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[laserghost]

okay i'm too lazy to read the whole thread before posting so sue me if i'm repeating something here.

Catrap (Pitman in Japan) is an old gameboy puzzler with a time reversal mechanic like Braid had. You basically go around a single screen level, pushing blocks and punching mummies in the face. The animation, while limited, is really lively.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smh-OC7YqxI

Heiankyo Alien is another puzzle game originally made for PC, but there are gameboy and super nes versions out there. You're an ancient Japanese guy trying to stop an alien invasion by digging holes for the aliens to fall into, then burying them alive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFF_ZqO_6MQ

[baconman]

Samurai Warriors. The first one, I mean. Not so pretty, but man is it TOUGH.

Duke Nukem 3D / Atomic Edition. I know what you're thinking here, but hear me out - consider that this game was big around 95-97... and much of the CoD fanbase is in their late teens/early-to-mid twenties. This means that back then, we're talking about a game with sex, drugs, profanity, and grotesque violence rivaled almost only by Mortal Kombat at the time, when many of these players were between 6-10 years old. See what I'm getting at, here?

[halken]

Adventures of Lolo series.

[Jasper Byrne]

In fact, I might go so far as to say that Silent Hill 2 is my all time favourite game. Ever.

That's probably not a widely held opinion, and that's ok.

Well it's held by two people who live within a mile of each other!

Couple to throw into the mix;

ZX Spectrum:
Lords of Midnight
Tir Na Nog

MSX:
Penguin Adventure (Kojima's debut!)

Amiga / ST:
Captive
Captain Blood
North'n'South
Dragon's Breath
Dreamweb
Darkmere
Beneath A Steel Sky

Megadrive:
Marvel Land
The Immortal

Dreamcast:
Power Stone

PS2:
Fatal Frame series, Siren series.

Wii:
Fragile Dreams

DS:
All Cing games

PS3:
Nier
Vanquish
Deadly Premonition

[pelle]

Some games I keep coming back to:

The Ancient Art of War, a very good RTS, zooming in to quick simple real-time battles. Great idea, and way ahead of its time (also the graphics) and it came with a scenario and map editor. There is also a lot of strategic depth not seen in many later RTS, like supply lines. Would love to see modern games doing RTS like this, rather than everyone cloning Dune2 (not that I do not enjoy that kind of RTS as well).

The Goldbox Series. But someone already said so 4 years ago on this thread.

Close Combat 2. Almost perfect RTT with a good campaign system. Unfortunately the rest of the series is not so strong (not that I have played all the recent sequels, but from reading reviews I rather replay CC2, and sometimes do).

Panzer General. Extremely mainstream, but I'm including it in the list in case someone is too young or somehow managed to overlooked it back in 1994 when it was released. Panzer General 2 from gog.com or Panzer Tactics DS or the soon to be released Panzer Corps might be good approximations, but you really should try to find the original and start from there.

[thedaemon]

EDIT:
Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo
Awesome game based on the comic book. Interesting adventure beat em up gameplay with a karma system for doing good deeds or honorable ones.
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/usagiyojimbo/usagiyojimbo.htm

Adventures of Lolo series.

When I was young and had an NES my dad and I would play this game together for days on end. Great puzzle game.

A cool site with the history of Lolo
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/eggerland/eggerland.htm

[Headless Man]

Wizkid: The Story of Wizball 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V12cYRmlekE

Goofy, weird game that is kind of uncategorisable.  You switch between a block-bouncing arcade game where you destroy enemies by dislodging objects and knocking them into enemies, and a 2d platformer adventure with dream logic puzzles.  Genuinely great game.

Night Stocker:

http://www.gamesdbase.com/game/arcade/night_stocker.aspx

Driving/light gun shooter hybrid.  Fun, original arcade game that went beyond the often-dull shooting gallery that lightgun games usually are and gave you more control.  A prototypical FPS.

Wibarm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG-DqEN5vBA

Inspired by Thexder (released a year earlier), a 1986 action RPG that predates Zelda 2 and its pals.  You control a mech that can transform into a tank and a jet.  Run, drive and fly around a very non-linear 2D world map with enemies wandering around.  Run into them and the game switches to a 2D realtime combat view.  Enter buildings and you move around 3D polygonal dungeons - with an automap (rare for '86).  Upgrade your mech with max enery/ammo units, collect keys, get XP - fun times.

Jump Bug:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_P--FYbhEU

The first sidescrolling platformer, released in arcades a few months after Donkey Kong.  Collect money bags for an extra life (and points thereafter) and enter a multi-directional scrolling pyramid.  Actually a fun game.

I, Robot:

http://youtu.be/y-7dT2c_bX4

First game with filled polygons and shading, but so much more than that.  Not really categorisable, but a kind of hybrid platformer/shooter/maze game.  Allows you to switch camera angles (and gives you more points if you have it at a lower angle).  Tons of great, strange ideas.

X-Multiply:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikx26GYrKao

Scrolling shooter from the people who did R-Type but way less rigid and memorisation-based - game gives you the tools you need to survive, but it really makes you use them.

Spanky's Quest:

http://youtu.be/tqCgq9TvCc4

Fun, original platformer with novel, interesting gameplay.

Baraduke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG2XGUUDmJA

Cool, weird arcade shooter released in '85.  Save strange little one-eyed freaks and at the end of each stage each one increases your chance of winning the roulette wheel minigame, thereby increasing your max health.  If you get to a boss and you still have some, they come out and suicide-attack the boss, stunning it and allowing you to get a few free hits in.  The main character, Kissy, is actually a girl as revealed at the end of the game, beating Samus Aran as the original striptease heroine.  Kissy was married, and divorced, from Dig-Dug - their kid is Mr. Driller.

The Eidolon:

http://youtu.be/E9cTvuwYi3w

A fps in 1985.  Awesome fractally-generated cave walls that still look cool and interesting gameplay.  You shoot enemies with shots of the same colour to defeat them, or polymorph them into something of a different colour if you don't have the right kind of ammo.

I will add more when I think of some.

[Headless Man]

Shadow Force:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPzo5d7PGjo

Rad beat 'em up from Technos with a massive amount of moves (each player has six buttons, like Street Fighter and there are lots of variations on the basic moves as well as button/stick combo moves).  You can even posess enemies and use all their moves.  Unlike most bmups, you face your nearest opponent so it also had an early form of z-targeting.

Atomic Runner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEbRK5S3Rao

Megadrive version is great.  Awesome, weird art style.

Cluster Buster:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v9SlYLb7VQ

Sort of a prototypical version of Puzzle Bobble mixed with Breakout.  You control a paddle (left and right and up and down) and knock a ball at blocks that constantly descend.  Disconnect bunches of them from the main cluster and they all fall.  You have a button that pushes the blocks back up, but you can only do this a few times (though you can earn more easily enough by hitting spiders that drop from above - but they kill you if they hit your paddle).  Below you are a bunch of guardian blocks that prevent the ball from going off-screen and killing you.  You can repair them by not letting the ball hit them for a while - a guy comes along and adds more - hit him with the ball for more points.  Also, you can change your paddle so it deflects the ball more horizontally or more vertically.

Kram:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=559ICIvzOmw

Interesting arcade game where you place and destroy blocks to prevent enemies getting you while you go around collecting shit.  Sort of like a proto-Minecraft!

Space Duel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwY5znUeaJ4

Awesome Asteroids variant where you are tethered to another ship, like a three-legged race.  Made by the same guy who did Major Havoc (which is awesome).

Bio Hazard Battle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMg9geNyP3A

Awesome graphics and music in this fun MD sidescrolling shooter.  Gynoug is awesome too, also on the MD.

[boxedlunch]

Okage: Shadow King
it's pretty much a RPG if the scenery and characters were designed by Tim Burton. They even have a part early in the game where you see a hill similar to the one in Nightmare Before Christmas. The game is about a boy who gets his shadow possessed by a former evil king while his family tries to cure his sister of a curse. The game then has you trying to rid yourself of the new evil kings who have started trying to take over the world. The game itself is pretty normal, but the whole game has such a fun story and neat look that you probably won't care.

here's some concept art from it.

[NathanielEdwards]

Okage: Shadow King rules.


That is all.

[Gguo]

Spacechem (PC) : movie trailer
It's really good brain teasing game available at Steam.

Advance wars : day of ruin (NDS) : movie trailer
Amazingly less popular than previous series.

Temple of Elemental Evil (PC) : movie trailer
Most underrated D&D role-playing game.

[moi]

Temple of Elemental Evil (PC) : movie trailer
Worst Troika D&D role-playing game.

fixed

[eld]

Temple of Elemental Evil (PC) : movie trailer
Worst Troika D&D role-playing game.

fixed

Well it was troikas only D&D game, so I guess that simultaneously makes it their best.

[C.A. Sinner]

Man, I wish Troika was still around.

Speaking of which: Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines.

It's a real shame this great game was released in a not-quite-finished state riddled with technical problems, largely thanks to Activision. But fortunately, the fan patches that have come out since reveal it for what it really is: One the best (W)RPGs ever, up there with Deu Sex and Unreal Tournament: Planescape.

[Hangedman]

It is fantastiche.

I still run the occasional White Wolf pen-and-paper game (Vampire/Werewolf/etc) because the system is way more about roleplay and thinking about which skills to abuse than rolling dice and spamming repeated attacks. And it made a surprisingly good game, maybe because the game's good writing and options gave you lots of leeway.

That, and playing as a Malkavian was spot-on. Endless hilarity.