Best non-popular games?

Often games will look worse than they really are. Sometimes the art or screenshots on the box will look uninteresting, while the game is actually really fun. Or poor graphics or sound will detract from amazing gameplay.

Sometimes, even when you try out a game, when you play the first level once, you're uninterested, but if you played the game through, you'd end up really enjoying it.

This is what I'm looking for. The games I might otherwise pass-up with or without giving them a try, and miss a really great game.

Does anyone have any lists of great Genesis/CD games that are not the following already-popular games:

Sonic

Streets of Rage

RPGs (unless you think it would be fun to someone who doesn't like RPGs)

Sports (unless you think it would be fun to someone who doesn't like sports games *)

Gunstar Heroes

Contra

Road Rash

Thanks,

JMT.

* I used to like sports games on the older systems when they were more about gameplay. But 16-bit + sports games are too much about picking players and teams and rankings and stats, and stuff that a non-sports person doesn't care about. I liked good old atari 2600 volleyball ya know
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THANK YOU MASTER THRASH...

Tecmo Bowl on the NES. Never will there be a better Football game. (well, maybe Blitz). I could care less about stats and crap.

I hate sports, but I like sports games.
 
One of the most underrated games in my opinion is Might and Magic - Gates to another world (which is Might and Magic 2). The music is awful, graphics suck donkey arse, there is NO action whatsoever, but the game has one very strong point: It's one of the longest games ever made. And the character development factor (eg growing HP, SP, better weaponry, new arts etc.) might be the best and most extensive I've ever seen.

Ok I know it's an RPG and you didn't ask for those, and maybe it's not even interesting to persons who don't like RPG's, but with RPG, most people think about Japanese manga style games. This one is pure American (that's why it sux, American's don't know how to make games
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), and it's more Lotr style. That's why I thought it might be worth mentioning.
 
Genesis Exclusives (not counting a stray Game Gear port, perhaps...)

------------------------

Alien Soldier: rather difficult platform shooter with occasional stretches of minor enemies between the absurd number of unique and interesting bosses

Dynamite Headdy

Herzog Zwei: an RTS game. On Genesis. Released in 1989. I'm not kidding.

Revenge of Shinobi / Super Shinobi

Shinobi 3 / Super Shinobi 2

Mystic Defender

Gaiares

General Chaos

Castlevania: Bloodlines: okay, so you probably meant for this one to be on your list
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Beyond Oasis / The Story of Thor: an action-RPG that's fairly light on the RPG elements, somewhat similar to Zelda

Landstalker: also an action-RPG, but a bit heavier on the RPG elements; isometric view takes a bit of getting used to also

Castle of Illusion: yes, with Mickey Mouse; shut up and play it
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Chakan: The Forever Man: *not* for those who like easy games...

Cyborg Justice: Repetetive and bare enough levels to qualify as a beta, and the controls have a serious learning curve, but it's worth playing at least once just for some of the concepts

Ranger X: brilliant fast action game that defies classification

Vectorman

Comix Zone

Warsong (turn-based strategy)

Arcade Ports

----------------

too many to list all, and the arcade versions are generally a bit better, but noteworthy ones include:

Golden Axe

Operation Code: Vapor Trail

Strider

Ghouls 'n Ghosts

Forgotten Worlds

Midnight Resistance

Double Dragon: an actual arcade port, unlike the NES game bearing the same name

Captain America and the Avengers: the graphics and sound are substantially reduced compared to the arcade game, but the gameplay of the Genesis port generally makes the SNES port look like a joke IIRC

Multiplatform Games

--------------------------

Flashback: The Quest For Identity (this could be classified as an RPG but it's more like a hybrid between Prince of Persia and old-school Sierra graphic adventures)

Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Boogerman (there's actually some half-decent gameplay under the gimmick theme)
 
I will add

TWO CRUDE DUDES. Pure Fun if you have a friend to play..
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LAST BATTLE. Pseudo beatém up which is actually the game of HOKUTO NO KEN mangas but with another name.
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heavy nova, neat looking platformer/pre s.f.2 fighting games with lots of big robots

good music too

star flight (port of ethier a mac or p.c. game, ummm. expansive, pretty neat plot and slowish but fairly unique gameplay. weird thing is i've never seen a copy on ebay. i really don't think it's that uncommon as everyone i know who had a genesis back in the day has played it and loves it. the only conclusion i can draw is that there's a fair amount of copies in existance and no one's selling theirs.

b.t.w. a 70$ cart at release. aren't you glad that optical discs became the standard format?

my buddy hans really liked dynamite duke, but i hate it

the thing about the genesis is that it was THE console for a large part of it's life. like the nes before it there was a lot of stuff released for it . games where also cheaper to develope than they are now. so a lot of the lesser known games for it are garbage. there are some diamonds amoung the coal and alot of them have been listed so far. i guess what i'm really getting at is beware of liscenesed games
 
Eternal Champions. It's up there on my list as the one of the best fighting games ever.

Crusader of Centy. Okay, I've never played it, but I hear it's a very good zelda clone with lots of animation.
 
I'm a big fan of the game Skitchin'...

Think Road Rash on rollerblades... with the added twist of being able to grab on to the rear bumper of passing cars for a nice easy ride. Then when other people grab the same car is when it gets real interesting... some very nice fighting to be had.
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And even though it's somewhat popular, I can't let a post get away without the opportunity to mention the Lost Vikings. Puzzle game at it's best.
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2 others mentioned it, get crusader of centy....very good game, resembles Zelda 3 for the SNES, as others said good animation, great gameplay.....if you can find it, gamestop will probably have it for like $10 or less.
 
"Ragna Centy" (Soleil) in France was so good, but is it really a non-popular game ? It was a sega game, and was really a Zelda-like (as you said, Zziggy00), they did the same with Golden Axe Warrior on SMS
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For me I would say Shadowrun on Genesis, maybe I'm the only one who liked this game for his design, story and athmosphere. I have no more idea of non popular games on MD. I'd say too "Pugsy" where I never found the answer of the last riddle (It was something like "INV 22^21"), I also finished the game but I'm still wondering if there was an answer.
 
Originally posted by Nadius@Apr 21, 2003 @ 06:21 PM

Eternal Champions. It's up there on my list as the one of the best fighting games ever.

Crusader of Centy. Okay, I've never played it, but I hear it's a very good zelda clone with lots of animation.

I just can't figure out why people like Eternal Champions.

It seems so slow to me.

I've played both versions too.

Care to fill me in?
 
Quackshot, good game.....one hell of a platformer. The last boss is a bitch, but fun to beat nun the less....it's been like 8ish yrs since I played that game, isn't the boss liek a knight or sumthin?
 
When I had a Genesis I remember playing a LOT of Kid Chameleon and Toe Jam & Earl (only the first one, the 2nd is crap). Also I think Truxton deserves a try just for the music of the first scene (one of the best ever IMHO)
 
Originally posted by racketboy+Apr 23, 2003 @ 09:10 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(racketboy @ Apr 23, 2003 @ 09:10 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'> <!--QuoteBegin-Nadius@Apr 21, 2003 @ 06:21 PM

Eternal Champions. It's up there on my list as the one of the best fighting games ever.

Crusader of Centy. Okay, I've never played it, but I hear it's a very good zelda clone with lots of animation.

I just can't figure out why people like Eternal Champions.

It seems so slow to me.

I've played both versions too.

Care to fill me in? [/b][/quote]

I don't know exactly what it is... I got it back in the day when it came out at $65 at Sears, so it's got some nostalgic value for me. The story line is pretty nifty and original. The game has some if very little strategy, so it's not all about button mashing.

I guess the thing about it is how difficult the last boss is. I've never beaten the eternal champion... so it'll always be a game i'll play once and awhile, it's cheap replay value.
 
Target Earth is one helluva side scrolling mech shooter. Very hard but I beat it once. The whole atmosphere is spectacular. I like how you can choose from a ton of different weapons at start up.
 
> I just can't figure out why people like Eternal Champions.

> It seems so slow to me.

> I've played both versions too.

EC has an option that allows you to change the speed of gameplay. One of the options is "Overdrive". In Overdrive mode, EC is the fastest playing fighting game I've ever played, which is one of the reasons why it immediately became one of my favorites.

And after playing for about 10 minutes with my friend, he killed me and suddenly the lifebars floated away and some monster came out of the swamp and ate me and blood filled up the water. I was totally blown away by the stage-based death scenes. Way more fun than the standard "Finish him" of MK-alikes.

Also, the characters were much more varied and interesting than any other game. In most games, half the characters look alike and all have similiar moves. In EC, not only does each character have very different moves and look and colors, but also differnet objects/weapons to help them (like the wizard staff, the trident, club, etc).

And even all the standard moves are pretty varied. Usually it's just low and high punch, and they look pretty much the same. But in EC, the weak punch might be a regular punch, while the strong punch might twist out your weapon or spin around or something. And the special moves are quite fun. Especially Slash where you can throw someone up in the air and then baseball bat them across the screen with your club. Also, the total number of true special/skill moves is more per character than any other game I've played (at least for CD version, which doubled the number of special moves I think).

And this is just the Genesis version, the Sega CD version completely blows even the genesis version away. Not only are there 4 new characters but 11 hidden characters. You can never get bored pitting the egg-flinging chicken against the taco bell dog. And the music in the CD version is some of the best game music ever.

I never noticed the story in the genesis one, but the FMV version of the story in the segaCD one blew me away. The story is very compelling, and also the best FMV on the system.

In summary, I'd say three things make EC, in my opinion, the best fighting game ever.

First is the Overdrive speed setting, which makes for the fastest gameplay.

Second is the extreme variety of characters (designs and moves).

Third is the gruesome yet extremely amusing scene-based deaths (two per stage in the CD version).

Weapon Lord (genesis) and Virtual Fighter (32x) are my next favorite fighters. Weapon Lord boasts an engine that prevents "cheese". In contrast, I've had people with no gaming experience beat me for hours in Primal Rage using only cheese (way to easy to cheese in that game. Other than that and the fact that there's only 5 different characters, it's still one of my favs (32x version) just because it's fun to fight as dinosaurs chomping each other and eating your worshippers for extra health.

BTW, thanks everyone for all the replies.

Jedi Master Thrash.
 
Kid Chameleon comes to mind.....an awesome platformer, VERY long, with nice graphics and catchy music.

I also spent countless hours playing SUPER OFF ROAD !!!! Did anyone else enjoy this game?
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super baseball 2020 was pretty good -- NeoGeo port

i still have sun playing it.

its a good change of pace from normal baseball games
 
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