Unique and innovative games

[Anonymous No.2626145]

Hello /vr/ sorry I'm not from around here so if this has already been done, or this thread is breaking any rules please tell me.

Anyways, I came here hoping you guy's could help me. I'm interested in playing games which are unique and interesting because modern stuff feels like just about every game is the exact same and I need something that feels fresh again. So I realized that I should ask you guys since most of the innovations are from the /vr/ time period.

So please /vr/ tell me about, and recommend to me some good or significant games that were, or even still are unique and innovative. If this thread takes off I hope I might be able to even make a list of them as a sort of little primer for other modern fags like me to use to find something fresh again.

[Anonymous No.2626160]

Play Wizball
http://retrospec.sgn.net/game/wizball

[Anonymous No.2626161]

>>2626145
2 seconds in google.
"NES Library"
"SNES Library"
"N64 Library"
"Master System Library"
"Genesis Library"
"Saturn Library"
"Dreamcast Library"
"Playstation Library"
"Turbografix-16/PC-Engine Library"

Good luck champ.

[Anonymous No.2626226]

>>2626145
You're gonna get some backlash, OP but some of us appreciate new recruits. You could be a little more precise on what you're looking for but there are some general places that are good to look for innovative games that may have had some good ideas but didn't take off. I'll try to lay them down for you from my perspective

>If you want really 80s feeling stuff
Look to the gaming computers of the time. C64 for Western style stuff, MSX for Eastern. That's where the majority of the interesting stuff will be found. Some people who like it even more computery might tell you Spectrum/PC88 but I like things sort of consoley.

>If you want early 90s feeling stuff
Take a look at the PC-Engine library and if it's too Japanese for you hit up the Amiga, although Amiga games are starting to be pretty computery for me a lot of times - even the action games suffer the "beautiful but clinky" phenomenon

>If you want late 90s feels
Hit up the Saturn's Japanese library maybe but DEFINITELY dig into Playstation. Due to Sony's generous developer tools, licensing and manufacturing there were a LOT of crazy games on that system. Of course this means there was a lot of shovelware but due to the simple but innovative tech there's plenty of interesting shit in there waiting to be discovered and somewhat less of it is garbage unlike Game Boy's shovelware library

>If you want it to feel modern
Hit up Dreamcast. Almost everything on it is great and it's cheap to buy and play games on. Also think about softmodding a PS2, Wii with Gamecube ports and maybe even an Xbox although the Xbox library is a bit short on innovation and could probably be seen as the beginning of the end

Godspeed, Anon! Come back and start another thread when you've found something more specific to focus on.

[Anonymous No.2626236]

Cameltry aka On The Ball

[Anonymous No.2626241]

>>2626145
Your question is way too vague. There's innovations in invidivual genres themselves, not just "retro video games" as a whole.

Hell, I could fill that list entirely with shmups alone. You have to understand that there are literally thousands of retro games.

As an example; a glitch in SFII caused "combos" to exist. That shit is innovative from what they've done with it. But SFII is mainstream as fuck and I doubt anyone would 'appreciate' the innovation, because said innovations have been copied and improved infinitely.

I'd argue that the most innovative games aren't going to be unique and interesting at all for this very reason.

[Anonymous No.2626271]

>>2626241
>Dat SF2:TWW Ken uppercut-into-shoryuken on real arcade hardware

[Anonymous No.2626279]

>>2626161
I'm afraid that doesn't really help anon, I am looking for things that specifically stand or stood out amongst their crowd, not to play every game in every library, not to mention to know what I wish to know you have to have a knowledge of history and not just play stuff willy nilly.

>>2626226
Thank you for the pointers anon.

>>2626241
Yes I realize it's rather open ended, I had hoped people with various areas of expertise would have jumped at the chance to show off their knowledge.

I'd say what I'm personally looking for is things that really stand out as having advanced video games in general, or been very different than all their peers at the time. I'd give an example but I'm quite sure I'd just make a fool of myself because I am quite ignorant of retro game history as stated before.

Though you are right, that is not really fair to the question of games which still feel unique and innovative. I suppose if I were to refine what I am asking for, I would ask for games which may have been sort of evolutionary dead ends, games which did something unique or innovative, that did not catch on and still today remains a curio to be fawned over.

>Hell, I could fill that list entirely with shmups alone. You have to understand that there are literally thousands of retro games.
I realize this is more of a statement at how open ended the question is, but if you do have the time and wish to put out a few examples I would genuinely appreciate it. If find histories of that sort of thing quite interesting.

[Anonymous No.2626282]

>>2626279
Do your own research for your shitty "Top 10 innovative games" youtube bullshit.

Seriously.

[Anonymous No.2626294]

>>2626279
Sounds like you need to start by going back and playing games that kicked off entire genres, and appreciate the genres from that historival perspective.

>Ms Pac-Man
>Pitfall
>Gradius
>Super Mario Brothers
>Ultima
>Dragon Warrior
>Street Fighter 2
>Goldeneye
>Mario 64
>Wipeout
>Resident Evil

Remember, when innovation gets recognized it quickly becomes cliche. It's always been like that. The modern AAA gaming scene is just especially guilty of this because of how corporate it's become.

[Anonymous No.2626326]

Colossal Cave and other text adventures by Infocom, Level 9, Magnetic Scrolls
VMS Empire (you might like the Interstel version more though)
Reach for the Stars
The Oregon Trail
Hamurabi
Star Trek
Rogue, Hack, Larn, Moria, Omega...
Eamon
Elite
Ultima.Wizardry series
Wasteland
Dungeon Master, Chaos Strikes Back
King's Quest & co. (including Quest for Glory)
Loom, Monkey Island
Boulder Dash & clones (Emerald Mines...)
Lemmings
Prince of Persia
Sim City
Populous
Pirates!
Seven Cities of Gold
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Laser Squad, Lords of Chaos.
King's Bounty
Pinball Dreams/Fantasies
Hunter
Gravity-Force
Gauntlet
Scorched Tanks

Well that's a start anyway.

[Anonymous No.2626346]

>>2626236
Interesting, reminds me a bit of marble madness.

>>2626160
Thank you for the recommendation anon.

>>2626282
I really don't understand why you are being so hostile.

>>2626294
>Remember, when innovation gets recognized it quickly becomes cliche. It's always been like that.
Yes unfortunately, but as you suggested I feel like there's often a soft spot for the ones that started it, and that they often have a feeling that is timeless. For instance this place loves doom (yes I know doom isn't actually the first FPS) and it has a unique feel compared to the relatively 'evolved' newer ones. There's also games which despite having successors and recognized innovation, never quite ended up becoming used up (in my opinion 6DoF games like decent are an example of this). I feel like in the end there are far more games that did something really neat but never got recognized, than ones that did, that's just a gut feeling though, I don't really have anything to base that on. It just feel like a shame any game be forgotten and left to languish in obscurity.

Sorry, I guess I should have thought more about my question when making the thread, again my apologies.

>>2626326
Thank you for typing all that out anon, I do appreciate the help.

[Anonymous No.2626530]

Pokemon Snap!

[Anonymous No.2626532]

>>2626346
>I feel like in the end there are far more games that did something really neat but never got recognized, than ones that did, that's just a gut feeling though, I don't really have anything to base that on. It just feel like a shame any game be forgotten and left to languish in obscurity.
>Sorry, I guess I should have thought more about my question when making the thread, again my apologies.
No it's fine I totally have the perspective already that I think you're searching for words to express. It's easy to track success back to its source or sources any idiot can do that. The next step is to really analyze what the game did SO right, that may not have been adequately represented by its imitators. That's a little bit challenging but what's golden is to try to figure out which games DO use those elements and play them, then maybe discover completely lost game-elements and appreciate THEM, maybe even help to bring them back around to modern gaming.

[Anonymous No.2626553]

>>2626346
>Interesting, reminds me a bit of marble madness.

Yeah it has a similar premise, except in Cameltry you're in control of the maze itself, as you can rotate it. All you can do with the ball is jump a little bit or shake to break through objects.

Actually the most similar thing to Cameltry I've played was the bonus stages for Sonic 4. But nowhere near as good.
Cameltry has at least 99 stages. I remember beating all the courses and the extra ones on an emulator long ago. It was legitimately addictive.

[Anonymous No.2626572]

Solar Jetman, a game about exploring alien worlds and relieving them of their valuables. Different worlds have different gravitational strengths, which makes each of them feel unique and adds to the challenge. Most enemies are simple enough to deal with normally, but things get tricky when you're trying to haul back a heavy object through a tight corridor filled with jagged rocks and something starts firing at you.

I haven't encountered anything else quite like it.

[Anonymous No.2626621]

>>2626553
>Sonic 4
You mean the new one? I recall they also had stages working on a similar principle in 3D blast.

[Anonymous No.2626649]

>>2626326
>Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Scratch that and replace it with Nobunaga's Ambition.

[Anonymous No.2626681]

>>2626572
I've been playing that game lately. It's really cool.

[Anonymous No.2626701]

>>2626572
>>2626681
Allow me to recommend you guys this bomb ass semi-obscure Amiga game.

Yes, I'm still pushing the Commodore

[Anonymous No.2626750]

>>2626701
That does look interesting, I'll give it a try sometime.

[Anonymous No.2626762]

>>2626145
Die By The Sword.
It wasn't significant, and barely anybody remembers it nowadays, but it used a system that would've been fucking perfect for the wii, except nobody ever fucking made it.

You swing your sword with your mouse- slash to the right quickly, the sword will slash to the right. Hold it on the left and right click, your guy will twist his sword and block rightwards.

[Anonymous No.2627046]

>>2626145
The Incredible Machine
Creatures
Gortek and the Microchips
Jungle Hunt

[Anonymous No.2627195]

>>2626145
Devilish (Genesis)
Fire Striker (SNES)
Zig Zag Cat (SNES)
Umihara Kawase (SNES) [aka /vr/'s favorite game]
LSD (PS1)
Motos (Arcade)
Phozon (Arcade)
Snacks'N Jaxson (Arcade)
Gekisha Boy (TG-16)
Rock 'n' Ball (NES)
Pinball Quest (NES)
Pu-Li-Ru-La (Arcade)
Nitro Ball (Arcade)
Shoot the Bullet (PC)

[Anonymous No.2627197]

>>2626326
>>2626294
Literally none of these are even remotely unique.

[Anonymous No.2627287]

>>2627197
They were unique when they kicked off their genres. Then they were imitated. OP was being unclear about exactly what he was looking for.

[Anonymous No.2627318]

>>2627197
>Gradius
>not unique

Don't be a faggot. First of its kind.

[Anonymous No.2627320]

>>2627318
it's still pretty unique with the power up system

[Anonymous No.2629897]

Well thread is about to die. Thank you to those that replied seriously, I do appreciate it.

[Anonymous No.2630004]

>>2629897
No problem

[Anonymous No.2630067]

The things suggested show a terrible lack of game knowledge. How about fucking naming the games that invented the most common genres?

Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun Which invented the beat em up.

Xevious which invented the scrolling shmup

Apparently /vr/'s idea of innovation isn't the creation of new genres and mechanics it's having quirky graphics and an unusual art style or setting.

[Anonymous No.2630076]

>>2630067
Excellent suggestions, but please try to be nicer to others

[Anonymous No.2630493]

We should really compile some type of recommendations list for people that want to get into retro games.

Games that invented genres, games that defined genres, games that established a new industry standards, shit like that.

Of course I'm way too lazy to do that.

OP, I think you'd be better off with something more...specific. Like if you wanted to see the evolution of platformers or something, that could be easily tackled.

[Anonymous No.2630594]

>>2626145
It seems everyone already hit the games I'd mention. Comb through the retro consoles on here, I'm sure you'll find something you'll like. http://vsrecommendedgames.wikia.com/wiki//v/'s_Recommended_Games_Wiki