 Top 10 Defunct Games
Submitted Tuesday, July 14, 2009 - 10:38:28 AM by Klaitu
Have you ever had one of those times where you just couldn't sleep, and it was screwing with your internal clock, so you decided to stay up for at least 24 hours so that you could sleep at a decent hour the next day due to pure exhaustion?
Well, you're the lucky ones, readers, because today I present you with my Top 10 games for Defunct platforms!
What are the rules?
The following are disqualified:
Wii, 360, PS3 - Modern Consoles
PS2 - Console/Games still being produced
PS1 - Games still playable on modern consoles
Gamecube - Games still playable on Wii
Xbox - most games playable on 360
Portables - Not into portables so much
Final Fantasy - Let's face it, everyone knows already.
10. Star Fox
Star Fox was a Super Nintendo exclusive title that turned heads because it was in 3D! This wasn't just any ordinary old 3d, this 3d was so amazing that the cartridge contained a special co-processor called the Super FX chip.
The graphics might look primitive by today's standards, but this was 1993. Wolfenstein 3d was less than a year old, and DOOM wouldn't come out for some other months.. and they were PC games.
Star Fox didn't just prove that a 3d game could be made on a console, it also looked good and played well, to boot.
9. Sonic CD
As you might guess, Sonic CD was a Sega CD exclusive title. I'm sure that you readers are at least vaguely familiar with the old 2d Sonic games.. well Sonic CD was one of those.. but imagine if Sonic The Hedgehog 2 or 3 had even more polish and an entire CD to stuff a soundtrack onto.
It was like Sonic the Hedgehog, but everything about it was.. more. There's no Tails, no Knuckles.. just Sonic.
The game featured the ability to travel into the past, present, or future by running fast enough. Each level exists in all 3 states.. and it's the same level, except for the artwork is completely different..
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Sonic CD though was the soundtrack. Because it was prerecorded and basically playing off a CD, it could afford to be totally awesome.. and it was. Actually.. there was even some nerd controversy over it, as the soundtrack in US copies was different than the Japanese copies.. not that anyone in the US knew it. Japanese importing wasn't big yet.
8. X-Men - Konami Arcade
There have been a truckload of X-Men games, most of them sucking.. but the Arcade Game by Konami was not one of them.
You may be familiar with other titles featuring similar gameplay: Double Dragon, Bad Dudes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade, Streets of Rage.. the game was a beat-em-up.. but it went one step beyond!
 BEHOLD! A 6 player, dual screen simultaneous playing game. Yeah, that's right.. you and 5 other people can play this thing.. at the same time! That's the part that made this game awesome, the x-men part was just icing on the cake.
I mean, it did have some translation issues
Magneto is defeated. X-men succeed to rescue professor and return to Earth with the Victory.
7. The Legend of Oasis
Here's a game you've never played. You never played it because it's on Sega Saturn, and you didn't buy one, did you? You got a Playstation instead!
That's what I thought!
This is sort of the poor man's Legend of Zelda. Same isometric view, same sort of magical, mystical adventure, but none of that panzy elf stuff.
The Legend of Oasis is a prequel to the Genesis game Beyond Oasis.. which was also excellent. Since Oasis is a 32 bit game, it is easily the best looking top-down action RPG made for a console to date... at least that I know of. The game has absolutely stunning 2d artwork.
The Oasis series is about a gold armlet, and a silver armlet that give their wearer power over the elements. As the wielder of the golden armlet, you can summon any of the elemental creatures to aid you.. so long as you can manage to zap something of the same element nearby.
This is truly a must-play, especially if you like the classic Zelda games.
6. Pitfall!
Step into the wayback machine, readers. We're going back, back.. all the way to 1982.. because Pitfall came out on the Atari 2600. (Though it's now available on a plethora of systems)
Pitfall was landmark because most other games consisted of colored blocks beating other blocks senseless, or of colored blocks exploding.
Pitfall actually featured a blocky guy doing things that you could make sense out of.. and believe me, that was a rarity among Atari games. Today it's pretty primitive, but the game is still playable. you can make out the objective of the game and figure out how to play it, no problem.
It's also one of the very first home console platform games. Sure, Donkey Kong came out first, but that was an arcade cabinet. You could play Pitfall endlessly with no quarters needed.
Heck, it was so good that even Jack Black was in a commercial for it.
If you're in a Pitfall mood, you could also check out the 1994 sequel Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, which isn't bad.
5. Space Channel 5
Before Guitar Hero.. before Dance Dance Revolution there was Space Channel 5. It came out for the Dreamcast in 1999, but has since been ported to multiple consoles, including the Playstation 2.
 SC5 is basically a rhythm based dance game, similar to Parappa the Rapper or Um Jammer Lammy.. but gameplay is only half the fun, because the writing is completely ridiculous and awesome.
Aliens have come to earth and they are forcing people to DANCE, and the only way to save them is to dance better than they can. Oh yeah, serious peril here.. but it's not over yet.. the aliens have Michael Jackson under their control!
Yeah, Michael Jackson himself is in this game, though he is credited as "Space Michael".. and yes, he is VERY hard to outdance.
4. Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger is a classic, and you've probably heard of it before, even if you haven't played it. It originally came out on the Super Nintendo, but there are also enhanced versions for the PSOne.
Chrono Trigger is a Japanese RPG that doesn't feature random encounters. On top of that, the game features 7 different, distinct time periods ranging from 65,000,000 BC to 2300 AD. Actions you take in the past have consequences in the future, and the game features over 16 different endings depending on how much you screwed up time during your adventure.
The game is also interesting in that the objective isn't really clear in the game. You wake up one morning, and it's the first day of the year 1000 AD, there's a fair going on, so you decide to visit. When you're there, you bump into a mysterious girl who ends up getting thrown back in time, so you go through time to rescue her.. but that's only the beginning of the story, and it's only the tip of the iceburg.
The game is also an excellent value, as it can be played on a PS3 or PSP and clocks in at something like 40-60 hours. A lot of bang for your buck there.
3. Panzer Dragoon Saga
Here's another game you didn't play because it's on Sega Saturn.. and also because it released just after Final Fantasy VII and was eclipsed by the megagiant.
The Panzer Dragoon series has 3 things going on: Dragons, shooting stuff, and awesome music. Panzer Dragoon Saga has all of that, but unlike the other Panzer Dragoon games (which were all rail shooters) this one is an RPG. It's singlehandedly responsible for fleshing out the Panzer Dragoon universe.
Among the weak points is the storyline, which contains nothing but cliche for fans of the genre today. A young boy, eager to prove his worth bumbles himself into saving the world.. but the game is well executed and a joy to play.
Good luck obtaining a copy, it was one of the last games released for the Saturn, copies are quite rare.
2. Flashback: The Quest for Identity
One of the few multiplatform games on my list, Flashback was available on the Genesis, Sega CD, SNES, and PC.. and it's probably available on even more consoles today.
It's an action platforming game that features 2d geometry motion to make smooth, fluid motions. Sort of like how South Park is 2d construction paper.. except with more class.
It's the story of a guy who discovers that shape shifting aliens are invading by assuming human form. The aliens find out about this, so he wipes his own memories, storing them in a computer until the danger has passed.
Now he's being chased by people and he doesn't remember why! Okay, sure, that doesn't make a lot of sense, but it means you get to shoot people, so that's cool!
1. Strider
How could Strider not be number 1? It has 8 MEGA MEMORY for goodness sake! Strider came out in 1989, and it's one of the rare arcade ports that is as good as the original.
It's set in 2048, and you're the afore mentioned title character.. and you glide in on the rooftops of St. Petersburg.. and that's all the story you're gonna get..
That's okay, because you're obviously a ninja with a futuristic ninja sword. You've got ninja moves, there is flipping involved, slide kicking here and there.. and there are grappling claws so you can hook onto walls and ceilings.
Along the way you get to kill robots, other ninjas, Soviet troops, wolves, and a freaking AIRSHIP.. oh wait, I'm not done yet.. you also fight an antigravity machine, a giant Gorilla Robot, a guy with a jetpack, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, A centipede robot made from the robotic bodies of the Soviet Leadership, Some kinda lizard.. robot... horse thing.. and the last boss? He's a transdimensional alien who lives on a space station.
I mentioned earlier that the Arcade and Genesis versions were faithful to one another, and that's true. The Arcade version has better graphics and better music, but the Genesis version has a wider variety of songs. The Genesis clearly has an edge in the final boss battle music.
The game plays identical on either version, and all the enemies are in the same exact places.
So, you might be asking yourself.. "Why is Strider number one?" It's because Strider is just as awesome to play today as it was 20 years ago when it was released. It is an absolutely solid game in every respect.
Except the NES version, just pretend you never heard there was an NES version.
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Dollhouse
Have you ever wished you could play a modern game that was not innovative and pretty bland in every way you can think of?
Cisco Scheming?
Gameplay is passable. There's a lot of lightsaber action, and they throw in timed cutscenes. It's like a poor man's version of God of War. Choosing this as their gameplay means was an unwise decision, as when you get compared to God of War, it pretty much means you lose. Even Heavenly Sword lost to that comparison.
IMPORTANT NEWS BULLETIN!
Guerrilla tries to mix things up a bit by not being a FPS, but instead is an open-world game. In fact, this game is basically Saint's Row 2 with destructable buildings.. on Mars.