A friend of mine and I were having a discussion about video games not long ago and we both came to the realization that some of the best games are those that not many people have heard of. Or remember for that fact. I’m a big fan of games that conjure something up from deep within you be it by it’s music, story line, or overall feel of the game. Some of the best games I’ve played are games that I can’t find at all. But it’s good to reminisce. Here are some of my favorites.
Spider
One of my favorite games of all time, Spider is ultra rare but a true blast to play. It’s extremely challenging (one hit = you dead) but they do not make games like this anymore. This game was way ahead of it’s time in terms of it’s idea and presentation (this came out in 1996/early 1997) but more people need to be made aware of it. Plus the music is too good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtImcBNaROc
Assault Rigs
For those who can remember what life was like during Playstation 1’s heyday, there was a gaming company called Pygnosis who constantly churned out amazing game after amazing game: Wipeout, G-Police, Destruction Derby to name a few. Like Spider, this shit is rare. I haven’t played it in 14 or 15 years. Anyway, it’s a very challenging game (like all Pygnosis games) and again, pretty ahead of it’s time as it was a launch title. But I love it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgNOXCsfEFs
Loaded
Just bad ass. Imagine Twisted Metal but without the cars and you get what Loaded is. Blood and awesome music and crazy characters. Reloaded was dope too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2wKbELWCSg
Tobal #1 and Tobal 2
Lets face reality: The only reason why anyone bought Tobal #1 was to get the free demo of Final Fantasy 7. I was never big on Final Fantasy so it didn’t matter to me that there was a free demo that came with the game. But PS1 demo disks were the shit and I had a million of them. But I digress. Tobal #1 was a great fighting game. It was like Virtua Fighter 2 if Virtua Fighter 2 was truly 3D. Plus the music was some of the best I’ve ever heard (especially Mary’s stage). Quest mode blew chunks but whatever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX2nQoSV7YM
Rage Racer
I think this was essentially Ridge Racer 3. The Ridge Racer series’ best days are behind it but my god was this ever awesome. R4 is still better but Rage Racer holds up well even today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsnRGywIs-I
Pixel Junk Eden
They really need to make more games like this. I’ve played this over and over again and it’s always relaxing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viLB8_u5jJ4
I like Spider but the problem is you can save between each level so there is really no reason in-game to ever lose a life and keep going, so essentially it becomes a game of going through the stage, dying, loading you game, trying the stage again, etc. So getting extra lives etc is completely unnecessary.
Millennium Soldier: Expendable, arcade format shoot em up release for the PC then later ported to Dreamcast and Playstation. The dreamcast is the better port than playstation. I owned the playstation version. It doesn’t look great compare to the original but its still good with its own style of music. Somehow the pal version have the animated broadcast while the ntsc version doesn’t on the playstation.
I was fortunate enough to find this for $10 at EB. I wish we got the sequel, but it didn’t happen due to lack of sales. Guadia Quest is more involving that you’d think.