Obscure and Forgotten Games (Catch-All)

Oh here's another one I remember liking: Sub Culture

It was a privateer-like submarine game, but the neat thing was that you're part of a race of super tiny critters, so you'll roll up on a tortoise and it'll be ENORMOUS.

juv3nal wrote:

Oh here's another one I remember liking: Sub Culture

It was a privateer-like submarine game, but the neat thing was that you're part of a race of super tiny critters, so you'll roll up on a tortoise and it'll be ENORMOUS.

I've actually been meaning to play that one.

Now, when I think of obscure space games, this is the first one that comes to mind:

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/Millennia_Altered_Destinies_boxart.jpg)

A space game in which you're a time traveler and have to guide the societies of four alien races to technological superiority in order to help you take down an alien race that will kill everyone if not stopped. LOVED it.

The next one that comes to mind is this one:

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/Star_Crusader_Coverart.gif)

A fantastic space sim with varied missions and a fantastic story that had you, at one point, choosing sides between your current "space romans" and the resistance. Awesome stuff.

Veloxi wrote:

Now, when I think of obscure space games, this is the first one that comes to mind:

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/Millennia_Altered_Destinies_boxart.jpg)

A space game in which you're a time traveler and have to guide the societies of four alien races to technological superiority in order to help you take down an alien race that will kill everyone if not stopped. LOVED it.

The next one that comes to mind is this one:

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/Star_Crusader_Coverart.gif)

A fantastic space sim with varied missions and a fantastic story that had you, at one point, choosing sides between your current "space romans" and the resistance. Awesome stuff.

I remember the feather wings now. Yeah I remember that with fondness.

I would also throw out there the Heavy Gear games (especially HG2) which I always thought were superior than the Mechwarrior games, especially in terms of mechs that actually made military sense.

Nevin73 wrote:

I would also throw out there the Heavy Gear games (especially HG2) which I always thought were superior than the Mechwarrior games, especially in terms of mechs that actually made military sense.

You, sir, are my new best friend. Heavy Gear 2 is still, I think, the best mecha game around.

Anyone else play Westwood's Lands of Lore series? I played the 2nd one and failed horribly at it, but I thought it was pretty impressive back then...

MojoBox wrote:

Freedom Fighters by IO Interactive was a really fantastic game that mostly flew under the radar back when it came out. I would really love to see a second take on those game systems.

I like the cut of your jib sir. I love love love that game. Played the hell out of it. It let me play out all my Red Dawn fantasies. I remember seeing something about a sequel years ago, but nothing since. I'd love to see a sequel of some sort.

OMG, what about Vangers? Deeply weird sort-of car-based combat RPG set on alien worlds. Gog.com still has it.

Request thread be renamed to include hipster reference.

Jaunttrooper: Mission Thunderbolt

http://homeoftheunderdogs.net/game.p...

Best SciFi Rougelike I have played.

Robear wrote:

OMG, what about Vangers? Deeply weird sort-of car-based combat RPG set on alien worlds. Gog.com still has it.

I still have my CD of that game. What a crazy awesome game. And what, GOG doesn't have it. :/

Veloxi wrote:

Oohhh, great idea. I love obscure games, especially from the 90s. I just got this in the mail the other day, for example:

IMAGE(http://www.neuralgameshake.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/CameraZOOM-20130829183107055.jpg)

Oh man, I irrationally miss PC game boxes from the 90s. Both because of how odd the art could be, as well as the fact that not only were the boxes always needlessly big, but that every single one seemed to be needlessly big in a wholly unique way.

If I lived anywhere remotely close to my family home (being in the correct country would be a start), I'd be inspired to go and photo a bunch of old boxes that I still stash for no reason other than stupid nostalgia (and because there's plenty of room to stash them because coming from a town of sub-10, 000 people at least brings with it bigger houses.)

I am just in the middle of sorting my game box collection and man, are there interesting things. Remember Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri, the least famous (but still fabulous) game from Looking Glass/Irrational? It has the same engine as the first System Shock did. I just installed it and lets just say it has not aged gracefully.

IMAGE(http://www.flashingblade.net/classics/tnova1.jpg)

Afterlife, anyone? This was a city builder from Lucasarts back when they still did games that weren't Star Wars. You built both heaven and hell, and had to balance providing enough rewards or punishments for each of the seven sins and virtues. This could all go to pot if disasters on the planet resulted in sudden influxes of souls, as well as providing transportation back to the planet for souls that believe in reincarnation. The best part of it was reading the detailed description of each punishment and reward, which were Lucasarts writing at some of its best.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife_(video_game)

Pretendbeard wrote:

Oh man, I irrationally miss PC game boxes from the 90s. Both because of how odd the art could be, as well as the fact that not only were the boxes always needlessly big, but that every single one seemed to be needlessly big in a wholly unique way.

Oh lord me too, especially when they had good sized manuals in 'em. This one is mostly air, humorously.

wanderingtaoist wrote:

I am just in the middle of sorting my game box collection and man, are there interesting things. Remember Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri, the least famous (but still fabulous) game from Looking Glass/Irrational? It has the same engine as the first System Shock did. I just installed it and lets just say it has not aged gracefully.

I got that game running about a year ago and while the graphics are...something else, the gameplay is still crazy awesome.

Chaz wrote:

Afterlife, anyone? This was a city builder from Lucasarts back when they still did games that weren't Star Wars. You built both heaven and hell, and had to balance providing enough rewards or punishments for each of the seven sins and virtues. This could all go to pot if disasters on the planet resulted in sudden influxes of souls, as well as providing transportation back to the planet for souls that believe in reincarnation. The best part of it was reading the detailed description of each punishment and reward, which were Lucasarts writing at some of its best.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife_(video_game)

One of my favorite city builders. I loved what it had to say about cows.

I just found Afterlife CD while sifting through the collection. Oh Lucasarts, where have you gone?

wanderingtaoist wrote:

I just found Afterlife CD while sifting through the collection. Oh Lucasarts, where have you gone?

This was the last thing they ever did. Their death was a mercy killing.

I think my two favorites from way way back are:

I played these and beat them countless times as kid.

Mines of Titan
IMAGE(http://www.abandonia.com/files/games/894/Mines%20of%20Titan_1.png)

and Battletech The Crescent Hawks Incepation
IMAGE(http://www.abandonia.com/files/boxshots/23856_boxshot_1.jpg)

Mex wrote:

Anyone else play Westwood's Lands of Lore series? I played the 2nd one and failed horribly at it, but I thought it was pretty impressive back then...

The first Lands of Lore was one of my favorite 3d dungeon crawling games.

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/Lands_of_lore_panels.png)

Veloxi wrote:

This was the last thing they ever did. Their death was a mercy killing.

I think they didn't actually work on this one, a different studio did. I'm pretty sure that studio's previous game was Def Jam Rap Star. Oy.

Man, if I went through my old binder of CDs, I'd have years' worth of old games to play/replay. Of course, who knows how many I'd actually be able to get to run. I ebayed a copy of Terra Nova once and I've never managed to get it to run. I'd love to see that done with a modern graphics engine.

Any of you guys ever played Outpost or Outpost 2? I really dug the whole interstellar colonization thing, and it's sad that no one makes games quite like that anymore where your biggest enemy is the environment.

In any case you can get both games for free now, just google em. Outpost hasn't aged well but Outpost 2 is still a decent RTS.

Outpost 2 was fantastic.

Veloxi wrote:

Oh, also, does anyone remember this one?

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/NcLT2Wvm.jpg)

I still play it every now and then because of it's amazing gameplay and non-linear campaign, but when I mention it to folks, their eyes glaze over. Shame, such a wonderful game.

I loved both this and its sequel, and have thought about it many times recently. The other game that jumps to mind is Incubation: Time Is Running Out. It was the first turn based game that took advantage of my shiny Voodoo card, and it shares a lot of DNA with Space Hulk.

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bf/Incubation_-_Time_Is_Running_Out_Coverart.png)

It took me years to beat Battletech: The Crescent Hawks Inception. I think that was my first introduction to the world of Battletech.
.

Dynamix used to be the name in flight sims.

My two favorite games from them were Red Baron and A-10. Both had interesting takes on campaign structures for the era, especially the way Red Baron took you dynamically through the entire war.

Does anyone know or played this on the Commodore 64??... Me and one of my best friends used to play this game till the wee ours in the night(3-4am) and we were just in 4th grade I think....
AZTEC CHALLENGE
Great memories...

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/yUf1bdf.jpg)

I loved one game so obscure even *I* can't remember the name. I'm pretty sure it was on the Turbo Grafx 16, and it was a hex-based wargame, vaguely like Advance Wars, but I remember it as having larger maps. I spent a LOT of time playing that game.... but I've totally forgotten what it was called.

Sonrics wrote:

Does anyone know or played this on the Commodore 64??... Me and one of my best friends used to play this game till the wee ours in the night(3-4am) and we were just in 4th grade I think....
AZTEC CHALLENGE

Yup but the game always kicked my ass. How about Gateway to Apshai also on C64?

And loved Save New York also on C64. Even had it on a cart!

IMAGE(http://www.c64-wiki.com/images/0/0c/Save_New_York_Animation.Gif)

Malor wrote:

I loved one game so obscure even *I* can't remember the name. I'm pretty sure it was on the Turbo Grafx 16, and it was a hex-based wargame, vaguely like Advance Wars, but I remember it as having larger maps. I spent a LOT of time playing that game.... but I've totally forgotten what it was called.

I think you might want to look up Military Madness / Nectaris.

Mobygames link.

What a great thread! I've seen a few things here from my gaming past that I had forgotten - Little Big Adventure and Lands of Lore just for starters...

For me one of my favourite games from the late 90's was Missionforce Cyberstorm. A group of us used to play that fairly regularly at LAN parties.
IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/Cyberstorm_Cover.jpg)

Edit actually I have to include another, one of the first RPGs I got into - Times of Lore. I regularly play this every couple of years through to completion. Only a couple of hours and it's great to sometimes go back and tickle that nostalgia bone.

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Times_of_Lore_cover.jpg)