Ordered an Odin 2 that hopefully comes in tomorrow. It can emulate up to the PS2/GameCube with zero issues. Can do Switch and 3DS as well but I don’t need that.
Anyways hit me with your recs for:
PS2
GameCube
Dreamcast
N64
PS1
whatever else, just retro shit. the more obscure the better, i don’t need someone to tell me to play Final Fantasy X, I’m pretty familiar with it LMFAO. Love me some J/RPGs and Platformers if you want an idea of genre but I’ll try anything.
If you like platformers I’d highly recommend giving the Jumping Flash games for PS1 a try, I first played them last year and felt they held up surprisingly well.
Also agreed with crow on Klonoa 2, as well as its prequel Door to Phantomile.
Out-of-the-blue bonus for PS1: Brain Dead 13, an animated FMV game I ended up enjoying for the spooky cartoon style alone.
I’ll try and see if can recommend you one of each, but what is obscure for me may not be obscure for you…
PS2: The Bouncer Sky Gunner - recently came back through PS+ retro and my perfect opportunity to recommend this gem to everyone again. Love me some aerial combat.
GameCube: Ribbit King - (also on PS2) it’s not golf it’s Frolf!
Dreamcast: Demolition Racer: No Exit - Demolition Derby and Racing, hope you don’t mind Fear Factory
N64: Hybrid Heaven - recently started a file and a bit jank to maneuver but I don’t know how to describe it other than combat RPG
PS1: Simple 1500 Series Vol.30: The Basket ~ 1 on 1 Plus - better played with another person but imagine a basketball game with all the trappings of a fighting game
That should be a sweet little variety of games to keep you occupied
If you have access to an actual PS2 I’ll recommend Steambot Chronicles, it’s my favorite game but it emulates horribly bad
On more emulator friendly games, Road Trip Adventure is a very fun silly car driving game
Okage is a fun RPG with a… false ATB battle system, which I find a bit weird but it’s a fun game nonetheless
Wonder Project J is a SNES raising sim where you’re trying to raise a robot boy to do… something, I never really finished that game hahaha, but it has a sequel on the N64 if you want to try that one
Can’t believe this dude is going to get away with calling the PS2 retro /j
Anyway, I’m going to dust off my Backlogg real quick, but its also making me think what kind of obscure recommendation is obscure. Like, online Earthbound is talked about a lot, but its actually a very underrated game in the world as a whole. Also we’re on the same age bracket and have eerily similar taste in games, which makes things harder. I’ll still give a try
PS2:
Radiata Stories : This flows in a similar vein to Suikoden, you have a 100 or so people you can recruit to your party, almost every single NPC in Radiata is named, has a backstory, and a daily routine. The story is so-so, the graphics are pretty good, and one of the routes you can take is terribly barren of content.
God Hand : There is a universe there this popularized hard games instead of Dark Souls, and its a much brighter universe. Beat’em up with great dodges, soundtracks, wild skills, and weird Clover/Platinum humor.
PSX:
Azure Dreams: A dungeon crawler where you collect monsters, invest in your town and can also have like, 6 girlfriends at the same time. Not gonna lie, I only played this because of the tomboy best friend. Don’t @ me.
Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles: Hey, did you know Star Wars games could be good? Crazy right? Anyway, co-op this for a while and slash down a million droids.
Front Mission 3: Classic mecha strategy rpg, although I’m not sure how obscure this might be. Its a dead franchise, in many ways, but still. I actually never got very far (more on this below)
Legend of Legaia: jRPG with fighting game skill combos, crazy hard. Only made it past the first “region” as a kid and never got far, but the idea itself is good.
Einhander: THE side scroller shoot em up from back in the day, the camera stuff they do in this is amazing.
Lunar Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2 Eternal Blue: These are classic classic ass jRPGs, every fantasy trope you love mixed together, the corny voice acting, the 90s Anime CG, and some pretty good gameplay too. Might be one of those “its not obscure to internet weirdos” suggestions.
N64:
Flying Dragon: This one is kinda like a fever dream to me. Its 2 fighting games in one, you play as young chibi character in a version and adults in the other. The Chibi version is incredible, at least it was to me, because there’s a whole puzzle deal when you fight tournaments. Some bosses will have regeneration, or reflect damage, and to undo those buffs you have to fight in a certain order or in a certain way until you reach them, and other weird stuff.
Blast Corps: A game about demolition, rushing your multiple different cars and trucks into buildings and racking up those points, while a couple of nukes are being carried through the scenario.
Mission: Impossible: This is like a proto-imersive sim. You got large mission areas, clever objectives, and you have to figure out how to solve each puzzle and interaction. It blew my mind as a kid, maybe not as good nowadays.
Shadow Man: The edgiest Mario 64. Collect 120 DARK HEARTS, collect SOULS, upgrade your HELL PISTOLS, get TATTOOS that boost your skills.
Mischief Makers: Probably the biggest case of “Sold 10 copies but is wildly popular online”. Chances are you played it, but I have to bet that you’re not a specific kind of weirdo. I actually rented this as a kid, it was An Experience™. Shake Shake.
Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. and MACE: The Dark Age: Gonna be honest here - these games are bad. Only reason I’m linking them is because they were some pretty unique finds back in the day, the kind of trash you just don’t see being published as often. Hyper edgy fighting games made to bait edgy teens. It worked, twice.
Body Harvest: Let’s do GTA before GTA and ruin Adell’s expectations for games until like, the next two generations. Again, probably not great nowadays, but the idea of an open world, driving cars, doing long running missions? That was absurd.
GBA:
Zone of the Enders: The Fist of Mars: Whoa, whoa, this isn’t the great ZoE you know. Nope, this is the far less known tactical turn-based strategy ZoE, where you can target enemy frames in a FPS view when you attack them, and get critical damage for aiming well. It was also my first ZoE (a weird experience, much like how Chain of Memories was my first Kingdom Hearts)
Bruce Lee: Return of the Legend: This game came out of nowhere, promising nothing and delivering everything. Somehow a fantastic 2D beat’em up, quick, fast, and brutal.
Sigma Star Saga: This one isn’t good either. But here’s the thing: have you ever wondered about a jRPG where the random battles are shmup levels? Terrible right? Yup. Also: extremely horny. Its a WayForward game alright.
Summon Night Swordcraft Story: Great 2D action RPG, mixed with dungeon crawler. Great sprites and gameplay. The sequel is also fairly good, although with a more open area.
Astro Boy: Omega Factor: Game starts as a 2D action game/beat’em up until it becomes a time travel story. Then shit gets really crazy.
SNES:
Terraenigma: This games goes to places. Starts as a pretty simple, almost shallow, mission to go through 5 dungeons, then to bring life to Earth, then to help humanity grow and thrive. Its heartwrenching. I was not ready to play this when I did.
Front Mission: Gun Hazard: Now this is my favorite Front Mission. Yea, tactical is good, but you know what’s better? 2D rushing into another mecha and beating the shit out of it. Great adrenaline rush story too.
Based obscure recommendations, I was going to drop Wonder J and its sequel. Steambot deserved more love (from me too, because I didn’t get it at the time)
I second the Lunar, God Hand, Terranigma and Summon Night recommendations, they’re all pretty great
and yeah, as much as people talk about Earthbound and somehow several people who haven’t played it go “everyone(but me) has played that one already, right?”, it’s really not that played a game! It’s weird!
If you haven’t played it play it, it’s a fun time
I was a variant of this kind of person the year this article was made. Main exception being that I sorta tried it and M3 before but didn’t get too far.