Mine is Lady Sia for GBA. It’s just a platformer but I just love it played and completed more 20 times. Will probably speedrun it in future.

  • CrayonRosary@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    3 days ago

    Solomon’s Key (NES)

    Finally beat it last year after trying for 35 years. Such a good game. It’s one of my favorite games of all time. Action platform puzzle game. It has two endings, and there is zero chance you’ll get the good ending without a guide. Not to beat each puzzle room, but to find all the hidden items. You see, if you miss one, all the ones after that don’t appear! So hunting for them naturally is nearly impossible. It also has a secret continue mechanic, too, without which the game is also pretty much impossible.

  • ipkpjersi@lemmy.mlEnglish
    4·
    3 days ago

    If we’re talking RPGs like a lot of people in this thread are, while the Zelda GBC/GBA games were great of course (although not so obscure), I also really enjoyed Golden Sun. I believe another game I also played when I was younger was Racing Gears Advance, I think that one was a bit more obscure.

  • flicker@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    5·
    3 days ago

    Legend of Dragoon was so good, even if several twists were the kind you see coming. And it was insanely long!

    I wish it would get remade so badly. I own it, and tried to make it work, but I don’t have a CRTV, so it went very badly.

  • liberal_malcontent@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    I don’t know if this is obscure anymore, but “Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite!” was always one of my favorite GBC games. The artwork was adorable, the way they communicate with each other is adorable, it’s just great.

  • skulblaka@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    9·
    4 days ago

    Quest 64 / Holy Magic Century / Eltale Monsters is a bad game that nobody played, except for me, and I absolutely love it. It was my third favorite game on the N64 behind Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64. I still play this game via emulation every now and then, maybe once a year or so.

    This guy also played it and wrote an LPArchive story that contains all the lore this game should have had included in it. If you already know and like the game, this is an incredible read, highly recommend. If you don’t like the game this might arguably be a better way to experience it than playing it.

    There are also a few YouTube videos on it for those inclined, I’ll leave finding those as an exercise for the reader.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      Pretty sure tons of people played Quest 64 when they saw their PlayStation-owning friends fawning over Final Fantasy VII and wanted their own RPG.

      Unfortunately, they got Quest 64 instead.

    • maplebar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      3 days ago

      I have a certain amount of nostalgia for Quest 64.

      It kind of feels like half a game, and really doesn’t compare well to other RPGs of the era, but it definitely has some kind of appeal that’s hard to pin down. Sometimes I think about the game that Quest 64 could have been and it makes me wish that more love could have been put into it before release, but I’m guessing that business and time just stopped it from being what it was meant to me.

      Maybe one day people will decompile it and we can mod it into something truly awesome. :)

      • skulblaka@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        4·
        3 days ago

        Ok this is incredible and way more active than I expected. There are dozens of us Quest fans! Dozens, I say! Thanks for this.

  • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    4 days ago

    Legend of Legaia. It’s a JRPG from the PS1 golden era, which was completely overshadowed by larger releases like FF7 and Legend of Dragoon. And when I say “completely overshadowed” I mean that the first time I played through it, it didn’t even have a GameFAQs listing.

    Nowadays it has a sort of cult classic following, because the combat system was pretty unique and the plot line is surprisingly long for only being one disc.

    The American version of the game is apparently much harder than other versions for some reason; They decided to slash the exp and gold drop rates across the board, then bumped them back up for the European release. So the American version is extremely grindy in comparison.

    • MellowSnow@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      3 days ago

      This was the first one that came to mind for me! I had a ps1 growing up, and I think my grandma bought me this game or something lol. No clue how she picked it out. Maybe the person at checkout recommended it or something. It was probably the first rpg I ever played, and I had no idea what I was doing. I remember complaining to a friend at school how I was just stuck at the first castle area, and he was like, “you need to hang out outside that area for a bit and grind some levels”, and I was like, “wtf does that mean.” I go back and play it every once in a while, but I’ve never actually beaten it. It is a long game!

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        4·
        3 days ago

        Man, playing massive JRPGs without the internet is just something kids will never be able to experience again…

    • Mechanite@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      3 days ago

      I remember that one, my dad used to play it when I was a child! I should go dig out the old retro hardware…

  • DJKJuicy@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    Blaster Master on NES. I was so addicted. And then I got the NES Advantage controller and it was just pure Blaster Master bliss.

  • ClipperDefiance@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    4 days ago

    It’s not super obscure, but I think I’d have to go with Star Tropics. Gameplay wise it’s very similar to Zelda, but the setting and story is more like EarthBound. Interestingly the game is a first-party Nintendo game that has never been released in Japan despite being developed there. Another thing is that it’s been almost completely ignored by Smash Bros. I think it got a mention in Brawl’s chronicle, but that’s it. Even Ultimate forgot about it despite having all kinds of deep cuts among the spirits.

    • villainy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      Staying on the Zelda tip, I’ll always have a place in my heart for Crystalis (1990) on the NES. More linear than Zelda but with significantly more RPG elements worked in.

      If you want to get even more obscure, both Neutopia (1989) and Neutopia II (1991) for the TG-16 are great! Extremely obvious Zelda inspiration but they hold up well on their own merits.

  • Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    15·
    4 days ago

    I really like the old PSP Patapon games. They’re catchy. After playing, I find myself humming the beat. The original creators are making a spiritual successor called Ratatan. Still not out yet, but I’m looking forward to playing it.

  • llii@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    12·
    4 days ago

    For me its screamer. It’s a pretty nice PC arcade racer with a great soundtrack. I still listen to it from time to time.

  • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.caEnglish
    7·
    4 days ago

    Depends on how you’re defining “obscure” and “retro”.

    If by “retro” you mean SNES, Genesis, NES etc… the game I was super into for a time was Xevious. A pretty simple top-down space shooter/bomber that for some reason I remember getting absolutely obsessed with completing. It wasn’t even a particularly good game. It was repetitive, and when you DID reach the end it just started all over again. But for some reason I played the absolute shit out of it.

    If you move “retro” up to the PS1 era, my favourite seemingly forgotten games of all time are the Colony Wars series (Colony Wars, Colony Wars: Vengeance, Colony Wars: Red Sun) Great story lines and a super fun conceit where in the second game, you’re playing as the now-defeated enemy of the first game, rebuilding after their loss.

  • abbadon420@lemm.eeEnglish
    11·
    4 days ago

    I don’t know how obscure this is. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong. illusion of gaia/illusion of time was one of my favourites growing up. It had a cool story, kind of a dystopia fantasy. I don’t think I ever actually finished it. Come to think of it, that might be a good idea to put on my list for this year.

    • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      4 days ago

      I’m so happy and surprised to see you bring up IoG! I think the game qualifies as obscure these days since I never see it mentioned outside of SNES retro groups.

      It’s my favourite story of any game on the SNES. For those who haven’t played it, it’s a coming of age story about a group of friends travelling together. What makes it so special to me is that although your character (Will) is the only one in the party who does any fighting (you’re not a typical RPG fighting party) your friends are still travelling through some dangerous situations with you. Outside of combat, your character is just another one of the group, albeit the main PoV character for the story.

      I love it so much! The story was written by a woman science fiction writer, Mariko Ohara, which I think was pretty rare at the time. I didn’t learn this fact until recently and as a kid I never would’ve known but looking back at it, the game is so much the better for it. The characters just feel so much more like real people than I’m used to from games of that era. Even the Final Fantasy games of that era, as great as they are, have characters that feel more like cartoon characters than real teenagers.

    • lime!@feddit.nuEnglish
      3·
      4 days ago

      I was going to bring up Soul Blazer, which i think is an earlier game in that series. it’s a very straightforward top down action rpg but i played it a lot.