Weirdy games I haven't heard of?

[Drum]

By 'weirdy' I'm mostly looking at stuff that isn't so much deliberately balls-out crazy like Parodius/Cho Aniki/Wario Ware but more like stuff that just feels a bit 'off' while only occasionally dipping into crazyland territory. Stuff like Karnov, Chelnov, Captain Silver (or a ton of Data East stuff), Gynoug, UPL-like stuff such as: Mutant Night/Black Heart/Van Dyke, plus stuff like Altered Beast, Forgotten Worlds, Shadow of the Beast, Battle Monsters, Explosive Breaker, Apidya, X-Multiply, La Mulana, Rygar etc. etc. Generally I'm wanting 2D and mostly non-cartoony stuff, but I'm open to whatever. Thanks a bunch!

EDIT: To clarify, I'm talking about graphical styles. Most of the games I listed aren't unusual gameplay-wise. Some I guess are sort of ordinary graphically too (Rygar, say), but they have a couple of things that make you go 'oh, that's kind of weird' (like those headless dudes in Rygar).

[louisg]

Some suggestions: Grobda, I-Robot, AtariForce Liberator, Aurail, Wiz and Liz, Atomic Robokid, Obliterator, Zenji, Park Patrol, Citadel (on C64), Mr. Heli... ? Any of those work?

[Drum]

No. :( Well, except for Atomic Robo Kid and Obliterator. Maybe I didn't make myself clear :/ otoh, I looked up Grobda on the 'tube and I did not know about the explosion combos - that's pretty cool. Definitely gonna give that a play when I get back to my MAME-enabled computer, thanks!

[RNGmaster]

Can't resist entry pimping Shadow Hearts. Especially the third game. Oh, and the Man Festival in the second.

[rancor]

I remember that Technocop for Mega Drive / Genesis was fairly controversial for the day. When you killed enemies they turned into piles of bloody goo. You could also kill little kids and hookers. I remember someone telling me once that after you kill a hooker, if you press "down" to kneel over her body you'll hear a "slurp" sound and get some bonus points. Not sure whats going on there, but truly a WTF moment.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Lucas Art's Night Shift is a obscure puzzle platformer for many 8 / 16 bit home computers. Once you learn how to play it, its a hell of alot of fun trying to keep that machine running and trying to produce your quota of dolls to win the level. Theres not much info online about the game but hopefully theres gonna be a upcomming You Tube video comming from a good vid producer who Ive introduced the game to.

BTW has anyone else played this game? or am i the only one?

[xris]

One of my favorite games in the weird category is Stretch Panic on the PS2. You play as a girl with some kind of weird possessed/demon scarf thingy that can grab onto any thing and pull on it, including blondes with really over-sized boobies. Really, to kill them you have to pull and snap their boobs. Include some grab and throw mechanics and some really strange level designs that are fantastic to look at, and play through it's a win. The game is mostly a boss rush though, but it can get a little challenging near the end. Highly suggested.
PaRappa the Rapper aint half bad either, but it's not half good also.. It's a fun and quirky rhythm game, but it's mechanics don't quite work.

[louisg]

I remember that Technocop for Mega Drive / Genesis was fairly controversial for the day. When you killed enemies they turned into piles of bloody goo. You could also kill little kids and hookers. I remember someone telling me once that after you kill a hooker, if you press "down" to kneel over her body you'll hear a "slurp" sound and get some bonus points. Not sure whats going on there, but truly a WTF moment.

I thought Technocop was so bad ass when it came out on Amiga! I haven't played it since, but I'm almost certain it'll be terrible

Hmm I'm not sure what kind of games the author of the topic is after. Have you played Blaster? That one's pretty surreal. There's Two Crude Dudes just in case you need to laugh your ass off. Exterminator for DOS is pretty crazy, and there was also an interesting looking game maybe somewhat in the same vein from the same time which had sort of well-shaded yellow-red checkerboard 1st person graphics (polygon?). if anyone knows what that one is, lemme know . Let's see.. Stunt Car Racer is a pretty odd racing game (on rollercoaster-like tracks- fairly unusual, but it's not quirky or anything). Any of these fit the bill?

[Obiwanshinobi]

I suppose you already know about Act-Fancer: Cybernetick Hyper Weapon, so maybe Irem's Air Duel? If you have ever watched things living in grass closely, it might strike you as strangely familiar.
Trap Gunner.
Vib-Ribbon.
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure.
Rocket Knight Adventures - finally arboreal mammals other than vastly overrepresented in pop-culture squirrels do the hero's job.
Hyper Iria - interesting as an early Japanese shot at the cinematic platformer style controls. Graphically not as fleshed out as Hagane: The Final Conflict, but Keita Amemiya's influence is pretty apparent in both.
Sky Adventure - quite possibly the first shmup sporting this varied array of fighters to choose from (predating Sonic Wings). Graphically, not quite unlike Gothic, albeit not as strikingly, reminds me of paintings by Teofil Ociepka. It doesn't play all that weirdy, but there is something unique about it.
Rogue Trooper (2006) - little short of a sleeper hit from the makers of Sniper Elite and AvsP2 (who literally own 2000 AD for what it's worth). The PC version - even on the highest difficulty level available from the start - is piss-easy and short (but since I played through it for free on GameTap, I can't really complain).
Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi - very low-tech and buggy, but looks like that 1922 film Nosferatu and feels very much like the most ancient first person shooters known to a man with a hint of survival horror (some bugs are arguably a part of its charm).
Iron Storm - the very first PC version; neither the console remix nor the PC port of said remix. I'm not quite buying the high concept of The Red Star (comic book and game, although both have some fine qualities), but Iron Storm does amazing job in this regard for a western game. Major graphical fuckup is the fact that no characters cast any kind of shadows (think certain scene in The Incredible Shrinking Man).
I could go on about obscure PC games, but some of them would be a stretch, thus I'd better stop for now.

[Drum]

I remember that Technocop for Mega Drive / Genesis was fairly controversial for the day. When you killed enemies they turned into piles of bloody goo. You could also kill little kids and hookers. I remember someone telling me once that after you kill a hooker, if you press "down" to kneel over her body you'll hear a "slurp" sound and get some bonus points. Not sure whats going on there, but truly a WTF moment.

I thought Technocop was so bad ass when it came out on Amiga! I haven't played it since, but I'm almost certain it'll be terrible

Hmm I'm not sure what kind of games the author of the topic is after. Have you played Blaster? That one's pretty surreal. There's Two Crude Dudes just in case you need to laugh your ass off. Exterminator for DOS is pretty crazy, and there was also an interesting looking game maybe somewhat in the same vein from the same time which had sort of well-shaded yellow-red checkerboard 1st person graphics (polygon?). if anyone knows what that one is, lemme know . Let's see.. Stunt Car Racer is a pretty odd racing game (on rollercoaster-like tracks- fairly unusual, but it's not quirky or anything). Any of these fit the bill?

The first game that popped into my head was The Sentinel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sentinel_(video_game)
but I think it's almost certainly Vaxine:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/vaxine
Exterminator and Two Crude Dudes are exactly the sort of things I'm looking for.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Oh yes, MDK (and probably some other stuff by Shiny Entertainment).
Total Overdose - preferably on the PC (best controls).
Is Pu-Li-Ru-La too blatantly freaky for the topic?

[Drum]

I suppose you already know about Act-Fancer: Cybernetick Hyper Weapon, so maybe Irem's Air Duel? If you have ever watched things living in grass closely, it might strike you as strangely familiar.
Trap Gunner.
Vib-Ribbon.
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure.
Rocket Knight Adventures - finally arboreal mammals other than vastly overrepresented in pop-culture squirrels do the hero's job.
Hyper Iria - interesting as an early Japanese shot at the cinematic platformer style controls. Graphically not as fleshed out as Hagane: The Final Conflict, but Keita Amemiya's influence is pretty apparent in both.
Sky Adventure - quite possibly the first shmup sporting this varied array of fighters to choose from (predating Sonic Wings). Graphically, not quite unlike Gothic, albeit not as strikingly, reminds me of paintings by Teofil Ociepka. It doesn't play all that weirdy, but there is something unique about it.
Rogue Trooper (2006) - little short of a sleeper hit from the makers of Sniper Elite and AvsP2 (who literally own 2000 AD for what it's worth). The PC version - even on the highest difficulty level available from the start - is piss-easy and short (but since I played through it for free on GameTap, I can't really complain).
Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi - very low-tech and buggy, but looks like that 1922 film Nosferatu and feels very much like the most ancient first person shooters known to a man with a hint of survival horror (some bugs are arguably a part of its charm).
Iron Storm - the very first PC version; neither the console remix nor the PC port of said remix. I'm not quite buying the high concept of The Red Star (comic book and game, although both have some fine qualities), but Iron Storm does amazing job in this regard for a western game. Major graphical fuckup is the fact that no characters cast any kind of shadows (think certain scene in The Incredible Shrinking Man).
I could go on about obscure PC games, but some of them would be a stretch, thus I'd better stop for now.

Yeah, I already knew Act Fancer - but that is a prime example of the sort of game I am looking for!
Rogue Trooper I might give a go - I heard some so-so things about it but it keeps popping up as an unfairly maligned/ignored game and the source material is top drawer (it really grinded my gears when I saw people poking fun of the main character design - forgive them for they know not what they do).

I'm just gonna go ahead and list a bunch more games in the style I'm investigating so people can maybe get a better handle of what I'm talking about:

Toki, Splatterhouse, Kabuki Z, Agony (Amiga), Baraduke, R-Type, Legendary Wings (those stone heads are a classic example of videogame weirdy), Blade Master, Tecmo Knight/Wild Fang, Captain Commando, Bayonetta, Castlevania can get pretty weirdy, Mutation Nation, 4-D Warriors, Bio-Hazard Battle, Final Boss of NARC, Shin Megami Tensei etc.

EDIT: MDK and Giants are good examples! Pu Li Ru La is kind of a borderline case. I was gonna list it as an example, but I thought it might open the floodgates to suggestions like Parappa the Rapper/Vib Ribbon/Stretch Panic (:()
Maybe I need to add a better explanation.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Ant Attack is the shit.

[Drum]

Man, what is with the Spectrum and isometric platformers? Must have been something in the water.

[Obiwanshinobi]

3D craze, don't you know.

[Drum]

Well, I'm glad it's over and we're back to 2D games. That could have got ugly.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Cool story, though.

[Vyxx]

Cubivore.

[beyonder]

PuLiRuLa and Cho Aniki. Definately weird stuff going on, there...

[louisg]

but I think it's almost certainly Vaxine:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/vaxine

Oh yeah, that's it, thanks. I also just thought of Bubble Ghost if you haven't played that one yet

[Ruldra]

It doesn't get any weirder than a parrot throwing pumpkins in space.

[drauch]

Decap-Attack
Redneck Rampage
Zombie Nation
Corpse Killer
Night Slashers
Metamorphic Force
Kendo Rage (Makeruna! Makendō)
Majyuuou
Sutte Hakkun
The Firemen

Tons more. My mind is drawing a blank and I am procrastinating from doing important things.

[xris]

God Hand is straight up bizarre. Really, one of the most wacked out games ever.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure on the PSX has to be the weirdest fighting game ever. Okay, the Guilty Gear series is a good contender for the catagory also.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Sqoon and Painkiller.
There's a pretty neat Night Slashers mod for the PC, Xbox and PSP called Night Slashers X out there.

[moozooh]

Earthworm Jim is a classic:



Also, don't forget Dynamite Headdy:



And, of course, this beautiful gem from one of the most underrated shareware developers of 80s.

I'll post something else if I remember.

[drauch]

Sqoon and Painkiller.
There's a pretty neat Night Slashers mod for the PC, Xbox and PSP called Night Slashers X out there.

Really!? I must check that out then. Thanks for the heads up.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Off-Road Velociraptor Safari and Midnight Club II. Weird thing about the latter is that there are pedestrians you can run over in that game (and it's hardly its selling point; it looks like a GTAIII mod rather than a stand-alone product and indeed, if you wanted to mess RenderWare dudes up around that time, you played GTAIII).

[Ed Oscuro]

And, of course, this beautiful gem from one of the most underrated shareware developers of 80s..

Dude, I need to check out Moraff's Escapade again. Looks like kind of a crap game honestly but it was wonderfully weird looking.

The text on the "perverted old mime" picture reminds me of the manuals and character bios from the original "Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?" Truly odd.

The cover for the Japanese MSX release (I'm sure it's the same as the Spectrum release) of Dexter Soft's Nightshade (not to be confused with Konami's Nightmare series) looks a wee bit like one of those medieval painters started making video game art...well, not the same style as i.e. carolignian art, more realistic, but it reminds me of it for some reason.

Of course, any of the Monty Python games, but most especially the IBM platforming one where the score counts backwards (and isn't the copy protection based on cheese?)

And overall I'm nodding my head in agreement with these reviews. Henceforth, all game reviews shall have a "weirdness" category.

[RNGmaster]

PuLiRuLa and Cho Aniki. Definately weird stuff going on, there...

By 'weirdy' I'm mostly looking at stuff that isn't so much deliberately balls-out crazy like Parodius/Cho Aniki/Wario Ware

[Drum]

Awesome, some great stuff here.

I played J J Squawkers for about 5 minutes on MAME, but it did not leave a good first impression - now I know better. Thanks Ruldra.
Sqoon is adorable, will try.
Morraff's stuff looks rad as hell. More dodgy shareware for OWS and anybody else who's interested: Sinaria http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tQtmV03TGQ
Zombie Nation I knew about but that's exactly what I was getting at.

More weirdy games I know of but people might not:
Gourmet Sentai (Super Famicom). Basically Cho Aniki the Beat em up.
Wizkid : The Story of Wizball 2 (Amiga). One of the best games ever made, in my humble view. Original, uncategorisable, bananas.
Both of those are pretty sqaurely in the crazy-on-purpose camp, but hey.
And of course: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=876hd624sas