Games that had a cool or unique concept/mechanic you really haven't seen elsewhere

[Dalisclock]

So, I was thinking that there's a bunch of games from the old days that it feels like kinda never really got follow ups by any other games and you'd kinda like to see it tried again somewhere else.

SOS- An SNES survival game where you play one of 4 characters on a luxury ship which is hit by a massive wave and capsizes(If this reminds you of a certain famous disaster movie, that's intentional). You have 1 real life hour to escape the ship or drown. If you're injured by falling, running out of O2 underwater or fire, you don't die but lose about 5 real time minutes, cutting your margin even more. Oh, and to make this fun, the ship is upside down, and constantly listing back and forth, and around the 30 min mark, the ship begins sinking by the bow and thus the map begins to tilt steeply after that point(the final escape through the engine room is a vertical climb). One of your characters is almost an "Easy" mode, because he starts with a map of the ship, which is important because the ship is huge, a lot of the passages are blocked by debris and you often have to go through side rooms and areas to bypass them so knowing where you are helps a lot.

Also, to get the best ending for any character, you need to escort a number of survivors off the ship as well as you make your escape(which can be difficult because the survivor AI is kinda dumb and their pathfinding....yeah, it's pretty bad) but that does make it a bit more difficult(and apparently you need to escort a certain NPC in particular).

Terranigma- A Japan and Europe only release(unless you emulate it), this Quintet game is something weird and fascinating. At the beginning you live in a tiny isolated idyllic village with no knowledge of anything else, but one day you accidently open Pandora's box and find out you've released evil into the world or something, so you need to bring the world back to life(because it apparently died). You leave your village, find out you're on the inside of the hollow earth, go through dungeons to "Resurrect" all of the continents(which apparently sank into the ocean or something) and then after that go to the surface and slowly bring back plants, animals, people before following somehow following influencing civilization to grow back to modern times.

And what's weird is that this all happens as you travel across the world, so you'll start in a old city in Asia, travel to Europe which has medieval level society and tech, before freeing Columbus from an evil ghost in a Spanish castle, jumping on a boat to North America where now there are new cities that apparently just sprung up and they're working on inventing the airplane and hamburgers. So it's like thousands of years of history are occurring in the same time you can walk from one place to another and you're tracing the history of the world in microcosm by progressing(Admittedly in a VERY LIMITED and linear fashion). Even weirder when you meet a quirky case of support characters who it feels they come from different eras but they all coexist together as well. I mean, its charming but also surreal and I love it and I've never seen another game like it(except for the game just below).

On a similar Note, Illusion of Time/Gaia- Another Quintet game, involves a young man with psychic powers(yeah it's a cliche) crossing the world on a journey that in some ways resembles a fantasy but it also has feels like it's based on our world. For example, It's mentioned in the intro that this is the Age of Exploration and people like Columbus has set out to discover new lands across the world. And the PC, Will, went with his father to explore the Tower of Babel(yes, that one, apparently) and Will came back but his dad didn't(and will doesn't remember how he got back or what happened). So you visit famous places like Incan Ruins, Angkor Wat, The Great Wall of China, the Nazca Lines, the hanging gardens of Babylon but in the sky apparently, the great Pyramid, etc. But there's also fantasy elements like the lost continent of Mu(Think Atlantis, in the Pacific and invented by crazy people), connected by a very long undersea tunnel(implied to be a 1000 miles long) to an underground village populated by "Angels", survivors of Mu who can't feel anything but go through the motions trying to anyway. Like the above game, it's a surreal blend of our world and fantasy and it's my jam and I'm sad nobody else really seemed to pick that torch up after Quintet stopped making such games.

No, this isn't just an excuse to talk about Quintent games! I didn't even mention Actraiser....(except just there).

 

[Xprimentyl]

Technically, there have been a few games similar to this since, but RPGs like Shining Force; games that combine simple RPG elements with chess-like strategy. Gladius comes to mind, and I think some offered XCOM might be in a similar vein as well. I would love another Shining Force with modern accoutrements that account for even more dynamics on the battlefield like height, distance, position relative to an enemy, etc.

 

[BrawlMan]

Almost anything by Platinum or their former name, Clover Studios. There still has yet to be a game that plays exactly like Viewtiful Joe. The closest is the Wonderful 101 and that plays like a cross between that and Pikmin.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

This is the box art of one of the many side-scrolling spaceship shooters that came out for the SNES.

More games need box art with banjo-playing coots who have nothing to do with the game itself.

 

[BrawlMan]

This is the box art of one of the many side-scrolling spaceship shooters that came out for the SNES.

More games need box art with banjo-playing coots who have nothing to do with the game itself.

Trivia: The US publisher intentionally did this to stand out from the thousands of space SHMUPS released in the same era. They used a very tired mall Santa for the photo.

 

[Dalisclock]

This is the box art of one of the many side-scrolling spaceship shooters that came out for the SNES.

More games need box art with banjo-playing coots who have nothing to do with the game itself.

I like to imagine that old dude is playing the theme from Firefly.

 

[meiam]

If we're going with old SNES game, Live-a-Live is a JRPG colection of short story. You have 7 different character each with their own little adventure (2-10 hours). Each has a unique mechanic, one is a ninja infiltrating a castle, which you can do entirely stealthy or try to kill everyone in the castle (soldier and civilian). One is a robot being a detective on a spaceship. One is a cowboy that has to set trap against an invading bandit groups.

E.V.O. search for eden: You start as a puny little fish and eat your way up the evolution chain, sorta of 2D side scrolling adventure game where everytime you eat an enemy you get food which you can use to upgrade your animal, either with new feature (bigger teeth, stronger fin) or flt out evolve into other creature (eventually you become land based).

Ogre battle: technically there's a few ogre battle that use the same mechanic, but the last one was N64. You have a large map (think RTS) and you deploy unit, but each unit is made up of 5 different character, when a battle start each character has a specific action they do depending on the unit formation. Each character act once in combat so fight are pretty quick.

Rudora no Hihou: JRPG where you can create your own magic from any arrangement of letter. I never learned how it work but any combination of letter will create a spell that can be used in battle, yes you can try to kill enemy by yelling "Fuck" at them. The game has three protagonist that are doing their adventure simultaneously and you can see the action of certain character from other point of view. The story/world building is also super weird and interesting with floating land and god creating new creature.

 

[Dalisclock]

Technically, there have been a few games similar to this since, but RPGs like Shining Force; games that combine simple RPG elements with chess-like strategy. Gladius comes to mind, and I think some offered XCOM might be in a similar vein as well. I would love another Shining Force with modern accoutrements that account for even more dynamics on the battlefield like height, distance, position relative to an enemy, etc.

I'm not sure if it's the same but the Expeditions series by Logic Artists has Hex based Tactical combat and RPG elements where you get to have story bits and get to make decisions which can affect the battles outside the battles. I played Expeditions: Conquistador a couple years ago and enjoyed it but there's also VIking and Rome is coming out soon.

 

[meiam]

I'm not sure if it's the same but the Expeditions series by Logic Artists has Hex based Tactical combat and RPG elements where you get to have story bits and get to make decisions which can affect the battles outside the battles. I played Expeditions: Conquistador a couple years ago and enjoyed it but there's also VIking and Rome is coming out soon.

There was wild arm tactics on PSP that was hex based, don't bother looking for it, it's a poor man final fantasy tactics. There's a ton of tactics game because of FFT popularity, most aren't that great though, there's fell seal arbiter on steam that's decent (although I'm not a fan of the art style).

I'm low key excited for expedition rome, Viking was a big step up from expedition, if they can get a similar increase in quality it should be pretty good. Although both game had the same issue where, once you get close to the end, the game force you to ally with one of two factions, both of which ask you to commit some atrocities for them with no way around that. You can technically end the game at anytime, but it's really lame and leave the main quest unfinished.

 

[Meximagician]

Mega Man Battle Network had a combat system where the player and enemies were on a grid but could move around and attack in real time. Meanwhile a bar filled up to allow queuing up new specials. Also, some dungeons and specials effected the grid tiles, usually restricting and/or freeing up movement.

Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator uses an ATB bar a la Final Fantasy, but characters could act as soon as their bar filled 1/3 of the way. Some specials required the bar to be 2/3 or completely filled, but basic attacks and spells didn't (though they were more effective if charged up).

Summon Night: Swordcraft Story has weapon durability for both player and human enemies. Breaking an enemy weapon not only ends a fight, but you get the blueprints of their weapon, encouraging players to change strategies. Suddenly you want them blocking, healing, and not giving you an opening!

Radiata Stories allows players to challenge almost anyone to a duel by repetitively kicking them in the shins. Unfortunately this is somewhat discouraged when 90% of the cast then beats the main character within an inch of their life.

 

[FizzyElf]

This is the box art of one of the many side-scrolling spaceship shooters that came out for the SNES.

More games need box art with banjo-playing coots who have nothing to do with the game itself.

haha lit game

 

[Baffle]

Lost Patrol on the Amiga. US soldiers shot down in Vietnam making their way back to base (I never made it even close to that far). It's basically a game made up entirely of mini-games.

 

[Dalisclock]

There was wild arm tactics on PSP that was hex based, don't bother looking for it, it's a poor man final fantasy tactics. There's a ton of tactics game because of FFT popularity, most aren't that great though, there's fell seal arbiter on steam that's decent (although I'm not a fan of the art style).

I'm low key excited for expedition rome, Viking was a big step up from expedition, if they can get a similar increase in quality it should be pretty good. Although both game had the same issue where, once you get close to the end, the game force you to ally with one of two factions, both of which ask you to commit some atrocities for them with no way around that. You can technically end the game at anytime, but it's really lame and leave the main quest unfinished.

I didn't so much mind the binary choice, especially since you could take down the aztecs and then either betray the rebels or form a cooperative partnership with them once the war is done. What bothered me was that the ending you get is based pretty much entirely how much treasure you bring back to spain, regardless of everything else you accomplished. Oh, just because I discovered a portal to the Aztec Underworld(like literally), found El Dorado and put a regime in place that has good relations with the Spanish Crown, but NOOOOOO......I didn't bring back a ton of cash so I'm wrong somehow. And getting enough cash for the "Great" ending is pretty either a grindfest or cheating to alter the "Money" stat to the required amount(Guess which one I ended up doing). Prick of a King.

I haven't played VIking yet but I'm looking forward to it.

If we're going with old SNES game, Live-a-Live is a JRPG colection of short story. You have 7 different character each with their own little adventure (2-10 hours). Each has a unique mechanic, one is a ninja infiltrating a castle, which you can do entirely stealthy or try to kill everyone in the castle (soldier and civilian). One is a robot being a detective on a spaceship. One is a cowboy that has to set trap against an invading bandit groups.

E.V.O. search for eden: You start as a puny little fish and eat your way up the evolution chain, sorta of 2D side scrolling adventure game where everytime you eat an enemy you get food which you can use to upgrade your animal, either with new feature (bigger teeth, stronger fin) or flt out evolve into other creature (eventually you become land based).

I forgot Live-a-Live. Sure, the individual sections weren't as fleshed out as they could have been but I liked the different stories that all end up tying up together. And the thing that happens Orsteads chapter, which really endeared the game to me.

I wanted to mention EVO but for some reason I though there was another game like it(but now I can't think of what that was supposed to be).

 

[meiam]

I wanted to mention EVO but for some reason I though there was another game like it(but now I can't think of what that was supposed to be).

Spore?

Yeah Live-a-live orsteads chapter is a fun twist, which is why I call it a collection of short story since a lot of short story also do these fun little twist on the usual formula.

I guess I could throw in bahamut lagoon too as another SNES with some interesting game mechanic (SNES time was great, game didn't cost 5 bajillions dollar so even big company would take risk).

Grid based tactic, except every character (party) on the field is made up of 4 different character, when you get close to an enemy it switch over to a regular JRPG combat (where every character can attack once). You got a ton of character to chose from to make all kind of teams. On top of that unit can use magic on the field, the more unit in the party can use the same magic the stronger it is on the field. Magic can modify the terrain, ice magic can freeze water so you can walk on it, fire can burn forest that spread and hurt anything in it, thunder can break wall.

Cool enough? But there's more! Each unit is accompanied by a dragon unit, you have limited control over them and you can modify them by feeding them all kind of item which will change their appearance, stats and behaviour. Also the stronger the dragon is, the stronger the party attack are.

Plus the story is bonker, all the world is made up of floating island, one of the island nation decide to attack the other, so you think "so far so normal" but it throw a bunch fo cool twist. Like the main character (whose silent) is heavily hinted to have a relationship with the kidnapped princess, except the princess has a major case of Stockholm syndrome and fall in love with the bad guy general and totally leave the main character in the dust, there's even an awkward sequence where she essentially just goes "dude you're just way too boring".

Sadly the game is super easy, I rarely fought enemy in turn based because magic is so strong that most enemy die before you get close to them. Character variety could also have been stronger, as it stand the best strategy is to just keep all similar character in the same party.

 

[AnxietyProne]

Technically, there have been a few games similar to this since, but RPGs like Shining Force; games that combine simple RPG elements with chess-like strategy. Gladius comes to mind, and I think some offered XCOM might be in a similar vein as well. I would love another Shining Force with modern accoutrements that account for even more dynamics on the battlefield like height, distance, position relative to an enemy, etc.

Jagged Alliance series did this too, but 2 especially. It's what I consider the S tier of RPG with strat game elements.

 

[BrawlMan]

A lot of Suda 51's and Grasshopper's early games, but especially, Killer 7. A rail shooter, survival-horror, conspiracy political thriller. There is has been nothing like it since then. The only closest thing has been Killer Is Dead, barely in visual style, and Dan Smith's cameo in the beginning of Travis Strikes Again.

Treasure's Guardian Heroes - While it does not seem as unique now that there are many a brawler with RPG elements, this game does have couple of things that are unique. The plane shifting and how it does the RPG elements. In GH, your characters can shift in to the foreground, middle ground, and background to get breathing room or dodge attacks that take up an entire plane. The only other games that do this are Panzer Bandit, a PS1 game that never made it to the West (and only uses two planes), and Code of Princess. The latter which is developed by former developers from Treasure. Another unique element is the RPG mechanics. There is not a DEF exp, but LUCK in its place. LUCK works by having your character receive less damage, the higher their luck is. This works in the other direction as you your high luck can also give you a chance to dish out higher damage too. There is a 6 player battle mode too. No other brawler rpg hybrid has done this fun battle mode.

Mad World - In terms of its cel-shaded black and white (no greys) presentation and unique control scheme. It does even more with the motion controls than both No More Heroes games on the Wii. I know its possible, but I find it hard to imagine playing this game on standard controller on a Switch, if ever ported. The gameplay itself is an easier version of God Hand (Except it's not over-the shoulder. Outside of locking-on to certain enemies), Spike Out, and Tony Hawk (unlocking specific zones or more of the stage by doing certain kill requirements).

Sin and Punishment: Star Successor - Another game by Treasure. An arcade style rail shooter that has the most versatile control options on the Wii. You can use the pro controllers, a GameCube controller, Wii zapper, perfect shot, or almost any of the control schemes possible, with no problems in sight. I go with the standard Wiimote and Nunchuck set up. Makes it a bit more immersive and fun to aim. Also, unlike most other 3rd person rail shooters, you can parry and knock back attacks with your melee attack.

 

[Dalisclock]

Spore?

Yeah, I think it was Spore. And Man, Spore could have been the Next Evo(and MAYBE you could say in a very superficial way it might be a spiritual successor) but nothing else was like Evo. And now I'm reminded just how much I was sad that Spore could have been So much more then it ended up being. I've heard someone on this forum(V1, I believe) mentioned it's actually fun for small kids as it is, but it felt like to me as an adult with no kids(at the time) like a huge missed opportunity.

Yeah, Oresteds Chapter started out "I know where all this is going" and ended up as "Live a Live, I did not see that coming and I love it"

A lot of Suda 51's and Grasshopper's early games, but especially, Killer 7. A rail shooter, survival-horror, conspiracy political thriller. There is has been nothing like it since then. The only closest thing has been Killer Is Dead, barely in visual style, and Dan Smith's cameo in the beginning of Travis Strikes Again.

That reminds me I have Killer 7 on steam and some time when I want something fucking wierd I need to sit down with that for a couple hours. Because normally "Fucking wierd" is enough to at least catch my interest, if not my attention.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Yeah, I think it was Spore. And Man, Spore could have been the Next Evo(and MAYBE you could say in a very superficial way it might be a spiritual successor) but nothing else was like Evo. And now I'm reminded just how much I was sad that Spore could have been So much more then it ended up being.

Wide as a galaxy; shallow as a puddle. I... ahem... "it fell out of a truck" and I still feel like I overpaid for it.

 

[BrawlMan]

That reminds me I have Killer 7 on steam and some time when I want something fucking wierd I need to sit down with that for a couple hours. Because normally "Fucking wierd" is enough to at least catch my interest, if not my attention.

Try when ever you get the chance. You'll be in for more than just "fucking weird". Just trying to figure out the story have driven lesser men and women insane! AHAHAHAHAHAH!

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I thought the splitscreen coop gameplay of the Lego games was pretty unique. Although admittedly, the older I got the less I played the kind of games that would have couch coop, so it might not be unique at all.

I thought it was a really cool way of having two players on screen at once without sacrificing the scale of levels. And in earlier games, you could establish dominance as the older sibling by being Player 1 and pulling Player 2 along with you since the camera prioritized you.

Now that my sisters actually play videogames, it would be nice if there were more couch coop games that weren't totally aimed at children. It used to be one of the biggest draws of console gaming, but it seems largely absent these days.