Mine is Lady Sia for GBA. It’s just a platformer but I just love it played and completed more 20 times. Will probably speedrun it in future.
NFS Porsche Unleashed aka Porsche 2000 for PC. It had great physics and tons of realistic modifications you could purchase for every car. So many details in the game that made it truly great.
One of my favorite NFS games. I love how you work through the history of Porsche starting with their old cars.
One of my favorites was definitely Kororinpa (Wii) Yes, the Wii is now considered retro. It is now older than the NES was when the Wii first was released.
my niece thinks Morrowind is retro
There are college graduates who are younger than Morrowind. Yeah, it’s fucking retro.
I’m upvoting you but I need you to know that you are wrong, sir.
Even Skyrim is retro
now that’s just too far
There is less time between the release of Morrowind(2002) and Skyrim(2011) than there is between Skyrim and right now.
Morrowind is ancient lmao
Look, I was born in the 80s, I played Morrowind about the time it was released (closer to GOTY edition, but whatever), but even I have to kinda agree with your niece at this point.
Though its gameplay and world-building certainly aged better than Oblivion’s.
I really like the old PSP Patapon games. They’re catchy. After playing I find myself humming the beat. The original creators are making a spiritual successor called Ratatan. Still not put yet but I’m looking forward to playing it.
Maybe not obscure but certainly underrated - Civilization II :Test of Time. You get regular Civ2 plus fantasy and sci fi versions. Sci fi version felt like budget Alpha Centauri
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_'Em_Sock_'Em_Robots_Arena?wprov=sfla1
Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots Arena was pretty good. A robot fighting game where you could focus damage onto specific parts of your opponent to knock them off. Not only would they be unable to use that part in that match, but then you’d have the option of swapping out your own parts between matches in the tournament mode.
I’m not particularly fond of fighting games, but the gimmick really drew me in to this one. I remember a lot of fights where I had to choose whether to prioritize just plain winning vs trying to get a specific part for a build.
Some ancient PC role playing games.
The Dark Heart of Uukrul I like this one because I think your party is restricted to having a character of each class: Fighter, Paladin, Cleric and Wizard. I learned what a Paladin was from this game and fell in love with the class. Lots of exploration and tactical battles that are on a map that is the same as where you are in the dungeon were all pretty awesome features of this game. Has permadeath but you can recruit a new person to replace the old one. Always hated doing that though.
Disciples of Steel Team of 8 characters going on an adventure to save the world. The endgame actually has you setting up armies in different parts of the world to help you when the final battle comes. Pretty neat game.
Breath of Fire 2 for me
It’s not super obscure, but I think I’d have to go with Star Tropics. Gameplay wise it’s very similar to Zelda, but the setting and story is more like EarthBound. Interestingly the game is a first-party Nintendo game that has never been released in Japan despite being developed there. Another thing is that it’s been almost completely ignored by Smash Bros. I think it got a mention in Brawl’s chronicle, but that’s it. Even Ultimate forgot about it despite having all kinds of deep cuts among the spirits.
Staying on the Zelda tip, I’ll always have a place in my heart for Crystalis (1990) on the NES. More linear than Zelda but with significantly more RPG elements worked in.
If you want to get even more obscure, both Neutopia (1989) and Neutopia II (1991) for the TG-16 are great! Extremely obvious Zelda inspiration but they hold up well on their own merits.
Depends on how you’re defining “obscure” and “retro”.
If by “retro” you mean SNES, Genesis, NES etc… the game I was super into for a time was Xevious. A pretty simple top-down space shooter/bomber that for some reason I remember getting absolutely obsessed with completing. It wasn’t even a particularly good game. It was repetitive, and when you DID reach the end it just started all over again. But for some reason I played the absolute shit out of it.
If you move “retro” up to the PS1 era, my favourite seemingly forgotten games of all time are the Colony Wars series (Colony Wars, Colony Wars: Vengeance, Colony Wars: Red Sun) Great story lines and a super fun conceit where in the second game, you’re playing as the now-defeated enemy of the first game, rebuilding after their loss.
Xevious was big in Japan. Even got a 3d version on 3ds
I loved playing a game called Zeliard when I was a kid. I never hear it talked about, but think it could be pretty fun even today for people willing to tolerate 30 year old PC platformers.
I haven’t played it in a long time, though, so maybe I’m forgetting some terrible aspect of it. Should try and dig that up…
I like this really old game called Skyrim, I like to cast the spells
I remember that one, my dad used to play it when I was a child! I should go dig out the old retro hardware…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiklus
Great game. Seems simple at the start. But it’s deeper than you’d think. Beautifully made game.
Is a game like Vib-ribbon or Devil Dice considered obscure? Because those would probably be tied for my choice.
Whiplash!