c/forgotten-video-games

My uncle's attic held a copy of 'Mister Mosquito' for the PS2 and I still can't believe it's real

I was helping him clean out his place in Akron last month and found this weird game from 2001. You play as a mosquito trying to suck blood from a Japanese family without getting swatted. The whole thing is just... bizarre. I popped it into my old PS2 and spent an hour trying to land on a dad's bald head while he watched TV. The controller rumbles when you suck, and if you take too much the family freaks out. It's so specific and strange that I had to look it up online to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Who greenlit this? Has anyone else ever actually played this thing, or did I find the only copy in Ohio?

I was wrong about 'Glover' on the N64. A busted controller made me see it differently.

Just found out the 1998 game 'Gex: Enter the Gecko' had a whole level based on a 'Baywatch' parody

I was watching a random YouTube video about old PS1 games and they showed a clip of it, complete with slow motion running. Did any other games from that era do stuff like that with TV shows?

That weird choice in 'Galleon' on the original Xbox

I was playing 'Galleon' back in 2004, and there was this part where you had to choose to either save your first mate or chase after the main villain's ship immediately. I picked the ship, thinking it was the 'right' story move, but the game just got way harder without my crewmate's help in later fights. Anyone else remember a choice in an old game that totally backfired on you?

I spent $80 on a sealed copy of 'Vexx' for the GameCube and I don't regret it at all

Everyone says it's just a bad 'Super Mario Sunshine' clone, but I think it's got way more soul... the art is weird and dark in a cool way. I found it at a flea market last year, the seller said it was junk. I played it for like 15 hours and the platforming is actually pretty tight once you get used to it. Yeah, the camera is a pain, but so many games from that time were like that. For a forgotten 2003 game, it holds up better than people give it credit for. Has anyone else actually given this one a real shot?

Found my old PS1 memory card and it corrupted my entire save for 'Gex: Enter the Gecko'

This happened just last night when I dug out my old console from the basement. I was so excited to finally beat that weird hotel level I got stuck on as a kid. Plugged in the memory card, loaded up the game, and my 98% complete file was just gone, replaced with garbled text. All those hours spent collecting those remote control TVs, poof. Has anyone else had a memory card totally fail on them after like 20 years in a box?

That one puzzle in 'Vexx' on the original Xbox that made me quit for a month

I was trying to get a heart piece in the Shadowglen level, which needed you to light three torches in a certain order while a moving shadow blocked your view. The game gave you zero hints. I spent maybe four hours over two days just running around that stupid dark room. The fix? You had to stand on a specific cracked tile to see the shadow pattern on the wall. It took me a full month before I looked it up online and felt like a total fool. Anyone else get completely stonewalled by an old game's bad design?

Just hit 100 hours in a weird PS2 game nobody remembers

I was digging through old boxes and found my copy of 'Blinx: The Time Sweeper'. I booted it up for a laugh and got hooked all over again. The time control mechanics are janky but weirdly fun, and I just saw my save file hit 100 hours total. Anyone else ever get way too into a forgotten mascot platformer?

I just wasted $80 on a sealed copy of 'Blinx: The Time Sweeper'

Found it at a retro shop in Cleveland, thought it would be a cool hidden gem. The game is just a clunky, frustrating mess with awful controls. I played for maybe two hours before giving up completely. Anyone else get burned by a 'forgotten' game that was forgotten for a good reason?

Found a weird PS2 game at a yard sale that felt like a dream

Last Saturday I grabbed a box of old games for five bucks at a sale in Akron. In it was a PS2 game called 'Gadget Racers' I'd never heard of. I popped it in and it was this strange mix of racing with toy cars and a weird story mode. The handling felt really floaty, and the graphics were kind of muddy even for 2003. It's one of those games that just vanished without a trace. Has anyone else run into this one or know why it's so forgotten?

A friend told me my old game picks were too safe and I should dig deeper

About two years back, I was showing a buddy my shelf of PS2 games, mostly big hits like God of War. He said, 'You're only playing the stuff everyone remembers. The real weird stuff is in the bargain bins.' So I took his advice and started looking. I found a game called 'Mister Mosquito' from 2001, where you play as a bug trying to suck blood from a family. It was so strange and totally changed how I look for games now. I spend more time in thrift stores looking for odd titles than I do replaying classics. Has anyone else had a game like that, something totally off the wall that you'd never find on a 'best of' list?

Unpopular opinion: Choosing the 'evil' path in 'Gladius' for the GameCube was way more fun than the good one.

I picked the rival school, Valens, over the heroes, and their gladiator fights had way better arena hazards, like the giant scorpion in the desert pit.

Warning: I paid $40 for a sealed copy of 'Blinx: The Time Sweeper' and the disc was rotted

I found it at a flea market about six months ago, still in the plastic wrap. The case looked perfect, so I thought it was a safe buy for my original Xbox collection. When I opened it, the disc had that weird bronze color and wouldn't read at all. The seller was long gone, so I was just out the cash. It's a known issue with some Xbox games from that era, but you never think it'll happen to you. Has anyone else gotten burned by disc rot on a game they were really excited to play?

Unpopular opinion: The 2003 game 'Whacked!' for the original Xbox had a better party mode than most people remember.

After playing it again last weekend, I realized its fast-paced, chaotic mini-games still hold up better than a lot of modern stuff, has anyone else tried going back to it?

Found my old PS2 memory card and it was full of a game I haven't thought about in 15 years

I was cleaning out a box from my parents' attic in Toledo and found a memory card with a save file for 'Whiplash', that weird game where you play as a weasel strapped to a rabbit. I used to rent it from Blockbuster every other weekend back in 2004. What other weird PS2 era games did you guys rent constantly but never buy?

Serious question, who else remembers 'Scaler' for PS2? My little cousin called it a 'weird lizard game' and now I'm trying to find other games like it.

Unpopular opinion: I used to think 'Gunvalkyrie' on the original Xbox was just a janky mess, but getting the twin-stick controls down after like 3 hours of failing in the first jungle level completely flipped my view.

I was stuck on my couch in 2002, my thumbs were cramping from trying to use the face buttons to aim, and I almost gave up until I actually read the manual and realized you're supposed to use both analog sticks independently, which let me finally beat that first giant bug boss and see how deep the combat gets.

I spent $40 on a sealed copy of 'Blinx: The Time Sweeper' for Xbox and it was a weird trip

I mean, I saw it at a thrift store and remembered the ads, so I bought it. The game is about a cat with a vacuum cleaner fixing time, and it's as strange as it sounds. Has anyone else played this, or did my money just go to a weird piece of 2002 history?

Found a hidden way to skip the whole first level in 'Gex: Enter the Gecko'

I was playing the old PS1 game Gex: Enter the Gecko last week, trying to get through the first jungle level for the hundredth time. I always got stuck on a part where you have to swing on these vines over a bottomless pit. After three tries, I got mad and just held down the circle button while jumping. Gex did this weird tail spin move and shot way past the gap, landing on a platform I never saw before. It turned out that move, if you timed it right from the very start of the level, could launch you over a wall and straight to the end boss door. I'd been playing that game wrong since 1998, just following the obvious path. Has anyone else found a weird skip like that in an old platformer?

Serious question, does anyone remember the PS2 game 'Whiplash'?

I saw a post calling it a hidden gem, but I was sure it was just a bad game... my friend lent me his copy last month and I had to eat my words. Playing as a weasel chained to a rabbit, breaking stuff in a lab, was way more fun than I expected. The humor actually landed for me, which I didn't see coming. What other forgotten games got a bad rap that they didn't deserve?

Vent: Found a dusty copy of 'Blinx: The Time Sweeper' at a Goodwill in Spokane and the cashier asked if it was a bootleg...

I told her it was a real Xbox game about a cat with a vacuum cleaner that controls time, and she just stared at me like I'd grown a second head.

Found a copy of 'Glover' for N64 at a yard sale in Tacoma and the seller said 'My kid cried when he couldn't beat the haunted mansion level'

My kid asked me what a 'demo disc' was and I felt ancient

I used to think 'Glover' for the N64 was just a weird gimmick game...

I was at a little retro game swap meet in Spokane last weekend, just digging through bins of old cartridges. This guy next to me, probably in his 40s, picked up a copy and said 'Man, this game's physics were actually kind of genius.' We got to talking and he convinced me to give it another shot on my old console. I played it for like three hours straight when I got home... the way you control that magical glove to bounce and roll the ball, solving puzzles with different ball types, it's way deeper than I remembered. The level design in that toy factory world is actually pretty clever. I totally wrote it off as a silly mascot platformer when I was a kid. Has anyone else gone back to a game they hated and found something good in it years later?

Someone told me my 'forgotten games' list was just the same old stuff everyone posts

I used to just list games like 'Jet Force Gemini' or 'Vagrant Story' that get talked about a lot. A user here, 'PixelPioneer', commented 'You're just listing the usual suspects, not the real deep cuts.' I started looking for stuff like 'Tail of the Sun' on PS1 or 'The Divide: Enemies Within' on PC. What's a game you think is truly forgotten, not just underrated?