Hidden Gems !

[lucasgvse]

So, i thought it would be interesting to have a topic here about our unexpected discoveries! I'm personally interested on weird retro games, that tried to do something diferent even though they heavily failed (just as the recently translated Ancient Roman, for example). With all the efforts of the preservation, emulation and translation community, we keep growing this horizon of inventive, experimental.... funny.... ugly??? and "i've never heard of this shit before" games!

Then i'd like to ask you guys to share recent experiences like this, of "ok i'll just check this weird unkown thing" that just "wooooow!!!" you somehow. The same for upcoming ones, that happens to inspire you to scream to the world "hey everybody you NEED to check this out cuz i feel like i have nobody to talk about it".

For the start, i want to mention What Remains, a homebrew game i found on itchio that runs on NES emulators and i believed it was also launched in a physical cartridge. I thought it looked pretty and charismatic, so i downloaded and tested.. then it made me laugh a little here, a little there, and again, and then little cool and simple machanics slowly appeared... and i was totally involved! It's mostly a text based game and you need to find and talk to some characters to progress, gather information and make people get organized against an evil corporation provoking bad climate change. It feels a lot like an 80's adventure movie with smart kids solving dumb adults problems!

And you, guys?

 

[StMil]

Well, we're currently approaching Halloween, so I will recommend "Ghost Sweeper Mikami" on the SNES.
It has very fun/fluid gameplay, as well as a good sense of humor (and a spooky theme).

I feel like a lot of people haven't played this yet, so it's my hidden gem recommendation for now.

 

[lucasgvse]

Well, we're currently approaching Halloween, so I will recommend "Ghost Sweeper Mikami" on the SNES.
It has very fun/fluid gameplay, as well as a good sense of humor (and a spooky theme).

I feel like a lot of people haven't played this yet, so it's my hidden gem recommendation for now.

ohhhh i loved the visuals!

sad that it's JP only.. is it okay to play without undestand anything? at least graphically and gameplay wise it seems very charming and fun

 

[Sayo]

Do yourselves a favor and play Stretch Panic (Hippa Linda) for the PS2. I believe this was Treasure's one and only foray into the 3D platformer genre and it's a really good one at that. Most of the stages are fairly simplistic and/or abstract, and the main gameplay gimmick consists on using these appendages attached to your character's head to stretch the environment, enemies, etc and ensuing shenanigans. It's pretty short too and over in about 3 or 4 hours but good lord is it fun.

 

[mandrakes]

Flame dragon (MS DOS)
gameplay similar to shining force on sega megadrive and sega saturn

Stonekeep (MS DOS)
Gameplay like elder&scrolls but in the realm of doom

Eradicators (MS DOS)
gameplay similar to duke nukem 3D but with buff and 3 playable characters

already bought trimui smart pro for $55 and 35 cents
this is how i play stonekeep gog version inside this little thing
create dosbox.bat

CLS
mount C .
imgmount d "stonkeep.gog" -t iso -fs iso
C:
D:\data\SK.EXE %1

 

[DunkeyKong]

All of these are actually hidden gems, wow. I don't know if mine counts but Ghosts 'n Goblins on the PSP
It was one of those games that I like seeing the visual change
Honestly, I don't even know if I did played some hidden gem, most of the games I played always have a huge fanbase, no matter what kind of games and consoles

 

[Kyyo]

I don't know if it counts as a retro game, but Farland Symphony is a JRPG that many people doesn't care about the existence and I found it pretty fun.

There's an english translation for it made by Mirror Moon.

 

[lucasgvse]

Do yourselves a favor and play Stretch Panic (Hippa Linda) for the PS2. I believe this was Treasure's one and only foray into the 3D platformer genre and it's a really good one at that. Most of the stages are fairly simplistic and/or abstract, and the main gameplay gimmick consists on using these appendages attached to your character's head to stretch the environment, enemies, etc and ensuing shenanigans. It's pretty short too and over in about 3 or 4 hours but good lord is it fun.

I'm in love with it now! I've never seen it before or heard about it. Nice that it's short too, i'm super curious.

Flame dragon (MS DOS)
gameplay similar to shining force on sega megadrive and sega saturn

The pixel art here is so gorgeous! I wonder if i can make MS DOS run on my RG35XX, and if the controls configuration will work properly. I tried PC-98 and the emulator runs fine, games runs fine, but there's no option to set the buttons :c MSX is another i need to see some tutorials...

All of these are actually hidden gems, wow. I don't know if mine counts but Ghosts 'n Goblins on the PSP
It was one of those games that I like seeing the visual change
Honestly, I don't even know if I did played some hidden gem, most of the games I played always have a huge fanbase, no matter what kind of games and consoles

I think it counts. People oftern ignore those psp remakes and consider the ghosts n goblins in pixel art as the "correct one" to play and recommend.

Anyway, don't you have curiosity for the less known titles?

I don't know if it counts as a retro game, but Farland Symphony is a JRPG that many people doesn't care about the existence and I found it pretty fun.
View attachment 667
There's an english translation for it made by Mirror Moon.

Cute sprite work for the characters! And the drawing style of the portraits and cover reminds me of some 90's animes i used to see in anime magazines when i was young but never watched (nem lembrava mais dessas revistas lol, acho que era Ultra Jovem e AnimeDo??)

 

[RaHoWa]

The Bit generations series on GBA consists of 7 simple games with a deliberately retro style. I particularly recommend Digidrive and Dotstream.

 

[RaHoWa]

FlOw on PSP and PS3 is fascinating, simple and short. You have to eat other sea creatures - and avoid being eaten - to evolve to a final form.

 

[StMil]

sad that it's JP only.. is it okay to play without undestand anything? at least graphically and gameplay wise it seems very charming and fun

You don't need to know Japanese to enjoy it.
If you want to know more about the story then you can watch the English subbed anime.
It would be nice if we ever get a fan translated version of the game though.

 

[lucasgvse]

You don't need to know Japanese to enjoy it.
If you want to know more about the story then you can watch the English subbed anime.
It would be nice if we ever get a fan translated version of the game though.

Nice! I'll add it to a list i did of games to play randomly drinking with my friends. The graphical style looks like Kendo Rage and Hyper Iria, other two uncommon games that i've seen people mentioning as hidden gems:

The Bit generations series on GBA consists of 7 simple games with a deliberately retro style. I particularly recommend Digidrive and Dotstream.

Very interesting this one.. is it oficially released when GBA was around the market or is it a homebrew launched after? The mini games looks experimental while the general graphic design is so modern, as in WipEout games.

Well, i'll be a little repetitive now but i mentioned in another thread, about PSP games, another two i played just recently and now i carry in my heart as amazing discoveries: Grand Knights History, and Shadow of Destiny. I'll copy paste what i posted there as a quote, just in case of someone look for hidden gems only on this thread without go in there too:

I was playing Grand Knights History on my PSP a few months ago. It has that awesome art direction from vanillaware and the soundtrack is soooooo good... i loved the battle system too, pretty unique to me, with a little bit of tabletop/strategy mechanics and a story that really feels like a tabletop/book RPG adventure. It is hard, though, cuz when you die you go back to your last save and need to redo a lot of missions of your campaign... so i stopped playing on the psp at least, and someday i'll continue on the emulator so i can use save states to avoid that. (jesus christ this battle theme)

Aaaaaand.........
the funniest shit i've played in my life:

I know it's a port from a PS2 game, but you can't let it pass. A guy is killed and receive powers from the beyond to go back in time and avoid his death, then he's killed again... and again.... and again.... its a full game of you going back to prevent the new ways your killer tries to kill you, and its amazing how this scalates through many stupid situations. The text is gold, the acting is gold, the animations are gold and the music tries to be tense but that flute from 00:39 onwards always makes me laugh.

They're hidden gems for me!

 

[mandrakes]

The pixel art here is so gorgeous! I wonder if i can make MS DOS run on my RG35XX, and if the controls configuration will work properly. I tried PC-98 and the emulator runs fine, games runs fine, but there's no option to set the buttons :c MSX is another i need to see some tutorials...
/ISPOILER]

already tried on trimui smart pro it works fine, pc98 emulator work but with no control option, so i decided to give up pc98 and use sharp x68000 instead

 

[VampireLord1024]

Possibly Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 on the PS2.

 

[DunkeyKong]

I think it counts. People oftern ignore those psp remakes and consider the ghosts n goblins in pixel art as the "correct one" to play and recommend.

Anyway, don't you have curiosity for the less known titles?

I think I have? I don't know, most of the less known games I played are either in a mobile phone or from a romhacks

For example, Jump Jerboa is a 2D platformer games for mobile phones made by Chinykian. The sprite work is simple and some of the levels are too, but what makes it fun (and probably frustrating) is the cannon mechanic. Just like Donkey Kong, you can shoot yourself out of the cannon. It has some replayability like time trials and also while trying to collect all of the points. It can be quite painful in the harder levels of course since it's like one of those games that make you die over and over again.

And that's for the mobile games, for the Retro stuff though...maybe Drill Dozer? A game about a Driller Machine defeating other Machines using a Drill, that's about it...and it's fun!

 

[lucasgvse]

I think I have? I don't know, most of the less known games I played are either in a mobile phone or from a romhacks

For example, Jump Jerboa is a 2D platformer games for mobile phones made by Chinykian. The sprite work is simple and some of the levels are too, but what makes it fun (and probably frustrating) is the cannon mechanic. Just like Donkey Kong, you can shoot yourself out of the cannon. It has some replayability like time trials and also while trying to collect all of the points. It can be quite painful in the harder levels of course since it's like one of those games that make you die over and over again.

man we talk about hidden gems always thinking about traditional/portable consoles and totally ignores the world of mobile games. I can't even imagine the amout of good games that maybe exists in the middle of tons and tons of candycrush-likes

 

[DunkeyKong]

man we talk about hidden gems always thinking about traditional/portable consoles and totally ignores the world of mobile games. I can't even imagine the amout of good games that maybe exists in the middle of tons and tons of candycrush-likes

That's true, those indie developers deserve some recognition

 

[moonbits]

Silent Bomber on PS1
Blade of Darkness on PC
Muscle March on Nintendo Wii

 

[Sayo]

Silent Bomber on PS1
Blade of Darkness on PC
Muscle March on Nintendo Wii

Silent Bomber is an absolute blast that was sadly overlooked during its time.

 

[Gorse]

I was going to say Silent Bomber, too! Awesome, original PS1 game that plays like a cross between Bomberman and, I dunno, the Gamma campaign from Sonic Adventure. I always liked how well the story played out across each level — without spoiling anything, the way the tutorial integrates into the plot is extremely cool and unique.

We could just fill up this thread with obscure PS1 games and no one would be the wiser. What a great console!

 

[RaHoWa]

Nice! I'll add it to a list i did of games to play randomly drinking with my friends. The graphical style looks like Kendo Rage and Hyper Iria, other two uncommon games that i've seen people mentioning as hidden gems:

Very interesting this one.. is it oficially released when GBA was around the market or is it a homebrew launched after? The mini games looks experimental while the general graphic design is so modern, as in WipEout games.

Well, i'll be a little repetitive now but i mentioned in another thread, about PSP games, another two i played just recently and now i carry in my heart as amazing discoveries: Grand Knights History, and Shadow of Destiny. I'll copy paste what i posted there as a quote, just in case of someone look for hidden gems only on this thread without go in there too:

The bit Generations are official games released in 2006 on GBA only in Japan, but the texts are in English. And Dialhex, Dotstream, Orbital and Digidrive were re-released on WiiWare and DSiWare in the Art Style series under the names Rotohex, Light Trax, Orbient and Intersect.
That said, it's true that some of them are very - too - simplistic, but Dotstream and Digidrive are worth a try for their concept and sound ambience alone.

 

[RaHoWa]

man we talk about hidden gems always thinking about traditional/portable consoles and totally ignores the world of mobile games. I can't even imagine the amout of good games that maybe exists in the middle of tons and tons of candycrush-likes

Speaking of mobile games, who's heard of Alto's Odyssey?

 

[Sayo]

Speaking of mobile games, who's heard of Alto's Odyssey?

It kind of has a similar visual style to Monument Valley

 

[DunkeyKong]

It kind of has a similar visual style to Monument Valley

It has that feel to it, maybe because of the scenery

 

[RaHoWa]

It kind of has a similar visual style to Monument Valley

Yeah, that's true. But Alto is a pure sliding game with no complexity, no need to think, so it's easier for my atrophied brain !