Share your hidden gems and insider tips

skraz

@Clyde Ristar is amazing, i stumbled on it watching agdq one year, would completely recommend

Clyde

@ByteThis Absolutely, and they're already working on it: https://modmyclassic.com/2019/09/20/sega-mega-drive-genesis-project-lunar-hack-update/

UDb23

Armor Alley (DOS & Mac)

Haven't checked yet if it runs on the Pi.

IanDaemon

@UDb23 So it's like Choplifter, but for DOS?

UDb23

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

So it's like Choplifter, but for DOS?

No, actually apart the "Heli look" the game is totally different.
It mixes action & strategy elements; you need to create your army on ground to conquer enemy's HQ and meanwhile pilot the heli.
You can play a web browser "remake" for free on this site.

VictimRLSH

@IanDaemon Reminds me of Rescue Raiders, I posted a review on that a while back in this thread.

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/17047/share-your-hidden-gems-and-insider-tips/179

UDb23

@VictimRLSH Yes, you're right; apparently Broderbund was inspired by that game.

IanDaemon

Looking at @thelostsoul's posts I gleaned another four arcade titles to research.

VictimRLSH

@UDb23 Never played Armor Alley, but it definitely looks like it was derived from Rescue Raiders. I played that game at least once a day until my apple died, but could never make it past the 4th level without a cheat. Insanely hard, perhaps Armor Alley toned the difficulty down a bit. I will have to give it a try.

retropieuser555

Scummvm - Blade Runner.

Absolutely fantastic looking click&point game that's an awesome representation of the film and novel. If a little bit wonky in places when it comes to progress, but otherwise the mood and character of the game shines through.

Oh and not obscure games by any means but have been playing Apollo Justice & Professor Layton on Drastic recently.

The mic bits in Apollo Justice I was concerned would block me, but Drastic seems to send an input on the game that gives a constant blowing effect, so it allowed me to progress through the fingerprint sections. So any DS games anyone is worried about not working due to that mechanic, it does work!

And Professor Layton, despite being a touch screen game, it's very slow and as such, easy to use the analog stick as the stylus. Unlike something like Kirby where you need fast touch screen actions. So Layton is very playable and great fun on a big screen!

ByteThis

@Clyde Excellent ! A different team had a version of Hakchi (3.6.0) working with the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis Mini with a Retroarch frontend but pulled the software as it had many bugs regarding compatibility with the Nes/Snes classics and are reworking their version of Hakchi at the moment. Have fun with it ! :-)

Clyde

This is what you may find if you try some games from a YouTube video that's titled "PS1 Games You Probably Don't Know About it or You Never Play!!"[sic!]: PEPSIMAN

I never heard about this game (it only came out in Japan according to Wikipedia), and I didn't expect it to be any good … but surprisingly, it is! Although "only" one of those runner games, it is much fun, has many lovely details, and some diverse surprises like the skateboarding you can see in the above video.

So, if you "probably don't know about it or you never play" this game, give it a try. I think it would make a good party game, because of its simple yet challenging and strangely addicting gameplay, the nicely-done superhero hommage, and its overall sillyness. 🤪 🥳

thelostsoul

@Clyde I discovered this game too by AVGN (Angry Videogame Nerd). Its like a Temple Run game from the smartphones, but way more entertaining. Have yet to try it out too. :-) Imagine playing it drunken with friends on a birthday and everyone is drinking Pepsi. lol
Btw, actual video about the game starts at 3:20.

Clyde

@thelostsoul It also has a high girlfriend factor. My girlfriend saw it while I was testing the newcomers on my cab, wanted to play it immediately, and ended up cheering me playing it after a point where it was too hard for her. 😸

VictimRLSH

Recently discovered Vagrant Story (PS1)

An action RPG with a very rich crafting, battle ability, and magic system. You move between connected rooms on a map, and once you open areas you are free to return to them. There are puzzle elements to unlock some paths that involve moving around boxes and jumping from them to other areas.

The weapon crafting system appears to be a spiritual successor to the ones in the Dark Cloud series. Weapons have attributes you can increase for types of creatures you fight, as well as elemental attributes. You can attach different blade types to different grip types to craft unique weapons. Like Dark Cloud, there are gem sockets you can put gems into that will increase the attributes of the weapon. To add additional attributes, you need to "train" your weapons by killing the enemy types you want that particular weapon to be stronger against. Killing one type of enemy will weaken that weapon's attributes against another type, so leveling up one weapon is not going to work, you need to keep a few around. The more enemies you kill with a particular weapon (regardless of type), the more XP that weapon gains, and you unlock other battle abilities for weapons of that type as well. You can score multiple hits in combat, and with each hit you set up in advance a special effect that occurs with each hit. This makes for one of the most unique and varied combat systems I've ever seen. The magic system isn't very complex and using magic comes at a high price since most of the spells use VERY large amounts of MP. You're not going to be able to blast everyone off the map with magic. The boss fights are some of the toughest I've seen in any action RPG. Most are completely immune to the normal amount of physical damage your weapons are able to do so you have to figure out how to maximize your attributes vs that particular boss's type and weakness and wear them down over time.

thelostsoul

@VictimRLSH AHH, Vagrant Story, I loved playing it back then. It is one of the most underrated games on the console in my opinion. The games visual presentation and music are very much like when you would take Final Fantasy Tactics and turn it into a 3D environment - no wonder, it's from the same team! Love that intro sequence as well. As for the gameplay type, it is more on the dungeon crawler style. And it got a New Game+ mode too. BTW, I would not call it an Action RPG, because at least in the battle there is nothing that you can do to evade an attack (like in Secret of Mana). At least, this is my personal definition.

Here is a video with the pregame title screen intro and then the cinematic in-game story intro.

VictimRLSH

@thelostsoul You can't evade attacks, but you CAN assign defensive skills to buttons and some of those effects can mitigate the damage or even counter it. It is also a handy way to damage bosses that are way too tough to take much damage otherwise.

froccoar

An excellent, simple and very difficult game.
Henry's house - ATARI & C64

Clyde

@froccoar I never stumbled upon this game back in my C64 years … is it vintage or a newer release?

I love the "Henrys" counter by the way. 😁

thelostsoul

@froccoar That looks quite interesting. Reminds me a bit of Donkey Kong. I have watched a longrun video on YouTube (skipping around). Every stage have ton of things going on and something different in terms of graphics and layouts. Cool find.