I'm talking about games you've actually played not heard of! Think of a game where you had to do some puzzle, some quest, or maybe exploring some side content that left you thinking, "huh?" And then maybe you searched around online or thumbed through a strategy guide and after seeing it, you still were bewildered as to what the game expected of you.

I'll give in example to start. For me, Majora's Mask fits the topic (part of Zelda). I reached the end of the game just fine without any help or wondering what to do for too long...but if you've ever played this one, you already know there is so much optional content you can explore, namely, the masks. Only a few of them are required for actual game progression - the rest are purely cosmetic additions to your character. But in order to actually get those masks, the quests were ridiculous. They all relied on certain timings that you really had no way of knowing (for multiple parts, too!) unless you got really, really lucky. And it had to happen more than once for a few of them, so the odds of collecting all of them on your own is nearly impossible to achieve.

And so I consulted the strategy guide. But even then, the quests were still rather difficult, and it took me a few tries. But I would've had no way of knowing exactly what I did wrong without looking at the guide, making it all the more ridiculous. So really, even if some of these quests were rather fun, it still left me wondering, how on earth would anyone be able to figure any of these out?!

The most obscure game I ever played that I doubt anyone might remember was Starship Titanic. My computer can't run it now, but at the time I thought it was very impressive; the visuals are remarkable for something made well over 20 years ago for the computer - and while most parts of it were generally annoying, such as constant backtracking, it's music helped drive me to continue. I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind a lengthy ride... or can put up with John Cleese as a talking ticking time bomb.

For me.. it must be Zombies Vs Ambulance one. It was a mildly weird game. you drive an ambulance and kills zombies with it. you also fight the bosses with it as well.
I never did hear of it when i found that game. i was just "what the heck lemme try that"
Well i did have fun.. but it felt so weird to play it but also fun. :)

itsjustaar
The most obscure game I ever played that I doubt anyone might remember was Starship Titanic.

I wouldn't say that game was too obscure, it was written by the Hitchhiker's Guide guy and there was a lot of promotion around it when it came out.


I think what blindsk is asking is NOT "what obscure games have you played" but "what parts of video games which you've played have left you wondering why you were supposed to do them." I could be wrong, but if you read his post it's pretty clear he's not talking about obscure games as Majora's Mask was a pretty major game.


Sidequests can be tricky. Sometimes the fun optional stuff adds depth to an enjoyable game, but sometimes if the rewards aren't worthwhile (like the near-useless masks) or the quests are too challenging you start to wonder what the point is. I suppose I can't use the optional stuff in New Vegas as 'obscure' but I do remember several final fantasies that had you doing ridiculous things, sometimes with no indication that you actually needed to do them, to get stuff. I know there was one to get hit by lighting 100 times or something... but NOTHING in the game actually told you to do that. You had to have a strategy guide. Stuff like that.

Really? D: I don't remember it being advertised much, unless my memory is iffy. I remember first hearing about it in a very thick strategy guide at a shopping mall and thumbing through it long ago. It was only until Hardcore Gaming 101 reviewed it that I realized Douglas Adams had a hand behind it. xD

Most of the obscure stuff in games I would have never found out on my own, such as the Negative Zone in NES SMB, or the hidden dungeon/boss in FF Tactics.

What does P me off is that the SMB World -1 seems to definitely be a dead end. There is no way to solve it, or someone would have found it by now, or Nintendo would have come clean with it by now.

skoolmunkee
I think what blindsk is asking is NOT "what obscure games have you played" but "what parts of video games which you've played have left you wondering why you were supposed to do them." I could be wrong, but if you read his post it's pretty clear he's not talking about obscure games as Majora's Mask was a pretty major game.

Yep! Skool nailed it, though I was worried the topic itself might have been too obscure...

And I definitely played that level you mentioned, mlai, the one from SMB. At first I thought it was the golden egg of exploits, but then after trying to figure it out for the longest time, it left me wondering, "what's the point? Surely there must be something to this!" But as you said, nothing has come of it yet and probably never will.

Yeah, I never considered any Zelda game to be obscure. The 'Zelda' alone is synonymous with 'Nintendo'. I only played a little bit of it, but I hated the fact about getting an add-on for my N64 just to see the rest of it. Same with 'Perfect Dark'. As a kid at the time, I felt that it was just a way to shell out more money - and only years later would I ultimately find out that it was required for more memory to keep the game functional. :P

I suppose when you said, 'Games that left you in wonder', then Starship Titanic fits the bill. It's another one of those adventure games where even your assistant is as dumbfounded as you are as to what you're supposed to do next, and the actual tips are vague. A few bugs in the game are where most of the rooms to visit are inactive or untouchable, making the game a bit boring. The only real credit I give it for is having two people I like in it, and the music. The rest of it... eh.

Back of the box in Metal Gear Solid. I was playing it off a rental from Blockbuster, who doesn't lend out the games in their original packaging (obviously). So when it threw that out there, I sort of figured after a little bit that it must have meant the back of the game case.

Of course that went well.

blindsk
I'm talking about games you've actually played not heard of! Think of a game where you had to do some puzzle, some quest, or maybe exploring some side content that left you thinking, "huh?" And then maybe you searched around online or thumbed through a strategy guide and after seeing it, you still were bewildered as to what the game expected of you.

Sounds like you're talking about a guide dang it [tvtropes.org].

The original Phantasy Star. In japanese iirc.