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[Headless Man]

I will never play Boktai because I refuse to play any more Kojima games.
Also, isometric games with direct movement are gross.

Bio Tetris on Tetris 64 qualifies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_64

So far everybody has mentioned things that require the player to take advantage of things external to the game or unique hardware ... I guess because the initial example was Boktai.  Is there anything else the OP means by obscure game mechanics or are we doing ok?

[Kramlack]

I will never play Boktai because I refuse to play any more Kojima games.
Also, isometric games with direct movement are gross.

What?

[RCIX]

So far everybody has mentioned things that require the player to take advantage of things external to the game or unique hardware ... I guess because the initial example was Boktai.  Is there anything else the OP means by obscure game mechanics or are we doing ok?

Well in-game obscure could work, but it has to really be obscure to count

[Fallsburg]

Ni No Kuni, the studio ghibli game:
"The game will also include a book that is supposed to represent the magic book from the game and is required to play the game. In it players can find a bestiary, short stories that offer game hints and other info that the game will refer to."

I like the requiring studying a book inorder to progress, not a strategy guide, but a book that adds to the game, part of the gameplay.

See also: just about every adventure game from the '80's and '90's.

The MGS games have a ton of quirky gameplay mechanics.  MGS 1 has you check the back of the jewel-case, 3 has the waiting until a boss dies, the giving a boss food poisoning so you can shoot him, etc, 4 has a dream sequence that plays exactly like an earlier game.

Gotta hand it to Kojima, he's good at thinking up quirky ideas.  Mostly he just uses them once and moves on, but occasionally (Boktai) he makes an entire game around the idea.

[_Tommo_]

Ni No Kuni, the studio ghibli game:
"The game will also include a book that is supposed to represent the magic book from the game and is required to play the game. In it players can find a bestiary, short stories that offer game hints and other info that the game will refer to."

I like the requiring studying a book inorder to progress, not a strategy guide, but a book that adds to the game, part of the gameplay.

A lot like Minecraft and its wiki.

[Player Ʒ]

Now that makes me wonder how many Let's Plays portrayed the wiki as a book dropped by some previous explorer.

[C.A. Sinner]

Ni No Kuni, the studio ghibli game:
"The game will also include a book that is supposed to represent the magic book from the game and is required to play the game. In it players can find a bestiary, short stories that offer game hints and other info that the game will refer to."

I like the requiring studying a book inorder to progress, not a strategy guide, but a book that adds to the game, part of the gameplay.

See also: just about every adventure game from the '80's and '90's.

STARTROPICS!

[Paul Eres]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ8ELsdT6pI

[C.A. Sinner]

x-treme

[King Hadas]

RAD: Robot Alchemic Drive

[Wireless Mouse]

Toribash. It makes QWOP look easy.

[rek]

Memba dis?


While this one was for copyright protection (it was black and dark purple so you couldn't photocopy it... which didn't work as effectively as they planned), I remember there was a game that relied on a wheel like this to solve a puzzle. But I can't remember which game it was.

[baconman]

It may not seem like so much now, since it's been around a decade or so, but THIS.

[Chromanoid]

I often played "Die Fugger 2". You had to draw (real) "mission" cards that came with the game to get a winning condition (there was a code you had to type in). Afair this was especially made for multiplayer.

The Control scheme in Clonk is pretty obscure. You have buttons to start and to stop walking. This control scheme is necessary for massive 4 players hot seat mode.

[gunswordfist]

That one game that came with a condom.