Underrated and Underappreciated Games

[Falco Girgis]

What games do you know of that are either underrated or obscure and never got the credit or publicity that they deserve? Recommend them to the fine and respectable gamers of this forum.

MEGAMAN LEGENDS SERIES: I cannot emphasize this enough. This game was attacked by Megaman purists when it came out for not being a "true" MegaMan game. That's complete bullshit. It successfully brought the Megaman gameplay and name into 3D, and was one of the shining platform/adventure games of the early Playstation 1. Megaman Legends 2 came out at the end of the PS1's lifecycle and had some of the best graphics that I had ever seen for the console. They both have tons and tons of exploration, vast, open worlds, and dungeons/ruins that are extremely fun to explore. The storyline is also the best thing that Megaman had ever seen.

Look at Megaman X7. Years later, they try to take Megaman into 3D, and completely epic fail horribly. MegamanX7 was a horrible game. Megaman Legends achieved everything that it set out to do and much more in the previous decade. Legends is personally my favorite Megaman experience. I have played and beaten MM1-6 on NES, X1-3 on SNES, and X4 on Saturn, and I think that Megaman Legends not only lived up to the Megaman name, but tried to take the series in an entirely new and kickass direction. Don't listen to the reviews. Play it.

[ChrissyJ91]

THE MEDIEVIL SERIES

A series of platformer's (well I say series really its just 2 games) n the ps1 which I thoroughly enjoyed as a child. There were loads of great ideas in the games and the world was beautiful; the graphics were amazing on ps1 and they still look pretty awesome today. the sequel continued the story and added new features and a cliffhanger which I would have loved to see continued. the sequel came out in 2000 and since then the series has been pretty much neglected since; why wasn't there a ps2 game I guess it must have gotten lost under a haze of platformers. There was a psp remake of the first game in 2005 but since then nthing has been released, oh forget my description isn't worthy of these games..... Go play them now!

[programmerinprogress]

THE MEDIEVIL SERIES

A series of platformer's (well I say series really its just 2 games) n the ps1 which I thoroughly enjoyed as a child. There were loads of great ideas in the games and the world was beautiful; the graphics were amazing on ps1 and they still look pretty awesome today. the sequel continued the story and added new features and a cliffhanger which I would have loved to see continued. the sequel came out in 2000 and since then the series has been pretty much neglected since; why wasn't there a ps2 game I guess it must have gotten lost under a haze of platformers. There was a psp remake of the first game in 2005 but since then nthing has been released, oh forget my description isn't worthy of these games..... Go play them now!

that was funny you mentioned that, I was thinking about those games a few days ago, in some lesson where I drifted off from the boredom

seriously though, medieval was a good game

[trufun202]

Excellent topic. And Falco's right, Megaman Legends rocks.

I had to think about this one for a while... Here's what I came up with:

TEMPEST SERIES
I think Tempest 2000 is pretty much the only Atari Jaguar game that anyone has ever heard of, but the entire series is greatness. The original arcade version of Tempest was a little before my time, but the vector-based graphics created one of the first 3D experiences in gaming. When the Atari Jaguar was released, a programmer named Jeff Minter single-handedly revamped the series with Tempest 2000 - which had realtime 3D graphics (on particularly poor hardware), great particle effects, and an AMAZING soundtrack. Tempest 2000 was later ported to the PC and the PS1 under the name Tempest X3.

Jeff Minter later released Tempest 3000 for the Nuon, which I'm sure many of you have never heard of. It was basically a DVD player that could play N64 quality games. I bought one, specifically for Tempest 3000.

This is a game I can play for HOURS. Sit in front of the big screen, turn off the lights, and crank of the volume. good times.

TIE FIGHTER
This is one of my favorite PC games of all time. It was the much improved sequel to X-Wing, also for the PC. It was basically a 3D flight sim based on the Star Wars series - but the game was truly badass. First of all, you play as a bad guy, which is already cool. Plus the graphics and sound quality were groundbreaking at the time. Having your wingman say, "Target Destroyed!", after you just blew an x-wing up into a million peices, was just awesome. The game also featured a great campaign mode with animated cutscenes and voice overs - which was cool shit back in '95.

NOTE: LucasArts later released X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter -- don't be fooled, this game sucked. It focused too much on multiplayer and had virtually NO single player game.

and, last but not least...

WARIO'S WOODS
I've always been a sucker for puzzles games, but this one has really stuck with me. I can't tell you how many hours I put into the SNES version. The NES version is available on the Wii Virtual Console and is definitely worth checking out.

EDIT: Changed "suck" to "stuck" Apparently Wario's Woods only "sucked" with Falco.

[Falco Girgis]

WARIO'S WOODS
I've always been a sucker for puzzles games, but this one has really suck with me. I can't tell you how many hours I put into the SNES version. The NES version is available on the Wii Virtual Console and is definitely worth checking out.

Oh my GOD, dude. We are seriously into the same games.

I love this game sooo much. My favorite puzzle game, ever. I was even considering posting it in this topic as well! I bought the SNES and NES carts off of Ebay last year. I am trying to play the entire thing all the way through. I'm on level 60 or so.

The game is so well done, that it isn't even funny. In a weird way, it's like puzzle meets platformer. I play it every time that I'm stressed, because I can absentmindedly play this game for hours.

On a different more adult note, I have a true story. A certain lady friend of mine (who will remain anonymous) used to come over and play it with me. We started off both doing the main game mode, trying to get our file as far as possible. Then one day, we started playing versus mode against each other. The versus rounds would get really intense, and we had lots of fun.

...so one day we decide to up the stakes. We started playing "strip Wario's Woods." Whoever lost their round had to take off an article of clothing. Needless to say, I practiced my ass off at the game, and got to the point where she could never beat me. ...I would always start losing after the shirt was gone, though. I couldn't concentrate. The sex was great.

So yeah, Wario's Woods has a special place in my heart. I know that sounds crazy, but it's a completely true story.

[trufun202]

WARIO'S WOODS
I've always been a sucker for puzzles games, but this one has really suck with me. I can't tell you how many hours I put into the SNES version. The NES version is available on the Wii Virtual Console and is definitely worth checking out.

Oh my GOD, dude. We are seriously into the same games.

I love this game sooo much. My favorite puzzle game, ever. I was even considering posting it in this topic as well! I bought the SNES and NES carts off of Ebay last year. I am trying to play the entire thing all the way through. I'm on level 60 or so.

The game is so well done, that it isn't even funny. In a weird way, it's like puzzle meets platformer. I play it every time that I'm stressed, because I can absentmindedly play this game for hours.

On a different more adult note, I have a true story. A certain lady friend of mine (who will remain anonymous) used to come over and play it with me. We started off both doing the main game mode, trying to get our file as far as possible. Then one day, we started playing versus mode against each other. The versus rounds would get really intense, and we had lots of fun.

...so one day we decide to up the stakes. We started playing "strip Wario's Woods." Whoever lost their round had to take off an article of clothing. Needless to say, I practiced my ass off at the game, and got to the point where she could never beat me. ...I would always start losing after the shirt was gone, though. I couldn't concentrate. The sex was great.

So yeah, Wario's Woods has a special place in my heart. I know that sounds crazy, but it's a completely true story.

That's awesome. Actually, my ex-girlfriend in high school introduced me to Wario's Woods. We never got around to Strip Wario's Woods, but my wife and I have had plenty of drunken gaming challenges where the stakes were high.

[Falco Girgis]

Man, we have experienced gaming at its finest!

[MarauderIIC]

On topic, Psychonauts never really made it big, but it was pretty cool.

[avansc]

GRIM FANDANGO


TOONSTRUCK


BROKEN SWORD 1 & 2

[Trask]

I fully agree about Medievil, I loved those games.

Also, these were kinda popular, but the industry kinda dropped it I think because the team broke up and did other things but: the Earthworm Jim series. They failed into their conversion into 3D(not everything has to be 3D!) and then just stopped exisitng. I heard rumors that if they make enough money on their latest game and people want it enough that they would go back into the series for atleast 1 more game, but nothing is guaranteed.

Anyway, games were fun, looked good, unique, and funny as what the heck. I demand more!

[MarauderIIC]

OMF: 2097

[Willshire The Mad]

Pyconaughts, I dont know if it belongs here but from the fact that sales for the game were a bit low I will say it does. One of the best games I have ever played, from design to story it brings nonstop hilarity.

[trufun202]

OMF: 2097

Duuuuuuude, I had completely forgotten about One Must Fall! That was cool game.

[Levio91]

Mount and Blade
Medal of Honor airborne
Stranglehold

[Arce]

I could drop an entire list of under appreciated Saturn games...=(

The console as a whole was...>.<

I plan to beat some of the killer Saturn RPG's I've been hearing about. I've gotta go start hunting torrents sometime...