Unpopular games that you love, and vice versa

[debleb]

spore. its a bit janky at times but honestly even though it didn’t live up to the hype it’s still such a fun game to me. it’s loaded with maxis personality and the gameplay is really fun imo. i don’t think i’ve played another game that really scratches the “make a fucked up little creature and run around as it” itch as well.

[dotmidi]

A really unpopular game that I think deserves some love is "Thomas was Alone". It's an average platform game BUT with beautiful graphics and also a really great narrator voice explaining the story along the way, the whole story unfolds with you as the player progressing in the levels. I think it's absolutely genius and a great way to execute a very simple concept.

I loved to study to the OST as well, it's wonderfully composed and all around a masterpiece.. I really hope it gets some more love or my writing hopefully convinces someone to play it!

Thomas was Alone - Trailer

"Thomas Was Alone Changed My Life"

[shevek]

Hands down Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. I cannot for the life of me understand how that got GOTY but I wish I could. I tried and failed a lot in it and then sold it. The whole visual design was so depressing and lackluster to me, as if there was this greyish sludge filter over it all making it seem cold and clammy and just.. unappealing and boring to the eye after a while. The system of having to fight all these Uruks and not being able to go through the map without 4 of them ganging up on me randomly was annoying me to no end, and of course they also beat me constantly. Which in that game, meant they were leveling up and becoming stronger.

Never want to play a game with the Nemesis System ever again.

On the other hand, a game I love that consistently gets hated on by others is Cozy Grove. Many do not enjoy slow paced progress and real time gameplay set out for about 2h of gameplay a day.

[HayleyMulch]

As no surprise from me (as I recently posted fan art of it here on this forum), it's Balan Wonderworld. Already being a massive NiGHTS Into Dreams... fan, I was super excited with the aesthetics and premise. And I find it just a very chill platformer to play. It's simple controls mean it's not too taxing on my hands which can act up a lot with my fibromyalgia. And to me it's so funny when people are like "why is there dancing and signing?" It's because it's based in an existential musical theatre! It's just a bit of camp fun that has a lot of heart in it (even if it was plagued with development issues and just seeing the fall from grace of Yuji Naka). The novel of it is very enjoyable too and really enhances the characters and the world.

[Corrupted Unicorn]

All the reviews and impressions I've seen on Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures* are about how it's nothing like the original Pac-Man and how hard is to get anything done in the game. For me, it's a charming toybox kind of world with lots of interactible things you can get out of merely two commands and Pac-man's emotions.

Of course, I believe it's more fun when it's not played the way intended (you know, beat all levels), I just boot up the game and let Pac-Man do whatever and sometimes I influence his mood to get different results.

*obligatory shrine insert so you can read my thoughts about the game more in-depth!

As for a popular game I don't like... this one is not "popular" anymore but it was: Bendy and the Ink Machine.

I love that black-and-white, retrocartoon aesthetic, and I think it has potential for creepy but also goofy kind of horror. Because I've read people say the way these cartoons were animated is "unsettling" to them, and they used to touch themes that are more taboo nowadays. However, Bendy proceeds to do ABSOLUT3LY NOTHING with that  you could swap all the retrocartoon things with Hannah-Barbera 60's kind of cartoons, or kawaii mascots, or mutant sentient sporks from outer space, and nobody would notice. Which pisses me off because you could get something very special out of mixing old cartoons and horror, but all we get is a very forgettable game with bland gameplay - one of those "youtuber bait" games with jumpscares and ~~ohhh so much lore~~.

And don't get me wrong, I actually like those "childhood horror"/"disciples of Five Nights at Freddy's" kind of games, but Bendy is just... so shallow and souless and such a squandering of potential for me, especially with a "theme" I love so much  

[halcybutton]

Mine is Mass Effect Andromeda. The game definitely has its flaws, don't get me wrong, but I still had a lot of fun playing it. I also really enjoyed the characters. 

[EtherealSerah]

I understand why Devil May Cry 2 was such a disappointment in its day but now that it comes free with 1 and 3 it's a fun, short little power trip that puts no barriers between you and being stylish as hell. When it comes to action games, I don't really care about mechanical depth as much as I care about shit being cool and while I still regard DMC 2 as worse than the games it's sandwiched between, it wins points for me on the ability to backflip off a wall and shoot two dudes at once alone.

I also absolutely adore Black Viper on the Amiga and I think the only reason it got dunked on is that it released so late (1996 on the A500!). It's basically Road Blasters or Mach Rider if they had impeccable vibes. Absolutely incredible soundtrack and possibly my favourite overdramatic game over screen of all time.

[robkies]

definitely hogs of war and the pink panther the pinkadelic pursuit, both on psx. the second one isnt that good, but i still really like it. hogs of war, however, is fun as hell. i dont like strategic games but hogs of war is an exception, its so good and so much fun, both the single player mode and the multi player one. a brief description of the game is pigs go to war fighting for an island called "saustralasia" with swill being their main goal. its a really simple and dumb idea but the gameplay is a lot of fun lol

[Memory]

Mario is Missing, and the Mario's Early Years games on SNES are so comforting to me. I get it, they're not like, actually good, even in terms of education. but I love them. they make me smile. only the SNES versions, though.

a number of games I really love are relatively unpopular, stuff like moon and Elite Beat Agents. but the OP wasn't speaking of those. still, that's all I can think of otherwise.

as for popular games I don't care for... uhhhhhhh. that'd be a lot. though it's more just stuff I'm not into. I've not played them. aside from Splatoon, I don't like any other shooter games. I don't like horror. and I just can't do JRPGs anymore. tons of games and series I'm not interested in. I mean, there's games I've played and didn't get much out of, but I'm struggling to think of a real popular one. mostly been weird indie stuff on Steam. Hylics 2 might be the closest. hated that game. wanted to love it. but it's not like, really popular. idk

[zanarkand]

people are sooo judgemental about final fantasy x-2 because of the dress sphere system. if you haven't played it, basically you change job classes by going through a magical girl transformation into all these awesome outfits that give you different stats and abilities and i think generally people just think it's a silly dressup game and they don't appreciate the amazing story, characters, gameplay etc! it was always one of my favorites as a kid so when i started talking to other ~gamers~ as an adult and hearing the negative opinions on it i was really surprised. i think it's such a fun game, and it makes me happy to see yuna's story continue after the events of the first game. why wouldn't you want to see more of her! i think there's a remaster of both games, i'll have to check it out.

[starbreaker]

people are sooo judgemental about final fantasy x-2 because of the dress sphere system. if you haven't played it, basically you change job classes by going through a magical girl transformation into all these awesome outfits that give you different stats and abilities and i think generally people just think it's a silly dressup game and they don't appreciate the amazing story, characters, gameplay etc! it was always one of my favorites as a kid so when i started talking to other ~gamers~ as an adult and hearing the negative opinions on it i was really surprised. i think it's such a fun game, and it makes me happy to see yuna's story continue after the events of the first game. why wouldn't you want to see more of her! i think there's a remaster of both games, i'll have to check it out.

The only thing I didn't like about Final Fantasy X-2 was the title. I wasn't about to say "Final Fantasy Ten Two" in public (I go with Final Fantasy Ten, Part Two instead). At least the sequel to FFIV had a subtitle: "The After Years". As for the gameplay, what's not to like? It's basically a magical girl anime dressed up as a Final Fantasy game. It was mostly a bright, cheerful romp unlike most mainline FF titles. (No, I'm serious.)

And yes, there's a remaster of both games. I have it. It includes a second sequel not previously localized, which shows Yuna exploring a "mystery dungeon" where you make one move at a time and all of the enemies move as you do.

[zanarkand]

The only thing I didn't like about Final Fantasy X-2 was the title. I wasn't about to say "Final Fantasy Ten Two" in public (I go with Final Fantasy Ten, Part Two instead). At least the sequel to FFIV had a subtitle: "The After Years". As for the gameplay, what's not to like? It's basically a magical girl anime dressed up as a Final Fantasy game. It was mostly a bright, cheerful romp unlike most mainline FF titles. (No, I'm serious.)

And yes, there's a remaster of both games. I have it. It includes a second sequel not previously localized, which shows Yuna exploring a "mystery dungeon" where you make one move at a time and all of the enemies move as you do.

i hadn't considered that about the name but it is a bit awkward to say out loud! i did NOT know about that second sequel this sounds amazing and like i need it in my life immediately.

[starbreaker]

i hadn't considered that about the name but it is a bit awkward to say out loud! i did NOT know about that second sequel this sounds amazing and like i need it in my life immediately.

Isn't the remaster around $20 nowadays? Go get it. :)

[johnnyfangs]

People really don't like Broken Age but I kind of fell in love with it. I never donated to the Kickstarter and I played it much later, but I think it's a solid game with some fun mechanics and characters I really like.

[Memory]

I'm into quite a lot of unpopular games from the past! I've played many spanning a variety of early consoles, and I'll list a few of my favourite unpopular games here:

Dynamite Headdy

A title I rarely ever hear being talked about. Dynamite Headdy is a 2D side-scrolling platformer from 1994 for the Sega Genesis/MD, and sure, games like that were a dime-a-dozen back then, but this one stands out so much with its incredibly unique, colourful and vibrant worlds. The creativity in this game is honestly astounding, it's a bizarre and beautiful masterpiece, and is one of my all-time favourite games. Also included is a wonderful soundtrack which makes great use of the console's soundchip (in my opinion, my favourite out of all consoles from that time. The Yamaha YM2612 is a beast, there is so much awesome sounding music from lots of Genesis/MD games), a huge variety of "Heads" that Headdy can wear which gives him different powers, quirky boss battles, and challenging stages. The only thing I wish was different about this game would be the difficulty. It is pretty easy to lose a life in this game, and its difficulty is, at times, unrepentant. You only need to lose a few lives before the game is over and you have to start from the very beginning again. Beating this game is a matter of trial and error with learning how to navigate through all the stages and defeat all the bosses, and you will need a lot of patience for this. So long as you are prepared to die a lot and very slowly progress a little further into the game before dying and having to restart again, I think this game is great fun and a must-play for any fans of classic 2D platformers.

Clockwork Knight

Another Sega title, but I had to include it here, it's another one of my all-time favourite titles. This one was made for the lesser-known Sega Saturn and first released in Japan in 1994. It's another side-scrolling platformer but it's such a charm and I always loved playing it from start to finish. It's a fairly short game and isn't too difficult, nowhere near as taxing as Dynamite Headdy. I'm sure everyone who talks about this game mentions this but I'm going to mention it too: Its premise is also, coincidentally, very similar to that of the Toy Story films. Both the first Toy Story film and Clockwork Knight were developed around a year apart. Just an interesting little factoid! It's about all the toys in a bedroom coming to life and our hero, Pepperouchau, has to travel through the house (each room representing a different world) to rescue Princess Chelsea. Its story and subsequent gameplay is simple, and I love it just as it is. This game has a fun, upbeat and jazzy soundtrack and some pretty interesting characters, enemies and bosses too. Definitely worth checking out!

Little Big Adventure 2: Twinsen's Odyssey

And finally, something a bit different. This is another game I grew up playing and was a big part of my childhood. Twinsen's Oddysey is a PC game from 1997 that utilises a 3D isometric perspective and a camera you can adjust in the open-world areas of the game with the press of a button (note, you can't adjust the camera angle in the "room" segments of the game, like houses, dungeons, etc.) In this game, you will be exploring islands, and other worlds you will travel to later on in the game. The world in which Twinsen inhabits, called "Twinsun", is unexpectedly visited by aliens, called Esmers, who wish to form peaceful, diplomatic relations with the citizens of Twinsun... but this is but an elaborate ruse used to seize control of Twinsun. You are on a quest to save your world from the Esmer's relentless tyranny, and will have to solve puzzles, survive dungeons, and fight monsters. Twinsen's Odyssey is pretty big for a game of this type and from its day. I remember it took me a really long time to complete when I played it as a kid, and I had to rely on heaps of save states (yes, that's a feature in the game, and I'm so glad it is). This game also has one of my all-time favourite soundtracks from a video game... just beautiful. Passionately composed by Philippe Vachey, I can't even find the words to describe it. Have a listen!

And that's all as far as unpopular games I love goes! Thanks to anyone who read through all of this, it's greatly appreciated!

And as a final bonus, I'll make this very quick; on the other end of the scale... popular games that I don't like.

Honestly I can't think of many. I tend to enjoy most games I play. One that does come to mind is Skullgirls - I've never been into fighter games. I have played it but found it very difficult to figure out how to do any useful attacks when I'm fighting my opponent. Also not really into the whole culture that is centered around that game and others like it. From experience a lot of people I've known who are really into Skullgirls tend to be... not nice. I'll just leave it at that.