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Obscure Classics

Games I love that are less than popular and/or unforgettably weird

Showing 1-10 of 32 items

StarTropics

1. StarTropics

Mike Jones!

Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos

2. Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos

Excellent isometric puzzle adventuring.

Clash at Demonhead

3. Clash at Demonhead

Billy "Big Bang" Blitz vs Tom "chief of governors" Guycot. A classic action side-scroller! With a non-linear map to boot.

Flashback: The Quest for Identity

4. Flashback: The Quest for Identity

The first game with cutscenes? Great character animation in the tradition of Prince of Persia, gorgeous environments and a great sci-fi storyline.

Parodius

5. Parodius

A spoof of the Gradius games, with spacecraft replaced by penguins and flying heads.

Stretch Panic

6. Stretch Panic

A game with a strange, almost feminist angle. You play a little girl with a sort of possessed scarf that can grab and stretch anything in the environment. Your sisters have been turned into bizarre exaggerated creatures and you have to fight through a world of weird big-breasted women to save them. You attack by pulling on things and allowing them to snap back.

General Chaos

7. General Chaos

This game is a lot of fun. The troops-orders mechanic reminds me of more recent games like Freedom Fighters and Full Spectrum Warrior.

Decap Attack

8. Decap Attack

Bizarre side-scrolling platformer in which you play as Chuck D. Head, a sort of headless mummy with a set of eyes in the middle of his chest. Your primary weapon is your severed head.

Seaman

9. Seaman

Something of a product of the Tomogachi/Furby craze, you raise a series of smartass talking animals with disturbing human faces as they evolve from "mushroomers" into a frog form. You have to have the DC mic for this one and there is little interaction beyond talking to him and feeding him moth larvae you raise in a nearby cage. Leonard Nimoy greets you as you enter each session of the game. There was a sequel where Seaman returns as a seagull and helps you raise a caveman, but I never played that one.

Incredible Crisis

10. Incredible Crisis

A crazy, fast-paced collection of minigames strung together by a plot about one day in the life of a Japanese family, the proto-warioware.

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