Tell me about an old game that literally everyone has forgotten about.

[Macs]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nocturne_(video_game)

A survival horror game from 1999 with Resident Evil like gameplay. Game was amazing for its time (graphics and voice acting) and has a great story, which is split into 4 different acts (missions):

1) Investigating a "typical" Transylvania area under the influence of a vampire (werewolves included)

2) Investigating a country village in the USA infested by zombies (the source of the zombies is weird)

3) Investigating how Al Capone's mafia organization is bringing dead gangsters back to life

4) Getting trapped by a madman into a house full of traps, a-la Saw.

I swear on my life that i've never ever met another person that played this game, and it's a shame since it's a great survival horror.

 

[HououinKyouma]

I just remember this being on a PS1 demo disc way back in the day. I spent way too much time trying to find out the name of this game lol.

 

[Zevenberge]

My vote goes to Speedy Eggbert:

It is a platformer/collectathon. Your goal is to collect treasure chests and exit the level. The reason I spent ages on it as a kid (with a friend) is that it had a level editor. We of course made the longest and hardest possible level and we challenged eachother to complete it. The controls are so clunky that it's either easy or impossible, but that didn't spoil the fun back then.

Shadow Watch was a pretty great XCOM kinda game with a neat comic book-ish art style. It's not in the title but it technically falls under the Tom Clancy license due to its source material.

And I'm only now realizing it's available on GOG! Holy shit, I've been wanting a digital copy for years! :O

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I actually own a physical copy. Tried running it last year, but the game played way too fast (moving along the screen is basically switching between corners). I didn't really look into it any further.

 

[NSA]

Trade Wars 2002... it's an OOOLLLLDDD (Started in 1986?) BBS game, though the are still telnet servers you can connected to, or host your own game. I think it's freeware at this point. I haven't really looked into it much the last decade or so.

It was the first "online" game I think I ever really played, or at least ever got deep into. It's typically turn based, with "state of the art" ASCII or ANSI graphics. When I first started I had an Apple Macintosh LCII and it could only do black/white ASCII. I didn't get to see the color ANSI goodness until I got a PC a couple years later.

It was a perfect mix of 80's/90's Sci-Fi and some basic trading mechanics. Your ship had varying numbers of cargo space, and you'd buy 1 of 3 types of products from a space port and move it to another space port that was buying those for more money. You'd use the gained money to buy bigger and bigger ships, shields, fighters, etc. You could form "Corporations" aka clans with other online people to take over the galaxy.

It was seriously revolutionary and amazing to be playing a game on your computer and suddenly you run across someone else playing AT THE SAME TIME AS YOU, yet they were physically somewhere completely different. This was pre-commercial internet for the most part.. so it blew my mind as a kid that this was possible. The fact that the galaxy was a persistent one was also incredible. People would log in at all hours of the day and night, so when you signed off you had to make sure your ship and planets were as secure as possible.. and there were more than a few times when I logged in the next day after school and I was adrift in an escape pod. Games 'not turning off' when you stop playing was a crazy concept for me in the 90s.

Since the graphics are so basic, the game hasn't 'aged' badly, or at all. If anything, it's 'retro' now, and its simple style is really appealing. I might need to see If I can find a server and get sucked in all over again.

 

[gappvembe]

also i remembered another one!!

super mediocre hack and slash game but had a shit ton of weapon styles and if i remember correctly also had a progression system.

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I have that game. I have NEVER played it. This might be where my backlog began lol.
It was made by IGA of Castlevania fame (thus the reason I bought it, though in a bargain bin).

 

[flkRaven]

Part of the first generation of 3D snowboarding games. It was a blast to play (a mix of a traditional snowboard-racing game with mario kart-style items) and had a ton of character.


Also:

One of my last, favorite isometric racing games. I thought the graphics were great on SNES, the controls were tight, and the levels were colourful and varied. I'm sure it would play like shit if I went back now, but it's the last time I had fun with racing games from this perspective.

 

[Menik]

Legend of Dragoon T.T, it has one of the best old school Combat systems on PSX. you can transform into Dragoons... who can control dragons. and it was Produced by Non-Other than the Legendary Shuhei Yoshida

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Legend of Dragoon has never left my heart, nor my mind.

Does anyone remember Sheep Raider?

 

[Al3x1s]

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You reminded me of Pen Pen Tricelon. Funny penguin racing on the Dreamcast with mechanics like sliding on your belly or swimming underwater (Sonic Racing Transformed/Mario Kart 7/8 style multi modes :P).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen_Pen_TriIcelon

Snowboard Kids got a DS game too.

 

[Paper Wario]

How about Amagon on the NES?
According to Dan Ryckert, when your character power-ups he starts walking like he's the coolest guy in the world and punching birds with an upper cut.

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Came to post Amagon. Still have the cartridge at my parent's house. It was such a hard and punishing game.

 

[TheGrue]

Gateway to Apshai. Like 1983 or so. Played on Atari 800 but it was on a few 8 bit platforms I think. What was crazy about this is that it was a rudimentary Diablo waaaaay on back in time. Sort of top view dungeon crawler with procedural generation, loot to find, hidden areas until you uncovered them, etc. Had a blast with it for sure, and unlike the other Apshai series, it's extremely easy to get into and play. I remember the others being more traditional static RPG stuff.

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I was going to come in and talk about Temple of Apshai as it's a game I loved as a kid and was pretty much the first video game RPG I ever played (D&D would be the first RPG I ever played). Did a search for "Apshai" and saw your post. I don't think I ever played this one, but Temple of Apshai was a game I really loved. Seems like maybe this one had a time mechanic where if time ran out you moved on?

Now I am trying to remember when I got my Atari 1200XL computer to know whether I just had Temple of Apshai or the trilogy. I keep leaning toward Temple alone as that name sticks out to me and I think it was the name on the box.

 

[Stu]

I didn't have Mario as a kid, I had Zool and James Pond, and they were glorious!

 

[Deleted member 33057]

Hybrid heaven for N64 was pretty dope.



Cool cover too

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This was the first game I thought of for some reason. I actually beat this game and enjoyed it a lot. Very unique

 

[MrCunningham]

Pen Pen Trilcelon (1998) for the Sega Dreamcast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epZG93izEjY

This was a launch game for the Japanese Sega Dreamcast. It is a Trilcelon styled racing game featuring Penguins. Races are split up into three sections, foot race, swimming and sliding down a hill. Sega actually promoted this one a lot for the Dreamcast, because it was one of the earliest games in development for the console. It is still a Dreamcast exclusive as well.

 

[ThankDougie]

Some great memories in here. Going to add two of my own:

The first is Gemfire for the SNES. I think I might have also played the NES version, but it's a little mixed up in my head. Anyway, it's a Koei game that mixes Civilization-like kingdom management with turn-based battles between knights, archers, wizards, dragons, and the like. It was insanely addicting in part because it wasn't that hard to get into: there was just enough Risk and just enough RPG fantasy to suck you in, and then you realized there was a lot more to winning the game than just mowing down your enemies (the point was to dominate the island that is the game's setting). I remember building a very sustainable empire at one point, but being completely without the ability to push forward. I was pretty young so maybe I was doing something wrong or ignoring something obvious, but I was proud to have made it so that the computer couldn't overtake me. I just couldn't overtake it either. Would definitely recommend fans of console strategy games check it out.

I honestly can't remember if the second one was Forbidden Forest or Beyond the Forbidden Forest on the Commodore 64 (I'm leaning toward the latter). Whichever it was, it terrified me. I was still pretty young, so the idea of worms coming out of the ground to eat me or giant bees flying down to impale me just seemed a little too plausible (and there was blood! so gory at the time). I don't think I ever figured out how to play the game, I just kept running in different directions and trying to kill stuff until it ultimately killed me. Might have to look a Let's Play of that up this afternoon.

 

[RuudGullitsittingonashed]

The first game I played on the mega drive was Rolo to the Rescue. It is about an elephant escaping from the circus and you try to free the animals (you could play as them too) and collecting a puzzle piece to move onto the next level. I can still hum the song.

Only now dawned on me why would the circus trap squirrels, moles, rabbits and beavers. For that i have no answer.

 

[asmith906]

My vote goes to Speedy Eggbert:

It is a platformer/collectathon. Your goal is to collect treasure chests and exit the level. The reason I spent ages on it as a kid (with a friend) is that it had a level editor. We of course made the longest and hardest possible level and we challenged eachother to complete it. The controls are so clunky that it's either easy or impossible, but that didn't spoil the fun back then.



I actually own a physical copy. Tried running it last year, but the game played way too fast (moving along the screen is basically switching between corners). I didn't really look into it any further.

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Holy crap I haven't seen that in years. I remember playing it as a kid but couldn't remember the name of it. I had it on one of those compilation pc discs. It was called Galaxy of Games Red Edition

 

[Accoun]

Project Snowblind (PC, PS2, XBOX, 2005) - fps with short but really good single player campaign. Strong Deus Ex vibe.

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That's because it was developed as an actual spinoff, but any ties to the original series were cut due to Deus Ex: Invisible War being a failure.

 

[ZeldaGalaxy94]

A good 3D-platform serie made by an Australian studio (Krome Studios)
Really liked the austrailan setting and style.
The boomerang gameplay is what set it apart from other games
Almost every gadgets/power-up is a boomerang, like Ice or Fire or even a grappling hook booomerang

The first game is best for it is a mostly only a platformer, while the other games have kart racing and robot "fighting" and vehicles
Only played the first two games, for the third game didn't release in europe but got a release in Australia
1 and 2 is on Steam now with the third on the way

When I was at vacation in Australia, I visited a museum about "Made in Australia"-something and to my surprise so were Krome Studios and its Ty the Tasmanian Tiger the ONLY game and studio there among all the movies and music
That IMO show are much they are loved by Austraila (and its gamers?)

 

[Masquerader]

This game, right here. Gadget Racers. This remains one of the best racing games I have ever played. It's kinda like Mario Kart in terms of gameplay, but with an entire RPG system within it as well, with lots of quests, minigames, and upgrades for your vehicle.

I would genuinely put it on par with the Mario Kart games in terms of how good it is. It's THAT good. IMO, it's the most underrated racing game ever made. Because I have genuinely never seen anybody else ever talk about it, ever. It got middling reviews when it came out, but don't let them fool you... This game was truly unique and ahead of its' time.

 

[Deleted member 26768]

Tbh game is tedious af, and I was still young and patient at the time.

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how so? It has a bit higher encounter rate than most games of that time and the difficulty can be hard at times depending on the point you are in-game but overall it was a good experience. I shill it as forgotten but in reality it got snowed under by FF7 and 8 releasing before and after this game.

 

[Deleted member 6235]

Battle Realms! It was a crazy RTS with really cool differente factions and a unique take on the genre. I loved how you had to tame horses, water your plantations and stuff like that to actually use what you had. Also: you actually trained your villagers/soldiers so they could raise their ranks and turn into another units.

It was a damn cool setting, too.

 

[Sordid Plebeian]

Anyone ever heard of Battleborn?

 

[Carassius Auratus]

+1 for Speedy Eggbert. I played way too much of that when I was a kid.
One of my favorite DS games is LostMagic. It's like a cross between a RTS and JRPG and you draw shapes on the bottom screen to cast spells. There was a sequel in Japan that I was hyped for, but it never came out in English. :(

 

[neoJABES]

I'm absolutely loving this thread, reminding me of so many of my past fav's.

Since I'm hanging out at my cabin and looking at some of my Dreamcast collection, my contribution is:

ChuChu Rocket

And

Powerstone 2

 

[Numb]

One of the best brawlers ever. Maybe the best...

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I never forgot
Never will

 

[Hikari]

This game was amazing but barely anyone recognized it.

and this

Probably my favourite dreamcast game, tbh. It was endless amounts of fun.

 

[SP.]

Legend of Dragoon has never left my heart, nor my mind.

Does anyone remember Sheep Raider?

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I loved Sheep Raider.

Mine would probably be Streets of Simcity. Not a good game by any measure buy I liked it.

 

[borges]

Eternam:

I remember playing this game as a kid and having crazy fun, though I didnt understand many of the references in the game at that point (mainly absurd, historic/political humor, typical from graphical adventures of early 90s).
One interesting thing, after checking Wikipedia, is that the game is highly influenced by WestWorld, a movie that is the base of WestWorld HBO series. I didnt watch it, but I know is quite popular nowadays, so maybe that could raise the interest for this game to some.

 

[Macs]

Also:

One of my last, favorite isometric racing games. I thought the graphics were great on SNES, the controls were tight, and the levels were colourful and varied. I'm sure it would play like shit if I went back now, but it's the last time I had fun with racing games from this perspective.

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Holy shit! I played the hell out of that game when i was like 9 and completely removed it from my mind until i saw your post. My mind is blown, thank you!

 

[borges]

I didn't have Mario as a kid, I had Zool and James Pond, and they were glorious!

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Oh yeah I ve played hundreds of hours of Zool and Spot: The Videogame.

 

[inner-G]

Outpost for PC

I don't think it was particularly good at the time, it came free with our first CD-Rom. Never hear it talked about.

I remember liking the CG parts, but I don't think my young self ever really 'got' it, despite hours of perplexing gameplay

Gameplay


Sweet 1990s 'multimedia' game intro:

 

[Sheng Long]

There was an old NES game called Caveman Games which was one of the most fun multiplayer things I ever played.

Almost no one I know knows it exists.

 

[Ixzion]

King Arthur's World is a SNES game by Argonaut (The people behind Starfox and the FX chip)

It's a bit like a combination of Lemmings and an RTS. It has you selecting and commanding troops with different abilities in order to navigate a level to reach a pot of gold at the end. There are traps and obstacles to be avoided, like spiked pits or barred doors.

It's up to you to use the various troops individual abilities to overcome these and defeat any enemies. Knights are basic combat troops, Shield-men hold enemies at bay and combine well with archers who dispatch enemies from a distance, but are helpless in close combat. Engineers perform a variety of tasks from bridge building to battering down doors or even building catapults to hurl laming missiles across the map.

Wizards cast powerful spells like horizontal fireballs, or a continuous (if inaccurate) lightening storm. Barrelmen are a quicker, but riskier alternative to dispatching doors by planting explosives, but a single touch will detonate them.

The games somewhat sedate pace means it works fine with a standard controller, it does support the SNES mouse though. It was a fun game at the time, and I have really fond memories of it and it's pleasant aesthetic, I would suggest it's somewhat dated now though, but still worth trying out.

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I think you are my long-lost brother from another mother. I can't remember the last time I saw someone mention this game on a forum. It's still one of my favorite games to play until you get to the Demon World and then it gets too annoying.

 

[Dinjoralo]

Stunt Racer 64.

I don't know how I came to own this, but it's something that's weirdly stuck with me over the years. The weirdly creepy tracks, the car upgrades, the different cars and characters you find in the career mode, and even the music and menu styles have all just kinda formed a weird slurry in my mind. I'd play it again, if it weren't such a pain to get working on an emulator.

 

[Magneto]

Light Crusader

A cool isometric dungeon-crawler / "rpg" developed by Treasure for the Sega Genesis.

The game is far from being perfect (The gameplay is somewhat clunky), but it's a Treasure game, which means there is some good stuff in it (Interesting puzzles taking advantage of the isometric view, cool bosses, combining magics for some cool results...)

You should try this game, it's only 1,49 dolalrs on Steam

 

[Rat King]

Kula World. It's and odd puzzle game that has a lot of cool ideias and mechanics. Matthewmatosis made a nice video about it:

 

[Jawbreaker]

Here's a puzzle game I recall loving in the PSX era that I haven't heard anyone talk about in a long time.

 

[Samikaze!!]

Herc's Adventures on PS1.
It was a Lucasarts dungeon crawler style game, done with Greek Mythology. It became a co-op staple in my family where even my dad, sister, mom, uncle, and cousins would play it.

 

[superNESjoe]

Willow for NES is a pretty great action RPG with a mix of mechanics from Zelda and early RPGs like Dragon Warrior. Nobody ever talks about it, and it never shows up on "best of" lists from that console. It's actually one of the better games on the system in my opinion, and has aged much better than most too.

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

I think you are my long-lost brother from another mother. I can't remember the last time I saw someone mention this game on a forum. It's still one of my favorite games to play until you get to the Demon World and then it gets too annoying.

Click to shrink...

I remember it getting some traction in games media at the time, mainly due to it having some sort of faux surround sound implementation, but it just seems to have disappeared since. The level music and background of the early levels in particular give me incredible feelings of nostalgia.

Light Crusader

A cool isometric dungeon-crawler / "rpg" developed by Treasure for the Sega Genesis.

The game is far from being perfect (The gameplay is somewhat clunky), but it's a Treasure game, which means there is some good stuff in it (Interesting puzzles taking advantage of the isometric view, cool bosses, combining magics for some cool results...)

You should try this game, it's only 1,49 dolalrs on Steam

Click to shrink...

Despite Treasure being one of the most (if not the most) well regarded developer for the Genesis, I genuinely think this is never mentioned because people just straight up don't know it was made by them. Treasure did intense scrolling action games, not western style rpg's as far as people were concerned.

 

[steveovig]

If you like Picross, you'll love this. It basically adds colors to the normal Picross formula through layers, with each layer representing a different color. It's very fun and polished and has it's own sequel on the eShop called Animal Color Cross. As a huge Picross fan, I've put dozens of hours into both games and I'd recommend them completely and I believe they are fairly cheap.

 

[MrCunningham]

Toy Commander (1999, Sega Dreamcast):

This is another unique Sega Dreamcast exclusive that was never ported to any other platforms. The game is a bit like Blast Corps in some ways, you take control of various toy planes, helicopters, ground vehicles, thanks, trucks to perform various tasks in a large house. But every once in a while there are also bosses too. The game also has two player split screen death match mode as well.

 

[Imperfected]

I loved this game!

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I used to rent that game on the regular because I couldn't find a copy for sale anywhere. I still can't believe there was a competent RTS on the SNES.

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

Willow for NES is a pretty great action RPG with a mix of mechanics from Zelda and early RPGs like Dragon Warrior. Nobody ever talks about it, and it never shows up on "best of" lists from that console. It's actually one of the better games on the system in my opinion, and has aged much better than most too.

Click to shrink...

This isn't the first time I've heard somebody speak highly of this game, I assume it must generally be disregarded as a generic movie tie-in game.

 

[mistersensation]

Two of my all time favorite N64 games. What I wouldn't do for a new entry...

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These are my favorites too. :) I used to think nobody really knew about Goemon, but since coming to Resetera I've heard a lot of love for the games and it warms my heart, even if I know Konami's never going to do anything with him again. Also good to see Mischief Makers popping up in this thread, we need more cool weird games like that.

As long as we're talking about obscure N64 games, I want to give a shout-out to a game I've literally never heard anyone else talk about- Flying Dragon.

It's essentially two fighting games in one- a standard arcade fighter that's utterly unremarkable, and a 'super-deformed' mode that, at least to my 11-year old mind, was the coolest thing ever. The twist was that it was a long-form story mode (though admittedly light on the 'story' aspect) that allowed you to collect and use items and equipment as you progressed through the different levels of tournaments. There were a ton of different items, ranging from health potions to new super moves to a cloak that would let you teleport to all sorts of other cool shit, and all your items could level up and some could even 'evolve' into better ones. Also there was an item shop with a girl that would give you discounts or secret items if you were a frequent customer. Fuck, even as I'm typing it here I'm realizing that is all still way cool.

 

[flkRaven]

Holy shit! I played the hell out of that game when i was like 9 and completely removed it from my mind until i saw your post. My mind is blown, thank you!

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Glad I could help! I still have this game lol

 

[superNESjoe]

This isn't the first time I've heard somebody speak highly of this game, I assume it must generally be disregarded as a generic movie tie-in game.

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Probably. I'm surprised you've heard it mentioned, I never see anyone talking about it.

 

[Phire Phox]

These are my favorites too. :) I used to think nobody really knew about Goemon, but since coming to Resetera I've heard a lot of love for the games and it warms my heart, even if I know Konami's never going to do anything with him again. Also good to see Mischief Makers popping up in this thread, we need more cool weird games like that.

As long as we're talking about obscure N64 games, I want to give a shout-out to a game I've literally never heard anyone else talk about- Flying Dragon.

It's essentially two fighting games in one- a standard arcade fighter that's utterly unremarkable, and a 'super-deformed' mode that, at least to my 11-year old mind, was the coolest thing ever. The twist was that it was a long-form story mode (though admittedly light on the 'story' aspect) that allowed you to collect and use items and equipment as you progressed through the different levels of tournaments. There were a ton of different items, ranging from health potions to new super moves to a cloak that would let you teleport to all sorts of other cool shit, and all your items could level up and some could even 'evolve' into better ones. Also there was an item shop with a girl that would give you discounts or secret items if you were a frequent customer. Fuck, even as I'm typing it here I'm realizing that is all still way cool.

Click to shrink...

Flying Dragon is a game that I also loved on N64! My brother bought it on a whim without knowing anything about it we ended up loving it. I like playing Kid Mode more. Wiler was my main.

 

[Spacejaws]

Zool
James Pond

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This is my childhood too.

Here's my challenger. Walker on the Amiga. I was young and I think it was one of those dodgy 50 games on one floppy but me and my brother used to play it co-op. One player controlled the legs and the other the weapons. Don't remember much other than we sucked.

 

[hexanaut]

Point and click adventure based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, with stop motion puppets and a character voiced by William Burroughs.

This game disturbed the hell out of me as a kid. Images taken from: http://hg101.kontek.net/darkeye/darkeye.htm