looking for strange games to play

[christianscott27]

recently i announced that our next NECG video game olympics would focus on strange games, genre busting weird titles, games that dont make sense, games that make you go huh? like most NECG proclamations this one was made in a drunken stupor and i need your help to make good on my beer induced bravado! what strange games do you think would be good for light hearted contest play?

i'm looking for games that for some reason or other break the mold. i could see it being a game like rez or something odd like coleco illusions, skys the limit pretty much, any and all platforms and eras just so long as its strange.

[Oobgarm]

If you can find it:

http://www.dustincarter.com/images/pepsiman.jpg

Pepsiman = :rocker:

[Nez]

Pikmin for the Gamecube fun and interesting.

Conkers ad Fur day a fun M rated title(N64)

Incredible Crisis (psx) Fun mini games wacky style

Armed And Dangerouse has some Hillarious comedy.(pc Xbox)

VooDoo Vince (Xbox)

Michael Jacksons Moonwalker(gen) Come on its MICHAEL JACKSON and he SAVES CHILDEREN!

All these game are strange fun to me some are funny some have wacky designs.

[thegreatescape]

If it got a US release, Bishi Bashi special on Playstation. The king of minigames :D

[davidbrit2]

I don't think any of the Bishi Bashi Special games made it to the US. Damn crime, if you ask me.

Throw Wario Ware into the mix. Sure, it's well known, but damned if it isn't weird.

[Crush Crawfish]

Two words: Monster Party!!!!! I love this platformer, and it gets my vote for weirdest game ever. If a game that has a giant breaded shrimp that morphs into an onion ring as a boss isn't weird, then I don't know what is! LOL

[Daria]

There's always Mister Mosquito... that games pretty umm... different. :P

[Sibs]

Zombies Ate My Neighbors for the SNES was definately a strange and different game.

[Daria]

Zombies Ate My Neighbors for the SNES was definately a strange and different game.

And then there's Haunting... definately unique for it's time.

[ECWSandmanECW]

Ribbit King

[ManekiNeko]

Start up your copy of MAME. Go to the left pane of the window that opens and select Manufacturers, then the company "UPL". You'll find all kinds of totally bizarre games, ranging from Omega Fighter (the shooter which dares you to get as close to enemies as possible before you shoot them) to Mutant Night (starring a marshmellowy cyclops who runs around blasting enemies and growing eight times his normal size).

UPL also made Gomola Speed for the PC Engine (aka Turbografx-16). It's a really innovative action/puzzle game where you play a snake-like creature which destroys its enemies by wrapping its body around them. I recommend playing this one, because it's both fun AND unique. I can't think of another game that's anything like this one.

JR

[Funk Buddy]

Super Galdelic Hour - JPN PS2 (mini games involving creature/girls)

Choaniki -Kyukyoku...Otokongyakushu JPN Sat (or any version I guess)
The Yakyuken Special - JPN Sat (strip rock, paper, scissors)
Shutsudo! Minisuka Police - JPN Sat (mini games invloving upskirt shots)
Ohsama Game - JPN Sat (mini games)

I'm sure I could come up with more, but not at the moment.

[IGotTheDot]

I vote for Ninja Golf.

I don't know how you party it up, but it is strange.

My2Cents

[Vroomfunkel]

I lurrrve strange games ... here are my recommendations

.. Mister Mosquito (PS2) has to be tried

.. Freak Out (PS2) is, um, well .. freakishly wierd. Wander round a spaced out 3D landscape, infested by women with horribly distorted anatomy. Use your demon scarf to stretch them until they explode. Oh, and hurl yourself around the landscape by stretching any part of it and 'pinging' yourself around.

.. Irritating Maze (PS1 / N64) .. Japanese only I think.

.. Tryrush Deppy (Saturn) .. Japanese. Platformer in which you are a walking taxi

.. Pulirula : Arcade Gears (Saturn) .. Japanese. Platform game whose production budget must have included a large chunk for all the LSD they must have taken whilst making it.

.. Harvey Headbanger (Amstrad CPC 464 / C64) - wander round a 2D grid picking up cocktails of various strengths. Then try to slam into your opponent and knock him out. The more you drink, the less damage you receive from a slam .. however, the harder it becomes to actually control where you are going.

.. Qix - kind of like Tron meets living parabolic functions. Nothing quite like it before or since.

.. The Sentinel (BBC Micro / C64 .. maybe others) Just. Plain. Weird. But strangely addictive ... build up your power by 'absorbing' trees and boulders. You can only absorb things you can see the base of. You can only move by creating an empty shell of yourself and then transporting into it. And hopefully, absorbing your old empy shell to get the power back. And try not to get in the gaze of the Sentinel .. who sits up on a huge pedestal, turning slowly round and draining your energy if he spots you. Try to get high enough up to absorb the Sentinel himself and take his place.

That'll do for starters, I think

Vroomfunkel

[ManekiNeko]

.. Freak Out (PS2) is, um, well .. freakishly wierd. Wander round a spaced out 3D landscape, infested by women with horribly distorted anatomy. Use your demon scarf to stretch them until they explode. Oh, and hurl yourself around the landscape by stretching any part of it and 'pinging' yourself around.

.. Irritating Maze (PS1 / N64) .. Japanese only I think.

Freak Out, huh? That sounds a lot like the American PS2 game Stretch Panic. Did they just give it a different name when it was released in Japan?

Also, I had no idea that The Irritating Maze (aka Irritating Stick) was released for the N64. It was bad enough on one console... why'd they have to release it for another one?

JR

[Jorpho]

Hmm. Wizkid, maybe? Or Umihara Kawase?

[Dave Reinquest]

Umihara Kawase on SFC was awesome.

But Umihara Kawase Syun on PSX was a true piece of art.

Puggsy on Genesis was pretty neat and different for a platformer.

ZOOP! (surprised nobody's mentioned this one yet)

Wiz & Liz Genesis fast-paced and...just plain strange. I used to play for hours.

Humans on Genesis.

That should do for starters :-p

[SirDrexl]

Taboo: The Sixth Sense for NES, although that wasn't really a game.

Does anyone remember a game for Dreamcast where you were supposed to be some kind of spirit that lives in a kid's room, and you would do things that he would react to? I just remember reading about it in EGM, so it may never have actually been released. If it was, it had to have been just in Japan. It might have been called "Roommania" but I'm not sure.

Seaman for Dreamcast and Hey You, Pikachu! for N64: a couple of microphone games that are also strange.

[atomicthumbs]

The TYPING of the DEAD for the Sega Dreamcast!

http://dcmedia.ign.com/media/previews/image/typeodead/bg03.jpg

A MUST OWN TITLE!!!

[atomicthumbs]

Also, I had no idea that The Irritating Maze (aka Irritating Stick) was released for the N64. It was bad enough on one console... why'd they have to release it for another one?

JR

I LOVE that game (got in on N64). It's frickin' hilarious when the game screams at you in Japanese when you mess up! Chalenging, fun and twisted!!! Oh, and I definately second Incredible Crisis and Mister Mosquito!

[scooterb23]

A few off the top of my head, some may not be full blown weird, but at least a little odd:

Decapattack - Genesis
Parappa The Rapper - PSX
Motor Toon Grand Prix - PSX
Ninja Golf - 7800
Psychosis - TG-16

There's an old, very weird game for the C64. I can't remember the exact title, I think it was called Weird Dreams. All I know is it started with you inside a giant cotton candy machine, and to escape you had to get enough cotton candy stuck to yourself that you would stick to the mixer. And you had to avoid a giant bee at the same time. I never got much past that.


don't forget to check out the old MAME club games (now in the Arcade Alley forum), there are plenty of oddball games there!!

[christianscott27]

thanks for the ideas so far, keep em coming.

one game i'm looking into is 32x kolibri (the hummingbird game), ninja golf is also a strong contender, surely there must be some 2600 games that could be called just weird. i'm a bit confined by two factors- the game should be easy and brief enough for 10 or so people to go thru without major snags, and also it should be in my collection...i've got just about every pre-cd era game mentioned so i'll be checking all of those out. a lot of those saturn imports sound really cool but hard to get ahold of in time, i've got about 50 or SFC games so hopefully something from there, bastard! perhaps (love the name).

any more weird NES games?

and yes pictures and stories from the contest will be posted here.

[kjmontana]

"vib-ribbon" = rabbit in vector graphics nightmare PS1
"Tail of the Sun" = caveman Zen PS1
These two leap out but I may return with others later.

[sisko]

I'll throw in another vote for Stretch Panic (Freak Out, whatever). Its just very very bizarre.

Also, No One Can Stop. Mr. Domino! for PSX. You run laps around tracks laying dominoes and try to set off chain reactions. Very different. Very fun. Very challenging :)


*edit*
Also, some one mentioned Ribbit King, and while very bizarre, I do not believe it has been released stateside yet....only on demos.

[Daria]

surely there must be some 2600 games that could be called just weird.

What do you know... I was just reading about an Atari 2600 game yesterday that was really weird.

Mangia's about this boy who has to throw out his dinner when his mom's back is turned or his stomach will explode. And if she catches him feeding his food to the cat or dog she'll bring him three helpings and the table will break.

I think it easily classifies as weird.

[mregashu]

I second Warioware...popular yes, but any game that can actually make cutting a piece of steak as an objective qualifies as wierd to me. I'd also reccomend firing up MAME for a little Journey - any game where you control a stick figure with a digitized Steve Perry head is at least zany. (Is zany a step below wierd?)

[suppafly]

PANIC! for Sega CD was way too weird for me! 8-)

[FlufflePuff]

Earthworm Jim 2

[robotriot]

I'd suggest Weird Dreams, just check out the screenshots (http://hol.abime.net/?id=1683) :)

[anagrama]

Segagaga, surely? There's not many videogames about running a videogame company :)

[SegaAges]

what about that general custard game for 2600 where he was raping the Native Americans?

If it was a hoax, sorry, I'm an idiot when it comes to anything pre-SNES/Genesis. That would count as something wierd to do in a game, maybe a score system for the players (I know you guys like that pun). :D

[kainemaxwell]

Space Channel 5 has to be fun to try while drunk or whatnot too. Go for Qix Neo while at it as well as Zoop.


what about that general custard game for 2600 where he was raping the Native Americans?
That'd be Custer's Revenge.

[le geek]

I'd suggest Weird Dreams, just check out the screenshots (http://hol.abime.net/?id=1683) :)

Weird Dreams is indeed weird but very hard (check the avatar), Warioware is almost TOO enjoyable

I second Wizkid, Tail of the Sun, Panic, Stretch Panic and Wiz & Liz

Vib Ribbon is the text book example of the weird but awesome game IMHO

Suggest Um Jammer Lammi as slightly weirder that parrapa and I recommend trying out Web Dimension on C64

2600 recommendations Gopher, Wabbit, Tax Avoiders, Save Mary, Kool Aid Man and (drum roll please) Color Bar Generator

Ben

[christianscott27]

i couldnt agree more about vib ribbon! that has to be in the contest :)

i was thinking of tax avoiders as well and maybe that old arcade title where you play the bubble going round the sink. wario-ware is a shoo in since our score keeper kirk is a huge gamecube fan...

[Jorpho]

Ah, Panic! Of course.

It occurs to me that Snake Rattle & Roll (NES) might qualify as weird, having giant feet and toilet seats for enemies and all, but it's quite the frustrating romp.

Oh, and Earthbound probably qualifies. The New Age Retro Hippie! The Third Strongest Mole! The Lil' UFO that shoots beams that cause night-time stuffiness! And so on.

[ManekiNeko]

You really ought to give Gomola Speed a shot, Christian. If you need the ROM I'd be happy to send it to you.

JR

[Aswald]

I was going to mention ColecoVision Illusions, but you already beat me to it. That has got to be one of the weirdest games ever made.

If you will try for arcade games (via emulators), then how about "Jump Bug" or "Snap Jack?"

[Schenley]

Can't leave out Chiller - on Mame (http://www.eyemachine.co.uk/em_feature_chiller.htm).

That game is freaky!

Oh, for those of you ripping out titles, could you also include what system you're talking about? - thanks!

[goatdan]

I will happily second Earthbound. Not really weird playstyles, just a weird story for an RPG.

I would also second Typing of the Dead, and along the same lines would suggest Typing of Fury on Feet of Fury for the Dreamcast. Seaman definitely qualifies too.

For NES, I would suggest taking a look at the religious games. I forget their names now (Exodus, King of Kings and something else maybe?) but those things are pretty out there. And if you like those, finding Noah's Ark for the SNES is a worthwhile time too (Hmmmm... Wolfenstein engine, religious theme... :angry: HELL :angry: YEAH!)

The Jaguar game Club Drive is pretty strange for a multitude of reasons (from why-did-they-not-shade-these-polygons to odd concepts) too.

I think that's about it that I can think of right now...

[atomicthumbs]

I will happily second Earthbound. Not really weird playstyles, just a weird story for an RPG.


The game is even better if you list Ness' favorite food as "ass"... It's not only a hoot, but it's also a holler!