Pleasant Surprises. - Games That Surprised You.

[Jaimas]

When I was younger, I used to go to the Flea Market at the Long Island Arena (when it was still there) often, because you could run into vendors that barely spoke English and would sell you like a garbage bag full of NES games for 10 bucks. On one excursion, my friend Memet, who ran the electronics kiosk, found this big box of SNES titles and sold me it for 20 bucks. That's fucking amazing.

Unfortunately, most of them either didn't work, or were games I already owned. One of them, however, was a bootleg cart with an unexpected gem on it: Terranigma.

The game's battery backup didn't work, but this game was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, one of the most impressive games I'd ever played at the time. I hesitate to use the term "Artsy" to describe Terranigma's graphics and themes, but this game, the sequel to Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia (two games I also loved) certainly earns it with impressive graphics and legitimately touching themes, resulting in a game I was absolutely happy to leave plugged into my SNES for about three weeks of real time. And it had decent gameplay to boot. Score.

Have you run into any games that surprised you with their high quality? If so, post them here.

 

[Mel Feasance]

I found a copy of this neat little puzzle game for PSP called Archer McLean's Mercury on the ground in highschool.

It was sorta like monkey ball, but you were a blob of Mercury. You tilted the entire level in order to try to get the Mercury blob from point a to point b, and have to have a certain percentage of it left when you got it there.

It had really impressive fluid physics for a game of it's time, and being on PSP. Highly recommend it if you can find it, or emulate it.

 

[Aurora]

About a year and a half ago I checked out a thrift store and found a collection of GB &GBA games for $25. i bought it on impulse. About fifty cartidges and not much I hadn't played before, some I outright didn't like, and a few that were busted, but it included Pokemon: Fire Red, Leaf Green, Emerald, Sapphire, Ruby, Gold, Silver, and Crystal. I've tested them all and they work. Bought a Gameboy Advance on Ebay afterward.

 

[NerdShamer]

I found a copy of this neat little puzzle game for PSP called Archer McLean's Mercury on the ground in highschool.

It was sorta like monkey ball, but you were a blob of Mercury. You tilted the entire level in order to try to get the Mercury blob from point a to point b, and have to have a certain percentage of it left when you got it there.

It had really impressive fluid physics for a game of it's time, and being on PSP. Highly recommend it if you can find it, or emulate it.

What really is impressive is how hard that game was. Too bad my PSP is busted, though.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

About a year and a half ago I checked out a thrift store and found a collection of GB &GBA games for $25. i bought it on impulse. About fifty cartidges and not much I hadn't played before, some I outright didn't like, and a few that were busted, but it included Pokemon: Fire Red, Leaf Green, Emerald, Sapphire, Ruby, Gold, Silver, and Crystal. I've tested them all and they work. Bought a Gameboy Advance on Ebay afterward.

You got lucky with that. Pokemon cartridges are usually not that cheap.

 

[Mel Feasance]

What really is impressive is how hard that game was. Too bad my PSP is busted, though.

It was a rather difficult game. I just looked it up and apparently there are other entries in the series, both for PSP and 360/ps3.

Think I might see if I can find a cheap 360 at the pawn. Been hankering to play Skate 2 or 3 anyway.

 

[Sir Wesley Tailpipe]

It was a rather difficult game. I just looked it up and apparently there are other entries in the series, both for PSP and 360/ps3.

Think I might see if I can find a cheap 360 at the pawn. Been hankering to play Skate 2 or 3 anyway.

Depending on which region you are in, the PSP version may have been the only release. To my knowledge, only the UK got the PS3 and 360 releases, unless there was a digital-only US release for 360. There was nothing for PS3 in North America.

 

[Mel Feasance]

Depending on which region you are in, the PSP version may have been the only release. To my knowledge, only the UK got the PS3 and 360 releases, unless there was a digital-only US release for 360. There was nothing for PS3 in North America.

Ahh. Lame. Wish I still had my chipped 360 from back in the day.

 

[Jean Lafitte 1812]

Soft-modding PS3s is super easy now, did mine a while back. You can even install a big-ass hard drive or SSD to fill up and still get games straight from the PSN.

As for my gaming surprise, Terraris comes to mind. It was an impulse purchase in my first Steam winter sale like 10 years ago and I've run it to late-game a few times now. 275 hours for $2.50 at this point.

 

[emilebertin]

I was surprised by how active the Battlefield 4 PC community was when I checked it out earlier this year. Didn't expect anywhere near the amount of people that are still playing it.
The huge file size was a not-so-pleasant surprise.