3. Dragon ForceType: Strategy, RPG
Platform(s): Saturn
If there was ever a reason to own the long-forgotten Sega Saturn it could be limned in just two words: Dragon Force. This was it. This was the game, that even with all of the other greatly underrated titles produced for it, should make you want to shell out hard earned funds to purchase a Saturn. Dragon Force was a game of truly epic proportions. Combining the best of both worlds of Strategy and RPG gaming, Dragon Force completely consumed your very being with its addictive gameplay. I can still vividly remember the first time I pressed down the power button and began my adventure. I spent the entire night at a friend's house, while he slept, playing non-stop until the sun began to rise and burned my eyes, already blistered from TV radiation. Digressing, Dragon Force placed you on the continent of Legandra in a medieval fantasy land being ripped apart by a bloody revolution. There were several countries to choose from all boasting different traits. For instance, there were the Elves of the East commanding vast armies of archers, magi, and soldiers. At the same time other lands controlled harpies, cavalry, samurai, monks, beastmen, and even hordes of dragons and zombies. The strategy aspect was actually quite simple as each unit had easily discernible strengths and weaknesses. For instance, Dragons were commonly thought of as the best unit as they were able to pulverize nearly every other choice into the ground, but pit them against a much smaller group of samurai and they'd be cut to pieces. In addition, you could choose the formation of your battalion which would yield better results according to your opponent's decisions and could mean the difference between victory and defeat. Finally, you had your charismatic General who had the ability to produce special attacks capable of destroying the opposing army, hitting the opponent directly, or both. Outside of the military aspect of the game is where things got truly gripping though. There were tons and tons of mini-adventures and sidequests were everywhere. This allowed for your company to become quite vast as you recruited more and more Officers to your side and eventually led you to become the unifier of the land and dispel the evil gripping your countryside. A sequel was eventually made but sadly was only released in Japan, dashing all hopes of regaling the experience on an even grander scale.
2. Baseball StarsType: Sports
Platform(s): Arcade, Neo-Geo, NES
The only true sports title to make it on the list is SNK's Baseball Stars. With copious quantities of athleticism being ported to the masses, nearly all choices have become stale and redundant over the years. Nearly every game is the same with very little distinguishing characteristics between them, save for a few roster and graphical updates. Baseball Stars threw all that out the window years ago. There are no superstar names to be found and the graphical quality is deemed completely irrelevant upon comparison of its gameplay (though, if remade a graphics upgrade would be greatly appreciated). As mentioned before, the rosters were comprised entirely of fictitious characters. And easily the best part of the game was creating your own team of rookies. By winning games you earned money that could be spent on training your players and increasing their attributes. Or, if you wanted you could fire a player and hire a new one, restarting the process over again. One of the more enjoyable aspects of this was the ability to hire female players who were in all facets equal to their male counterparts (in fact, there is a computer controlled team by the name of the Lovely Ladies that is nothing but women). Even underhanded female pitchers were available adding a nice little touch to the style of the game. The team building aspect allowed for countless hours of gaming and made VS. games with your friends all the more enjoyable. It's completely inexcusable that developers have missed this mark an incalculable amount of times when Baseball Stars was able to do this 15 years ago.
-RaiNny
RaiNny said...
Hey guess what??? I recently found out that Dragon Force WAS rereleased...for the PS2 in Japan!!! Screwed again.