I'm going to be lazy and just link to Hardcore Gaming 101. Their articles cover just about every system and every genre. Search for one randomly.

 

Here.

You're welcome. Although, generally speaking, the opinions of /v/ should be taken with a grain of salt, I've found some fucking excellent games with that list.

 

Woo boy... so we'll start with the goodies and end... well the same.

Some of the following are sheer old school addiction games. Ones you burn hours on and just really have no clue as to why. But they are entertaining.

NES:
Super Dodgeball
Duck Tales
Nightshade
Lolo
Ys (The NES version is pretty obscure, though its sequels are highly recognizable)

Turbo-Graphix:
Keith Courage (The first and only Turbo-Graphix game I really loved)

SNES:
Breath of Fire (1+2 for SNES, extends in PS after that) series isn't so obscure. Not too many hours but it's solid RPG lovin'.

SEGA:
The Phantasy Star series, especially III, can eat your soul. II is challenging on a level few RPGs maintain any more.
The Shining series. Its first iteration was a dungeon-crawler. The following two were tactical RPGs.
Ghouls 'N Ghosts
Gunstar Heroes

There's a few Dreamcast ones I'd recommend but those seem to be very hit or miss in enjoyment. And start to not really be classic.

I'll hit a few PS games. Just because your education on them seems lacking and you're missing out on so many extremely entertaining RPGs especially.

Sony:
Suikoden. Live all five. Only one is truly not good but you're so invested in the characters that it doesn't matter. It features every type of battle you could want in an RPG from the very first. So amazingly good and one of PSX's first RPGs. It continued through PS2 and I think is mainly a handheld KONAMI game now.
Vandal Hearts. Tactical RPG, solid story, very obscure and also a KONAMI game. And if you love it you'll force your way through VHII.
Lunar Silver Star Story and its sequel. Both anime-inspired but entertaining.
Wild Arms
Azure Dreams
Vagrant Story
Grandia
Saiyuki: Journey West (If you really like tactics RPGs)
Parasite Eve (Such a good story)
Xenogears

I named pretty much all RPGs there for awhile. Especially on the PSX. Some are particularly noteworthy and recognizable. But they're worth the play-thru and can kill a lot of time.

There's more. I likely didn't name half the games I considered. But gimme a little feedback on the choices and I'll try to offer a few more if these don't interest you or are too mainstream.

EDIT: You will run into trouble purchasing several of the PSX games unless you go through specialized gaming merchants. Specifically Xenogears, Parasite Eve in some areas, Saiyuki, Suikoden II, Vandal Hearts. The Phantasy Star games can be hard to come by at times too.

 

Ristar & Bubsy

Anyone else remember these two games? Were great when I last played them... D:

 

Spiderman: Maximum Carnage.

The cartridge was red! Also I have to second Battletoads. I originally came to check this out and was going to suggest it but Yak already did, bless his soul. Battletoads & Double Dragon is one of the greatest games on SNES.

Also Megaman X.

 

Thanks to your lists I'll be looknig for good games for a long time. Since I'm here, I'll powerrec any F-Zero title from SNES to GCN, as the only racing games worth playing. Some of the hardest games I've ever played are these.

Since you mentioned RPGs, the two Baten Kaitos for GCN are pretty good. Advertised as 60 hours of playtime, although about 30-40 for just the main quest. Card-based combat makes it less formulaic and somehow more fun than other RPGs. Can be found online quite easily, I've never looked for it in stores.

If you haven't played any yet, Advance Wars (GBA/DS). Hard grid-based strategy, the likes of Fire Emblem but without any RPG aspects. 'Just one more turn' all night.

 

So you want some retro games eh? Well for the PC there's only one place to go.

Good Old Games.

Lots of old classics, some more unknown games, some modern games and some indie games. All DRM free and cheap (At least the old classics!). Most oldies go for 2-6$ with some of the bigger names (And packages of expansions) can go for about 10$.

There's a good community on GOG and they've set up a wishlist so you can log in and wish for your favorite games to be re-patched and fixed in Dosbox up to run on Win XP/Vista/7 32 & 64bit. You download an exe install file and install it just like a normal game, and its tied to your account with unlimited re-downloads (So share with friends and family as much as you want!)

I'm really hoping for Theme Park (Got it on my PS3 but its not the same as on a computer!) and KKn'D to be released... someday...

I'll list a few of my favorite and already re-purchased games from GOG.

Constructor - This is a property/landlord RTS where you can do everything from having tenants make baby Workers for your work crews or once you get higher level tenants you can have em' make Gangster babies and go shoot up your opponents, lots of fun! Extremely micro-heavy!

Heroes of Might and Magic III - This is the complete edition of one of the best games ever made. Turn-based RTS that you can play multiplayer in Hot Seat mode, a game can take an hour or two when you're playing solo, but it can last for 3-4 on a really big map and there's two of you. Just awesome.

Knights and Merchants - Another RTS, this is in the same style as Settlers 1-3 and just as fun to play as the army battles are much better than Settlers 1 or 2 (I can't recall how 3 was as I never really liked that game). Good clean medieval RTS fun!

Might and Magic VII - To me, this is the best turn-based RPG ever made. I've played through it so many times and it still holds up! If adventuring in a fantasy world is your cup of tea then look no further. If I was a millionaire, I'd buy the rights from Ubisoft and have this game re-made with better graphics and a sequel made in the same world.

Fallout - Never actually played these games myself, but I've heard good things from friends that are RPG lovers.

There's loads more on that site, something will surely be interesting and I can't recommend the site enough, they do a great job and the nostalgia trips I've had since finding them have been epic

 

TIE Fighter and Rebel Assault... loved 'em both. A joystick or reconfiguration of joypad is necessary for this if I recall though.

I spent a bit of time thinking more on it today and all I could think of was G.I. Joe and the first Ninja Turtles game for NES. TMNT was a pain in the ass to beat but entertaining nonetheless.

 

Shadow Hearts (PS2). It's a JRPG/Horror hybrid that's pretty fucked up and to this day one of my favorite games ever made. Unfortunately, I can't recommend the whole series, just this one title. I haven't played Koudelka (PS1), and I thought Covenant was terrible. I've heard bad things about From the New World too.

Pretty much every game in the Shin Megami Tensei series (PS2. There are some PS1 titles, but they have pretty bad translations or are just bad for other reasons, if you're going to play them- Revelations: Persona and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, play their PSP remakes. Also, since EP is the second half of a story, play Persona 2: Innocent Sin before you do if you decide to look into that.) From what I've played, they're pretty much all exceptional, and aren't hugely anime overall, though Persona 3 and 4 can be kinda like that.

I've heard pretty great things about the Wild ARMS series (PS1-PS2), but I've also heard it can be pretty fucking anime, so keep that in mind.

I'm trying to think of some older gems, but honestly nothing's really coming to mind, other than some of the less obscure titles out there (like Castlevania.)

 

I'm sure GOG would've been the first link in post #2, except the OP has made it very clear he does not want PC games. Console only.

 

The OP can beat off with a fist full of glass why being fucked in the eye socket by Hagrid. I own this thread now, damn it! And I say post it all, bitches.

aannnnyyway.

This thread needs more Super C. Shit was epic. D:

 

Easier than the original by far to no-death-run. Just snag the flamethrower and rapid and you're set through all eight stages(protip, charge it for eight-directional spread on contact and doubled-damage), though I admit that field of red spiders in stage six can suck it.

Maxed the life counter at A0(100) last month after about twenty-six or so rounds.

I also second Super C at just $16.08, though. It's a great game.

 

DIDI KONG RACING! I might not be a console gamer, but I kept my N64 in workable stance and still conected to my Tv for only one purpose. playing this game when I dont feel like playing LoL or Freespace 1/2 and its many mod.

 

TSN: 1) It's Diddy Kong Racing. 2) Fuck that Mario Kart ripoff shit.

Unrelated, all of this retro gaming talk has reminded me of something:

Shadows of Lylat.

 

It's dead. The modders caught a terminal case of RL.

 

I will have to support the guy that said grandia for dreamcast, more specifically grandia III, as it is one of my favorite games of all time. Plus, of course, powerstone/soul caliber for dreamcast. You don't even have to buy it, just torrent a DC emulator and the games. Granted, not quite as fun as the console but I'm a cheap fuck. Also, any of the Turok games for N64. Fun, long, and unforgiving.

If you are tech savvy, you can mod your xbox and download pretty much all of the old school games for free. Awesome NES games I remember are, Tetris, Ninja turtles (second arcade version is the best), Boat racer, Crystalis, contra, and my favorite super mario brothers 3.

 

Dunno how "obscure" this really is, but I've never met anyone else who played this game before, but for my unique contribution is a title that stole away a lot of my sleep as a kid, and actually pulled me away at times from the all-mighty Microprose collection, you have:

Alien Legacy

It's a psuedo-real-time (you can control the rate/flow of time, and pause) Strategy / sim / exploration game for the PC, wherein you are the captian of a seed ship sent to Alpha Centauri in the wake of the first seed ship. You arrive to find little to no trace of this seed ship awaiting you, and all contact with Earth has been lost. The goal then being, to establish yourself in the new system, face the challenges therein, and try and piece together just what happened to both your predecessor seed ship and Earth.

The strong story, lore and atmospheric/immersion text and such, in addition to you literally stepping into the role as Captain, gives it a fairly rpg-esque feel to it, though the platform it delivers this to you is definitely strategy/sim in nature.

I have the old multi-diskette version, but I do know there was a CD-Rom version made as well, that had a few extras. I was able to get it to run natively up to winXP. I haven't since tried in Win7, but it is listed as supported/compatible with DosBox, though some people expressed troubles with the CD version.

You really aren't going to find many SNES or PSX RPGs that are any good that don't at least have "anime flavourings" as a byproduct of the fact that they are all by Japanese companies, with Japanese concept/design artists. This remains largely true on any platform other than the PC prior to the PS2/XBOX gen.