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The Big List(tm) of "Games you might not have heard of but you should probably play"

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Many shitty clickbait sites and Youtube """""""social media influencers"""""" will make awful videos/blogs with names like
"TOP 10 GAEMS YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF AND NEED TO FUCKING PLAY RIGHT NAO11!!!!!1111" And they list shit like Secret Of Mana or Super Metroid, which only people who vaguely know of video games haven't heard of.

This is a list of games that have a certain niche in terms of either gameplay mechanics or presentation or both, that makes them an acquired taste, or unappealing to the general gaming populace, which is why they are you should "probably play". They aren't necessarily obscure or "forgotten", as they are remembered by some, which is why this is called "might not have heard of". Nonetheless, they are good, and unique games worth giving a look.

Key: |Title| |Genre| |Developer| |Publisher| |Platform| |Year of release|
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King's Field
Action-Adventure FromSoftware Platstation 1994

The spiritual precursor to the Soulsborne games, the first King's Field game was a launch title for the Japanese release of the Playstation. In the vein of Dark Souls, King's Field is both brutally difficult and obtuse in how it controls, as this was before Dualshock was invented. It movement is guided via tank controls with the D-pad, ala Resident Evil, but done from a first person perspective. It's as wonky as it sounds, but is made more palatable by being able to strafe with R1 and L1. Once you get past it's quirks that come with being a 25 year old game, it has a dark and somewhat eerie atmosphere complimented by the chunky polygonal globs that are the enemies you find in King's Field's sprawling dungeon, foreboding music complimenting it greatly.

Get it here: https://coolrom.com.au/roms/psx/68044/King's_Field_(Japan)_[En_by_John_Osborne_v1.0].php



Marathon Infinity
FPS Bungie Macintosh 1996

The final release of the Marathon trilogy, Bungie's lesser known foray into FPS's, long before Halo would dominate the industry. The game plays similar to doom in that it's a 2.5D "Doom clone" as they were none, with no Y-axis movement, but does include mouse support. Where Marathon Infinity deviates from the Doom formula is its clusterfuck of a story involving alternate dimensions and timelines, rogue AI, probably the representation of the Ship Of Theseus paradox presented in a computer game, and crazy level design. Marathon Infinity is not an easy game to get into, but it is worth it if you are able to trudge through it's esoteric game design. However it is the most polished of the trilogy, and knowledge of the previous is not necessary to enjoy it. (But those should be played as well.)

Get it here: https://alephone.lhowon.org/games/infinity.html



Marble Madness
Platformer Atari Arcade 1984

A quirky plaforming game with a surprising amount of depth in both storytelling and atmosphere for a game from the mid-80s. Drawing inspiration from racing games, minigolf, and the art of M.C. Escher, Marble Madness is a game in a league of its own. The colorful visuals, isometric perspective, unsettling music, and bizarre enemies create an experience that really hasn't been tried since. The thing that makes its charm as how you get a feeling of descending into an increasingly bizarre, dreamlike world. The music grows darker with each levels, the colors shift from bright baby blues to harsh oranges and reds, and the level design reaching a non-euclidean point harking back to what Lovecraft wrote about.

Get it here: https://www.romsformame.com/index.php?a=706



Day Of The Tentacle
Point-and-click LucasArts PC 1993

Back in the 90s George Lucas had what could be described as "Fuck You Money" after the success of Star Wars, and needed a way to burn through of some of that money, probably for tax purposes, and founded LucasArts. In the 90s they were known for their point-and-click games such as the Monkey Island series. Day Of The Tentacle follows in a similar vein, you click stuff to progress through the games story, but the goofy visuals and tongue-in-cheek story set it apart from others in LucasArts' portfolio. Starring a cast of oddball misfits such as Bernard, a neurotic nerd, Hoagie, a metalhead roadie, and Laverne a deranged medical student. They must go back in time and stop and evil tentacle that escaped from a lab of the descendant of Thomas Edison. The enhanced version of the game includes such quality of life features like being able to run on a modern PC, upping the visuals and audio quality.

Get it on Steam/GOG



Claw
Platformer Monolith Productions PC 1997

A bit of an oddball in the catalog of oddball developer Monolith. Known best for their late 90's shooters such as Blood and No One Lives Forever, Claw is a colorful platformer starring a anthropomorphic feline pirate, Captain Claw. The bulk of the game is spent exploring large levels, getting loot, and discovering new abilities. Similar to Super Metroid in how it platforms, but instead of having one giant map, Claw is broken up into different levels to be explored individually. A great soundtrack and bright visuals accompany its tight movement and gameplay.

Get it here: https://www.myabandonware.com/game/claw-a39



Illusions
Puzzle Game Mattel Colecovision 1984

A bizarre puzzle game,and one of the few exclusives that wasn't an arcade port on the 2nd gen console, the Colecovision. It involves getting blobs to go through mirrors on levels that consist of spaces that don't exist in the game's world, and thus are an illusion (geddit) The graphics and artstyle are quite appealing even to this day, as they consist of abstract colorful landscapes and aren't just chunky pixels trying to represent something in the real world, like a lot of graphics from the Atari 2600 days do. The music, or rather, single track that plays throughout the game can be a little grating after hearing it for 10 minutes straight, but everything else about the game is pretty good.

Get it here: https://the-eye.eu/public/rom/Coleco%20ColecoVision/Illusions%20%28USA%2C%20Europe%29.zip



Lobotomy Corporation
Management Simulator/Horror Project Moon PC 2018

A Korean horror game involving managing a research facility full of weird monsters and harvesting energy from them, possibly inspired by the SCP Foundation, and if not, is in a similar spirit. You are the manager of this facility, and must pick which monsters to utilize and how best to do so, without getting them to escape or kill (too many) of your employees that you hire as you go along through the game. Also has a connection and makes reference to the Kabbalah, so be sure to brush up on your ancient Hebrew before playing.

Get it on Steam



Princess Crown
Beat 'em Up Atlus Saturn 1997

A brawler and somewhat of a successor to the D&D arcade games, especially Shadow Over Mystara, involving a young girl defending her people from monsters. Along the way you level up and gain more weapons/magic to use and destroy demons. Has some of the most gorgeous pixel art on the Saturn, which itself wasn't a slouch at all when it came to great looking 2D games. If you liked Dragon's Crown, definitely play this.

Get it here: https://www.retrostic.com/roms/saturn/princess-crown-iso-81169



Sweet Home
Survival Horror/RPG Capcom Famicom 1989

A game based on a movie that's surprisingly not awful. It involves the usual horror setup of exploring a spooky mansion filled with ghosts and trying not to die, but has an emphasis on puzzle solving, inventory management, and survival. Does that sound similar to another Capcom produced horror game? (Hint: it's Dino Crisis) Yes, this is somewhat the spiritual precursor to Resident Evil, and RE was even initially supposed to be a remake of it. It comes with the usual trappings of playing dated games from the 8-bit era, but some of its scares are still genuinely unsettling and unpleasant to look at in how bizarre and abstract they are, and the music is excellent and sets the perfect mood for the game.

Get it here: https://the-eye.eu/public/rom/NES/Sweet%20Home%20%28ENG%29%20%23%20NES.zip



Motor Raid
Racing Sega Arcade 1997

A futuristic cyberpunk motorcycle racing game with vehicular combat, similar to Road Rash, specifically Road Rash 64. The stages are all fairly similar in how they run, however the visuals have a nice muted look to them to add to the futuristic techno vibe of the game. The combat mechanic of the game really does add to the fun of it, as without it, it's just a bog-standard Sega racing game, which doesn't mean it would be bad, Sega was known for it's high quality racing games in the 90s, but the combat system, and how you can steal other drivers weapons adds to the variety and replayability.

Get it here: https://the-eye.eu/public/rom/Sega%20Model%202/roms/motoraid.zip



Maken X
Hack 'n Slash Atlus Dreamcast 2000

A first person hack 'n slash game, something you rarely see done well, or even see nowadays. A near-future world where tensions are high between the US and China (so maybe not all that futuristic) Where you control the Maken, a sword that hijacks peoples brains and gives them not!magical powers. Gameplay consists of exploring through levels and cutting up baddies, and is surprisingly intuitive and easy to do. Boss fights can be kinda a pain in the ass, but overall, the game is a fun and interesting oddity.

Get it here: https://the-eye.eu/alvro/Sega/Dreamcast%20USA/Maken%20X%20%28USA%29.zip



Jagged Alliance 2
Tactical RPG Sir-Tech PC 1999

A strategy game that involves hiring and controlling a group of ragtag mercenaries through a war-torn country, and fucking shit up. The game has a staggering amount of depth to it, in how you move your troops, to how certain troops won't play nice with other ones because their countries they hail from don't like each other, to how guns operate and fire, how the AI tracks, it's all very complicated to say the least. But once you start to learn the tricks of JA2's trade, it's a very rewarding experience.

Get it on GOG
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Kid Icarus
Platformer Nintendo NES 1986

For a first-party Nintendo IP which already gives a game a modicum of popularity by that alone, Kid Icarus barely gets any love. It has two sequels, one that's pretty much a port of the original for the Game Boy, and a 3DS game that's more along the lines of a third-person shooter instead of a vertical platformer. Kid Icarus has an ethereal feel to it, with its sprite-work based on Greek mythology and filtered through a Japanese lens. The vertacaility of the game presents an interesting twist to the platforming formula, along with enemy variety, music, and having a shop system that gives the player incentive to kill enemies makes Kid Icarus feel a lot more ahead of its time, and more like something you'd see later on the Super Nintendo or Genesis.

Get it here: https://the-eye.eu/public/rom/NES/Kid%20Icarus%20%23%20NES.zip



Magical Pop'n
Action Platformer Polestar Super Famicom 1995

The cutest Metroidvania ever made. Take control of a magic-wielding princess, and traverse through a large castle, collecting power-ups and fighting goofy bosses that feel like something a child would create. Has excellent controls, and overall is a great feeling game, although it's a bit on the short side. It also has no ability to save, but this isn't an issue when playing on an emulator, which is where you'll be playing Magical Pop'n since carts for it go for quite the pretty penny on eBay. Has perhaps the most beautiful pixel-art on the Super Nintendo, is super cutesy in a way that's not annoying or cloyingly sweet, and is the type of game that makes people smile.

Get it here:



Star Control II
Exploration/Adventure Toys For Bob PC 1992

The hipster's Mass Effect. Control a ship and explore alien worlds, interacting with bizarre looking and thinking alien NPCs who have all kinds of things to tell you. For an early 90s PC game, it does a good job of telling its story through gameplay, and one of most crucial (and most entertaining) being talking and interacting with aliens. The other part of the game involves mining for resources and fighting hostile in a way best described as PvP Asteroids. Runs fine on modern computers without the need for DOSbox, as long as you use the Ur-Quan Masters sourceport.

Get it on GOG



Space Channel 5
Rhythm United Game Artists Dreamcast 1999

A 1950's retrofuristic styled music game where you control Ulala, a buxom TV show host. When aliens invade, you combat them by holding a dance-off. Has a great soundtrack, and is so stylish you can't help but appreciate how different it is. Even non-rhythm game fans will find something to like about it. A little bit simple and short, but is easy enough to get into.

Get it here: https://the-eye.eu/alvro/Sega/Dreamcast%20USA/Space%20Channel%205%20%28USA%29.zip



Monster Farm Jump
Puzzle Platformer Tecmo Arcade 2001

A weird little arcade game where you control a monster than bounces and get them to go across each level. Sounds simple enough, but has various pitfalls, traps, and other hazards that make it hard to traverse each course. Has a wonky movement system that's based on momentum, adding to the challenge of the game. Has an addicting quality to it because of how bizarre it is with its early 3D graphics, but is accessible and easy to get into being an arcade game.

Get it here: https://wowroms.com/en/roms/mame-0.139u1/monster-farm-jump-japan/5153.html



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