GB and GBC hidden gems?

[Reaperman]

In the 'race drivin' theme of primitive 3d, I'll second the recommendation of 'X,' or 'Ekkusu'--the second being the only possible way to search for it on ebay, trust me. It leans a little toward the tech demo end of the spectrum, but if you'd like to watch the little 8-bitter sweat a bit while pushing some mad 80's wireframes, this is the game for you.

 

It more than triples the fun if you pronounce 'Ekkusu' in your overly deep, 1970's bad samurai movie voice.

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1it6TgZ5ylk

 

 

 

Otherwise, for 'actually playing' and not just staring at, I recommend Mario's Picross 2. It's got some really neat archaeologically-themed window dressing on the typical picross gameplay. Yes it's mario, but we never got this one, and it's from an era before picross was cool, so it's still a bit of a hidden gem.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m2k6YF6PJQ

 

Edited February 9, 2016 by Reaperman

[+Black_Tiger]

Magical Chase looks and feels more like a 16-bit game, complete with overlapping layers of parallax and transparency effects.

 

 

[jfitzenr]

Trying not to repeat suggestions... a lot of them are great (I LOVE Sword of Hope!) It's also hard for me to figure what counts as hidden or obscure anymore, but eh. Here goes.

 

Mercenary Force - I logged ludicrous hours on this when I was younger. It's basically just a horizontal shooter, but you hire a squad of mercenaries with different abilities and between that and switching your party formation during the game there's a lot of depth and possibilities.

 

James Bond 007 - Might want to have a walkthrough pulled up because some of the 'puzzles' turn into ludicrous "fetch this to fetch that to fetch this" stuff that's kinda annoying, but I always really enjoyed the overall gameplay style on this one.

 

Heia...hee...Heia..

 

Heiankyo Alien - Might not be THAT obscure I'm really not totally sure, but it's a really fun adaptation of an old-school arcade classic.

 

Penguin Wars - Yes. Penguin wars. It's... AWESOME. Simple concept, but I lurv it. Madcap crazy awesome multiplayer... I always wish there was a sequel or updated version on SNES or something, because this would've been a ridiculously awesome game to sit around with some buds and some budweisers with.

 

Wave Race - Maybe not 'hidden' but more like 'forgotten,' (nobody seems to remember this series anymore) it's still a lot of fun

 

Kirby's Pinball Land - Probably too obvious for this list but just play it

[empsolo]

Faceball

Ghostbusters 2 - Not a port of the crummy Activision NES game. This is based on New Ghostbusters 2 for NES/Famicom, which never got a US release.

 

What's great about this game is that this was done by HAL Laboratory and the late Satoru Iwata was the producer for this game.

[English Invader]

What's great about this game is that this was done by HAL Laboratory and the late Satoru Iwata was the producer for this game.

 

That in itself doesn't make it a good game but it's still a good game nonetheless. Sadly, it doesn't have the 8-bit renditions of the movie soundtrack that New Ghostbusters II has but (as already mentioned) you can change ghostbuster on the fly and there are some neat power-ups as well. Also completely different level design.

[horseradish]

Just recently picked up the GB port of Defender and Joust (one of the arcade classics series) and while I'm ashamed to admit that I never played Defender in the arcade, I can speak to the excellent quality of the Joust port.

 

There's a Mickey Mouse game that plays similarly to the Rescue Rangers NES title that's also fantastic.

[davidbrit2]

Just recently picked up the GB port of Defender and Joust (one of the arcade classics series) and while I'm ashamed to admit that I never played Defender in the arcade, I can speak to the excellent quality of the Joust port.

If it's the original monochrome version of Joust + Defender, that port of Joust is actually rather poor. I recall the physics being kind of weird, and I think there are only two types of enemy combatants. Now the color version of Joust + Defender is another beast entirely, and may well be the best home port of Joust that isn't just an emulation of the arcade version (Genesis and SNES are debatable - don't remember if there's emulation of the original ROMs going on there). It's right up there with the 7800 Joust.

 

I haven't played enough of either version of Defender to really comment on if one was substantially better than the other, but I remember both being reasonably good.

[English Invader]

Batman: the Animated Series - fans of TAS will love this; some of the best graphics and sound on the original GB and a very accomplished Castlevania clone.

[horseradish]

If it's the original monochrome version of Joust + Defender, that port of Joust is actually rather poor. I recall the physics being kind of weird, and I think there are only two types of enemy combatants. Now the color version of Joust + Defender is another beast entirely, and may well be the best home port of Joust that isn't just an emulation of the arcade version (Genesis and SNES are debatable - don't remember if there's emulation of the original ROMs going on there). It's right up there with the 7800 Joust.

 

I haven't played enough of either version of Defender to really comment on if one was substantially better than the other, but I remember both being reasonably good.

Ah

 

I dunno I liked it. Maybe I dont have enough experience with the arcade game (which is pretty likely), but I loved the classic game boy port.

 

 

 

Anyway, maybe I missed it, but I also really love Burger Time Deluxe and that weird Godzilla puzzle game.

 

I'm also a big fan of most of the capcom disney games (the ones based on the NES games, ect) on the GB.

 

Nemesis and Nemesis 2 are also fantastic.

[davidbrit2]

Ah

 

I dunno I liked it. Maybe I dont have enough experience with the arcade game (which is pretty likely), but I loved the classic game boy port.

 

 

 

Anyway, maybe I missed it, but I also really love Burger Time Deluxe and that weird Godzilla puzzle game.

 

I'm also a big fan of most of the capcom disney games (the ones based on the NES games, ect) on the GB.

 

Nemesis and Nemesis 2 are also fantastic.

 

It's not a terrible game in and of itself, but it was disappointing as far as accuracy. Make sure you try GBC Joust.

 

The Data East arcade ports were cool, because they typically had significantly more content than the original. Lock 'n Chase was really great.