PS1 PS1/PS2 Hidden Gems?

[Flaming_Metal_Systems]

I recommend you a game truly under the skin:

and Michigan: Report from Hell:

 

[RetroLaw]

I second Shining Force Exa.
I also loved Shining Force Neo.

Haven't played Legaia 2 but it's definitively in my priority backlog

 

[Parasite_Steve]

Bmx XXX

Bmx XXX is surprisingly one of the better action sports titles on the PS2. They really shot themselves in the foot with the nudy theme though. No one's gonna take the BoobMX game seriously, and the biggest demographic for these titles, teenage boys, couldn't even buy it due to the M rating. Plus I can imagine being sued by Dave Mirra didn't help matters. Good riddance Acclaim, your harebrained attempts at generating publicity were always a reliable source of laughter.

For other action sports titles that time forgot by now, I recommend Airblade, basically Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on a hoverboard in a future dystopia, Aggressive Inline, sadly unsuccessful attempt at bringing this underrated sport to the masses with absolutely massive interactive levels and Dave Mirra Freestyle Bmx 2. A pretty ambitious title with the best level editor I've seen in the genre. It's very flawed, some challenges are basically impossible, but it's worth checking out, if only for the early 2000s vibe. If you're interested in these kinds of games, especially the more obscure titles I can recommend the youtube channel Rad Rat Video. It's mostly on skateboarding history and culture, run by an absolute nerd (I mean that as a compliment!) but he does a lot of reviews of action sports games.

 

[Gorse]

No one's gonna take the BoobMX game seriously,

 

[spectresfrommercury]

crimson tears

 

[antii]

My favorite under the radar RPG for the PS2 is Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land. I might write a review on it. one of these days. Apparently, the Wizardry series is still popular in Japan and a dev over there bought the rights to the IP. They continue to make games in the series over there and they have some interesting takes on the dungeon crawler formula. There's a sequel to that game, called Busin 0: Wizardry Alternative, that didn't get localized, but there's a fan made English guide for it floating around the internet. So there's two under the radar games for you.

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Atlus really use to pick up a lot of people in the early 2000 I’m noticing now it’s reminding me like some early 2000 devolver or something ?

Post automatically merged: Dec 11, 2024

If your into graffiti culture i totally recommend getting up it’s really fun it can get repetitive at times but the combat and story is cool

 

[kelbot]

Oni

It is a 3D 3rd person action/beat em up/shooter. I remember it being really hard but fun when I bought it on a whim back in the day. Have not played it recently though so I'm not sure how I would consider the difficulty today.

Bonus: Test Drive: Eve of Destruction

Not a genre you mentioned being interested in but it's a very under the radar PS2 game and it's one of the best destruction racers ever IMO and one of my favorite games of all time. It has a great career mode where you work your way up the destruction ranks. There are TONS of different really fun even event types, car upgrades and customization. Really fun for couch multiplayer.

 

[BlissfulBandit]

Gungrave and its sequel, Gungrave Overdose. They seem to have gotten some more attention since a third game released 2 years ago, but I'd still consider both of them to be "under the radar".

 

[bobobobo]

Chaos Legion - the saddest game on the planet, cause it got shoved under the radar as discount goth devil may cry, totally disregarding the squad of monsters you get to summon and control. Kind of like minions in overlord, except less puzzle/tactics and more action. The best execution of that idea in terms of mechanics IMO.

 

[Keaso]

For me I think it's Shadow Tower Abyss. One of my favorite ps2 games that no one really talks about. I'd love to see a remake of this game, along with the entire King's Field series.

 

[ObscureJigglypuff]

I'd say Baroque, but you may not like it.

 

[Karnik]

I don't know if it's already been mentioned, but Super Robot Taisen OGs comes to mind; the remake of the 2 GBA titles with massive graphic and sound improvements plus JPN voice acting.
Imagine that nowdays I'm playing it on a smartphone (readmi note model), which was unthinkable a few years ago, thanks to NetherSX2: a truly wonderful feeling!
Having said that, regarding the first title contained in the game, the gameplay is a bit repetitive, the maps are all the same, little variety of enemies and the plot is flat and banal, when compared to the twisted, complex and intertwined one of other SRWs containing anime protagonists. Translated a few years ago. It's at least worth trying. ?‍

 

[cdgaymance]

Way of the Samurai 1 & 2. 3 & 4 are on ps3/pc. They don't get nearly enough love. The games are pretty short, but have a ton of branching paths as well as endings and can be finished in one sitting. The first game is a bit bare bones, but the second one is apparently the best one, been meaning to play it for years(only one I haven't played).

Samurai Western has been mentioned, I think it had the same devs and uses the same engine as WotS.

 

[Tronky.it]

Prisoner of War. A.K.A, "a sort of Metal Gear Solid set in the World War II".
I played it when I was 13, and I had a lot of fun. Today it perhaps doesn't hold up well to the weight of age, but it's still worth a try. It is also available for Xbox and PC.

 

[unkle72]

Try these, balanced physics and realism, Japanese format but can amuse

 

[monochromeorange]

tales of destiny dc, it's an action rpg with a charming story and characters you should try it (also it's a remake/remaster of a ps1 title with the same name)

 

[kidchaos_amiga]

At the time, i used to read some articles from EDGE magazine and added to my collection based on the editors reviews but also on insights/postmortems articles or interviews with the original developers, which gived me a different idea based on different aspects not exactly like game-genre or personal likes: reading about the "making-of" and the process involved on creating a fun product for the season stretched to budget,launch, developers teams..:
- "The suffering" and "The suffering: Ties that bind"(didnt finish yet), "Second Sight" short but very close to a good action-film with some MGS details,...
- Killer7 (although i couldnt pass the first hour),
- The Red Star mixes shmups with beat'em-up (also on PSP but without co-op).
- Rygar: Very underrated at some point between DMC and GOW... (edit) God Hand: Another mixed of Action/Beat'em up/RPG Has a lot of flaws with control and camera, but somehow it has a "slightly-mature" and some fun and irony not used to see on games.. Initially difficult and confusing, once you start to understand the GodHand system and save for last resource, you can advance easily on the game, i recall also that gambling was also needed for upgrade ...
- Cold Fear/Alone in the Dark: For a long time i searched for a "not Resident Evil but Dead Space"-like game, and i was really happy to discover that Cold Fear had all the elements although a bit hard and really game-sadistic, on the other side, The last AitD Ps2 release i really didnt disliked but i think i finished in less than one hour...
- Heroes of Might and magic: The quest for the dragon-bone staff (or something like that)... Bought on release and really missed. Dont get confuse by the name: Its a direct-remake of a 16-bit era "King's Bounty" for MD/Commodore,although didnt know at the time,... has no story, mixes free-roaming,on-fly missions and the most simple tactics chess-battle system, ala Dragon Quest you could try to avoid enemies on the world map, or give-up battle and restart a new army (emulator and savestates recomended)
As i commented in another post, i think the most underrated PS2 game is "Silpheed: The Lost Planet", its not the shmup as usual and initially easy at the beginning, but have to learn enemy mechanics as in any other games but also you need to understand the risk/scoring system to level your ship accordingly to beat the game, not to mention its great graphics, great intermission-based story, great music, great pc-98/megacd remake, etc.. And hope you could play REZ on original hardware, at least once on your life

Pics are for the kings bounty MD version

 

[Ain_Gamer]

Unlimted SaGa:

It's a infamous game for it's vertical difficulty curve , it's a hard game to learn and that's why many people didn't like it when it was new, but I think it's a good game if you want to learn how to play it.

I recomeding reading this website before playing it https://thaao.net/unsaga/

Fire heroes:

Not an amazing game or anything but I like how this game makes me feel like an actual hero helping civilians, the story is alright but I don't remeber much about besides that the game has a universal clock, of 4 hours.

Enthusia Professional Racing:

This might be a hot take but Enthusia is better than Grand Turismo 4, I love everything about even if it has less content than GT 4 it feels like everything there has a purpose and was chose carefully

Gadget Racers or ChoroQ Grand :


Fun RPG racing game hybrid and in my opinion the first good choroQ game, the formal is simple but I love exploring the world and racing on it.

 

[IyoTheHelpfulWolf]

I almost never hear anyone talk about ATV Quad Power Racing 2 and it drives me nuts!

 

[What's His Face]

Off-radar, you say?

 

[newageretrohippie]

Kya: Dark Lineage is definitely one of my favorites. It's a 3D adventure platformer with some really cool play mechanics. Lots of flying on air currents and you get a little board that lets you "skate" down little air tunnels.

a real shame this wasnt more popular. I talked to wayforward and atari about doing a possible remake/reboot... One of the guys from wayforward said he "vaguely remembers playing it back in the day" and said it was a "definite possibility" whatever that means haha. Not sure what happened to eden games (the og devs).

ive never talked to anyone else who even heard of the game.

https://cdromance.org/ps2-iso/kya-dark-lineage-usa/

 

[jawg_da_dawg]

i have a real softspot for Blood Will Tell! but that ones starting to pick up a cult following, so you might have already checked it it out.

I was thinking about posting Blood Will Tell here too lol, same semi-cult following status applies to Berserk Millennium Falcon Arc too

Post automatically merged: Dec 24, 2024

I would recommend Maken X (Shao) and Okage Shadow king View attachment 2495View attachment 2496

I'm not very familiar with Atlus games outside of the MegaTen series, but I love Kazuma Kaneko's artwork so I might check that one out

 

[Patches]

Hear me out:

Future Tactics
Fahrenheit
True crime streets of la
Maybe true crime streets of ny if you like La.
Also I never really see people talking about it, but there are builds of mgs 2 and 3 with better features and words that begin with S attached to the title if you didn't know now you know.

 

[xman8245]

Baroque.

 

[Keaks]

EDIT: After seeing how many games people have added, we could push it to more than just Playstation games?

I have asked a lot of places the same question: PS1, PS2; What are true hidden gems?

I am trying to expand my gaming with these systems and this would be huge to find games I never knew about, that are sick.

Cheers, post them up!