Gamer Obscurea; Games in Hiding

[Quto]

Asheron's Call​

I've been putting off talking about MMORPG's for because, mostly, there aren't many MMORPG's to talk about both popular ones and obscure one's and the one's most folks don't give to sh*t's about because of the subscription payments... Well, except for Final Fantasy 14; Square Enix is making their money and the money paid for the story and challenge they offer is too good... But nah, I'm not here to talk about Final Fantasy or World of Warcraft with people wanting to beat the sh*t out of the Old Lich King Prince Arthus when Blizzard PEAKED on World of Warcraft... I'm not even gonna talk about Guild Wars 2, where players pay for a client and don't even need to pay a subscription to keep playing and ANGRY JOE'S REVIEW of it being a 10/10 with it's badass seal of approval... Instead, I'm going to talk about an MMORPG from 1999, and how it's not only still being played Today, but a few thing's, or at least to me a few things, it's kinda gotten right.... Be prepared to gut me.

Talking about game mechanic's to start, the quest system or things you 'DO' in Asheron's Call is more free-form and a bit non-linear to where it's almost the player's responsibility to keep-up with.... What do I mean by this?.. Well, your not given a quest log, there are no NPC's with quest marker's. Most folks may ask that this would be a huge design flaw, as the player needing to keep track of quests or even know a quest has started... Though in retrospect, at least in my opinion, it's a little more a small stroke of genius.

A prime example, there's an NPC you talk to that warns you about the cave's ahead and the portal that lead's into a dungeon; the dungeon was frougt with monster's when he was traveling through in homes of taking a shortcut home. Instead, he ran away from the danger's though having deep regret's that he lost a bottle of wine he was hoping to present to his loving wife for their Anniversary... Being the adventure's we are, we explore the dungeon, take a left turn in hope's to camp a monster spawn point, you come across a bottle of wine. It Recovers a small amount HP, Mana and it's an odd spot as none of the monster's drop Wine or at least, they don't drop it based on the data table or drops they creature's drop. So you take it back to that NPC, he rewards you some EXP, potion's and a small coupon for discounts. Ya didn't have to kill anybody to complete the quest and didn't have to waste time killing monster's in hope's it would drop the quest item.... and to boot, you stumbled onto the quest by interacting with the game world.... This kinda completes an interesting quest system, as you have to interact with the game's world and it's inhabitants to figure out what there is to DO in the world and if you need help with a quest, you have a community to fall back on to talk about the game and figure out what's going on, how to solve it or get some muscle to help beat a hard boss or hard dungeon.

How this game handle's guild's or communities is a bit different, called 'Allegiances.' If your weaker, Say level 5 and your friend is level 5 or higher, your character can swear an 'Allegiance' to your friend's character, thus your friend becomes your patron and you act as a ward or a 'Vassal.' You then quest around and earn EXP which is passed along up to the Patron, in exchange, they give you some badass loot such as a pointy sword of death killing or help you out for helping them get stronger. The more EXP given, the better loot and help they give you until your strong enough to become a patron of your own and they start paying you experience to level up... Which this kinda start's a long chain in terms of a weird monarchy setup. EXP goes up, good loot to weaker player's and any help comes down from above. Help your Patron and your Patron help's in turn.

So how does combat work?... Very Rough; though for a game published in 1999, it's to be expected; though depending on the job you build yourself up for depends how you fight... Which I'll get to character building in a few seconds. If your a close combat warrior or something of the like, you draw your weapon, click a monster and your given a bar, how frequently you want to attack and how much power you want your blows to be. Attack quickly with short winded attak's on high where their heads are, middle where you can inflict harm on their arms or torso and low if you wanna cripple their leg's. Magic on the other hand, ignores this and just give's you your spell bar, casting spells and give's you multiple hotbars to swap back and forth between to keep casting magic, albeit if you have the mana for it to keep casting it... So basic for 1999, but it's serviceable.

Character Customization is about as basic, but it accomplishes a 'no-class' system. You have skill points, you invest them in certain things you want your character to become. Want to focus on magic and summoning stuff? There's a skill for summoning you invest in along with skills and stats for mana regen. Become a badass dual wield warrior? There's a dual-wielding skill you can learn and put a sh*t ton of point's into to do double the attack's; they developer's put a lot of thought into it... at the time of it's development of course; thing's are a little different now and more streamlined; though it's still a spiffy selling point for the amount of customization they allow you to modify your character. Even a Jumping Skill and Running skill to allow you to change how you traversed the game world; become an average Sonic the Hedgehog.... Which speaking of worlds, there are no instance's in the game world, no multiple worlds either as the game existed on a single world or single instance, removing loading times and if there is a distant landmark like a giant castle in the distance, you can TRAVEL TO that castle... Kinda like in Breath of the Wild, where a mountain you see in the distance is a mountain you can go to, climb and glide off of using a paragliders.... until you reach the oceans or Hyrule or the pit's of death to the north in Nintendo's most popular game to date; but it goes to show that this concept was already attempted and succeeded at ages before... But, what do I know?! XD

The game's official server's we're discontinued on 2004, replaced by Asheron's Call 2 which we're further discontinued in 2017 by Warner Bros.

Though, some folks who still enjoy this game still put this thing together held onto the old client's; building onto it in order to keep it functioning and creating a launcher to keep up with all of the current private server's still running!

https://www.gdleac.com/#installing​

There's even a discord server and player's who still play this actively, I recommend at least giving the game a quick run. It's less than a gig, installing is painless just as uninstalling and it kinda grows on your pretty quickly.

 

[Quto]

The Eternal Castle: Remastered​

Let's talk about a game that's looks like it was so far obscure that it's difficult to place it's obscurity or if she even existed to begin with. The game itself is styled to be an old MS-DOS game from 1987, hidden somewhere off of someone's old computer drive. The game itself wasn't released due to.... MS-DOS dying out? That's kinda where the obscurity ends; as the game was asked about over some old forums that still poke at MS-DOS today for ****'s and giggles and someone making a post about a game for MS-DOS that never got released. The fella who posted the topic made an update to it about a year later to the internet archive about the game itself, with the ability to run on DOS though using technique's and lines of code introduced into the system years after 1987, I'll leave a post of it below. The whole story, after doing a short comb of info, and the whole 'discovery of a game never touched on' feel's like Polybius. Which for those who don't know what Polybius was, it's an arcade game that doesn't exist or, if it did, you'd think we'd have found it by now... Which, someone has done a **** ton of leg-work for us already on that front. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7X6Yeydgyg Grab some popcorn for this one, as the video there last's an hour... but, to focus back to this, the Eternal Castle, it's an 'adventure' plat-former. Not the kinda where there's a huge boss at the end like Megaman, not like Scooby-Doo: Cyber Chase on Gameboy Advance, Rayman: Legends or even Super Mario Bros. for the NES. It's a rare breed of 'adventure' plat former that we don't see anymore today as it's type died out when the 3D video game's during the N64, PS1 and Dreamcast Era killed it... and it's a type of adventure I'd actually like to see a lot more of.

Insert Moonspeak here​

To talk about this game's style is another hard to describe genre as it's more about puzzle solving, tactic's and figuring out where you need to go on your own without having to sue a guide on the internet... at the time when the internet wasn't a thing. To give a better example, there is a game referred to as 'Another World' that defines this a lot better or 'Out of This World' for the SNES and Genesis. You have no hud or not much of one, your endurance is to that of an average human being, you can run, jump, pick-up weapons, shoot and kill someone or something trying to kill you and use said weapons along with the environment to solve puzzle's to move on.... and I love it, as it's a game or an adventure that make's you at least think and experiment with the outcome's.. to some extent. Other games that follow this are 'Heart of Darkness,' 'Flashback' and 'Heart of the Alien' to name a few. Prince of Persia can be thrown on there as well as one of the first, though that depends how far you want to take it.

As for this title, there's a lot to love about it and hate.... and depending if you play this game in a well lit room as the color pallette and type of game it mimic's will strain your eyes if you play this in total darkness... Though it's quite worth it, especially if your a lad or lass who love's horror; as fighting your first boss feels like Alien, the silence and lack of music with nothing but the sound effect's of a deserted world. Listening to the dog's barking, guarding something before having to either shoot them down or outwit them over a lake of radioactive. The music though, when it comes to those scene's really helps the game stand out from it's boss fight's to it's more intimate moment's of observation... and only by using less than 3 colors! XD

You can pick up the remastered version via steam for about 10 bucks. You can give the DOS version a run through the link I posted below if it work's, as I've yet to try that version myself or see if it work's, but it's on the archive and the archive provides stuff like this for free, so do what you will.... and I know I left out the story, but it's better to experience the story of this one for yourself, that much you need to trust me on. :D

https://www.wstub.archive.org/details/TheEternalCastle

 

[Adam Levine]

I just realized The Alliance Alive, even after a port to the Switch, isn't a game that people talk about often. It even has ports on Steam and PS4, but I can't find much of a community discussing it beyond GameFAQs. The closest thing we have to a Wikipedia of this game is a public Google Spreadsheet, and the actual The Alliance Alive wiki hasn't had any activity in a month or two.

The Alliance Alive is a JRPG with...a rather interesting progression system. There are no levels for characters in this game; the only stats of yours that increase over time are your HP and SP (what other games would call MP), and your "Arts" (abilities you can use in the game, which cost SP) also level up, increasing their potency. "Talents", which are passive abilities that you can spec into as well, are a thing, but the overall system means the only way to increase other stats like attack and defense is to give your characters the right equipment. As for speed, well, equipment actually weighs you down, making you move slower, so the lighter your load the better. If you get rid of every single piece of equipment you own, well, you're basically the equivalent of a Level 1 character (with the highest speed possible, but that's besides the point). Basically, the unorthodox progression system makes this game unforgiving if you don't have the right equipment.

Not only that, but The Alliance Alive has other mechanics that make the game difficult: every time one of your characters drops to 0 HP, their max HP decreases. Revival spells aren't in this game, but regular healing spells can heal fainted members too. Decreased max HP still lingers after battle, and the simplest way to deal with this is to rest at an inn. When one of your characters reaches 0 max HP, or when all of your characters faint, you lose.

Oh yeah, items need to be equipped on characters so that they can use them in battle, which means item spam is a non-option early on (it gets less restrictive later on, but this is indicative of how challenging the mechanics make this game). So how does SP heal if you don't bring any SP-healing items in battle? SP heals by 1 every turn in battle, which means the only way to conserve your SP is to use an action that costs 0 SP (e.g. regular attacks or using items). This means, for long, drawn-out battles, you need to make sure you're not wasting SP.

This game also emphasizes positioning in battle. There are different formations your party can make: characters in front are more frequently targeted by enemies, but are better for close-quarters fighting (e.g. using attacks with the "Short" attribute), while characters in the back are less likely targets but are better suited for long-distance attacks. Where your character is laterally also affects what enemies their AoE attacks hit, but this isn't as important.

There are a lot of other strange mechanics this game has, but that's the gist of it, really. I've lost in this game my fair share of times, especially on Chapter 25 (which the game's tiny community agrees is the hardest part of the game) and the final boss battle.

As for everything beyond gameplay, I think I found this game in the first place because its aesthetic reminded me of Bravely Default. While I don't 100% agree with its art direction, and some of the monster designs look like they were meant to be repulsive, it looks cute overall. Beware of the low-res textures, though.

The game is about 30 hours long (but without having to grind in New Game+, for example, the game overall can be about 5 hours long), which is pretty short, so the game encourages you to try a New Game+ (or EX New Game, which I don't feel like explaining), as some content is only accessible with New Game+. Obviously, there's more than just the main story, and part of the joy of this game is looking for collectibles and people to hire as guild applicants (guilds are a mechanic that make the game easier, but I don't wanna draw this post out any longer). The characters are alright too, although as a game with only 5 hours worth of main story, it has a difficult time developing them all, especially when there are at least 9 playable characters to consider.

Overall, The Alliance Alive feels somewhat like someone's TTRPG campaign adapted into a video game. It's a pretty feel-good game, all things considered, and it doesn't get too dark or depressing. That is, until you get to the gameplay, which can be genuinely frustrating or stressful due how difficult it is. Even if the story or characters aren't going to win any awards, I recommend The Alliance Alive if you're looking for a JRPG as difficult as it is short.

 

[Quto]

I just realized The Alliance Alive, even after a port to the Switch, isn't a game that people talk about often. It even has ports on Steam and PS4, but I can't find much of a community discussing it beyond GameFAQs. The closest thing we have to a Wikipedia of this game is a public Google Spreadsheet, and the actual The Alliance Alive wiki hasn't had any activity in a month or two.

Found it on Steam, already on my wish-list; waiting for Steam Sales and Discount's.

Gonna go back to the Sega Genesis again to talk about a game that pushed the limits of the console... literally; with fps drops as a common occurance, but still fun.

Sega Genesis​

Zero Tolerance​

What is this game besides it looking like a Diehard sidescoller on the box cover? It isn't a Diehard Sidescroller of anykind. It's a doom clone.

And I found this thing for $14 loose when I play the thing... So what's the story behind this title? We find Aliens, we live in peace refereed to as the VOID period. We have a tactical fighting squad code named 'Zero Tolerance' as a counter measure if our new Alien brother's in arms turn around and stab us in the back. After a few years in the void, they stab us in the back by taking control of our space station. You're sent in to deal with the alien menace and the game start's. You go from floor to floor, killing all of them before proceeding to the next level, which the level change is done beautifully; you step into an elevator and see the floor's change before your eyes as you step into a new level.

Which lead's me to something else; this game is very difficult as it is. So much so that you don't get live's or unlimited tries; you have different member's of the team in Zero Tolerancer that when one member dies, another member take's their place and each one has their own unique equipment when they spawn in. The marksman starts with a pistol and bulletproof jacket. Demo man start's with a set of grenades and blast charges. Comat start's with nothing but his Melee attack is powerful enough to beat the shit out of the final boss.

As for the control's, the game make's use of all 3 buttons on the standard 3 button controller. 'B' to Shoot, 'C' to cycle through your inventory and 'A' in order to perform special movement, such as strafing, Jumping and Ducking. The view or the arena is slim and limited; though this is as much as the Sega Genesis could, technically, handle as to render something in full-pseudo-3D. Still; a DOOM clone or Spin-Off on Hardware like this before the era of the 32X and Sega CD is incredibly impressive. If you can emulate it or find a copy for a could couple bucks with still working hardware, I'd check it out.

And now, Some fun password's or cheat codes. Not game breaking, but still; very fun for kicks when you boot her up.

Highrise! This cheatcode skips over to the 'Highrise' Stage with a full inventory of weapons and gear.
Boxing!!! This is just a very stupid cheat-code, but a fun one. You drop into box with the final boss and no ranged weapons. Your beating the blood and sweat out of each other FPS style.
Basement! Same as Highrise, with the exception that you start in the basement.

 

[Quto]

Speed Ball 2
_{Sega Genesis, Gamboy, Gameboy Advance, PC, Amiga, Ma- Look, it's on a lot of thing's.}
​

Somewhere in the near distant future... of 2015; Football becomes BORING. So man took foot ball, upped the brutality, relaxed the rule's onm the yard's and started advertising the VIOLENCE and PAIN that would make American Dad's Arena Football look like a JOKE... Though could become what Ballmasterz 9000 becomes in 3000: Speedball! Though during the sport's epic premire, corruption was running from money laudering to player's being traded to pass funds, drug's and the amount of violence for just ENDING player's short-lived-sport-star lives, it was shut down until the year 2095 when the first official league began under the watchful eye of the law.

... Or something like it: I'm not a big fan of sport's video games or of sport's such as Football (American Football) or Soccer (Football) or Basketball (Basketball). HOWEVER, if it come's to more interesting sport's title where they turn a past time on it's head just for fun, I'll buy into it to check it out and Speedball 2 meet's that exception.

Game is easy enough to understand, you score point's to win. You gain point's by hitting the bonus target's on the wall or scoring a goal. You run and only have one basic action, shoot/throw/pass/punch which is just one button.

'HOTDOG'S, GET YOUR FRESH HOTDOG'S HERE! WE ALSO GOT DOUGHNUT'S! DOUGHNUT'S!​

Inbetween games in single player, you upgrade your player's various stat's with money earned from each victory. Such as Speed, Vitality, Endurance, Strength and so on. Other team has the ball and bruisers have the endurance to hang onto it after taking a beating? Upgrade your strength and beat them out of it; which it's not hard to really tell; after a few games against the A.I., you'll notice each other the computer's team's work on spefiic stat's once you know how they work; though don't expect it to give you any better advantage's because this game is brutal in how it determines what's fair.

It's a basic sport's game with a basic goal; there's no story, no plot, just violence, beating the stuffing out of the other guy and winning the gold.

As for why this wa- It's a sport's title, at most a fantasy/sci-fi sport's title; Only folks who we're interested in game's like this we're kids interested in football but didn't care about the rule's or kid;s looking to beat things up because they we're thrown off their little league pee-wee team. You can play the game on most modernized devices such as a PSP, Gameboy Advance etc. Though if it we're me, I'd recommend the Sega Genesis version; for one reason, most of the sounds from the Genesis sound board sound like a chip tune Rock guitar that match the game's asthetic. Second, while there is Speedball 2 HD now for PC; it's mostly trash, as it re-uses sound effect's from the Sega Genesis, music and has less to offer graphic wise. The Menu and Gui look's buffed up, though the player's don't look special for an HD release as they're more just a copy and paste of run, pain and touchdown slides for scoring a goal.

 

[Quto]

Crashlands​

Earlier, there was a topic, questioning about 2D Game's that we're open world with a Legend of Zelda like vibe and to tell ya the truth dear reader's; there ain't.... Well, Ain't in the term's you want to hear with your ears. I study game design as a hobby, biggest reason no such thing exist's in the 2D form is because what could you exactly do or find to travel too? In an open world game, you can see a mountain in the distance, go climb it, Air **** the sky before paragliding down, sledding down or both, build a cabin, set it on fire and do it again elsewhere and you did this because you had a Z-axis, a telecope, the proper gaming mechanics + physic's and could see them in the distance. Trying to translate that into a 2D game top down and keep it like that is near impossible to an extent. There are some game's that have been able to replicate this without the need of a Z-axis to an impressive degree such as Team 17's 'The Survivalists' where you explore a patch of islands to escape a Bermuda Triangle of sort's, using monkey's to do some of the heavier task's as you build a base/paradise for yourself. Though this is thrown out when you realize the cliffs blocking your view are rendered in 3D, the approach to it still count's in my book as you don't scale these cliffs per say and still need to move along the ground with basic hacking and slashing.

Though I'm not here to talk about it as it's still a few month's out from my criteria. Nah, I'm hear to talk about a dying man's game where after I heard about the story to it's development, I pre-ordered the thing.

To talk about the game CRASHLANDS; It's a top-down monster-hunter clone.

A Rhino and Hippo, stranded on a planet alone.... This was bound to happen​

To give some context, you work for a corporation; passing by a planet, trying to do your job and deliver your package's on time. Then some alien a$$**** pops in out of existence and destroys your ship, after introducing himself. You hop into an escape pod and crash land onto the planet your passing by; stranded until you build a communication tower to call for help and get home. The problem though; the alien who blew up your ship is now cutting you off at every corner, in a rude manner, to prevent you from escaping.

What is the game mostly about? You kill, harvest and build stuff off of critter's, plants and minerals you find on the planet. Taking them, refining them and using them against other's. Kill a bunch of the Hippo/Rhino Things, You can get a whole body of armor and weapons made of their leather to smack against somebody a lot.

Your max health, damage output among other modifiers and buffs are based on your equipment and even when you make the equipment, it will always come out with different stat's. Make 2 grass swords, one gains the ability to steal HP from monster's, the other has more damage and swings faster; even though you made 2 of the exact same weapon with the exact same materials. Since you'll be stuck on the planet a while, you can also construct a base to house all your crafting stations, decorate it with a wide variety of walls, bridge's and useless furniture that will have little to no use... Except the pet furniture. Pet's need a space to sleep.

Combat here is also automatic to an extent, You click on something or whack it, you'll continue to attack it while in range though you will want to dodge it when you can or you'll take a good amount of damage that you will respond where you last setup your spawn point, so grabbing healing items that grow out of the ground is highly encouraged.

Which lead's me to something else that has always been annoying in every crafting game like this; inventory.... They solved the inventory problem by giving you an infinity looping back-pack; no need to store stuff into chests, Your inventory is infinite; You can slay 500 slug's and 400 rock creature's, getting all of their drop's and still won't be encumbered or dragged down. There is no downside to it, which for a game forcing you to craft like this as the world is...well, open world and procedural generated, it's handy to have and makes sense to give it to the player's.

The game is still going with update's now and then; though the reason I'm wanting to draw attention to it in the Obscurea post is that this was a dying man's game.

Sam Coster, one of three brother's in a team they created together to follow the passion of every gamer out there, one day; create your own video game's. They made a fistful such as Slothcycling and whatnot until Sam was Diagnosed with a terrible case of cancer. Thus, he decided to start developing the game 'HE' always wanted to make as his prognosis at the time was bad and coming back to kick his ass, repeatedly. So, he and his brother's set out and built Crashlands, which, after hearing the story; I pre-ordered the thing when it became available as I would be doing the same thing if something ever happened too me; building the game I'd always want to make before shuffling off Planet Earth.

Upside? Well, Sam beat the Cancer he referred to his 'Blood Dragon,' and the game has sold multiple copies digitally, proposed to his girlfriend and everything is kinda happily ever after. Not what one would hear often from a cancer story; just as well as Butterscotch Shenanigan's still operates and still developing new game's. Crashlands isn't as big a game now as it's a few years old, so I wanted to at least pay tribute where tribute was due. As it is one of the few 2D open world Experience's available I could find to talk about that met my criteria.

 

[Quto]

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel​

Who here is tired of Tom Howard and his marketing sh*t? Who is tired of Tom Howard and his promises with Bethesda?... Who want's Microsoft to PUBLISH a Remastered version of New Vegas with MOD support and the entire Atom Shop not only STRIPPED out and abolished but to have the men and women who enforced it brought out into the street's to play the WORST Fallout game CREATED and that THEY MUST PAY YOU, THE CUSTOMER'S TO SAVE THEIR GAME'S, REVIVE WHEN THE CHARCTER DIES?! DEMAND THEY GIVE YOU A 500 WORD ESSAY OF WHY CHEATING IN A VIDEO GAME IS DETRIMENTAL TO A GAME'S LIFE SPAN TO EVEN SO MUCH AS USE A GAME SHARK, AR or EVEN CODE BREAKER?!?!?!... Force them to rent the console, TV and controller's from you hourly to do it?

Well, ya won't get it here, so I'd rather snub the man and his legacy with what people considered the worse Fallout game that Tom Howard cleared it from the Game's history in a more permanent sense that it is no longer cannon. In the same sense that Disney claimed the books for Star War's we're no longer cannon, thus inciting a buuuuuuuunch of people who we're fan's of Thrawn.... Myself included.

I BRING YOU 'Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel,' Fallout's or INTERPLAY'S 2ND attempt to enter the live-action combat of the game... and on a technical stand-point; it's not as bad as it look's or even sounds; which I'm sure there are folk's who will probably 'blam' me for this, though take this with a grain of salt as I went looking for a constructive argument as to WHY the game was bad to start along with it's good point's. Most I could find to GIVE that constructive argument was Rerez's Video on the game itself. Everything else I found we're folks pointing out it's flaws, labeling it as terrible and moving on. Mostly the latter.

I had a chance to pick up the game myself and just try it out; Interplay lent out their IP to the company who constructed this and it's not a bad-job mechanical wise though the rest of the game has some rough flaw's that can be difficult to overlook.

First off, any Nuka-Cola fans about as curious who don't want to touch this game; ya can either breathe easy or not, whichever, as there's no Nuka-Cola in this title.
The story to this title is easy enough to understand, your an initiate who is conscripted into the Brotherhood of Steel. A few week's ago, a squad of Paladin's go missing and you're tasked to go find them by heading to the last town where they last checked in. You arrive in Carbon where it's over-run with raiders, thus your story begin's.

As far as mechanic's go, the mechanic's are actually, incredibly solid. Overlooking 'what gui/stuff was stolen from Metal Gear,' The Left Stick Move's, Right stick tilt's your camera. (PS2: X) (Xbox: A) Attack's, talk's, etc. You can set Grenade's to act as explosive proximity ranged mine's and there is a lvel up system where when you level up, there are perk's such as being able to see further, get better deals at shops for gear like medicine and weapon's and so on. Though you have to equip some of the weapon's and gear, using the tool's your given are incredibly easy.

In fact I kinda wish Fallout 4 + New Vegas was this easy to control in it's FPS setting, the way it's button layout is setup and such; with control in mind vs. complexity. Such as, you could still customize some thing's, but the ability to play the game with ease in a sense. I can't describe the feeling, but to put into better sense or context, I recommend playing Fallout 3 or New Vegas of Fallout 4. Then play this title for at least an hour to an hour and 30 minute's and then back to Fallout 3, 4 or New Vegas. You'll understand what I mean about control as this is difficult to put into word's as is.

Last few notes of the mechanic's,

1; This title is Co-Op. Unlike Fallout 76 which I'm guessing people are still feeding money towards to play with the friends who still play the thing and have to pay that extra $15 just to buy a repair kit that has gone scarce in 76; You can just plug up a 2nd controller and play together in the campaign with your own skill's, weapons and so on.

2; The language at the end of the world is expected and does not disappoint.

3; Tony Jay as your Narrator... Google him, you should be able recognize him or the character's he voiced.

There are the con's, though instead of just saying it SUCKS, I want to at least state what I noticed when I played this thing. First off, it's a where the **** do I go game; which after I cleared the bar, I was pointed to go to the town square where the Mayor of Carbon should be located. Though I couldn't find the square in t he first map and I could enter any of the building's in town willingly. Had to look up a guide on where to go. Next, selection of Enemies mostly fought; I was fighting more BUG's and Radscorpion's along with lord knows what else from map to map with only a fistful of raider's and Super Mutant's to regular mutant's, so a lack of diverse enemies to actually fight. If there was ONE thing the game did get right in enemy's though; it's Kamikaze Ghouls which is 'friggin' BRILLIANT. Ghoul's that charge at you with remote controlled explosive's, why don't we see creative stuff like that in Fallout 4 or 76? Music wise, They went' with some rock and heavy metal track's, which in retrospect, reminded me more along the line's of the Road Warrior or the Mad Max movie series; there's none of the Jazz or 1950's music that come's in, but it's not that much of a change unless it's an absolute must and the FPS Fallout's are sticking to your mind. Lastly, Graphic's.... which this was a PS2 and Xbox OG title, They're not HD, but who care's, as long as the game functions and even then, graphic's never bothered me that much for title's like this.

Bottom Line
So... Is Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel the WORST of the worst out of Fallout Series?.... Not really? I've played Fallout 4, have bases and stuff to prove I've done almost everything in it except finish the main story as the main story in Fallout 4 was not only boring, it was frustrating. It was so boring that I would have play New Vegas to get the taste of it out of my mind, play Stardew Valley and leave this thing on the side of the road until a fanmade mod come's along to UPROOT everything in this and make it worth-while to play. The only DLC that made me return to Fallout 4 was Far Harbor, Automatron AND Nuka-World. I've beaten the side quest's, Gone evil,g ood and what not and yet the main story does not want to make me FINISH this game. I'd rather some DLC that make's the Triggermen you face in it become it's own DLC where you have to take on the friggin mob in Fallout and either become the next God Father and head of the family or literally blow up organized crime in the most satisfying way possible, with a well placed NUKE as a message to leave you and those in your protection alone... Instead, I'm waiting for Fallout Miami, but that's kinda my point.

Fallout 4's main quest is boring. It has the HD graphic's, it has the park's per level. It has a pipboy you can program game's into, play game's on, a game within a game that is. It has a giant robot at the end and the music and what not, but it's main point is still BORING; I've even begun playing Fallout New Vegas - The Frontier which includes Vehicles you can DRIVE!

Then there's Fallout 76... Which is an easy target to shoot, but it help's drive my point further.

Compared to these 2, I'd play Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel over the main story in 4 and over paying Bethesda a good amount of money to keep playing Fallout 76. I do recommend at least trying it with a friend for one hour, if you can.

 

[Quto]

This post will be a 3 part piece of 3 games and their obscurity; some well earned for why they we're swept under the rug and others that do deserve some minute of time.

Cartoon Network Racing
PS2, DS​

I recently had my PS2 modified to have a hard drive and play back-ups of PS2 games I already own + playing games I know I will never acquire legally unless I had the bank account of Bill Gates before his Divorce and Steve Job's combined before he died... And living in Japan.... That last, I will never do after learning you can't be your relaxed self or be at peace... Ever.... and your treated like some anomoly who shouldn't exist there because of how you eat your ramen noodles... with a for-

All serious though, one of the few games I could not load onto my hardware setup of back-ups was a game called Cartoon Network Racing. A game ton's of people would throw under the bus because it is a piece of shovel ware that was dumped onto the PS2 in order to ride off the success of Mario Kart Double Dash... So I went looking for a copy; Amazon didn't have the game and Ebay Sold this game for $40.... Which kinda made me scratch my head to ask 'Wait, wha-?' and I didn't want to shell out that much cash, though it was kinda curious to see as this game was one of the few you couldn't just play back-ups of on official hardware.

Luckily, I found a local toy shop selling stuff past it's prime and collector's items. They sold this game for $8, so I picked it up; decided to try it and rate the game between an obscure gem or the reason why it was tossed to the dust bin of time... This post recommends the former.

Whoooooo Mama!​

It's a basic racing game with power-ups for weapons. You get a Driver and a Co-Pilot. One Handles weapons and Power-Ups, the other handles driving and steering though the co-driver also serves a double purpose. The ability to use 'Toon Powers' which if I had to give some idea of what this is- Take Mario in Double Dash; his special item is the fire ball, Toad's is the golden Shroom, etc. The toon power's are pretty much this in a nut shell, though these power's can be attained not through the item pick-ups, but through either the Soda power-up or by power-sliding; Though once activated, you can't use any item you pick-up, but this is still useful to have, especially if your falling behind.

The tracks are imaginative, taking the players through each world based on the cartoon and even somewhat staying faithful to the color schemes used in the show's for each of those tracks with some exceptions. Ontop of that, most of the stuff from tracks to certain games and modes are locked behind certain races and certain characters can only be unlocked after certain elimination aces are raced and there is a bit of rubber bandinga in the game, though with the Toon Power-ups and the right combo + the proper timing and use, these rubber banding tactics put in the game's code can surpassed.

My only regret about this title is being unable to race as Ed,Edd and Eddy or as Samurai Jack or Secret Squirrel or the agents of the KND. This is actually a fun game and the title has full cartoon episode's for each of the shows of the character's they include. I recommend this highly if your a fan of combat racing games and have a soft spot for the old time cartoons like this. I don't recommend that this game is competitive in anyway, though if there is, I'd like to see the community behind it; but it is an enjoyable through and through. :D

Game is in obscurity for being a 3rd Party shovelware title or rather, having the appearance and appeal of one.

---

Shrek Super Slam
Xbox, PS2, PC, Gamecube, Nintendo DS and the Gameboy Advanced​

...😶😤😑😐 Alright; upfront, I don't care about Shrek. I enjoyed the movie as a kid, I enjoyed it as an adult; though as soon as Shrek 2 came out and everyone around me from parents to the kids I went to school with and the advertisement went as bonkers as Sponge bob to a room of 7-year olds after watching the complete first season of that cartoon and loving him; I got burned out from the series that I never bothered with any Shrek game growing up. As by that stage in my life, I thought that all licensed video games from a cartoon or movie we're burning piles of s***. Though my views differ today when looking up obscure games, this obscure gem went from Gem to Esports Cult phenomenon in a way UNTHINKABLE and is still SPURRING with tournaments over this one title that there is even it's OWN TIER list. Like how Smash Bros. has a tier listing for it's roster of fighters? This thing has one now along with organized tournaments and games to play.

So, what goes into a single match of Super Slam? You beat the living lights out of your friends and opponents to build up your SLAM meter. Once it's full, you perform a SLAM move and if it hits, you gain a point... Which is actually the same rule used in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.... THOUGH THIS, is still a higher grade game than that. Better yet, This takes Playstations Rip of Smash Bros. and shatters it in it's finger's by a light prod.

In Playstation Smash, which is a lot easy to say than it's full title. You beat up your opponents until your skill bar fills up that you can perform a skill to eliminate an opponent from the ring and gain a point. The stages are a 2D side scroll fighter and not many of the stages we're designed correctly for this formula. You could lose Skill points after being grabbed and thrown around the stage like a rag doll and the character's we're incredibly unbalanced, especially with the newer DLC characters they introduced before this game bit the dust, character's which overwhelming and we're overpowered that it made the roster feel like it was pointless. There are other smaller nit-picks, though I'm not a fella who deep dives game mechanic's and could never when a fighting game tournament even if my life depended on it; your better off googling a video and you'll hit 12 videos.

Super Slam takes the concept in a different direction; The fight's takes place in a free-form arena you can run around in like out of Power Stone 1 or 2. The environment is interact-able, destructible; there are character's with 'invincibility' frames that some of the more seasoned video-game fighter's noticed. The game's stages have been brushed over with a fine toothed comb to where they start studying the hit boxes and... there's just a WHOOOOOOOOOOOLE lot of stuff here. It's a massive underground movement for an obscure game title. It's everything PlayStation SMASH should HAVE BEEN, but never became due too... insert a reason here; I'm sure you'll get it right at some standard.

And if you don't believe me; check it out yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7saX-rbghhE

---

KingsWay

This is a PC only game, though I want to draw attention to it as it's a game that act's like an OLD windows OS. but more interactive and more deadly. Your item bag's are the comptuer files, your map and way point to travel is the world wide web.

It's just interesting to actually see and until you've played it, I can't describe it. It's story is pretty basic, but until you've actually tried it or seen someone played it, it's an experience I can't put into words. It's addictive and entertaining.

 

[Quto]

Sonic Shuffle​

*sigh* I want to post about a party game that I do think is fun that a lot of people probably have played and either scrapped it, thought lowly of it because it was a rip-off of Mario Party or acted like me and took a liking to it to find other's who would be willing too play it. This is Sonic Shuffle.

Anyone for a game of 'Betrayal at the house in Sega Team's Break Room?'​

Sonic shuffle is, at it's core, a rip-off of Mario Party; you have 4 player's who can attain items, rings as currency and you move about the board to gather 'stars' or 'precious stones' which tally up into Emblems at the end of each game. whoever tally's the most Emblems by being the richest player, most skilled at the minigames and duels, attaining the most precious stones and destroying to most monster's, etc. and so on; will be declared the winner. You have spaces that add rings, subtract rings, Eggman's many inventions that screw the player or player's and a penalty for being the furthest away from the precious stone... And not by spaces, furthest away geographically. Which is both strange and brutal.

Sonic Cola: So Cool that Sonic went super, opened a portal himself to another universe with Chaos energy just to grab a can!​

So... The rules of each go as follows, movement is based on a hand of cards you attain at the start of the game. They'll get a hand of cards 1-6 and if they're luck a 'S' card or if they're unlucky an 'Eggman' card as a joker. If you wanna move 5 spaces for example, you can play a 5 card. You wanna double up your movements, you can play as Sonic or Super Sonic who move twice the distance if the same numbered card is played in succession or use a Force Jewel (item) to improve your movements. These said jewels also modify combat, who get's picked most often in games of chance who to target, all sorts of things mostly. Mini games however, only pop-up when a player lands on a Game Space where they can earn extra rings or force jewels depending on the game. There are even random 'events' that sort of act like visual 'novel' segments, such as approaching a slot machine and hitting a button of what to bet on to get some cold hard rings or approach a stone of prophecy and making a decision on how to carry out the prophecy and what not. These events are typically stacked against the player; though once you can access mini games and mini events outside of the core-gameplay; you can practice to better understand your odds

Player's continue to play cards from their hands and if they run out, they can steal cards from other players; players can 'shuffle' their hand around to keep them from picking up the 'best' cards.

You also use cards in battle segments for if you win, you get free items. You also need to battle the 'precious stone' in order to attain it.

The story of the game is kinda basic. Sonic and his friends are sleeping and share this one bizarre dream, where a nightmare approaches the temple you've warped too to 'steal' the precious stone, the source of all dream's. When the main stone shatters in the nightmare's hands upon simply touching it, Sonic and the crew in toll go out to find the stone's across the Dreamscape's....

To spoil it, you travel to the end, re-make the precious stone, though the lass who guards it in full does not appear. The nightmare was apart of the original stone, explaining this to the game's host and annoying Navi, Lumina or Luma for short. Reintroducing the stone restores the proper balance to the dream world and the character's leave the Dreamscape.

Which kinda leads me to the games flaws and good points.

The A.I. is hard and the game's event segments are stacked against you if you don't know what your doing. even setting the A.I. to EASY will not guarantee an easy game. Since the A.I. will still steal cards from other players if they believe it's in their best interest. Thus the game is difficult to play by yourself, unless your some type of guru from Japan or have 3 other friends as players working to play against and savagely beat down the computer opponent. Sometimes event the minigames are stacked against you in some respects, so it's basically a very HARD form of Mario Party. The rest of the complaints that don't bother me as much we're the mini games, load times and polygonal look to sonic and his friends looked like something out of their worst nightmares.

If you run an emulator or Sega Dreamcast with an SD Optical mod, Load times are cut by a ton, graphic's we're never a real issue to me as long as the game played well and the polygonal look was done to cut load times there was less to process. Especially since the game board's would do huge changes mid game such as expanding when another train car gets added. Shrink when apart of the giant fire bird sky ship loses a part like a wing as it would soon die and crash somewhere and some other advantages and disadvantages here and there.

There are some bigger advantages however. All Player's can get the 'Star' item in the game instead of paying 20 or 15 coins. Player's have more control over their movement's and can plan their steps out. Stealing the Stars is based on a roulette, but like I said earlier with the force jewel items, you can manipulate the outcomes to work better in your favor and you can 'combo' ring spaces to earn more rings or if your not careful, LOSE rings.... Which Comboing is simple, just keep landing on a single ring space to gain or lose multiple times.

So... Does the game deserve such a rough status now?... I guess, in my opinion, not really. I own the original disk and played it to the end and loaded a copy of this onto my M.O.D.E. so I can still play it whenever I feel like it or if I can convince a few friends to play it for fun which is as difficult as pulling teeth and convincing them to play with me in System Shock 2... Especially when ONE of them is a HALO FREAK to the end. So much so that if there was a fan club, he would fight tooth and nail to be on top in it one way or the other. We can check online to see how the games play out, form strategies and if someone knows how to mod a dreamcast game, patch Shuffle with difficulty adjustments, character roster changes and fix a few issues with any mini games that might cause problems.

I'll probably looked at and shamed upon, though this is a game that holds a rare spot in my heart much like Tao's Adventure.

 

[Inkwriter]

Since I just finished it, I have to recommend the Switch visual novel Gnosia. It's a social deduction game like mafia/werewolf, but each loop is different and there's an overarching mystery you have to solve. I really enjoyed it, the characters have a lot of personality (well, most of them, there's one or two blander ones but what can you do) and the best thing is the loops are pretty short so you can play in bursts throughout the day without having to stop in the middle. Took me like 20-ish hours to reach the true ending, and I think there are a few optional cutscenes I missed, even. Overall, great game, highly recced for people who like mysteries/story-heavy games/visual novels.

 

[Quto]

Loria​

Let's talk about some decent RTS based games. You have Age of Empires where you guide a tribe of cavemen through the ages of hitting things with a big stick to clashing with swords and shields all the way up to using nuclear weapons. You then have Frost Punks where you need to decide between Faith and Order as your trying top get the last grasp on humanity to survive the never ending winter. Or maybe the obscure game Nightside, trying to harvest resources to survive and get the fu** off the planet... the of course, there's Blizzards work... NOT EA'S work or any work done by the now defined BLIZZARD EA. Which the only games keeping that place afloat are Starcraft 2 tournaments, World of Warcraft Subscribers, Hearthstone or what remains of it as it's popularity dipped and fell through the floor and Diablo.

Beyond the shattered and tattered realms of an RTS genre which has been a dying trend for MOBA's ALONE, MAY THE LEAGUE OF THE LEGENDZ OR THE DOTA 2 REIGN SUPREME; it's roots are overlooked for it's leafs... Or rather, it's trunk I suppose as the first stratedgy games of this nature are much older, but we're skipping that history lesson.

I want to talk about this love letter to old fashion RTS games. Loria is a game about Chaos and Order going at each other's throats the old fashion way. Dalt, a warrior for order is imprisoned for doing his 'job' too well and as the legions of Chaos consume chunks of the land and make advancement's he makes his escape to seek out his land he was placed in charge of and reclaims it.

I mean look at this.​

This is pretty much a love letter to all of the old RTS games. It plays like Warcraft 2, though it has no multiplayer, it's fun, has some raunchy humor and it's a blast if you got a few minutes to yourself!

The game is out for free on Gog and Steam and I recommend downloading it and giving it a run!

 

[Quto]

Slap City

Roll up your shirt and jeanshorts!
And partake in the greatest death sport!
Slap a bestie on their face so pretty!
Welcome to Slap City!
​

While not popular, I love Ludosity as the studio is one of the few to give us the weird and strange and make it fun to play in. With Sakurai coming in with the last SMASH BROS. character for content, he's quitting; wrapping up with Sora from Kingdom Hearts... Which leads me to be in a love hate relationship with Smash Bros; I do like that game in particular and play it at my own pace; though I have friends who beat the **** out of me in it so much that I refuse to play the game anymore since they've ruined Smash for me at a personal level; not a single victory, even after practice... But that's me; as anyone who doesn't know what Slap City is; it's a SMASH BROS. game playing with Ludosity's cast of character's, All 9 or them... I was expecting more since the studio has a wide cast of character's. Not SUUPER SMAASH BROS. wide; but a hefty cast to pad out any game, even their card games, Card City Night's.

*Ping! Ping!*​

The objective of the game is like in any SMASH BROS. game you've seen.a Beat them up and launch them off the stage or in this case, 'Slap' them off the stage. The game has it's own tier list, story mode, an online 'Slap' cup and this thing published back in 2019!... Well, the incompleted game published in 2019 when it was $5 USD, if you bought it early, it would become fully flushed out and have a spiffy game with different mini-game modes and combat modes you would have to compete in. I bought into the game early because I like what Ludosity does; they're not the greatest, but they deliver something than nothing; especially since Nickelodeon approached them to ask them about creating their Smash Bros. game; Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. If anything, Nintendo probably has their own SMASH Engine locked up in a vault somewhere. Seeing another group make a SMASH engine of their own, it's a no-brainer to ask them to help, if not build, their own Smash game since they can't get Nintendo to use their IP's or any Cartoon IP's for that matter.... Except Cartoon Network, they tried with Battle Crashers and that... well, it was terrible; plain awful and I have no idea what the thought process was to it.

I'm not a guy about 'fighting' game mechanic's, but like a lot of Ludosity's work, it gets swept under the rug and they deserve a little love.

 

[Quto]

Jak X: Combat Racing​

This is another title I think is a load of fun; where a lot of people or reviewer's from my generation looked at it in disdain and threw it to the side because it was another title where we couldn't go into another tomb of platforming, power cell or Eco Crystal grabbing; raiding tombs built for you or rather for Jak.... And yet I ask, what's wrong with all of you?!

To be up front and blunt, Jak X is a 'kart' race... Though, the direction it's gone into doesn't place it as a 'KART' racer. For folks out there, I consider a KART racer any video game that uses vehicles and weapons to inhibit other player's from reaching the finish line. While there are other games who have done this formula before the first Mario Kart; Nintendo's first Mario Kart put it front and center and the rest is as history retells us. Mario Kart 64 which all of us wasted time on when we we're on Golden Eye, Smash Bros. or other, Double Dash, Mario Kart DS and GBA; etc.

Jak X is it's own 'Mario Kart,' though it doesn't really follow the rubber banding the other example has. and you'll have to forgive me for the lack of images. There are not a whole lot of game images I can pull and google toher than the youtube thumbnails of other player's, so bare with me. I want to explain the mechanic's first.

In Jak X, your car is equipped to jump and it comes equipped with it a Blue Eco Booster which can be activated anytime you want and can be rationed.... Meaning when you have a full tank of blue Eco, you can use 1/2 the tank now and if you have 1/2 or a 1/3 left afterwards, you can use it for later until you can stockpile more by skidding into power slide or staying in the air for a few second's.. Or picking up a Blue Eco canister on the road.... So it's a mushroom you have constant access too and can regenerate on the track.

We're now moving onto our weapon slots. You have a weapon slot to fire weapons in front of you such as Peace Maker Shots, machine gun shots and missiles, using Yellow Eco and another slot for firing weapons behind you such as snares, automated turrets and mines using Red Eco. Unlike Mario Kart at the time the game is released, you can occupy both slots at once and choose which one to use at whatever time you want though from a pro; hang onto your Red weapons if you in 3rd or better as they can be used to deflect lock-on weapons.

Lastly, you finally have a DARK ECO tank. It only fills up as you take down racer's and once it fills fully, all of your weapons become upgraded to terrifying death machine's. Homing Missiles now move faster and hit their targets ignoring Red Eco traps. Machine Gun rounds do more damage. Grenades now include napalm and burn the track for a few seconds to do minor damage while 1-hit-killing anything it hits.

Sooooooooooooo; that's a lot to take in on base control's... What kind of Race's are there? There's Combat race's where the most kills secure the top slot. Artifact Races where everyone is dumped onto a combat map and you need to gather the artifact's left by the Precursor's. Then there's a race where it's just pure speed, no weapons; They've kinda got all of the bases covered in the type of tracks and games to play so it's not just one death course after another.

To wrap things up; the story.... Yeah, there's a story to the sucker. Jak, Daxter and friends along with Kireg's daughter show up to a reading of Krieg's will; for folks not initiated into JAK 2, he's a fat, tubby crime lord with a criminal background to earn the respect of the modern day mobster in some regard somewhere.... And he died via a massive bomb he built. Once in Kras city, the will stipulated to continue with their proceedings to drink a little wine; a per-recording of his chunky blubber reveals that he had poisoned them via wine and he instructed his associates to provide the antidote to the folks attending his will if they take first place. Unable to determine who the associate's are and not knowing what they we're poisoned with, they have no chance but to race along with whatever his last dying fund's we're used to purchase a traveling garage, some starter vehicles and the best part's "money could buy" to help them get started. Now the crew has to race to get 1st place constantly for their own survival... Well, Jak has too. The rest of his comrades decide they want to save their own lives in case Jak can't cut it, so they've entered the race as well for different reasons varying from doing it for the benefit of them all to only risking their own neck.

And to send us out; there are communities that have revived the PS2 server's to race folks online again.
https://discord.gg/5VHj8sD
If you want to race folks online, the community is around here and there; but they're friendly enough and show how to get your old PS2 or PC and Emulator online to game with others.

And some cheat's or extra's they've crammed onto the game; you'll need to research yourself as there's a lot.... and I do mean, there's a lot.

 

[Quto]

Mischief N64 Makers​

Mischief Makers; how do I describe it... It's an old vintage anime with flaws, it isn't fully 3D and has a plot that's just insane... and I love it.

WE'RE IN CONSTANT PAIN! PLEASE HELP US!​

Mischief Makers is a game about a perverted yet genius scientist, Professor Theo, on 'vacation' (Though he's there to study the Clancer's on the planet) with his robotic assistant with it's own sentience named Marina Liteyear.
Upon Arriving to Clancer for his vacation, Marina left the ship to scout the planet for potential hostiles as Theo get's kid napped by the 'Evil Emperor' for some reason and Marina goes off to save him.

NOW FOR GAME MECHANICS!.... As you can see, it's a 2D side scroller with 3D game element's.

On the N64 Controller, it's one of the few game's that uses the D-Pad Exclusively instead of the Thumb Stick. Thus using the LEFT HANDLE and RIGHT HANDLE. Marina has a jet pack that let's her boost into a random direction, up, down, left or right using the C-Buttons or double tapping a direction on the D-pad, she can't boost infinitely to fly, though pressing it fast enough for the game to register, you can have her holding herself up in mid air. She can the Grab thing's with the B button, shake them and throw them... and the thing's she can grab are to not laugh at from the fist's of giant beat's of deadly flame to missle's to.... Let's just say, there's a lot she can grab and throw back at the attacker's. With a limited move set though, most folks would think that this game has a lot of repetition to get to the end.... Which, anyone stating that now should leave the room with great haste.

All of the level's in Mischief Makers aren't straight forward, the programmer did something most folks should be doing in game design today, and that's taking the moveset of the game and adding flexibility to it in various levels and situations! There's a level that act's as the Clancer Theme park, how do you get to the exit? Well, you need to grab onto and try the attractions to find your way out. Another level, you need to dig up a key or gem to get to the exit. Another level in the desert, a companion TURNS INTO A GIANT ROBOT WHEN HIS FACE IS GRABBED AS HE'S NEEDED TO GET TO THE EXIT! A whole world of levels are dedicated to sport's from Dodgeball to track racing! There is almost something unique in every level, to treat the game as garbage is the same as ticking off the beside you with a shovel he recently sharpened... And you get the instinct that you want to keep your hand and limbs attached to your body.

It's an awesome game; though why it's reach obscurity, I think it's more of the type of game it is, what it utilized at the time. 3D was on a HUGE rise, to have another game go back to the 2D age was unheard of at the time... Now-a-day's, most of us want to go back to 2D or 2.5D as it was simpler, but it's just an odd-wishy-washy mix of things today from indie developer's.

The folks who developed the title we're Treasure, a team behind a large number of other awesome games such as Gun Star Heroes! That and the art is familiar to a specific Blue Bomber and his Maverick Series... Heck, if you don't care for piracy, I recommend the Co-Op mod made for this title! Mod Loader 64 has a Co-Op setup for this title and I recommend it highly. Especially since the cartridges are demanding outrageous prices.

 

[Quto]

Time ▼ Splitters
PS2, Xbox, Xbox One/X|S, Gamecube​

Ladies and Gentlemen... And Monkey's and Aliens and Zombies and Vampires and every technicolor in between; bad pun's intended: I want to talk about Time Splitters!!!

FREE FOR ALL!​

Time Splitter's is a standard FPS game from the early 2000's with health, basic armor and an arsenal of weapons from different periods of time from guns to clubs and plasma weapons. Before anyone walks out of the post, I want to make mention about my earlier joke, as in this game, every character model is a playable character in Multiplayer and I do mean EVERY model. You saw them Nazi Zombies in Level one? Kill'em, beat the level, boom; You a gun toting Nazi Zombie. You met Timmy the monkey? Unlock him, bang, your the monkey. Gingerbreadman? Done. Tree Horror from the 3rd dimension? Just got them in stock. Whining Teenager from a Slasher flick attempting to survive Zombies? Jason hasn't found her yet, want her?; You get the idea, if you see it in the game, it's rigged for multiplayer and each character has it's own stat's from Stamina to run speed, different weapon resistance etc.

This sounds too awesome? THERE'S MORE! *Pic's up Greasy Sales Pitch Mic* INSTEAD of your standard 3 game modes, Capture the Flag, Team Death match and Deathmatch; You get a WHOPPING 13 MULTIPLAYER MODES AND THEY ARE!..

•-Your Staples

• Death Match
• Team Death Match
• Capture The Flag

•-You New Game Modes

• Bagtag
  There is a bag in the field. Claim it and earn points by hanging onto it the longest. You die, you drop the bag and the next player to pick it up start's earning points! In other words, It's like the skull game from Halo, but the Skull is a bag.
• Elimination
  Standard battle to the death; except more permenant. If your die, your out of the game until the next round. Like Pubg or Fortnite, minus the color's and back-stabbing... Oh, and you get lives or a stock, run out of that and your out. Be the last player standing with the most stock!
• Vampire
  Similar to Elimination, Everybody gets a STOCK of lives and a BLOOD bar. If you run out of Blood, you lose a life. You want blood to keep living? Kill everyone else. Kill a player, you gain blood to stay alive. You can even set how quickly the blood deplete's, forcing players to either take their time or FREE FOR ALL OR YOUR GUNNA LOSE ANYWAY!
• Shrink
  To everybody who has heard of this mode claims the mode is unfair.... I disagree, and do not open the spoiler if you want to avoid my wrath on the idea of fairness.
  Spoiler:

  For when you have friends like mine, There is no such as as Fairness, it's a philosophical tooth fairy. and it's because of them I have a disdain for SMASH BROS.
  In Shrink, depending on the Rank from how well you play to how poorly affect's your character models size. If your the top player, you model is normal and has a standard hit box. If your the last player, you and your hitboxes shrink. It's a standard Deathmatch until the player with the least amount of death's comes out on top. It's kinda fun actually with the A.I. player's I played against.
• Zones
  This is a basic claim your base, or CONQUEST mode. Red Team and Blue team travel on a game map, walking up to zones to capture them and claim them. If you die, you can re-spawn at one and the game mode goes on like this until your team earns enough conquest point's.
• Thief
  Standard Deathmatch mode; with one exception. If a player dies, they drop some coinage that anyone can collect, hence the name thief. Whoever has the most coins at the end of the match, win's.
• Virus
  Basic game of Zombie Infection, one player is infected; Goes around and kills other players. Last player not infected wins; though it handle's slightly differently.
• Gladiator
  If your the Gladiator, you earn points by killing the opponent's while being the Gladiator. If your not the Gladiator, you want to kill the Gladiator so you be the gladiator and kill other players to earn points.
• Assault
  One of the more complex yet interesting Mode's. If your on Red Team, you need to complete a set of objectives depending on the map from blowing a gas line to smashing computer's. Blue Teams job is to stop Red team and deplete their stock of attacker's.
• Monkey Assistant
  If your in last place. You get back up coming. Which include a barrel full of cute, gentle, homicidal monkey's whose only purpose is to make the top player's life a living hell. Otherwise, it's a Standard Deathmatch.

*Ditches the Mic* You don't like the maps? There's a Map maker to make your own game maps. Friends want their own TV? No problem for the XBOX version! System link up you a LAN game. Not enough, how about a CHALLENGE MODE with different missions and objectives to keep you engaged at all ends of the day! A MISSION IN THE CAMPAIGN WHERE YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO JUMP! NOT ENOUGH?!... Well, there's a campaign mode with a story.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!​

*Breathes deep* You live in the far off future, 2401, aliens who have been able to master time referred to as TIME SPLITTERS approach earth to claim it. Though, there's a problem; humans are putting up a better resistance than average so they go BACK in time to make the outcome more favorable for them.... Then you, Cortez, a soldier from the future, go back in time to stop them and then.... Everything just get's complicated, by going back in time, you cause the spawning of new villians that cause you trouble in previous missions which you cause problems in future and all in the sake of fighting and defeating the Time Splitters... It's a time travel story, stuff gets so complicated that it's nuts; though they include a lot of bad puns, good jokes and the best Vegeta scream that can be heard across time... And it's co-op for up to 4 players...

*I fall over now, out of breath*

There is so much to write about and DO in this... It's a boiler plate FPS game, but it's a PROPER FPS game. In order to stand out, they knew it would be a standard shooter; so the best way to compete was to take the games engine and turn it on it's head. Adding as much as they could for the player to DO, Challenges, Map making, the hefty amount of game modes, play as ANY characters model almost, Co-Op.... It's a game WORTH your time, WORTH playing!.. And as of Today, It's now for grabs on the Microsoft Store on the Xbox Platform. Time Spliters: Future Perfect and Time Splitter's 2. Both for $10 and well worth the purchase. :D

As for why this game fell to obscurity?... The main developers we're working on Crysis 2, 3 and Haze. They we're working on a new Time Splitters because it's fan base has been BEGGING THEM, keyword, BEGGING for a new installment. They had a new installment to pitch, which they did and it was liked until Marketing decided to block the go-ahead.

It was set to come out on the PS3 and Xbox 360, however, Marketing couldn't decide which character in the game series should be on the front of the disk box...To back that up, check out Guru Larry and Fact hunt.

https://youtu.be/Ar4gIEFdPrQ?t=54


... SO PICK IT UP ON XBOX! WHY ARE YOU READING THIS?! GO!

 

[.hack]

I actually had heard of a fair amount of the games in this thread but I guess that means I'm not your average person lol (in the sense that I actually have a specific interest in niche games), there were a least a few I haven't heard of at all.

Billy hatcher what a banger of a game, miss playing that on my gamecube so much probably one of my fav GC games, might have to emulate it soo.

Malicious I hadn't heard of it but looks cool!

Monster Rancher I saw on here and thought it'd be worth mentioning the remaster(s) Monster Rancher 1 + 2 DX coming soon to various platforms, definitely gonna check out and support that release, love Monster Rancher!

Crashlands is a great game too! Butterscotch shenanigans are pretty much a trusted developer for me, all their games are quality, so Levelhead and Quadropus Rampage might be worth a mention too!

Spoiler:

Levelhead is like a Mario-maker-esque level creator with community made content and such.
Quadropus is an endless rogue-like dungeon crawler free mobile game.
Both with that classic BS humour style and charm.
Neither are super niche but thought I'd mention them since Crashlands was.

I have plenty of niche games I could mention on this thread but think I'll save those as this post is already long enough haha.

 

[Quto]

I actually had heard of a fair amount of the games in this thread but I guess that means I'm not your average person lol (in the sense that I actually have a specific interest in niche games), there were a least a few I haven't heard of at all.

Billy hatcher what a banger of a game, miss playing that on my gamecube so much probably one of my fav GC games, might have to emulate it soo.

Malicious I hadn't heard of it but looks cool!

Monster Rancher I saw on here and thought it'd be worth mentioning the remaster(s) Monster Rancher 1 + 2 DX coming soon to various platforms, definitely gonna check out and support that release, love Monster Rancher!

Crashlands is a great game too! Butterscotch shenanigans are pretty much a trusted developer for me, all their games are quality, so Levelhead and Quadropus Rampage might be worth a mention too!

Spoiler:

Levelhead is like a Mario-maker-esque level creator with community made content and such.
Quadropus is an endless rogue-like dungeon crawler free mobile game.
Both with that classic BS humour style and charm.
Neither are super niche but thought I'd mention them since Crashlands was.

I have plenty of niche games I could mention on this thread but think I'll save those as this post is already long enough haha.

Lad, you don't know how long enough is until you've met me and my hunt for niche titles that have a form of fun factor. With a few exceptions, every title here is purchasable, obtainable and playable within reason with some exceptions due to their age like Toonami: Lockdown or game's that require you to sell part of your liver on the black market like .Hack//Fragment.

I would like to hear about them and track these titles down myself to add to my own collection even; If I understood the Assembly code for Earth Worm Jim 3D on the N64, I would use the mod-loader to make a co-op of a terrible 3D game just to make it fun again for people to play on and give life to a game that was probably left in the trash bin of time!.... Speaking of which.... I want to talk about Wuppo, though I think everyone here alraedy knows of it's existence so I want to do a short post about it, though I'm holding onto that for next year...

So I'm going to write about a PC classic that I thought would be Holiday Appropriate.

Jazz Jack Rabbit 2​

This game feels like a fever dream including furries, Guns and the 1990's; a combination that would make any War Hammer fan against the idea of furries question the culture before burning them with a flame thrower. Jazz Jack Rabbit is a game series that started out on PC using the DOS engine and became, somewhat, a big success with kid's. Had a furry anthro animal, which at the time, we had Disney for that with Mickey Mouse, Donald, Goofy; Looney Tunes with Bugs Bunny, Daffy ****, Road Runner. etc. The point of it all is the general market had to play it safe. The folks behind Jazz Jack Rabbit took it the other way around, gave him a gun and had him slay turtle's that plotted to end him, his family and rule the world....

Technically, if it was violent, it's all we would ask for, even though in place of blood, we got explosions and candy for a sugar rush. The first game on DOS sold so well, they published Jazz Jack Rabbit 2, which is basically the same plot as the first game. The same big bad evil turtle from the first has come back to rule the world and you with your friends go stop him, being Lori and Spaz. In the first game, you could shoot, run fast and jump a good distance. In the Second, You still got speedy running and jumping, but you also have a Ground Pound. A larger arsenal of weapons that you can use to solve smaller puzzles in the environment and the turtles are now more deadly and complex. If you shoot a turtle out of their shell example, they'll equip a jetpack and start shooting back as an example.... that and the game is a LOT harder... Which leads me to why the game carried on so well as t he features for a 2D platformer Runa nd Gun didn't end there. It also included Multiplayer.

Multiplayer even had a LOAD of the basics from basic head to head with Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch to Basic Deathmatch, Racing and Treasure hunt with your weapons able to affect the other player. The there is Co-Op were your friends could join you from online to help you beat a hard level you we're stuck on because the boss is just a massive pain to defeat....

And if that wasn't enough, Each copy of t he game had it's own level editor From Jazz Jack Rabbit 1 to 2, they basically gave you your own tool to create your own level's, deck them out how you liked and swap them out with your friends or online with the rest of the internet from it's early stages.... As most level files we're mere kilobytes to how much could be crammed, this was a no-brainer as you could download and upload your own levels and share them with the planet.

Why did Jazz Jack Rabbit Die out though?... Well, mostly due to lack of popularity. Most folks from the 90's to early 2000's we're focused on the internet, 9/11, Nintendo, Sega, Sony and getting by with life. Jazz Jack Rabbit had a sequel where it would go into 3D adopting both a 3D platformer and FPS title where he had to rescue his kids and girlfriend from that same, evil, turtle. The studio putting it together was hoping to get it out the door, but they had another project coming up to help keep the lights on in the office and the whole thing was shelved indefinitely. There is a DEMO of what they we're attempting, though it requires a ton of polish and I wouldn't call it a classic; though it was interesting to see WHAT they we're trying... As for who owns JAZZ JACKRABBIT; I'm somewhat unsure.

While doing a few quick google searches, I learned that EPIC Games owns Jazz. I checked the Epic Games store and did a search for Jazz in their catalogue, but came back empty handed. So I figured that another company probably owns Jazz and had the same name as Epic games, everything being coincidental... Though the Epic games from then became Epic Games now... At this point, I figured the company probably has or had no interest in publishing their older games for purchase.... and I double checked Where I picked up my Copy of Jazz Jack Rabbit from Gog (For about $2 USD) and discovered that it, along with a bunch of Unreal Tournament games among others which have later up-to-date versions on their website, share both the same publisher and developer Epic Games... So... I really don't know whats going on.

Back in 2014, somebody TRIED to revive Jazz Jackrabbit through Kickstarter; though it was torn down over legal IP disputes and... That's all I was able to dig up. This whole experience was... Strange in and to itself.

And for folks asking WHY this would be Holiday appropriate, when you buy the game off Gog and boot it up for the first time, this screen comes up.

Yeah, it's boxart, but this box art comes up when you boot it up.

.... And like Magi-Nation.

There is a cult following to this game that REFUSES to die.
https://www.jazz2online.com/

 

[Quto]

Before I get on with my current find, I want to write about...

Scooby Doo​

And the series of games surrounding the talking dog with a speech impediment... Though I can't blame the lovable mutt, he doesn't have the proper vocal cords and range.

I was hoping to do a post about another licensed game focused around Scooby Doo; though when I look back at ALL OF THE SCOOBY DOO Games developed by their various creators, I ran into issues with each title and each game. To be exact, they we're all terrible with a few exceptions. The Scooby-Doo Mystery I posted Earlier for the Sega Genesis, Scooby-Doo Mystery for the Super Nintendo and Scooby Doo Classic Creep Caper's for both the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color. Before I get into them, I want to label what the other titles mostly entail which is agitating platformer. Scooby Doo! Mystery Mayhem barely make's the list, though I find it just as acceptable as well. If ya grew up and enjoyed any of these other titles, then I get it; it's your preference though this is just me getting my thoughts to paper.

To be blunt, I don't have a problem with 3D platforming games or 2D platforming games as one of my first video games that didn't involve learning at school was Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo. Though it seems like every Scooby Doo Game on the console decided to strip out the idea of solving mysteries, include a platformer where you need to bounce around for Scooby snacks until you get to the end of level, cut scene where a clue is found and move on... Which I find agitating as that doesn't challenge the player to think who the culprit is or why, it's just jangling keys around until they cross a line and are given a friggin piece of candy. Then you have the PC game's from the learning company such as the Scooby Doo Case Files, where it takes a traditional point and click approach, though the game seems to try to cram in other things to learn about than to teach kids observation and destroying what Scooby Doo was built upon, teaching without having to teach, in a sense.

The 4 titles I picked out above do better. The Genesis version of Scooby Doo Mystery for it's Point and Click mixed in in with how you explore and interact with the world. The Super Nintendo version, there is no SCUMM system built in, but they give you a world to run around in to find clues via observation, trap pieces and some platforming to break up the monotony which accomplishes far more than the other counterpart's as the clues from the two give you the ability to observe and put two and two together. The Nintendo 64 Classic Creep Caper's accomplish's this by giving a 3D environment with dangers for you to explore, find clues, come to your own conclusions and catch the monster. The Game Boy Color Version is more of predecessor to the Genesis title with the ability to explore the map, your clues and solve puzzles. I may go into detail of these other 3, but much later... Until then..

Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos​

I have bought into this title, as it promises to be a Legend of Zelda Classic where you and 3 friends can hop into a dungeon to kill things, take their money and build a town with it all..... and I friggin love it.

In the game, you play as a regular hero at first, being charged to go into various dungeons, kill the big bads and bring back all the loot you can carry to upgrade your small town to be bigger, better and bring in a lot more gear. You can even swap out your class of hero as each class has a different ability such as a thief gaining invisibility, a hero can charge forward, a mage can teleport a short distance, so on and so forth. There are randomly generated dungeons to raid if your not taking on a Titan if you need that sweet coinage to upgrade yourself or your home and the world is... Well, the world they give you is incredibly vast, there's a lot to explore, secrets to uncover, it's almost as if they took Breath of the Wild and crammed it into a 2D perspective. I don;t have much else to say about it other than no one paid me, I bought into it, played it and it's enjoyable! If only I could get friends who we're into games like this to help me finish it. -_-;;;

I know this is a short post, but I'm trying.

 

[Quto]

FUR FIGHTERS
​

This is a shooter I grew up with; played through and had some good times with, though, like the rest of the dreamcast library; it was buried 8 feet under into the magma where Mordor would form after a couple of fallouts to bring forth magic, elves and dwarfs into our world!.. Fur Fighters was a 3rd Person shooter with cartoony graphics, little blood and full of furries. These furries though had special abilities that only they could use in the single player campaign and in the multiplayer campaigns. Like the cat could climb walls, the dog could dig into dirt mounds to make quick escapes, the dragon could glide; all sorts of handy little abilities.... Sort of like Overwatch/Team Fortress 2, but not really Overwatch/Team Fortress 2.... Though I already went over this title in smaller detail earlier on in the topic, so why am I re-adding this to the list?.. Well, there has been an update for the PC port for Fur Fighters since it was published. >:D

Before I get into it; I want to go on how this came about.

Abooooooout a year ago or rather what feels like things we're since 2020, I both located and joined a Discord server setup for nothing but Fur Fighter's with a bunch of incredibly passionate people about the old shooter. Not change your lifestyle to be a furry passionate, but passionate enough to want to do, play and have fun with this title in more ways than one. So much so, one of them I befriended was obsessed with the idea of restoring the online functions to the PC version.

https://i.imgur.com/9ddu5ew.jpg​

To be frank, the PC version has some.... bug's. I run an ATI Radeon card and keep coming up with models being skewered and cheesed when running the game from it's original CD; which I purchased for about $10 USD from Amazon. Even after pirating the image from a trusted source, mainly from the Abandonware site, and imaging the game to a spare low storage 2GB USB drive; I still get skewered 3D models.

​

You may ask, why I'm bringing THIS up? Well, because Fur Fighter's uses a set of libraries called Direct Play or Direct 3D? Whichever it was or is, they we're functions to interpret 3D commands and most of them are either pretty ancient by today's standards to non-existent, which then brings up Fur Fighter's ONLINE functions. Fur Fighter's multiplayer ONLINE doesn't work nor did it barely work at all. It was using Direct's networking libraries which are looking for functions that don't exist anymore; so much so they had to rely on GameSpy to link up game's with very little instructions, basically using GameSpy as a Lan Tunnel to link up different players. Now with Game Spy out of commission, a weak library that can't use current functions to runt he game right and a passionate fan base WANTING to revive the game, it's somewhat Game Over..... Until a few weeks ago.

A member of the same discord, who glues his eyes to twitter contacted the programming leads for this game, invited them to the discord server to meet up with, to their great surprise, a fan base passionate about the game. :D Fans asking who Joei was when the team apologized to him at the end of the game; getting a little better backstory, answering questions to fans and helping the folks picking apart their game to get online working again. The fans we're surprised they we're still working on the original build so much so, they loaded their game onto a Switch.

_{MIND BLOWN!}

Spoiler:

So... WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!... Well, a few things. No, we're not going to get a Fur Fighter's for the Nintendo Switch. The game's right's don't belong to anyone but one of the lead programmer's as he has final say where the game goes and I don't think he's all that big on doing a re-release just yet or at all. In fact, I don't think he thought he had a fan base knee deep for this title. However, with their help; the programmer's already tinkering with the game in Discord have updated the network library, the Fur Fighters title for PC can now support online Multiplayer. The only bad news, however, it's still has a few bugs as it can only support, for this moment, 1v1 game match-ups. They're working at it, but they don't know how long or when they're finish.

 

[RadEmpoleon]

Not sure how obscure of a game this is, but I still haven't seen many people talk about it, and I've had this game for 10+ years. It's a platformer called The Legendary Starfy. (Yes, I know he's an Assist Trophy in Smash, but that might be most people's exposure to Starfy. It's my understanding that it's more popular in Japan I think.) It was one of my favorite games in my childhood, and I still play it every now and then. It's a fairly easy game with a cutesy storyline, so it's good that I played it when I was younger. Basically Starfy is a prince in Pufftop Kingdom, a kingdom in the clouds, when a mysterious bunny falls from the sky with no memory. He decides to help this bunny with his friend Moe, and the three fall into the ocean below and start their adventure. But there are some mysterious bad guys following them around, trying to steal the bunny's powers.