575
That's weird, I hold the polar opposite opinion.
To each their own I guess.

>>5066573
>a "speedrun" of this game took 180 hours
Literally what the fuck is up with this game? I kniw devs were scared of rental systems and would add bullshit to stop people from beating games in a weekend but how did anyone approve such bullshit?

>>5066581
You've just never played Gallic War on PSOne.

>>5066279
Pig Out. 3-player co-op single-screen platformer. Legit the best co-op arcade experience ever. Almost totally unknown. I've heard that possibly as little as 50 cabinets were manufactured. Who knows how many were actually ever sold to arcades.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmOir4G66eM

The Last Eichhof. The greatest adver-game ever made. Freeware PC shoot-em-up from the 90s made by a fucking beer company from Germany. Absolutely insane humor and solid gameplay. Another near-unknown title. You can run it pretty well in DOSBox.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjZ_67Ttznk

Requiem - Avenging Angel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVvwx8NnutQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTi5yMKG5uQ

>>5066279
When I was a kid, I played the fuck out of Lagoon on SNES.
Shit game by higher standards, but not bad compared to legit shit games. Kinda cheap in spots, almost like an arcade.

>>5066516
Saw wasn't even a film franchise when the Super Nintendo was around. Quit with the fucking bullshit.

>>5066279
Holy Striker is pretty kewl

I play it sometimes when I'm very suicidal and hungover

>>5066606
The action looks a little too hammy to my taste.

>>5066486
>This gameplay is common to arcade porn games but without that appeal

You're thinking of Qix.

Xexyz definitely fits into this category, while the platforming segments are a little stiff, some of the special weapons and power ups you get are really cool, and the SHMUP portions play alright. The strange dreamlike quality of the game can really draw you in, the music really helps drive home that dreamy sorta atmosphere too.

https://youtu.be/B1u-0OhW4U4

It's not unknown but it's definitely not popular or well-known. Abomination: the Nemesis Project. Plays like a real-time X-com, and thus basically feels like a 'dumbed down' version of Xcom, but is still enoyable. The strong points are the enemies and the atmosphere, and it's worth to play through once to experience it.

I'd read up on the backstory before playing, it's interesting and not explained at all in-game (just in the manual). The short version is that a meteor crashes on earth and then a plague starts spreading across the globe. The US is completely devastated with extremely high casualties, but some few are immune to the plague. There also starts popping up cults centered around worshipping the plague and spreading it, and they seem to have some kind of light immunity (they still get sores and such). Now it's up to your team of special agents (with shitty super-powers due to some government program) to fight the cults.

>>5066551
2 was the one that caught me for the longest time. I left no secret undiscovered there.
The newer ones somehow didn't keep me hooked like 2 did.

>>5066573
I never did beat this game when I was a kid. I decided to replay it recently and farm for a deck as loaded with good fusion and equipment cards as possible. Even after that, it's STILL a huge RNG fest in the end-game gauntlet: I managed to get to the very last fight — the opponent played a Gate Guardian two turns in a row.

I decided to take a break.

Pic related — it's the MVP of Forbidden Memories.

>>5066875
I have been trying to recall the name of this game for over a decade. Thank you, anon.

Most of these are unpopular.

>>5066480
Puzzle games used to be a considerable portion of retro consoles, nowadays other than the trillionth remake of Tetris, Bust-a-move or Columns, there really aren't a lot of successful puzzle games. I remember playing Adventures of Lolo, Fire n' Ice, Wetrix and Super Puzzle Fighter until I was nearly blind. The last new strict puzzle game that I can think of (that was a major release) was Chu Chu Rocket.

>>5067386
yeah man if only they moved puzzlers to a cheaper to develop mobile platform like cellphones oh wait they did and you're a fucking moron

>>5066436
>Colonization. Always gets overshadowed by all the other games from the same maker, like Pirates! and the Civilization series. Which is unfair, since Colonization is a damn good game. Pretty simple, and painfully simple unit choices for combat, but I'll always love the graphics and
>the historical military songs in the soundtrack. Reminder that playing as France is hardmode regardless of difficulty chosen, since their special ability is ass.

Good to see people mention it. We did play countless hours. Still love it and play it sometimes for some hours/days. All you said about it is true and i want strongly recommend it to all people with slight interest in turn-based strategy/war/economy games in a historic setting.

>>5067363
>Herc's Adventure PSX
Lemme tell you about Herc's Adventure. On the surface it looks like a really cool Zombies Ate My Neighbors type game in terms of movement, combat, and how items works. And you start off exploring the world and going to new areas and having fun.

Then you get to Athens. That horrid sucking noise you hear is all the fun being drained out of the game. From this point on, you'll be fighting nothing but re-skins of enemies you've fought before, and the game will go out of it's way to give you convoluted pathways around and do it's best to make you backtrack as much as possible. Bosses are slow and grindy affairs, you'll need to spend tons of time grinding for gold and gyros, and the ending is godawful garbage.

That being said, it's halfway fun with a friend, and there's two little known secrets. The first is a hidden key in the in-game credits after you beat the game. Most people have never reached the house behind the glass since they couldn't find the key. Use the bombs you find to clear the piranha's in the pond in the far lower left, then swim in for the key. The second is at the very beginning of the game. Pic related.

These two signs are pickups for gold, gyros, and a shit ton of weapons, giving you a boost to start the game with. Getting to them requires one of the potions that turns you into a pig. There are two hidden potions in the starting area before the first locked door. In order to make the potions spawn, you need to kill all the giants, then take the catapult just before the first locked door, and repeat until a new giant spawns just below where you first fell into the game world. The potions should be behind him. Then head to where the first locked door is, go directly south, drink the potion, go south through the tunnel, and grab the signs. Don't go into the water as a pig, it will kill you. Either go back through before the potion wears off, or swim to safety after turning back.

>>5066551
I have played 2 off-and-on since childhood and it's such a giant, ambitious, crazy game. It's weird how rarely it gets mentioned. The Sega release has an instruction manual which is over 150 pages.

>>5066573
Another yugioh game thats less represented would be dungeon dice monsters for the GBA. Don't have a pic of it but I also cba to describe it. Just watch a review

this and the Saturn sequel are weird but original adventure games

>>5067358
My pleasure, I know that feeling so to help someone with this makes my day.

>>5066875
This game has a romhack that adds SRAM saving for anyone interested.

>>5066279
I've mentioned it in a few threads recently, but "Escape From Hell" is a great little DOS RPG similar in gameplay to "Wasteland".

You wander through hell, joining up with the damned in a quest to kill Satan and escape with your friends. The game has great writing for a 1990 RPG, some really unique characters, and wraps the whole thing in a unique setting that makes it worth trying out even if you aren't usually interested in these sorts of games.

>>5067421
There's no reason new puzzler IPs can't take advantage of of more powerful hardware.

>>5066762
jigsaw (n.)

also jig-saw, vertical reciprocating saw, 1855, American English, from jig with its notion of "rapid up-and-down motion" + saw (n.1). It was largely displaced by the later band-saws. Jigsaw puzzle first recorded 1906; originally one with pieces cut by a jigsaw. Earlier was dissected map (or picture), 1807, "map or picture mounted on board and divided into more or less irregular parts, to be joined together as a puzzle."

Fun 3d action platformer with legit funny cutscenes. Aged better then you'd think

>>5067386

Me and my wife love playing puzzle games together. It's a really good family activity.

Dark Legions (1994, Silicon Knights)

Turn-based fantasy strategy game. Published by SSI. Really good game if you have the manual.

>>5066551
played this on the genesis. as other anons have pointed out, it's goofy and dated and completely loaded with charm.

>>5068409
Fun game but runs at like 20 fps half the time and your firing speed is tied to fps

>>5066279
>>5066415
Anons like you make these visits to /vr/ more pleasant than usual. I already know all there is to know about FF, Mario, etc., but there's always more in this sea of retro games.

>>5066283
nigget, I had a certain fascination with this game when I was young, but it's very cryptic shit.

what ruins it is the fact that not only you need to find the chalice otherwise the level loops endlessly, you need certain amount of items, otherwise you will NEVER pass certain levels, specially those who you need to lighten the place, and then there's the damn totems that give you those special items, but you need to destroy them in an specific way, and if you fuck up one, you fuck up al, and you loose those items, so that you might as well restart the game.

its a bad game with the skin of a decent one, like many people, never could pass the first level, but I knew about the level of rocks that looked like corn pops and the weird dragon


ever since I beaten the game

>>5068598

I played this about a decade ago, from what I recall it is almost "solved", there was one unit that was strictly better than the rest if I recall correctly. Might have been the unit that could imitate others, though I dont' recall surely. Anyway, if you just spammed that one you won.

I really like this game.

These aren't really obscure ore unpopular, but I see them rarely mentioned on /vr/ or /v/ and had a lot of fun with them as a kid:

Digimon World (PS1)
Bloody Roar II (PS1)
Secret of Evermore (SNES)
Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories (PS1)

>>5066482
I had it too! rotating the crystals and shooting from your hat. what an awesome game and I ve been searching for it for YEARS! THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU!

>>5066283
I've been wondering what this game was called for so many years. I remember seeing my brother play it when I was really young. It must have been between the ages of 3-5 yet for some reason I have a memory of this game despite not having seen or even hearing about it since. I browse here all the time and its only now that I finally find out what this game was called since I have not ever seen it mentioned anywhere before. If I did see it mentioned before I probably overlooked it since your pic is how I recognized the game. I am 29 right now. Thanks for this post and I'm definitely going to play this game now.

>>5067363
This is a very good list, I'll keep it in mind.

Clash at Demonhead NES.

A run n gun platformer type game with RPGish elements, Clash at Demonhead doesn't know WHAT it wants to be. But that's OK, it's still fun. It can be kinda janky, with poor hit detection at times, and the game really doesn't do a good job of explaining things. Even worse, you need to spend a lot of time grinding money for healing items and equipment. Still manages to be a fun game that puts a little more exploration into the usual platformer. Worst part of the game is the ending, where you have to solve a stupid puzzle to win. I would have preferred a tough final boss, but whatever.

Dick Tracy NES.

This game gets unfairly slammed by people who never bothered to read the fucking manual. Yes, the rooftop snipers are assholes and unneeded. But if you would just stop driving like an asshole, get out of your car, and kill the fuckers, you won't have to deal with them for the rest of the mission. There, unfair difficulty has been removed. While not the best platformer ever, it did require a little more strategy and planning than most platformers. Is it unfairly hard? Sure, but it doesn't make it a bad game. You just gotta get gud.

Rented and beat it as a kid, was surprised to find years later that it was considered a shit game. Then hearing all the complaints about the snipers, I understood why. The fucking manual tells you to deal with the snipers ASAP, and people don't read shit.

Dick Tracy NES.

This game gets unfairly slammed by people who never bothered to read the fucking manual. Yes, the rooftop snipers are assholes and unneeded. But if you would just stop driving like an asshole, get out of your car, and kill the fuckers, you won't have to deal with them for the rest of the mission. There, unfair difficulty has been removed. While not the best platformer ever, it did require a little more strategy and planning than most platformers. Is it unfairly hard? Sure, but it doesn't make it a bad game. You just gotta get gud.

Rented and beat it as a kid, was surprised to find years later that it was considered a shit game. Then hearing all the complaints about the snipers, I understood why. The fucking manual tells you to deal with the snipers ASAP, and people don't read shit.

Cabal is a really fun NES shooter that plays really well co-op. Gumshoe is a zapper game with a unique twist, it's a platformer where shooting your character makes him jump. Airforce Delta on the dreamcast is an Ace Combat style game by Konami. Millenium Soldier: Expendable is a really cool shooter a la Gun Spike. Overhead omnidirectional shooting, also really fun co-op. Omega Boost on PS1 is one of my favorite games, a heavily Panzer Dragoon inspired rail shooter that isn't really on rails. Badass space mech shoot outs. Robotron 2064 plays awesome for fans of the original and twin stick shooters.

>>5066279

Nice thread, I’ll try to contribute:

Rockin Kats, not sure if it’s unpopular but I first heared about it not long ago. It’s a fun platformer that plays like a mix of Bionic Commando and Megaman. Basically you have to use your boxing glove to swing around and kill enemies. It’s a bit easy but controls really well and has nice variety.

>>5068649
I still don't think it's difficulty is high enough for it to have ever really been a problem. I spent the last ten years playing PC games at sub 45 framerate.

>>5069201
Yet another one of those late NES games that were good but overlooked since the SNES was either around the corner or already released. On that note:

The Lone Ranger NES.

I recommend this game regularly, since it's fucking great. The only way to get the full effect is to have a CRT TV and use the Zapper. The game has three distinct game modes. First is an overhead view similar to ALttP where you can move and shoot in all 8 directions. The second is a side-scrolling with gameplay identical to Castlevania 3 since they reused the engine for this game. The third is where the light gun comes into play. Throughout the game starting in the 2nd level there are sections where you navigate 3D mazes with gun battles where you get attacked from all sides and you need to switch directions and defend yourself quickly. It's as hard as CV3, lots of fun, and you can even play poker for money in level 3. Konami's B team made it, and it was never released in Japan for some odd reason. You can NOT get the same experience in an emulator using a mouse, or by using the gamepad only option. CRT and light gun or go home. But if you can play it properly, you owe it to yourself to play this awesome game.

Genesia/Ultimate Domain DOS.

I'll be the first to tell you, this isn't a GREAT game. But it is an interesting and playable early build`n`conquer type game. What makes it neat is the tech/research tree and how population management is handled. Every game year has four seasons, and you have to allocate people carefully each season to make progress. So much so that the manual that came with the game tells you exactly what to do the first few game years so you don't cripple yourself. The tech tree is well thought out, you need to research a lot of predecessor tech before you can start making stuff like metal alloys and glass. You win by collecting 4 or 5 of 7 special crystals from across the world map, while competing with two other human or computer players. Not the best game ever, but surprisingly fun.

If you want to play the superior CD-ROM version, the only choice is to play it through PCem or 86Box. DOSBox can't handle it.

The Journeyman Project.

Long before Myst was released, there was another pre-rendered CD-ROM graphical adventure game. Unlike Myst, you could die in this game. The plot is that you work as an agent for a government agency that makes sure no one tries to monkey around with history, created after seizing the first time machine ever built. You go into work, alarm goes off, you gotta travel to the time of dinosaurs to get a copy of the correct timeline, then come back and figure out what the bad guy changed and then go back and fix the problems. You have two solutions to the final problem to each of the three incidents you deal with, which only has an effect on your ending score for the "Gandhi" bonus. Much like Myst, the majority of the puzzles are either common-sense thinking or logic puzzles. The more popular sequel went into "use string cheese on spring to make gun" territory, but the original Journeyman Project is a solid graphical adventure game. If the HUD really bothers you, play the Pegasus Project remake of the game, but beware of added modern bullshit like long unskippable videos and having to play a reflex game to get from one underwater area to another.

For me, it's Deadly Towers.

The game didn't have its current reputation when released, and in fact sold very very well. I was shocked when I saw it topping Seanbaby's list of worst NES games a million years ago. For 1987 it was a damn impressive game, and one of the first action RPGs I can remember. There's no denying it has issues, the biggest of which is how incredibly weak and slow your sword is at the start. The enemy design is also pretty lacking outside of bosses. But it's nowhere near the shitshow it was hyped up as for years. Fun fact: the Japanese version has a red LED on the top of the cart that lights up.

>>5066418

I remember Captain Skyhawk being really fun. I'm surprised I don't see it getting mentioned more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQYggKkxX5c

>>5068850
I can agree with you. The level design and lack of timer makes it confier to explore the levels.

Skullmonkeys PSX.

The puzzle/graphical adventure game The Neverhood got a sequel. A balls hard platformer sequel. Nice claymation graphics, passable everything else, old school brutal hard challenge. 1-hit kill unless you have a shield, then 2-hit kill. Levels are long and well designed with enemies and secrets all over the fucking place. This is the perfect platformer game for anyone looking to get gud, due to the password system. Once you make enough progress, the game gives you a new password to use. So it's just a matter of swinging at it until you finally get far enough to get the next password. Easier said than done. I still need to sit down and beat it. Last time I left off was somewhere around pic related.

Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012 PSX.

By the guys who actually developed Twisted Metal and Twisted Metal 2, before Sony kicked them to the curb and hired 989 Studios to handle the series. This was their response. Everyone says it's not as good as the Twisted Metal games, but that's a load of bullshit. It's using the same goddamn engine. I could have sworn the game allows for Co-op gameplay like TM2 did as well, but it's been a while since I've had someone to play less-than-popular games with. If you liked TM or TM2, play this shit. Don't listen to memes or e-celebs, make up your own mind.

Silent Bomber PSX.

Bandai occasionally pulls of something good, this is one of those occasions. You run around planting remote detonation bombs(up to 8 I believe), and then blowing whatever you have out there at anytime to destroy obstacles and enemies. It's a bit more complex than just that, but that's all you really need to know to get in and start blowing shit up.

Wargames: Defcon 1 PSX.

A game based off of that Matthew Broderick movie from the 80s, that has very little in common. Instead of trying to convince an AI not to launch nukes, you fight against an AI(or aliens or something) by taking command of specific units in the field. You can shift from unit to unit at any time. Even better, you can play Co-op with a friend and coordinate assaults with two units at once. FUN game, yet no one seems to give a shit about it.

Die Hard Trilogy PSX/Saturn, possibly elsewhere.

Three games in one package, you would expect crap. Oddly enough, all three are decent games. The first is pic related, a 3D third person run'n'gun that involves strategy and quick reactions to changing situations. The second is a passable light-gun shooter. The third is a tense driving game about trying to get to bombs through NYC traffic that is fun if unforgiving. My personal favorite is the first game, something about desperately exploring around for more health/armor/ammo while racing against the clock and fighting enemies is really fun.

>>5070380
>>5070371
>>5070385
>>5070386
>>5070396
etc.

>PSX

lel wtf autism is this. Some idiot needs to get a life.

>>5070385
Great game but boy were the final levels annoying (still beat it though)

you live in a hovel
lol imagine unironically being an obsessive shumptard and enjoying skinner box arcade gameplay. that garbage is dead for a reason. it was just a trap for kids who were too poor to buy an actual console but dumb enough to waste a ton of quarters on arcade games.

>JRPGs are easy because you can grind and overlevel
>shumps are hardcore as fuck though, even though you can beat them by simply putting more quarters

just lmao

>>5066279
It's been a while since I've visited /vr/, but threads like these remind me how much I love this board.
I'll contribute some games:

Rings of Power (Genesis/MD)

The genesis isn't normally known for it's RPGs, but this game proves that the system had no problem with the genre at all.
Heavily inspired by Tolkien works, Rings of Power has a HUGE world ready to be explored from the very start of the game. The game doesn't hold your hand at all and instead gives you complete freedom to do as you please.
You can progress on your quest in almost any order you want.
You can travel by foot, boats, ships, lizards or even dragons.
You can interact with every single NPC in the game to talk, trade, bribe or even kill them permanently.
Ever wanted to get into a common NPC family house and murder their children for some mere XP and coins? In Rings of Power you actually can! No mod needed!
However, keep in mind that the game is VERY unforgiving.
Given the open ended way the game is played, finding clues on what to do next in your quest can be quite difficult.
You start the game being very weak and alone, and can even die in the FIRST fight of the game with some bad luck. Random encounters are pretty much deadly in the early game and should be avoided at all costs. HP and MP can only be regenerated at Inns or Churches, which aren't free by the way.
You can die from hunger and thirst, so you have to constantly replenish your rations, even more so if you travel by other means than your feet.
Hell, you can even die instantly at any given moment if Void finds you, and no, there's no warning from this event, it just.. happens.
The game can be a bit clunky at times, especially the combat, but you get used to it after a while.

With all that being said, this game is one of the most engrossing experiences you can have. The world is pretty much alive, and finding out what to do to progress on your own feels very rewarding.
Do yourself a favor and give this one a try.

Wonder Trek (Playstation/PSX)

A sadly Japanese only release, but luckily the language isn't really an impediment to play it.
The game is an action/adventure game with some platforming elements to it.
You play as two wildlife biologists who survive a plane crash on an mysterious island mostly filled with exotic animals.
You explore the island all while solving puzzles, finding items and saving endangered animals.
The player can run, sneak, jump and attack enemies with their hammer.
The game has a cartoony/clay artstyle and quite a nice soundtrack.
Don't let the cute graphics fool you, it can get a bit challenging at times.

Master of Monsters (Genesis/MD)

Turn based strategy game made by the same people who made the more popular "Daisenryaku" series.
You control a Master and army of creatures to try and destroy the opponent Masters.
Monsters have different types and abilities; some are melee and others ranged, some can fly through entire mountain terrain in a single turn while others are better accustomed to the sea.
Monsters can also level up and evolve after winning fights; some of them even have multiple evolutions.
Towers are also scattered across the map which can be conquered to summon even more monsters.
Aside from having their own array of monsters, Masters also have distinct spells and elemental summons at their disposal to aid in battle.
The game is quite fun, even if you normally don't like the genre. Playing with some friends in multiplayer is a blast.

Also worth mentioning, the game has an excellent and very haunting soundtrack, with my favorite track being this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzuIXvrGFcc&list=PLirSddeMOYZ7RleLQdx3BZbQ5myY3IXZu&index=9

Lemmings Paintball (PC, 1996)
Not sure how unpopular it is, but i don't think i've ever heard someone else talking about it. Didn't rate particularly highly but i loved the environment and it was quite challenging as a kid.

>>5066570
This reminded me of:

Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures

A simple little windows desktop game that i found very engaging that i've never seen mentioned here. Certainly not a deep game, but good casual fun.

>>5067386
>>5067421
Perhaps i'm misunderstanding puzzle games, but i enjoy lots of modern puzzle games. I've played heaps on itch.io and gamejolt, and there are more mainstream ones like braid and antichamber that blew me away. I won't link a bunch since they are not /vr/, but IMO there are better puzzle games now than ever before.

>>5070609
There's also Yoda Stories which uses the same engine of procedurally generated levels and quests.

>Good casual fun
Exactly the way to describe it. They were designed for a quick fix of gameplay.

>>5070396
I remember playing the driving section on someone's dad's ps1 with a bunch of other kids back when it was new and we couldn't figure out jack shit about how to progress but noticed the wall of fire seemed to move down the street in a single direction, so one kid who was probably 8 or 9 suggested we try cutting down another street to avoid it. I was the oldest so they eventually just let me man the controller and after probably 20 attempts I finally just barely pulled it off. If you do this the street you turn on to will also have the wall of fire flying straight at you and we all jumped up and screamed and were standing up laughing and lamenting our trick didn't work. Genuinely fun memories...

>>5066279
where can I cop that brain frog thing?

Did someone say they were looking for lesser known / unpopular but still good games?