There are games out there that I believe are underrated but they just end up being a cult classic, which to some, is the same thing. A few games came to mind like Fighting Vipers, Indigo Prophecy, Little Nemo, and more currently, Naughty Bear, but it took some deep thinking to choose one game.
My love for Final Fantasy X makes me want to say Final Fantasy X-2. I’ve heard so many bad things about that game and how it was made into a girly pop-star type game yet I enjoyed playing it. I think it mainly has to do with the story and how I admired Yuna trying her hardest to bring Tidus back. Sure, FFX-2 does have its annoying moments but overall, I enjoyed playing it, twice even.
I had a hard time coming up with what I thought was the most underrated game so I put the question out on Twitter and I got a few interesting replies:
- Star Control 2
- Tomba
- Tempest
- Alpha Protocol
- Kabuki Quantum Fighter
- Street Fighter 2010
- Crystallis
- Blaster Master
- Half Minute Hero
- Beavis and Butthead
- Kirby Air Ride
- Megaman 8
- Firepro Wrestling
- Maniac Mansion
- Beyond Good & Evil
Some of those I have played and disliked, while others are on my back list to play and others that I enjoyed but nothing rings more underrated than a game that I played back in 1993 on the Sega Genesis called Zombies Ate Me Neighbors. I loved playing that game when I was younger, be it alone or with a friend or family member. Once I got a working Genesis again, I made it my duty to get a copy of that game. Even though it was released in 2009 on the virtual console for the Wii, I still would rather play it the retro way.
I will say this, however, this game needs to be released for XBLA and PsN. Even though I have a Wii, I don’t use it much and I believe this game will benefit more if it was released on those two systems as an arcade game, with graphics, music and gameplay untouched. It would need online support, maybe more than just two players at a time and perhaps a level creator where the player can make their own levels for the game. Konami and LucasArts need to work together to make this happen.
Zombies has two playable characters named Julie and Zeke and they must use whatever weapon they come across to stop the zombies from eating their neighbors. They must collect their neighbors before it’s too late in this 16-bit platformer. Not only are there zombies running lose, but psycho babies, mass murders, goo and much more.
This game was released back during a time when the ESRB was not around but since released for VC, it has been given an E10+ rating. Even so, Nintendo wasn’t too keen on the violence so they asked for the removal of the blood and gore and had it replaced with purple ooze. Other nations were also appalled by this game, they changed the name of the game to simply Zombies because Zombies Ate My Neighbors is too graphic of a title for countries such as Germany, Ireland, Austria and more.
Recent news has stated that there’s a movie loosely based off of this game in the works. We already have heaps of comedy zombie movies but maybe, just maybe, we’ll get a re-release of the game because of it. I swear, if we get a remake, I’m going to scream…
