Truely forgotten games - that not necessarily were any good or even released

[jimslade]

@Fox12: I remember Forsaken, too! A friend of mine caught it when sealed copies of it were thrown to the crowd at CeBit Home. Man, that's long ago, maybe 1995 or 1996? If I remember correctly, Forsaken was kind of a Descent clone that used the upcoming 3Dfx-chips back then. And I also remember it got pretty decent reviews, but not especially great ones.

 

[jimslade]

@The Madman: Maybe the game you're talking about is "Bug Blasters" for the Sega CD? Curious because of your post, I just found this on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weus8grdLnY

 

[RawSteelUT]

Well, the definitive answer to this would have to be Biometal for the SNES. Only claim to fame was having the US version's music replaced with 16-bit versions of popular 2 Unlimited songs.

https://youtu.be/ZQuo0VZZP2k

 

[GTMippey]

One that I'm currently replaying right now thanks to GOG: Project Eden.

This one is truly an underrated gem. I remember first being exposed to this game via a demo years ago. I was floored by the game play at the time. I eventually got my hands on the full version and loved every second of it. The game is a shooter/puzzler where you control four characters and use their abilities to traverse the levels. What I really loved about the game was the atmosphere it creates and the environments. Each level sees you head deeper below a futuristic city, and stuff starts getting really weird from about the third level onwards. It's dark, creepy, and incredibly satisfying. If you haven't played/heard of it before, get it from GOG and give it a whirl.

 

[aozgolo]

There's quite a few mid-late 90s/early 2000s Indie Windows games for PC that just kind of are never spoken of but I never hear uttered anywhere.

One was called "Shadow of Power" and it was a German/English top-down action RPG very much Zelda style that was a lot of fun. I know it's forgotten because it simply won't play at all on newer versions of Windows, I've tried on both XP and Win 7, even with multiple compatibility modes, it just doesn't work at all. I tried to go online to find a fix, a tip, anything at all with how to do this... and there's nothing out there, no Shadow of Power community, no random questions about it on gaming forums, the only search results you find at all are links, often broken, to download the game.

 

[jimslade]

@Shaun Kennedy: You should try a virtual machine. One tool for this is VW Ware, which is free to use for private purposes. Just install the software, create a virtual machine and install Windows 95 or whatever Shadow of Power was running on onto it. Worked for me when I was trying to run "Space Hulk - Vengeance of the Blood Angels".

 

[EvilRoy]

For unreleased/cancelled games. Van Buren - Interplay's Fallout 3. I actually thank god it never got released because it took a dump on the canon. Then there's Star Fox 2 which was nearly complete, then got cancelled just because Miyamoto(I think) wanted to limit 3D totally to the upcoming N64. Which is kinda stupid as Star Fox 2 was actually better than Star Fox 64, an actual sequel instead of an unnecessary reboot.

For under appreciate games. I remember the three Gex games two forgettable 3D platformers and a forgettable 2D platformer on the PSX. While the gameplay was rather stock, the quotes and story were charming, as was the character Gex himself.

I remember Gex! I seem to remember that he was obsessed with TV and relaxing as well. Kind of miss that game, I'll have to try to look it up.

Living near a rental store meant that I tried most of the PSX library for around three hours each, so the more I think about it, the more bizarre games I remember. Thousand Arms popped into my head the other day - that was the first time I ran into a dating sim. Like, the game was about this dude who was a smithy in training in a japanese RPG world, but there was a huge dating sim aspect to it. There was also the first Digimon game, that was ridiculously huge and intricate but had 5 second load times between each screen, and you were on each screen for very little time more often than not.

Oh, and if anyone wants to be reminded of how excessively old they are, Harry Potter had two games on PSX. They were not good.

 

[Arshaq13]

Kula World.

It was a PS1 puzzle game where you were a beachball and had to eat fruits and collect keys and coins within a time limit and the world could be flip upside down or flip sideways if you wanted it to be. It was good, found it in one of those old PS1 demo discs and it certainly was memorable. That entire Demo disc was awesome, it had Gran Turismo, Kula World, Tekken and Medievil. I remember it had a video trailer for the Spice Girls game and Metal Gear Solid too -.-

Moral of the story : I really really really miss demo discs. It was a fantastic way to make me wanna buy games, most of the games I bought for the ps1 was based on my impressions off the demo discs.

 

[Erttheking]

Does anyone else remember Actraiser? It's a game that apparently only sold 200,000 copies overseas and I rarely hear people talk about it.

 

[Quellist]

I think probably the most obscure game I can remember is the Ancient Mariner, which i heard about in the late 80's. I thought it was for the C64 but the only real article i can find says Atari ST. We were tempted with beautiful (at the time) artwork and promises of awesome gameplay but it never emerged nor did any concrete information about why it was cancelled.

http://richardjdare.com/blog/2013/11/lost-games-ancient-mariner/

What even this article misses is the last thing i saw of the game was a full page advert announcing this wonderful game and asking for pre-orders as demand would surely be so high that it would sell out instantly. Major redflag...

I suspect this game was nothing but vapourwear but at the time it looked like the next big thing!



Capcha: jump the gun...I wonder how many did?

 

[Remus]

Does anyone else remember Actraiser? It's a game that apparently only sold 200,000 copies overseas and I rarely hear people talk about it.

Yes, that game was sweet! It had platform hack n slash and a medieval version of Sim City. loved it! The second game, while missing the city elements, greatly improved on the actiony bits and the graphics.

 

[Jingle Fett]

One that I remember quite fondly was Buck Bumble for N64. No idea if it was popular it was or not, but I rented it a lot as a kid (along with Glover) and it was a pretty cool game.

 

[Solbasa]

One that comes to mind is Infinite Space on the DS. It's a tactical RPG where you control a small fleet of customizable ships while going through the (incredibly lengthy) story. I got it shortly after it came out and still haven't beaten it yet; the bosses later on get really hard and it's been long enough since I've played it that I've basically forgotten what's going on. The game is like a sci-fi nerd's paradise, since all the ships be completely modified, with swappable internal components, weapons and crew. I think I primarily lost interest in it because the main story got lost amidst all the politics within the game world. I've only seen it mentioned in a couple issues of Nintendo Power and a few places on the internet, outside of reviews.

Spoiler

 

[lowtech redneck]

Well, I loved a little game called Beyond the Beyond. It was probably bad, but I don't remember, and I wouldn't have known any better at the time. It may have been my first RPG. I don't think I've ever heard it mentioned, though, which is a little sad. I still own the disc, I may play it again, if it still works (it probably doesn't).

I deliberately forgot about Beyond the Beyond; it was once one of the few RPG's available on the PlayStation, so I tried it out despite every magazine review either panning the game as terrible, or (at best) going on and on about its almost impressive level of consistent mediocrity.....I wished that I had listened to them and just bought a second-tier SNES RPG, instead.

Not to crap on your memories, I'm happy that it got you into RPG's, but you might wish to lower expectations before replaying it.

As for the OP, I used to love an old Apple shooter called Space Quarks; kind of a Space Invaders rip-off, except easier and without any protective shields, just dodge and shoot through several stages, then re-playing them at a progressively faster speed.

I also really liked this PlayStation tube shooter called Nanotek Warrior, kind of like Tempest 2000 except with easy controls and less likelihood of losing sight of bullets due to the graphics.....here's a play-through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG-0bEFHBaI

Man, I hope that CD still works, and is fully compatible with the PS2.....

 

[Fox12]

Well, I loved a little game called Beyond the Beyond. It was probably bad, but I don't remember, and I wouldn't have known any better at the time. It may have been my first RPG. I don't think I've ever heard it mentioned, though, which is a little sad. I still own the disc, I may play it again, if it still works (it probably doesn't).

I deliberately forgot about Beyond the Beyond; it was once one of the few RPG's available on the PlayStation, so I tried it out despite every magazine review either panning the game as terrible, or (at best) going on and on about its almost impressive level of consistent mediocrity.....I wished that I had listened to them and just bought a second-tier SNES RPG, instead.

Not to crap on your memories, I'm happy that it got you into RPG's, but you might wish to lower expectations before replaying it.

I mean, I thought the Bugs Life game was good at the time, if that tells you anything. I was so young that almost anything would've passed my rigorous standards of quality. I wasn't really a connoisseur of gaming quality at the time. I don't think I got very far. I seem to remember getting stuck and never touching it again.

 

[beastro]

Lost my internet connection for a years agos ago and found one of the many bargin bin games my brother loved to buy and then forgot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutthroats:_Terror_on_the_High_Seas

Naval combat sucked, but land raiding was neat with a very simple and minimal RTS style. I wound up building huge fleets of cargo ships to get as many crew as possible and then just went around burning and pillaging cities.

There was also Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol but I could never really get far in.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Anyone remember or ever hear about the game Claymates for the SNES?

 

[Sillarra]

One that comes to mind is Infinite Space on the DS. It's a tactical RPG where you control a small fleet of customizable ships while going through the (incredibly lengthy) story. I got it shortly after it came out and still haven't beaten it yet; the bosses later on get really hard and it's been long enough since I've played it that I've basically forgotten what's going on. The game is like a sci-fi nerd's paradise, since all the ships be completely modified, with swappable internal components, weapons and crew. I think I primarily lost interest in it because the main story got lost amidst all the politics within the game world. I've only seen it mentioned in a couple issues of Nintendo Power and a few places on the internet, outside of reviews.

Spoiler

Hey, I played this game! Can't remember much about it though. It was made by Platinum Games (the same one who created Bayonetta). It was a blast due to the fully customizable ships and crew, although the game got really hard toward the end.

And yeah, the internal politics are complicated.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Well, I loved a little game called Beyond the Beyond. It was probably bad, but I don't remember, and I wouldn't have known any better at the time. It may have been my first RPG. I don't think I've ever heard it mentioned, though, which is a little sad. I still own the disc, I may play it again, if it still works (it probably doesn't).

I deliberately forgot about Beyond the Beyond; it was once one of the few RPG's available on the PlayStation, so I tried it out despite every magazine review either panning the game as terrible, or (at best) going on and on about its almost impressive level of consistent mediocrity.....I wished that I had listened to them and just bought a second-tier SNES RPG, instead.

Not to crap on your memories, I'm happy that it got you into RPG's, but you might wish to lower expectations before replaying it.

As for the OP, I used to love an old Apple shooter called Space Quarks; kind of a Space Invaders rip-off, except easier and without any protective shields, just dodge and shoot through several stages, then re-playing them at a progressively faster speed.

I also really liked this PlayStation tube shooter called Nanotek Warrior, kind of like Tempest 2000 except with easy controls and less likelihood of losing sight of bullets due to the graphics.....here's a play-through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG-0bEFHBaI

Man, I hope that CD still works, and is fully compatible with the PS2.....

Cool thing about Beyond the Beyond, it was made by Camelot, the studio better known for the Shining Force and Golden Sun series. I remember when Golden Sun came out and everyone was amazed at the graphics, and all I could think of was how much it looked like Beyond the Beyond, which I had played briefly because my cousin rented it once. Turns out there was a reason they seemed so similar, they were made by the same people. Graphically speaking, Beyond the Beyond has the art style of Shining Force, and the presentation of Golden Sun.

I'm going to say Chameleon Twist 1 and 2 for the N64. I rented those games all the time when I was a kid, but I never see any mention of them these days. They're just forgotten platformers. I think Glover (also on the N64) would probably count, too.

I was just thinking about Glover the other day. It seems like the only 3D platformers that anyone remembers are Mario 64, Donkey Kong 64, Rayman 2 (to a lesser degree) and Croc (to a *much* lesser degree). Which is weird, because Glover was at least as big of a game at the time (compared to Croc and Rayman, anyway). It's kind of like Onimusha, which was a system seller for Sony at one point, but is all but completely forgotten now.

 

[baddude1337]

For unreleased/cancelled games. Van Buren - Interplay's Fallout 3. I actually thank god it never got released because it took a dump on the canon.

And the actual Fallout 3 we got respected canon? Van Buren was far more faithful than Bethesda's 3, and New Vegas was pretty much Van Buren's storyline and factions, and actually referenced events in the 1 and 2.

As for the games. Future Cop LAPD was a fun top down mech shooter for PC and PS1, that was a fun game.

Body Harvest for N64. A lot of people didn't like it, but as a kid I loved it. It was pretty much sci-fi time travel GTA during an alien invasion.

Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy, a great squad based RTS based on Starship Troopers. it had some control issues but was great fun and had an expansive XP and levelling system for you soldiers, getting a lot of new gear (including mech suits).

I can't remember it's name, think it was big red racing or something. It was one of the first PC games I played in teh early-mid 90's. It is probably absolutely awful now but I remember having a lot of fun with it. Even had boat and helicopter races.