Games you never found another player of (or even heard of)

[DuelLadyS]

I have to go with Trap Gunner for the PSX. A pretty much perfect evolution of the Bomberman formula that would, I honestly believe, be a giant sized hit today if it were updated and released with online play. It now, however, sits alone and unknown buried in the depths of the PSX library. There is some footage of it on Youtube, so I know I wasn't the only one who ever played it, but it deserved a much better fate.

I actually have 3 copies of that game, due to some Ebay shenanigans last year. (Two of them are open to good homes, if completeness isn't an issue!)

I couldn't really name anything specific, since I don't broadcast too much about what I'm playing at any time. Games I remember enjoying a lot, but that no one else I've met owns, include Threads of Fate and Tail Concerto on the PS1 and The Guardian Legend on the NES- but even that isn't a good measure. Most of my friends know my games are pretty much always available to loan, so they don't buy things I own. *shrugs*

 

[Mydnyght]

There was a puzzle game I used to play with my dad as a kid, and I recently bought it again off of GOG and rolled around happily in the nostalgia.

This game is called The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time. Literally NOBODY has heard of this game that I've met. And it's such a great game and it makes me sad that no one knows about it.

I have determined that anyone that responds properly to "Looks like nasty weather" is a candidate to be my soul mate.

Spoiler

It may even rain.

That or:

Spoiler

It is going to be a long winter.

Sorry, I couldn't resist, but yeah, I too played that game. Some time after my father bought me the first two Journeyman Project games, I somehow stumbled upon the third one and decided to buy it myself. Now that I think about it, I don't know if that Arthur guy was funny or just kind of a dick.

"Gage, have you been reading the strategy guide again?"

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I never see anyone for Timesplitters. At least, from 3 onward. 1-2 wasn't very good.

3 and Future Perfect were a big part of my teenage years, though.

There were only ever 3 Timesplitters games. They were also very popular.

OT: One played a nice little indie game called Thomas Was Alone. Really likeable game, never met a single person who's even heard of it.

I've played Future Perfect a couple of times. It's one of the few decent FPS on the PS2 (co-op's nice, too). However, Future Perfect is the third TimeSplitters game. There's no "3", just... TimeSplitters, TimeSplitters 2 and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect.

Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time.

One of the worst games ever. Controls are stiff and sloppy at the same time. I did 100% it though.

Yes, yes, yes! I played this game only about a dozen times to 100% completion during my childhood (and a little beyond it). All golden carrots and those damn clocks. And I always, always died when trying to jump from one dinosaur head to another - or from one floating barrel to another - or in that Marvin space level where it's just impossible to tell platforms from actual nothing. Man this game was HARD.

 

[sapphireofthesea]

Lords of Magic for PC. It's an RPG/RTS hybrid with a turn-based movement and economy system that switches to a real-time tactical battlefield when combat is initiated. There were eight different "faiths" you could play as, like order, chaos, life, and death, which gave the game a lot of replay-ability.

The only people I know who actually played it were my brother and I.

Add me to the list. Did you ever manage to get anything beyond the first map? I actually did love that game alot but could never get much diversity out of it (though didn't stop me playing the hell out of it ^^)

Edit: Just read up on it, it did only have one map and I did all the quests they did for it as well. Probably one of those games that needs a CoD style remake, keeping everything but adding more and updating content.

 

[Jak23]

Lords of Magic for PC. It's an RPG/RTS hybrid with a turn-based movement and economy system that switches to a real-time tactical battlefield when combat is initiated. There were eight different "faiths" you could play as, like order, chaos, life, and death, which gave the game a lot of replay-ability.

The only people I know who actually played it were my brother and I.

"
I was about to post that! It was the first "rts"? I'd ever played, and I was addicted.
I know where you can download an iso of the special version, if you download it and Gameranger, we can play online! Contact me if you're interested.

 

[sapphireofthesea]

Those pandemic Battlezone games. Loved those when they came out and I still think the FPS/RTS hybrid was a crazy good idea. Too bad it didn't catch on. There's an indie game developer making a spiritual sequel to those games called Bionite Origins, I'm hoping it will be as good.

Another Battlezone Fan (My crack was Battle Zone 2). Took me far too long to beat it (Processors being what they were didn't like a change of pc) but loved when I finally did. Still one of my top games for story matching gameplay and overall fun.

I will have to keep that indie game in mind, as I would love me more of that sort of play (Sacrifice did a similar thing to BZ and loved that game as well).

 

[sapphireofthesea]

I-WAR 2: Edge of Chaos: Never herd anyone mention this one...ever. It was a space combat sim that used Newtonian physics which made the combat something a bit more involving as you had to factor in for momentum, acceleration times, and positioning to do well. If you could manage all that though then you could pull off some spectacular flying.

Spoiler: I-WAR 2: Edge of Chaos

You have now. Used to kill alot of time playing that. I like those sort of unhinged games that let you just go out and have fun in a vehicle (See my posts on Battle Zone here ^^)

And finally OT:
Aquanox 1 and 2. Rare game, Epic game. I would suggest giving it a try if you like the feel of Battle Zone of I-WAR 2: Edge of Chaos. Set underwater with subs, but beautifully executed with a story and dialogue to match. The second one actually made the the piloting system better (by taking out a few kinks), which for the 10 or so years it took me to get it I didn't even think was possible. I just fell in love with the the first ones piloting system, it was a bit clunky, but you are underwater in a sub, this is not space, you are going to slow down when you turn and you got to build up speed to move with tons of water is in the way. All in all a piloting system I have not seen matched since for environment fit. It is also one of the exceptionally few underwater games I have ever even known of.
All of that said, spoiler warning, company went bust before they could complete the story, though it did end on enough of a closure point not to break my heart, however I would insta-fund even a book version of a wrap up.

 

[sapphireofthesea]

I never see anyone for Timesplitters. At least, from 3 onward. 1-2 wasn't very good.

3 and Future Perfect were a big part of my teenage years, though.

Time Splitters 2 and 3 here, and I used to play with a friend as well, so you got 2 more to add to the list ^^.

 

[sapphireofthesea]

Dot-Hack, in particular the first four (Infection Mutation Outbreak and Quarantine) since it seems like anyone I talked to who had heard of the series only played the following three.

I always thought the idea of a simulation of a MMORPG was pretty cool, and the fact that they put a desktop screen, e-mail, forums with posters (even arguments and dissenting opinions) and so forth really made it for me. I also really enjoyed the combat, despite never ever using magic in battles.

Played the first one, couldn't get my hands on the others. It was awesome fun.

 

[sapphireofthesea]

I've yet to meet someone who adores Front Mission 3 as I do.

I did some of the front missions, the SNES ones, cause I had to use the emulator. They were great.

 

[sapphireofthesea]

The one that really comes to mind is Interstate 76. It's basically a less ridiculous Twisted Metal with heaps of car customization and a campaign with a storyline. The graphics have aged terribly but I had a great time with it when it was the only PC game I had. There's also Urban Assault which was a great combination of RTS and vehicle combat...I think it may have a bit of a cult following but I've never met anyone who's mentioned playing it.

Played this one as well. Don;t think we ever got too far as we were young kids at the time but much fun was always had blowing things up ^^.

(Think I am finally at risk of a spamming violation or low content post. Going through and responding to games as I see them.)

Alot of these games I would still play today as top tier graphics aren't a high need on my list. I have a great imagination, it is story and engagement that suck me in more than looking the part. Same as a good book.

 

[jetriot]

Space Station 13 the game I have sunk more online time into than any other.

 

[sapphireofthesea]

Raptor: Call of the Shadows - fun forward-scrolling DOS game that was kinda like a prelude to modern bullet-hell games. Had some pretty neat graphics (for it's time) and some really sweet music. Despite being made by Apogee, I've met all of 2 people who actually played it back then. Basics of it were you were flying around in a Fighter Jet that could shoot various flavors of missile, bullet and laser, fighting off hordes of smaller ships to blow up a much larger ship at the end of the level.

Grandia II - Nice, fun RPG with some good characters but a completely broken battle system (You can spam ultimate attacks really easily and one character has a 2 minute long paralysis spell that works on all the bosses), but went fairly unnoticed by people. Hell, I didn't even know there was a Grandia I when I picked up II, so it's at least understandable if nobody has ever heard of it before.

[snip]

I remember Jill of the Jungle!
...well, I remember playing it at least, about 8 years ago when my only computer was a Computer that could barely run Windows 95. Can't really remember a lot of the specifics of the game, sadly.

I played the hell out of Raptor back in the day.
My uncle had it on his pc, when I came over I almost killed the keyboard playing it
Also Jill of the Jungle and Cosmo.
For Raptor check Good old Games. And pickup Tyrian 2000 to. Same Idear but a lot more guns
Also.. Raptor + Monkey code = ownage Cows with Twin Azure beams.. ouch.

Grandia 2.. owned it on PC but lost it great game though.

For me the games would be:
Tyrian 2K [http://www.gog.com/gamecard/tyrian_2000]: A lot like Raptor but faster and more insane
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmo%27s_Cosmic_Adventure]: Weird ass Keen like platformer.
Also R.O.T.T. but it seems there is a remake coming so apparently people did play is

Second time seeing this post about Raptor, and it finally struck me. I can't believe I missed it the first time around. This is basically the template I have for deciding if I like that type of game or not. Raptor is still the best execution of the genre I have come across and I had no end of playing it when I was still in primary school, starting it up using DOS commands.
I miss Raptor now :'(

 

[AgentCooper]

I remember logging on during odd times trying to find a match going in the game. I only ever played one full game of multiplayer. I never really talked about it with anyone or most people never heard of it.

 

[Chrinik]

Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor.
It´s not too obscure like most mentions here, but It is a game I seem to find no other player off...
Everyone sais it´s totally non-functioning, Jimquisition said it should be recalled etc. etc.

I´ve had absolutely no problems with the controls what so ever.
I dunno if it was because my Kinect was brand new, I dunno if I was just lucky, I dunno if it was because I actually took time in the tutorial, and played it multiple times until I felt comfortable with the completely new control scheme, but I can still sit infront of it today, and pull off all the actions. Even the dreaded ventilation, don´t even blow myself up trying to pull it off.

It does have flaws, it does have some bad design decisions that are overly finicky, like changing ammo or looking around, but fuck me, "Unplayable" "Broken"? If I can finish all the missions on A-Rank, I´d not call the game unplayable.

It just seems unreasonable to me, until I see people actually play, and then I turn into angry german kid mode and go "That move is not supposed to be done like that!", where for example they put the controler down on a table to switch to gunner view...rediculous and unnecesary, and ofcourse, when they pick the controler back up, it goes back into cockpit view...
Dumbasses.

Maybe the Tutorial was it´s biggest letdown, the weird handmovements didn´t really translate to what I had to physically do, but after I figured out where to put my hand, and how quick to do the motions, It worked in 99% of all tries.
I also turned off all the helps right from the get go, just to force me to learn the moves myself, and kinda use muscle memory from then on.

Worked, I still regard it as a very good game. Of course, I don´t force people to change their opinion if they had bad experiences with a game, no matter how they came about, so If you didn´t like it, and it didn´t work for you, fine.
But rest assured, I just wanna get word out that this was not universally so.

 

[Commissar Sae]

Sanitarium - a 2002 Point-and-Click puzzler where you are a doctor in a coma who has discovered a terrible secret about one of your colleagues. The game is your journey through your mind as you fight to regain consciousness before your colleague kills you. It's trippy and bizarre and horrible and brilliant.

I actually really liked Sanitarium. Unfortunatly, it doesn't seem to like the new versions of windows when I tried playing it again.

GoG has an optimized version up. Just in case you ever want to go back to it.

OT: I haven't met many people who played Nocturne. It was a really interesting game, but was really hampered by resident evil style cameras. I don't know why the late 90's love those randomly fixed cameras so much, guess it made level design easier but it was such a pain to play with.

Spoiler

On the plus side, you get to stick a shotgun in the devils face and try to fight a Lovecraftian monster with the help of Baron Samedi.

 

[Aethren]

Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal. It had some pleasant, atmospheric music and entertaining combat. I picked up a fake copy of the game in Kowloon years ago.

I played that game to death as a kid! I always loved it, and was sad when lost the disc.

My game that few people have heard of is the White Chamber. It is a (free) point-and-click horror game with a gripping story that actually scared me more than Amnesia. Did I mention it was free?

Played it, beat it, got all the endings.

It's not that old, but why does nobody ever mention Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge? It was fucking amazing, but apparently doesn't exist outside of my imagination.

 

[AdmiralMemo]

No one I've met has ever played a game called Locus, which is a game I love. It was made back in 1995, which is part of the reason I understand that there are no players I can find for it.

Each team has 2 players, 1 AI and 1 either human or AI, depending on whether you're playing multi-player or not. There are 3 teams, and your little hover-cars ride around on the inside of curved surfaces, like toruses, dumbbells, bowls, spheres, etc. There are balls that spawn at certain points, and the magnet on the front of your car picks up the balls. You've got to get them to your colored-goal. There are only 2 balls in play at any given time, so your opponents are trying to steal the balls so they can throw them in their goals. Also, your magnet has a limited charge, so you can't just grip it all the way from the spawner to the goal. The magnet would recharge after a while The intended point was probably to pass the ball to your AI partner, get out of the way of the enemies, and have your partner pass it back to you. However, being a 1995 game, your AI partner was kind of rock-stupid about that. The up-side was that your AI opponents usually were, too, so I would usually end up grabbing a ball and using advanced physics to shoot the ball out of range, then go back and grab it and dribble it to the goal.

Also, in the more advanced levels, there were beams of energy that you could pass through. Some gave speed boosts, while others recharged your magnet, and then some drained your magnet completely, so you avoided those.

I think the most challenging part was getting used to the perspective, unless you've played a bunch of space-flying games like Descent, where direction is arbitrary.

If I could find someone to play with, I'd love to play it with an actual person.

 

[museofdoom]

snipp!

Yes both of those answers are correct! Congrats you're a soul mate candidate xD I never played the other two journeyman project games and I feel like I wouldn't like them now since they won't have all the nostalgia. I love Arthur, I don't think the game would be as good without him. I always have him set to "chatty" so I can hear all of his comments. Although when I was younger I would turn him off cause I didn't want hints, but now that I've played through so many times that I know how to do mostly everything I leave him on cause he's funny.

 

[iwinatlife]

Lords of Magic for PC. It's an RPG/RTS hybrid with a turn-based movement and economy system that switches to a real-time tactical battlefield when combat is initiated. There were eight different "faiths" you could play as, like order, chaos, life, and death, which gave the game a lot of replay-ability.

The only people I know who actually played it were my brother and I.

I remember playing being really bad at that game when I was like 8 or 9
OT: Kagero deception on PSX fun trap based action rpg