30 Days of Video Games

[JezMM]

Wild 9

Wild 9 was a game I never actually owned, I rented it from the videoshop and it was really really awesome... until I got to a puzzle I couldn't beat, so it was one of those weekends where you rent a game which sorta feels ruined. But the game was quite amazing from what I did play. It's a side scrolling platformer, you played as this guy who had what can only be described as an electric snare which grabs enemies and you can then plunge them into traps/hazards or smash them into walls.

One side character I remember was some guy who stood completely still and wobbled... eventually he would explode!

Wexcellent choice right there.

Edited February 14, 2012 by JezMM

[#AR]

Day 29 - WHATS YO MOST OBSCURE VIDYA

I had to choose something, right?

Project Justice - CAPCOM

I was hoping that I wasn't gonna be the only one to think of Rival Schools haha

[T-Min]

Most games are obscure for a reason: they are mediocre, they suck, or they're soul-crushing abominations never to be experienced by man. Klonoa, as well as the other games in its series, is the opposite of all of those things.

It's actually a remake of the first Klonoa game for the PS1. It's a fairly simplistic platformer, but its gameplay style is actually very unique. Klonoa has a ring that allows him to shoot wind bullets that capture enemies and then allows you to throw that enemy in any direction. This is something you will be using often for platforming (as you can do double jumps off of enemies) and puzzle solving, and there are even certain enemies that do other things such as allowing you to fly a short distance or causing explosions. Yes, it's pretty short and easy, but even at release it was sold for only thirty bucks. It's a very fun platformer and it's a shame more people haven't played it.

[Solly]

Most Obscure Game.

I've played a lot of games that aren't really popular or well-received by any stretch, but they've usually got some big cult following to make up for that. I tried to think of games I don't see people talk about anymore, and a few Sega Genesis ones popped into my mind. But then I remembered that one of those Genesis games had a sequel on the original Xbox.

...yeah.

If you've never heard of Toejam and Earl, they're two aliens from the planet Funkatron. They find themselves on Earth a few times. Earthlings are un-funky squares, so they just want to get away from them. That's the extent of that.

The first game is really unique. It hasn't aged well by any means, but it's really fun if you've got a friend to play with. You have to walk around and explore randomly-generated levels to collected your broken ship pieces. You can't attack enemies, but you can open presents- randomly generated power-ups or power-downs that can aid you on your journey.

Toejam and Earl III: Mission to Earth is a lot like the first game. It's just not as fun to play, it doesn't improve nearly enough, it involves going back to old levels if you've missed stuff, and you have an attack which changes the way it's played. It's also got REALLY ANNOYING VOICE ACTING AND CHARACTERS. I mean people make fun of Sonic by saying he's struggling to stay relevant, but Toejam and Earl's efforts were funkin' pathetic. Get ready for a lot of HORRIBLE RAPPING ALIENS, YO.

There are 3 reasons you probably haven't played this.

1) It was only on the original Xbox.

2) Toejam and Earl passed people by.

3)The game fucking blows.

And there we have it. This game is the most obscure one I've played that comes to the top of my head.

I can't believe I've done 29 of these...

[Zany Mallet Maniac]

Probably would be 'Alien Crusher' for the Turbografx. It was basically a pinball game. Pretty bizarre looking. I really don't have much to say about it. I haven't played it since my parents made me give away the game and its console all those years ago when the PS2 came out.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Zany Mallet Maniac

[Tornado]

Probably would be 'Alien Crusher' for the Turbografx. It was basically a pinball game. Pretty bizarre looking. I really don't have much to say about it. I haven't played it since my parents made me give away the game and its console all those years ago when the PS2 came out.

Some info:

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/crushpinball/crushpinball.htm

[Shoot em up Capbusta]

Most obscure game...well the only thing that comes to mind is iggy's reckin balls for the N64. I've posted this already but this was a pretty odd game when I look back on it. It's about these ball characters racing to get to the finish line, kinda more like a racing platform game where every character has a grapple of some kind to help propel them to the finish line. The characters were very strange also ranging from an eye-ball to a guy with just teeth that fling you around with his tongue. Yeah very strange game.

[Gregzilla]

Day 29 - Most obscure game you've played

I got two, but one of them is more of an activity program than a game. I'll start with the more game-y one.

Chameleon Twist 2 - A sorta generic N64 platformer, with the main gimmick being your character's ability to control the length and direction of his tongue. The controls can be pretty iffy and frustrating at times, but I still find it pretty enjoyable. I really enjoy the music too. I can't say it's a great game, but if you reeeeeally like 3D platformers then you might enjoy this one.

Nickelodeon Toon Twister 3D - This one provided me countless hours of enjoyment in my younger days. It's basically a little movie making program where you take characters, props, and locations from Nick shows to make your own stories. Nothing much to say about it, just a fun little game that lets kids be creative.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Gregzilla14

[Double Agent Motobug]

Oh man! It just occurred to me that I could've mentioned Sonic Shuffle in my post! xD Also, I've played a surprising amount of these games....!

[Noir]

I have this loser and his overabundance of ancient, obscure games to make me play to thank for my entry today.

Swift said everything worth saying better than I can really. One thing that's interesting to note is that I've only met people who either don't know the game or absolutely adore it and then there's me being super special right in the middle. It's a bit of a charming game and is amusing at any rate. It's nothing really special beyond being so unknown (despite being made by Disney and having its own short-lived cartoon), though.

[Solly]

Day 29 - Most obscure game you've played

I got two, but one of them is more of an activity program than a game. I'll start with the more game-y one.

Chameleon Twist 2 - A sorta generic N64 platformer, with the main gimmick being your character's ability to control the length and direction of his tongue. The controls can be pretty iffy and frustrating at times, but I still find it pretty enjoyable. I really enjoy the music too. I can't say it's a great game, but if you reeeeeally like 3D platformers then you might enjoy this one.

Oh damn. My bro and I rented this one from Blockbuster a couple of times. We played a lot of the first one too. Can't believe I let it slip my mind.

[Nintendoga]

Day 29 Darkseed 2 (Somewhere in the world it's still Day 29, so this counts )

I was about to fall asleep, when a thought jolted through my brain and said "30 DAYS BADGES!!!" I jolted up, turned on my computer, and immediately went to this site. I am a completionist whore and I must get that badge! But I digress,

Darkseed 2 as stated a couple days earlier, is a very weird and physiological game. The story is somewhat confusing yet interesting, and the characters seem to have (somewhat) of a backstory to them. Does that make it good? Hell no.

This pathetic excuse of a game is sickening. The gameplay is just downright boring, the characters (no matter how developed they are) are just irritating and boring, and the game just thrives on "Hey, ya missed pal! But we're not gonna tell you till later in the game so you have to do everything all over again! WHOOPS!" Moments like these just frustrate the hell out of me. You guys think Sonic games are trial and error? Hell, this game right here is the very definition of Trial and Error. Look it up in the dictionary, and you'll find a picture of this game.

It's a point and click adventure game, only you have to talk and inspect every god damn little thing before moving on, or else you'll fuck up and do everything all over again from the beginning. Oh did I mention this game takes at least 10 hours to beat? So if you fuck up let's say right at the end, right near the final boss, you have to do everything all over again. I'm pretty sure this game is the reason GameFAQs was born.

I hate the game, yet again I for some strange reason like the protagonist of the game, Mike Dawson. He's got that.....charm ya know? Sometimes I dunno weather to thank or hate Retsupurae for reminding me of this horrible excuse of a game.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Mike Dawson

[Meow]

Gonna have to throw my most obscure game out here as MISCHIEF MAKERS.

I am sure I've played a fair share of other obscure games, but this is the one that sticks out in my mind everytime. I consider it criminal that it never got played as much as it should have, or recognized as much as it should, or even gets any sort of attention whatsoever from Treasure. This is a fantastic game with quirky characters and a totally messed up plot, but I mean those in the best of ways. The mechanics and gameplay are nice and fresh and Marina is the COOLEST EVER OKAY.

Yeah.

Mischief Makers.

SHAKE SHAKE.

[Octarine]

Quest: Brian's Journey.

So apparently a fair number of people are familiar with Quest 64, since it was one of about three RPGs to ever exist on the N64. I've never played it myself, but... yeah. This is the GBC version of that. I got it as a birthday present from some cousins who I don't like very much.

It's been so long since I've played this game that I really can't say much about it; the combat system was unorthodox and the story was relatively bare-bones, but I don't recall much beyond that. I certainly can't offer a real opinion of its quality... I finished it and thought it was okay at the time, but I didn't have a lot of experience with games at that point, so I suppose it could well have been awful (or great, though that seems unlikely) and I just didn't know any better. I'll have to take it for a spin again one of these days, I guess.

...the one thing I'll never forget about this game is the totally misleading and frankly nonsensical blurb on the back of the box. It talked about various plot details that weren't in the game at all, all in the tone of a pushy, totally radical early-nineties commercial. It was surreal to read that and then boot up the game and discover that the main character was a bland, mute monk. I really want to read it again, but I can't find an image of it online and I probably don't own my own box anymore.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Octarine

[Shane]

Edited February 14, 2012 by XD375

[Goldenlink64]

Day 29 - Most Obscure Game You've Played

IGGY'S RECKIN BALLS DUDE! THIS GAME IS, LIKE, RADICAL DUD- er, um... AHEM. Sorry.

So, like, Ok. This game is bizarre as hell. Hell, when I first played this as a kid, I was actually off put by the game's weirdness and refused to play the game (kids, amirite?)

In the game, you play as talking bouncy heads who can reach platforms and higher/lower paths with their...tentacles? o.O (Technically, they're wrecking balls, but I still think they look like tentacles...or something... I donno...). This game is essentially a racing platformer, which is a pretty cool concept I'll admit (it's kinda like Sonic Rivals, except you're stuck in ball mode...forever).

The presentation is incredibly narmy, but it's in a cartoony way (like, totally dude...), it can be a bit off putting, but if you can get past that, the game isn't THAT bad....ok, it isn't THAT great, but it isn't necessarily bad.

Unfortunately, I never beat this game because it requires a Controller Memory Pack to save and I could never get past the stupidly narmy presentation of the game. Now that quite a few years have passed since I played this game however, I might try giving it another chance and see if it's any good.

...and the Runner Ups are:

BURN IN HELL BURN IN HELL BURN IN HELL AND DIE!

I don't have much to say about Rugrats: Scavenger Hunt other than it's an extremely underwhelming Mario Party Cash-in wanabe. This game is definitely in my top worst games I ever played. I remember when I got this game when I was at a naive age of of 10-12ish, and I had 100% this game in one day. No dedication actually required, because this Mario Party wanabe has only 3 Boards, no minigames, and the last "board" is confusing as hell because they decide to change the rules, AND NOT EXPLAIN WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO DO!

The only reason I keep this "game" is for potential Let's Play Lulzery to make in the future once I get a capturing device. But for now Rugrats, you're sitting RIGHT next to Dark Rift.

Runner Up Number Two:

CAN I HAS 3DS REMAKE/SEQUEL PLEZ? I MISS THIS SERIES!

Depending on the person, this series might not be THAT obscure, but I highly doubt many people will be remembering this franchise. For those who never played it, here's the basic summery: Picture Mario Kart (with the Box Power Ups and cartoony atmosphere), but now with Snowboards and Kids with really really big noses and really really spiky hair. You can do tricks, buy snowboards, customize said snow boards...and do other things I can't remember at the moment. It was a fun racing game at the time, it could have used more racing tracks, but aside from that, I thought it was pretty fun. I have no idea what Snowboard Kids 2 is like, that's yet ANOTHER game I need to play someday in the near future.

Oh yeah, Glover and Chameleon Twist deserve honorable mentions too, but I see they've already been covered or at LEAST mentioned... (and I don't want to turn this into a list...if I haven't already... ). Oh Nintendo 64, you're just FILLED with Obscure games, aren't you?

[Marcello]

GoldenLink: Snowboard Kids got a DS sequel. I haven't played it myself, but it doesn't looks as good:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SBK:_Snowboard_Kids

MOST OBSCURE VIDYA

DISNEY'S EXTREME SKATE ADVENTURE

Anyone recognize this little number? It was a spin-off in the Tony Hawk series of skate games, back when they were the shit.

It's also worth mentioning that it was released in 2003, at the tail-end of the "Skater Punk" music phase (Smash Mouth and all that) and the game's 13 song playlist reflects this (save for some out-of-place Li'l Romeo-- remember him?!)

The game played like the other Tony Hawk skating games, except you played as either a child or a character from Toy Story, The Lion Kind, or Tarzan. The characters all play the same, except they have slightly different tricks. Like I said, the playlist has 13 songs on it. And God, does it get repetitive. Especially when you turn off the rap and weird foreign shit and end up with 4 or 5 songs that just loop. It didn't bother me at first, but I'm sure I could sing all these songs by heart. Not willingly.

Yes, it has more than enough flaws to go around, but where this game really succeeds is the crazy levels. You can skateboard in (off the top of my head) Andy's room (you're toy-sized,) on a pirate ship, on Pride Rock, in the jungle, in an oasis, in the Elephant Graveyard, in Pizza Planet, in the fictional "Ollywood," or in the Fortress of the Evil Emperor Zurg. That last one was always my favorite; you can launch off of a speed boost and fall into a bottomless pit.

That's not even all of them. These stages feel gigantic, but familiar. They are very true to the movies that they're pulled from. For example, Andy's Room has that cardboard saloon and everything from the first Toy Story. Zurg's Fortress has most of the areas we see in the opening of Toy Story 2, but with more added.

There isn't much more to say beyond that. The game, as I said, is as solid as a Tony Hawk game from that time. While this is good and bad, it makes its own identity (also in good and bad ways) in other areas.

Give it a try, it's pretty fun.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Marcellove

[Red Cap]

The most obscure game I've ever played would have to be Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil. Like most of the other Klonoa games, barely anyone has this, or has even played this game. Not sure why though, because it's a fun and quirky platformer with an interesting formula and a good plot that doesn't take itself too seriously, though it is a tad on the short side. But there's several reasons to go back to each level once you've beaten it, assuming you haven't already gotten everything in the level the first time.

It's a shame that the Klonoa series isn't more popular, because the games are really good.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Red Cap-Blue Spikes

[Lucky]

Day #29 - Most Obscure Game You've Played

There was a couple I had in mind, but I decided to go with the one that I can hardly even find any info about online. Because you can't get much more obscure than that.

There were three Dare to Dream games released for the PC in 1993, and an interesting little fact is that these were the first things Cliff Bleszinski done with Epic Games back in their Shareware days. You're put in the shoes of Tyler Norris, a ten year-old boy who's been going through some tough times and started having some rather odd dreams... but it's set to get stranger when his best friend discovers the same Unicorn-shaped key that he saw in his dream just the night before. It turns out this key is an old artifact and soon Tyler finds himself trapped in his own mind, and you have to get him out through a series of point-and-click puzzles.

Each part seemed to get more surreal than the last, and what I always loved was the fact that it really did capture the feeling of a really weird dream. You know those dreams you have where something happens that would be completely ridiculous in real life, but you just go along with it while you're asleep and it doesn't really feel out of the ordinary? That's basically what the puzzles are like in Dare to Dream. Some of the solutions make you go "Well how was I supposed to figure THAT one out?!" and then you realise that... in the sense of a dream, it does kind of make that bizzare sort of sense. It's definitely thought-provoking and really encourages you to try out everything you can.

In the final episode, you're thrown into the darkest depths of Tyler's psyche and I seem to remember some of it being quite unsettling... where the rest of the game captured the feeling of a surreal dream, this one puts you right in the middle of a hellish nightmare. I've not played through the games in a long, long time, but I don't remember how it ended and I'm pretty sure it's because I stopped part of the way through this one because it creeped me out when I was a kid. Not sure why, but I remember coming to a screen that made me turn the game off pretty fast...

I would have said they're worth checking out, but a quick eBay search didn't come up with much and it seems like they're very hard to get a hold of nowadays. Shame, because they were quite interesting games.

[Cola]

DAY 29 KINDA AN OBSCURE GAME YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE HEARD OF

MARBLE MADNESS - NES

Well, Marble Madness is an isometric marble... game? Um...

Your goal is to get to the end of the level by rolling downhill, but what I've played is kinda awkward. I suppose I could try it out and play it more, but...

Slopes.

IT HAS ROLLING PHYSICS SO ALL YOU CLASSIC SONIC DOUCHEBAGS SHOULD PLAY THIS GAME

also it has 2 player

also also it was ported by rare

Edited February 14, 2012 by Cola

[turbojet]

So let me get this straight. I am a female cyborg with green hair and the letter Z at the end of my product line that gets lost on a planet inhabited by fugly weird looking aliens whose whole world is made of gems that power me and I have to save a professor because the bad fugly aliens keep kidnapping him? What. This game was just obscure in design and gameplay. For one, Marina shook and threw things at people. That was her power. And the aliens were weird as fuck.

[Sonic the Hedgehog in 3D]

So, whenever my family go out on camping trips or in a caravan, we always will play Pass the Pigs at some point. It's a fun game that never gets fustrating with "OMG U CANT DO THAT" because the rules are so simple. Naturally, when I saw there was a DS game I wanted to try it out and fuck this game. While the rules are so simple you can't cheat, the game so blantantly cheats, always giving it the higher scoring rolls and you the shitter "1point" to "miss a go" to "you lost" (although, it's possible to get higher scoring ones). I'll stick to the proper game, thanks. I wish I could find this game, now as this may just be my bitter memories of always losing

[Random Rhyme]

Day #29 - Most Obscure Game You've Played

I was young and bored. So while going through my fathers computer I found this game.

It wasnt that great but computers were a new thing to me back then so playing a game on it amazed me enough. You basically move from tile to tile solving puzzles and such. I played it mainly because if you died enough you got to skip to the next stage so being that young and unexperienced with puzzle games around those years that was a great feature.

Edited February 14, 2012 by Random Rhyme 3rd Verse

[Phantomime]

This counts as obscure, right?

I mean, it's a tie-in game, and those are notoriously bad, right?

Well in this case, you'd be somewhat wrong. This was actually a pretty good game at the time, especially for someone like young me, AKA a huge Spongebob fan back then.

It's full of references to the show. The levels are based off of locations from it, but much more fleshed out. As a kid, this was the closest I'd ever come to actually being in Spongebob, so that was incredible.

It hasn't aged perfectly, and some of the level design choices are questionable, and the controls and mechanics don't work quite right (looking at you Mermalair ball puzzle), but it was overall pretty good from what I remember. I think I still have it around somewhere. Maybe I'll pull it out sometime for old time's sake.

[JezMM]

Day #29 - Most Obscure Game You've Played

I was young and bored. So while going through my fathers computer I found this game.

It wasnt that great but computers were a new thing to me back then so playing a game on it amazed me enough. You basically move from tile to tile solving puzzles and such. I played it mainly because if you died enough you got ot skip to the next stage so being that young and unexperienced with puzzle games around those years that was a great feature.

HOLY CRAP. I played this! Thank you, had you not brought it up that would have been lost forever at the bottom of the vast sea of my memories.