What are some criminally Under-rated games?

[chavosaur]

I got a couple PSX games I know of.

Muppet Monster Adventure - A surprisingly entertaining, super Mario 64 style game. I played a ton of it when I was younger and it's really underrated, hell practically unknown.

Jersey Devil - again, Mario 64 style, extremely fun game. Quirky story and very decent graphics for the time.

 

[TripleSMoon]

I have three games in mind. The first is Einhander, for the original PlayStation. It's a pretty short (only a few hours), but great 2.5 space shooter/bullet hell with an amazing soundtrack and cool weapon system. The reason I say it's underrated is because, well, I rarely see anyone talk about it or know about the game when I mention it to them. It's also one of those games that Square has sadly forgotten, not having seen even one port or PSN emulation since its release, in spite of the 3 million Final Fantasy IV ports/remakes.

The other game I have in mind is Shadow the Hedgehog. I say this because everyone seems to hate it, and while I see a LOT of the flaws and understand the problems people have with it, I think that it was arguably the most solid 3D Sonic game at the time of its release. And I'm sorry, but anyone who honestly thinks the voice acting in Shadow the Hedgehog was worse than Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 is suffering from an extreme case of nostalgia blindness.

The last game I have in mind is Zelda: Spirit Tracks. It's definitely not underrated as far as games in general go, but it's extremely underrated as far as Zelda games though. It seems like most people passed out it for two reasons: A bad after taste left from Phantom Hourglass (which I guess I can understand), and/or "omg, trains don't belong in Zelda!" I for one thought it was a great Zelda game, and the finale was one of the most epic in any Zelda game I've played.

If I think of any more, I'll post again.

 

[DinohScene]

Croc 1 and 2
Sheep GBA
Hamtaro GBA series
I got more similar to that but prolly noone plays it cause it's "kiddy"

 

[kristianity77]

Ahhh Croc 1! A permanent resident on my PSP! Still havent got round to finishing that yet.
Also the Tomba/Tombi games. 2.5D platformers but very very good.

 

[xist]

I have three games in mind. The first is Einhander, for the original PlayStation. It's a pretty short (only a few hours), but great 2.5 space shooter/bullet hell with an amazing soundtrack and cool weapon system. The reason I say it's underrated is because, well, I rarely see anyone talk about it or know about the game when I mention it to them. It's also one of those games that Square has sadly forgotten, not having seen even one port or PSN emulation since its release, in spite of the 3 million Final Fantasy IV ports/remakes.

It's available on the PSN.

Although regardless i still agree with you about it being under-rated.

I'd actually like to put forward Silver from the Dreamcast's catalogue. It gets forgotten amongst other games and whilst i really enjoyed Lodoss War, i also recall having a blast with Silver too, especially with the good voice acting.

 

[mechagouki]

Ultimate Qix on the Genesis/Megadrive
Uniracers/Unirally on SNES
Tetris Attack on SNES
Blast Chamber on PS1
Motor Toon GP on PS1
Blast Corps on N64
ShadowMan on N64
Speed Demons on Dreamcast
Bangai-O on Dreamcast
Powerstone on Dreamcast
Mercenaries on XBOX
BLACK on XBOX

 

[TripleSMoon]

It's available on the PSN.

Although regardless i still agree with you about it being under-rated.

I'd actually like to put forward Silver from the Dreamcast's catalogue. It gets forgotten amongst other games and whilst i really enjoyed Lodoss War, i also recall having a blast with Silver too, especially with the good voice acting.

Is it available on PSN in the US? I swear I checked just a few weeks ago (not long after I got my PS3) and couldn't find it...

Edit: Apparently it's only available on the Japanese PSN.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einhander

 

[Foxi4]

Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate



Terribly underrated - you just don't hear much about this game... I played it back in the day and it's flipping brilliant in every way - it's a must-play for squad-based strategy games fans.

 

[xist]

Edit: Apparently it's only available on the Japanese PSN.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einhander

http://us.playstation.com/games/einhander-ps.html

Not able to check at the moment but i assume that's accurate.

 

[TripleSMoon]

http://us.playstation.com/games/einhander-ps.html

Not able to check at the moment but i assume that's accurate.

That page is a listing for the original PS1 game (it says "platforms: PS"), not a listing for a PSN version. :\

 

[xist]

That page is a listing for the original PS1 game (it says "platforms: PS"), not a listing for a PSN version. :\

Whoops...you're right, sorry. Still a Japanese account is manageable on a PSP easily and with a little bit of hassle on a Vita. And it's a darn sight more worthwhile doing it for Einhander than for Ergheiz.

 

[Plstic]

EGG on the Dreamcast is pretty underated. It's an Adventure RPG like Zelda LTTP except your some robot.

 

[grossaffe]

how about the old point-and-click adventures? You hear a lot about the Lucas Arts games like Monkey Island, but there are a few others out there that deserve some recognition. Beneath a Steel Sky was a fun one. Loved your sarcastic robot companion, Joey.

If you're a fan of the original series of Star Trek, then 25th Anniversary and Judgement Rites are must play games. There are multiple ways of completing your mission, and better, more diplomatic solutions, will earn you more commendation points. Understanding how the Star Trek Universe operates will help you figure out the proper way of going about things. Before you beam down on an away mission, you can access the ship's computer and query for information relevant to the planet and the cultures on it, and the information could help you while on the planet's surface. And in true Star Trek fashion, red shirts beware. If you pick up the CD versions of those games, you'll get full voice acting from the original crew. Those two games probably capture the spirit of Star Trek better than any other game.

 

[exangel]

PSX:

• Street Fighter EX 2 Plus was amazing to me, because I loved Street Fighter and hated Mortal Kombat, and I loved Tekken 3 and played the bloody hell out of it when I was 16. This was the first 3D Street Fighter game that I ever played and probably the only one I'm aware of because I'm not even a primarily a fighter fan, just a few specific games for the nostalgia.
• Wu Tang: Shaolin Style was bizarre but had a story mode and I actually managed to snag the strategy guide for the game for like 25 cents at a bookstore clearance.. most especially worth checking out if you like the Wu Tang Clan to begin with.
• Ghost in the Shell was one of my favorite film/manga adaptations of a game of all time, and though I do not remember very much about this game I remember that it had its own plot with animated sequences to introduce the missions with the same familiar and talented voice acting (in the English/NA version) the controls were not very difficult at all (it's an adventure/combat game but you play as a recruit to Section 9 navigating a Fuchikoma, which is like a Tachikoma but red and I don't think it has AI)
• n2o: Nitrous Oxide, most amazing and psychedelic tunnel shooter ever, with the album Vegas by The Crystal Method as the soundtrack. I wish this game could be modded or a sequel produced with beat generated effects to facilitate custom music because it is way more interesting than Audiosurf..

Dreamcast:

• Samba De Amigo: Japanese Mariachi music. Need I say more?
• Ooga Booga was a very fun multiplayer brawler game but the online multiplayer service for it died so fast I barely got to experience it and as I remember it single player only served to unlock more content for multiplayer enjoyment. As an only child with zero friends where I was living in 2001, the Online mode was the only way I got to experience multiplayer at all.. since it appears it had offline multiplayer, it's going on my nostalgia shopping list.

as soon as I closed my browser I thought of a couple more...
PS2:

• Stretch Panic was a creepy strange adventure game with kind of a sad plot to it (I don't remember if it's part of the explanation from the booklet or is explained somewhere in-game but the little girl's magical scarf is the only memento the girl has of her dead father, and all of the "bosses" are her sisters who became mutated expressions of their own vanity, and because they're the only family she has she is trying to save them even though they are trying to kill her...) The game had a slightly difficult to master control scheme but it is one of my favorite PS2 games, period. It's also a very small game, and manufactured on a PSX-style compact disc rather than a DVD, I think.

Gamecube:

• Cubivore.. just.. an utterly bizarre but adorable evolution simulation adventure game.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

How is Mother 3 under-rated when everyone who's ever played it loves it and it regularly gets recommended as one of the best games on the GBA? I think you're getting under-rated and not massively commercially successful mixed up.

Same goes for Shenmue...

I was thinking the same, but then realized he might be referring to the fact that it was only released in Japan, even though it could have been very successful in other regions if it had been released there.
Which does point towards the developers/publishers underrating the game and not giving it a fair chance. For sure it wasn't underrated by the community though.

 

[lismati]

How the hell did Lester The Unlikely made onto OP's list, when AVGN made an episode on it?