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Oddest mini games in video games

SliceSabre

SliceSabre

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,556
Easy thread, what are some of the oddest mini games you've played in a video game? What about it made it odd? Did you finish the mini games or at least play it a lot? Did you enjoy it?

Let's talk about'em in this thread.

I'll start:

Megaman Legends 2 100 questions quiz:

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Now you're probably wondering why I put this one here. The reason I put it there isn't really the quiz itself but the questions this quiz was asking of 13 year old me. Some of these I was utterly stump by and was asking my mom the answers because I didn't have a computer at home. (This was the year 2000)

I mean it isn't asking game related question but like actual real life things like:

The Christian movement to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula was called?
Who ruled over the Roman Empire at its zenith?
The rebellion against East India company in 1857 by Indian mercenaries is?
Who was the composer of Canon in D Minor?
How many atmospheres can a 30-meter water resistant watch stand?
Which of the following has the lowest chance of being born?
Which of the following empires lasted longest?

These questions were waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fucking hard for me. So I went to the library and printed out the answers but I think there was also a timer on the questions and the questions were randomized so I couldn't just remember the order.

I can't recall if I ever beat it to be honest.
 
Annubis

Annubis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,653
The massage minigame in Final Fantasy X-2
Anyone in the same house as you would think you're playing porn.

 
Rodney McKay

Rodney McKay

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,180
Never played it myself, but I remember hearing that Donkey Kong 64 had a mini game (I think it may have been playing actually old Donkey Kong), but you had to get a high score on it or something and it was really hard.

Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts had a shooting gallery mini game that was pretty much impossible to get the platinum medal (or whatever the highest medal was in that game).
You could tell the developers knew it too, because to get the 100% achievement in the game it was one less than all the medals because of that mini game.
If I remember right he leaderboard only had like 1-3 people who had EVER gotten a high enough score in it.
 
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Shift Breaker

Shift Breaker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,483


Shenmue II, a serious game in which you travel across China on a quest to avenge your father by looking for a high ranking member of a Chinese mafia and becoming more proficient at martial arts has duck racing. Duck racing! I didn't know about this until a couple of years ago.

It's brilliant.
 
themadswagger

themadswagger

Banned
Nov 3, 2017
167
"Hero Klungo Sssavesss Teh World" from Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts is a masterpiece.
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It stars this guy, who made the game himself:
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It even received a DLC sequel in which Klungo saves the universe.
 
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mrmickfran

mrmickfran

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
26,665
Gongaga
Any Danganronpa ones

Because they have absolutely zero context with the rest of the game and are just weird.

"Hey Kaede, can you find out who the Killer is?"
"Yeah, hang on, let me just pick up some hot chicks in my taxi."
 
Sean Mirrsen

Sean Mirrsen

Banned
May 9, 2018
1,159
The entirety of Space Rangers, Space Rangers 2 especially.

If the sudden shift to arcade shoot-em-up in hyperspace jumps or blackholes, or the jump to planetary RTS gameplay reminiscent of Scorched Earth aren't enough, the CYOA-style text adventures in government quests provide minigames ranging from simple classic puzzles with unique local twists, to enhanced games of rock-paper-scissors disguised as battlemech fights, to turn-based strategy card games, all-out mini-RPG's, business management, and vehicular combat and trading games. It's an absolute madhouse and it is glorious.
 
DisasterMaster

DisasterMaster

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
551
mrmickfran said:
Any Danganronpa ones

Because they have absolutely zero context with the rest of the game and are just weird.

"Hey Kaede, can you find out who the Killer is?"
"Yeah, hang on, let me just pick up some hot chicks in my taxi."
Click to expand...
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(Kaede making vroom vroom noises with her eyes closed as the rest of the room stares at her for a solid minute)
 
PSqueak

PSqueak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,464
That Fortune street lite game in Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep was fun as hell for me, but it also was such a weird addition to the game.
 
Bomblord

Bomblord

Self-requested ban
Banned
Jan 11, 2018
6,390
In the action RPG Dark Cloud 2 the Spida golf mini-game which I may add IS ON EVERY NON-BOSS STAGE is required to get all the townspeople in the game as at least one character requires you to hit an obscene number of holes. I don't know how much more is tied to it because I avoided it like the plague

dark-cloud-2-spheda.jpg


It was also frustratingly difficult as it was impossible to tell your shot range on top of the fact that a lot of the courses were in long maze-like corridors with the ball bouncing off any geometry rather violently.
 
Catshade

Catshade

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,197
FF 7's snowboarding. Not odd in itself, but it's an odd tonal shift after what just happened to one of your party members earlier.
 
woopWOOP

woopWOOP

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,654
Shift Breaker said:


Shenmue II, a serious game in which you travel across China on a quest to avenge your father by looking for a high ranking member of a Chinese mafia and becoming more proficient at martial arts has duck racing. Duck racing! I didn't know about this until a couple of years ago.

It's brilliant.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Something about the silly music and the repeated zoom-in shot of the happy guy in white is cracking me up
 
Corporate Clown

Corporate Clown

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,145
Yeah, it's the Yakuza series for sure. By extension, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise has some interesting ones. Kenshiro mixing alcoholic drinks like a mad man and then presenting them by declaring "You are already drunk!" is weird as hell, but pretty fun.
 
Het_Nkik

Het_Nkik

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,389
Hey, Silver Case also had a 100 questions quiz with some pretty out there (and also great) questions. One of my favorites:

m0rLf4w.jpg
 
Pyro

Pyro

God help us the mods are making weekend threads
Member
Jul 30, 2018
14,505
United States
The CPR part in FFVII was weird and hilarious as it took me so long to get it down I thought I would get a game over or have it be some branching narrative because I couldn't save the person.

latest
 

Syril

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,895
The battle arena in Xenogears was pretty busted but bizarrely extensive fighting game put right in the middle of a turn-based RPG. You could play as a ton of different Gears and giant monsters, and it also had a fair amount of infinite combos.
 
Lowblood

Lowblood

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,163
Doesn't God Hand have Chihuahua racing?

It's not quite the oddest, but I never managed to 100% Echo Night (atmospheric semi-horror exploration game) because you have to play Blackjack against a ghost and I'm pretty sure the AI cheats. I love odd mini games, but don't tie them to actual progression or anything.

(Though RE7's DLC managed to make Blackjack work within the narrative pretty well)
 
Ra

Ra

Rap Genius
Moderator
Oct 27, 2017
12,196
Dark Space
Sean Mirrsen said:
The entirety of Space Rangers, Space Rangers 2 especially.

If the sudden shift to arcade shoot-em-up in hyperspace jumps or blackholes, or the jump to planetary RTS gameplay reminiscent of Scorched Earth aren't enough, the CYOA-style text adventures in government quests provide minigames ranging from simple classic puzzles with unique local twists, to enhanced games of rock-paper-scissors disguised as battlemech fights, to turn-based strategy card games, all-out mini-RPG's, business management, and vehicular combat and trading games. It's an absolute madhouse and it is glorious.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Great freaking example. "Hey I know you're in the middle of saving the known universe, but can you go win this alien ingredient pizza making competition for our government real quick?"

Damn I love me some Space Rangers 2. I have 450 hours in SR2:Reboot and another 300 into the HD: A World Apart rerelease.
 
Qwark

Qwark

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,010
themadswagger said:
"Hero Klungo Sssavesss Teh World" from Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts is a masterpiece.
latest

It stars this guy, who made the game himself:
latest

It even received a DLC sequel in which Klungo saves the universe.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Omg, is this the minigame that could randomly freeze and you would just lose because Klungo makes bugs? This made me rage so hard.
 
platypotamus

platypotamus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,333
Greg NYC3 said:
The biggest mystery that I wish Mueller could solve is how any of these idiots managed to get as far as they did in life.
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CloudCircus said:
I don't remember that one
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Goldenroad said:
Yeah, can you provide some more info on that one? I googled it and came up with nothing. And I've played through it at least three times.
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theotherMittens said:
Dammit I was gonna say this.
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Sinfamy said:
Link?
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Bomblord said:
In the action RPG Dark Cloud 2 the Spida golf mini-game which I may add IS ON EVERY NON-BOSS STAGE is required to get all the townspeople in the game as at least one character requires you to hit an obscene number of holes. I don't know how much more is tied to it because I avoided it like the plague

dark-cloud-2-spheda.jpg


It was also frustratingly difficult as it was impossible to tell your shot range on top of the fact that a lot of the courses were in long maze-like corridors with the ball bouncing off any geometry rather violently.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
LakeEarth said:
I think he means Dark Cloud 2, not Dark Souls 2.
Click to expand...
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Omg I'm so sorry and embarrassed
 

mrmoose

Member
Nov 13, 2017
21,131
It fit the game, but I still don't know how that minigame in the original God Of War didn't earn them an AO rating.

One of the worst minigames has to be the NBA 2K all star games in the modern era. They would change the slam dunk contest every year, and usually it would be some button pressing rhythm game that they wouldn't allow you to practice and had some kind of lag making it impossible. You literally couldn't try it again unless you replayed all star weekend.
 
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