Share your hidden gems and insider tips

Starcade2084

@mediamogul I played the heck out of Activision's "Frostbite" to where I got a proper high score and managed to take a usable picture off the tv. I never got around to sending the picture in thus never earning the one patch I could've (it was the only 2600 Activision game I had back then.) I wish there were repros of the patches or some enamel pins I could get to stick on my jacket.

Clyde

@starcade2084 Welcome to the club. I also never sent in my picture of H.E.R.O. 😳

mediamogul

@starcade2084 said in Share your hidden gems and insider tips:

I wish there were repros of the patches or some enamel pins I could get to stick on my jacket.

Same here. I'd be great if they released a pin set as part of some anniversary or something.

celly

I just started playing Zombie Shiko - Eigo Ryoku Sosei Jutsu - English of the Dead on my DSi and holy crap, this game is a lot of fun. Its basicly The House of the Dead 2 or the Typing of the Dead but instead of shooting or typing, you write the words out with the stylus on the touchscreen. The game is a Japan exclusive but navigating the menus is easy and once you get to playing, the words are English.

VictimRLSH

Bill's Tomato Game (Amiga, Megadrive/Genesis). This game is a take on the Lemmings theme were you have to prepare a path to travel safely along. You have a tomato on a springboard, and you fling it into the playfield where you have placed devices to help the tomato reach the goal without becoming tomato sauce. Fortunately, you get unlimited tomatoes to try and solve the level, but there is a timer. After each level you get a 4-character password so you don't have to start over each session (but I just use save state on Genesis version). Horribly addictive.

thelostsoul

@celly Unfortunately I don't use a DS emulator. It looks so fun to play, but thats something only gonna work with appropriate input devices.

@victimrlsh This is a true hidden gem and an interesting idea. I prefer the Mega Drive version, as have full gamepad support and less pain working with the Amiga emulator. The Mega Drive version is a prototype, but seems to be fully functional.

KN4THX

They aren't really hidden gems, but a lot of people didn't seem to own these two or play them when I did:

*NES - Jackal *- Reminds me of a vehicle Contra but way more fun to me than Contra, I love the vehicle combat.

NES - Crystalis - Kinda simple and plain but still fun. It's an RPG closer to Zelda than anything I believe.

PSX - Tetris Plus - Great game. It has a puzzle element where an explorer who looks like Bob The Builder is trying to reach the bottom floor. He tries to go down but if there isn't an opening he climbs your blocks if they aren't too high and there spikes at the top that will kill him. It's super fun to compete with a friend. We used to play this and Mario Kart 64 Battle mode once GoldenEye lost a bit of steam with us.

thelostsoul

@thedatacereal We actually played a Tetris Plus version for arcade at MAME ROW Tetris Plus 2. I can recommend it too, a really cool and quality game. Here and there I read about Jackal, never played it. Same goes to Crystalis, which got high praise at some point. Is this game made by SNK?

VictimRLSH

@thedatacereal If you like vehicle combat, have you ever played the Arcade game Silkworm?

thelostsoul

@victimrlsh I had Silkworm for Amiga and it had gorgeous explosion soundeffects! But I was playing it too bad to complete it. The Arcade version does not come even close to the music and explosion sounds of the Amiga version.

VictimRLSH

@thelostsoul I was not aware of that, I'll see if I have that image (or even the disk, cleaned out the Amiga store in Mill Creek when I lived in Seattle, games were going for $1 a pop, I might have it in my crate of stuff I never played). Speaking of glorious hidden gems, I spent most of my Amiga days playing MechForce (but I already started a MF thread).

thelostsoul

New Games

There is it again. I include games which don't fit strictly to this thread or aren't any quality must plays too. I also list games mentioned by others in this thread; Thank you for your suggestions here, they are welcome. After VictimRLSH's recommendation for the Tomato game, I started to dig another time into the dark side and looked randomly for new titles and tried them. That brought me to some arcade games, where I also started to pick randomly titles I never heard of. Ok then, no longer chat here, let's dive in; I am sure you guys are hot for the "new" titles. So, enjoy and have fun.

Mega Drive (5 Games):

lr-genesis-plus-gx (v1.7.4)

Bill's Tomato Game
A puzzle game where you have to put objects freely on the screen, to reach the end of level. This game came out for the Amiga first and the Mega Drive version is not complete, but there is a prototype available.
Dashin' Desperadoes
A platformer where you run and race against an opponen and obstaclest. Even the single player mode have a split screen, so you always can see where and what your opponent is doing.
Granada
A free moveable top down shoot'em up in a big maze like open environment. The object is to destroy generators marked on the map.
Granada
Isometric free moveable in all direction shoot'em up, but with linear level design. Looks and feels solid.
ResQ
Another unfinished prototype. In this game you fly a big and slow vehicle and jump down from it to find people who needs to be rescued. The gameplay is like a platformer run and gun type.

Arcade / Mame2003 (5 Games):

lr-mame2003 (v0.78)

Dangerous Seed
dangseed.zip
Japanese only vertical Shmup by Namco. Every time the player lose a life, he plays a different, stronger version of the ship. This should be the default in all shmups! This title is available for Mega Drive also, but didn't list it there.
Performan
perfrman.zip
It is hard to find any information about this game. It is something single screen maze like game. The character can dig under the ground like a mole, but enemies can follow him there too. Quite unique game element.
Spatter / Sanrin San-Chan
spatter.zip
Another maze like game, but a modern looking one with scrolling. It plays fast and fluid, thanks to his bike. Also the main protagonist have a bounce to wall move, which can help to avoid or kill enemies. No wonder, it's made by Sega. It also looks colorful and charming.
Sel Feena
selfeena.zip
A modern looking maze game. Goal is to kill all enemies with throwing those treasures at them.
Sen-Know
senknow.zip
A puzzle match block game from 1999! The blocks fall down like in tetris, but instead of blocks they are pipes. Doing a closed loop does remove them. One of the best ideas for a match block game!

Arcade / Mame2010 (4 Games):

lr-mame2010 (v0.139)

Naughty Boy
naughtyb.zip
A very old maze like game with scrolling. Goal is to destroy those flags on top of screen. You can imagine that a Google search with this title leads to wrong results. ;-) Some say it's a bad game, but I think it is interesting.
Puzzle De Bowling
pzlbow.zip
A variation and strongly inspired by Puzzle Bobble, no doubt. It works quite similar, but there is a twist. You can roll the ball to right or left at any position, without involving the corners.
Puzzle Break
pzlbreak.zip
This is a modern Arkanoid like game, with 2 player simultanously option. It looks quite nice and plays well with regular joystick. The special thing about this game is, the player can bounce the paddle's right or left side up, so the ball will fly in this direction. That allows for greater control.
Got-cha Mini Game Festival
gotcha.zip
A Wario Ware like mini game collection. I just briefly tested this out. It comes down mainly to 3 different colors to match whatever the game requires.

Arcade / FBA set (1 Game):

lr-fbalpha (v0.2.97.43)

Ryu Jin / Dragon God
ryujin.zip
This isn't any outstanding game, just another vertical shmup. I included it here, because it plays straight, looks and sounds stylish and nobody seems to know it.

Edit: Added 3 games.

thelostsoul

POLYBIUS

Probably the most hidden gem ever, if it is true. Unfortunately, there is no rom dump.

Clyde

@thelostsoul said in Share your hidden gems and insider tips:

POLYBIUS

Probably the most hidden gem ever, if it is true. Unfortunately, there is no rom dump.

Fun fact: The Nine Inch Nails music video Less Than features a modern recreation of this urban legend.

VictimRLSH

@thelostsoul Naughty Boy is one of those arcade games you can 'cheat' at by standing in an area only accessible by one or two ways and continuing to just throw rocks at ghosts without clearing the level. FYI, to get a rock to fly further, hold down the throw button.

This same strategy also works well for Wizard of Wor, but the levels end when you kill everything. On WoW, just make sure the corridor you are in is VERY SHORT. You don't want them shooting you from a distance before you kill them with continuous short range fire.

One of my favorite games had a very steep learning curve, but was probably the best example of combining a gun game with hand-to-hand combat. Dynamite Duke (mame 2003). This game had a great cyberpunk theme, and you could duck, dodge, punch, kick, jump kick, shoot, and bomb enemies. The gunplay is similar to the joystick version of Cabal, but with intense moments of hand-to-hand combat thrown in. Very difficult to learn, but the payoff and sense of accomplishment is worth it.

mediamogul

The Neo Geo puzzle game, 'Money Idol Exchanger' has a boring name, but it caught my attention after being reviewed so highly when it was released on the Switch a few months back. It's a stacking puzzle game similar to 'Puzzle Bobble', but the unique twist is in how you work with the different currency. As the screen drops, smaller denominations are exchanged for higher ones until just two 500 coins remain. Finding the most efficient way to make the exchanges in order to keep out of trouble is challenging and also very satisfying when you begin consolidating large portions of the screen. While I have to question the kawaii anime theme, the game play itself is right up there with other puzzle genre greats.

thelostsoul

@mediamogul Nice find, thats an interesting one. I always search for puzzle game concepts which could someday rival Tetris Attack maybe (that is because it's my favorite). ;-) From the video and the explanation, I am not sure if I got it. Definitely need to try it out.

mediamogul

@thelostsoul said in Share your hidden gems and insider tips:

From the video and the explanation, I am not sure if I got it. Definitely need to try it out.

After reading a few reviews from the Switch release, I didn't get it immediately either. Basically, using dozens of coins, you combine all the smaller denominations to make bigger ones until they're all combined. Doing that as efficiently as possible while your screen is periodically filling up with more coins is the real challenge.

Brigane

I recently stumbled across Gunbarich. This is a Arkanoid similar game. I dont know if I would call it a hidden gem but it seems like an interesting game.
I use advancemame with this since it's not a part of the mame2003 set.

thelostsoul

@brigane I also discovered this game, but unfortunately, it gets reported to have issues with mame and fbalpha. Another reason to install advancemame. The game is nothing ground breaking, but I like the modern style and presentation and combination of two different genres into one. It got a Nintendo Switch port. The original game is made by Psikyo, who also made the shmup Gunbird.