Highlights

• Underrated games from top developers deserve a second chance.
• Sylvan Tale, Disruptor, Rocket: Robot on Wheels are all hidden gems with innovative gameplay and storytelling.
• Brave Fencer Musashi, Little Town Hero and Princess Crown are overlooked titles that enjoy cult status due to their charm and gameplay.

No matter how popular a video game developer may be, some of its games are bound to fall through the cracks. Whether those games were released before the studio became well-known, or the game simply didn’t gain as much traction as the developer’s other titles, lack of popularity doesn’t necessarily mean lack of quality.

These hidden gems from famous developers deserve a second chance to be discovered and appreciated as the truly good games that they are. After years of spending time in the shadow of more famous games, these underrated titles have earned their time in the spotlight.

10 Sylvan Tale – Sega

A little-known Zelda clone for the Game Gear

Sylvan Tale is a late-release title for the little-used Sega Game Gear, which also never saw release outside of Japan. All of these factors contribute to Sylvan Tale remaining almost invisible in Sega’s storied history, which is a shame, as the game is easily one of the best titles for its system and one of the most underrated Zelda clones ever.

With graphics and audio that pushed the Game Gear to its technical limits and a nifty shape-shifting mechanic that was introduced five years before Majora’s Mask, Sylvan Tale is an extremely worthwhile title for any fans of the Zelda series or Sega’s long history. Unfortunately, to play the game outside of Japan, you essentially have to play an emulated version or import the blue Game Gear Micro.

9 Disruptor – Insomniac Games

A humble beginning for a big studio

Although Insomniac Games eventually established itself as the driving force behind the original PlayStation with the Spyro trilogy, their first game for the system was actually a little-known first-person shooter called Disruptor. What set the game apart from other FPS games of its time were the cool psionic powers that essentially acted as magical abilities to add a little extra spice to the gameplay.

Unfortunately, despite its sophisticated combat and surprisingly deep narrative elements, Disruptor sold far below Insomniac Games’ expectations – and hopes. Miraculously, the studio moved on to its next game, Spyro the Dragon, and the rest, as they say, is history.

8 Rocket: Robots on Wheels – Sucker Punch Productions

A great time on wheels

Before Sucker Punch Productions became known for its depictions of feudal Japan, conflicted superheroes, or thieving raccoons, the company developed a little-known 3D platform game for the Nintendo 64. Rocket: Robot on Wheels always struggled to compete with system-heavy titles like Banjo Kazooie and Super Mario 64, but its relatively low commercial success in no way reflects the game’s many qualities.

The game differs from other 3D platformers of its time by focusing more on physics-based puzzles – a fairly novel concept in 1999. The result is a game that has all the charm and elegance that Sucker Punch Productions became known for, but unfortunately falls short of all the generation-defining classics the studio would develop in the years that followed.

7 Indigo Prophecy – Quantic Dream

Paranormal activities

While Quantic Dream and David Cage are best known today for games like Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human, their style of narrative-driven action-adventure games arguably began with Indigo Prophecy on the PS2 and original Xbox. While this game doesn’t receive nearly as much acclaim as later titles, it still has one of the most gripping video game stories of its generation.

Indigo Prophecy, you play as Lucas Kane, a man possessed by a spirit bent on murder, and the two NYPD detectives pursuing him. The plot is filled with the great writing and voice performances you’d expect from a Quantic Dream game, and leaves you with plenty of opportunities to develop certain elements of the narrative further.

6 Brave Fencer Musashi – Square Enix

An underrated classic from the golden age of Square

Brave Fencer Musashi is a role-playing game developed by Square for the PlayStation 1. This statement is usually associated with some of the most popular and memorable games of that era. However, with this particular game, Square stepped out of its comfort zone by introducing real-time combat and making its gameplay more like The Legend of Zelda than Final Fantasy.

Whether this deviation from Square’s norms at the time is the reason for the game’s relative lack of cultural visibility remains to be seen, but it’s a shame that Brave Fencer Musashi still doesn’t enjoy the same recognition as many of its contemporaries. The game has certainly built up a strong cult following over the decades thanks to its sharp art style, excellent soundtrack, and enjoyable gameplay.

5 Hero of the Small Town – Game Freak

A rustic role-playing game from the makers of Pokémon

The developers of the Pokémon games are used to distinguishing themselves with a side project every now and then. Little Town Hero is an RPG that reduces the epic scope normally associated with the genre in favor of a charming town setting with likable characters and the occasional evil sheep.

The combat system may not be to everyone’s taste, but the short length and pleasing aesthetic make the game a pleasant standout in Game Freak’s library. Plus, the soundtrack was composed by Toby Fox of Undertale fame, and that alone makes Little Town Hero worth playing.

4 Kinetica – Santa Monica Studios

God of the wheels

There is only one game developed by Santa Monica Studios that doesn’t feature the name “God of War” anywhere, and it was the studio’s very first game. Kinetica is an early PS2 game that involved many of the same creative teams that developed the first God of War a few years later, but the two games couldn’t be more different.

Kinetica is a futuristic racing game where the racers are humans in kinetic suits that allow them to race around the track thanks to the wheels on their hands. It’s a pretty creative concept that makes for some really exciting gameplay and would be interesting for the studio to revisit if they wanted to take a break from the Kratos story.

3 Dream Zone – Naughty Dog

A JAM of a game

There are some real hidden gems in Naughty Dog’s long history, but one of their most interesting early games was released before the studio adopted its now-iconic name. Before they became Naughty Dog, JAM Software developed Dream Zone for the Apple II.

As the name suggests, Dream Zone transports you to a world of magic, mystery and psychedelic imagery. It’s a wonderfully bizarre adventure game that’s very much of its time, but still an important part of the studio’s legacy.

2 Blast Corps – Rare

64-bit destruction

Nintendo 64 and Rare were a perfect match – a match made in heaven. But before the studio released beloved classics like GoldenEye 007, Banjo Kazooie and Perfect Dark, it released Blast Corps, an action game all about causing as much destruction as possible.

Your job is to clear the path ahead of a nuclear missile carrier by destroying buildings and other structures. It’s a wonderfully chaotic concept that leads to suitably explosive gameplay moments. Simply put, Blast Corps is a blast and deserves to be recognized as one of Rare’s best games.

1 Princess Crown – Atlus

A sign of things to come

Outside of Japan, not many people have heard of Princess Crown – a Sega Saturn RPG from Atlus featuring beat-’em-up combat and lush pixel art graphics. The game didn’t sell well in Japan and wasn’t released anywhere else, which led to the original game becoming a real collector’s item in the years that followed.

The commercial failure of Princess Crown prompted director George Kamitani to form his own development studio, Vanillaware. Since then, they have released several of their games through Atlus, including Princess Crown’s spiritual successor, Odin Sphere. For such an oft-forgotten Sega Saturn title, it’s amazing how much of an impact Princess Crown continues to have on the industry to this day.