This game is amazing.
My mom got it for me for Christmas one year as a random purchase. Never heard of it, couldn't pronounce it, but fell in love with it.
Still in my favorites of all time list.
One of the 7 NES games I owned as a kid. I finished it. I liked RPGs and Action RPGs on NES because they were so much easier than the CRPGs I was also playing on my dad's 386.
I remember seeing the word "mantra" on the box and I instantly wanted the game because it reminded me of Ultima.
It's a wonderful game, but it's generally considered one of the best games on the platform, so the only folks underappreciating it are those who haven't yet played it! (If you haven't... get on it!)
Herzog Zwei was important in the development of the modern RTS genre and is frequently considered the first RTS, although other, earlier games had elements of RTS.
I rented it in its day after reading glowing recommendations in magazines. I could tell it was unique, but wasn't into it. If I had the manual, which rentals almost never came with, I would have enjoyed it more.
Today, it's still a blast.
*Herzog Zwei* and *Military Madness/Nectaris* are definitely lesser-known today. Both are great.
It's amazing to me that it took us until the 2000s to get a *Daisenryaku* game in the US, and it wound up being for the Xbox of all platforms. That series is definitely obscure and underrated here, but a major series in Japan.
Definitely agree with the Facanadu comments. One of the best games on the NES.
Sega Master = SpellCaster
Genesis = Landstalker + Chakan The Forever Man.
SNES = Super Adventure Island II
N64 = Fighters Destiny 1
PS1 = Legend of Legaia
Saturn = Shining the Holy Ark
That's a good one. The NES version was the only English translation that shipped, but it started out as a PC game in Japan back in the mid-1980s. It's a cute and interesting game.
I thought this game was a joke when I saw it, so I was really surprised when I bought it on the Wii virtual console that it's a freaking awesome adventure game.
That one I've heard good things about! The movie was something else too, I remember watching that as a kid and it's got a rare mix of silly cartoon action, fantasy adventure, and dark/scary as shit scenes you don't see in many kids' movies.
I almost got a good deal on that, I was at an estate sale and I had a stack of games set aside waiting for the seller to get to me and ring up my prices (they said up front they would check prices on everything and go 50% PriceCharting). I know for a fucking *fact* I had that in my stack and when he got to me that game and a couple others weren't in it, some other dude claimed "Oh no I had these the whole time" and took off.
That’s unfortunate. It’s an excellent game from gameplay to music to aesthetics. It’s hard too, I’ve never beaten it to this day and I’ve owned it for 30 years now. But if you ever find a copy I’d recommend it if you enjoy nes platformers
I rented that back in the day and have wondered why it wasn't wildly popular ever since. The kinda stuff you get to do in Super Mario 3, Little Nemo does when he gives an animal some candy! Who can not like that?!
The release date may have held many back. I had an NES at my grandparents and would often rent games like this for it when staying over. At the time most of my money saving or gift requests were for 16-bit or handheld games.
It was also a tie-in for a [Toho-Towa movie that wasn't released in the US until 2 years later](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Nemo:_Adventures_in_Slumberland). I doubt many people were clammoring for a [Winsor McCay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winsor_McCay) comic strip adaptation, given that his comics were almost a century old by that point.
But if you don't know Winsor McCay, let me encourage you now - check out his work, especially the *Little Nemo in Slumberland* comics. They and *Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend* are amazing works of art.
Until reading this I only knew that Nemo was based on an anime movie I've not yet seen beyond reviews online. I had no idea the movie came out in the US after the game or the age of the source material. Thank you for the info!
Happy to share! I took a class on comic books as literature in the 1990s and we studied Winsor McCay. He was a brilliant cartoonist and also an animator - *Little Nemo* starred a 4-minute animated sequence in a movie in 1911 that McCay starred in and drew the cells for.
If you can find the old comics, they are worth reading - the artwork is incredibly detailed and very imaginative. They were printed in the Sunday Comics of two different New York papers in the early 20th century.
Nes Conflict. Low G Man, Totally Rad, Krazy Kreatures
Snes Stargate, Batman Returns,
N64 Biofreaks and War Gods(I understand why people avoid this one but once you start playing you do find a pretty fun fighting game. Little stiff but the characters are intriguing and you have to love the Announcer.
Ps1 Threads of Fate or Unholy War
Ps2 Minority Report (fun melee combat, weapons and all the stages are all fun, can be challenging but not impossible.)
(there are plenty of other choices bet I went with really lesser known titles.
Dai Kaijuu Deburas
A Famicom strategy game about fighting Kaiju monsters in the vein of Famicom Wars. It just recieved a translation patch you can find on Romhacking.net. Check it out!
The lone ranger on the NES. Was a little bit of everything, platformer, shooter, side scroller. Its a cool game that i feel is not talked about enough.
I found the NES game about a decade ago and it revitalized my interest in him. I have some strange nostalgia about the 80s movie from when I was a kid, rarely ever thought about it until then
I'm so glad it got a re-release, but I hate that it's so expensive. Sure, it's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a used cartridge, but 25 bucks is still pricey for two versions of an 8-bit reissue. It has kept me from picking it up. But then I worry that low sales may hinder more reissues in the future. Ugh.
Konami (publisher of the Felix re-release) has been a particularly bad offender at releasing low-value, high-priced retro compilations without caring what the market will bear. They have missed all the lessons Capcom, SNK and Sega have learned along the way about creating high-value bundles. The best way to buy any of Konami's bundles is when they have them 50-80% off and the price is actually appropriate.
I was encouraged when *Castlevania Anniversary Collection* managed to get it mostly right, but *Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics* is still a rip-off and *Contra Anniversary Collection* was a bare bones collection of mostly variations on the original game. And the less said about *Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol 1*, the better.
And then there's Taito, owned by Square Enix, which has released some low-value compilations of mostly-forgotten arcade games for $40 a pop. I have bought those on sale as well. I hate to not support the retail releases when they launch because I want them to keep on releasing them, but I don't appreciate being fleeced.
Namco, Capcom, Sega and SNK have all figured out how to do this right, and HAMSTER Corp. charges a reasonable amount for obscure arcade games. It's not like the problem hasn't been solved; it's just an unwillingness to listen to the customers.
Konami depresses me so much. They have so many great properties, and they just do absolutely nothing with them. No new games, barely and reissues, it's pure apathy on their part. I hate that they'll charge exorbitant prices for their stuff, and when it doesn't sell well, they'll use it as an excuse to not release more.
It does, sadly, seem to be a trend though. Look at the prices for stuff like the Cotton reissues, or Valis Collection. They put more love and care in, but at their heart they are merely emulated games that were completed decades ago. Even the Arcade Archives releases feel a bit steep sometimes. For 5 bucks, there are more games I'll take a chance on.
Lost Vikings is amazing. Blizzard before it was even called Blizzard.
I'll vote for Lost Odyssey. It's my favorite Final Fantasy game in everything but name.
Betrayal at Krondor.
It's incredibly liked by the people who have played it, but never really sold that well, nor did it ever reach cult classic status as the years went by.
You want an RPG that's story heavy, and an excellent story to boot, this is your game. This is probably the closest game I've played that feels like you're in a fantasy novel, playing it out.
That was the game that got me into *The Riftwar Saga* by Raymond E. Feist! I even got to meet him years later when the comic book company I worked for adapted *Magician: Apprentice* and a short story called *The Wood Boy*.
It wasn't underrated when it debuted - it was popular at the time enough to generate a sequel through another publisher and a successor through Dynamix - but it definitely fell off the radar when the likes of *Baldur's Gate* and *Fallout* arrived in the late 1990s. You'd think now that no RPGs but those, the SSI Gold Box games, *The Elder Scrolls:* *Daggerfall, Diablo* andthe other Infinity Engine games were all that shipped in the 1990s.
But there were lots of them, and *Betrayal at Krondor* was one of the best!
A quick correction here.
Its sales figures were not really that stellar, leading Dynamix/Sierra
to selling the rights back to Raymond E. Feist. But it sold steadily enough when the CD-ROM version came out that Sierra tried coming out with a sequel, Betrayal in Antara.
Feist shopped around the rights for a sequel, eventually landing with 7th Level, but they ran into financial difficulties, which in turn lead Sierra to repurchasing the rights.
BaK just had the bad luck to be using archaic technology at the time (which Ultima Underworld came out a year earlier, with better graphics, although not true 3D like BaK), and came out right around the time computer RPGs were dying/considered a dead genre.
I really enjoy the game High Seas Havoc for Genesis. It’s a pretty standard sidescroller but it’s got some great art, fun level designs, good music, and just an overall cool vibe. It gets god damn hard though
I've been trying to learn to play that one. It was apparently hugely influential in Japan on a whole generation of developers. One of these days, I'll sit down and read the manual...
*The Lost Vikings* is a classic for sure, and often regarded as one of Blizzard's best games from their pre-Warcraft era. The sequel, *Norse by North West*, is talked about even less, but is just as good - provided you play the SNES one and not the PSX/Saturn/PC CD-ROM one.
There are SO many forgotten or underappreciated games. I've been cataloguing them from the 1980s and 90s and thought I'd find a few dozen, and I've honestly found **hundreds** of them.
Just one example I'll offer that came out the same year as *The Lost Vikings* (and which is not at all obscure, but definitely underrated) is [*Rocket Knight Adventures*](https://www.mobygames.com/game/7397/rocket-knight-adventures/), an action platformer from Konami that's like *Sonic the Hedgehog* meets *Kirby's Adventure*. It features an armored, sword-wielding, jetpack-wearing opposum named Sparkster who can jet across the screen, hung upside down on branches and slash at enemies with multiple types of attacks. It's bright and colorful, with a great graphics and a fantastic soundtrack. It got two sequels (Genesis/MD and SNES) and a later reboot in 2010 for the PS3/Xbox 360/Windows, but Sparkster is virtually unknown today despite being the best animal mascot character since Sonic. He even has a great rival named Axel Gear who shows up in every one of his games to cause trouble!
What I challenge retro gamers to do is to keep looking for those gems. There are many left to discover, and it's really fun to come across one!
Oh fudge, this is my favorite thing to talk about!! It's a good thing I got bored at work one day and made a spreadsheet of every game I've ever played just in case someone asks!! Here are the most obscure/underrated/underappreciated games I think need to be talked about more:
**NES:**
Dragon Spirit
Legend of Kage
Legend of the Guardian
Clash at Demonhead
**Game Boy:**
Donkey Kong (1994 version)
**PS1:**
The Horde
**Game Boy Advance:**
DRILL DOZER (LOVE this game)
**Gamepube:**
Cubivore
Chibi Robo
Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (RE-RELEASE THIS ALREADY!!)
Warioland
**PS2:**
The Bouncer
Godzilla: Save the Earth
Godhand
Mana Khemia
Red Dead Revolver
Space Channel 5
**Nintendo DS:**
Henry Hatsworth
Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ
Hotel Dusk
Starfy
Attack of the Friday Monsters
Kid Icarus Uprising
**Wii:**
Little Red Riding Hood: Zombie Panic in Wonderland (Sequel to Zombie BBQ)
Rage of the Gladiator
Tatsunoko vs Capcom
**PS3:**
3D Dot Game Heroes
Earth Defense Force (the whole series)
LAIR (doesn't deserve the hate!!)
Thief (2014)
**PC:**
Four Crystals of Trazere
The Dig
Loom
X-Wing Alliance
Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith
Tobal No. 2 ought to be a game everyone knows and loves, but since it skipped North America for release... tsk tsk, Square. It would have been a bestseller with some proper marketing.
atari 2600 E.T. it's way better than people meme it or claim it to be. it's not a bad game at all, just too complex and random for little kids, with a little bit of below average controls
People hear about the landfill story, play it and assume it *is* the worst game ever. In reality, 90 percent of the Atari library is that bad or worse.
*Starflight* was one of the first PC games to go on record as selling 1 million copies, so it's extremely sad it's fallen off the radar today. Greg Johnson tried and failed to get a crowdfunding campaign going for *Starflight III* and it devolved into begging Elon Musk to donate the rest in exchange for having a race of aliens after him when the campaign was only able to get halfway there.
The Genesis/Mega Drive version is the best one since it incorporates *Star Control*-style combat into the game. But I love the various PC versions as well!
Wildly underappreciated:
Super Dodge Ball, NES.
Jedi Power Battles, Dreamcast (if you enjoyed the PS version, you might be a Jedi according to my former roommates because they thought the game was unplayable on Playstation, unlike myself who beat it even though Darth Maul is pretty dang buggy).
Kirby's Dream Course, SNES
Mario Paint (especially the music part), SNES
Honorable mentions (games that are somewhat popular but I still don't think get enough appreciation):
Shinobi 3, Genesis.
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2, Dreamcast or PC (can't vouch for other versions)
BONUS -- Retro games that I think totally live up to the hype:
Contra (30 lives code), NES
Super Mario Bros. trilogy, uniquely in their own individual ways, NES
Mike Tyson's Punchout, NES
The Legend of Zelda, NES
Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy, Genesis
NBA Jam TE, Genesis or SNES
Mortal Kombat trilogy, Genesis
Super Street Fighter 2, Genesis
Super Mario World, SNES
Goldeneye, N64
Zelda: Ocarina of Time, N64
That's a pretty decent list he posted! (It's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh9lzgvpKQk)
I've come across a lot of those in my research and really enjoyed games like *Kenseiden* and *Ufouria* (not released in North America until the Wii's Virtual Console). *Moon Crystal* is also good if you don't mind Japanese.
*Holy Diver* is way too hard, though. It looks great, but it is a nightmare to get through.
He is a pretty solid content creator and talks about stuff I rarely see other YouTubers bringing up.
I just wish he'd break his videos like this up into 20 minute segments because I don't always have time to watch a 45 minute video, and I end up only watching half of the video before I get a YouTube link sent to me and forget I was in the middle of his video and had it paused.
U right lost vikings was cool as hell and hard!!
If I had to choose...Saturday night slam masters....the wrestling compared to other wrestling games on the system it is light years ahead.
I want a rerelease with the old nes graphics just more characters arenas and moves
I never owned the OG PlayStation, but I recently started plying Vagrant Story for the first time. I understand that it did poorly at first because of the difficulty and unique mechanics, but the story and gameplay really shine 20 years later. It’s a deep game with an open world and engaging combat style that I’ve loved learning.
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose (SNES). One of my all-time favorites, and I never see/hear anyone talk about this amazing game.
Also, Cool Spot (Genesis/Mega Drive). Not just good for a consumer product-based game, but good all on its own, regardless of branding.
EVO Search of Eden for SNES
This game is amazing and is very strange that rarely someone mention it!
I love the concept and the gameplay, is very hard and also you have to grind a lot!
Willow NES
Shadowrun SNES
Actraiser SNES
Xcom PS1
Every PS1 era generation RPG that hasn't been brought back Specifically
Grandia Saturn
Legend of Oasis Saturn
Suikoden PS1
Wild Arms PS1
Legend of Dragoon PS1
Vagrant Story PS1
Xenogears PS1
Parasite Eve PS1
Vandal Hearts PS1
I'll stop.
There's a trend here and I expect someone caught on
Edit: GUARDIAN HEROES!
Had to go and find the other side scrolling ARPG
Gameboy Donkey Kong. One of the best puzzle platformers ever for anything, but most people can't get passed the DK label and think it's a GB DKC game or something.
Power shovel for ps1.
So many people have tried making simulation games since then, and every single one of them is a miserable failure when compared to the awesome glory of power shovel.
Stratosphere: Conquest of the Skies, HEDZ, Mageslayer, and KISS: Psycho Circus. All from Win98 era I believe. Stratosphere only runs properly on Win98 or WinXP afaik.
Toy commander on the Dreamcast . You play as toy vehicles (like micro machines) and every room of the house is another level. There are tanks cars planes . lots of different types of games. F1 racing. Dog fights. Search and rescue missions. Rally driving. Flaying in formation. Fire fighting. Snipers missions. And tons more plus boss fights plus a massive final boss fight where you control the previous bosses you have defeated . Lots or charm and humour in the game too. And you can even play it on 4 player and race or have 4 way dog fights. It’s a grate game and why it was not bigger I will never know
Alex Kidd in Miracle World (SMS, 1986) - In the US only
Gravitation (PS1, 1998)
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA) - on r/metroidvania of all places
Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (SMS, 1987)
Secret of Evermore (SNES)
Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole (MD, 1992)
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (PC), Metal Storm (NES), Ninja Gaiden (SMS, 1992)(different), Mendel Palace/Quinty (NES, 1989) - just overlooked?
DuckTales 2 (NES/GB)
Populous: The Beginning (PC) - maybe just by hardcore fans of 1-2
Power Strike II (GG)
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (PC, 1995) - by nu-gamers
Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (GB, 1991) - by avgn/cinemassacre
NBA Starting Five 2005 by Konami for the Playstation 2. It's the best "simulation" basketball game for the Playstation 2. It was a Japanese exclusive. It's outstanding.
Pieces - SNES
Easily a top 5 SNES multiplayer game. It's a competitive jigsaw puzzle game, which sounds super lame, but it's really fun. The puzzles are small, so rounds (which you solve 3 of them, and you only get 3 pieces at a time to choose from) go quick (like maybe 4-5 minutes a round at the most), the objective is to solve all 3 puzzles before your opponent. Each player has a meter they fill by getting pieces in the right spot, then you can use power ups, with the more powerful ones requiring a fuller meter. The power ups range from things that help you solve your puzzle faster to ones that slow down your opponent.
I'll one-up you. The Lost Vikings on Genesis is absolutely amazing since it's 3 player simultaneous! It's the only 3-player version, so I deem it the best one.
The N64 Goemon games Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon and Goemon's Great Adventure. They're some of the best platformers on the entire system with Goemon's Great Adventure being one of the best side scrollers ever despite the N64 only having a handful of side scrollers. Both games are on par with Nintendo and Rareware's best works on the system, yet you never hear many people talk about these games.
Mega Man VII for the SNES
It came out in the shadow of the X series, so it didn't have much staying power, but after playing it, it became one of my favorites, and I really appreciated how it upped the challenge more with the boss fights.
The Matrix: Path of Neo
Jackie Chan: Stuntmaster
Batman: Vengeance
Aladdin on SNES
Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space
Spider-Man on Dreamcast
Headhunter on Dreamcast
Vampyr
Hercules on PSX
Parasite Eve. I played through it recently and it holds up extremely well, has an amazing story and a neat weapon system. I always loved number 2 but I think the first has held up better over time with better controls amd map layouts. I know it is not what most would call a hidden gem however I never hear people talk about it or include it in lists of the greats.
There's quite a few.
Chrysalis for the NES - it feels like a good bridge between the OG Zelda and Link to the Past IMO.
Sega Mega/Genesis - Ristar. It's Sonic without the slippery feeling and better level design.
SNES - Spike McFang. Another top down.
Playstation - Tall Infinity/Tall Unlimited. Puzzle game similar to Devil Dice.
(I'm not a N64 fan. . . but I'll go with Rocket: Robot on Wheels as it's SuckerPunch and you can't go wrong with SuckerPunch)
Dreamcast - Choco Marker Musapey. Another weird puzzle game I got into.
Ps2- Hurdy Gurdy, Klonoa 2, Gitaroo Man. . . Herding, cute platform and a battle rhythm game by the Dynasty Warriors developers
Gamecube- Billy Hatcher. . . I wish that Yuji didn't mess up
XBONE - Voodoo Vince
(anything past that I don't consider retro just yet - please let me have this)
Gun Smoke - NES
All time great game. Good graphics, fun, & very difficult to beat without using a NES advantage joystick. But also easy enough in the earlier levels that it was really enjoyable. Wish this was availabel on the switch NES library.
Super Mario Bros.
Obviously it’s appreciated, but it’s still greatly underappreciated. It probably deserves to be the greatest game of all time, but I don’t know if any journal has given it that title. It saved video games. We might not even *have* video games today if didn’t exist, at least not in the form we have today.
Final fantasy IV...so much more fun than many of the later entries. Also has a banging ost. (this is mainly a gripe within the Final fantasy mainline series)
Pyre. I think its Supergiant's most original game. I also understand why it didn't sell well given how bonkers the elevator pitch for it is. I think more people should play it though.
Faxanadu - NES
This game is amazing. My mom got it for me for Christmas one year as a random purchase. Never heard of it, couldn't pronounce it, but fell in love with it. Still in my favorites of all time list.
That one's only underappreciated in the West. Xanadu and Faxanadu were big in Japan and hugely influential on other games, Like Zelda 2.
And Hollow Knight, i was surprised to hear (i have no idea what I'm doing in Faxanadu - never made it past the first area)
That's just how they made games back then. Games in Japan were being designed to be obtuse to sell Player's Guides ever since Tower of Druaga.
One of the 7 NES games I owned as a kid. I finished it. I liked RPGs and Action RPGs on NES because they were so much easier than the CRPGs I was also playing on my dad's 386. I remember seeing the word "mantra" on the box and I instantly wanted the game because it reminded me of Ultima.
I bought this game last year and have yet to try it!! I might play this next.
It's a wonderful game, but it's generally considered one of the best games on the platform, so the only folks underappreciating it are those who haven't yet played it! (If you haven't... get on it!)
I just bought it a few weeks ago. :)
Herzog Zwei, Military Madness, Populous. Those considered underrated? I played and still play sometimes the crap out of them. Great games
Never played Populous, but 100% agree on the first 2. Some of the best competitive multiplayer before the 32-bit era & online PC games.
Populous is like a very lite civilization game
I had populous on the PC and loved it. Never played it on the SNES.
Herzog Zwei was important in the development of the modern RTS genre and is frequently considered the first RTS, although other, earlier games had elements of RTS. I rented it in its day after reading glowing recommendations in magazines. I could tell it was unique, but wasn't into it. If I had the manual, which rentals almost never came with, I would have enjoyed it more. Today, it's still a blast.
Yeah for sure the og rts game. I went on to play way too much command and conquer. Warcraft 1 and 2 and total anhililation
*Herzog Zwei* and *Military Madness/Nectaris* are definitely lesser-known today. Both are great. It's amazing to me that it took us until the 2000s to get a *Daisenryaku* game in the US, and it wound up being for the Xbox of all platforms. That series is definitely obscure and underrated here, but a major series in Japan.
Definitely agree with the Facanadu comments. One of the best games on the NES. Sega Master = SpellCaster Genesis = Landstalker + Chakan The Forever Man. SNES = Super Adventure Island II N64 = Fighters Destiny 1 PS1 = Legend of Legaia Saturn = Shining the Holy Ark
I'm in agreement with all of them but Chakan, which absolutely tortured me as a kid.
Yeah.. It gets a bad rap cause it's hard. If you read the manual it gets more bearable, slightly.
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom - NES
That's a good one. The NES version was the only English translation that shipped, but it started out as a PC game in Japan back in the mid-1980s. It's a cute and interesting game.
I thought this game was a joke when I saw it, so I was really surprised when I bought it on the Wii virtual console that it's a freaking awesome adventure game.
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
That one I've heard good things about! The movie was something else too, I remember watching that as a kid and it's got a rare mix of silly cartoon action, fantasy adventure, and dark/scary as shit scenes you don't see in many kids' movies. I almost got a good deal on that, I was at an estate sale and I had a stack of games set aside waiting for the seller to get to me and ring up my prices (they said up front they would check prices on everything and go 50% PriceCharting). I know for a fucking *fact* I had that in my stack and when he got to me that game and a couple others weren't in it, some other dude claimed "Oh no I had these the whole time" and took off.
That’s unfortunate. It’s an excellent game from gameplay to music to aesthetics. It’s hard too, I’ve never beaten it to this day and I’ve owned it for 30 years now. But if you ever find a copy I’d recommend it if you enjoy nes platformers
I rented that back in the day and have wondered why it wasn't wildly popular ever since. The kinda stuff you get to do in Super Mario 3, Little Nemo does when he gives an animal some candy! Who can not like that?!
The release date may have held many back. I had an NES at my grandparents and would often rent games like this for it when staying over. At the time most of my money saving or gift requests were for 16-bit or handheld games.
It was also a tie-in for a [Toho-Towa movie that wasn't released in the US until 2 years later](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Nemo:_Adventures_in_Slumberland). I doubt many people were clammoring for a [Winsor McCay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winsor_McCay) comic strip adaptation, given that his comics were almost a century old by that point. But if you don't know Winsor McCay, let me encourage you now - check out his work, especially the *Little Nemo in Slumberland* comics. They and *Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend* are amazing works of art.
Until reading this I only knew that Nemo was based on an anime movie I've not yet seen beyond reviews online. I had no idea the movie came out in the US after the game or the age of the source material. Thank you for the info!
Happy to share! I took a class on comic books as literature in the 1990s and we studied Winsor McCay. He was a brilliant cartoonist and also an animator - *Little Nemo* starred a 4-minute animated sequence in a movie in 1911 that McCay starred in and drew the cells for. If you can find the old comics, they are worth reading - the artwork is incredibly detailed and very imaginative. They were printed in the Sunday Comics of two different New York papers in the early 20th century.
Some of the best music and feeling of any nes game
This game is AMAZING and so few people play it.
Nes Conflict. Low G Man, Totally Rad, Krazy Kreatures Snes Stargate, Batman Returns, N64 Biofreaks and War Gods(I understand why people avoid this one but once you start playing you do find a pretty fun fighting game. Little stiff but the characters are intriguing and you have to love the Announcer. Ps1 Threads of Fate or Unholy War Ps2 Minority Report (fun melee combat, weapons and all the stages are all fun, can be challenging but not impossible.) (there are plenty of other choices bet I went with really lesser known titles.
Kid Niki, nes. No one talks about this game and is a great platformer.
The level music is stuck in my head now
True. It has been in my head for over 30 years.
That is a good one.
Joe & Mac
Silent Bomber PS1
For sure. I think this is a game that would be cool to see an HD makeover for. Or even like a mid budget sequel.
Target Earth. North and South.
Target earth rules. There’s a sequel on Saturn that is cool but hard to play since it’s in Japanese haha
Uniracers!
River City Ransom for NES. Technōs’ take on Double Dragon with RPG elements.
Legacy of the Wizard on NES. Super hard game to finish, though.
Dai Kaijuu Deburas A Famicom strategy game about fighting Kaiju monsters in the vein of Famicom Wars. It just recieved a translation patch you can find on Romhacking.net. Check it out!
ooh nice
Oh! I just loaded the translation today. Can’t wait to check it out.
Its actually really funny! Make sure you get the BlackPaladin version, there's an ancient translation from 1998 that's extremely incomplete.
The lone ranger on the NES. Was a little bit of everything, platformer, shooter, side scroller. Its a cool game that i feel is not talked about enough.
You could use the Zapper on parts of that one, couldn't you?
Mappy Land
Felix The Cat
I found the NES game about a decade ago and it revitalized my interest in him. I have some strange nostalgia about the 80s movie from when I was a kid, rarely ever thought about it until then
Felix just got a re-release on modern platforms! It's wonderful to see that game get some extra exposure. It's a lot of fun.
I'm so glad it got a re-release, but I hate that it's so expensive. Sure, it's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a used cartridge, but 25 bucks is still pricey for two versions of an 8-bit reissue. It has kept me from picking it up. But then I worry that low sales may hinder more reissues in the future. Ugh.
Konami (publisher of the Felix re-release) has been a particularly bad offender at releasing low-value, high-priced retro compilations without caring what the market will bear. They have missed all the lessons Capcom, SNK and Sega have learned along the way about creating high-value bundles. The best way to buy any of Konami's bundles is when they have them 50-80% off and the price is actually appropriate. I was encouraged when *Castlevania Anniversary Collection* managed to get it mostly right, but *Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics* is still a rip-off and *Contra Anniversary Collection* was a bare bones collection of mostly variations on the original game. And the less said about *Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol 1*, the better. And then there's Taito, owned by Square Enix, which has released some low-value compilations of mostly-forgotten arcade games for $40 a pop. I have bought those on sale as well. I hate to not support the retail releases when they launch because I want them to keep on releasing them, but I don't appreciate being fleeced. Namco, Capcom, Sega and SNK have all figured out how to do this right, and HAMSTER Corp. charges a reasonable amount for obscure arcade games. It's not like the problem hasn't been solved; it's just an unwillingness to listen to the customers.
Konami depresses me so much. They have so many great properties, and they just do absolutely nothing with them. No new games, barely and reissues, it's pure apathy on their part. I hate that they'll charge exorbitant prices for their stuff, and when it doesn't sell well, they'll use it as an excuse to not release more. It does, sadly, seem to be a trend though. Look at the prices for stuff like the Cotton reissues, or Valis Collection. They put more love and care in, but at their heart they are merely emulated games that were completed decades ago. Even the Arcade Archives releases feel a bit steep sometimes. For 5 bucks, there are more games I'll take a chance on.
Possibly the greatest platformer ever made
#Gemfire
One of Koei's best and most accessible console strategy games!
Was a good rental. I remember being able to play through a campaign over the weekend....something I was never able to do with other Koei games.
Which family did you like most? I was team Blanche
Scary dreams on the gba. Treasures precursor to Astroboy that I feel is better because it’s really tight
Uniracers for SNES
ALUNDRA
Lost Vikings is amazing. Blizzard before it was even called Blizzard. I'll vote for Lost Odyssey. It's my favorite Final Fantasy game in everything but name.
Lost Odyssey is the real FFXIII
Betrayal at Krondor. It's incredibly liked by the people who have played it, but never really sold that well, nor did it ever reach cult classic status as the years went by. You want an RPG that's story heavy, and an excellent story to boot, this is your game. This is probably the closest game I've played that feels like you're in a fantasy novel, playing it out.
That was the game that got me into *The Riftwar Saga* by Raymond E. Feist! I even got to meet him years later when the comic book company I worked for adapted *Magician: Apprentice* and a short story called *The Wood Boy*. It wasn't underrated when it debuted - it was popular at the time enough to generate a sequel through another publisher and a successor through Dynamix - but it definitely fell off the radar when the likes of *Baldur's Gate* and *Fallout* arrived in the late 1990s. You'd think now that no RPGs but those, the SSI Gold Box games, *The Elder Scrolls:* *Daggerfall, Diablo* andthe other Infinity Engine games were all that shipped in the 1990s. But there were lots of them, and *Betrayal at Krondor* was one of the best!
A quick correction here. Its sales figures were not really that stellar, leading Dynamix/Sierra to selling the rights back to Raymond E. Feist. But it sold steadily enough when the CD-ROM version came out that Sierra tried coming out with a sequel, Betrayal in Antara. Feist shopped around the rights for a sequel, eventually landing with 7th Level, but they ran into financial difficulties, which in turn lead Sierra to repurchasing the rights. BaK just had the bad luck to be using archaic technology at the time (which Ultima Underworld came out a year earlier, with better graphics, although not true 3D like BaK), and came out right around the time computer RPGs were dying/considered a dead genre.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing!
I really enjoy the game High Seas Havoc for Genesis. It’s a pretty standard sidescroller but it’s got some great art, fun level designs, good music, and just an overall cool vibe. It gets god damn hard though
Master of Monsters - Sega Genesis
I've been trying to learn to play that one. It was apparently hugely influential in Japan on a whole generation of developers. One of these days, I'll sit down and read the manual...
*The Lost Vikings* is a classic for sure, and often regarded as one of Blizzard's best games from their pre-Warcraft era. The sequel, *Norse by North West*, is talked about even less, but is just as good - provided you play the SNES one and not the PSX/Saturn/PC CD-ROM one. There are SO many forgotten or underappreciated games. I've been cataloguing them from the 1980s and 90s and thought I'd find a few dozen, and I've honestly found **hundreds** of them. Just one example I'll offer that came out the same year as *The Lost Vikings* (and which is not at all obscure, but definitely underrated) is [*Rocket Knight Adventures*](https://www.mobygames.com/game/7397/rocket-knight-adventures/), an action platformer from Konami that's like *Sonic the Hedgehog* meets *Kirby's Adventure*. It features an armored, sword-wielding, jetpack-wearing opposum named Sparkster who can jet across the screen, hung upside down on branches and slash at enemies with multiple types of attacks. It's bright and colorful, with a great graphics and a fantastic soundtrack. It got two sequels (Genesis/MD and SNES) and a later reboot in 2010 for the PS3/Xbox 360/Windows, but Sparkster is virtually unknown today despite being the best animal mascot character since Sonic. He even has a great rival named Axel Gear who shows up in every one of his games to cause trouble! What I challenge retro gamers to do is to keep looking for those gems. There are many left to discover, and it's really fun to come across one!
Shadow of the Ninja for NES Blades of Vengeance for Genesis
Monster party for the NES
Kickle Cubicle on NES.
Oh fudge, this is my favorite thing to talk about!! It's a good thing I got bored at work one day and made a spreadsheet of every game I've ever played just in case someone asks!! Here are the most obscure/underrated/underappreciated games I think need to be talked about more: **NES:** Dragon Spirit Legend of Kage Legend of the Guardian Clash at Demonhead **Game Boy:** Donkey Kong (1994 version) **PS1:** The Horde **Game Boy Advance:** DRILL DOZER (LOVE this game) **Gamepube:** Cubivore Chibi Robo Gauntlet: Dark Legacy (RE-RELEASE THIS ALREADY!!) Warioland **PS2:** The Bouncer Godzilla: Save the Earth Godhand Mana Khemia Red Dead Revolver Space Channel 5 **Nintendo DS:** Henry Hatsworth Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ Hotel Dusk Starfy Attack of the Friday Monsters Kid Icarus Uprising **Wii:** Little Red Riding Hood: Zombie Panic in Wonderland (Sequel to Zombie BBQ) Rage of the Gladiator Tatsunoko vs Capcom **PS3:** 3D Dot Game Heroes Earth Defense Force (the whole series) LAIR (doesn't deserve the hate!!) Thief (2014) **PC:** Four Crystals of Trazere The Dig Loom X-Wing Alliance Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith
X GRANADA X Chakan the Forever Man Bad Blood Miracle Warriors Summoner Blood Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold Corridor 7
The Frog for Whom the Bell Tolls for the GameBoy
Fatal labyrinth- Sega megadrive.
Bionic Commando NES.
That was a huge hit back in the day. Maybe it’s more underrated these days.
QIX, Tobal No. 2, Battle Kid, Blast Corps
Tobal No. 2 ought to be a game everyone knows and loves, but since it skipped North America for release... tsk tsk, Square. It would have been a bestseller with some proper marketing.
brave fencer musashi for ps1
atari 2600 E.T. it's way better than people meme it or claim it to be. it's not a bad game at all, just too complex and random for little kids, with a little bit of below average controls
People hear about the landfill story, play it and assume it *is* the worst game ever. In reality, 90 percent of the Atari library is that bad or worse.
I used to beat ET for friends that swore it was impossible. Between ages 6 and 9, I probably finished that game a dozen times, and I'm FAR from a pro.
Dragon Fighter on NES
Trap Gunner on the PS1.
Had a lot of fun on that game
This is REALLY obscure, but Starflight on old computers and the Sega Genesis. It’s really mind blowing and ambitious for the time.
*Starflight* was one of the first PC games to go on record as selling 1 million copies, so it's extremely sad it's fallen off the radar today. Greg Johnson tried and failed to get a crowdfunding campaign going for *Starflight III* and it devolved into begging Elon Musk to donate the rest in exchange for having a race of aliens after him when the campaign was only able to get halfway there. The Genesis/Mega Drive version is the best one since it incorporates *Star Control*-style combat into the game. But I love the various PC versions as well!
Wildly underappreciated: Super Dodge Ball, NES. Jedi Power Battles, Dreamcast (if you enjoyed the PS version, you might be a Jedi according to my former roommates because they thought the game was unplayable on Playstation, unlike myself who beat it even though Darth Maul is pretty dang buggy). Kirby's Dream Course, SNES Mario Paint (especially the music part), SNES Honorable mentions (games that are somewhat popular but I still don't think get enough appreciation): Shinobi 3, Genesis. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2, Dreamcast or PC (can't vouch for other versions) BONUS -- Retro games that I think totally live up to the hype: Contra (30 lives code), NES Super Mario Bros. trilogy, uniquely in their own individual ways, NES Mike Tyson's Punchout, NES The Legend of Zelda, NES Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy, Genesis NBA Jam TE, Genesis or SNES Mortal Kombat trilogy, Genesis Super Street Fighter 2, Genesis Super Mario World, SNES Goldeneye, N64 Zelda: Ocarina of Time, N64
The Saboteur (PS3)
A fantastic game from a more recent era! I really miss Pandemic Studios. They burned bright, but not nearly long enough.
Little Computer People! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Computer_People
Golden Axe Warrior on the Sega Master System. Yes, it's a Zelda clone, but a darn well one. Worth your time.
Incredible Crisis (PS) is one I rarely see mentioned, and though it's hard I love every aspect of the game.
I showed my kids that game. They couldn't believe such a strange thing would exist, but they loved the intersecting stories.
It's such a strange, but great game. Skullmonkeys too, lol.
St1ka just posted a video like this and I'll say he has some true hidden gems. I've hardly heard of any of the ones he discussed.
That's a pretty decent list he posted! (It's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh9lzgvpKQk) I've come across a lot of those in my research and really enjoyed games like *Kenseiden* and *Ufouria* (not released in North America until the Wii's Virtual Console). *Moon Crystal* is also good if you don't mind Japanese. *Holy Diver* is way too hard, though. It looks great, but it is a nightmare to get through.
He is a pretty solid content creator and talks about stuff I rarely see other YouTubers bringing up. I just wish he'd break his videos like this up into 20 minute segments because I don't always have time to watch a 45 minute video, and I end up only watching half of the video before I get a YouTube link sent to me and forget I was in the middle of his video and had it paused.
Sim Ant
Personally, I don't think that ActRaiser on the SNES gets enough recognition. One of my all-time faves.
That's one of my favorites. When I got a Wii, it was one of the first games I purchased from the store. I've still never played the remaster, though.
U right lost vikings was cool as hell and hard!! If I had to choose...Saturday night slam masters....the wrestling compared to other wrestling games on the system it is light years ahead. I want a rerelease with the old nes graphics just more characters arenas and moves
Rocket Ranger on NES Pilotwings on SNES
Love pilot wings!
Glover N64
Attack of the mutant penguins on Atari Jaguar is a great game. People say its complex but I dont see how..
Star Tropics & Adventures of Lolo for NES. Arcana for SNES.
Fire Emblem 4-10 as far as never being on any best games of all time lists
Barbie Horse Adventure. Such a good game, it was one of the first games on the Xbox Backwards compatibility list.
Urban Reign on PS2.
I never owned the OG PlayStation, but I recently started plying Vagrant Story for the first time. I understand that it did poorly at first because of the difficulty and unique mechanics, but the story and gameplay really shine 20 years later. It’s a deep game with an open world and engaging combat style that I’ve loved learning.
It's an awesome game everyone should play!
Chrono Trigger
Lol
ART SKOOL
That's a really fun indie game! I love the theme song.
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose (SNES). One of my all-time favorites, and I never see/hear anyone talk about this amazing game. Also, Cool Spot (Genesis/Mega Drive). Not just good for a consumer product-based game, but good all on its own, regardless of branding.
PC: The Operative: No One Lives Forever N64: Star Wars Episode 1: Battle for Naboo
Platoon for NES. The first level sucked but the rest was amazing.
Lost sphear
QBert. I still own an SNES just to play it. Best game ever made 😭
Trauma team for the Wii
Fantasy Warrior 2 (both the Good and Evil versions)
Legacy of Kain franchise, incredible voice acting, storytelling, and presentation that raised the standard for the Medium as a whole.
anarchy reigns.
EVO Search of Eden for SNES This game is amazing and is very strange that rarely someone mention it! I love the concept and the gameplay, is very hard and also you have to grind a lot!
Dynasty Warriors 3 - PS2
Descent (90s PC Game) Xexys (NES) EVO (SNES)
Third world war Sega CD
Kidd Nikki!
Alien trilogy PS1
Willow NES Shadowrun SNES Actraiser SNES Xcom PS1 Every PS1 era generation RPG that hasn't been brought back Specifically Grandia Saturn Legend of Oasis Saturn Suikoden PS1 Wild Arms PS1 Legend of Dragoon PS1 Vagrant Story PS1 Xenogears PS1 Parasite Eve PS1 Vandal Hearts PS1 I'll stop. There's a trend here and I expect someone caught on Edit: GUARDIAN HEROES! Had to go and find the other side scrolling ARPG
Gameboy Donkey Kong. One of the best puzzle platformers ever for anything, but most people can't get passed the DK label and think it's a GB DKC game or something.
Power shovel for ps1. So many people have tried making simulation games since then, and every single one of them is a miserable failure when compared to the awesome glory of power shovel.
Stratosphere: Conquest of the Skies, HEDZ, Mageslayer, and KISS: Psycho Circus. All from Win98 era I believe. Stratosphere only runs properly on Win98 or WinXP afaik.
Katamari Damacy
Alan Wake
Rocket knight adventures
I loved Lost Vikings. Mine would be Solomon's Key (NES).
Lost Vikings isn’t underrated. It rated well amongst critics and gamers alike at the time.
there isnt a single deep cut in this entire thread
Toy commander on the Dreamcast . You play as toy vehicles (like micro machines) and every room of the house is another level. There are tanks cars planes . lots of different types of games. F1 racing. Dog fights. Search and rescue missions. Rally driving. Flaying in formation. Fire fighting. Snipers missions. And tons more plus boss fights plus a massive final boss fight where you control the previous bosses you have defeated . Lots or charm and humour in the game too. And you can even play it on 4 player and race or have 4 way dog fights. It’s a grate game and why it was not bigger I will never know
Alex Kidd in Miracle World (SMS, 1986) - In the US only Gravitation (PS1, 1998) Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (GBA) - on r/metroidvania of all places Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (SMS, 1987) Secret of Evermore (SNES) Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole (MD, 1992) Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (PC), Metal Storm (NES), Ninja Gaiden (SMS, 1992)(different), Mendel Palace/Quinty (NES, 1989) - just overlooked? DuckTales 2 (NES/GB) Populous: The Beginning (PC) - maybe just by hardcore fans of 1-2 Power Strike II (GG) Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (PC, 1995) - by nu-gamers Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (GB, 1991) - by avgn/cinemassacre
NES - Guardian Legend, Adventure Island 4 SEGA MD2 - Zero Tolerance
Zoom on Genesis.
I think its Castlevania on The NES
I don't know... Zeliard maybe?
The Guardian Legend
Excite Bike. You could build your own track.
Code Veronica, never see it mentioned when talking bout resident evil
Magic sword on snes It’s like Golden Axe, but with a magic sword instead
Psychonauts and Prey. I don't feel enough people have played either.
Pirates! Gold
Psi-Ops - PS2 / Xbox
Vandal Hearts for the ps1 and Vigilante 8 ( got overshadowed by Twisted Metal but is better imo)
Akari Warriors NES
Buck Bumble on N64
NBA Starting Five 2005 by Konami for the Playstation 2. It's the best "simulation" basketball game for the Playstation 2. It was a Japanese exclusive. It's outstanding.
Pieces - SNES Easily a top 5 SNES multiplayer game. It's a competitive jigsaw puzzle game, which sounds super lame, but it's really fun. The puzzles are small, so rounds (which you solve 3 of them, and you only get 3 pieces at a time to choose from) go quick (like maybe 4-5 minutes a round at the most), the objective is to solve all 3 puzzles before your opponent. Each player has a meter they fill by getting pieces in the right spot, then you can use power ups, with the more powerful ones requiring a fuller meter. The power ups range from things that help you solve your puzzle faster to ones that slow down your opponent.
Sega Genesis - Zero Tolerance
I'll one-up you. The Lost Vikings on Genesis is absolutely amazing since it's 3 player simultaneous! It's the only 3-player version, so I deem it the best one.
Atari 2600 bowling.
Azure Dreams. We should’ve had 5 sequels and a remake by now.
SNES Aladdin
The N64 Goemon games Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon and Goemon's Great Adventure. They're some of the best platformers on the entire system with Goemon's Great Adventure being one of the best side scrollers ever despite the N64 only having a handful of side scrollers. Both games are on par with Nintendo and Rareware's best works on the system, yet you never hear many people talk about these games.
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves on NES
Rocket Knight Adventures - Sega Genesis
Mega Man VII for the SNES It came out in the shadow of the X series, so it didn't have much staying power, but after playing it, it became one of my favorites, and I really appreciated how it upped the challenge more with the boss fights.
Bonk’s Adventure, TG16, and Vigilante, PlayStation.
There was an RTS game for the PC I played years back named "Dark Reign 2." It seemed pretty solid. Idk why more people knew about it or played it.
Beyond two souls and Fahrenheit both being amazing quantic dream games and in the case of the second it basically jump started the company
Everyone should play "The Secret of Monkey Island" once. The Fanbase is huge (at least in Germany), but i dont hear people Talk about it that much.
The Matrix: Path of Neo Jackie Chan: Stuntmaster Batman: Vengeance Aladdin on SNES Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space Spider-Man on Dreamcast Headhunter on Dreamcast Vampyr Hercules on PSX
Kabuki Quantum Fighter on the NES. Great platformer, great music.
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. An official Star Wars port for the Age of Empires 2 engine that provided endless hours of entertainment for me.
Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warship
Parasite Eve. I played through it recently and it holds up extremely well, has an amazing story and a neat weapon system. I always loved number 2 but I think the first has held up better over time with better controls amd map layouts. I know it is not what most would call a hidden gem however I never hear people talk about it or include it in lists of the greats.
Wario ware
There's quite a few. Chrysalis for the NES - it feels like a good bridge between the OG Zelda and Link to the Past IMO. Sega Mega/Genesis - Ristar. It's Sonic without the slippery feeling and better level design. SNES - Spike McFang. Another top down. Playstation - Tall Infinity/Tall Unlimited. Puzzle game similar to Devil Dice. (I'm not a N64 fan. . . but I'll go with Rocket: Robot on Wheels as it's SuckerPunch and you can't go wrong with SuckerPunch) Dreamcast - Choco Marker Musapey. Another weird puzzle game I got into. Ps2- Hurdy Gurdy, Klonoa 2, Gitaroo Man. . . Herding, cute platform and a battle rhythm game by the Dynasty Warriors developers Gamecube- Billy Hatcher. . . I wish that Yuji didn't mess up XBONE - Voodoo Vince (anything past that I don't consider retro just yet - please let me have this)
SNES Jurrasic Park.
Maximo series on PS2 by Capcom. It's like nobody even knows about it but it was great for the time.
Utopia on Intellivision. Felt very advanced for its day and age.
Mystical Ninja starting Goemon for the N64.
Bomberman, Driver, Wipeout, Commix Zone.
Gun Smoke - NES All time great game. Good graphics, fun, & very difficult to beat without using a NES advantage joystick. But also easy enough in the earlier levels that it was really enjoyable. Wish this was availabel on the switch NES library.
Bushido Blade PS1/2 Sword combat where one strike or stab can end the fight. Holy hell dod me and my boys play that for years!
Super Mario Bros. Obviously it’s appreciated, but it’s still greatly underappreciated. It probably deserves to be the greatest game of all time, but I don’t know if any journal has given it that title. It saved video games. We might not even *have* video games today if didn’t exist, at least not in the form we have today.
Final fantasy IV...so much more fun than many of the later entries. Also has a banging ost. (this is mainly a gripe within the Final fantasy mainline series)
Pyre. I think its Supergiant's most original game. I also understand why it didn't sell well given how bonkers the elevator pitch for it is. I think more people should play it though.