Mappy is one of the most addictive classic Namco games that is generally overlooked but just kinda acknowledged, But for people who gave it the time of day its usually agreed upon that its an amazing game. Poor Mappy just couldn't stand up to Puck-Man.
Mappy is great. I always wanted an awesome crossover game with all the Namco Classic arcade characters. An original game not those arcade collections they always release.
Believe or not, Punch Out might be more popular than Wario Land, but it's on the same boat. I mean both franchises had their latest entry on the Wii era (almost 10 years), on Super Smash: Little Mac is a powerful character and got fairly obscure references but yet the trophy section feels empty, just as Wario's (The Wii era is when he got "recognized" as a true character) with the new launch title ARMS and with the retirement of the creator that's when the final nail was ready for its coffin. Sooner or later the new Smash will be announced and Mac will suffer the same fate as Wario.
This one in highly underrated outside of Japan and countries with "Famiclones" (Unlicensed Famicom clones in China, Poland, Russia, etc.) and one of best series of mine.
Tank Battalion (1980): Yet another Namco game to be overshadowed by Pac-Man, Just like Rally-X (Not exactly) and King & Balloon. But unlike all three, it runs on the lowest hardware 1× MOS 6502 1 Mhz (The only Namco game with this hardware, their first game- GeeBee ran on superiour hardware) so controls were unsmooth and characters were passing tons of pixels each time they move. Gameplay is simple but fun- You are a tank, who needs to destroy 20 enemys and protect your HeadQuaters (Eagle on the map) In each level. No powerups, only one landscape type, only 8 different levels- nothing unusual.
Unlike mentioned before games, Tank Battalion got MSX port with improved controls and powerups system and awesome Japan-only NES improovement-port titled Battle City (1985). It featured 5 landscapes, 6 powerups, 4 enemy types, 35 levels with some of them being Mappy or Dig Dug references, multiplayer at the same time (Original allowed to play only by turns) and freaking level constructor. Even if it was success in Japan and "Famiclone" countries, I have never seen many people taliking about it. And thats a shame.
Then Tank Force came out in 1991, and man thats cool. Even more enemys, even more powerups, 2-4 players at the same time, Pac-man reference on Level 17 and Boss Fights. To tell you how much its underrated, not even people from "Famiclone" countries, where Battle City was success, knew this game exists untill 2016 and 2017 when its finaly included in latest "Namco Museum" for Switch. Maybe that one is overpriced, but for me- Its worth it!
There also were Tank Battalion Blitz(2012) and Battle City: Operaton Dengeki Offline (2017) for Ios and Android, but first pulled out from App Stores in 2015 with second one being Playble in Japan only. Namco pls
I gave this here Journey to Silius a whirl a little whirl back
Nothing special but its good fun and until i played it i never heard of this game. I recommend it if you like run n guns like Contra.
Supposedly it was gonna be a Terminator game but SunSoft lost the rights.
I gave this here Journey to Silius a whirl a little whirl back
Nothing special but its good fun and until i played it i never heard of this game. I recommend it if you like run n guns like Contra.
Supposedly it was gonna be a Terminator game but SunSoft lost the rights.
Wario Land 4 itself is known for being underrated. It is known to everyone that it is the best in the game. It was also how it shaped future wario games to this day. AND a new genre in platforming. Yes I know Wario Land 1-3 does too, but Wario Land 4 is very unique with their gameplay. You basically hit the frog switch, and you are forced to go an alternate route back to the start.
Wario Land 4 itself is known for being underrated. It is known to everyone that it is the best in the game. It was also how it shaped future wario games to this day. AND a new genre in platforming. Yes I know Wario Land 1-3 does too, but Wario Land 4 is very unique with their gameplay. You basically hit the frog switch, and you are forced to go an alternate route back to the start.
Tak and the Power of Juju under Avalanche. Tak 1, 2, and 3 are all fun, the first two especially. The third one is meant for two players, though, just FYI.
I think the term "underrated" is pretty meaningless and overused, especially in today's world.
I mean, nothing ever really deserves a certain amount of recognition. Most things in history that have gotten recognition don't get recognized purely by merit. It's either pure luck or a combination of factors that allow something to get well known.
With the advent of the internet even the most obscure of things can have their own dedicated followings so I don't see why there is a need to complain that something doesn't get enough recognition.
Well, there's also approaching it from the perspective of more-or-less 'giving it a shoutout' as opposed to just complaining. I think on the whole, in most cases it's more a case of "maaan, it's a damn shame" and less "why the fuck ain't nobody lookin' at it", y'know what'm sayin'.
Even still, it can be easy to see it that way, as annoyingly often as the phrase gets tossed around. Even on my Tak OST uploads on YouTube I want to roll my eyes, and it's a game from Muh Childhood (hate that shit too:no one cares except more of your kind, shut up. Fuck nostalgia, homes.)
The Klonoa series is the best example of underrated games, hell it be the definition of underrated, i checked the oxford dictionary trust me.
The games are some of the best Namco has made at the time, the game play is simple and easy, the stories are so engaging its almost like books, and klonoa himself, such a cute lil guys with his bright blue hat and his yellow gloves, whatta fine lookin cat... cat? dog? not sure with one but i think it looks more like a cat so im gonna say it a cat. anyway, as you can see i have grown a fondness for this poor lil guy. Will he ever come back, dont know. but who knows, with the return of classic games characters, maybe he'll back for some more.
On the subject of beat em ups this is one of the better licensed games out there. Everyone only mentions this when talking about SNES beat em ups but you never REALLY hear about Batman returns do you? I put it between Streets of Rage 1 and 2 in terms of quality
Now that the prototype version of SMW, the very same one that was showed at magazines, has been leaked a long with an official romhack including celebrities. This one is perhaps the rarest take on the game, a slot machine with custom and detailed sprites by Banpresto:
Now that the prototype version of SMW, the very same one that was showed at magazines, has been leaked a long with an official romhack including celebrities. This one is perhaps the rarest take on the game, a slot machine with custom and detailed sprites by Banpresto: