Extremely Weird And Obscure Games

[Bakuma1997]

YS

Few peope will call them that obscure, but most people's minds gravitates to Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest when asked what RPG they like, even in the ARPG subgenre, most people will pick Mana Series or Kingdom Hearts as their favs

 

[trickybus]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyles the Lost World (1999)

I'm happy to finally meet another person who acknowledges the existence of this show!

 

[Tonberry]

I have a bunch of these on various accounts but I've not given the series much of a try yet.

They're all very different so there's plenty to choose from from a genre point of view.
Dig is the first game which is a super charming digging platformer that you can finish in a few hours, and Dig 2 expanded on that format in every way.
Quest is also fantastic, it's a turn-based RPG with a deck-building skill system. I usually don't like cards for skills but the rest of the game was so endearing that it didn't bother me.
Heist was pretty cool but I never finished it, and I haven't played Build or Heist 2.

 

[thumbsdown]

Don't know if obscure, but I'll say Anodyne, Gonner and Little Nightmares "franchises" cus no one will mention :p

 

[stealthRUSH stealthRUSH]

Cyber Citizen Shockman
Galerians
Senko no Ronde
Galaxy Fräulein Yuna
Twinkle Star Sprites
Riglord Saga
Image Fight
Flash Hiders
Culdcept
Ibara

 

[DJPlace]

good old shock man i would of love to see more of those. also the thrid shock man's hidden fan video is worth a watch for it's censored stuff.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

For me its always Mutant chronicles .
Warhammer 40k was alright with grimdark setting but i liked MCs setting much more with its 80s/90s artstyle and high adrenalin action as a wargame and even underrated with lore that an TTRPG was there of it too .

Its a little bit more upbeat than WH40k but its just badassery meeting the ultimate doom of humanity .

Its more adventuores and the factions can work together with some compromises and backstabs inbetween .

The artworks alone are underrated and the franchise is sort of dead but had a small ressurgence in the name of Mutant Chronicles : Warzone eternal .

Its not that huge with its lore like WH40K but still a great alternative that needs
some more recognition (and not going mainstream ... that would be horrible ) .

 

[Samatonic Samatonic]

View attachment 127252
For me its always Mutant chronicles .
Warhammer 40k was alright with grimdark setting but i liked MCs setting much more with its 80s/90s artstyle and high adrenalin action as a wargame and even underrated with lore that an TTRPG was there of it too . View attachment 127257
Its a little bit more upbeat than WH40k but its just badassery meeting the ultimate doom of humanity .
View attachment 127259
Its more adventuores and the factions can work together with some compromises and backstabs inbetween .

View attachment 127261 The artworks alone are underrated and the franchise is sort of dead but had a small ressurgence in the name of Mutant Chronicles : Warzone eternal .

Its not that huge with its lore like WH40K but still a great alternative that needs
some more recognition (and not going mainstream ... that would be horrible ) .

Now that's one badbass illustration right there.

 

[Ezri_Muldoon]

For me its always Mutant chronicles .

As some one who was introduced to Mutant Chronicles through the 2008 film.

It's always amazed me that I have never, EVER seen the roleplay game sold ANYWHERE.
Other smaller franchises-
Heavy Gear, Dropzone Commander, Warmachine I've encountered miniatures & rule books in the wild.

But nothing for Mutant Chronicles.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

As some one who was introduced to Mutant Chronicles through the 2008 film.

It's always amazed me that I have never, EVER seen the roleplay game sold ANYWHERE.
Other smaller franchises-
Heavy Gear, Dropzone Commander, Warmachine I've encountered miniatures & rule books in the wild.

But nothing for Mutant Chronicles.

Mutant Chronicles Virtualpedia

Here you have the TTRPG books free to download and the adventure-books for it . (Its all in PDF)

Ive never seen the minis and books too . It was from the 90s and in europe it had some impact (not huge but atleast a bit ) but was overwhelmed by the success of Warhammer 40K and its understandable . Warhammer was already a Juggernaut of Wargaming and alternatives sadly faded away .

Mutant chronicles is truly a cult-classic and while its sad that not alot of Fans are nowadays there , its maybe better to stay semi-unknown since alot of older and more famous franchises getting mishandled hard and especially WH40K lately is absolutly horrible right now .

Good thing MCs lore is still untouched and kept its raw badassery still to this day , which means there are strict guide-lines how the setting is and making own campaigns and adventures are easy to do for its Wargame and its TTRPG .

I even got the boardgame "Blood-berets" that i ordered on amazon which is awesome too and takes the rules of the wargame to be played . And its GLORIOUS ! The manual even encourages to homebrew the rules and even using the Wargame minis too . Its old but dude ... it just rocks !

 

[King Torro]

Myth : The Fallen Lords and Myth II : Soulblighter.
Brutal squad / at most company size unit tactics in a gritty dark fantasy world between the forces of Light and Dark. Three-dimensional map, good physics and usage of the environment matters (fire spreads in grass, water douses fire, trees provide cover from arrows and spears) . You're often up against very bad odds so you have to play smart, conserve your forces and try to split up enemies so you can locally overwhelm them etc. The music and the between-missions narration is awesome and really fills you with that delicious dread of an incoming undead-apocalypse.
These games were Bungie's thing before Halo and they really fell into almost complete obscurity. Unfortunately there's been so far no sign of a GoG re-release so they could become playable on modern systems. Even among retro PC gamers they seem very obscure. Maybe one day it gets a good re-release on GoG.

 

[adamshines]

At the time, I think around 1993 (even though the game was released in 1991) I played “Out of this World” on SNES at a neighbour’s place. I grew up in a small town in northern Canada so access to any game felt like a huge win. Outside of the usual Mario Kart, Street Fighter, Zelda games, Out of this World truly felt like a game that came from another dimension in terms of obscurity. The vector graphics, the cartoon-like movements, the cutscenes, I was so blown away! But that excitement quickly turned to frustration as some of the puzzles and gameplay mechanics required millisecond accuracy or unclear direction on what to do next.

That being said, I still have fond memories of my neighbor and I exhausting every option available to eventually finishing the game after what seemed like an eternity of playing some of those “levels” over and over again. I don’t think I would have the patience for this type of game today, but I’ll never forget the fun and frustrating times I had playing it back then!

 

[thumbsdown]

Was this thread merged or the title updated? I'm sure it was about nes-only games the other day lol

 

[Numubunde]

What I perceive to be obscure games I really loved:

- Rule of Rose: The atmosphere, OST and story were superb. It's one of those games that left me a while thinking about its story after I beat it. A shame it feels so horrible to play lol

- Haunting Ground: Lots of similarities with the previous one, but I think this ones drops the story (it's not bad but nothing out of the ordinary) and gets the gameplay a lot better. I really enjoyed it.

- Doki Doki Universe: PSVita counts as retro, right? This was such a wholesome, comfort game. I would recommend this one to anyone feeling down.

- Chulip: Pretty charming game about kissing all your homies. What else do I need to say? :)

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

Mine's gotta be Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (2004)

Really tight, 3D-platformer-kids-game with some light RPG item progression and (this is a stretch but you'd agree) Sonic inspired combat. Rhythm elements in the PC and 3DS ports (PSP was lacking for whatever reason...) Somewhat endearing characters, as cheesy and archetypal they may be. Overall a really nice kicking-back-on-a-friday kinda game that still makes you think at some portions and is engaging! Really good!

(Same devs as Trials in the Sky, the Ys games, and The Legend of Heroes)
View attachment 123428

oh dip, I actually loved this game on PSP but had no idea it was the same devs as the trails games.

 

[blasmin3]

DS has a lot of them:
KochiKame (Kochira Katsushikaku Kameari Kouenmae Hashutsujo)
Nanashi no Game Me
Contact

Full Quiet and Alwa's Awakening for NES (both are homebrew)
Rent a Hero for Genesis
Keio Flying Squadron for Sega CD

I bought a copy of contact some time ago and didnt find the time to play it to the end. Does it stand to its art style? I really love the sprites i saw trying it, but felt somewhat slow (doesnt matter to me, will play it anyway).

 

[SylvanSwordstress]

The Brandish games by Nihon Falcom for the PC-98. Specifically Brandish 2: The Planet Buster is really good. The pixel art is incredible and the music goes really hard (as to be expected of both Falcom and the PC-98). They're also way more fun than they have any right to be, considering the CPU capabilities of the system they came out for.

 

[null.problem]

The Brandish games by Nihon Falcom for the PC-98. Specifically Brandish 2: The Planet Buster is really good. The pixel art is incredible and the music goes really hard (as to be expected of both Falcom and the PC-98). They're also way more fun than they have any right to be, considering the CPU capabilities of the system they came out for.

I loved Brandish - completed the whole thing! The music is really nice, as you said. I tried 2, but got stuck forever fighting the kraken boss. I couldn't do enough damage to it, and it couldn't kill me. I should try again sometime. I wish there were more games of this sort, I can't think of any others that are quite like it.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

The Brandish games by Nihon Falcom for the PC-98. Specifically Brandish 2: The Planet Buster is really good. The pixel art is incredible and the music goes really hard (as to be expected of both Falcom and the PC-98). They're also way more fun than they have any right to be, considering the CPU capabilities of the system they came out for.

Those are dungeon crawlers right?


I need to try that one PSP remake of the first (was it?)

 

[aquova]

I thought I was fairly familiar with the top regarded Genesis titles until I discovered Battle Mania 2 a few years ago. I adore it, and feel like it isn't talked about nearly enough

 

[null.problem]

Those are dungeon crawlers right?


I need to try that one PSP remake of the first (was it?)

Yeah, but they are pretty strange. You see from isometric-ish top down, and move on a grid, but when you turn, the screen turns around you, like you were in a first-person dungeon crawler. The game had some cool mechanics with ways to train stats and resistances and weapon durability. An acquired taste, but a good one. There are SNES ports too (2 is translated).

 

[hazys]

I love the Shiren the Wanderer series. The Mystery Dungeon franchise is more well-known for its spin-offs, but Shiren remains relatively obscure. There are also some lesser-known Mystery Dungeon spin-offs I like, such as The Nightmare of Druaga on PS2. There are others I hope get translated someday.

Recently I've really enjoyed Zombie Revenge. It's like a mix of Resident Evil and Dynamite Cop, though it's actually a House of the Dead spin-off (!). Pretty obscure for a first-party SEGA game on the Dreamcast. Speaking of Dynamite Cop, it got an arcade-only sequel called Asian Dynamite that I'd really like to try out sometime.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Yeah, but they are pretty strange. You see from isometric-ish top down, and move on a grid, but when you turn, the screen turns around you, like you were in a first-person dungeon crawler. The game had some cool mechanics with ways to train stats and resistances and weapon durability. An acquired taste, but a good one. There are SNES ports too (2 is translated).

I'm more used to ChunSoft's Mystery Dungeon games so the entire level turning feels weird.

I love the Shiren the Wanderer series. The Mystery Dungeon franchise is more well-known for its spin-offs, but Shiren remains relatively obscure. There are also some lesser-known Mystery Dungeon spin-offs I like, such as The Nightmare of Druaga on PS2. There are others I hope get translated someday.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon is well popular but sadly Shiren is the lesser known more hardcore big brother series.

 

[SylvanSwordstress]

Yeah, but they are pretty strange. You see from isometric-ish top down, and move on a grid, but when you turn, the screen turns around you, like you were in a first-person dungeon crawler. The game had some cool mechanics with ways to train stats and resistances and weapon durability. An acquired taste, but a good one. There are SNES ports too (2 is translated).

I wouldn't recommend the SFC/SNES ports... they kinda ruined the music.

 

[hazys]

The SNES port of Brandish is famously bad because it doesn't let you see the map onscreen. Makes navigation far more painful.

Personally I always found Brandish's navigation nauseating until they came out with the PSP one, which is in 3D. That one's great.