What's your "Hidden Gem"? Game discussion

[ClassicGMR]

I'm old. Let's get that out right away! Aladdin's Castle is like a unicorn for most people these days. :)

I remember walking into Aladdin's Castle and throwing my token in line to play Street Fighter II, dropping coins into the classics like Qix, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, etc.

However... I'm more interested to hear about that gem you played that wasn't as popular, didn't draw a crowd or was just so much fun but only seemed like it was fun to you. What game did you gravitate to that others just didn't find attractive?

Mine was Mania Challenge. I played Mat Mania/Exciting Hour originally but Coco Savage turned off all my friends (I wasn't a fan either).
"He's too hard."
"You can't beat the guy."
"The game sucks."

Mania Challenge streamlined the game, gave you 3 opponents that got progressively harder ... but you could do REVERSALS!! Oh the coins that game has taken from my grasp! Personal best is 728,000 points at Funspot on my last trip. Hoping I can break 1 million at some point in my life.

I'd like to try some stuff I never played before. Doesn't have to be an arcade game either. Everyone had consoles! Atari and Intellivision through PS4 and XBOne. Let's talk about games!!

[gomisensei]

Yes to Exciting Hour/Mania Challenge. Here are a FEW on my list...

Bagman/Super Bagman, Assault, Black Tiger, Rygar, Blasteroids, Willow, Trog, Twin Eagle, Twin Cobra and Klax have been on my all-time arcade favorite list for over 25 years.

[mediamogul]

@classicgmr

Here's a list of my favorite hidden gems that I made a while back.

• Apple II: 'Mystery House' (First computer game to have graphics)
• Atari 800: 'The Goonies' (DataEast puzzle platformer. Very different than Konami's version)
• Atari 2600: 'Dolphin' (Unique tone-based sonar mechanic. Player has to listen to where he's going)
• Atari 5200: 'Last Starfighter' (Atari prototype based on the film. Highly ambitious for the time)
• Atari ST: 'Oids' (A mashup of 'Asteroids' and 'Choplifter')
• Colecovision: 'War Games' (Based on 'Global Thermonuclear War' from the movie 'War Games')
• Commodore64: 'Space Taxi' (The original 'Crazy Taxi'... in space)
• Daphne: 'Us Vs Them' (Laserdisc shooter and a brilliant send-up of B-Movie Schlock)
• DOS: 'Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective 1-3' (Three of the best Sherlock Holmes games ever made)
• Famicom: 'Sweet Home' (Horror survival JRPG by Capcom and the basis for 'Resident Evil')
• Gameboy: 'Square Deal' (Falling puzzle game where 52 cards are eliminated in rows based on Poker hands)
• GameBoy Advance: 'Drill Dozer' (It loses something without the force feedback, but still amazing)
• GameBoy Color: 'Shantae' (It's become a little more recognized recently, but still underrated in my book)
• Infocom Z-machine: 'The Lurking Horror' (Based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. One of two zmachine sound games)
• Intellivision: 'Dracula' (Rise from your grave, feast on your victims and be home by dawn)
• Arcade: 'Ninja Baseball Batman' (An extremely bizarre and gorgeous beat 'em up)
• Neo Geo: 'Wind Jammers' (A mashup of competitive frisbee and 'PONG' with beatiful graphics)
• NES: 'Summer Carnival '92: Recca' (Hands down, the best schmup on the NES. A programming miracle)
• Nintendo DS: 'Retro Game Master' (Simulates every aspect of what it was like to want, get and play games in the 1980s.)
• ScummVM: 'Castle of Dr. Brain' and 'Island of Dr, Brain' (Series of brain games in a unique story-driven presentation)
• Sega CD: 'Penn and Teller's Smoke and Mirrors' (Unreleased Penn & Teller game that brings their routine and humor into game form)
• Sega Game Gear: 'Shinobi II: The Silent Fury' (A mashup of 'Shinobi' and 'MegaMan' exclusive to the Game Gear)
• Sega Genesis: 'Battle Golfer Yui' (JRPG centered around... Golf)
• Sega Master System: 'Sonic the Hedgehog', 'Sonic the Hedgehog II' and 'Sonic Chaos' (Completely different games from the Genesis/Megadrive versions)
• Sony Playstation: 'Lego Racers' (Kart racing game that lets you build your own kart out of Lego pieces)
• Super Nintendo: 'Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium' (Simply the best retro wrestling game out there)
• TurboGrafx-16: 'Military Madness' (Turn-based tactical warfare... on the moon)
• TurboGrafx-CD: 'Gate of Thunder' (Little known, but serious contender for greatest schmup of all time)

[space cadet]

Spent a lot of coin at Aladdin castle as well!

[simonster]

@mediamogul
Penn and Teller's Smoke and Mirrors: You can literally spend hours on "Desert Bus" in that game!

[ClassicGMR]

@simonster said in What's your "Hidden Gem"? Game discussion:

@mediamogul
Penn and Teller's Smoke and Mirrors: You can literally spend hours on "Desert Bus" in that game!

I have never heard of this. Will have to look into it. :)

There's not one game on Media's list I have ever tried. There's something to do on vacation while the family is asleep!

[mediamogul]

@classicgmr said in What's your "Hidden Gem"? Game discussion:

There's something to do on vacation while the family is asleep!

And if the power goes out there's always shaving cream on the hand and a feather under the nose.

[cylum]

Just a couple:

Spawn for SNES
Time Stalkers for Dreamcast

[ruthless4u]

@classicgmr said in What's your "Hidden Gem"? Game discussion:

I'm old. Let's get that out right away! Aladdin's Castle is like a unicorn for most people these days. :)

I remember walking into Aladdin's Castle and throwing my token in line to play Street Fighter II, dropping coins into the classics like Qix, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, etc.

However... I'm more interested to hear about that gem you played that wasn't as popular, didn't draw a crowd or was just so much fun but only seemed like it was fun to you. What game did you gravitate to that others just didn't find attractive?

Mine was Mania Challenge. I played Mat Mania/Exciting Hour originally but Coco Savage turned off all my friends (I wasn't a fan either).
"He's too hard."
"You can't beat the guy."
"The game sucks."

Mania Challenge streamlined the game, gave you 3 opponents that got progressively harder ... but you could do REVERSALS!! Oh the coins that game has taken from my grasp! Personal best is 728,000 points at Funspot on my last trip. Hoping I can break 1 million at some point in my life.

I'd like to try some stuff I never played before. Doesn't have to be an arcade game either. Everyone had consoles! Atari and Intellivision through PS4 and XBOne. Let's talk about games!!

Aladdins Castle, that name brings back some memories...

Not Arcade games but back in the day 2 I loved were

Firepower( Amiga)
Campaign ( Amiga)

[space cadet]

Circus caper Nes

[Loggahead]

A hidden gem I tripped across in Mame that I have never seen in an arcade is Elevator Action Returns I loved the first Elevator Action by Taito and played a lot of it but never knew there was a sequel.

At any rate, I love it too. The graphics and animation are beautiful and the game is a blast to play.

[Clyde]

@loggahead Same here, I only learned about EAR last year since my recurred passion for arcade games led me to reading and watching everything about the topic. :) I didn't play it yet, but it definitely looks gorgeous and like fun.

[ClassicGMR]

@loggahead I just tried E.A.R. in MAME. I love it! It's a much better Elevator Action than ... well ... Elevator Action! :)

SaGa Frontier for the Playstation was a very good RPG yet very, very few seem to remember it even existed.

[Clyde]

@classicgmr said in What's your "Hidden Gem"? Game discussion:

@loggahead I just tried E.A.R. in MAME. I love it! It's a much better Elevator Action than ... well ... Elevator Action! :)

Just like Crazy Climber 2 is much better than Crazy Climber 1 with no apparent drawbacks other than the latter's historical value.

[madmodder123]

I don't think these games are super popular, but they are some of my favorite PS1 games that no one talks about:
Shipwreckers (Good multiplayer too!)
The Legend of Dragoon
Vandal Hearts
Future Cop LAPD (Also has fun Co-op + VS)

[jonnykesh]

"Snatcher" on SEGA CD.

[madmodder123]

@jonnykesh YES Snatcher is also a great one, Hideo Kojima worked on it!

[ClassicGMR]

@madmodder123 Legend of Dragoon is a great game. :)

Not many people I know have seen the Gargoyles cartoon from the mid-90's and even less seemed to have played the Gargoyles game on the Sega Genesis. I loved playing as Goliath and it wasn't some easy kids game!

[Clyde]

@classicgmr said in What's your "Hidden Gem"? Game discussion:

Not many people I know have seen the Gargoyles cartoon from the mid-90's

I have and I love it. :D I like its dark and somewhat (for a children's series) mature atmosphere, and also the many real legends they slipped in, even if more or less distorted.

[space cadet]

Amazonia on ps1 is a great game that I just discovered recently.