DVDTalk's 10 Most Overlooked Videogames
 

I think this may prove to be more interesting than the Top 100 Games thread, because when you get right down to it, there are certain games that most people consider to be the best, and those games are generally going to be on the list no matter who makes.

So instead of "Best Games", let's talk about "Most Overlooked Games." These should be games that you think didn't sale well, were unfairly panned by critics, or are just generally obscure and unknown, even among fellow gamers. Recent games and forgotten classics are all fair game. It doesn't have to be strictly 10 games either, just something within reason.

I don't think we'll compile a Top 100 list for this thread because I think (I hope) that everyone's lists are too diverse for that. Instead, how about we all post a sentence or two about each game and why you think it deserves to be remembered? Maybe even add some pictures to your post if you can find them. This can be a kind of educational thread.

I'll post my list later tonight.

Intelligent Qube - PS1
Tail of the Sun - PS1
Downhill Domination - PS2
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo - PS1
NCAA Basketball - SNES

That's all I can think of right now.

Anarchy Online(PC)- IMO the best MMORPG there is (and i've pretty much tried them all) but most people probably haven't even heard of it.

Gallop Racer(PS2)- Such a great sports series that provides endless hours of gameplay, but it has such a small following since horse racing isn't a mainstream sport.

Will post more later if i think of some.

Shadowrun (Genesis) - If you look real closely, you can see an ancestor to Grand Theft Auto III, with it's freeform mission structure and ability to pop a cap in innocent bystanders for an extra nickel or two. Also, note the amazing Matrix hacking mini-game, which is basically a game in itself.

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (PC) - It's not a member of the Civilization series by name, but it is in spirit and it's arguably the best strategy game that Sid Meier ever came out with. A wonderful tech tree, tons of balanced gameplay, and optimized commands to allow for halfway decent multiplayer make this one an underrated classic.

I know a lot of people didn't like it, but I really thought Shadow of the empires for the n64 was a good game.

1.The Neverhood
2.Shadows of the empire
3.Grim Fandango
4.Panzer Dragoon Orta for xbox
5.Jet Grind for xbox
6.Indigo Prophecy

Ill add the other four later :D

I don't think I can come up with 10 great games that I've played that no one else has. However here's a few interesting ones:

Dragonball Z - Legacy of Goku 2 (GBA): I bet many people wouldn't touch this with a very long pole just due to it being a DBZ license, but it's actually an excellent game in it's own right. Nice graphics, fun zelda style gameplay, and a faithful retelling of the story from the show. Don't bother with 1 or 3 though.

Suikoden 2 (PS1) - Lots of people seem to fondly think back to the glory days of 2d rpgs on the snes, but I think this game trumps them all.

Haunting Ground (PS2) - Got decentish reviews but I don't think hardly anyone bought it. I find the atmosphere and style of play different to games like Silent Hill and RE, and the seamless environments have to be experienced to be believed.. load times? Forget it! Worth a try if you're after something a bit different in survival horror.

Update:
Warriors of the Eternal Sun (Gen) - A rare western rpg on the genesis, also a d&d game set in one of the non traditional d&d locales (I remember it being kind of tribal / aztec?). Had a lot of fun. I remember there was even a code you got at the end of the game to take your party to the next game in the series, but I'm fairly sure there never was one.

Right on. That was an awesome basketball game. I clocked in a lot of hours with that one. I forgot that Nintendo was the developer for this one. I remember there were players you could use on Duke and possibly the Kansas Jayhawks where you could make almost 100% of 3's attempted at half court. Also, if I remember correctly the name of the center on Duke was something like Rooney. I can't believe I still remember that. Here is the cover.

http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/5624/ncaa6ll.jpg

1. Out of this World (3DO, the best version of the game appearenty, and I guess the sequel Heart of the Alien which I just heard of yesterday)
2. River City Ransom (NES)
3. Star Tropics (NES)
4. Sentinent (PSX)
5. Phantasmogoria (PC)
6. Burn:Cycle (cd-i)
7. Intellegence Qube (PSX)
8. EVO: Search for Eden (SNES)
9. Blackthorne (SNES)
10. Fear Effect (PSX)

I agree and I hate sports and sports games. Hell even I bought that one and liked it.

Katamari Damacy

We Love Katamari

Both PS2 games............Bizarre Yet Fun.

From my post in that other thread (added comments in bold):

I could probably throw in a dozen or so Turbo Grafx-16 games as well.

There were a bunch of players, even non-perimeter players on bad teams, that could do that.

1. Trinity (PC) - Infocom
2. Konami World (FC) - Konami
3. Impossible Mission II (C64) - Epyx
4. Gold Rush! (PC) - Sierra
5. Lords of Thunder (TurboDuo) - TTI
6. Phantasie III (PC) - SSI
7. The Colonel's Bequest (PC) - Sierra
8. Betrayal at Krondor (PC) - Dynamix
9. Gunhed (PC-Engine) - Hudson Soft
10. Lufia II (SNES) - Taito

1. Panic! (Sega CD, 1993)
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/9360/panic58gp.jpg
A puzzle game like no other, this game is pure insanity. The concept seems normal enough: There are 30 floors in the game and each floor has anywhere from 1 to about 16 rooms. Each room has multiple exits that take you to other rooms and other floors, but you don't know where it will take you until after you've pushed the button and you can't go backwards. Essentially the game is a giant maze. What makes this game such a trip to play is that in order to escape each room you have to press a button. Each button does something, and this something can range from anything to a the Pyramids of Egypt exploding, to a TV vomiting on you, to the Devil coming out ot mock you, to your character growing boobs all over his body. This game is one big drug trip that you don't even have to be high to enjoy. You won't regret taking a trip down this rabbit hole.

2. Killer7 (GameCube, 2005)
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/9904/killer78qp.jpg
The people who skipped this game because the gameplay was too simplistic or the graphics were too weird or the story was too strange, they are missing out! The gameplay, graphics, music, and storyline all come together in Killer 7 to create a wonderfully surreal nightmare.

3. Realms of the Haunting (PC, 1996)
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9017/roth0sz.gif
A FPS/Adventure with a rich story and fantasy-horror feel and tons of live-action FMV that's only slighty cheesy. I would put this game above even the similarly themed and also overlooked Clive Barker's Undying.

4. Normality (PC, 1996)
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/5...rmality8nb.jpg
Maybe you've heard this one before: In a futuristic dystopia, freedom has been outlawed in a police state run by a mysterious, and never publically seen figure, and any who dare oppose him are immediately arrested and taken away for "processing". But wait, this game is a comedy?! You play the role of Kent, a rebel/surfer dude who joins an extremely inept resistance on a quest for freedom. Dude!

5. Dark Savior (Saturn, 1996)
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/6...ksavior5xl.jpg
What's this? A good Saturn RPG that won't cost you a bundle on Ebay? Calling it an RPG might be selling it short though, Dark Savior has elements from RPG's, Platformers, Fighters, and even a few puzzles now and then.

6. Incredible Crisis (Playstation, 2000)
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/7...ecrisis4by.jpg
The US gets a lot of weird Japanese games now that we used to didn't, so Incredible Crisis might not be as big a deal now. But back in 2000, this quirky import made a pretty big impression on me. It's essentially a collection of minigames wrapped around a story following one family's insane journey to make it home in time for the grandmother's birthday party. Hilarity doth ensue.

7. The Neverhood (PC, 1996)
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/8...verhood5st.gif
I could just sit there and look at this game day. It's amazing, a claymation adventure. The animation is extremely well done, and it's a very funny game.

8. Betrayal at Krondor (PC, 1993)
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/1...krondor3vt.png
I enjoy this game because it's basically an attempt to make a Western-style RPG and give to a real storyline like those of the Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms fantasy novels. It's also one of the first RPGs I can remember that let you move around freely in a 3D enviroment.

9. Sin and Punishment (N64, 2000)
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/1267/sin3go.jpg
This game isn't well known in the US at least probably because it wasn't released here. Which is too bad because this is Treasure developed 3D shooter is a really great game. The best way I can describe it is that it's like a mixture of Star Fox 64 and Space Harrier. Don't let the fact that it's Japanese only stop you, the dialogue is all in English.

10. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon & Goemon's Great Adventure (N64, 1998/99)
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/9...ggoemon8eh.jpg
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/9997/goemon4nb.jpg
It's hard to decide which N64 version of Goemon I like best, the 3D adventure game or the 2D platformer. So I won't. Goemon rocks!

11. Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (PS2, 2003)
http://img451.imageshack.us/img451/2...hoffire2ux.jpg
Although I was intially put off by this game (an RPG that limits your saves...WTF???), and I assume a lot of other people were too, it turned out to be an very satisfying RPG experience. A fairly short game, but one that takes a little more skill than your average RPG, and you actually get graded on your performance at the end.

DUDE! You have 4 games that I loved. Damn, I really do need to rebuy a Sega CD now for Heart of the Alien and for Panic. Sega CD is an underrated gem of a system.

Quick list:

Incredible Crisis-psx
Katamari + We Love Katamari-PS2
Ico-Ps2
Rez-PS2
Gitaroo Man-PS2
Luigi's Mansion-GC (Probably sold well etc, but no one really talks about it...fun stuff)
Blast Corps-N64 (best N64 game aside from 007)
ESPN NFL2k5-Xbox (still the best recent football game period...take that Madden!)
Ootagi 1/2-Xbox ( I like these much more than Ninja Gaiden)
Indigo Prophecy-PS2/XB/PC (great story and very unique gameplay)

Good look on Incredible Crisis! and Sin and Punishment Joe Molotov. Talk about your quirky japanese craziness and your... well... quirky futuristic japanese craziness. I was going to name IC! but since it was one of those $10 budget titles I figured plenty of people must have bought it.

Eternal Champions on Sega CD

I'm still going to throw Beyond Good and Evil into the mix. Its available for several platforms.

lufia 2 (snes) - sure now the emulation kiddies are all over it, but when it first came out, i bought it and loved it. not many people even heard of it.

mission impossible (n64) - it's not a great game, but i dont know why i had a blast playing it. it was unintentionally hilarious when ethan would yell out "WAY TO GO!" whenever u take someone out in a stealth mission. or how the collision detection was so suspect that you'd shoot a guy 6x and all of a sudden he does a violent backflip and dies.

the mystical ninja n64 games that another person mentioned. oh and mischief makers too.

loved NCAA basketball for the SNES. I used to play as UNC and just hit every single 3-pointer with Davison (the SF). That guy was a beast.

as for my list:

1- Govellius and the Valley of Doom (SMS) - no, i will not stop pumping this game up at every chance i get.
2- parappa the rappa (ps1) - probably not overlooked at the time, but people just don't talk about this one very much.
3- Street Fighter EX + Alpha (ps1) - one of the best in the street fighter series.
4- NCAA Basketball (snes) - see above.
5- NBA Give and Go (snes) - a really good port of the arcade game. very fun.
6- revenge of the gator (original gameboy) - probably the first advanced pinball game. very fun and addicting.

:up: Sounds exactly like how I played the game :)

Oh man, I LOVED this game. you're right, Kansas was my squad because they could straight bomb from three point range all day long.

Don't have a top 10, but here's a few that I loved that gets little mention

Herzog Zwei (Genesis): was on the other list, but hey, it's a great game, and ahead of it's time

Nectaris/Military Madness (Turbographix 16, sequal released for PS2): Loved this game. Advance Wars has nothing on this game.

TechRomancer/Kikaioh (Dreamcast): Not the best fighting game, but incredible parodies of almost every Japanese anime/live-action convention. There's Macross, Gundam, Evangelion, Ultraman, etc., etc.

Blast Corps (N64): Just a great, great concept for a game.

Killer 7 (GCN and PS2): Got almost universally panned, and the game is very limited in it's controls, but oozing with personality and weirdness. Well worth the 20 bucks it quickly got dropped down to.

Karaoke Revolution (Xbox, PS2, GCN): Not sure how overlooked this is. And yes, it's a singing game. But it's just a great idea for a party game, I'm surprised nobody thought of this sooner.

Phantasy Star Collection (GBA): yes, the original games were played by a lot of people. But the GBA version seemed to be largely overlooked. The first three Phantasy Star games, all in one portable package, and with nothing lost. Forced me to get my graph paper back out for PS1. Now where's my PSIV port, Sega???