Your most favorite obscure game?

[DarkClaymore]

Umm... It's hard for me to say as most people I know in real life don't even know what is Final Fantasy and they still call themselves gamers...

Well, about manga:
Pet Shop Of Horrors - a great mystery series, but it's not very popular...
Alice 19th - who even heard about it? But it's so great IMO

About games:
The World Ends With You - don't know whatever it's popular or not, but IMO it's one of the best games ever, if not the best (haven't finished it yet...)
Luminous Arc - Great RPG-Tactics series IMO. Doesn't receive enough attention...

[gekiganwing]

Umm... It's hard for me to say as most people I know in real life don't even know what is Final Fantasy and they still call themselves gamers...

Obscurity is relative. I know a squillion different oddball RPGs (translated or not), but I barely know anything about graphic adventure games. And I'm pretty much an outsider in regards to the huge genre that is 3D action games...

So here's some crazy niche games that I really like... and not many other people like... that are officially available in English:

- Zelda II. I fully admit that the second Zelda game -- The Adventures of Link --hasn't aged very well. Where Zelda 1 did not force the player to scour the world for every single item, this game does. Where Zelda 1 is tough but free from cheap deaths, this game isn't. I didn't realize this until I replayed the game around 2004. So why did I like it in 1989? Because this was the title that convinced me that there was more to video games than just simple platform games. Just months later, I went on from Zelda 2 to the first Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Dragon Quest. I've enjoyed all three series to various degrees over the last twenty years.

- Actraiser. An early SNES game which really deserves more than one poor sequel. It was a weird mix of 2D action gameplay and town-building. The action sequences can be awkward and frustrating, but the simulation sequences are awesome. In short, the game almost lived up to its potential. The company which developed it, Quintet, went on to create several other intriguing if not always great SNES games, and quietly died.

- Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. I've used a quote from this game as my signature for years. Why? Because it was an odd duck among translated PS1 games ten years ago, and it's still an odd duck now. I felt that during the PS1 era, video games in English really did expand beyond action and sports genres. Stuff that hadn't been translated before (too expensive? not enough audience? too dark for the kids who were mainstream fans?) was suddenly getting translated. Rhapsody was the epitome of that: it was an RPG that didn't cater to fanboys who only wanted fighting and shooting. And it approached Cardcaptor Sakura levels of uninterrupted cuteness. I didn't quite love Rhapsody -- its pacing was awkward, its mazes were needlessly large, and its combat didn't really appeal to me. But I made a point of buying the game, and I enjoyed quite a bit of the time I spent with it. It also marked the point where I started caring less about whether RPGs had excellent gameplay or plot... and started caring more about aesthetics, and whether I enjoyed the experience.

- Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2. After the PS1 era, I was kinda "meh" about most Atlus games. There were probably some great ones I missed. However, I paid attention to the two Swordcraft Story games for the GBA. The first one was a cute but unremarkable action RPG, but the second one held my attention. The story was a much less pretentious take on Xenogears. The challenge level was steady without becoming simple or absurd. Overall, what really kept me going was the mix of comedy and a nice aesthetic. One of the last great translated GBA titles.

Crazy niche comics that I really like... and not many other people like... that are officially available in English:

- Elfquest. One of the first originally-in-English comics which included some Eastern influences, alongside 70s Marvel influences, in its fantasy adventure story. It's existed for over thirty years now in relative obscurity. If you ask me, its glory years were the first storyline (the "original quest" as the link above puts it), so read that first, and only read the rest if you're bored.

- Bone. When a friend lent me a trade paperback of Elfquest, it was a shock -- a comic which was not flimsy issues, not from the newspapers, and not campy or GRIMDARK superheroes. After recovering from that shock, I browsed my local libraries for other comics, and found Bone. Basically, this series is a silly adventure influenced by Walt Kelly's Pogo that slowly turns into Lord of the Rings. One of Bone's strengths is that it's finished (nine volumes, or one large edition), its two spinoffs are also finished, and there are no sequels.

- Maison Ikkoku. This series is not especially well known among anime/manga fans. The art shows the series' age -- 1980 to 1987 -- and it's a pretty low key series. It has comedy, fanservice, and relationship drama, but each element has been eclipsed by later series. Also, there's a time commitment: 14 or 15 volumes of comics, and if you choose the TV series, 96 episodes. Even so, this is the series that helped me realize that slice of life comics could be enjoyable even without much action, gags, or constant titillation. And it convinced me that there was more to the seinen category than post apocalyptic fighting. Since finishing it, I've taken the time to read similar series, including but not limited to Living Game, Ai Yori Aoshi, and Little House with an Orange Roof.

- Kodocha. I loved the anime spinoff from the days of VHS fansubs on. But I didn't get into the original manga until it was officially translated around 2002. It's not quite as hyperactive and wacky, but it's still funny. This is the only place to get the complete plot of the series, and there are no plotless stretches in the ten volumes. The Kodocha series is over fifteen years old as of 2010, and even though it still has fans, it's not what I can honestly call popular. Also, this was the point in fandom where I realized that translated comics for less than $16/paperback were not only becoming common, but their translations were becoming less sloppy and arbitrary.

...Also, I wouldn't have become an anime fan were it not for Slayers TV (dubbed VHS!). A friend lent it to me about twelve years ago, and after sitting more than five minutes to watch it, I realized how much I liked it. The show couldn't have been a better fit for me, since I already loved fantasy novels and translated RPGs. It included plenty of genre specific comedy as well as genuine drama. Slayers TV was relatively popular among anime fans some years ago, but I feel it's faded away, and neither the Revolution nor the Evolution-R season exactly put it in the spotlight.

...There are other obscure things I like. These just came to mind within a few minutes. And these happen to be ones that I found at opportune times, or ones that influenced my growth as a fan.

[Wertville]

Rune Factory is my favorite lesser known game.
Actually, it's my favorite overall
Fighting and Farming go well together.
I still complain that Gamespot has yet to review Rune Factory Frontier. It came out in march.

- Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2. After the PS1 era, I was kinda "meh" about most Atlus games. There were probably some great ones I missed. However, I paid attention to the two Swordcraft Story games for the GBA. The first one was a cute but unremarkable action RPG, but the second one held my attention. The story was a much less pretentious take on Xenogears. The challenge level was steady without becoming simple or absurd. Overall, what really kept me going was the mix of comedy and a nice aesthetic. One of the last great translated GBA titles.

Summon night was an awesome game
I liked number one better, for some reason, though.
I still wonder why the third game wasn't brought over...

[Wintermoon]

Summon night was an awesome game

Please, it's "Summon Night: Swordcraft Story" or just "Swordcraft Story". "Summon Night" properly refers to a series of strategic rpgs that were never translated into English; the Swordcraft Story series is an offshoot of the real Summon Night series.

And, yes, Swordcraft Story was awesome (although apparently not particularly obscure). I liked the third one best.

[LVUER]

Zelda II, agh! Please don't remind me of that game...

Swordcraft Story (action-RPG?/GBA) is a spin-off from Summon Night (Strategy/PS1). In Swordcraft 2, some characters from Summon Night shows up and makes me confused since I don't know them at all (they use power different from characters in Swordcraft Story world... (cameo, huh ^_^ )

And I also LOVE Swordcraft Story series. Not for the graphic, art, story, or the gameplay... but because of the lesbian scene >_</b

[Blane Doyle]

Obs-cure. Really, there IS a game called Obs-cure! And is is kind of an obscure game, same with the sequel.

Despite how bad and cheesy they are... they're fun! So I like them.

Also, I love Okage: Shadow King. Great game with a great story!

[rioka]

Azure Dreams - an early PS dungeon crawler, town-building, pet-raising, with dating sim elements game. XD

Dragon Force - strategy game with lots of playable characters, story-paths, and endings.

Metropolis Mania - a city-building game

Touch Detective!! Love that series! <3 A quirky little game about a young detective and her friends.

I also have to give props to Rhapsody. A very lovely game. It's easy but the story is cute and the characters are funny. XD

Magic Knight Rayearth - a very nice action-adventure game. Of course, the story is pretty well-known to CLAMP fans but the journey is what it's all about in the game! It came out in the Saturn, btw.

Speaking of which - Popful Mail! Another nice action-adventure game.

...And that's all for now.

[Coatl]

Rival Schools is a badass obscure game. So is God Hand.

And ALien HOminid is like Metal Slug but hand drawn.

[Wertville]

~Wintermoon & LVUER
Ya, sorry, and the sad part is that I knew that too...
I should try out the originals, are they any good?

[Tsundere Lightning]

Computer games:
Iji, an action/puzzle platformer in the vein of Metroid.
The Mighty Jill Off (not safe for work), which turns the masochistic subtext of fuggof hard games into... uh, text. In an adorable way.

Tabletop Roleplaying Games:
I probably don't need to mention this one.
Dogs in the Vineyard, where you speak the the Law of God with your word, deed, and pistols, in a fantasy setting inspired by Wild West-era Utah.

[LVUER]

~Wintermoon & LVUER
Ya, sorry, and the sad part is that I knew that too...
I should try out the originals, are they any good?

If you love turn-based strategy games, could read Japanese and like anime-graphic games, then yes, you probably should try the original Summon Night.

But I don't know if you could buy them nowadays, considering how old they are... and there are not many of those in the first place.

[Wertville]

~LVUER
Well, Fire emblem is a favorite of mine, I am learning Japanese, and Anime styled graphics are what attract me to a game in the first place, so I'll try it (Eventually).

And they were re-made onto DS, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Speaking of Fire Emblem, (And switching back on-topic) that is a very good game that I don't think gets enough love. I mean, how many other games can you permanently kill off the annoying players?

[Red Lilies]

Speaking of Fire Emblem, (And switching back on-topic) that is a very good game that I don't think gets enough love. I mean, how many other games can you permanently kill off the annoying players?

Ah, Fire Emblem is awesome. I love all of them. I personally liked some of the more obscure conversations that happen between player for support.

Hmm, for me, I actually really loved a civilization building game, Caesar 3, for many years. Also the Tactics Orge games.

Alice 19th - who even heard about it? But it's so great IMO

I've heard of it! Actually, I own it. Ah, Frey! XD

[LVUER]

~LVUER
Well, Fire emblem is a favorite of mine, I am learning Japanese, and Anime styled graphics are what attract me to a game in the first place, so I'll try it (Eventually).

And they were re-made onto DS, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Speaking of Fire Emblem, (And switching back on-topic) that is a very good game that I don't think gets enough love. I mean, how many other games can you permanently kill off the annoying players?

Fire Emblem, yes... I "love" it how cruel they are too kill an important party member permanently!!! Making me have to reload a stage several times -_-

BTW, they remade Disgaea for DS, perhaps you want to get it.

Hmm, for me, I actually really loved a civilization building game, Caesar 3, for many years. Also the Tactics Orge games.

Alice 19th - who even heard about it? But it's so great IMO

I've heard of it! Actually, I own it. Ah, Frey! XD

Tactics Ogre, yes, I love them too. Though I haven't finished the Black March (since it's in Japanese and I hate the loading times in PSX)... but I have finished the Knight of Lodis (and love it ^_^ ). But compared to Tactics Ogre, I prefer Ogre Battle since it offers real-time strategy, complicated class/battle system and way more endings.

Alice 19th, isn't that a manga/anime. My sister have all manga volume so I've read them all. Not really like it though... too sad and frustrating for my like.

[Red Lilies]

Tactics Ogre, yes, I love them too. Though I haven't finished the Black March (since it's in Japanese and I hate the loading times in PSX)... but I have finished the Knight of Lodis (and love it ^_^ ). But compared to Tactics Ogre, I prefer Ogre Battle since it offers real-time strategy, complicated class/battle system and way more endings.

Ooh, Ogre Battle. I wanted to play that, but haven't had the time or money for very many games this year. It's on my list. I haven't gotten to play very many real-time strategy games, so I was looking for to it, especially since I was late in buying the Knigh of Lodis so only finished around September. XD

Alice 19th, isn't that a manga/anime. My sister have all manga volume so I've read them all. Not really like it though... too sad and frustrating for my like.

Yah, it's a manga. It was one of the first I ever read, so it holds a place in my heart, despite not being the best of manga. Zodiac PI is another such manga - actually I think that was my first. So crazy but I love it.