Top Ten Games Notable For Not Being Notable

Somehow I’ve hit 1000 collective views and I would like to thank all of the bots that visit my blog. Without you I’d probably still be doing this. Here’s a Top Ten, well not really a TOP Ten, a list of ten not very notable games; hence why it isn’t numbered.

 Vay – Sega CD

Working Designs

Who doesn’t love Working Designs that’s into classic games? Nobody. They had something when it came to choosing what Japanese titles to localize and somehow kept this whimsical air about them when it came to RPG’s. The Shumps where good too. It’s hard being considered the worst game that a company put out even if the game was a fairly solid but generic early 90’s Japanese RPG.

Reason: Every other Working Designs RPG.

      Gargoyle’s Quest – Nintendo Game Boy

Capcom

Demon’s Crest is an amazing game from Capcom that was a spinoff of the Ghosts and Goblins series and everyone remembers it as the game that was one the best seller list because of returns or a really hard game that is really good. Too bad the Game Boy prequel doesn’t get as much love as it should even if the resolution on the portable makes the play area a bit small.

Reason: The Game Boy being seen as a puzzle platform. Tetris and Dr. Mario were in full force while RPG nuts would have purchased Final Fantasy Legend.

      Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Playstation 2

Ban-Dai

Licensed games tend to be overlooked because they are usually rushed over promised pieces of software that are used for cash ins. At best you can hope that it will keep the aesthetic of whatever property it is based on and here we have a solid third person shooter that would be fun without the Ghost in the Shell connection. I bet most people didn’t even bother looking at this one.

Reason: Seen as a cash grab, but is actually solid.

            Urban Chaos: Riot Response – Playstation 2

Eidos/rocksteady

Rocksteady made this. They made those Batman games you love so much. Urban Chaos is actually an awesome translation of an action movie that has cheesy news reporters between levels, slow mo hostage “negotiations”, and fun weapons to shoot over the top gansters (many with hockey masks). If you like dumb fun, find this game!

Reason: Came out on PS2 in 2006. Everyone was looking at Black on PS2 and Battlefield 2.

      T.R.A.G. – Playstation 1

Sunsoft

It’s like Resident Evil. In an office building. With switching at will between characters. It was called Hard Edge in Japan, probably the least notable name ever.

Reason: Why play this when you have Resident Evil Director’s Cut and Resident Evil 2?

           Torneko: The Last Hope – Playstation 1

Enix

This is a turn based Rogue-Like based on the Dragon Warrior franchise. If anything needs a re release it would be this one because it came out way before the rogue craze we have on the indie scene today. What do you say Square-Enix? Bravely Default was a success, a 3DS version of this would probably be picked up like crack.

Reason: It was well received in Japan but in the US no one really had Dragon Quest on the front burner.

      Sword of the Berserk: Guts’ Rage – Dreamcast

ASCII

Hack and slash adventure games are fun. Cloud had a big sword in Final Fantasy VII and Guts’ is even bigger and angrier, a surefire win! Nope. The action portions of the game are along the lines of Devil May Cry hard and probably off put a lot of gamers especially since the Dreamcast was mostly known for sports and fighting games.

Reason: The anime is was based was released a few years after the game in North America, things may have been a little different if the cult following had been around in 2000.

      R-Type Command – Playstation Portable

Atlus

An Atlus game? Aren’t those usually extremely low print runs that everyone is grabbing for years later? Not in this case. As a tactical battle game R-Type Command is actually good, but all it shares with the shooter series are art assets and really isn’t what you would expect from an R-Type game.

Reason: A R-Type game that’s not a shooter.

Maken X – Dreamcast

Atlus

FPS. First Person Slasher. You hit things with a demon possessed sword in first person. The North American version was censored and the localization (done by SEGA in this case) is just bad. It has characters in the same art style as the Persona games and may actually be worth a look.

Reason: Dreamcast with poor localization and hardly any marketing.

      Panzer Dragoon Saga – Sega Saturn

SEGA

Am I bragging that I bought this game over a decade ago? Not really. Whenever the Sega Saturn comes up in conversation Panzer Dragoon Saga always gets mentioned. Because it’s a good game, no? Because it costs hundreds of dollars in the open market. The game is probably one of the best ways you could spend 14 hours of your time and has an amazing marriage between the on rails shooting genre and RPGs with a battle system that doesn’t come anywhere near overstaying its welcome. If you look for or want to play this, make sure it’s because it is such a good title, not just because of its auction value.

Reason: Monetary value has eclipsed its actual value.

Was there any real criteria to be on this list? Probably not, other than the fact that they are all on a shelf behind me. Take a look at some of these games, they’re not bad.