Solomon’s Key (NES)

Finally beat it last year after trying for 35 years. Such a good game. It’s one of my favorite games of all time. Action platform puzzle game. It has two endings, and there is zero chance you’ll get the good ending without a guide. Not to beat each puzzle room, but to find all the hidden items. You see, if you miss one, all the ones after that don’t appear! So hunting for them naturally is nearly impossible. It also has a secret continue mechanic, too, without which the game is also pretty much impossible.

Legend of Dragoon was so good, even if several twists were the kind you see coming. And it was insanely long!

I wish it would get remade so badly. I own it, and tried to make it work, but I don’t have a CRTV, so it went very badly.

If we’re talking RPGs like a lot of people in this thread are, while the Zelda GBC/GBA games were great of course (although not so obscure), I also really enjoyed Golden Sun. I believe another game I also played when I was younger was Racing Gears Advance, I think that one was a bit more obscure.

Crysalis for Famicom/NES

moonstone: a hard days knight on amiga.

and of course zzt

I don’t know if this is obscure anymore, but “Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite!” was always one of my favorite GBC games. The artwork was adorable, the way they communicate with each other is adorable, it’s just great.

Blaster Master on NES. I was so addicted. And then I got the NES Advantage controller and it was just pure Blaster Master bliss.

Tomba 2 baybee

M.C. Kids for the NES. It was a rock solid platformer held back by the McDonald’s theming. It was a bit too hard for the target audience, but it’s a fun romp otherwise.

3D MonsterMaze

I personally loved ice climbers on the nes

Treasure are such a famous developer within the retro subculture that it’s hard to call any of their stuff “obscure” at this point, but I want to give my nod to Light Crusader for the Mega Drive (Genesis).

Light Crusader Full Soundtrack on Youtube.

It’s got a bit of that isometric controls jank, but it’s just got the perfect vibes for a Genesis game. The right level of difficulty (hard but beatable), awesome art, quirky as hell, and one of my favorite soundtracks of the entire 16-bit era. Do yourself a favor and check it out–at the very least, give the soundtrack a listen, as it’s some of the best that the Genesis has to offer, in my opinion.

Crush for PSP, it’s a puzzle game where you switch between 2d and 3d. The style is cartoony, the music is amazing, and the puzzles are generally engaging without being too difficult. It’s really a shame it only came out for PSP and a slightly different version on 3ds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crush_(video_game)

Maybe it’s not obscure enough, but for me, Starflight on the Sega Genesis remains the greatest space exploration game ever made.

It was unforgiving the way games were back then, which added to the feeling that you’re just out there in unexplored space.

More than 800 different planets, most of them empty (except for resources), but that just makes it so exciting when you find an artifact hidden in ancient ruins.

And an incredible story on top of that. A huge mystery unfolds organically as solar flares start destroying planets across the galaxy and your explorable space slowly shrinks.

The back of the manual was a journal written by another starship captain who sent it to you from the future. It serves as a guide and a warning, giving some valuable locations and clues, in case you’re having trouble finding the path.

Oh, and the soundtrack! I can still bring it to mind thirty years later. Haunting.

Not sure if obscure, but I really like Buggy Run from Master System