Games That Should Have Caught On

[Weiss]

Note: This isn't "should be popular because I like it", but rather a game that you'd think would catch on with a larger audience thanks to its content and failed to do so. I ain't gonna go to bat for Shin Megami Tensei or Klonoa here, for example.

Mostly I made this thread to gush some about Gotcha Force.

It's like a big crossover of ideas from Toy Story, Transformers, Pokemon and Virtual On. A 3D action game about alien toys coming to Earth to save the day, it pulled me and approximately five other people in and then died an agonizing death by disinterest.

Maybe my tastes are way too eclectic, but a game that had so many marketable ideas put in one package (superhero alien toys you collect, coming out during the Pokemon boom) bombing so spectacularly is weird to me. Like, maybe enough to sell a sequel or two before the fad ends but nope; it failed with critics and nobody bought it.

 

[Distantmantra]

The people who made Gotcha Force are also behind the early Gundam Versus titles and probably a big reason why they didn't make more GF titles.

 

[Smoolio]

Evolve, priced themselves outta success. Shoulda originally launched f2p

 

[ThreePi]

Planetside was an insanely ambitious game and probably got just the right amount of support it needed. However, Planetside 2 should have been blown up and been an industry-defining moment like PUBG or Fortnite. Unfortunately, some early mistakes in that game prevented it from really snowballing and reaching that critical mass that it should have gotten.

 

[Remapped88]

Wow....I saw the title and thought exactly that, good job OP! Still sad that I sold it long ago and now the price for it is insane.....

 

[Lord Vatek]

Does Star Wars: The Old Republic count? It certainly doesn't have a small fanbase (it's still Star Wars) but it has some of the most interesting Star Wars narratives ever and is a direct follow-up to the arguably the most beloved Star Wars games yet it still doesn't really have the following you would expect.

 

[RochHoch]

Okami deserved to be a super popular franchise instead of a one-off with a DS sequel that nobody played.

 

[Boy]

Eternal Darkness. One of the best survival horror game i've ever played. It was also one of the highest critically acclaimed game on the gamecube. I don't know why nintendo never pursued a sequel.

 

[Forerunner]

It did a lot of things right in the MMO world, however, the devs really didn't know what direction to take it. If they stuck to a single vision, I think it would have turned out better.

 

[Aia]

-2 player co-op
-Tons of weapons.
-Upgrades.
-Lots of fun bosses.
-Lots of different and unique locations.
-Minimal loading.
-Charming OST.

 

[RoninChaos]

Kingdoms of Amalur. I always wished all the fuckery that happened with big huge games didn't kill that studio because Kurt Schilling was a moron. I would have loved to see Kingdoms of Amalur II

 

[RestEerie]

Tearaway Unfolded should have been a 'PS4 Kids Play' pack in and everyone young and old with a heart should have played it.

 

[litebrite]

Phantom Dust

 

[higemaru]

Okami deserved to be a super popular franchise instead of a one-off with a DS sequel that nobody played.

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It is wild that this won GOTY 2006 and received more acclaim than Twilight Princess in the long run but never got bigger than it did. At least it's a reliable Capcom port, has almost as many ports as RE4 lol.

It is nuts that neither Blur or Split/Second took off. I think one of them could have succeeded but with them releasing so closely to each other, they doomed themselves.

 

[srtrestre]

Dreams maybe?

 

[DemiOrpheus]

titanfall 2 is one of the greatest FPS games of all time and I have no idea why they released it at such a crowded time

 

[Deleted member 56803]

Disco Elysium gained praise last year for literary writing, pushing the medium forward, mature stylings, and a great soundtrack. You know what also had all those things and more? Pathologic 2. Sure, it had some popularity, but it deserves to be so much more known.

 

[Soltis]

Little King's Story.

Gameplay and core mechanics that ought to have brought over Pikmin fans (granted, I'm not sure how big that audience is), with RPG an town-building mechanics thrown in that ought to have brought over RPG fans.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

I guess I'll go with Xenoblade Chronicles X. It's a title that released for a console that didn't do all that well compared to its predecessor. Its predecesor has seen multiple chances of furthering its sales which by this point between all platforms and this upcoming remake will already be upward of a million (if not more copies). And the game in the general series that immediately followed this has for sure sold more than a million as well.

I don't think XCX ever cracked half a million but maybe it did. And a chance of it getting a release are slim last I ever read.

So if someone ever wants to play it they either have to go out of their way to buy a used console just to play this, or they emulate it. And it's a game whose open world design and strength in alien wonder is imho unrivaled to this date. I've been meaning to replay it but I keep holding to hope it'll be released on switch.

 

[joeblow]

Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder should've caught on. I mean, the game's developer never even bothered to make a home port of it.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

Gigantic

I'll let this guy tell you why. (Swearing warning)

 

[Twister]

I feel like Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg would have made for a pretty successful franchise had they chosen to expand on the ideas the first game presented. It's charming and marketable. No idea why they didn't choose to continue or even re-release the game on other platforms

 

[Deleted member 51539]

Easily one of the best Monster Hunter clones

 

[Cyberclops]

I think Battleborn could've been a success if it was cheaper at launch (or free-to-play), didn't have the worst marketing strategy of comparing itself to Overwatch, and also wasn't associated with Pitchford. I know I'm asking for a lot but that game was genuinely unique and could've found a much larger niche if it's first impression wasn't so bad.

 

[Deleted member 1839]

Unfortunately I feel like anything with mechs is probably not gonna catch on unless it's in Japan or the arcades.

 

[NippleViking]

Chromehounds should have been huge.

Elite Beat Agents :(

Power Stone

Planetside was an insanely ambitious game and probably got just the right amount of support it needed. However, Planetside 2 should have been blown up and been an industry-defining moment like PUBG or Fortnite. Unfortunately, some early mistakes in that game prevented it from really snowballing and reaching that critical mass that it should have gotten.

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Damn, yeah. I had so much fun with the beta, and will always reflect on the period where they massively expedited the progression systems letting you reach max level in just a few hours, so as to sample what an entire battlefield of players with end-game content would look like. Game was never as enjoyable after that.

Phantom Dust

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Absolutely this one too, though hardly surprising that it didn't. It was an OG Xbox exclusive with a relatively limited release, unusual premise (card game arena fighter - what?), and unorthodox art-style.

 

[Vex]

Paragon :'(

 

[Aaron]

Microsoft's "answer" to Mario, Sonic and Crash before the whole "every company needs a mascot" fad kind of petered out (and of those other examples, Sega went third party and Sony lost Crash exclusivity anyway). Even produced by Naoto Oshima's (the original character designer for Sonic) company and got a sequel in 2004, but didn't really go anywhere afterwards. Also got kind of middling reviews, but at the time there was a lot of attention paid to this game for being (or at least trying to be) Xbox's Mario killer.

Likewise:

Wow, a Nintendo-exclusive game from Sonic Team! But... it's not Sonic. And by all accounts is only about as good as its contemporary 3D Sonic titles, but without the brand recognition, it more or less faded into obscurity.

 

[Deleted member 16876]

Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder should've caught on. I mean, the game's developer never even bothered to make a home port of it.

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It is a shame.

It is the best Golden Axe game. Has really awesome visuals and fun characters (the horse lady is so badass) and the gameplay is one of the best in the beat em up genre.

Easily one of the best Monster Hunter clones

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Agreed. Out of all the clones, this game is the coolest one. Great monsters and story, awesome artstyle and great gameplay.

I also liked Toukiden but I am not sure if it counts cause it got a sequel. That game had a really cool art style and a fun solo friendly monster hunter experience.

 

[blueredandgold]

Deadly Creatures, because it was on the Wii nobody gave it a chance.

Ditto Madworld. Although, Platinum don't typically run an IP into the ground either.

Epic Mickey, like Bioshock Infinite, made the fatal error of changing mid-development what people had already had in their heads what sort of game it was going to be. People wanted Steampunk Horror Goofy and ended up setting themselves up for disappointment.

The World Ends With You. I love the game but people who swear by the original just don't want to give the remakes any proper dues. A multiplayer version might need to be the next iteration, to give people what they seem to want, a 1:1 facsimile of the original combat.

Also, many many indie games that featured on 'the circuit' of conventions and expos over the years that didn't necessarily have the backing of a major studio/publisher/console ended up not being able to stick their landing and sadly faded away upon release.

Lastly, and very much the least....DayZ. Still hurts.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Little King's Story.

Gameplay and core mechanics that ought to have brought over Pikmin fans (granted, I'm not sure how big that audience is), with RPG an town-building mechanics thrown in that ought to have brought over RPG fans.

Click to shrink...

I loved that game but it seemed to have a really small print run. Most Pikmin fans would easily miss it just by never seeing it on the shelf.

 

[Deleted member 35631]

Folkore! I thought many people would like this game and become a popular franchise with different Folks to be created in the future. Instead it became a very niche title that no-one played :(

Another one is Heavenly Sword.

 

[Tidalwaves]

Folkore! I thought many people would like this game and become a popular franchise with different Folks to be created in the future. Instead it became a very niche title that no-one played :(

Another one is Heavenly Sword.

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I'm so lucky to own this game

 

[giapel]

The Niantic Harry Potter game comes to mind. Huge franchise, insanely popular gameplay template, what could go wrong?

 

[GamerJM]

Maybe not "caught on" in the sense that it would have actually gotten big, but had EX Troopers gotten localized it probably could have found a niche audience on par with something like Kid Icarus Uprising.

 

[A Strong Latte]

Microsoft's "answer" to Mario, Sonic and Crash before the whole "every company needs a mascot" fad kind of petered out (and of those other examples, Sega went third party and Sony lost Crash exclusivity anyway). Even produced by Naoto Oshima's (the original character designer for Sonic) company and got a sequel in 2004, but didn't really go anywhere afterwards. Also got kind of middling reviews, but at the time there was a lot of attention paid to this game for being (or at least trying to be) Xbox's Mario killer.

Likewise:

Wow, a Nintendo-exclusive game from Sonic Team! But... it's not Sonic. And by all accounts is only about as good as its contemporary 3D Sonic titles, but without the brand recognition, it more or less faded into obscurity.

Click to shrink...

Neither of these games are good though, so don't really see how they should have caught on. Blinx in a "just ok with-a-neat-twist" 3d platformer that was in a sea of "just ok" 3d platformers

 

[Grunty]

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts n' Bolts. The way you could build pretty much anything in that game was quite incredible. There was hardly any limits to what you could do and there was some really good creations for it back in the day. Unfortunately, it was overlooked because of it being a Banjo game that was far from being the platformer everyone wanted. I think had it been a new IP, we could have potentially had a new franchise.

 

[I KILL PXLS]

Project Sylpheed

Some of the best arcadey anime-ass space dogfighting I've ever played. IIRC it even had the type of inertial drift you'd see in Battlestar Galactica. Haven't played anything quite like it since. I don't think it should have been super huge or anything, but it deserves to be talked about more than it is today instead of being largely forgotten. I'm guessing the Xbox 360 exclusivity didn't help it. I don't even think it's backwards compatible.

 

[Deleted member 5621]

The people who made Gotcha Force are also behind the early Gundam Versus titles and probably a big reason why they didn't make more GF titles.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, Banmco eventually (around GvG NEXT?) hired them out of Capcom to keep making more Gundam VS.

Unfortunately I feel like anything with mechs is probably not gonna catch on unless it's in Japan or the arcades.

Click to shrink...

Exteel should have not been killed so early

):

 

[Deleted member 16657]

Marvel Heroes (the PC Diablo-like) should have been a hit. It got shut down due to various circumstances (I think the CEO was outed for sexual harassment and Disney just noped out) and it was RIGHT before Marvel exploded in popularity with the MCU.

 

[Fabs]

I came to say Gigantic and see it's already been covered. What a shame it died. Probably my favorite multiplayer game this gen. I wonder if early access or being a Xbox One exclusive killed it. What a bummer

 

[UltimusXI]

LittleBigPlanet. Sure the first game sold a bunch, but when I saw that first trailer or gameplay footage at an E3 I think a long time ago, it stole the show for me. It was so much fun. Plus, it looked super charming and accessible, you could build your own levels, put stickers everywhere, grab eachother. Perhaps the biggest negative were the jump physics and it might not have been a match for the PS3 user base and pricepoint back then.

Still, it looked to have insane sales potential to me, but it sold 'just' alright and it's dead now.

Debut trailer:

Although the very first footage was live 4 player co-op I believe.

 

[Deleted member 1839]

Exteel should have not been killed so early

):

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Blast from past :(

You tried Borderbreak? It's pretty good and f2p, but of course it hasn't been localized :p

 

[a Master Ninja]

Titanfall 1 & 2 were made by the people that created Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare but weren't huge hits.

 

[Deleted member 5621]

Blast from past :(

You tried Borderbreak? It's pretty good and f2p, but of course it hasn't been localized :p

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I wanted to play Border Break since I learned about the arcade cabs, unfortunately do not own a PS4 to try the home version. Also I foolishly thought that the port would mean a localization but Sega gonna Sega.

 

[sredgrin]

Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter. Ahead of the curve with its semi-roguelike progression, and its battle system was pretty unique for the day too.

 

[Minastepes]

Finaly some love about Gotcha Force, this game was fun as hell, and sometimes frustrating

 

[Deleted member 1839]

I wanted to play Border Break since I learned about the arcade cabs, unfortunately do not own a PS4 to try the home version. Also I foolishly thought that the port would mean a localization but Sega gonna Sega.

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Maybe like PSO2 one day it'll be localized and come to PC.

 

[pbayne]

Ni no Kuni. Sure it got a sequel so it must have been at least somewhat successful but with the idea of the game, the link to Ghibli and everything it felt like it should have been bigger and sat alongside the personas, dragon quests etc as a new jrpg staple. Level 5 are just the worst comapany at managing franchises.

 

[PhantomArtifice]

titanfall 2 is one of the greatest FPS games of all time and I have no idea why they released it at such a crowded time

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Will never understand it, and its sales are honestly is part of the reason we're probably not getting a Titanfall 3 anytime soon. Such a good game, I wish more people got to experience it.