Games that, in your opinion, were/are overrated due to being inaccessible

[Phediuk]

Games that are/were hyped up due to being in some way hard to play: they require expensive hardware/peripherals, they're out of print, they're not in English, they can't be emulated, they literally don't exist anymore, they require a huge time investment, or some combination thereof.

I remember back in the early 2000s it was fashionable to say Sonic CD was the best Sonic game; at that point the only options for playing it were to track down a Sega CD along with the game, or the (somewhat inferior) Windows 95 version, both of which were out-of-print. It was something of a legendary game, a status symbol among fans, a kind of hazing ritual to prove you were really hardcore. The halo effect even continued to a large extent after it was the centerpiece of Sonic Gems Collection (PS2/Gamecube, 2005), perhaps because that was also a limited release. However, I've rarely heard anyone call Sonic CD the best since the 2012 re-release for digital storefronts, with many people complaining about the labyrinthine level design and uninuitive time travel mechanics. I still think Sonic CD is a pretty neat game but people back then hyping it as one of the best games ever etc. were overselling it, hard.

other examples?

 

[Unknownlight]

Honestly I came into this topic to complain about Sonic CD. I was so hyped for Gems Collection so I could finally play "the best Sonic game of all time".

 

[RetroRunner]

Steel Battalion wasn't that great the one time I played it

 

[Sheepinator]

Neo Geo and games. The console cost the modern equivalent of $1,400 and the games cost the modern equivalent of around $440 each.

 

[Cameron122]

Steel Battalion wasn't that great the one time I played it

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I was gonna say this

 

[ascii42]

If I were willing to spend the $1500 or so it costs to buy Panzer Dragoon Saga these days I could tell you if it belongs in this thread.

 

[Phediuk]

Neo Geo and games. The console cost the modern equivalent of $1,400 and the games cost the modern equivalent of around $440 each.

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Neo Turf Masters, though.

 

[Blue_Toad507]

I remember a lot of praise for Starfox 2, which wasn't released officially until the SNES Mini Classic. Played it and couldn't really see what the fuss was about, in all honesty.

 

[Lobster Roll]

As much as I adore the game and would freak out if it was ever localized, Mother 3 has been put on a pedestal that I don't think it would occupy if it was regularly available from the start.

 

[Tambini]

FF Type 0

 

[elbageluno]

If I were willing to spend the $1500 or so it costs to buy Panzer Dragoon Saga these days I could tell you if it belongs in this thread.

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I am a big Saturn fan, it was my first ever console, but I seriously doubt that PDS is, like, the greatest RPG of that gen like some say. Never played it due to the price of course.

 

[DECK’ARD]

If I were willing to spend the $1500 or so it costs to buy Panzer Dragoon Saga these days I could tell you if it belongs in this thread.

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I was going to post Saga actually. I thought it was good but not great, and that Zwei is the best Panzer Dragoon game.

Saga has a lot of good ideas, especially the combat system, but I thought the insanely repetitive tower near the end of the game dragged the whole thing down.

 

[Poimandres]

Steel Battalion wasn't that great the one time I played it

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It's absolutely elevated by the crazy controller though.

 

[Phediuk]

I recall Radiant Silvergun for the Saturn being THE import status-symbol game back in the day on game forums. That reverence seemed to disappear instantly once it was re-released for 360 in 2011, though. Not a bad game or anything, just not the second coming it was hyped as.

 

[mute]

FF Type 0

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I think that this would have made a bigger splash if it actually released in the west when it did originally on PSP...I think it had a lot of things going for it at the time that were cool (like the world map) and I still prefer the look and colors of the original version (thank goodness for the fan translation)

But nowhere near good enough for the hype it had built up by the time it finally came out here, for sure.

 

[EllipsisBreak]

I'm going to say Cubivore for the Gamecube. It had a few decent ideas, but it ultimately wasn't very fun to play.

If I were willing to spend the $1500 or so it costs to buy Panzer Dragoon Saga these days I could tell you if it belongs in this thread.

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That one is actually pretty good.

 

[Animus Vox]

Ikaruga or maybe Skies of Arcadia on Dreamcast.

 

[DECK’ARD]

I recall Radiant Silvergun for the Saturn being THE import status-symbol game back in the day on game forums. That reverence seemed to disappear instantly once it was re-released for 360 in 2011, though. Not a bad game or anything, just not the second coming it was hyped as.

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It was very much the Second Coming at the time of its release. It redefined shoot em ups for me, and is still my favourite to this day.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Sonic CD is still one of the best platformers ever. Latecomers just wanted it to play like Sonic 2 and not have to explore.

It's wild how underrated Sonic CD is now but I suppose that's the story of classic Sega in general.

I don't think Sonic CD fans from the '90s were hyping the game up for elitist hardcore status reasons or anything. It's just a much different demographic than the crowd playing it 20 years late with different taste in games.

 

[Kapryov]

Final Fantasy Type 0 was for some reason super hyped for its HD release, and I still remember the drama when it skipped the Vita.
It was pretty much forgotten after wide release, I even see people suggested not to even try it out.

edit: I'm too slow, this was mentioned several times already, oh well

 

[rude]

persona 5 due to its big gap between JP and western release. So many best game/RPG of all time posts in the neogaf import thread. how laughable.

 

[Jaymageck]

Sonic CD is my go to as well. The level design, IMO, is trash. Wacky Workbench is the best example of this. That's just a terribly un-fun experience. Yet childhood marketing made it out that I was missing the second coming.

 

[TC McQueen]

The original X-Com by Jullian Gollop was definitely overrated due to how hard it was to play without the manual, because it was made pre-tutorials becoming standard, and way before many of the massive UX/UI improvements games have made.

 

[Jimnymebob]

It's a cool game, but the whole Vib Ribbon NA controversy at that E3, where the insane backlash and anger to Layden's speech eventually led them to release it in America for the first time, where people unsurprisingly stopped caring about it approximately 2 minutes after release.

 

[DECK’ARD]

It's a cool game, but the whole Vib Ribbon NA controversy at that E3, where the insane backlash and anger to Layden's speech eventually led them to release it in America for the first time, where people unsurprisingly stopped caring about it approximately 2 minutes after release.

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I must have missed the controversy.

But yeah Vib Ribbon was cool just not that good!

 

[SirKai]

FF Type 0

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This. In the dark era of FFXIII/FFXIV 1.0, this got a lot of clout as the real deal that folks outside Japan were missing out on.

 

[Phediuk]

It's a cool game, but the whole Vib Ribbon NA controversy at that E3, where the insane backlash and anger to Layden's speech eventually led them to release it in America for the first time, where people unsurprisingly stopped caring about it approximately 2 minutes after release.

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the thing that sucks about Vib Ribbon is that its central feature -- i.e., generating levels from CDs -- doesn't really work, and the game comes with only 3 levels of its own. After 15 minutes you've seen everything. It was a full-priced demo (or even more because people paid extra to import.)

Monster Rancher made way better on the whole "generate content with CDs" gimmick imo.

 

[Jimnymebob]

I must have missed the controversy.

But yeah Vib Ribbon was cool just not that good!

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It was mentioned out of nowhere as a game that was like an example of what makes PS so special, and a bunch of people took that as a "oh my god Vib-Ribbon remaster yooooooo!" situation, then they proceeded to announce some random other game, and that was it. Internet got vocally mad, and they eventually rereleased it as a PS1 Classic on PSN.

 

[YohraUtopia]

At release, "can it run" Crysis was not a joke. The graphics, physics, etc. were a huge part of the selling point (and even some of the design) and even some great PCs couldn't run it. Now you can play Crysis on anything and it's.... a pretty ok shooter.

There's a long list of Nintendo games (going way back) that require peripherals and a short list of ones that are worth the trouble (although those few tend to be really good, like most recently ring fit is one of the few fitness games I've found to genuinely work and be fun--- although speaking of a different kind of accessibility, I'd double dip just to get a digital copy of the game if it was possible.)

I'm don't want to say the obvious thing cause I don't think it will be popular but From games

 

[TheMoon]

this thread title, man.

the words "overrated" and "inaccessible" do not belong there.

 

[brinstar]

Sonic CD was the big one for me. That game is butt lol

 

[Tailzo]

If I were willing to spend the $1500 or so it costs to buy Panzer Dragoon Saga these days I could tell you if it belongs in this thread.

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The japanese version was very cheap in Tokyo in 2013. So I will say I loved it. Is it a legendary game? Maybe not, but it has a very strong identity with incredible nusic, made up language, strange world and is a bit shorter than expected given that it is a 4 disc game. It is held back by some very early full 3d worlds and low framerate. But it is among my favorite rpgs still.

 

[Palazzo]

this thread title, man.

the words "overrated" and "inaccessible" do not belong there.

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I think in this case, the term "inaccessible" actually does apply. A game that requires a (now out-of-print and likely expensive) peripheral, a game that is only available in Japanese and that requires reading to fully enjoy, a game that is prohibitively difficult to buy at a reasonable price in an era where emulation wasn't quite as easy - all of these are, literally, inaccessible, or at least less accessible.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

The japanese version was very cheap in Tokyo in 2013. So I will say I loved it. Is it a legendary game? Maybe not, but it has a very strong identity with incredible nusic, made up language, strange world and is a bit shorter than expected given that it is a 4 disc game. It is held back by some very early full 3d worlds and low framerate. But it is among my favorite rpgs still.

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The Japanese version has gone up in price a bit but it's still way cheaper than the NA and PAL versions. I think the language barrier on the JP version would be too high for those without Japanese knowledge, though.

I think it's excellent but I'm sure if it ever gets re-released in English there will be some people calling it overrated. You can't please everyone, especially with decades long hyped games.

 

[SigmasonicX]

I remember that back in the day, Rockman & Forte was considered by many Mega Man fans to be the secret best game. After it became more widely available in the US (granted, with a much worse GBA port at first) opinions on it waned considerably. I do think it's a solid game, but much of the difficulty comes from cheapness rather than good design.

 

[Griffith]

Skies of Arcadia on Dreamcast.

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I agree with most of the takes on this thread but I have to stomp my foot down on this one. Skies of Arcadia is many things, but overrated is not one of them.

 

[Kurekure Takora]

I recall Radiant Silvergun for the Saturn being THE import status-symbol game back in the day on game forums. That reverence seemed to disappear instantly once it was re-released for 360 in 2011, though. Not a bad game or anything, just not the second coming it was hyped as.

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It was very much the Second Coming at the time of its release. It redefined shoot em ups for me, and is still my favourite to this day.

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The presentation, graphics, music, boss fights etc. in Radiant Silvergun was sooooo cool, but I can't say it's the most "fun" shooter I've played.

My picks:

Mischief Makers - Yes, it's a very quirky and weird 2D N64 game that might have have cost $80 back in the day. When I played through it about 8 years ago, it felt more like a collection of concepts (some good, some bad) for a 2D platformer strung together, disguised as a game, but not a cohesive project. Figuring our the shake mechanic was also more trouble than it was worth. It was cool but I haven't cared to play it again.

Grandia (Saturn) - It got some hype amongst some Saturn owners as something that could compete with FFVII, but when it came out in America on the PS1, not many people cared about it.

Faselei! - NGPC owners made a big deal about the game, the system's swan song produced by ex-Square staff. Now no one talks about it.

My own games I may be overrating :)

Goemon's Great Adventure (N64) and Ganbare Goemon 2 (SNES) - The two best platformers I've played that aren't part of the Mario or Donkey Kong series. Goemon on the N64 was expensive last I checked, and Goemon 2 on the SNES requires the patch if you can't read Japanese.

 

[Phediuk]

Doom 64 is a reverse example of this. Manny sources ignored it completely, and most of the ones that mentioned it treated it as a port of Doom, until it was re-released in 2020 on Steam and it became more widely-known as a completely different game. It's more popular than it was back in the day. There was a whole unique Doom game just sitting under everyone's noses for 20+ years.

Granted, being stuck on the N64 and not supporting mods will do that.

 

[Sacrilicious]

Yeah, Sonic CD is one of the worst offenders here.

It's not particularly good and its early reputation became utterly baffling to me once I actually played it.

 

[PAFenix]

This. In the dark era of FFXIII/FFXIV 1.0, this got a lot of clout as the real deal that folks outside Japan were missing out on.

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And what a wet fart it turned out to be when it did come out here.

I think that this would have made a bigger splash if it actually released in the west when it did originally on PSP...I think it had a lot of things going for it at the time that were cool (like the world map) and I still prefer the look and colors of the original version (thank goodness for the fan translation)

But nowhere near good enough for the hype it had built up by the time it finally came out here, for sure.

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Essentially this lol

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Doom 64 is a reverse example of this. Manny sources ignored it completely, and most of the ones that mentioned it treated it as a port of Doom, until it was re-released in 2020 on Steam and it became more widely-known as a completely different game. It's more popular than it was back in the day. There was a whole unique Doom game just sitting under everyone's noses for 20+ years.

Granted, being stuck on the N64 and not supporting mods will do that.

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There is wider access now but the N64 version didn't seem particularly obscure to me. N64 fans seem to talk about it a decent amount over the years.

 

[Don Fluffles]

Trials of Mana/Seiken Densetsu 3.

Combat is way too slow and there aren't enough spells early on to make it more interesting.

The remake is only held back by the lack of multiplayer.

 

[MinerArcaniner]

Neo Geo and games. The console cost the modern equivalent of $1,400 and the games cost the modern equivalent of around $440 each.

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Agreed.

I love SNK fighters, but not THAT much.

 

[General Zod]

Came here to say Steel Battalion and Neo Geo. Way out of my price range back then.

 

[Patron Macabre]

Is this my chance to shit on Nier Replicant for being the worst game ever created?
(The sequel, Nier Automata, is great though).

 

[Dary]

There is wider access now but the N64 version didn't seem particularly obscure to me. N64 fans seem to talk about it a decent amount over the years.

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N64 fans are pretty obscure, tbf!

 

[Mullet2000]

FF Type 0

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This has to be the best example of this. What a crap game.

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

If I were willing to spend the $1500 or so it costs to buy Panzer Dragoon Saga these days I could tell you if it belongs in this thread.

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I am a big Saturn fan, it was my first ever console, but I seriously doubt that PDS is, like, the greatest RPG of that gen like some say. Never played it due to the price of course.

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It easily stands shoulder to shoulder with the best RPG's of the era, it's an incredible game for it's time. But simply put, no video game is worth that much purely to play it.

 

[TeenageFBI]

I recall Radiant Silvergun for the Saturn being THE import status-symbol game back in the day on game forums. That reverence seemed to disappear instantly once it was re-released for 360 in 2011, though. Not a bad game or anything, just not the second coming it was hyped as.

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Ikaruga's significantly better.

I still wish Radiant Silvergun was rebalanced to remove the weapon powerup system, or at least standardize the powerups so you're always at the same power level on a given level.

As it is, the game forces you to engage with the chaining system if you want to do well on a single credit. Makes it more of a puzzle game than a shmup. Ikaruga has a similar chaining system, but that was only necessary for high scores, not survival.

 

[rude]

Is this my chance to shit on Nier Replicant for being the worst game ever created?
(The sequel, Nier Automata, is great though).

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these were my thoughts after playing it for the first time with the remaster. it's really is quite bad. the years between the remaster's release and automata's release where people relentlessly shit on automata to prop replicant up....weird.