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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Gorillas.bas
Yes! And I updated the BASIC code to add cheats. I thought I was quite the leet haxor. 😆 Edit: I accidentally a letter.
Great game, learned the basics of programming from fucking around with the source code in QBasic
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.
my niece thinks Morrowind is retro
Morrowind is ancient lmao
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.
There are college graduates who are younger than Morrowind. Yeah, it’s fucking retro.
I’m upvoting you but I need you to know that you are wrong, sir.
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.
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.
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
I love Actraiser! Too bad about the sequels…
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.
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.
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.
Staying on the Zelda tip, I’ll always have a place in my heart for Crystalis (1990) on the NES. More linear than Zelda but with significantly more RPG elements worked in.
If you want to get even more obscure, both Neutopia (1989) and Neutopia II (1991) for the TG-16 are great! Extremely obvious Zelda inspiration but they hold up well on their own merits.
