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What Are Your Hidden Gems?

Epsilon

Cipher
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
428
Universal Soldiers

39405-Universal_Soldier_(USA,_Europe)-1459192791.png


This came out on the Genesis and is "based" on the Universal Soldiers movie... except it's not and thank God for that.

This game is fucking insane. It's like they shoved as much crazy shit as possible into it because they couldn't figure out how to make a game of of the movie otherwise. Wasps that attack you from nests? You can turn into a spiked ball at will? Don't remember that shit.

The game is FULL of crazy power ups including tons of insane fucking weapons. Oh and when you get them the game TELLS YOU WHAT THEY ARE (although I can't make out what the fuck it's saying). Also, there's a button combination that allows you to just go ape shit and turns the screen into chaos.

Oh and the soundtrack? Awesome.

That looks like a Turrican clone (Amiga/C64).
turrican-v1-0-0092.png
d

There is also a good (and free) remake available here.
Thats because it is Turrican. They needed a game to tie in with the Universal Soldier movie, but didn't have a game. So they changed some graphics on Turrican and released it as Universal Soldier.
And Wiz 'n Liz was ported to the Mega Drive(Genesis) from Amiga. Psygnosis was primarily an Amiga publisher for a long time. The Amiga versions of these games are by far the superior ones.
 

Redshirt #42

Augur
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
337
Metal Fatigue.
I wish someone made a remake of that game. It doesn't even need to improve the graphics all that much, just make it run on newer systems. It's a really based on such a great concept (making your own fighting robots, or Combots as they're called here) that it's actually strange how few other strategy implemented a similar mechanic. Like there were user-designed units in KKND2: Krossfire too, in example, but in MF they are the main part of your force and there's a huge amount of combinations and possible differences in the Combots you can make.

Another hidden gem (to a lesser extent, since a lot more people know about it) is Battle Realms.
I think it qualifies as a hidden gem because while it's relatively know, few people realize just how extremely deep the mechanics of the game are. Every single unit in the game (there's about 60 of them) is completely unique. Almost all of them have innate (typically passive) abilities and 1-3 possible trainable active abilities. The latter vary from a few useless ones (like 3-5 ones that are either bugged or not worth training because there's a clearly better alternative) to a few downright overpowered ones that can turn the tide of the battle on their own. Even so, all of the normal abilities ensure that there's basically no unit that is just "garbage that you never make", even the worst ones have a great niche use. On top of that, every unit has unique resistances and weaknesses - those are sometimes a little bit nonsensical, so you have to keep them in mind, unless you want your mighty Samurai to get 1v1'd in combat with a lower tier guy who isn't even supposed to be a melee attacker but he can still beat a Samurai to death with a humble torch because he has high Cutting resistance, and the Samurai has low Fire resistance. Plus, there are height mechanics, weather mechanics, the Yin/Yang system... and of course, it's one of the first games to use the "ranged units actually have to switch to melee when engaged in melee" combat design that was later popularized by the Dawn of War series.
 

J1M

Arcane
Joined
May 14, 2008
Messages
14,616
Axes and Acres
It's like civilization, but with actual choices and a reasonable game length.
 

Gunnar

Arbiter
Joined
Jul 10, 2016
Messages
819
Inindo: Way of the Ninja

This is an SNES game I used to play. Had some fun trying to take over all the territories with one lord. It's got a strategic layer, turn based combat with a party of 3 and army vs army battles. My favorite companions: Iga Ninja and Sage.

Wikipedia said:
The actual game begins in the year 1582. If the player does not kill Nobunaga by the year 1601, the game is over.

Several hazardous dungeons stand in the path of victory, as well as a selection of optional dungeons which can be played in any order the player chooses. Encounters with monsters and outlaws occur randomly in dungeons and in the game's world map, during which the player characters and NPCs can move around the battlefield in turn-based fashion to attack, cast magic spells and use items.

To complete the game, the player must recruit NPCs in order to successfully survive dungeons and large scale battles. In order to recruit other characters, the player must build up a certain degree of trust by talking with them at Tea Houses and Inns. Not every character can be recruited: characters of rival clans will not join the player.

There are strategy and war simulation elements to game as well. By gaining the trust of a Japanese feudal lord, (by spying or committing acts of sabotage on competing daimyo), the player can join in the battle for the provinces that characterized the era. The outcome of these battles changes the lords' possession of individual provinces, which can alter the outcome of the game and aid or hinder the player's progress. Neighboring provinces to Nobunaga's must be conquered in order to advance to the final section of the game.

In the middle of the stories, the player follows either the "normal" path or the "magician" path, which is randomly selected after completing the first dungeon quest. Each path leads to different enemies during random encounters. For example, the "magician" path causes Western mythological monsters such as Hellhound or Marchosias to appear.

inoverworld.gif
inbattle.gif
inmap.gif
inwar.gif
 

the_shadow

Arcane
Joined
Dec 30, 2011
Messages
1,179
I'll second Realmz by Fantasoft. It's not well balanced at all, but was amazing for its time, even having its own scenario editor.

Also, I spent a lot of time playing Castle of the Winds back in the day:

lb-1a.png



And a *real* obscure one from Macintosh, the Odyssey. It's an RPG which is puzzle focused, and had me completely stumped as a 6 year old. I managed to get it up and running recently, and am able to appreciate how clever it was for its time.

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DraQ

Arcane
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
32,828
Location
Chrząszczyżewoszyce, powiat Łękołody
Universal Soldiers

39405-Universal_Soldier_(USA,_Europe)-1459192791.png


This came out on the Genesis and is "based" on the Universal Soldiers movie... except it's not and thank God for that.

This game is fucking insane. It's like they shoved as much crazy shit as possible into it because they couldn't figure out how to make a game of of the movie otherwise. Wasps that attack you from nests? You can turn into a spiked ball at will? Don't remember that shit.

The game is FULL of crazy power ups including tons of insane fucking weapons. Oh and when you get them the game TELLS YOU WHAT THEY ARE (although I can't make out what the fuck it's saying). Also, there's a button combination that allows you to just go ape shit and turns the screen into chaos.

Oh and the soundtrack? Awesome.

That looks like a Turrican clone (Amiga/C64).
turrican-v1-0-0092.png


There is also a good (and free) remake available here.
Worse than that. It's a tasteless rape of Turrican II (mostly just asset replacement) and whoever is responsible for that idea should die violated with spiked carborundum dildos attached to assorted power tools.
:decline:
 

GarlandExCon

Arcane
Joined
May 19, 2014
Messages
6,957
Universal Soldiers

39405-Universal_Soldier_(USA,_Europe)-1459192791.png


This came out on the Genesis and is "based" on the Universal Soldiers movie... except it's not and thank God for that.

This game is fucking insane. It's like they shoved as much crazy shit as possible into it because they couldn't figure out how to make a game of of the movie otherwise. Wasps that attack you from nests? You can turn into a spiked ball at will? Don't remember that shit.

The game is FULL of crazy power ups including tons of insane fucking weapons. Oh and when you get them the game TELLS YOU WHAT THEY ARE (although I can't make out what the fuck it's saying). Also, there's a button combination that allows you to just go ape shit and turns the screen into chaos.

Oh and the soundtrack? Awesome.

That looks like a Turrican clone (Amiga/C64).
turrican-v1-0-0092.png
d

There is also a good (and free) remake available here.
Thats because it is Turrican. They needed a game to tie in with the Universal Soldier movie, but didn't have a game. So they changed some graphics on Turrican and released it as Universal Soldier.
And Wiz 'n Liz was ported to the Mega Drive(Genesis) from Amiga. Psygnosis was primarily an Amiga publisher for a long time. The Amiga versions of these games are by far the superior ones.

I've never played Turricane, now I'm going to have to. I also didn't know Wiz 'n Liz was ported. I'm glad I made this thread.
 

SirArvedeth

Novice
Joined
May 20, 2013
Messages
40
24562_front.jpg

102q8o8.jpg

mjr42d.jpg


Balor of The Evil Eye - RPG/Strategy Koei-style. The game wasn't extraordinary good (but still good/okayish), however being a Koei fag I couldn't resist playing it. Especially considering it's different to other Koei main series (Nobunaga, RTK, Genghis Khan and Bandit Kings) and there aren't many games about Celtic mythology.

claw.jpg

alpha42.gif


Captain Claw - one of the first non-DOS platformers I have ever played. TBH - I don't know how good it actually is compared to other games in this genre, but I have fond memories of it - it wasn't that easy, it had awesome graphics and cool animated cutscenes. However only two bosses had some interesting mechanics, the rest were really fucking simple and unoriginal.

Revenant-Locke.jpg

284997-revenant-640x480.jpg

2342345324.jpg


Revenant - again, not sure what is the average opinion on this game, but I remember it as one of the first older games I got as a add-on to local gaming magazine that I actually played. I remember it being difficult and buggy mess, but with enjoyable plot, music and mechanics. Old-schoolish hack'n'slash.

While those games are relatively distant from the term "gem", I think they are interesting and playable enough to check them out - they definitely ought to be more popular, so I guess they fall into "hidden" category.
 

dibens

as seen on shoutbox
Patron
Joined
Dec 4, 2011
Messages
2,629
On what planed GTA I and II are hidden gems? Everyone who owned a PC had it. The PS1 port was popular as well.
 
Last edited:

Mustawd

Guest
Hidden gems as of today. It really doesn't get as much attention as it deserves in the PC gaming lexicon.
 

Dedup

Augur
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Messages
146
I enjoyed the Conan game that came out for the PS3 and 360 by THQ. It was a God of War clone with ok graphics for the time and seemed to be forgotten fairly quickly. There were things about it that I preferred over the GoW games like the fact that you leveled up the three weapon styles (one handed, two handed, and dual wielding) to unlock moves instead of being tied to any particular weapon. I also found it a little less reliant on QTEs than GoW.

ConanVideoGameStygians.jpg



Bump and Jump is a top down racer with a jumping mechanic that I used play on my cousin's C64 back in the day. I got it emulated on MAME and still fire it up now and then when I got a few minutes to kill. Just one of those fun and simple arcade games that doesn't require a lot of time investment.

660099-bump-n-jump-arcade-screenshot-narrow-bridge.png



I had never played Ace Attacker in the arcade and only learned of its existence when I found the ROM file was somehow in my MAME ROMs folder. I loaded it up to see what it was about and got a pretty fun volleyball game. It took me a little bit to set the controls properly, but once I did and started playing, next thing I know, its the middle of the night and 4 hours had passed. Its a pretty satisfying game, especially when you spike the ball in your opponent's face and knock them flat on their ass.

hqdefault.jpg
 

Jazz_

Arcane
Joined
Jun 13, 2016
Messages
1,069
Location
Sea of Ubiquity
Just remembered this: ''Full Ace Tennis'', if you love tennis like I do you'd know that tennis games are often atrociously arcade, I have tried most of the tennis simulations out there and this is the only one with a very good physics and a realistic feel, also the surfaces do matter, the bounce on indoor courts is super low, while it's very high on clay courts, albeit the grass courts could be more realistic (but in fairness it's very hard to realisticly simulate grass court playing), there's even a challenge system, you can call the hawkeye to challenge a dubious call (i remember winning an online match by calling the hawkeye and rectifying an ace the game called out :lol:), that's how simulative it is. If the game had better more fluid animations (they are pretty poor and stiff right now) and better support (the game is basicly a one man project, a french dude who also disappeared for years without updating the game, however he has recently promised updates coming) it would really be a must have. The online matches were also very fun (the AI does not offer a big challenge after you master the controls). It's a shame that the dev kinda let the game die.

14030_1.jpg
 

Mustawd

Guest
This reminds me...I LOVED Virtua(l?) Tennis on the Dreamcast. So much fucking fun.
 

Mustawd

Guest
Still fun as hell.

MP ofc. I think it had a SP, but mostly as a tutorial.
 

A horse of course

Guest
I enjoyed the Conan game that came out for the PS3 and 360 by THQ. It was a God of War clone with ok graphics for the time and seemed to be forgotten fairly quickly. There were things about it that I preferred over the GoW games like the fact that you leveled up the three weapon styles (one handed, two handed, and dual wielding) to unlock moves instead of being tied to any particular weapon. I also found it a little less reliant on QTEs than GoW.

Me too, but the final boss was a complete cunt
 

GarlandExCon

Arcane
Joined
May 19, 2014
Messages
6,957
Hover

hover-01.png


This game came packed in with Windows 95, so I guess it's not that hidden, but no one ever talks about it. You basically compete against computer players and capture flags. In its day it was crazy fun.

------
I was trying to remember the name of another game from around this time. It was a 3D game where you flew around a vast world and shot at alien ships. That's really all I can say about it other than it came packed in with the first computer I ever owned (which was an AST desktop with Windows 95 installed).
 

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