Forgotten Gems Of Gaming.

[TrevHead]

The (SRPG) Langrisser series certainly qualifies even if only the first game received a proper localisation as Warsong on the Mega Drive. By rights it should be up there with Phantasy Star 1-4 and Shining Force.

Also I'd say 8bit home computer games are a rather unknown quantity on the net (that tends to focus on the NES) especially those on UK home computers like the Spectrum that spawned the whole 8bit UK bedroom indie boom creating such action adventure classics as Lords of Midnight, Mercenary, Great Escape, The Sentenel and Where Time Stood Still besides Elite that is known.

The 8/16bit Lucas Arts puzzle platformer Night Shift is another one to thrown on the pile.

 

[Harpalyce]

Jade Empire. Not that you can go really wrong with Bioware, but it's one of the most forgotten Bioware games and honestly one of their absolute best. The storytelling is so damn good and wonderfully interwoven and supported by gameplay.

 

[happyninja42]

Jade Empire. Not that you can go really wrong with Bioware, but it's one of the most forgotten Bioware games and honestly one of their absolute best. The storytelling is so damn good and wonderfully interwoven and supported by gameplay.

Agreed, that was a very fun game. I enjoyed the combat system, and would've liked to see it in more games.

 

[TrevHead]

And Cataclysm just simply will not play...at all. So bummed out by that.

I played this (and beat it) on my Win 7 PC earlier this year. IIRC I had to delete the start up splash trailers which crashed the game, I can't remember what else I did to get it to run sorry, but it probably will be simple because I'm not all that knowledgeable about PC's.

 

[Signa]

Space sims: I know they were pretty popular at their time, but they've been pretty much forgotten today.

X-Wing
Tie Fighter
Freespace (2)
Descent I/II
Freelancer

 

[happyninja42]

And Cataclysm just simply will not play...at all. So bummed out by that.

I played this (and beat it) on my Win 7 PC earlier this year. IIRC I had to delete the start up splash trailers which crashed the game, I can't remember what else I did to get it to run sorry, but it probably will be simple because I'm not all that knowledgeable about PC's.

That might be my problem, as the game instantly shuts down when I click Play. So if it's those initial video tracks, that might help. You got a link for the process by which to try this? 'Cause I'm equally clueless about altering files.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Someone mentioning Jade Empire did make me think of one more: Battle Realms.

A very cool fantasy feudal Japan RTS game. Had tons of unique features (instead of energy or mana, units use stamina, which decreases their ability to run and fight effectively) and an interesting variation of unit production (you train peasants in various combinations to produce different units). Had a really good story and 4 very interesting and very fun factions. It was also cool because units that are fighting actually look like they are fighting (they block, dodge, jump around, parry, etc.), instead of just standing there wailing on each other.

For the life of me, I'll never understand why more companies don't make games that take place in fantasy-themed Japan or China. The possibilities are just huge for a "Legend of the Five Rings" based game, or another Jade Empire game.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Jet Force Gemini for sure! Man, such a good game back in the day... It's a little less good nowadays, but hell, I still enjoy it.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

A number of (original) Xbox exclusives such as;

Breakdown (First person punch-em-up)
Otogi 1 & 2 (Fight Japanese demons by breaking freaking EVERYTHING)
Voodoo Vince (Psychonauts, only you're a small voodoo doll and it's magic instead of a kid with psychic powers)
Whacked! (Great variety of psychotic characters take on arena-style mini games set up as a gameshow. Tons of humor)

Other than that;

Adventures of Starfy (Big in Japan; fun platforming games with an oceanic theme)
Bomberman (Action/Strategy series)
Colony Wars (free-roaming space combat sim)
Crusin' ((USA, World, & Exotic)Arcade racing series)
Dante's Inferno (A better Castlevania than Lords of Shadow)
Dino Crisis (Resident Evil only with Dinosaurs and area-specific traps)
Jet Grind Radio (Psychedelic graffiti-em-up)
Kill*Switch (cover-based 3rd person shooter from the PS2 era. Rated T)
Monster League Football (and Hockey: Fun sports games)
NFL Blitz (A fun Football game)
Rush ((San Francisco) Arcade racing series)
Snowboard Kids (Arcade snowboard racing)
Star Tropics (Action RPG thing on the NES)
Syphon Filter (3rd person shooter with tazer-torch)
Thunder ((Hydro & Arctic)Arcade racing series)
XIII (cell-shaded FPS. Very comic book-like and tons of fun)

And as for genres;

3D Fighting games (Mortal Kombat 4, Power Stone)
Fantasy Shooters (Legendary, Turok)
Huge/open-ended 3D Platformers (Banjo-Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Super Mario 64)
run-n-gun shooters (Shadow Warrior, Duke Nukem 3D, Doom)
Schmup (Gradius, Ikaruga)
Side-Scrolling beat-em-up (Double Dragon, Battletoads)

 

[TrevHead]

Capcom's Arcade brawler Aliens Vs Predator, this game never got ported to console so the only way to play it is through MAME of which most ppl can't be bothered setting up.

I'd also say Virtual On OT, Wartech: Senko No Ronde and any other 3rd person Vs PvP game from Japan that isn't Street Fighter/Tekken is pretty much ignored by most westerners, Anarchy Reigns is a modern example.

And Cataclysm just simply will not play...at all. So bummed out by that.

I played this (and beat it) on my Win 7 PC earlier this year. IIRC I had to delete the start up splash trailers which crashed the game, I can't remember what else I did to get it to run sorry, but it probably will be simple because I'm not all that knowledgeable about PC's.

That might be my problem, as the game instantly shuts down when I click Play. So if it's those initial video tracks, that might help. You got a link for the process by which to try this? 'Cause I'm equally clueless about altering files.

This web page will help http://www.thegameengine.org/homeworld-cataclysm/homeworld-cataclysm-on-windows-7/

As that page states I also ran the game through a shortcut with admin privileges turned on (edit looking at the exe properties I also have NT 4.0 Sp5 compatibility mode and have Disable Desktop Composition checked for some unknown reason) . Plus I patched the game (UK patch for my version of the game).

It would still crash half the time booting up and the menus flickered but the game itself ran OK. I might have ran the game in software mode instead of hardware (GFX card drivers in the ingame options menu)

 

[Sable Gear]

Geist? I dunno, the mechanic was unique for the time and I really enjoyed what I played of it. Might even be deserving of a spiritual (hah) sequel.

 

[idon'tknowaboutthat]

Aah, Cerebral Bore...

You called?

At least they're named from the game, so it's "relevant"?

 

[Brian Tams]

You know, I once mentioned in the Wii U user group that the time was right for Snowboard Kids to make a comeback.

And nobody knew what the fuck I was talking about, and that made me sad.

So Snowboard Kids, a more integral part of my childhood than Mario Kart 64 was.

 

[Battleaxx90]

Anybody else remember the Croc series? Man, such a good platformer...

 

[Adultratedhydra]

Everything before 2008.

I agree, ET for the Atari 2600 was a great game.

 

[Evil Smurf]

The Lost Vikings
Jazz Jackrabbit
Commander Keen
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

Reads own list,

I'm such a retro gamer

I want to go play Doom now, or Magic.

 

[fenrizz]

Anybody else remember the Croc series? Man, such a good platformer...

I loved that game as a little kid!

The Lost Vikings
Jazz Jackrabbit
Commander Keen

Both these are really cool, solid platformers.

I'd like to mention:

Street Rod - Spent endless hours playing this as a kid. Never did get that black Corvette though.
Crash Bandicoot - It certainly seems like Naugthy Dog has forgotten about this franchise. Damn shame too.
Spyro the Dragon

 

[Clankenbeard]

Commander Keen

Yeah, Apogee had the first really good side scrollers for PC. I remember all of the Commander Keen series as being well-built games. It helped that I am a Packer fan. They also had a ton of other versions of the game. Monster Bash and Duke Nukem were also good Apogee side scrollers worn out on my Tandy 1000.

The first game I remember really loving on PC was Mule. Played it on my Commodore 64 until the 5-1/4" floppy that it came on stopped reading in my old 1541 disk drive.

 

[Starbird]

Jazz Jackrabbit and Commander Keen were good...

But did you ever play Halloween Harry or Duke Nukem 2? Mindbogglingly good 2D platformers from the PC age.

 

[broadbandmink]

Aah, Cerebral Bore...

You called?

At least they're named from the game, so it's "relevant"?

Hmm, I think it would be fun if someone made a montage video consisting of various acts of carnage from that particular game and accompanied it with a song by this band.