Cool, innovative mechanics wasted on mediocre/bad games

[Kalmakov]

What are some examples of cool mechanics/systems in games that you feel were wasted on the game they were featured in?

For example, there is an old Doujin Fighting Game called Million Knights Vermilion.

Now, this game is...bad. Like, really bad. Jank doesn't even begin to describe it. But something I've always remembered from this game was it's central mechanic, which was to lock the screen in place. Meaning, you could temporarily create a corner situation anywhere on the screen, leading to mix-ups and combo extensions. Pretty cool! Problem is, the rest of the game ain't too hot. Any other examples of this?

 

[KushalaDaora]

Not really innovative, but companion interacting with each other in your base ship is easily among the few things that Mass Effect Andromeda did right.

 

[MattyG]

The Nemesis system in Shadow of Mordor. I don't even think the system was implemented particularly well in it (mostly boiling down to orcs constantly returning like "AHHH, you thought I was dead but I wasn't!"), but the idea of enemies being more like persistent, living characters rather than just fodder is a promising one

 

[DrArchon]

OP, it sounds like you need to play more Skullgirls, because that's just one of Squiggly's supers.

On-topic: A MOBA/Fighter hybrid is a cool idea. Too bad the only example of that is fucking Guilty Gear 2.

 

[Syril]

Now, this game is...bad. Like, really bad. Jank doesn't even begin to describe it. But something I've always remembered from this game was it's central mechanic, which was to lock the screen in place. Meaning, you could temporarily create a corner situation anywhere on the screen, leading to mix-ups and combo extensions. Pretty cool! Problem is, the rest of the game ain't too hot. Any other examples of this?

Click to shrink...

Squigly in Skullgirls has a move that does this exact thing.

 

[capitalCORN]

There was an old DOS Take 2 game called Millenia: Altered Destinies. You play a space trucker brought back in time to stop an inevitable collapse of galactic civilization due to a virulent species. To do this you plant the seeds of 3 or 4 civilizaitons across space and try to lead them by jumping between time periods, altering history by introducing one cultures advances to another, and also advising on defining historical intersections of said species. Of course the tricky part of the game is to prosper all the species simultaneously so they contribute their tech trees against the enemy force. In between you do ship maintenance and beat up multiverse versions of you probably trying to do the same thing.
It sounds like a lot, but it's an old game and pretty simple to brute force. Also really fucking rough around the edges. But the idea of the game with time travel and diplomacy is something I still really like.

 

[ciddative]

Nemesis System.

Shadow of Mordor was mediocre deja vu the game, but nemesis was pretty cool.

 

[RecRoulette]

The Nemesis system in Shadow of Mordor. I don't even think the system was implemented particularly well in it (mostly boiling down to orcs constantly returning like "AHHH, you thought I was dead but I wasn't!"), but the idea of enemies being more like persistent, living characters rather than just fodder is a promising one

Click to shrink...

Did any other game do anything with that? That fucking mechanic was good enough for sites to give it Game of the Year awards.

For sure thought every game under the sun was gonna steal it

 

[Kapryov]

It's a little thing, but I want to say holding hands from Fable 3.

It was so simple, if an NPC liked you enough you could hold their hand and lead them anywhere. They'd be directly by your side, no janky pathfinding issues, it was so convenient.
The amount of times you just want to strangle your NPC companions in other games...

 

[Dead Man Typing]

Terrain deformation in the game Fracture looked really cool.
Unfortunately it got badly reviewed and became one of many games from that early 360 era which seemed to have an interesting tech gimmick and not much else.

I'd really like to play it myself one day.

 

[Tatsu91]

Terrain deformation in the game Fracture looked really cool.
Unfortunately it got badly reviewed and became one of many games from that early 360 era which seemed to have an interesting tech gimmick and not much else.

I'd really like to play it myself one day.

Click to shrink...

i remember playing it in 2008 or so and tbh what i remember it was not a fun game and honestly just poorly designed i had more fun with sonic 06 tbh

 

[Krvavi Abadas]

The

Spoiler

Effect and Cause time-travel mechanic.

In Titanfall 2.

The SP mode isn't bad, mind you. But it doesn't really live up to the hype outside of that segment. It's a pretty standard decent FPS campaign otherwise.

Spoiler: notes

They could have easily turned it into a 4-hour puzzle game in the vein of something like Portal, but they didn't.

 

[MattyG]

Did any other game do anything with that? That fucking mechanic was good enough for sites to give it Game of the Year awards.

For sure thought every game under the sun was gonna steal it

Click to shrink...

AC Odyssey did something similar with their mercenary system, but they didn't do anything too different from the Shadow games. Other than that I can't think of any, which yeah, is shocking

 

[Jakisthe]

The

Spoiler

Effect and Cause time-travel mechanic.

In Titanfall 2.

The SP mode isn't bad, mind you. But it doesn't really live up to the hype outside of that segment. It's a pretty standard decent FPS campaign otherwise.

Spoiler: notes

They could have easily turned it into a 4-hour puzzle game in the vein of something like Portal, but they didn't.

Click to shrink...

Oh man, so much this. This sequence is cool on the surface, but it's a)really short and b)super underdeveloped. Even with the full powers, there's 1, maybe 2 parts where you're like "that was fun and different mechanically" afterwards and even those are like....eh...
It's really not as impressive as people give it credit for, and certainly doesn't push the campaign to the heights that are claimed for it.

OP, that wall lock mechanic reminds me of Aganos in KI; he could make walls to lock in his opponents, pick walls up to smack people with, punch them through the walls...it was great.

 

[Lant_War]

If somebody mentions Gravity Rush 2 they're getting a slap

 

[NamasteWager]

If somebody mentions Gravity Rush 2 they're getting a slap

Click to shrink...

I feel you. Gravity Rush 2 is in my top 3 games of all time.

 

[eXistor]

Nemesis system in the Middle Earth games.