Hidden Gems!

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Yukinko Daisenpuu: Saiyuki to Koyuki no Hie Hie Daisoudou

also known as Heavenly Guardian (US), Legend of Sayuki (EU)

 

[IyoTheHelpfulWolf]

At first glance, it looks like another off road racing game, and for the most part it is, but it has two things that stand out. It's physics model makes midair tricks and flips a breeze, and you can kick other riders off of their ATVs if you get in close, but that also means they're close enough to do it to you. This leads the player to engage in riskier driving than in more realistic games like ATV Offroad Fury.

 

[RebelofDaNeonGod]

What the fuck do y'all know about Yanya Caballista????

 

[Deleted member 7989]

You guys gotta get down on Cel Damage. It's a car combat game with Looney Tunes stylization, with a Reality TV backdrop. Fun as hell.

 

[J0_]

I'm a huge Mystery Dungeon fan, and I have played a lot of weird imitators. A lot of JRPG enthusiasts may now about Baroque on the PS2, but there are other japanese roguelikes on the console. Rogue Hearts Dungeon is not particularly good, and is only a small step above shovelware. It's Idea Factory before they made it big pumping out a shameless Mystery Dungeon clone to cash in on Mystery Dungeon hype at the very tail end of the franchise's heyday.

 

[chibimatty]

I don't know if Ico counts as niche?

I used to play a lot of the weird games from the Simple 2000 Series, if any one remembers those?

I think the most obscure game I have is the oddly named "World Football Climax" made by Sega. I think it was "Virtua Pro Football" outside of Japan. Might have been Sega's attempt to get in the Winning Eleven/PES market, even down to the fonts and presentation. Wasn't that great though

 

[JuliaShokugan]

Eternaal Poison, a tactical RPG

 

[PhrawzT]

 

[RirisuPK]

Is Airblade considered niche?

 

[Aisf]

One Piece pirates carnival

 

[Nidoking's icon Nidoking Nidoking]

Chaos Legion - Really unique and pretty addictive in a more arcadey sort of way. Absolutely dreadful voice acting but in the best possible way, but it's definitely a love it or hate it kind of thing I think.

Curse of Darkness is so underrated. On a technical level it's not the most groundbreaking game or anything, but it has so much to do and a lot of personality. The weapon system adds a lot of replayability and the Devil summons are really enjoyable to use. There's some really, really good boss fights in here too.

Bujingai is sort of in the vein of crossing DMC with Ninja Gaiden, and like NOBODY seems to have heard of it. It's really fun and pretty intense.

Van Helsing is only slightly longer than the movie (maybe twice as long on a first playthrough) and it's very derivative... but holy shit, this is super fucking fun to play. I can't say it has tons of replay value, but there definitely is a little. It has unlockable "glyphs" that are basically the same stuff you'd normally get from old school cheat codes, which I thought was a particularly nice touch. Trust me, play this.

Darkwatch is a haunted wild west shooter that is loads of fun and just the essence of cool. It also has a really fun multiplayer mode... as long as you don't have a friend who gets a lot out of taking advantage of the friendly fire a little too much... >> Not me or anything, I totally didn't ruin the experience for @Mr. Daddy once I got my hands on the rocket launcher.

Also, thanks to my wife @King Koopa for introducing this to me.

 

[CG4R12I4N]

I don't think Chaos Legion is niche per se, plenty of people love it even despite Capcom being Crapcom and making the US version garbage as they always do.

 

[Battle Cossack!]

I remember playing games that were never on any lists of popular/best games on PS2. I enjoyed them a lot. There were a ton of sports/racing games but one of my favorites that stayed in my memory is Shrek: Carnival Craze.
Cousins and friends from my neighborhood would gather around and play them together, and had such a fun time. Shame I don't have that spark anymore for it, neither do I have the time to play as much. There were also other games but I can't seem to remember them as I am writing this, maybe only Hugo games.


What about you? Which games have you played that are not as popular with the majority of the population?

Gungrave and Gungrave Overdose

I just like to shoot at stuff in a cool way, like in that movie, Equilibrium.
Ever since, I wanted more games to emulate the Gun-Kata seen in the film, and Gungrave is no exception

It's pretty simple, you just go to a place and shoot the Bad guys until you reach the Boss and keep shooting at him until he dies.

they are fun for what they are

i'd say try Overdose.

also watch the Anime too

 

[FreshDinoBone]

Batman Begins is pretty good for a movie licensed game

 

[zacharinolongpants]

Somebody on here recommended that I play Shadow Hearts. I just finished it and I did indeed have a blast with it lol. Strange damn RPG, that's for sure haha. But it was short, entertaining, and satisfying. It's the kind of weird RPG I'm always looking for.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Probably “The Adventures of Cookie and Cream”? Had never heard of it until it showed up in a local used game store one day.

Turns out it’s not THAT obscure because it was made by FromSoft of all people. People know about it but never talked about it where I could hear it, so yeah.

 

[SonOfEnosh]

Amazing replies guys, I'll make sure to check some of these out! This is what is more important to me rather than "top 100 games". It's all a repetitive, but this thread is pure and amazing!

Post automatically merged: Feb 24, 2025

I don't know if Ico counts as niche?

I used to play a lot of the weird games from the Simple 2000 Series, if any one remembers those?

I think the most obscure game I have is the oddly named "World Football Climax" made by Sega. I think it was "Virtua Pro Football" outside of Japan. Might have been Sega's attempt to get in the Winning Eleven/PES market, even down to the fonts and presentation. Wasn't that great thoughView attachment 28278

I remember playing some random football game where you could play with old teams, like if you picked Barcelona Pep Guardiola was on the team. Couldn't remember what it was for the life of me, but yes, PS2 football games are enjoyable af.

 

[IyoTheHelpfulWolf]

Gungrave and Gungrave Overdose
View attachment 30941View attachment 30942
I just like to shoot at stuff in a cool way, like in that movie, Equilibrium.
Ever since, I wanted more games to emulate the Gun-Kata seen in the film, and Gungrave is no exception

It's pretty simple, you just go to a place and shoot the Bad guys until you reach the Boss and keep shooting at him until he dies.
View attachment 30947
they are fun for what they are

i'd say try Overdose.

also watch the Anime too

The game's creator said the goal was to make a simple action game for Japanese salarymen coming home drunk. The artist was the same guy behind Trigun.

 

[VampireLord1024VampireLord1024's icon]

I'll again mention Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 (My Summer Vacation 2)

Continuing to potentially keep this "joke" going..

 

[Deleted member 257420]

Hello Kitty Roller Rescue, you play as Hello Kitty in roller skates with a “keyblade” and kill random shit while decking out your wardrobe.

 

[Mini_Man.XW]

 

[Hotwer]

DT Carnage.

It's basically Burnout 3 Takedown (shoutout to my PS2 racing game GOAT alongside NFSU2), but instead of slamming your car into your opponents to take them down, you can also do that but you can also use a wide selection of weapons (like bombs, rockets, EMP etc) to annihilate your opponents. Kinda like Mario Kart with steroid.

The game have you usual free mode where you can just pick a car and then do a race. But IMO, the game story mode is where it shines, you can race on multiple continent with different race tracks while also unlocking new cars along the way. It also have an upgrade system that is tied to your character, it reminds me of how JRPG usually have their characters parameters leveled up the more you progress in the game.

 

[Urutau RX]

bujingai is my favorite choice since people rarely ever mention it despite its high quality, but since other users beat me to it...
SnoCross 2? that one NEVER gets mentioned, it's nothing special tbh, I liked to play it as a kid but it was somewhat short in content

The most recent ultra-niche title I played is A-Train 6, it basically requires a full memory card to be able to save, perfect for the kid who had this as its absolute first game back then

Sakura Wars 5 counts? I really liked that one too

Curse of Darkness is so underrated. On a technical level it's not the most groundbreaking game or anything, but it has so much to do and a lot of personality. The weapon system adds a lot of replayability and the Devil summons are really enjoyable to use. There's some really, really good boss fights in here too.

the weapon/armor crafting system and the demon evolution made me do some grinding back in the day, the way to get a skill for one of the mages was too specific and too stupid, you had to run for an hour straight, I had to leave the controller with a rubber band in the entrance to The Tower.
I still like this game a lot, it has a lot of content, and the soundtrack is perfect

 

[Anne Tagg]

Blood Will Tell, Kuon, Ring of Red, and Crimson Tears are the ones that immediately come to mind for me. Of those, Blood Will Tell and Kuon are my favorites; in fact, Kuon is a very solid horror title and one of my favorites on the console... if it weren't competing with Silent Hill 3 and Fatal Frame 3...

Metal Saga, Rogue Galaxy and Devil Summoner 2 are all games that I'd consider niche as well, but I feel like they're known quantities insofar as retro game enthusiasts go. Metal Saga in particular is superb, highly recommend it to fans of the SaGa series, it's got a similarly open-ended approach that's very refreshing.

I know of others, but most of them have already been mentioned here, like Shadow Tower, along with the usual suspects like Altered Beast, Sword of Etheria, Seven Samurai 20XX, Bujingai, Nanobreaker, Samurai Western, Shinobi/Nightshade, etc.

 

[Yousef Yousef]

Bujingai
Ghost rider
Spawn
Altered beast
Nano breaker
Rygar
Blood will tell
Sword of destiny
2000 maid
Seven samurai
Samurai western
Golden knight garo