RetroGaming

But of a desperate cry for help, but there was a 2D game on the NDS, in which you controlled a mech to fly through side-view levels and shoot enemies and turrets. It also had a story mode with an anime girl in orange and anime boy in blue as mech pilots. There was also a level editor, and you could transfer the levels to other DS's with the same game using sound, which sounded a lot like internet over a phone line.

I played this so much back in the day but I can't find the game (my mother discarded all my games from the attic some time after moving out, inc. fully functional SNES. Unrelated, I just needed to reshare the trauma) not the name of it.

Does anyone have any idea which game this could be?

I really like the old PSP Patapon games. They're catchy. After playing, I find myself humming the beat. The original creators are making a spiritual successor called Ratatan. Still not out yet, but I'm looking forward to playing it.

Gorillas.bas

my niece thinks Morrowind is retro

I don't know how obscure this is. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. illusion of gaia/illusion of time was one of my favourites growing up. It had a cool story, kind of a dystopia fantasy. I don't think I ever actually finished it. Come to think of it, that might be a good idea to put on my list for this year.

For me its screamer. It's a pretty nice PC arcade racer with a great soundtrack. I still listen to it from time to time.

Seven Kingdoms II: The Fryhtan Wars

I found the disk at a Dollar Tree Store when I was a teen. I spent hours in endless matches trying to build my empire. I remember the spy system in this RTS was incredibly fun and nothing I've seen in any other game. Truly a gem with so much potential to become a cult classic with its charming art style.

Quest 64 / Holy Magic Century / Eltale Monsters is a bad game that nobody played, except for me, and I absolutely love it. It was my third favorite game on the N64 behind Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64. I still play this game via emulation every now and then, maybe once a year or so.

This guy also played it and wrote an LPArchive story that contains all the lore this game should have had included in it. If you already know and like the game, this is an incredible read, highly recommend. If you don't like the game this might arguably be a better way to experience it than playing it.

There are also a few YouTube videos on it for those inclined, I'll leave finding those as an exercise for the reader.

It's not super obscure, but I think I'd have to go with Star Tropics. Gameplay wise it's very similar to Zelda, but the setting and story is more like EarthBound. Interestingly the game is a first-party Nintendo game that has never been released in Japan despite being developed there. Another thing is that it's been almost completely ignored by Smash Bros. I think it got a mention in Brawl's chronicle, but that's it. Even Ultimate forgot about it despite having all kinds of deep cuts among the spirits.

Legend of Legaia. It’s a JRPG from the PS1 golden era, which was completely overshadowed by larger releases like FF7 and Legend of Dragoon. And when I say “completely overshadowed” I mean that the first time I played through it, it didn’t even have a GameFAQs listing.

Nowadays it has a sort of cult classic following, because the combat system was pretty unique and the plot line is surprisingly long for only being one disc.

The American version of the game is apparently much harder than other versions for some reason; They decided to slash the exp and gold drop rates across the board, then bumped them back up for the European release. So the American version is extremely grindy in comparison.

One of my favorites was definitely Kororinpa (Wii) Yes, the Wii is now considered retro. It is now older than the NES was when the Wii first was released.

Depends on how you're defining "obscure" and "retro".

If by "retro" you mean SNES, Genesis, NES etc... the game I was super into for a time was Xevious. A pretty simple top-down space shooter/bomber that for some reason I remember getting absolutely obsessed with completing. It wasn't even a particularly good game. It was repetitive, and when you DID reach the end it just started all over again. But for some reason I played the absolute shit out of it.

If you move "retro" up to the PS1 era, my favourite seemingly forgotten games of all time are the Colony Wars series (Colony Wars, Colony Wars: Vengeance, Colony Wars: Red Sun) Great story lines and a super fun conceit where in the second game, you're playing as the now-defeated enemy of the first game, rebuilding after their loss.

NFS Porsche Unleashed aka Porsche 2000 for PC. It had great physics and tons of realistic modifications you could purchase for every car. So many details in the game that made it truly great.

Maybe Hover!. Basically hover bumper cars in the future playing capture the flag. Was a lot of fun and never saw any rereleases or remakes or another game like it.

Some gameplay.

I like this really old game called Skyrim, I like to cast the spells

Slipstream 5000

Probably the first and last racing game that I invested a lot of time in.

Solomon's Key (NES)

Finally beat it last year after trying for 35 years. Such a good game. It's one of my favorite games of all time. Action platform puzzle game. It has two endings, and there is zero chance you'll get the good ending without a guide. Not to beat each puzzle room, but to find all the hidden items. You see, if you miss one, all the ones after that don't appear! So hunting for them naturally is nearly impossible. It also has a secret continue mechanic, too, without which the game is also pretty much impossible.

I loved playing a game called Zeliard when I was a kid. I never hear it talked about, but think it could be pretty fun even today for people willing to tolerate 30 year old PC platformers.

I haven’t played it in a long time, though, so maybe I’m forgetting some terrible aspect of it. Should try and dig that up...

Legend of Dragoon was so good, even if several twists were the kind you see coming. And it was insanely long!

I wish it would get remade so badly. I own it, and tried to make it work, but I don't have a CRTV, so it went very badly.

Some ancient PC role playing games.

The Dark Heart of Uukrul I like this one because I think your party is restricted to having a character of each class: Fighter, Paladin, Cleric and Wizard. I learned what a Paladin was from this game and fell in love with the class. Lots of exploration and tactical battles that are on a map that is the same as where you are in the dungeon were all pretty awesome features of this game. Has permadeath but you can recruit a new person to replace the old one. Always hated doing that though.

Disciples of Steel Team of 8 characters going on an adventure to save the world. The endgame actually has you setting up armies in different parts of the world to help you when the final battle comes. Pretty neat game.

Not sure if it is considered particularly obscure, but mine would be Rock n' Roll Racing on SNES. The game was like an improved RC Pro Am from the NES with vehicular combat and a great metal/rock soundtrack (hence the name).

Crysalis for Famicom/NES

Soldam immediately comes to mind as the deepest cut I can think of. You might not be too impressed the first time you put a quarter in, the singleplayer modes are nothing too special. But if you can get a second player, it has one of the most interesting versus modes I've seen in a puzzle game. Sadly, you do need a second player, there is no versus CPU.

This game got a modernized remake on Switch a while back, they added online play... but they still didn't add CPUs.

I don't know how obscure it actually is, but I played the hell out of Threads of Fate when I was a kid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads_of_Fate?wprov=sfla1

Everything on this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_%27Em_Sock_%27Em_Robots_Arena?wprov=sfla1

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots Arena was pretty good. A robot fighting game where you could focus damage onto specific parts of your opponent to knock them off. Not only would they be unable to use that part in that match, but then you'd have the option of swapping out your own parts between matches in the tournament mode.

I'm not particularly fond of fighting games, but the gimmick really drew me in to this one. I remember a lot of fights where I had to choose whether to prioritize just plain winning vs trying to get a specific part for a build.

Maybe not obscure but certainly underrated - Civilization II :Test of Time. You get regular Civ2 plus fantasy and sci fi versions. Sci fi version felt like budget Alpha Centauri

moonstone: a hard days knight on amiga.

and of course zzt

If we're talking RPGs like a lot of people in this thread are, while the Zelda GBC/GBA games were great of course (although not so obscure), I also really enjoyed Golden Sun. I believe another game I also played when I was younger was Racing Gears Advance, I think that one was a bit more obscure.

Blaster Master on NES. I was so addicted. And then I got the NES Advantage controller and it was just pure Blaster Master bliss.

I think the last game I bought for my 386 was Nomad. ISTR having to make space since it required like 9Mb of the 40Mb drive.

30-polygon-per-ship level 3-D space RPG with limited combat sequences. I think I played it wrong because I seemed to walk largely linearly through the story and defeat the Big Bad without seeing more than 1/10 of the galaxy

Breath of Fire 2 for me

Quarantine the killer taxi game including the australian alternative rock soundtrack https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarantine_(video_game)

Whiplash!