Underappreciated Videogames

[nDed]

(First off, I'm pretty sure there hasn't been a previous thread like this. But if there is, please feel free to pwn my n00b ass.)

So yeah, I guess this thread is to be used by internet people to inform other internet people about video games that are awesome but, for one reason or another, seem to have fallen under the radar for most. Basically this is a recommendations thread, just write a short description of the game, one or two screenshots and maybe some (legal) tips on how to acquire said game if it is not widely available.

My first recommendation is Giants: Citizen Kabuto by Planet Moon Studios. The fact that Planet Moon is founded by people who used to work for Shiny (who were responsible for Earthworm Jim) should give most an idea of what to expect. The game doesn't take itself very seriously, which becomes evident when you realize that the game's main characters, the Meccaryns, basically amount to a bunch of Cockney guys on holiday. Other playable characters include Delphi the Sea Reaper (kind of like evil merpeople?) and the titular giant Citizen Kabuto (well, sort of). Gameplay is pretty much standard third person shooter fare with some RTS base building thrown in. Each character plays diiferently, of course, with the Meccaryns focusing on long range weaponry and squad tactics while Delphi mainly relies on sword and sorcery. Predictably, Kabuto's missions mostly involve eating people and destroying land formations, which is pretty fun. When it was first released, Giants was considered fairly cutting edge in terms of graphics, and I think it still manages to look pleasing despite probably having a lower polygon count than most PS2 games.

Availability: Last I checked this game could be found in stores such as CompUSA in the bargain software rack, usually packaged with another game and priced at around $10. There was also a special version packaged with some Geforce 3 video cards that included slightly improved graphical effects and textures, but those are pretty rare.

[side_show]

Underappreciated videogame?  I'd say Tetris.  It's so good.

[CortJstr]

I'm an Earthbound man, myself. Say "fuzzy pickles!"

[linnea]

The video games I have are already fully appreciated: Tekken, Dance Dance Revolution, Katamari Damacy.

[V-Adore]

I'm an Earthbound man, myself. Say "fuzzy pickles!"

Damn, beaten to the punch.

[CortJstr]

I'm an Earthbound man, myself. Say "fuzzy pickles!"

Damn, beaten to the punch.

Oh man, is so awesome. All fighting Master Belch. All scaring away ghosts with a band that is clearly The Blues Brothers. Oh, and that reminds me. The Mr. Saturn font is my favorite font ever. BOING!

[Gimpson]

I'm too poor/cheap to either keep my PC up to gaming standards or to have anything other than a last-gen console.  That said, I recently found a PalmOS NES emulator and put it on my phone and have been going through a lot of the old Nintendo games I played in junior high to see how they hold up.  I'm really enjoying playing Bionic Commando right now. 

[nDed]

Oh man, Earthbound. I'm still waiting for the Mother 3 fan translation to finish already.

[Nabubrush]

Legend of Kage

What?

[Ben-San]

Currently I'm playing Star Ocean: Second Story for the Playstation again. I love games with craft skills and SOSS has a bunch of good ones - in addition to the obvious cooking and smithing and so forth, there's also forgery, writing, art, musical composition and performance.. and then the party members can combine their craft abilities for super craft combos like Orchestra, Publishing, and so forth. Also late in the game there's an Iron Chef competition.

If you get obsessive with the crafting stuff it makes the main body of the game very easy, though, because you've smithed a sword that shoots out a dozen little comets with every swing and sandwiches that fully restore your HP and paintings that transform all your enemies into treasure and so forth.

[V-Adore]

Oh man, is so awesome. All fighting Master Belch. All scaring away ghosts with a band that is clearly The Blues Brothers. Oh, and that reminds me. The Mr. Saturn font is my favorite font ever. BOING!

The Mr. Saturn font is great in a language you can read well, but, as I learned while playing through EB in Japanese, it is hell on wheels in a language you read poorly. Even at the slowest text-speed setting, I just kinda gave up on the Saturn-font-hiragana.

Also, a protip for localizers: making the two lead dudes wear a green suit and a red suit and removing "Brothers" from the band name does not make the characters any less obviously the Blues Brothers. It's a hack about on the level of changing alcohol references to coffee references: your ass is covered, but nobody is fooled.

[CortJstr]

The Mr. Saturn font is great in a language you can read well, but, as I learned while playing through EB in Japanese, it is hell on wheels in a language you read poorly. Even at the slowest text-speed setting, I just kinda gave up on the Saturn-font-hiragana.

Also, a protip for localizers: making the two lead dudes wear a green suit and a red suit and removing "Brothers" from the band name does not make the characters any less obviously the Blues Brothers. It's a hack about on the level of changing alcohol references to coffee references: your ass is covered, but nobody is fooled.

Does Mach Pizza have a slogan? Does anybody remember what it is?

Am I the other person who wonders what kind of video game uber-mascot would result from cross-breeding a Mr. Saturn with a moogle?

[Nabubrush]

I thought this was still an English-language site.

[pmcd9]

Asteroids

[nDed]

Am I the other person who wonders what kind of video game uber-mascot would result from cross-breeding a Mr. Saturn with a moogle?

A Mr. Saturn with a bat-winged torso?

Edit: Or perhaps an incipient soup of malformed organs and translucent bones?