These days, hundreds of great games come out every year, and that’s not entirely new. Back in the day, plenty of games came and went without too many people playing them, ensuring they remained largely unknown by the gaming masses. These aren’t necessarily obscure games, and are instead those that were overshadowed by bigger releases. Some come from systems that most players didn’t have exposure to, while others didn’t sell well despite their excellent gameplay mechanics, story, graphics, and more. We dug through the archives, looking at retro systems and arcades from the 20th century, to come up with 10 of the best retro games most people didn’t know existed, and arranged them in no particular order.
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1) Devil’s Crush
While they aren’t as popular these days, video pinball games had some decent titles in the ’80s and 1990s. One of the best was Devil’s Crush, released in 1990 on the TurboGrafx-16. It was later ported to the Sega Genesis, allowing a larger audience to engage with its demonic imagery. Like the other games in the Crush franchise, it features multiple screens, secret areas, numerous flippers, strategic gameplay, and a boss battle. It may be a pinball game, but it’s a video game at heart that uses pinball mechanics in fun and fascinating ways. Devil’s Crush is the sequel to Alien Crush, which is also good, though the former tends to take the lead when looking at the franchise as a whole.
2) Sewer Shark
Games on the Sega CD utilized the format to include full-motion video, and Sewer Shark is one of the first titles to do so. The interactive rail shooter uses FMV cutscenes during gameplay to maximize the action. It was initially designed for a VHS system, but found its way to the Sega CD shortly after, and was well received by critics and fans upon release. While Sewer Shark didn’t move many units, largely due to the low sales of the Sega CD add-on, it’s a fun shooter that’s a product of its age. It was directed by John Dykstra, of Star Wars special effects fame, and incorporates many nascent technologies in its presentation, making it a truly fascinating early ‘90s game.
3) Karateka
In 1984, Karateka arrived on the Apple II, paving the way for karate-themed video games. It’s one of the earliest examples, debuting alongside Karate Champ and a handful of others. It’s one of the first video games to use cinematic storytelling, as the player must proceed through a series of enemies to rescue Princess Mariko from a castle. The side-scrolling game features various attack types that play out in a one-on-one mechanic, and it offers an interesting ending. Depending on how you approach the princess, you’ll either be greeted as her hero or she’ll kill you with a single kick.
4) Shatterhand
There were hundreds of games released on the Nintendo Entertainment System that many players never got their hands on. One of the better options was Shatterhand, a side-scrolling action title set in the far-off year of 2030. Using your deadly fists, which can intercept enemy bullets, the player guides Steve Hermann, a cybernetically enhanced police officer codenamed “Shatterhand,” as he fights to defeat Metal Command. It’s a fairly typical action game of the era, utilizing many of the same tropes as other titles, but it didn’t receive as much attention as others. This was likely due to its arrival on the NES soon after the Super Nintendo’s debut, which is a shame, as it’s a classic.
5) Turrican II: The Final Fight
Turrican II: The Final Fight is a 1991 run-and-gun game originally published on the Amiga, later ported to additional systems, including the Sega Genesis and Nintendo Game Boy. The game features several mechanics and levels that clearly draw inspiration from titles like Metroid, including a morph-ball mechanic. It also boasts 11 labyrinthine levels split across five worlds. While the Amiga version is a classic, the console ports were very different. The game was reskinned and rebranded as a movie tie-in for Universal Soldier, despite having nothing to do with the film other than three swapped-in levels loosely tied to it. On its own, Turricane II is a fun game, but viewed through the movie tie-in lens, it falls short.
6) Panic!
Panic! is a quirky Sega CD puzzle point-and-click game released in 1994. It features a story about a computer virus that infects all the world’s systems, and it’s up to Slap and his dog, Stick, to deliver an antidote to the central computer to solve the problem. This requires the two to traverse various levels, pressing buttons to advance to new stages. It features jokes and funny-looking cartoons, giving it a look akin to the drawings Terry Gilliam did for Monty Python’s Flying Circus and films. It’s a weird game that some people loved, and others despised, but it’s worth checking out for its unusual nature. Fortunately, it’s been ported to newer systems, including the PlayStation 2.
7) Rastan
If you were lucky to find Rastan in your local arcade, you were treated to some of the best arcade game audio of the late 1980s. The Taito title is a side-scrolling hack-and-slash set in a fantasy world, where you control Rastan, who recounts his past adventures before becoming King. It’s kind of like Conan, but has no relation to that particular IP. It’s a lot of fun to play — especially at high volume, and the game was a huge hit. It received several home console ports and has since been re-released on numerous systems. It spawned a small franchise of sequels, but is largely unknown to the broader gaming population.
8) The Legendary Axe
The Legendary Axe and its sequel were exclusive to the TurboGrafx-16, which wasn’t a huge seller in the States, so not a lot of people played it. The first of the two was one of the system’s launch titles, and it’s a fun platformer that centers around Gogan, a barbarian who must rescue his girlfriend from the Cult of Jagu. The game features six levels, and Gogan carries his legendary axe, “Sting,” which he uses to cleave through all manner of enemies. The Legendary Axe was a hit for the system, receiving a great deal of fanfare, and while it spawned an equally popular sequel, few modern gamers know of its existence.
9) Cadash
If you stumbled across a copy of Cadash when it was released in 1990, you likely had a ton of fun. The action RPG launched in arcades before finding its way onto the TurboGrafx-16 and Sega Genesis in 1991 and ‘92, respectively. It features four playable characters, each representing a different class with different abilities. It’s a mashup of a platformer and an RPG, a trope that became common throughout the 1990s following the success of Cadash. The game boasted high replayability and was a lot of fun, and it has since been re-released in various Taito archives on modern systems.
10) Armed Police Batrider
There were tons of great vertical scrolling shooters released primarily in arcades throughout the 1980s and ‘90s. While many know of the more popular ones, a game that few know about these days is 1998’s Armed Police Batrider. The manic shooter features teams of flying jet bikes called Batriders, which are piloted by nine characters, though nine more were unlockable. It’s the quintessential Japanese vertical shooter from the late-1990s, and while fewer games are made in this format these days, you can find Armed Police Batrider, though it’s only in one place: the Sega Astro City mini console.
Did you play any of these games or have a favorite long-forgotten title you wish others knew more about? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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