Lost and forgotten (except by us)

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

That reminds me, there was a sci-fi space exploration game in the early 90s that I vaguely recall, something about mantis-like aliens attacking humanity or something.

The only thing I remember was the intro where a newscaster was reporting on war when she's ripped apart from the inside by one of the alien critters.

Anyone remember the title of this?

Could that be XF5700 Mantis ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XF5700_Mantis

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Thank you, that's the one! I faintly recall it being a shit game too.

And congrats on your first post.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Thank you, that's the one! I faintly recall it being a shit game too.

And congrats on your first post.

Never played that one but I had its predecessor Warhead on Amiga.
One of those games where I liked the idea more than actual gameplay. Never completed training missions.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

Blade of Darkness:




The game with one of the most satisfying hack and slash combat I've ever played.

 

[pippin]

Blade of Darkness was recently removed from GoG because of some legal bullcrap. Decline.

 

[agentorange]

"Lost and Forgotten"

Severance has a significant following and gets mentioned on the codex constantly. It's even on (was on, apparently) GOG.

F-Zero and Super Metroid are definitely not lost and forgotten lmao.

I'll say the Orion Conspiracy.

 

[Siveon]

Posting because this thread is awesome.

---

I do think that some of these games are simply old, not exactly forgotten, though. Like the oft mentioned SNES games or Severance (Covert Action is even on Steam, not exactly lost is it?).

 

[Lady_Error]

Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe - was probably my favorite flight sim:

 

[ghostdog]

You want lost and forgotten gems for the SNES ? Try this :

Prince of Persia meets Metroidvania meets beat-em up. Beautiful game that was completely overlooked. If the controls were a bit more fluid it would be up there with the best like SUper Metroid and Super Castlevania IV.

 

[:Flash:]

Ravage

This was made by the Swiss demo group Alpha Helix and released as shareware. Years later they gave Home of the Underdogs the permission to distribute the full version and the source code, so it is practically freeware now.
This game is quite similar to much better known Raptor: Call of the Shadows. Even some explosions and sound effects are very similar. Ravage is the harder game, though, with no energy bar, and each hit by an enemy ship or bullet taking away a life instantly. On the other hand, the soundtrack is very good, and the game is very good at upping the ante, throwing even more and difficult enemies at you while also giving you even more crazy firepower. The screenshots you can find on the web are all from the first two levels, not showing the mayhem that is going on in later levels. Also the bosses at the end of each level are quite good. Combined with a fun 2 player hotseat mode makes for a game that deserves more attention than it normally gets.

 

[Infinitron]

The Omnicron Conspiracy; http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/omnicron-conspiracy-anybody-ever-play-this.73341/

I need to try to track this one down someday.

 

[ZagorTeNej]

Requiem: Avenging Angel



You play as a gun-toting angel that enters Earth's realm (though there are also levels in Hell), being an angel you also have access to magic powers (can turn people into salt, fry them, posses them, ressurrect them to fight for you, fly with your wings etc.). Fun run and gun gameplay and great dystopian atmosphere.

 

[Alfgart]

Seven Kingdoms: Ancient Adversaries (1997)



Not too obscure, but often overlooked. It's one of the best RTS ever. There was a sequel which is supposedly good too, but I never played it.

 

[4249]

Requiem: Avenging Angel



You play as a gun-toting angel that enters Earth's realm (though there are also levels in Hell), being an angel you also have access to magic powers (can turn people into salt, fry them, posses them, ressurrect them to fight for you, fly with your wings etc.). Fun run and gun gameplay and great dystopian atmosphere.

Dang, I remember seeing ads with the box art in some gaming magazines around the time it came out and thinking "woah that looks cool". Never got around playing it though. Don't think it's officially sold anywhere anymore?

 

[Astral Rag]

Nope and Requiem doesn't like modern OS.

 

[Miserable Panda]

This game suffered from a lot of hype and bad marketing. Promising so much, and yet giving all the players, that waited for it years and years, so little, it quickly lost all the attention and publicity it got over the years.
I'm talking about Messiah, a game that luckily is available on GoG.com (http://af.gog.com/game/messiah?as=1649904300).


Made by Shiny entertainment, and distributed by big old Interplay, this game caught the attention of the media by the excellent graphics, and a simple quirk in its gameplay, being able to possess any NPC you wanted, as long as you needed.
A hybrid between an adventure and a horrible third person shooter, this game told the story of the angel Bob, brought down to earth by God to cleanse humanity from all its sins, in a futuristic and cyberpunk atmosphere.
I played the hell out of this game when it came out, and I endured the horrible puzzles, the subpar shooting sections, all because the love I've grown for this game across the years.

It is not quite forgotten, but people overlook it fairly easily.

Seven Kingdoms: Ancient Adversaries (1997)



Not too obscure, but often overlooked. It's one of the best RTS ever. There was a sequel which is supposedly good too, but I never played it.

The sequel is fine, but truly is more of the same. There a lot of new mechanics (controling the monsters as a faction or some upgrades to spionage, for example), but is all cluttered and quite annoying. It looks like a enormous game, but soon you realize it is quite empty and it even feels rushed, perhaps by all the competition of the time. The first is one of the best RTS I played in my life. Even so, if you loved the original, you will enjoy the sequel.

 

[Sykar]

Omikron:The Nomad Soul starring David Bowie!

 

[warpig]

Absolute Zero, have anyone of you played it, is it good? I just remember the screenshots from magazines, this game is very rarely mentioned anywhere so I suspect it might be crap.

It looks kind of cool, I found an old review on JewTube that sounds promising.

 

[Duraframe300]

You want lost and forgotten gems for the SNES ? Try this :

Prince of Persia meets Metroidvania meets beat-em up. Beautiful game that was completely overlooked. If the controls were a bit more fluid it would be up there with the best like SUper Metroid and Super Castlevania IV.

AVGN *reviewed*it. (Or was it on a James & Mike monday?)

So, not so forgotten anymore.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

You want lost and forgotten gems for the SNES ? Try this :

Nosferatu was mentioned by you earlier in the weaboo sections in some thread. Great game all along, very flexible thanks to diffrent difficult settings. There are some optional sections of the dungeons for the maximum crystals/health and the whole labirynth seems to have more than one exit. I was afraid that beat em up part would be weak, but it's surprisingly good, feels like a box match with some additional quirks. Visually the devs really wanted to put the atmosphere on the first plan. It's not some cheap Castlevania rip-off but well designed platform game with some new ways of controlling your character ( I had to try a couple of minutes the diffrent new moves that were implemented), and you will need to use all of them. I wish it was longer though, or have at least a sequel.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Guido Henkel's (on the left) predecessor to Realms of Arcania. It has lots of flaws, is kind of unfinished, but I really liked it back then.

Had also there celebrities:

And chainmail bikinis:

 

[:Flash:]

Off to Europe!

Spoiler

This freeware game was commissioned by the German Federal Foreign Office in order to indoctrinate naive computer game playing youth into being good Europeans.
In the game you have to travel through the capitals of Europe. In each capital there is an action minigame and a quiz game. With the action minigames you can earn (or lose) ECUs (which is what the Euro was called before it existed), which you need to pay for your travel expenses. With the quiz game, you collect points, which you need for winning the game. This only makes sense, if you play with several people in Hotseat mode. You can play alone, but you will always win, as there are no AI opponents.
Once you have traveled all the capitals of Europe, you have to go to Brussels in order to play the "Final", are series of questions about European institutions.
If two players travel to the same location in the same round, they "meet in the hotel" and the action minigame is replaced with "Smashball", i.e. Pong.

In theory, the game is not all that good, but it has a certain charme, and it was one of the few hotseat games we had available when we were kids, which means that we played it a lot. And it took the entire afternoon to reach the final (4 players x 12 capitals = 48 minigames and quizzes). I still remember the answer to every question that exists in the game. Also, the game constantly blares the anthems of the country you are in through the PC speaker. That's the reason I can identify the anthems of those countries within seconds when hearing them. It is also the only hotseat game I know that allows each player to select a different language.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Sounds like this game hit it off with "Where in Europe is Carmen Sandiego?" to make "Dr Drago's Madcap Chase".

 

[Siobhan]

G-Police (PC/PSX)
arcady first-person sci-fi helicopter shooter, of which there aren't too many. Very 90s with badly aged 3d, a PSX version, and prerendered cutscenes (the FMV craze had already cooled down).

Spoiler

Dime City (PC)
casual German sim where you have to build up a crime empire and flirt with your secretary. Not exactly stellar, and could easily be a tablet game nowadays, but I liked it back in the day. There seems to be no short gameplay video, so here's a German LP:

Spoiler

Battle of Olympus (NES)
A non-linear action adventure in the spirit of Zelda 2 and Castlevania Simon's Quest. Damn hard, but great monster design and some really confusing dungeons. Great graphics and soundtrack, and cool atmosphere to boot. Much improved by emulators with save states, the passwords are insanely long and cryptic.

Spoiler

Descent (PC)
obviously well-known among non-millenials, but I really feel like the game has been wiped from gaming history. It doesn't show up in many top 100 lists, there have been no attempts to desecrate the franchise with a filthy console reboot, nor any Kickstarter nostalgia bait. The whole genre is effectively dead. Hmm, but since this thread is about obscure games, here's a video of the much crappier Forsaken instead:

Spoiler

Edit: should we spoiler videos to keep the load times short?

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Descent (PC)
obviously well-known among non-millenials, but I really feel like the game has been wiped from gaming history. It doesn't show up in many top 100 lists, there have been no attempts to desecrate the franchise with a filthy console reboot, nor any Kickstarter nostalgia bait. The whole genre is effectively dead. Hmm, but since this thread is about obscure games, here's a video of the much crappier Forsaken instead:

Wrong.