Favourite game nobody in the world has played in the last year?

tempy_thinker.png

There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time.

Various philosophies have some variation on that theme, some saying not to speak their name lest you recall them from the afterlife, the very notion of "great man theory" from Thomas Carlyle, one of the major ways of viewing history, is pretty much this as well. I have pondered it however for works of art/media before, indeed having many books from the 1700s and beyond it is a real wonder, and thus today we have the equivalent discussion for computer games. Statistically speaking then however many thousands of games are made per year, however many years games have been going on for, the skew towards new and popular... there are going to be some that reach some variation on this sort of theme.

To that end what game that in all probability nobody else in the world would have played, thought about or terribly considered in the last year is among your favourite games? Preferably make it something that achieved a modest level of popularity, or some kind of influence, but you can go obscure if you want. They need not be good games, games that pushed boundaries or anything like that.
If you want to see if someone posted a let's play, a review, an essay piece, a gushing on a forum somewhere then so be it, however this is going to be more of a thought exercise. I will give that in all probability nobody has considered or played some rare translation of an original xbox game (several were made into rare European languages) but at the same time someone might have done the base games. Can be an unknown sequel or an obscure port though. Also no lost games or online only games where nobody remade the servers. Does want to be a game you have played, that continues to inform how you look at games or that you might reference in a list somewhere if someone asks about things there.

As a secondary question there are many around here who have libraries and experience going back to the 70s and 80s. Doubtless there is some favourite from the Commodore 64 or something that nobody has played there. Would you think those have an easier time than today where there are a thousand maybe not asset flips but something not so far removed that get their time in the spotlight and go?
For instance random selection from the bucket of C64 and other tape games
randomc64.JPG

Now none of those are my favourites (other than the random inclusion of Turrican II I might struggle to tell you details of the rest) and none would have been played by me any time recently. However one could be someone's favourite out there somewhere.
At the same time among many failures then firing the random number generator at popular seller of PC games known as Steam got me "Megadimension Neptunia VII Ultimate Weapon Pack" and "Barbarroja", a 1 review (not recently) strategy game wherein you get to play through the 1941-1945 Germany-Russia front of world war 2. Seems though that Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, a 2006 first person shooter also in the list of successful hits, got 11 reviews in the last 30 days to bring it to 1186 total, though it is from the devs of Killing Floor and Maneater so there is that.
Looking at my collection of mostly gamecube, xbox, xbox 360 and PS4 games then while I might like Gun Valkyrie, Lost Kingdoms II or Resonance of Fate to be better known they are unlikely to reach the status required at this point in time (maybe in a few decades). Maybe in the PC section there is "Line of Sight Vietnam", one of the few games to have a truly positive experience in online shooting multiplayer for me (it's Steam page and Good old Games page says otherwise though and was remembered by many more).
Unknown name borderline text adventure educational game from the 386 school computers wherein you had to make a skeleton key from a limited number of blanks and references for working keys to explore a castle will have to be it, it is certainly something that pops into mind every so often. Might also still be the most realistic lock picking in any game I have ever played.
 

tmnr1992

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2016
Messages
325
Trophies
0
XP
2,025
Country
United States
Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life, I used to play it when I was very young. The point of the game was to get your animals to evolve faster than your opponents to reach the top of the food chain. I had no idea what to do back then, I just moved my characters around the map until the computer opponents annihilated me. Depending on the path you took you could evolve into different humanoid creatures and see a pretty cool cutscene with the creature you chose, like apes with beaks and wings, or a family of bipedal elephants going to the movies if I remember correctly. I tried it again recently, and it's still pretty challenging without a guide.
 

duwen

Old Man Toad
Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2013
Messages
3,176
Trophies
2
Location
Bullet Hell
Website
www.exophase.com
XP
4,257
Country
United Kingdom
Well, I've been playing a hell of a lot of Super Robot Pinball for GBC after importing a brand new copy from Japan earlier this year...
latest


Prior to buying it, it's been a regular on my emulators and VC injects for a long while.
I doubt I'm the only person in the world still playing it, due to it still regularly selling on ebay as a loose cart for more money than I paid for the brand new complete in box copy.
 

FAST6191

Techromancer
OP
Editorial Team
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
36,798
Trophies
3
XP
28,284
Country
United Kingdom
summon night swordcraft story 1 and 2 for the GBA, i've never ran into anyone who has played these that i haven't let borrow my cartridge. they're super cute jrpgs. my fondest memory of it is how at the end of everyday your character gets to choose who they deepen their relationship with, and it felt like the first time i got to really impact the development of characters and the story, even though i think those choices ultimately don't change the ending the wonder that was their was beautiful.
In case you missed it the third GBA one is getting a translation that is pretty far advanced.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/summon-night-swordcraft-story-beginnings-stone.389972/
One of the DS efforts (though back more in the main summon night/another spinoff) also got translated
https://gbatemp.net/threads/summon-night-x-tears-crown-translation.484998/
Did also make a game of the week pick a while back
https://gbatemp.net/threads/gbatemp-game-of-the-week-55.328334/
There is also a reason it features heavily as an example in my ROM hacking guide.
I really do recommend it though.
RPG, blacksmithing, actual fighting game engine for the battles, nice story that avoids being too cliche, all on the GBA... if that sounds like your sort of game we will probably get along well.

It is like someone reached into my brain and took the image that forms when someone says "runescape clone" directly from it.

Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life, I used to play it when I was very young. The point of the game was to get your animals to evolve faster than your opponents to reach the top of the food chain. I had no idea what to do back then, I just moved my characters around the map until the computer opponents annihilated me. Depending on the path you took you could evolve into different humanoid creatures and see a pretty cool cutscene with the creature you chose, like apes with beaks and wings, or a family of bipedal elephants going to the movies if I remember correctly. I tried it again recently, and it's still pretty challenging without a guide.
OK I liked to think I was generally aware of most such games (been fascinated by them since said 386s from the opening post had a crude rendition of the fox-rabbit-grass thing they teach in biology, one that also nicely featured an option for a meteor impact that wiped out the grass, and later also doing some hawk-dove stuff in a maths setup, was somewhat later before the classic maths thing game of life was introduced which was probably a failing of such things) but that one had completely flown by me.
Seems archive.org has a copy too
https://archive.org/details/Evolution_game/Evolution_-_The_Game_of_Intelligent_Life.jpg
If you are interested then survival as dinosaurs/similar seems to be getting a fairly popular gameplay style (The Isle and Animalia Survival leading the charge, Atermishea, The Great Circle, Eidols, Path of Titans, Wild being the others doing interesting things), and if you want to go more for the evolution aspect then Species: ALRE is probably where most start, though it seems updates are not happening any more so might be harder to recommend. There are also those things that go more into the computer science area (evolution and genetic algorithms being kind of a big deal right now in computing) if you would rather.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tmnr1992 and Henx

JuanMena

90's Kid, Old Skull Gamer & Artist
Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2019
Messages
4,818
Trophies
2
Age
30
Location
the 90's 💙
XP
9,755
Country
Mexico
Monkey Island.
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars
Outer World / Out of this World
Flashback
Earthworm Jim 2
MegaMan Battle Network
Tetris (TENGEN)
Ms. Pac-Man (TENGEN)
Magic Jewelry

Man, the list goes on and on, I mean, I'm still playing 70's / early 2000's games. Nearly everyone has moved on to the latest-gen, so of course the games I play are games nobody has played in *more than 20 years. :ha:
 
Last edited by JuanMena,
  • Like
Reactions: Rob_Boates

JuanMena

90's Kid, Old Skull Gamer & Artist
Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2019
Messages
4,818
Trophies
2
Age
30
Location
the 90's 💙
XP
9,755
Country
Mexico
I was tempted to say MMBN3 because nobody plays that one anymore and it's my favourite version. There's currently a small revival in competitive MMBN but I think they play on version 6
:yay:
I agree MBN3 is too MBN.

I think competitive MBN is only possible in 6 because the game has Online Gameplay. It's basically been played under custom service though emulator...:unsure: I think?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rob_Boates

Rob_Boates

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Aug 16, 2021
Messages
203
Trophies
0
XP
470
Country
United States
I think competitive MBN is only possible in 6 because the game has Online Gameplay. It's basically been played under custom service though emulator...:unsure: I think?
yeah they definitely do some netplay through emulator, i mostly just watch the tournaments though so if you wanted to know more probably check out https://twitter.com/N1Grand
 
  • Like
Reactions: JuanMena

JuanMena

90's Kid, Old Skull Gamer & Artist
Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2019
Messages
4,818
Trophies
2
Age
30
Location
the 90's 💙
XP
9,755
Country
Mexico
yeah they definitely do some netplay through emulator, i mostly just watch the tournaments though so if you wanted to know more probably check out https://twitter.com/N1Grand
How many Program Advance MBN6 has?
That's, of course a rhetorical question.
I think I never finished MBN6. Maybe I should play it sometime.
 

Ampersound

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2018
Messages
276
Trophies
0
Age
37
XP
1,463
Country
Germany
I don't know how popular it is, but i really love urbz for DS. It's a port of the gba game.
It's a story driven game, but gives the player some freedom about how to earn money, where to live, interior design etc.
What made this special to me were the fun little secrets you can find in the game
 

Kirgane

Active Member
Newcomer
Joined
Jul 12, 2016
Messages
37
Trophies
0
Age
41
XP
217
Country
Boppin'
View attachment 274653

A lost treasure of my early childhood years. Originally I found the shareware version on a random DOS games website, but recently I found the most expansive version of the game, after finally remembering how it was called.
The game kiiiinda aged well? It does get boring pretty fast, but when it comes to context, it surely was a game of it's time.
The version I played was also uncensored.

Oh maaaaaaaan I totally remember playing this, not sure if I got to the end of the shareware version or not...

But I will see your Boppin' and raise you a Rollin'

pPfjqcX.png


Also a bonus mention to the classic Windows RPG you'll never have heard of, Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol

mordor-the-depths-of-dejenol_5.png
 
Last edited by Kirgane,

Tom Bombadildo

Dick, With Balls
Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
14,573
Trophies
2
Age
29
Location
I forgot
Website
POCKET.LIKEITS
XP
19,185
Country
United States
I don't think I have anything that counts recently for favorite that nobody has played...

But Duskers is always a good time, a nice little rogue-lite game that game out 5ish years ago now. Usually one of the first games I'll install on any PC I get, since it's super lightweight and can be played on anything with a pulse these days.

I've also been playing the GTA 5 story the last few days. Probably not a personal favorite, but eh it's something, and given that basically nobody plays GTA V's singleplayer in 2021 I'd say it counts for "nobody has played in the last year" :lol:

I did start playing Rogue Galaxy on the PS2, I've been looking for a half-decent RPGs that I haven't played on older consoles before, and this one popped out in my backlog so that's a thing. Nice game, story and characters are meh but the combat is nice enough, there's lots to do, and it looks pretty good for a PS2 game. I know it got quite a few positive reviews and won a few awards back when it released, but it sold like ass back then apparently and I personally almost never see it on people's lists of favorite or even just "worth playing" PS2 RPGs despite being fairly good.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Emperor_Norton

Henx

Well-Known Member
Newcomer
Joined
May 11, 2018
Messages
95
Trophies
0
XP
961
Country
United Kingdom
My favourites games growing up were Liero and Elastomania classic. People still play them to this day.
There is also OpenLieroX, but I haven't played it yet.

Also Soldat is seen as a successor to Liero, although with different mechanics.
 
Last edited by Henx,

FAST6191

Techromancer
OP
Editorial Team
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
36,798
Trophies
3
XP
28,284
Country
United Kingdom
My favourites games growing up were Liero and Elastomania classic. People still play them to this day.
There is also OpenLieroX, but I haven't played it yet.

Also Soldat is seen as a successor to Liero, although with different mechanics.
There is also a DS version if you wanted one of them
https://gbatemp.net/download/liero-ds.8362/

Don't know that I would consider Soldat a successor. It is plenty fun but earlier example of real time skills based combat vs basically a worms clone...

Oh maaaaaaaan I totally remember playing this, not sure if I got to the end of the shareware version or not...

But I will see your Boppin' and raise you a Rollin'

pPfjqcX.png


Also a bonus mention to the classic Windows RPG you'll never have heard of, Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol

mordor-the-depths-of-dejenol_5.png
That does look like classic early RPG. Almost want to play it to see how much it is like I think it will be seeing that UI.

If you were actually serious about Rollin' and not going for a pun then other than the obvious marble/marble madness/mercury meltdown (Wii game) then might I suggest the Kururin series on the GBA, and actually if physics is a thing you go in for then along with Liero on the DS homebrew front above many looked at Retro rocket http://www.retrorocketgame.org/index.php (inspiration from Thrust and TurboRaketti II). DS homebrew also saw a nice marble madness clone in Marble https://gamebrew.org/wiki/Marble
Probably not going to be able to find a tilt cart for it but still good with conventional controls.
 

DS1

Tired
Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2009
Messages
1,594
Trophies
1
Location
In the here and now, baby
XP
2,521
Country
United States
After reviving my PSP, I got hard into Daikoukai Jidai IV, though that is by no means obscure (it’s even getting a steam re-release in December).

I had been playing Taikou Risshiden V recently as well (not really a favorite, just a curiosity I dip into now and then), and it got me in the mood for the original Way of the Samurai. Still a brilliant game, and definitely my choice for one of the top 10 most innovative of all time (both in combat and narrative structure as a function of gameplay - blows away the “morality meter” PC titles that would follow it).

I’ve recently been watching some naval warfare strategy game videos, which, while too complicated for me, have me wanting to play Warship Gunner 2 - also available on PSP (or PSN granted you have a PS3), which is in my top action games of all time. Not sure of the popularity of any of these, but they definitely have their niche following and don’t tire easily.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Henx

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
    Veho @ Veho: