Once in a while I think back to games I used to play as a kid/teen, and while some are considered classics, many seem to have been forgotten by time. Curious which games in your opinion should be more talked about?
A few that come to mind for me:
1. Centurion: Defender of Rome - a turn-based strategy game that came out a year before Civilization. Had some really interesting real-time battle mechanics and as a history nerd I loved taking over the various Roman era countries and kingdoms.
2. No One Lives Forever (and sequel) - a 3D shooter set in an Austin Powers / Archer like universe. So different from other shooters of the time with a great blend of a coherent story, interesting character (named Cate Archer, funny enough), and non-stop hilarity. Gadgets included lipstick camera, coins you can throw as a distraction, and a proximity bomb that looks like a kitten.
3. Acrophobia - a 90s online multiplayer game where you had to turn random acronyms into phrases that had to fit a particular topic. Winner was determined by voting. An amazingly fun time-waster.
Outpost 2. It's a sim game where you build a society that lives on an unforgiving planet after the last survivors of humanity have travelled the galaxy in hibernation while the ship computer searches for a viable new planet. But the computer couldn't find a nice place so it settles on a really shitty one. While the game has combat I always thought managing all the resources was the most fun.
BZFlag, a tank FPS where you can pick up flags that give you certain extra abilities. It ran originally on Silicon Graphics workstations (at least that's were I encountered it), but it was based on the Battle Zone arcade game. There was a PC port.
Snipes, a "shoot the bugs (and each other) network game for Novell networks back in the mid 1980s.
Whatever the James Bond game was on the GameCube. It has a grappling hook that let you sling around like Spider-Man. I think I had more fun with that than I did with Golden Eye, as ridiculous as it was.
Vector Man on Genesis is also one I liked a lot, that I don’t hear much about.
Pretty much everything on candystand.com as well. There were a bunch of (probably flash) web games made by LifeSaver. It’s all anyone did in my high school during computer lab and seemingly lost to time. Instead of a game site with ads, the whole game was an ad, so it just felt like a candy theme.
Candystand! What a blast. Billiards, bowling, golf, pinball...great stuff. Yahoo came out with a similar set of web based games years later but they didn't have the same feel as candystand.com.
Hero's Quest. Then renamed Quest for Glory: so you want to be a hero. When people remember Sierra point-and-click games they talk about Space Quest and King's Quest. For me Hero's Quest was the Skyrim of the 80's. It had a prompt to enter actions ala Zork.
Fragile Allegiance
My buddies and I loved this game so much back in the early 90s. It's awesome. The idea, the gameplay, everything. I wonder why nobody created a similar game nowadays.
Besides all the "hacker games" I would play in obscure parts of the web, leisure suit Larry is one of those games I stumbled upon as a youth looking for anything that went against the grain. I was a kid that thought nudity was amazing. Still, the mechanics built into searching for clues in an environment that attempted "open world" concepts honestly consumed more time then the rewards earned.
Also Sony launched Matrix MMO that died out but I loved how they at least tried to continue character stories that added depth.
Currently I am playing Diablo 1 (yes the first one from 1996). It is probably a classic though.
Had a lot oft fun playing it via Devilution[1], the open source reversed project. Works like a charm on Linux and has some decent improvements like play/run-speed, a shared storage for collected items at the woman in town and other useful tweaks.
I was part of it, but some of these "blockbusters" don't become classics. I played diablo A LOT these days (let alone having jarulf's guide to beat the math, just havin' fun)
The one I always recommend: Colonization[0] from 1994. The translation of such a complex theme into a dynamic but believable game is genius IMHO. Nowadays I play only the open source[1] remake: Freecol[2][3].
I do think these are commonly known amongst those in the gaming community however both Kula World and Tomba left a mark to this day. The former opened me up to a love of puzzles and I found the simplistic but clever design of the world and physics so enjoyable.
Tomba simply opened myself up to games which didn't have to fit just one genre, I could play a platformer and an RPG at the same time and it would be brilliant fun. Plus the colourful world was a feast for the eyes.
The game features a remarkably advanced physics model. Nearly all structures are completely destructible. This has many tactical effects in the combat. For instance, if a character hears an enemy moving in an adjacent room, they can simply fire through the wall to attack them. Silent Storm also employs ragdoll physics for bodies according to the precise velocity of an impact. Fully three-dimensional mapping allows for obstruction calculations and cover effects from all angles. Bullets ricochet and their stopping power depends on the weapon. The effects are exaggerated for a more cinematic experience (a hail of non-fatal bullets only make the target shake, but a single fatal bullet can send the target flying).
Spider - The Video Game [1] - a little PS1 platformer that had you playing as a cybernetically enhanced spider that could replace its limbs with various weapons, as it tried to save its creator. Its 90's charm, old-school cinematics and it being the first time seeing what could be called "nanotechnology" still blew my mind as a kid. I still go back sometimes and listen to its 'Level Select' theme. [2]
Live a Live. I loved the one shot format, and they tied together to make what wasn't a one shot game. The plot twist at the end hit me hard despite the cliche and heavy foreshadowing, maybe because by this point, you've seen several endings following a certain format. It's my #1 favorite Square game. They remade it very well in the style of Octopath Traveler and sell it at the same price as Baldur's Gate 3, which hints that Square also thought it was an underdog.
The Learning Company's entire edutainment lineup was pretty fun as a child. Midnight Rescue and Operation Neptune in particular lead to me to work in the educational sector later in life.
Braid was an Xbox360 game first, and then ported to lots of other platforms (yes.. including Apple, after Windows and before PS3, Linux) It's available on everything now (Steam, Switch, Android, iOS)
For me it was an old Mac game called Realmz. It was a sprawling party-based RPG sandbox that introduced child me to modern fantasy, turn-based tactics, and many other concepts that appear in genre-similar games across various mediums. I thought that its later incarnations were a step backwards, chasing shiny features that came at the cost of good mechanics and art assets (relatively speaking), which sadly made revisiting the game with an emulator less fun than it could have been. I'd love to try my hand at making a spiritual successor to it, but I couldn't make art assets to save my life...
Legacy of the Wizard on NES. It was sort of an RPG precursor with multiple characters and different abilities that you would needed to use to make progress through a dungeon. I was too young for the game and never finished it but I’ve always wondered what happened at the end. Obviously I could look it up but I don’t mind it being a mystery. The box art was cool and the soundtrack still sticks with me today.
A few that come to mind for me:
1. Centurion: Defender of Rome - a turn-based strategy game that came out a year before Civilization. Had some really interesting real-time battle mechanics and as a history nerd I loved taking over the various Roman era countries and kingdoms.
2. No One Lives Forever (and sequel) - a 3D shooter set in an Austin Powers / Archer like universe. So different from other shooters of the time with a great blend of a coherent story, interesting character (named Cate Archer, funny enough), and non-stop hilarity. Gadgets included lipstick camera, coins you can throw as a distraction, and a proximity bomb that looks like a kitten.
3. Acrophobia - a 90s online multiplayer game where you had to turn random acronyms into phrases that had to fit a particular topic. Winner was determined by voting. An amazingly fun time-waster.
Qix an arcade game.
Star Raiders, an Atari Computer game.
Tempest hasn't been completely forgotten, but its fans are definitely a very small cult.
An obscure PSP-only game called Jeanne d'Arc, which I see now has actually been re-released this year for PS4/PS5!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_d%27Arc_(video_game)
Game rips. Straight from Final Fantasy tactics. Played this game while on the tram heading to work.
Outpost 2. It's a sim game where you build a society that lives on an unforgiving planet after the last survivors of humanity have travelled the galaxy in hibernation while the ship computer searches for a viable new planet. But the computer couldn't find a nice place so it settles on a really shitty one. While the game has combat I always thought managing all the resources was the most fun.
Iron Storm
Cool game, multiplayer was so cool. Its super cheap on steam.
I loved Acrophobia.
BZFlag, a tank FPS where you can pick up flags that give you certain extra abilities. It ran originally on Silicon Graphics workstations (at least that's were I encountered it), but it was based on the Battle Zone arcade game. There was a PC port.
Snipes, a "shoot the bugs (and each other) network game for Novell networks back in the mid 1980s.
BZFlag is still around:
https://www.bzflag.org/
It was a LAN party staple when I was in school.
Whatever the James Bond game was on the GameCube. It has a grappling hook that let you sling around like Spider-Man. I think I had more fun with that than I did with Golden Eye, as ridiculous as it was.
Vector Man on Genesis is also one I liked a lot, that I don’t hear much about.
Pretty much everything on candystand.com as well. There were a bunch of (probably flash) web games made by LifeSaver. It’s all anyone did in my high school during computer lab and seemingly lost to time. Instead of a game site with ads, the whole game was an ad, so it just felt like a candy theme.
Agent under fire and nightfire. The local multiplayer in those games was so fun.
CALLACAB
Candystand! What a blast. Billiards, bowling, golf, pinball...great stuff. Yahoo came out with a similar set of web based games years later but they didn't have the same feel as candystand.com.
Hero's Quest. Then renamed Quest for Glory: so you want to be a hero. When people remember Sierra point-and-click games they talk about Space Quest and King's Quest. For me Hero's Quest was the Skyrim of the 80's. It had a prompt to enter actions ala Zork.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest_for_Glory
+1
This was my favourite Sierra game for a long time, and the VGA remake was beautifully-done.
I would not consider that obscure, its pretty well known from that era.
Fragile Allegiance My buddies and I loved this game so much back in the early 90s. It's awesome. The idea, the gameplay, everything. I wonder why nobody created a similar game nowadays.
Caesar 3 and the 7 Kingdoms
Besides all the "hacker games" I would play in obscure parts of the web, leisure suit Larry is one of those games I stumbled upon as a youth looking for anything that went against the grain. I was a kid that thought nudity was amazing. Still, the mechanics built into searching for clues in an environment that attempted "open world" concepts honestly consumed more time then the rewards earned.
Also Sony launched Matrix MMO that died out but I loved how they at least tried to continue character stories that added depth.
River Raid, ATF, Quazatron, Ace 2, Spy vs Spy, Spitfire, F18, Carrier Command, and many others from 8 and 16 bit home computing days.
Currently I am playing Diablo 1 (yes the first one from 1996). It is probably a classic though.
Had a lot oft fun playing it via Devilution[1], the open source reversed project. Works like a charm on Linux and has some decent improvements like play/run-speed, a shared storage for collected items at the woman in town and other useful tweaks.
Did not find the
yet, but I'm trying pretty hard :-)
1: https://github.com/diasurgical/devilutionX
Maybe it was before your time, but Diablo was absolutely huge in its day. Like, "top 10 for the 1990s" huge.
Created (or at least established or set the benchmark for) the action RPG genre, spawned clones and imitators, and has multiple triple A sequels.
Left a HUGE footprint, in other words.
I was part of it, but some of these "blockbusters" don't become classics. I played diablo A LOT these days (let alone having jarulf's guide to beat the math, just havin' fun)
The one I always recommend: Colonization[0] from 1994. The translation of such a complex theme into a dynamic but believable game is genius IMHO. Nowadays I play only the open source[1] remake: Freecol[2][3].
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Meier%27s_Colonization
[1] https://github.com/FreeCol/freecol
[2] https://www.freecol.org/about.html
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeCol
Moonbase (1990) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonbase_(video_game)?wprov=sf... Under A Killing Moon (1994) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_a_Killing_Moon?wprov=sft...
I do think these are commonly known amongst those in the gaming community however both Kula World and Tomba left a mark to this day. The former opened me up to a love of puzzles and I found the simplistic but clever design of the world and physics so enjoyable.
Tomba simply opened myself up to games which didn't have to fit just one genre, I could play a platformer and an RPG at the same time and it would be brilliant fun. Plus the colourful world was a feast for the eyes.
Interesting article and HN discussion from 2015 about this one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10710973
My vote would be for Silent Storm (2003): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Storm
Spider - The Video Game [1] - a little PS1 platformer that had you playing as a cybernetically enhanced spider that could replace its limbs with various weapons, as it tried to save its creator. Its 90's charm, old-school cinematics and it being the first time seeing what could be called "nanotechnology" still blew my mind as a kid. I still go back sometimes and listen to its 'Level Select' theme. [2]
[1] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider:_The_Video_Game
[2] - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7Tzn-eNeq6w&pp=ygUoc3BpZGVyIHR...
Live a Live. I loved the one shot format, and they tied together to make what wasn't a one shot game. The plot twist at the end hit me hard despite the cliche and heavy foreshadowing, maybe because by this point, you've seen several endings following a certain format. It's my #1 favorite Square game. They remade it very well in the style of Octopath Traveler and sell it at the same price as Baldur's Gate 3, which hints that Square also thought it was an underdog.
Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe (1991, Amiga version). Awesome, future sports sim.
The Learning Company's entire edutainment lineup was pretty fun as a child. Midnight Rescue and Operation Neptune in particular lead to me to work in the educational sector later in life.
Repton. It ran on an 8bit 1mhz BBC/Acorn conputer and a later version had its own programmming language called Reptol!
Warlords battlecry 3
Sentinel (https://www.mobygames.com/game/16639/the-sentry/)
Mercenary (https://www.mobygames.com/game/10982/mercenary/)
and
Conqueror (https://www.mobygames.com/game/16593/conqueror/)
Sentinel is fairly well known, but by no means is it universally praised as some of it's contemporaries were.
dungeon keeper 2 - was my first example of the game where you have indirect control of the game, at least that's how I remember it
Kult: The Temple of Flying Saucers
Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica
Crash Bash. We had an adapter for the PSX that meant we could play 4-player. I have very fond memories of playing this game for hours on end.
Braid - an apple only platformer with time reversing mechanics playing a central role in solving the puzzles. Lots of Easter eggs too.
Braid was an Xbox360 game first, and then ported to lots of other platforms (yes.. including Apple, after Windows and before PS3, Linux) It's available on everything now (Steam, Switch, Android, iOS)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid_(video_game)
For me it was an old Mac game called Realmz. It was a sprawling party-based RPG sandbox that introduced child me to modern fantasy, turn-based tactics, and many other concepts that appear in genre-similar games across various mediums. I thought that its later incarnations were a step backwards, chasing shiny features that came at the cost of good mechanics and art assets (relatively speaking), which sadly made revisiting the game with an emulator less fun than it could have been. I'd love to try my hand at making a spiritual successor to it, but I couldn't make art assets to save my life...
Legacy of the Wizard on NES. It was sort of an RPG precursor with multiple characters and different abilities that you would needed to use to make progress through a dungeon. I was too young for the game and never finished it but I’ve always wondered what happened at the end. Obviously I could look it up but I don’t mind it being a mystery. The box art was cool and the soundtrack still sticks with me today.