Hidden Gems

[CedarBranch]

Let us discuss those games you have found that got lost in the noise, games you think that many haven't heard of.

[Forgotten]

Let's see... As I didn't grow up with the popular franchises of Nintendo, I've got several games I consider "hidden gems". Thought I'd mention them here.

First that comes to mind from the PlayStation is Ape Escape. It's one of my favorite games next to Crash and Spyro, and it's easily one of the most innovative titles for its unique gameplay and control scheme where you used one analog stick to move and the other to use gadgets. In fact it's the first PlayStation game to require use of analog sticks, but is for some reason underrated and hardly anyone knows about it. I think it's probably due to the lack of hype or something, it didn't sell well. I totally love the music from this game.
The second and third games are both great games, though they aren't as innovative since it's basically the same formula with a few additions, but as a fan of the first game, I loved them both. The third game even had a crossover with Metal Gear Solid, but it still didn't get enough love.

Another one of my favorite platformers was SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom, okay it's a licensed game based off SpongeBob, but that aside, it's really one of the decent ones out of many that follows the "collect-a-thon" formula of Super Mario 64, it stays true to the series itself (though that point only applies to SpongeBob fans), and the gameplay is good, I personally liked the controllable characters and jump physics, as well as unlockable special moves later on. The main objective is to collect "Golden Spatulas" (Stars in SM64), from several missions in the levels themselves, from slides, to minigames, mini-bosses, platforming, and so on. Its soundtrack isn't crap either, they're awesome, especially the mini-boss/enemy ambush music and the bosses.
The three main bosses are well-designed and challenging too. However, I'm glad it seems to have gained some attention fairly recently, with a cut level and cut boss phase being found in the code and made playable through hacks. But sadly, not every game gets that attention.

There's Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, obscure "2.5D" platformers with some interesting gameplay mechanics, puzzles and fantastic level designs, and for a platformer it has rather complicated plots. Can't say much for the first game as I haven't beaten it myself, but the second game for the PlayStation 2 is just fantastic, the level designs and atmosphere really makes me nostalgic for it. Gameplay wise, the levels are rarely repetitive, in that most areas of a level don't play or look alike each other, let alone levels, except revisited levels of course. Some of the boss fights are creative.

I just wish every game gets as much coverage as Mario, with pages around the web written about them, or "hackers" exploring their source, because who knows if there's something interesting hidden within them, nobody knows. But almost every gamer knows almost every secret about the popular ones.

I know I'm a fan of the platformer genre, but I know there are hidden gems outside of that genre.