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[C.A. Silbereisen]

but at the same time, it's weird to call *any* of those nes game 'unknown' because i'd say that most gamers who are fans of the nes are familiar with all the games mentioned on that list. i at least had heard of all of them, and had played most of them, and i imagine the same is true for other fans of the nes.

"Fans of the NES" is the keyword (key term?) here.

Also, all of these games were relatively obscure when they were originally released and only developed a cult following due to emulation and the internet. I mean, if you knew about Gimmick! in '93, hats off to you.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை]

it was mentioned in EGM actually, i heard about it then, in 1992

i also owned many of the games in that "obscure" list back in the nes era, yes -- i actually owned two copies of guardian legend for instance, so it wasn't that obscure

also your quote formatting is broken

[SirNiko]

i think crystalis was slightly more popular than guardian legend -- not sure though. it was games people haven't played, and i think more people have played crystalis than guardian legend (especially due to that awful ds (or gba?) remake of crystalis)

I played Crystalis back in the SNES era, if you had an NES it was pretty difficult not to know of it, even if you hadn't actually played it. If you didn't own an NES there's a good chance you might not have a clue what a great game it was. I'm still coping with the realization that there are children today who played 3d games before 2d games. I think these "Most obscure" lists are meant for those kinds of people, the ones who had a PS2 as their first console and are slowly working their way backwards towards the 8-bit era and need signposts.

The Crystalis remake was for the GBC. Why do you feel it was awful? It's not like the Bionic Commando remake (also for GBC) that drastically changed the character designs and dialogue.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை]

that's a different topic entirely -- basically, compare the two intros:

gbc: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mJ6cNh7v50
nes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBilpDvAmEM

the quality difference is obvious, at least to my tastes

[C.A. Silbereisen]

Yup, the GBC intro is an eyesore. Some parts almost look broken/glitched.

[SirNiko]

Oh, wow, I'd forgotten the intro was completely different. The rest of the game was pretty much identical to the original at least!

[Saint]

Thanks for the tip mcc, it was short but sweet =)

I especially loved the animations and how each character had their own way of crouching. Very impressive for a NES game.

[C.A. Silbereisen]

The rest of the game was pretty much identical to the original at least!

According to Wikipedia (I hadn't heard of the GBC version until this thread), enemies are no longer immune to certain elemental attacks, which is kind of a big deal.

[J.W. Hendricks]

Dammit, this isn't a SunSoft game, but IT NEEDS TO BE RELEASED. DAMMIT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3RVzkEQqhM

[Paint by Numbers]

If we are going to talk about underrated NES games, I'm obligated to mention Chrontendo, a project done by one Doctor Sparkle. Basically, he's doing a short video review for every game ever released for the Famicom. (An episode of Chrontendo contains about fifteen games.) It's an incredible ambition, and the episodes themselves are lovely - a journey through the ridiculously huge and often very bad back-catalog of Famicom games, guied by Doctor Sparkle's mellow, soothing voice.

A fun note: He's currently working on Episode 32 after roughly four years of effort. He has calculated that there will be more than 70 episodes by the time he's finished, and in addition to that, he is also doing a "chronogaming" series for the Master System and the TurboGrafx. The guy is an amazingly hard worker.

[phubans]

MY GOD, the Crystalis "port" to GBC makes me SO ENRAGED!!!!! I just want to vomit, and then hunt down everyone from the studio that did that version and throw them into traffic!! UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paint by Numbers]

MY GOD, the Crystalis "port" to GBC makes me SO ENRAGED!!!!! I just want to vomit, and then hunt down everyone from the studio that did that version and throw them into traffic!! UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's no call for that. Everyone so far has been fairly rational about their tastes.

[phubans]

No! They took my favorite game and ruined it with their horrible port. It's not acceptable!

[Alistair Aitcheson]

Dammit, this isn't a SunSoft game, but IT NEEDS TO BE RELEASED. DAMMIT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3RVzkEQqhM

So awesome. I must try it out!

[The Monster King]

man i know some awesome obscure NES titles too

Rockin Kats which has THE BEST BOXART



known as NEW YORK NYANKEES in japan it surprisingly has the same box art everywhere because it is the best boxart
you're this cartoon cat with a gun that shoots a chained hand, which not only punches stuff but when you punch walls it kicks you high speed style
oh and you can use it as a grappling hook bionic commando style too
and as you can see the style is noir except not noir


also conquest of the crystal palace

you're this kid on a mountain and you have to do something and you got a sword but sometimes the going gets rough so you call your awesome dog and he proceeds to lay the fuckin smackdown on everything its an awesome dog

look at that blue dog you want that dog

also in the middle of the mountain there's a shop which is represented by a very chinese anime girl

and as you all know when you are six years old anime girls are the best thing
anyways she can also give moderately badly translated information and she becomes a news hanker

what a awesome shopkeeper

i should find other awesome nes games im sure i know a few

[Paint by Numbers]

You guys might want to check up "Mitsume ga Tooru". Basically it's a super-awesome overlooked platformer with very creative enemies.

In this screenshot we see our three-eyed hero (who fires lasers from his third eye) attacked by troll dolls. Soon after, he will be attacked by kittens while riding on a moving truck.

[Kramlack]

Thank you. I will take you to the other side as a reward.

[Alistair Aitcheson]

Boxartgasm

[mcc]

Hm, this looks familiar



Chrysalis was soooo gooood but I'm not sure I'd call it obscure? I remember it being sort of a big deal at the time, I think. Definitely underrated, though. And about the GBC Chrysalis: Didn't they add an extra dungeon? That would seem to justify whatever other bits they messed up.

If technically-not-obscure-just-sorta-overlooked games count, I'd push M.C. Kids:



It's easy to overlook because it's a McDonalds-themed platforming game (??!), but it's actually surprisingly technically advanced for an NES game-- ripping off Super Mario Bros. 3 in all the right ways and adding some really creative ideas on top of that. And it gets incredibly hard toward the end.

Actually, as long as we're getting off topic a bit-- there's a game I very clearly remember seeing in an early issue of Nintendo Power, but have been unable to remember for years what the name was. It was some kind of sci fi futuristic thing, and I think it was a sidescrolling platformer, I think it was specifically set in "20XX" or something, I kinda remember the main character having DBZ hair, and the one thing I remember clearest is something about a power-up that shrank you really tiny so you could get to hidden areas. Does anybody have any idea what I might be thinking of?

[Chris Z]

This thread is bringing back a lot of memories, why do I still have brain cells dedicated to remembering these games?