Beloved mediocrity: What mediocre and/or unpopular games do you really love?

[Bakuma1997]

I genuinely love Dragon Quest II, obviously give me III or V, most importantly IX anytime of the day, but i feel this is the game that crawled so III could fly

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

I feel like nothing really fits the bill better then the EDF series

They're janky and shlocky as all hell, but damn if they aren't incredibly fun.

 

[Badseed Badseed]

Forget ALL the haters. I absolutely love Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest. OK, the bosses are kinda lame and its a little repetitive, but It was an experience like no other on the NES. I could of done without the infamous.....

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

Robot Alchemic Drive on PS2. I don't know if any other game has that specific flavour of remote controlled robot that it has, other than the developer's previous game 'Remote Controlled Dandy'. It actually feels like how you'd control a giant robot with a PS2 controller. I also like that you're defending the same city over the course of the game. I wish it had persistent damage and the effects of you failing to protect it were more emphasized but otherwise it's such a good game and I find the bad dub really funny.View attachment 106562

A friend of mine was telling me about this game. It sounds awesome!

As a mediocre game I would say Neptune saga. But I really love them, it's full of anime waifus and their designs are very cute.

I love the Neptunia games too! You could almost say the same for any number of games made by that dev/publishing team. They almost specialize in anime waifu RPGs, but a lot of them were still fun.

 

[Tonberry]

The early licensed Harry Potter games come to mind right away.
They were SO good.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Clock tower on the PS1 it's a 80s slasher movie but this time YOU are in the middle of it! The game is like 70% voice acted so it makes you go ehhhh? The control is atrocious the double clicking sometimes makes you run sometimes no , the pre render cutscenes are the worst cutscenes i ever seen they are so stiff.

The final level has some annoying gimmicks and the game feels too short and characters sorta don't have much time to shine a remake would easily elevate it from mediocre to very good that is if it solved the game issues.

 

[RocketPowered]

Ace Combat 7 is pretty much beloved by everyone, but few people actually like its multiplayer. I'm one of them.
What really draws me is how thoughtful a fight can be if your opponents doesn't simply PSM-chain or spam QAAM/EML. It gets my blood pumping, maybe even too much, and it's so fun to duel a skilled opponent, or to dodge an avalanche of missiles from seven people while trying to get a shot off.

 

[nyka]

That's my favourite Resident Evil! I spent way too long in Raid Mode. I remember maxing out the Katana skill for Wesker, which took so much grinding. It was so worth it!

Post automatically merged: Sep 3, 2025

I'd say Origins has the best vocal track in Silent Hill, or at least my favourite. "Shot Down in Flames"

Post automatically merged: Sep 3, 2025

I mean, I bought it twice. Granted, I only spent $10 total on it but there is some good stuff there. Plus, the ticket you get in the physical version is really cool!

aw yis!! I still have the ticket too!

 

[Agent Otaku]

If I like a game, I don't consider it mediocre nor do I really like the idea behind such a mindset. If I like it, I consider it good.
But as for unpopular games, I enjoy Shadow 05/Sonic 06, Balan Wonderworld, Pokémon SV, Bubsy, Castlevania 64 LoD, and many, many more.​

 

[PhrawzT]

I genuinely love Dragon Quest II, obviously give me III or V, most importantly IX anytime of the day, but i feel this is the game that crawled so III could fly

I really enjoyed the game and didn't understand the hate it got. I didn't find it to be too difficult until the fire cave which did have a significant difficulty spike at that point in the game.

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

I genuinely love Dragon Quest II, obviously give me III or V, most importantly IX anytime of the day, but i feel this is the game that crawled so III could fly

I really enjoyed the game and didn't understand the hate it got. I didn't find it to be too difficult until the fire cave which did have a significant difficulty spike at that point in the game.

I didn't know DQ II had any hate towards it I mean, sure, not every game is for everyone, but I enjoyed it quite a lot.

 

[Bakuma1997]

I really enjoyed the game and didn't understand the hate it got. I didn't find it to be too difficult until the fire cave which did have a significant difficulty spike at that point in the game.

I didn't know DQ II had any hate towards it I mean, sure, not every game is for everyone, but I enjoyed it quite a lot.

TBF i play the GBC/SNES remakes, since i understand the game's many flaws were due to barely having time to work, mercifully those ports are far more polished

 

[breremarer]

The GOAT

Robot Alchemic Drive on PS2. I don't know if any other game has that specific flavour of remote controlled robot that it has, other than the developer's previous game 'Remote Controlled Dandy'. It actually feels like how you'd control a giant robot with a PS2 controller. I also like that you're defending the same city over the course of the game. I wish it had persistent damage and the effects of you failing to protect it were more emphasized but otherwise it's such a good game and I find the bad dub really funny.

I coveted this game so much as a kid, and could never track down a copy! Might have just figured out what I'm playing tonight. Thanks for reminding me this exists!

In terms of completely mid games that I totally loved, both Destruction Derby 64 and Road Rash 64 have a special place in my heart, and I can assure you: neither one is particularly great. Haha!

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

TBF i play the GBC/SNES remakes, since i understand the game's many flaws were due to barely having time to work, mercifully those ports are far more polished

That would make more sense. I've only played the Switch port of DQ II

 

[Cardboardtubeknight Cardboardtubeknight]

Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning I know it came out during a time where fantasy games with that type of leveling were oversaturated, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the combined classes depending on how you distributed perks. I was Warrior/Thief focused so that meant I was an assassin

 

[solnK!]

Devil May Cry 2 and Ice Age 3 on the Wii

 

[Agent Otaku]

Devil May Cry 2 and Ice Age 3 on the Wii

Another DMC2 enjoyer, I see!
Also loved DmC.

 

[Sfjeov]

Ngl if this game escapes kinect hell and gets ported to vr, I wouldn't mind trying it again.

 

[nobitakun]

I love the Neptunia games too! You could almost say the same for any number of games made by that dev/publishing team. They almost specialize in anime waifu RPGs, but a lot of them were still fun.

Yeah, Compile Heart is a really mediocre developer, their games are clearly bad optimised almost to the point of feeling like they were made in Unreal Engine 5 lol. But they know their fanservice stuff very well, and that's how their games are enjoyable and fun.

 

[PhrawzT]

Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning I know it came out during a time where fantasy games with that type of leveling were oversaturated, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the combined classes depending on how you distributed perks. I was Warrior/Thief focused so that meant I was an assassin

Kingdoms of Amalur was amazing and the sheer amount of sidequests was great. I played through the original on the Xbox 360 and got the PS4 remake and have spent tons of hours playing through them both.

 

[John Cruelty]

The Battle of Olympus

 

[GothikGamerGurl]

Here’s mine - and interestingly they’re all kaiju based. Makes sense when you consider most kaiju films are popcorn schlock. Sometimes you just need to eat puny humans and destroy buildings and stuff ya know! :D

 

[Anoobis]

I was first playing this one while I was still too young to read, and I still made it to the end eventually through exploration and trial & error. I've never understood why this game got all the flak. Other NES games had sequels that were radically different, and there were many games that were much harder.

 

[stealthRUSH stealthRUSH]

Bravoman (ARC, PCE/TG16)
Galerians: ASH (PS2)
BoomBots (PS1)
Battle Arena Toshinden URA, 3, Remix, 4 (SAT, PS1)
Robo Pit (SAT, PS1)
Floating Runner: Quest for the 7 Crystals (PS1)
Eternal City (PCE/TG16)
Otomedius / Excellent (ARC/360)
Barunba (PCE/TG16, MSX)
S.L.A.I.: Steel Lancer Arena International (PS2)

Terra Cresta 3D (SAT)
Sol Divide (ARC, SAT, PS1)
Totsugeki Kikan Megadasu! (3DO)
Götzendiener (PCE/TG16)
Final Fight Revenge (ARC, SAT)
Atomic Robo-Kid (ARC, MD/GEN)
Robotica / Deadalus (SAT)
Grid Runner (PC, SAT, PS1)
ClockWerx (SAT, PS1, SFC/SNES)
Jumpin' Kid: Jack to Mame no Ki Monogatari (FC/NES)

Toki (ARC, FC/NES, MD/GEN)
Future Racer / Defeat Lightning (PS1)
Uchuu Race: Astro Go! Go! (SFC/SNES)
Cyber Speedway / Gran Chaser (SAT)
Eternal Eyes / Koukroseatro (PS1)
Industrial Spy: Operation Espionage (DC)
Extra Bright (PS1)
Burning Soldier (3DO)
Hisou Kihei X-Serd (PCE/TG16)
Gebockers (SAT)

 

[bamdumtss]

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

This was the game that was going to be the mainline XCOM game, but people got mad and eventually they actually made a real XCOM game, and the rest is history. Meanwhile The Bureau was left forgotten by pretty much everybody, singleplayer shooters were saturating the market back then and this game didn't do a good job of marketing itself, although it was hard to fight against the bad rep that it already got. The game itself is plays like what you would expect, and the "command your teammates" aspect only works like 70% of the time. Enemy and Ally AI are both kinda mid, so it's hard to play like a tactical mastermind when everybody runs around like playground kids. But the gunplay is still solid, I really like the 60s supernatural setting and vibe, and the story got some pretty decent twists and turns. As someone with a massive soft spot for PS3-era linear shooters, this one is a hidden gem IMO.