For every generation of video games, there are always a string of mainstream titles that take the spotlight. Then there are the hidden gems; games that are just as good, if not BETTER, than the popular games that go unnoticed.

What "Hidden Gems" can you think of?

Here are some off the top of my head:

Psychonauts (Xbox, PS2, PC)
Beyond Good & Evil (GC, Xbox, PS2, PC)
Space Station Silicon Valley (N64, PS1)
Body Harvest (N64)

Those first 2 you posted are no longer "Hidden Gems". I supposed we should just throw in Okami and Shadow of Collosus because ya know, NOBODY has ever heard of them. This thread has been done to death, but I'll throw in a game.

Turok. Yeah, I know. It apparently wasn't what everyone wanted, but it was more than I asked for when I bought it. It was a great game and had some seriously fun online. From this generation, Turok=my hidden gem.

Populous (PC)
Gunstar Heros (Sega Genesis)

Mischief Makers, back for the N64. The writing and story sucked, but the gameplay was amazingly fun (in my opinion, at least), and the music was kinda catchy.

Mine goes for Psi-Ops: The Mindgate something or other. Its not really a hidden gem on the Escapist but in most circles people have never heard of it.

The Witcher, especially the Enhanced Edition. It is without a doubt the best RPG I've played since at least KOTOR.

mr mcshiznit:
Mine goes for Psi-Ops: The Mindgate something or other. Its not really a hidden gem on the Escapist but in most circles people have never heard of it.

The Mindgate Conspiracy. You can get it for free off fileplanet, and it controls a bit better on PC even! Just gotta sit through an advert every time you boot it up.

Allow me to add- Red Dead Revolver.

Freelancer (PC) - Really well designed Space-Sim.
Dark Messiah (PC)- Seems to be like it's a bit of a "Vegemite" game.
Fallout: Tactics (PC)

HardRockSamurai:

Beyond Good & Evil (GC, Xbox, PS2, PC)

And that. I never finished it though... I'll get onto that.

One game that I will love unconditionally for the rest of my life is an old PC game called Septerra Core. This game got me involved with RPG's and the story was very good. Check it out if you can find it which I doubt.

Agreed on Dark Messiah. I played the demo at 10 FPS and loved the combat system.

But a game that I can play at full speed that is a hidden gem of gaming? ROGUE.

It seems like I'm the only one on the internet who still plays it.

If you want to know what the magic of ROGUE is, well... EPICNESS LIES WITHIN THIS HYPERLINK

(Just press '?') (If you're running Vista: haha, you can't play!) (Actually, you can... there's a version of ROGUE for most everything in here. Pretty sure there's a version for the iPhone and iPod Touch on iTunes, too. And it's free.)

I'll bet almost no one has ever heard of Sacrifice, my third favorite game of all time. Probably one of the most inventive, twisted, and exiting games I've ever played. After that, there's Oddworld: Strangers wrath (my second favorite). I've only met one other person who ever played it. Finally, there Armed and Dangerous, the most hilarious video game ever made. Kindof like Monty Python: the Holy Grail, but with guns.

Allow me to add- Red Dead Revolver.[/quote]

agreed. I never got to finish it though.

Good morning blues:
The Witcher, especially the Enhanced Edition. It is without a doubt the best RPG I've played since at least KOTOR.

The Witcher sold pretty well, actually. I only played the demo, but the combat was pretty good. The dialogue was aweful, though.

Mount and blade, Yes I know there was a review her on it but no body plays it anyway.

It is just so damned good, There is a free trial on steam and a ton of other places so you people go play now!

Psychonauts (X Box)
Okami (PS2) My game of the year for 2006
God Hand (PS2) The craziest beat 'em up ever!
Also, I don't think a whole lot of people played Viewtiful Joe(Game Cube). That was good.
Killer 7 (PS2)

TsunamiWombat:
Allow me to add- Red Dead Revolver.

Hidden gem? Everyone I know has played Red Dead. Mainly because I stood over them with a board covered in nails, and wacked them every time they looked like they might put the controller down.

For me, it's gotta be Jade Cocoon for PS1 and Jade Cocoon 2 for the Ps2. The monster combining system was relatively deep and the ring combat system was pretty deep. I enjoyed it stylistically. While the production values weren't high and it was never hyped, I still found it quite good.

Crystalis (NES)

It's practically the precursor to the exact same fighting styles as the Secret of Mana/Seiken Densetsu series

Audemas:
One game that I will love unconditionally for the rest of my life is an old PC game called Septerra Core. This game got me involved with RPG's and the story was very good. Check it out if you can find it which I doubt.

I bought that off the cheap titles rack at Target years ago when I used to be the photo monkey. Never could get it to run on my computer, though. Looked pretty sweet. Wonder if I could find the disc...

CapnGod:

Audemas:
One game that I will love unconditionally for the rest of my life is an old PC game called Septerra Core. This game got me involved with RPG's and the story was very good. Check it out if you can find it which I doubt.

I bought that off the cheap titles rack at Target years ago when I used to be the photo monkey. Never could get it to run on my computer, though. Looked pretty sweet. Wonder if I could find the disc...

If you can find it and run it then I would say but some time into playing it. The story was pretty good and the battles were fun and challenging.

Ico for the PS2 and for the I think fourth time Mark Ecko's Getting Up Contents Under Pressure also for the PS2.

EverGrace for PS2... Just kidding, that game sucks.
Halo 3? I don't know anybody who plays that. (Also kidding)
I would agree with Shadow of the Colossus though, I bought that this year and enjoyed it immensly.

Lost kingdom for the Gamecube was excellent, I don't think Bad Company got enough credit either and neither did Crackdown. Conker's bad fur day for N64 remains a true masterpiece in every way and mischief makers which i read from someone earlier.

VTSK:
The Witcher sold pretty well, actually. I only played the demo, but the combat was pretty good. The dialogue was aweful, though.

Get the enhanced edition, they fixed the dialogue. Yes, they re-recorded it and got rid of a lot of the crappy lines. Roughly a third of the dialogue in the Witcher Fortress was replaced as far as I could see...

Audemas:

CapnGod:

Audemas:
One game that I will love unconditionally for the rest of my life is an old PC game called Septerra Core. This game got me involved with RPG's and the story was very good. Check it out if you can find it which I doubt.

I bought that off the cheap titles rack at Target years ago when I used to be the photo monkey. Never could get it to run on my computer, though. Looked pretty sweet. Wonder if I could find the disc...

If you can find it and run it then I would say but some time into playing it. The story was pretty good and the battles were fun and challenging.

Also it was made by gutsy little Valkyrie Studios, which never released another game after it.

Septerra Core was the first RPG I ever played and it definitely got me into the genre. The epic story, creative design, and surprisingly good voice acting and battle system made it good enough to play through a couple different times despite the fact that it was extremely long. And it actually was a hidden gem, not a "hidden" gem that everybody knows about like Beyond Good and Evil.

But my all-time favorite hidden gem, without a shadow of a doubt, is Ogre Battle (SNES) and, to a lesser extent, its sequel on the N64. What an amazing, amazing game.

There are a lot of indy, prototype and flash games that seem to get missed by most gamers. Admittedly, they rarely have the length or breadth of more popular or commercial, but some still shine like little perfect gems.

The first one that pops to mind was an experimental game titled 'Attack of the Killer Swarm'. The game's free to download and play.

Another is Phage Wars (requires Flash 10) which seemed to capture the essence of tactical/strategic gameplay so well.

Whenever I'm looking for hidden gems, pots and grass are the first places that come to mind. God knows why anyone hides gems there, they're the first place an intrepid young adventurer would look.

Armageddon Empires is the closest I've come to one in the last age, but everybody should have bought that one already.

Blood, the forgotten younger and superior brother of Duke Nukem 3d as well as Monolith's (No One Lives Forever, FEAR, Condemned) most glorious moment. You need some extra tools to get build engine games to work on XP that the gracious Ken Silverman (who created the engine in the first place) provided.

DBZ: Hyper Dimensions. SNES fighting game and probably still the best DBZ fighter to date (only 10 characters though).
GW: Endless Duel. The other SNES fighter that broke the mold of crappy lisence stuff (same here, only 10 characters, but this is the only game you can play as Lucrecia Noin and fiddle about with Mercurius and Vayeate).

And of course:
GTA 2, yes 2, 2 you dips! TWO!!!! Toss out that 3d madness that only introduced needless storylines, minigames and crappy controls, this is the one you need to play. Crack out that flamethrower and Kiiiiiill Frenzy!

Hinterland. Though like all Tilted Mill's games its as much hidden potential as a hidden gem

Vortigar:

GTA 2, yes 2, 2 you dips! TWO!!!! Toss out that 3d madness that only introduced needless storylines, minigames and crappy controls, this is the one you need to play. Crack out that flamethrower and Kiiiiiill Frenzy!

Nothing better for a 15minute timekiller. N best of all Rockstar have it available for free on their website along with some other of their old games

-Vagrant Story is still one of my very favorite games. Its not for everyone, with a pretty complex weapon management system, but the story and the overall atmosphere is top notch.

p1ne:

But my all-time favorite hidden gem, without a shadow of a doubt, is Ogre Battle (SNES) and, to a lesser extent, its sequel on the N64. What an amazing, amazing game.

Oh, I remember that one! I loved the Tarot card system.

XIII

Audemas:
One game that I will love unconditionally for the rest of my life is an old PC game called Septerra Core. This game got me involved with RPG's and the story was very good. Check it out if you can find it which I doubt.

I love that game, but damn does it have its flaws...

VTSK:
I'll bet almost no one has ever heard of Sacrifice, my third favorite game of all time. Probably one of the most inventive, twisted, and exiting games I've ever played.

To this I'd like to add its Sci-Fi predecessor, Battlezone (the one from 1998). Very simmilar concept, but with futuristic vehicles and more base building.

Also, as I've mentioned in another thread, Vampire The Masquerade: Redemption. Yes, I know Bloodlines was better, but I still love Redemption to bits.

Allegiance, an online multiplayer space fighter sim that's mentioned here occasionally. Originally published by Microsoft, Microsoft did the right thing and opened the code to the game after they closed it down, so it now has a fairly stable community of 400-600 players.

Pac-Man Vs. for the Gamecube/Wii. One player plays as Pac-Man on a GBA connected via GBA link cable to the 'cube/Wii, while the other players use the tv screen and 'cube controllers to play as the ghosts. The ghosts can only see a little part of the maze in their fields of view on the tv, while Pac-Man can see the entire maze and all the ghosts on the GBA screen. The game is played to a certain number of points, and when Pac-Man is tagged by a ghost, the tagging player gets to become Pac-Man, while the player who was tagged becomes the ghost. I have yet to see a better example of linking a portable and a console for gaming purposes, and the way they evolved Pac-Man from a solitary pellet chomper to a multiplayer party game is beautifully elegant. I'm constantly surprised by the lack of mention that game gets anywhere.

Oh yes, and Harmonix' previous two PS2 offerings, Frequency and Amplitude, that is, if you like Guitar Hero.

The Warriors (PS2)
Come the hell on, its by rockstar, how could this not have sold a bajillion copies, it was an epitome of awesomeness in the ps2 era but no ones freaking heard of it.

Tombi/Tomba (ps1)
Just look it up, buy it and thank me later if you haven't already.