Shitty bootlegs? They have this aesthetic about them you can't seem to get anywhere else. I was never allowed to play games as a kid so the closest we got was a shitty bootleg 100 in 1 system and I generally enjoyed them in the not gameplay or visual sense but just how weirdly they were detached from mainstream games in their absurdity and low quality.

HMMMM Fable 2 is one of my favourite games, and I struggle to put my finger on WHY. It's not terribly well-known or well-liked, and at the time it came out it was sort of seen as being a bit dumbed-down and much more casual than its predecessor. But while it was an easier game, something about its system of smaller consequences, the way magic use or being tricked by Reaver leave a permanent mark on you, the way the world responds to you, made it tremendously immersive to me in a way I haven't encountered in any of the better and more popular games of its genre. Every time I look at something like Skyrim and ask "why don't I want to play this?" I find myself thinking "I wish it were more like Fable 2," and I'm not sure I can quantify that feeling. There might be some nostalgia involved.

Oh!! also Braid!

"But Shazz, Braid was extremely well-received, everyone loved--"

I liked the narrative parts of Braid.

-everyone backs away uneasily-

Anyway I basically have to list Deadly Premonition here too, right? Like there are absolutely other people who love Deadly Prem, but it's far more well-known as being just a disaster (which it is) than a Beloved Game, and most people assume that I like Deadly Premonition ironically, or in a So Bad It's Good sort of way, wHICH LIKE, THAT'S ALSO TRUE, but also Agent York is legitimately and unironically my absolute favourite protagonist in any piece of media I've ever consumed.

Far from "no one else", but

Eternal Sonata is one for me. It's very love/hate in the JRPG community xD Story is interesting but is told kind of poorly. Battle system is 10/10 imo, but a lot of people don't love the numerous enemy reskins, etc. Either way it's one of my favorite games ever. The battle system is just so fun and satisfying, and importantly it has local co-op for up to 3 players! I've played this game at least 3 times through on co-op runs (and another 2 or 3 solo).

This one's a little more suitable:

Disgaea 3. It's far and away most people's least favorite entry in the series but has always been my favorite. I just adore that game's cast (at least the main 3, Mao Beryl and Almaz) as well as the Magical School / Super Hero motifs. I like every game in the series but 3 is my fave xD

Nier when it first launched and Neverdead come to mind.

https://circleempires.gamepedia.com/Circle_Empires_Wiki2

Super fun but no one seems to be talking about it.

Oh, and of course there's this https://tapas.io/episode/12248814

world of goo's a blast, but probably forgotten. I'm also a big fan of art of balance

The Pokemon Ranger series~. They're the only Pokemon games I've ever played, actually.

The coolest part is that I never bought the first two. They just mysteriously showed up in my house, a year or two apart, as soon as I got a Nintendo DS. To this day I don't know where they came from. My ma isn't really the type to hide little surprises like that...nevertheless, I feel like she must know something...

Perfect Dark Zero for Xbox 360 is my favorite game that no one seems to love.

Perfect Dark Zero is a first-person shooter that plays more like a slower '90s FPS rather than fully-modernizing (at the time), with a story that admittedly will get you lost here and there. The voice acting is a little cheesy, and there's some voice lines that are more laughable than serious. However, the music is AMAZING with some BUMPIN'' TUNES, baby! The Rooftops Escape theme is my favorite, especially with how that drum beat kicks you in, and beats you up with its hard rock and sexy smooth violins for Joanna Dark herself. The guns are really powerful... like HOLY CRAP POWERFUL. Basically, my tip goes as follows. The best guns are:

• The Shotgun
• The Ak-47 with a separate bayonet
• The Falcon
• The Magnum
• The Superdragon
• The Plasma Gun
• The Vi-Blade
• The Laptop
• ANY GUN THAT SHOOTS GRENADES AS A SECONDARY

The guns aren't as alien or super-duper creative as the original Perfect Dark, but this is a prequel, so that's alright with me. (Oh, and if you don't have any ammo or guns, you can punch the enemies or use the right bumper to slap their weapon away from them, throwing them into this funny little stumble. )

And the game really provides a good challenge once you get used to its semi-archaic mechanics. Missions are not as freeform as Perfect Dark 1, but they allow you to complete certain missions in certain ways the further you get in each level. You have FOUR DIFFICULTIES. Agent (Easy), Secret Agent (Medium), Perfect Agent (Hard), and the best of them all, DARK AGENT (The Hardest Difficulty). You can play each of these difficulties, with DARK AGENT being unlockable once you beat PERFECT AGENT. Each difficulty changes the game differently, with some having checkpoints, easier versions of each mission, and enemy AI either getting tougher, or more likely to group and gang up on you. Trust me, some levels might get real rough. But a second player can lessen the blow

Take it from me, every line in the game (even when you shoot the bad guys) gets a kick out of me so much, that I still memorize and quote them to this day! And as a bonus, the DISC copies of the game have bugs and glitches that just enhance the fun factor of the game. You can kill an enemy, then use your melee attacks to push him around the levels, get them in corners, or just throw them off bridges. But if you just want the core experience, just get the digital download (but that one's not as fun. Good thing Rare Replay gave us the DISC version instead, much like how they gave us Conker N64 rather than the XBOX remake). And the multiplayer is TOP NOTCH. Deathmatch, capture the flag, DarkOps (which has modes like Onslaught, Eradication, Sabatoge, and Infection), AND you can play the single-player campaign with a friend! To top it off, you can play all of the multiplayer modes online, AND LOCALLY WITH FRIENDS! (Or do that crazy System Link that was cool in the 2000s). This game had so much that it pains me when I learn of all the cut content that would have been added as DLC later on but would later be scrapped before the game could barely even reach its peak. Heck, its playable both offline and online on Xbox One and no one's given it a chance.... They're missing out, I tell ya'!

Although the series did get remastered on the Xbox One's Rare Replay compilation, I still have my fingers crossed tightly for them to finally say that a NEW Perfect Dark is on the way. Please, Microsoft, please.....

Play Perfect Dark Zero! Play Perfect Dark CLASSIC! Please, let's bring back Joanna Dark!

I loved this stupid ass game when I was a kid... my uncle gave me an emulator for the computer and a whole crud load of old games to play but this was pretty much the only one I would ever play. (seriously have no idea how it didn't clue in for my family I was gay as a kid)

Majesty

Are you tired of RTS games where you can... you know... actually tell your army what to do? Well look no further! In Majesty, every unit you recruit is controlled by the game's extremely lackluster AI. Howl in frustration as your level 20 wizard flees in terror at the sight of a giant rat with 3 hp, while your army of rogues burns your palace down instead of defending it. Invest in a new keyboard after your heroes gamble all of their money away in a casino while a troll slaughters your peasants.

...OK, I guess I can see why other people don't like this game.

I swear it's the best, though. All you just need is a little bit of a masochistic streak, and an appreciation for voice actors that sound like Sean Connery.

Ah, and apparently no one plays super puzzle fighter ii turbo HD remix anymore
But I still do!

My favorite obscure game of all time is this little gem:

The game itself is a lot of fun, but I'm extra weird in that I'm attached to the story and characters. It's simple and badly translated but I don't care??

(Also yes that is a video of me speedrunning it. It's an easy world record when you're one of the two people who play it, lol.)

PAM: Post Apocalyptic Mayhem - A broken racing game that's part Twisted Metal and part Motorstorm. It's absolutely terrible, and yet I've spent like 30 hours playing it.

Outcast: Second Contact - In a world of big budget games, no one cared about the re-release of this open-world gem. The game's alien world and soundtrack are what keep me coming back for more.

The Girl and the Robot - While derided for its simplicity and cliffhanger ending, this game is a really heartwarming puzzler. I desperately want part 2, but I don't think it will ever happen at this point.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric - Aside from that huge desolate town that's supposed to be a bustling city, and the painful boat segment, I thought this was one of Sonic's better games in recent history (after the patches of course).

Remember Me - More unknown than hated, the story and combat sytem kept me intrigued from start to finish.

Pac Man and the Ghostly Adventures 1&2 - Simple yet solid platformers. It's a shame they were based on a cartoon no one liked.

Dark Void - Why did this go under the radar? It's Gears of War with a jetpack, for crying out loud!

Dark Sector - Another Gears-like game that was just too short for most players. It was later reworked into the game people know as Warframe.

Battleborn - If I could go back in time, I'd like to warn Gearbox/2K to not pit this game against Overwatch. I like OW, but BB will always be the one that got away.

Gigantic - R.I.P. Motiga. You will be sorely missed.

Gosh ok well

Vampire the Masquerade: bloodlines - this game was prob my first ever introduction into a rpg format let alone a table top format so it has a close place in my heart even tho it’s buggy as hell and can’t be played without patches. The game is just built beautifully starting from level 1 and really feeling empowered once you fight your final boss.

Someone already said it but deadly premonition is another guilty pleasure of mine, so much fun in that game and just.... it’s wonderful to watch someone play it who’s going on blind!

And the one that I know is awful Shadow the Hedgehog - is it bad, yes. Did I care. No. It came out at just the right time for me going though my edgey (But also just wanna cuddle everything) period of my life and it was just something that was really fun to speed run through and break (I seem to really like breaking games and a lot of games I like seem to be easily broken/glitchy.... huh)

Honestly there’s prob a lot more as I have lots of unpopular opinions but that’s all off the top of my head.

@TAMAnnoying
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is easily my favorite game of all time. I can't pretend it's not problematic and broken, but the storytelling and voice acting are so fantastic that they more than make up for it. I haven't been able to find any other rpg that drags me so completely into the world, or manages to switch between comedy and horror so easily.