Patient Gamers

I used to log in to armorgames.com to play shitty browser flash games occasionally. There was one "mmo" game called Rise of Mythos. It was a deck building collectible card game. I would play it for a few days then forget about it for 6 months. Over time I had a cool deck from years of occasionally logging in, never spent money on it though. Then one day I logged in and it was gone. I would have paid some money to keep it around.

I’ll take it “unpopular” as in, literally dead and not “not liked”… but mine would be Obsidian Conflict. I have a 24/7 server that runs on my server just for the sake that once every few months a random player can join it.

I love all the community mods and spent sometime years ago scraping every map I found online for it.

I was genuinely unaware for a long time that P.N. 03 on the Gamecube was pretty strongly disliked, and now seemingly forgotten.

I love everything about this damn game - the ridiculous "inside a macbook" looking aesthetic, the Drum n Bass-esque soundtrack, the fact that it's a game based on getting a high score (which is probably the one game mechanic I miss the most in a lot of more modern games), what more could you want?!

Gallop Racer (psx)

It's about racing and breeding horses.

"Newer" titles of the series (ps2) also had the element of raising/training the horses.

The collab with G1 Jockey on the PS3 also had those obstacle course racing included.

My dad loved betting on horses (he got it from his father), and loved the game.

It was simple game of racing horses with some fine details mixed in (when to gallop, correct positioning and timing, and etc.)

The best thing about the series is that the list of horses are already laid out, so you know which ones are the strong ones in a particular course except for the secret horses that you only get through winning particular races in a particular order throughout the horse's career.

The endgame though is through breeding the horses, which is another element of euphoria when winning the genetic lottery.

Sometimes when I miss it, I just play it on my phone (through an emulator) and it's always been a fun experience.

Shadow Man. It was definitely shit, but I played it for so many hours. The mood and the scale of it was incredible, but the controls and gameplay were sorely lacking. Even so, I found it incredibly immersive.

If you like the toy soldiers idea you may want to check out HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed.

Big bumpin is the best bumper car oriented video game produced by a fast food company I've ever played.

Friend and I split the $3 cost cause we weren't sure it was worth it. We still take turns owning it.

I would say Rebel Galaxy and especially Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw, which reminds me of Wing Commander: Privateer for the "Good game with little recognition".

For the "Objectively bad but I still love it" type, Lichdom: Battlemage and Technomancer are deeply flawed but wonderfully fun gems that require you to ignore some pretty big problems to find your enjoyment in them. Same with DarkStar One and the Starpoint Gemini series.

Zone of the Enders. The first one was short and alright, but the 2nd Runner was incredible.

Also always had a special place in my heart for Gungrave PS2 games. Weird controls, but a hell of a good time.

Not a series but the Saboteur is an awesome AC/GTA clone set during WW2 that I never see anyone talk about

Edit: special mention for Klonoa 2. My dad picked it up for me when I was a kid and I recently replayed it. It’s a pretty challenging 3D platformer with a story that will draw tears