Post Your Favorite Hidden Gems!

I was playing some SNES games and I realized there is a myriad of incredible games that never saw the light of popularity. This does not apply to games that were underground but now are very well known among gamers (e.g. Earthbound), but rather games that are amazing and still don't get to people's "Top 5" list of retro games or something, even though they should be there sometimes.
The first game that comes to mind is The King of Dragons (SNES) - awesome graphics, cool leveling system and arcade-ish gameplay (5 different classes, it takes about 90 minutes to beat the game). Easy to emulate, not so easy to beat without save states! Can you do it?
So yeah, post your favorite retro hidden gems! Or even recent games that are great but not popular. Okami comes to mind but it has become a cult classic. (:
Blast away!

Hmm, I'm not always good at finding hidden retro gems... Skygunner seems to be a more recent gem, though. Soooo much fun, and it has a very arcade-y feel that's fun to play, and the graphics make me :3. I'd also say the Atelier and Ar tonelico series, but I think the PS3 games made them a bit more popular, and both same have their misses as well as hits. Finally, Dokapon Kingdom is a kick butt full length board game RPG, lots of fun if you have friends that are willing to stick with it.

I really enjoyed Claymates on the SNES growing up. It's essentially a platformer where you've been transformed into a blob of clay. You can find other colored blobs of clay to take different forms (power-ups, basically). Like gray to become a rat that can run faster, green for a bird that can sort of fly, red for a cat that can jump high and scratch (I think also walk vertically up some walls). After each level you have to solve a puzzle to open the path to the next level.

If you like adventure games, can deal with an all text interface, and don't mind switching between the game interface, map, and documentation, then I really recommend Star Saga: One I just finished it, and the writing is imaginative, game world innovative, and the plot was enough to keep me playing through to the end.

Fair warning, it's barely a computer game in the traditional sense, it's more like a board game. It was planned to be a trilogy, but they only made it through the second game before the publisher belly-upped. Here's a link to where you can download the package: https://www.hotud.org/component/content/article/38-adventure/23072 and you'll need to find cncs32.dll and put it in the same directory as the map program for it to run (or windows/system32 or wherever the default .dll folder is). The game was made for DOS, and meant to be played with 6 players.

It'll be a while before I get to any games I'm not familiar with, but I've heard good things about Shadowrun on the Genesis, Paladin's Quest on SNES (I guess you'll get to this one Wolfgang), and the Baten Kaitos games. If you like strategy games, and haven't yet reached Ogre Battle (SNES), then you're in for a treat with that as well.

I posted a list in another thread here: https://howlongtobeat.com/discussion.php?&viewt=132

I don't know if it is just me, but that first link doesn't work.

I'll surely play Claymates, Paladin's Quest, and Ogre Battle! I'll start with the former after I'm done with Knights of the Round (SNES) :P
Guess people already know about my SNES fetish, haha (and good luck on your RPG quest, zenicreverie)

Also, pongsifu, that link worked fine for me. Maybe he edited it after you posted!

I double checked (didn't update), and it still works for me. Try https://www.hotud.org and then search for Star Saga One on the site. If that doesn't work, then maybe that website is blocked for you? Try a different browser?

Journey To Silis for the NES... That game had amazing music, especially for an NES game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwn-9IiO3MM

Other one not sure if you'd count it as either retro or an underdog but Legend of Dragoon.

Last one is a game called SiN
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin_(video_game)

It's not on the site but it was a pretty amazing game. I still argue that it meets if not exceeds the original Half-Life as an FPS. It's a shame it got dwarfed and that the sequel series failed to take off.

I'm definitely going to be checking some of these out when my GameFly subscription ends.

Link works now, it must have just been a server issue on their side at the time.

Pathologic

Its a PC game from a Russian developer. Is really slow paced but not many games have the atmosphere this game has. Its technically a survival horror with a big emphasis on your health. The town it takes place in has fallen to a mysterious plague, and you just happen to be a doctor in the area and are tasked to investigate it, or die with the rest of the townspeople. Its so unpopular I had to add it to this site myself lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XLq_5rOeow

Now that I'm finished with Megaman X-X4, I have begun playing Claymates (SNES) and albeit it is aimed at kids I'm having a ton of fun with it! I'm already 1 hour through it and those damn puzzles between each level are getting harder and harder! I enjoyed the Rat transformation over all others because it can run so so fast - it's pretty much a game-breaker if abused, like the cape in Super Mario World~
After I'm done with this I'll see if I stop procrastinating to continue playing Diablo and Lufia & The Fortress of Doom!

There were an amount of Sailor Moon arcade-puzzle style games on the SNES (not the fighting games) which were a lot of fun, even in multiplayer, but most people probably steered clear of them because of the Sailor Moon theme, and because they were only released in Japan.

We played the heck out of this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D2jB4VbBT0

This one is also cool:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-62Ic9gL-hc

(I'm sure you can find ROMs with a minimum of digging ;] )

Originally Posted by: zenicreverie

If you like adventure games, can deal with an all text interface, and don't mind switching between the game interface, map, and documentation, then I really recommend Star Saga: One I just finished it, and the writing is imaginative, game world innovative, and the plot was enough to keep me playing through to the end.

Looked at the page @ the Underdogs, and I'm a bit confused. Is this something like a board game that has a video game component? How well does it scale with number of players? I could play through it with my brother, but that's only 2 of us. Have you played it as a single-player game?

Originally Posted by: prezzey

Originally Posted by: zenicreverie

If you like adventure games, can deal with an all text interface, and don't mind switching between the game interface, map, and documentation, then I really recommend Star Saga: One I just finished it, and the writing is imaginative, game world innovative, and the plot was enough to keep me playing through to the end.

Looked at the page @ the Underdogs, and I'm a bit confused. Is this something like a board game that has a video game component? How well does it scale with number of players? I could play through it with my brother, but that's only 2 of us. Have you played it as a single-player game?

It's been not unfairly compared to a choose your own adventure computer game. The computer part accepts your actions and let's you know what happened. A couple things are randomized based on what you do each turn, random messages and encounters in space, and planet locations. It scales well with any number of players from what I've heard.

I've played it solo and a long time ago with my brother, both were fun. There's a lot of reading, and the main reason to play is for the story. The first time playing can take about 300 - 400 turns if you map out the entire galaxy, which took me about 30 hours.

I blogged a playthrough, here's a general overview for the game: https://sidequestsaga.blogspot.com/2012/07/star-saga-one-beyond-boundary-basics.html

The rest of the posts contain spoilers.

Originally Posted by: zenicreverie

I blogged a playthrough, here's a general overview for the game: https://sidequestsaga.blogspot.com/2012/07/star-saga-one-beyond-boundary-basics.html

The rest of the posts contain spoilers.

Awesome, thank you! This game looks fascinating and exactly the kind of thing we both love. I've just added it to my backlog (manually, but I hope other people will follow suit :] ).

Glad to hear you're enjoying Claymates!

It's not an instant classic or anything, but I think it's charming and unique enough to warrant a play.

I had forgotten how kiddy the music could be though. You tend to overlook that when you're a kid. :D

Originally Posted by: prezzey

Originally Posted by: zenicreverie

I blogged a playthrough, here's a general overview for the game: https://sidequestsaga.blogspot.com/2012/07/star-saga-one-beyond-boundary-basics.html

The rest of the posts contain spoilers.

Awesome, thank you! This game looks fascinating and exactly the kind of thing we both love. I've just added it to my backlog (manually, but I hope other people will follow suit :] ).

If you like the first, there's a second game. The promised third game never came out.

Mine would ahve to Be SnowBoardKids that game was fun!

TV Smash- snes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qibK4k18Ry8, Wild Guns-snes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07j2Ry1VkBo,
there multiplayer and extremly fun to play when you dont feel like playing by your self or you can just play by your self...

Super Smash TV is indeed a superb game! It's twice as fun when playing with a friend, you should really try it!
Wild Guns... people always suggest that game to me (always = three times so far :P), it must be pretty good :D

I always go with The Guardian Legend(NES) whenever this topic comes up. It's an interesting blending of genres that actually works, and it has a female protagonist that isn't hidden like certain other NES games. I think it's one of the great NES games.

Originally Posted by: nester

I always go with The Guardian Legend(NES) whenever this topic comes up. It's an interesting blending of genres that actually works, and it has a female protagonist that isn't hidden like certain other NES games. I think it's one of the great NES games.

My roommate has that game, and I watched him play it. It looked like a lot of fun!

Culdcept originally on Sega Saturn.