Hidden Gems: The Games that Seemingly Only You Played

[WindHero]

Despite hearing enough about it on the net or in publications, I have never met anyone in person who has played Donsetsu Monogatari, AKA Cave Story. I think that's saying a lot, considering it's available as:
Freeware PC game,
Revamped version on Steam,
DSiWare,
WiiWare,
3D version on Nintendo eShop,
and Cave Story 3D for 3DS.
C'mon, this has to be one of the best games developed by a single person. As a programmer myself, this game is a huge inspiration for me and testament that "yes, you CAN make a great game on your own." It may not be the best title ever, but it still kept me around for 3 playthroughs.

 

[finalark]

I once played Cave Story for a grand total of twenty minutes years and years ago. I was a lot more jaded back then so I probably dismissed it as overhyped and average.

Maybe I should try it again some day.

 

[Spak]

I once played Cave Story for a grand total of twenty minutes years and years ago. I was a lot more jaded back then so I probably dismissed it as overhyped and average.

Maybe I should try it again some day.

Cave Story was the first Indie game I ever played, so I love it not only because I think it's a great game, but also because of nostalgia. I would definitely recommend trying it again, as it's one of my favorite platform shooters.

 

[WindHero]

I once played Cave Story for a grand total of twenty minutes years and years ago. I was a lot more jaded back then so I probably dismissed it as overhyped and average.

Maybe I should try it again some day.

The number of games that have hooked me within 20 minutes are painfully few, so yeah, you probably were pretty jaded. Cave Story is a little slow at the start because you have so little firepower. When you start getting more weapons, you'll probably like it better.

 

[Twewy]

Cave Story is legit one of my favorite games ever. It's hard to buy a free game twice, but I somehow did.

 

[Spak]

Cave Story is legit one of my favorite games ever. It's hard to buy a free game twice, but I somehow did.

DSi and Wii VC, unless you count that you can buy it on the 3DS as well, transfer a copy to the Wii U VC, or buy Cave Story 3D.

Free on computers (which is what I feel is the best way to run it), costs the real Munny on Nintendo consoles.

 

[Twewy]

Wrong. Bought it Wii VC version launch and Cave Story + on PC.

 

[Spak]

Wrong. Bought it Wii VC version launch and Cave Story + on PC.

Oh. I didn't know Cave Story + was a thing. Thanks for the correction.

 

[Pachinkosam]

Incredible crisis awesome games its a very difficult mini games it was licensed by Titus its just wow.Sad a lot of people don't know this game.

 

[BlazingNexx]

I don't know if it was THAT popular, but Flingsmash for the Wii was a great title. Awesome motion control, and did it's job smoothly. I also liked Psychonauts, which I know that almost nobody played. It was so perfect- The voice acting, the characters, the story- it was muy impresionante.

 

[WindHero]

I never played either of those, but now that I think about it, FlingSmash was one of the only Wii titles to use the Wii Motion Plus controller. It was a shame that the improved controller came around too late and didn't get utilized in more games. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword certainly was worth it, but I can still count the number of games using WMP on two hands.

Another somewhat unnoticed game is Antipole on DSiWare. It wasn't amazing, but it still had solid level design worked around the ability to reverse gravity for about 5 or 10 seconds.

 

[Iceweasel]

I don't know if it was THAT popular, but Flingsmash for the Wii was a great title. Awesome motion control, and did it's job smoothly. I also liked Psychonauts, which I know that almost nobody played. It was so perfect- The voice acting, the characters, the story- it was muy impresionante.

Psychonauts has gotten a bit of recognition lately, and it's not hard to see why. I liked almost everything about it except the actual gameplay, but then again I generally don't care for 3D platformers, especially PS1/2-era 3D action-adventure platformers. A classification I made up, because it's really, really bizarre how many 3D platformers made during the late 90s/early 2000s share so many design elements, and only slightly less bizarre that nobody else has come up with a name for this bizarrely common subgenre.

 

[Minato]

I forgot if I or anyone here has posted this, but my pick is Intelligent Qube. Such a wonderful puzzle game that offered so many stages. I don't think the sequel ever made it here, but the first game was great and addicting. A fun concept that had the novelty of early 3D where you got to see a lot of cubes in 3D space looking neat lol

Anyone that is slightly interested in it or puzzles should check it out.

 

[finalark]

I forgot if I or anyone here has posted this, but my pick is Intelligent Qube. Such a wonderful puzzle game that offered so many stages. I don't think the sequel ever made it here, but the first game was great and addicting. A fun concept that had the novelty of early 3D where you got to see a lot of cubes in 3D space looking neat lol

Anyone that is slightly interested in it or puzzles should check it out.

I remember this game. I rented it when I was really young and I remember it being oddly atmospheric and kinda horrific.

I should try it again.

 

[Wreckarooni]

Overblood.

OMG....

Overblood

It's the epitome of "So bad it's good"

Just watch the super replay of it on Youtube.

The music is actually kind of creepy and memorable, so is the lame story and characters.

 

[Pachinkosam]

No one can stop Mr. domino get puzzle games and a great soundtrack also.

 

[radio silent]

I forgot if I or anyone here has posted this, but my pick is Intelligent Qube. Such a wonderful puzzle game that offered so many stages. I don't think the sequel ever made it here, but the first game was great and addicting. A fun concept that had the novelty of early 3D where you got to see a lot of cubes in 3D space looking neat lol

Anyone that is slightly interested in it or puzzles should check it out.

I remember having this on like, a demo disc or something. It always creeped me out, but I also find myself thinking I should go back to it one of these days.

 

[KevN くコ:彡]

Dude, this game has got to be one of my favorites of all time, let alone on Dreamcast. Sure, things like the combat sucked, but the setting, the monsters and characters, the humor, freaking love it.

Four high school students receive invitations to the horror theme park, "ILLBLEED". And if they survive, they receive a prize of one hundred million smackaroos.

This is a survival horror game, but it is not like RE or Silent Hill. While yes, you do fight monsters, but that is not the main focus the game. Instead, you have to find and avoid traps throughout the level, each with there own set of crazy traps and shock events that can, literally, scare you to death.

Also, this is done by the same guys who made Blue Stinger, a Dreamcast launch game.

 

[Lythium]

I remember playing Illbleed a very long time ago, but couldn't remember what it was called. Neat!

- The original Thief trilogy
I remember when this was released on Steam and it immediately grabbed my attention. A lot of people might know this from a recent reboot.

The third Thief has some great moments, but I don't know if that game is very good, aha.

 

[allison]

ZZT, one of Epic Games' first releases, awhile before Unreal. ZZT is highly recommended to anyone interested in level design but not programming. And if you aren't interested in designing, a huge collection of great action adventures is at your fingertips.

Plus, it's free, and easy to find online.

 

[RetroBro]

Wiz'N'Liz is one of my favorite Sega games ever, and.. pretty much no one has heard of it.

I just recently did a review on it for those of you who remember it. It was so much fun! FRANTICALLY SAVING WABBITS!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kEKuJRdOwk

 

[WondrousMoose]

As much love as it gets online, and as popular as Isaac is as a requested Smash character, I've only known one other person who actually played Golden Sun. Same goes for Jet Force Gemini, which was my all-time favorite N64 game back in the day.

As for true obscurity, I'm sure no one here played the Goof Troop SNES game. Definitely one of my favorite old school co-op games.

 

[finalark]

As for true obscurity, I'm sure no one here played the Goof Troop SNES game. Definitely one of my favorite old school co-op games.

Nobody has ever played it, but thanks to these guys a lot of people certainly know about it.

Although on the note of Golden Sun, I think it might be the area you live in. A good number of my friends and other people I know have played at least one of the games and a surprising amount have played all three.

 

[Wreckarooni]

As much love as it gets online, and as popular as Isaac is as a requested Smash character, I've only known one other person who actually played Golden Sun. Same goes for Jet Force Gemini, which was my all-time favorite N64 game back in the day.

As for true obscurity, I'm sure no one here played the Goof Troop SNES game. Definitely one of my favorite old school co-op games.

Woah that's crazy for me to hear cause when I was growing up with the GBA all anyone could talk about for a while was how awesome Golden Sun was since it was one of the very few original RPGs for the system (actually at the time it was one of the very few truly great games available so early). I love that game so much, especially the puzzles and music.

 

[radio silent]

As much love as it gets online, and as popular as Isaac is as a requested Smash character, I've only known one other person who actually played Golden Sun. Same goes for Jet Force Gemini, which was my all-time favorite N64 game back in the day.

As for true obscurity, I'm sure no one here played the Goof Troop SNES game. Definitely one of my favorite old school co-op games.

I have a lot of vague memories of playing Jet Force Gemini when I was very young. Part of me wants to go back and play it, but I know it'll leave a bad taste in my mouth because it's an N64 game.

As for Goof Troop, I didn't play it when it came out (since I wasn't even born), but I have played it recently. It's surprisingly well-made. Game Grumps is responsible for bringing it to my attention, though I would've come across it sooner or later in my eternal hunt for any decent co-op games I can get my hands on.

 

[WondrousMoose]

Nobody has ever played it, but thanks to these guys a lot of people certainly know about it.

Although on the note of Golden Sun, I think it might be the area you live in. A good number of my friends and other people I know have played at least one of the games and a surprising amount have played all three.

Game Grumps played Goof Troop? Well, there goes some of my hipster cred.

 

[Iceweasel]

Game Grumps played Goof Troop? Well, there goes some of my hipster cred.

Nah blood, it's all good. You did it before it was cool.

 

[Zunoa]

 

[Twewy]

As for true obscurity, I'm sure no one here played the Goof Troop SNES game. Definitely one of my favorite old school co-op games.

It was a boring day in ITF, sitting next to my bro. We had already been in our other computer class, and were basically sitting there after we completed the work in five minutes that we already knew because, again, other computer class. I decide to load this website that lets you play emulated games in the browser together (Can't say what), and I convinced him into playing Goof Troop.

What a fun thirty minutes that was. We also discovered Sunset Riders, which people should really play because Cormano is the most BAMF Mexican ever. Seriously, play Sunset Riders. I better not be the only one here who's played Sunset Riders. This may be Hidden Gems but Sunset Riders should be, like, mandatory playing just for Cormano alone.

 

[RetroBro]

Game grump's goof troop playthrough was hysterical! Miss the good ol' Jon days

 

[KingofPhantoms]

I'm not sure how much publicity the Opposing Force expansion for Half-Life got. It just comes off to me as being a more obscure game in the series and it''s lore being a more obscure part of the storyline. Same goes for it's other official expansions.

Like the original Half-Life though, there's no doubting it's a truly excellent game.

 

[Twewy]

I thought OF was talked about a lot in the HL community?

 

[KingofPhantoms]

I'll admit the Half-Life fans that are really into the series have at least a fair amount of knowledge of it, heck the game's even got a fanmade mod sequel. Still, I've definitely been able to tell it doesn't quite match the fame and publicity of the first one and it's sequel episodes. I suppose it only makes sense though.

As long as I've mentioned it, I have to say it's a shame the new alien race of enemies in those game were exclusive to just the one expansion, having been created as sorts of experimental enemies by Gearbox, which I believe ceased working on Half-Life games after the era of the Goldsrc engine ended.

 

[Maruken]

I just skimmed through to the end so correct me if I missed this.

Scaler for the PS2.

I loved this game. It was like Pikachu's second coming. Loved all the transformations and boss fights, but kinda sad that I haven't seen a sequel.

 

[Mastergabe2000]

 

[Kirbymeister]

Terranigma & Flashback (1992, both SNES) are pretty good, though they're criminally obscure.
a thankfully-much-less obscure game would be the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, which had its last game in 2002.
(Good news though: it's getting a 2015 re-boot!)

 

[Lily♫]

I swear, nobody has any clue what this game is. It's one of my favorite PS2 games.
It's a spinoff for the Ape Escape series that's much more of a party-based game. I'm not the best at explaining things, so I'd recommend looking up a video.

 

[Deleted member]

best game I ever played at the time
it's a shame that my sister's friend ran it over with his bike

I swear, nobody has any clue what this game is. It's one of my favorite PS2 games.
It's a spinoff for the Ape Escape series that's much more of a party-based game. I'm not the best at explaining things, so I'd recommend looking up a video.

I remember seeing a game like this years ago, it used the playstation EyeToy...

 

[Lily♫]

I remember seeing a game like this years ago, it used the playstation EyeToy...

Are you thinking of the playstation move ape escape game..?

 

[Spak]

The only EyeToy game that I remember is AntiGrav. I had never seen motion controls before that point in time, so I was astounded when my friend got an EyeToy on Christmas 2004. It wasn't precise at all and I had trouble with it reading my tiny seven-year-old body, but it was a blast.