Extremely Weird And Obscure Games

Thousand Arms
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
Earthbound, not obscure, but I didn't see it on your list
I know Earthbound. I played years ago and had fun with it. Rhapsody has been on my "want to play" list forever, just never gotten around to it, but I feel like I'd really like it since I am a huge magical girl anime/manga fan. As for Thousand Arms, that one is new to me. From looking at the screenshots, I love the art style, it has a very 90's manga look to it.
 
It’s an action rpg which is what we can call as a Diablo clone.
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snes:
alcahest
the 7th saga
aretha I & II
hero chronicle
dark half
energy breaker
tengai makyou-far east of eden
mystic ark
xak
princess minerva
hourai high
lennus II
chaos seed
smt last bible
 
• Tales of Symphonia
if you actually enjoyed symphonia and weren't annoyed by it, then you'd absolutely LOVE every single other tales games, especially any of them after, huge improvements on the game, combat, AI (ESPECIALLY AI, symphonia has one of the worst AI i've seen in a game period)
even SNES phantasia, and PS1 eternia are better games. Eternia is actually one of my favorite tales game.

anyways, there's a LOT of JRPGs i can name off, but i'll name some that were actually "Fun" for me:
Bahamut lagoon, it's a SRPG with dragons, they can change form and such depending how you feed them, they can do things like freeze water and break open paths, its pretty unique in some points.
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Seiken Densetsu 3 (or as it's remake is called, Trails of Mana)
basically the game after secret of mana, it features 6 different main characters (you pick 3, the main choice is the one the story follows, there's 3 different final bosses based on that)
i believe it was 3 player co-op on SNES.
the Remake, while also very fun, is MUCH different of a game, easier, faster, and nothing like SNES mana games at all.

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Summon night swordcraft story (there is 3 games on GBA)
basically a simple and fun RPG game, combat is like side scroller but you weapon switching and using your summon for magic.
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I have a lot of love for obscure, under the radar 90s games. Looking for other people that also love these. If you do, have you gone through any of these? If so, please give your thoughts.

Xmas Lemmings '91
(Good Puzzle game, Amiga)

Dark Seed (Good, atmospheric Geiger inspired Horror game, AmigaCD32)

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York DOS (Good Pure Fun side scrolling action game, DOS)

Dragon's Curse(Great, Improved version of Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon's Curse, PC Engine)

Astyanax NES (My 2nd Fave NES Game, Emotionally Compelling Story Focused Side Scrolling Action Game, NES)

Wurm: Journey To The Center Of The Earth NES(My Fave NES Game, Emotionally Compelling Story Focused Side Scrolling Action Game, NES)

Horror Zombies From the Crypt (Good 1990 shooter platformer game, Amiga)

THE NIGHT IS GREY (Great, atmospheric, Silent Hill-like 2d Animated Point and Click Adventure game)

Savage Reign (Good 1995 Arcade Fighter, Arcade)

Doomsday (God and Win SNES Zombies Ate My Neighbors Fangame)

Life on Earth: Reimagined (Great Contra inspired side scrolling Cyberpunk shooter, Genesis)

Neutopia (Great Zelda 1-like Action RPG, PC Engine)

Prehistorik (DOS)(Good, fun, bizarre, short AND satisfying Action-Platformer game, DOS)

Vice: Project Doom (Great Story Rich Side Scrolling Action game, NES)

Harley's Humongous Adventure (Bad, but entertaining Action Platformer, SNES)

Ganbare! Daiku no Gen-san aka Hammerin' Harry (Very Good SNES Action Platformer that's like Kirby Super Star if you kept the hammer)

Ganbare Goemon 2 aka The Legend of the Mystical Ninja 2(Great Pure Fun Action-RPG)

Back to the Future Part II Amiga (Bad 1990 Amiga Action Game, Amiga)

Super Cars II (Great Isometric Racer, Amiga)

It Came from the Desert 2: Antheads(One Of The Best, terrifying 1990 horror adventure game, Amiga)

Hugo's House of Horrors(Bad 1991 Graphic Adventure Game, DOS)

Violent Storm (Great 1993 Capcom Arcade Beat-Em Up, Game)

Rise of the Dragon (Great 1993 Cyberpunk First Person Adventure game, PC)

The Wheel Of Time(One of the most fun FPS's I've ever played, Amazing story rich medieval magic based FPS, PC)

Kingpin: Life of Crime Remastered (Great Pure Fun, Story-Rich, Hard 1999 FPS with RPG elements, PC)

Powerslave: Exhumed (Great 90's FPS)

PaRappa the Rapper (watched this fun, Story-Rich qte game, PS1)

Project: Horned Owl (Good anime themed Story-Rich 1996 Light Gun game, PS1)

Tenchu: Stealth Assassins (Great, So Bad It's Good Story-Rich, Isometric Stealth Action game, PS1)

Bomberman World (Bad, Barely Fun 1998 action game that isn't even ironically fun, PS1)

Time Crisis (Good 1997 Arcade Port of a Light Gun Shooter, PS1)

Soul of the Samurai (Great 1999 Story-Rich Samurai Action-Adventure with RPG elements, Played as Kotaro, PS1)

Wolverine: Adamantium Rage(Great Superhero action platformer where you kill who you fight, Genesis)

The Dame was Loaded (Great 1996 era Live Action 1940's Film Noire Detective Adventure game, PC)

Lost In Time (The worst story rich game I played in 2024, It's a 1993 first person live action point and click adventure game, PC)

Scooby-Doo!: Showdown in Ghost Town (Good Point and Click Adventure Game, The Learning Company, PC)

Atomic Robo-Kid Special (Good 1990 Shoot-Em-Up, PC Engine)

Vegas Stakes (1993, The Best Casino game, SNES)

Tom & Jerry in Mouse Attacks! (Good Platformer Game, GBC)

Wally Bear and the NO! Gang(Best "Bad" game on the NES, Anti-drug PSA Action Platformer, NES)

Last Alert(Amazing Semi Story-Rich Isometric Rambo-like Action Shooter, PC Engine CD)

Disney's Magical Quest 3 Starring Mickey And Donald (Mega-Man inspired platformer, SNES)

Final Fantasy 4 Namingway Edition(The Best SNES FF Fangame)

Action Doom (Great original game made on the Doom engine, 90's fps, PC)

Armored Warfare (1992) (VERY Good Mecha beat-Em-Up, Arcade)

1941: Counter Attack (1990) (Great WW2 top down shoot-em up, Arcade)

Zero Team (93)(Good, Fun Beat Em Up Action game, Arcade)

Aliens 3 (BAD, ONE OF THE WORST GAMES I'll probably play all year, Light Gun Shooter, Arcade)

Thunder Fox (1990) (Good side scrolling action game, Arcade)

The Crystal Key (1999) (Good Myst-like Point And Click Adventure Game)

Metamorphic Force (Great 1993 Beat Em Up, Arcade)
 
Evil Islands, I know this game is obscure because nobody played it except me
Very good RPG with with stealth and item and magic crafting that actually good, not to mention tons of other interesting mechanics
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Other good obscure rpgs i can recommend is
Prince of Qin and Sudeki
 
Since I can't know what popular games you don't even know I wrote "the games I like that are not mentioned much" by excluding most popular ones and the ones already written by others:

[MSX]



Super Cooks (Not on the repo)

[NES]







[SNES]









[Sega Genesis]





[PS1]



[PS2]





[NDS]







[PSP]



[3DS]

(Not on repo so their NDS versions are put when I prefer their 3DS versions)




7th Dragon III: Code: VFD (not on repo)

[PS Vita]





Valhalla Knights 3 (not on repo)

Lost Dimension (not on repo)

[PC]

- Arx Fatalis

- The Bard's Tale

- Anachronox

- Jade Empire

- Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption

- Star Ocean 4

- Tokyo Xanadu eX+

- Way of the Samurai 4
 
I don't know if they are obscure or anything but here goes:

Robotrek (SNES): Lesser known Enix RPG by Quintet. It's about time travel, it's not Chrono Trigger but the simplicity is nice.
Crystalis (NES): Action RPG by SNK, a la Secret of Mana. Looks beautiful and plays nicely for an 8bit game.
Warlocked (GBC): RTS on the gameboy? Should be bad but it's awesome.
 
a shame nobody mentioned the Arc the Lad trilogy, such a great series, its a nice blend of tactical with turn-based RPGs that takes a little from both, great worldbuilding -- that reminds of me Hunter X Hunter sometimes -- and overall very fun games

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I had no idea home alone had a good game hah

Out of all of these I played parappa, metamorphic force, atomic robo kid (the arcadd game), Gen-san/hammerin harry, Project Doom/Gun Dec and Time Crisis 1

I'm gonna add Koudelka; amazing horror-rpg hybrid set in a haunted monastery where gypsy witch, an adventurer and a priest find themselves in a haunted monastery for different reasons. A bit too easy but features gorgeous atmosphere and some of the most graphic things you'll see on the ps1, like face melting and an old lady being shot in the mouth

Jigoku Gokurakumaro, a great action platformers for the famicom by Human. Everything that studio made was interesting and they were so versatile, this one controls great, is challenging and a cool setting where you're inside a computer world that looks like a demonic factory

Gekibo: gekisha boy, I guess you could call it a rail shooter;
It's a game for the pc engine where you're a photographer and you go around taking pictures of ufos, perverted men in lipstick that flash you, chun li cosplayers, indians killing people by carving their face off, and Michael Jackson.
It has a sequel on the ps2 that can be played in english called "polaroid pete" (its a beta of the eng translation, since it never came out in the west)

Incredible Crisis on the ps1; a mini game compilation kinda like Wario Ware, the american advertising warns you that if you dont have fun playing it one of the programmers is gonna fucking kill himself
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Violent Storm (Great 1993 Capcom Arcade Beat-Em Up, Game)

Armored Warfare (1992) (VERY Good Mecha beat-Em-Up, Arcade)

Violent Storm is Konami, not Capcom.

Never heard of Armored Warfare. A search only brings up a modern tank MMO. Is this a different game from 1994's Armored Warriors by Capcom?
 
I really love Violent Storm! Actually one of my favorite beat em ups.

I've played Metamorphic Force as well, not my favorite, but pretty iconic. Some of its themes are even featured in the konami rhythm game arcade Guitarfreaks/Drummania as boss songs.

Also I actually like Bomberman World. Nowhere as good as the best ones like Saturn Bomberman and its also VERY short, but it had some actually interesting and challenging maps.
 
I wanna hear which obscure franchise is your favourite one.

For reference, it doesn't have to be the most obscure, hell, it only really has to be obscure in your region or social circles, but it does have to feature at least 2 games, ideally more, for it to be a franchise.

For my money it's Disaster Report. Although a bunch of them have been released in the west under a variety of names, they're not games I hear almost anyone caring about. Despite all the jank, I have a soft spot for the series.

What about you? Any obscure(ish) franchises that are close to your heart?
 
I also love the Disaster Report games. I got a mint copy of Raw Danger for $3 at Goodwill. I still have a sealed copy of Disaster Report, too. I also have the PS4 one.

Some more:
Earth Defense Force
Gothic
Risen
Divinity
Deadly Premonition
Bayonetta
Mirror's Edge
The Darkness
 
Jazz Jackrabbit 1 & 2 (I dunno if they are obscure but I barely hear anyone talking about the games other than dedicated fans that grew up with them)

They are fun, and the music is awesome. I don't really have much that needs to be said.
 
I feel like the Steamworld games classify as they're nowhere near as popular as I think they deserve to be. Almost all games in the franchise are great, and none is outright bad.

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Boku no Natsuyasumi. Well, all Millennium Kitchen–developed games, really.
It’s great that we’ve gotten both Shin-chan games and Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid in the West.
Such cozy little adventures.
 
a really tough call. i would say the gal gun seriers since it's perveted and stuff like that. but it is funny to stare down girls and make it go OOOOHHHH!!! and what's funny they come back later they have this one line where for one of stats you max out and it's the LEWD. stat and if you try to buy more if it. when your maxed out the shop keeper says this.

CHILL WITH THE LEWDS DUDE!!!

i should use that has one of my chatch phrases if someone's into too much LEWD stuff.
 
I also love the Disaster Report games. I got a mint copy of Raw Danger for $3 at Goodwill. I still have a sealed copy of Disaster Report, too. I also have the PS4 one.

Some more:
Earth Defense Force
Gothic
Risen
Divinity
Deadly Premonition
Bayonetta
Mirror's Edge
The Darkness
I'm jelly! I have the first game, though it's called SoS: The Final Escape here, but Raw Danger is like 150GBP+ lmao
Tempted to buy a Canadian copy for about 20/30GBP since I have the right system to play it anyway.

Also big ups Mirrors Edge. Still get a kick out of obsessively playing the original game. Except that last level when you're doing a 'no kill' run. That shit suuuucks.

Jazz Jackrabbit 1 & 2 (I dunno if they are obscure but I barely hear anyone talking about the games other than dedicated fans that grew up with them)

They are fun, and the music is awesome. I don't really have much that needs to be said.
Jazz was my jaaaaaam during the DOS era. I was bullied on twitter by Cliff Bleszinski into buying Jazz 1+2 in GOG lmao now I play them both around the holidays each year to take advantage of the Christmas themed expansions.

Awesome music and I love the number of weapon types you get access to.
I feel like the Steamworld games classify as they're nowhere near as popular as I think they deserve to be. Almost all games in the franchise are great, and none is outright bad.

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I have a bunch of these on various accounts but I've not given the series much of a try yet.
I have a fondness for CAVE shmups that I've rarely shown to anyone.
I owned and enjoyed the hell out of Deathsmiles 2 but I don't have much experience outside of that.
 
Obscure is very subjective on forum like this, every time I post about Japanese Tokusatsu some one on here jumps in despite no one I know IRL enjoying that niche. Observer, friendship incomming:

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But if I had to be deliberately obscure:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyles the Lost World (1999)
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On the odd chance some one else enjoyed it too, the cliff hanger ending did get closure. The writers released the scripts & script bible for the unproduced 4th & 5th seasons after the cancelation (At a fan convention no less) if you wanted to see where it was going to go.
Not that I think you can source scans of said documents anymore.

Seaquest DSV (1993) first season is outstanding. Despite it being the most expensive TV show ever made upon release its pretty obscure now. Last fan sites dried up around 2014:
SeaQuest-DSV_1.jpg


Ocean Girl (1994) is likewise obscure, but It has a cult following... With the few surviving fan sites being Russian oddly enough
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If you scrolled down through the depths of hell that is fanfiction.net, you can actually find a Seaquest/Ocean Girl cross over uploaded to the site way back in 1 9 9 6

I can keep doing on the underwater sci-fi front, Surface (2005)
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Under water Science fiction is my favourite genre. So finally. SUBMARINE TITANS! (2000)
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As I hope some one here knows of Archimedean Dynasty/Aquanox... Right guys?
Holy shit its now on STEAM?

Maybe the last two never reached franchise status, but Seaquest & Ocean Girl definitely did with lots of merch.
 

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