• Top 10 Most Underrated Video Games

  

  Written by Zeromage 45 Comments
  Last Updated:: December 14, 2008

  There are many underrated video games. These games pass by the gamer without notice not necessarily because they’re below average games, but because they were never fully promoted. Other games however can be considered underrated because they’re considered below average in popular video game opinion. These next games we feel should not go unnoticed and should not be considered below average. Some of these next games could be considered in the greatest games of all time list, and they are. Whatever one’s reason for underrating a game, they will need to reconsider their motives after reading through this list and understanding the power of these next ten games. These next games are not only underrated in our eyes, but can be considered as lost classics.

  10. Final Fantasy 2
  

  The amount of amazing games in the Final Fantasy series is staggering. One could easily make a greatest games of all time list and have 5 of the games from the Final Fantasy series in there. It’s easy for a Final Fantasy game to be overlooked with FF3 and FF7 being in the catalog. One of those overlooked games was FF2 that had an incredible storyline and improved on Final Fantasy 1 in ways that made it possible for FF3 to be as great of a game as it was. The story line was huge, and so were the powers that each character could attain through the game. FF2 took on a larger scope in terms of drama and magic than FF1. There was romance in FF2 and tragic deaths that put the gamer in more of a Ulysses role than any game before it. This idea would go on to spearhead the best games in the RPG medium from FF3 to Secret of Mana. FF2 cannot be disregarded for this fact.

  9. Burger Time

  Burger Time gets made fun of more than most video games because of it’s apparent inanity. This is a mistake though because once someone has actually played it, they are in for some of the most fun of their life regardless of the comical theme that the game epitomized. Of course no one ever wants to build burgers in real lives. There’s a reason for the “working at McDonalds” stigma that has crossed the globe as soon as McDonalds was noticed as a fast food superpower, but building a burger in virtual reality, this was a totally different event. Peter Pepper was not some simple hamburger maker. He was a superlative chef who had to avoid enemies while building his monumental burgers. This game took skill and thought unlike making a simple sandwich for yourself. This was a puzzle game that ranks among the best puzzle games. Play it and you’ll see.

  8. Zelda 2

  Zelda 2 is consistently underrated. You will always find this game being called “the worst of the series” because of its layout not being identical to that of Zelda 1 and Zelda “Link to the Past”. Of course this disparagement in layout is forgiven when Zelda becomes a 3D figure. Everyone has to like 3D, and so every 3D Zelda game must be good (Refer to our Top 10 reasons why games should be 2D rather than 3D for more detail on 3D fan-boyishness). Play Zelda 2 though, and one is involved in one of the most memorable adventures ever put to the video game medium. Zelda 2 is filled with mystery and fulfilling challenges at every turn. The castles are complex and the bosses inside of them are memorable. Along the way, Link is given numerous techniques in fighting these monsters that were incredibly effective like his down thrust ability. That this game was ever considered a bad game is a mystery to us. We can only think this was because it wasn’t identical to Zelda 1.

  7. Mario 2

  Like Zelda 2, Super Mario Brothers 2 has been deemed an unworthy game in the Mario Brothers series. Every video gamer knows the story about SMB2 and how it blatantly copied a Japanese game except for substituting the protagonists with the Mario Brothers protagonists, but does this take away from the fun of the game? Sure, you could classify the makers of the Mario Brothers series lazy for not being more creative in their design of Mario 2, but does this take away from the fun of the game itself? For what it’s worth, we play this game with a sense of excitement and gumption. We love the perfect controlling ability that makes you jump higher than you could ever imagine. We love the bosses from Mouser to Triclyde. We play the game and love it, beyond this, does it anything else really matter?

  6. Metal Storm
  

  No one knows about Metal Storm and we don’t know why because this game was one of the most unique and enjoyable 2D side-scrollers we ever played for the NES. The graphics were beyond it’s age, and the sounds were just as inventive as the game play. Beyond the graphics and strong sound quality was an amazingly creative game design that allowed the player to switch the gravitational pull throughout the game. At any time of the game you could play from the bottom or top of the screen. For an early NES game, this was incredibly innovative. You had to utilize this power if you wanted to get through the game, and being able to use it at anytime was a new found freedom fro the side scrolling medium. Don’t overlook Metal Storm. This was a game well beyond it’s years.

  5. Rescue Rangers
  

  Chip n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers was one of the best titles ever to be released for the NES. It was also one of the last titles to ever be released for it as well. Sadly Rescue Rangers is often ignored when one talks about the best games for the NES. This doesn’t make sense to us here at Old-Wizard. This game was almost as good as Duck Tales, and featured one of the best soundtracks ever for the NES. Rescue Rangers featured great game play and an excellent co-op mode which was a rarity for the time of its release. It’s really unfortunate that this game isn’t more well known – try to do a quick google search, and you’ll find virtually nothing about this game on the web, but don’t let that fool you. This game is a lost classic, and its well worth picking up for the $5 that you’ll spend on it at a used video game store…If you can find it.

  4. Illusion of Gaia

  Illusion of Gaia is one of those games that passed over the video gamer’s eyes because of a lack of marketing. Anyone who has played Illusion of Gaia knows just how great of game it was though. This is not a game that is ever challenged in its quality. It’s simply unknown. Hidden within all the great SNES Squaresoft games was Illusion of Gaia with a story as big as Lord of the Rings and mystery around every corner. One could easily put Illusion of Gaia within the greatest video game soundtracks ever put to record also. Beyond the storyline and superlative music was the concept of the game which made the protagonist visit the most noted historical monuments and archetypes in the human beings world. Revisiting these destinations was playing history itself. That Illusion of Gaia should suffer the fate of not being considered one of the greatest games of all time is not a problem for those who have actually played it. If it should remain a hidden gem in the golden age of RPGs, this is only to the detriment to those who don’t know about it.
  

  3. Duck Tales

  Duck Tales is a game that most people love, but is never listed as one of the greatest games of all time. When people remember the game, they remember it with joy. It’s not necessarily a game that has been overlooked or unnoticed, and its not a game that has ever been considered bad. It lingers aimlessly in the video gamers mind without a sense of it ever being considered with the best video games of all time. Put the NES controller back in the hands of the video gamer with this game in the NES, and they will know that Duck Tales needs to be considered as one of the greatest games of all time. A perfect design, astonishingly memorable music, and a superb storyline guide Duck Tales with a replayable entertainment value not found in most adventure games. Play the space level or the archaic ruins level and the gamer will understand exactly what we’re talking about. Not only was the cartoon great, but the video game was also a serious contender for greatness.

  2. Actraiser

  The front cover of the SNES forgotten classic states “Create order from Chaos”! Who couldn’t be interested in this plain imperative? The game didn’t sell well worldwide, it was barely featured on end-of-the-year best of lists and is never talked about on video game forums. This game was just to good to be forgotten though. This game combines superb side-scrolling action with a Civilization-esque overhead view that puts you in the God seat rebuilding the world from chaos and restoring your followers. This combines Mario Brothers with Sim City! Half the time you’re battling nefarious monsters in your mythical and statuesque body suit, and the other half your reshaping civilization by controlling infrastructure being built in the formerly destroyed world. Roads, buildings, farms, population, you name it, you are recreating civilization from the bottom up. This unique gameplay worked perfectly and it’s always been strange to us why Actraiser is never included in best of lists.

  1. Little Nemo The Dream Master

  How could anyone underrate Little Nemo Dream Master? This game may have used a protagonist small in stature, but the creativity in gameplay was as big as a Zelda game. Going through all those levels and picking up all those keys was not the simple 2D act of Nemo. Throughout his journey, he had to feed animals which would then give Nemo their animal power (talk about mythical symbolism!). Some of these abilities would be needed to conquer the game and other would simply make the game easier. Each level was not a mere 2D level, but were pixelated dreams that felt like actual dreams. Play the Flower level (level 2) and you’ll see what we mean. Each level was big too. The game felt like one big dream where you had the freedom to control your actual dream rather than being the recipient of something you couldn’t control. This game was innovative on many levels but for some reason is never considered among the great games.

45 Comments

1. #1 mtg101 says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 8:11 pm

   What about Zelda: Four Swords Adventures? If you could find 4 GBAs and GCN/GBA cables, and three friends, this was one of the best co-op games ever – certainly the perfection of the Gauntlet genre games.
2. #2 untappedhi says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 8:23 pm

   Earthworm Jim should deffinatly be on this list.
3. #3 RJ says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 10:11 pm

   Y even make this article on old games.

   People have completely forgotten about these.

   You should have called it best 10 classic overrated games
4. #4 No Way says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 10:24 pm

   Zelda 2 and Mario 2 are not underrated at all.

   Yeah, they are considered the worst of the series, but Zelda and Mario are huge games. There are better games that have less recognition.
5. #5 Hadouken Online says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 11:13 pm

   What about Renegade for the NES? That’s still one of my favorites from the era of the beat ‘em up. What about the fighting games genre? Titles like ClayFighter, Primal Rage, and Time Killers are always overlooked.
6. #6 Thiga says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 12:26 am

   I loved Legacy of the Wizard.
   I spent weeks playing that game and found myself going through it at least 3 or 4 times.

   Totally agree about Duck Tales…simple yet amazing
   and Wart…they need to bring him back!
7. #7 ShiHe says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 1:05 am

   Underrated?

   Don’t you mean.. underappreciated? Zelda and Mario won’t EVER fall into “underrated games” category unless we’re talking about only mario games, or only zelda games.
8. #8 Ceiltsei says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 1:59 am

   I agree with your list, even if it is a bit limited as every title you mention has a very good reason behind it. I believe that those who did not grow up in the classic NES era of gaming will not understand this list, which is probably why you have so many ignorant comments on this blog.
9. #9 Keranu says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 2:25 am

   Pretty much all of those games listed have faired great reviews. “Overlooked” might be a better way to define these games, but Illusion of Gaia and Act Raiser in the top 5? Those are games every snerd talks about!
10. #10 George says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 3:37 am

    The point is ShiHe, people know about Mario 2 and Zelda 2, but they give them a lot of criticism where it shouldn’t be found. They’re great games, but fuckheads like the Irate Gamer (I HATE you Irate Gamer!) bash these games for the dumbest of reasons. Assholes.

    But, you guy’s still missed the mark. The best underrated game is either Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, or Majora’s Mask. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you haven’t played either of those, they all have been forgotten, and Majora’s Mask is needlessly hated in the same way Zelda 2 was, but it went above Ocarina due to both higher difficulty, a unique gameplay setup (The Groundhog Day of games), and a darker story. It’s The Empire Strikes Back to Ocarinas A New Hope, to bad their was no Return of the Jedi.

    As for Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. I’m positive most of you haven’t played them. Stop whatever your doing, and buy them on Amazon or whatever. It’ll be the best deal you’ve ever gotten. Play these games, or you’re doing yourself an injustice.

    I’ll be sure to check out your games on an emulator or the VC, I was too young for the NES or SNES.
11. #11 Alexx says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 6:37 am

    Ha I got chip dales in my bin of old games dont know how i got it will try it now. Gaia one of my fave games of the SNES always wondered why it was never big, also earthbound was a good one too.
12. #12 xtoc says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 8:31 am

    I would put battle of olympus on nr1
13. #13 Ryan Hunt says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:43 am

    Zelda 2 was an experience I will never forget back in the day! absolutely ausome!
14. #14 ttocs says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 11:26 am

    These are some good ones, but there’s been a lot more since the NES days. You guys need to come back to reality a little. Sure, the NES days were great, but there’s a lot more out there now.
15. #15 Nitpicker says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    Terranigma was better than Illusion of Gaia
16. #16 moo says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    FF2, agreed. Infact all the FF games are pretty much winners. Even more under rated are the ones Not released in NA. I guess that makes FF 3 (japaneese) the most under rated of the series.
17. #17 BrandSizzle says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    What is this? 10 most underrated 8 and 16 bit nintendo games. Next time look into acouple different systems and decades
18. #18 safcsx says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    To the guy who said Shadow of the Colossus was underrated, you’re wrong. It was a greatest hits seller on the PS2 and it’s near everyone’s top PS2 lists, and ICO, while selling like shit, is still on those lists as well, so not underrated. I will agree with you that Majora’s mask is underrated because it was quite ambitious and worked quite well. I’d say the most underrated and unappreciated game is Alien Soldier on the SEGA Genesis. That thing is awesome.
19. #19 George says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 6:14 pm

    Okay safcsx, maybe they’re not underrated, but Ico really should have sold more, and both need more publicity for both innovation and fun, the fact that that didn’t happen was criminal.

    Also, I don’t think FF2, the American version, was underrated. It was a rather watered down port due to the Japanese thinking we wouldn’t like challenging RPG’s, and large sections of the script were cut or censored. The DS remake fixed that and brought back the difficulty and the story, that is the version that should be played.

    The same thing didn’t happen to FF3, or 6, it got the royal treatment, and had the script remain mostly intact without having the difficulty taken out. So don’t worry.
20. #20 ATTICUS says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    Yeah I say Earthworm jim should have taken ‘BURGER TIME’

    Wtf is that? lmao
21. #21 ShootFirstLive says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    Crisis Force> Not released in US, but arguably the best STG/SHMUP on Famicom.
22. #22 Weeji says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 8:52 pm

    Rescue Rangers! Now THAT was a game.
23. #23 Geeko says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:58 pm

    Burguer time? even though im from the Nes era burger time?

    No way, Terranigma WAY better than Illusion of Gaia. Terranigma is like a Crono trigger meets Zelda or something like that.

    Huge worldmap, real time battle with many different ways to attack. A worthy plot for a book or movies.

    That is the most underrated video game ever.

    Please get an emulator and download the rom (you wont find it in snes cartridge)
24. #24 Gyb says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:10 am

    From the information I got, Terranigma was never released in North America? If you consider the game underrated just because it is not released in other hemisphere, then there are tons of games that must be mentioned, like Seiken Densetsu 3 (Secret of Mana 2)?
25. #25 Gaylord Focker says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    Burguer time is gay
26. #26 Clay says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:29 am

    Three words,

    River
    City
    Ransom

    Best Beat ‘em Up ever
27. #27 Darkest Lord says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:58 am

    Wheres TP?
28. #28 Eddie says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:43 pm

    At first this list looked totally gay considering Mario 2 and Zelda were big hits, but putting Metal Storm on here was great. It’s not Mega Man but it’s very good. Capcom put out a ton of great Disney games like the ones you listed, although I would have put Darkwing Duck on the list. Good read.
29. #29 shadsilvson says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 11:11 am

    What? Zelda II was considered the worst in the series? BS. Zelda Wand Of Gamelon is the worst.
30. #30 Anthony says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 3:00 pm

    Beyond Good and Evil is the best game that hardly anyone played.
31. #31 Raymond says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 8:11 pm

    In my oppinion WC2 is an underrated game. Almost everyone I know have’nt played it because of WC3 and they think it sucks or something I don’t know. But in my opinion one of Blizzards best games and an underrated game in my friendcircle.
32. #32 Relayer71 says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 9:26 pm

    I recall Act Raiser getting a lot of praise at the time.
    So much that it received a sequel, so hardly underrated.
33. #33 DocCid says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 8:24 am

    You FOOLS once again you’ve UNDERRATED it! The best most UNDERRATED game EVER!……..POWERSTONE 2 -DREAMCAST. Perfect timeing neverending beast battles! T_T Please bring it back Capcom oh Please T_T Don’t forget about it!
34. #34 andrew says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 10:57 am

    I agree with illusion of gaia being a great game.
    It spurred in me emotion and sadness,the story is very moving and it has a replay value of at least 6-10 or 7 out of 10.

    Final fantasy 3 is not underrated,just undervalued in comparison to the newer games.

    Lufia and lufia 2 were great installments and i loved both of them.

    Earthbound is a little undervalued but illusion of gaia is even more so.
    2
    I also liked suikoden 1 and 2.2 being the best for me.

    What about zelda a link to the past? a great installment of the series 4 swords was also very good.

    I also enjoyed links awakening on gameboy colour or was it gameboy advance?

    final fantasy 1 is almost kinda forgotten and i found it to be rather fun game even if it is 21 years old now.

    I think just cause a game came out in 1988 or earlier and had less tech for sound doesn’t make it crap graphics.I bet it was innovative for its time.

    Hmm i actually liked legend of legaia and found it enjoyable overall.I also enjoyed a litle of secret of mana.The music in secret of mana though was just ok.

    Terranigma was actually also fun and i beat the whole thing and found the game to be very emotionally sad during the end and have quite a few things to do.

    Secrets of evermore:when was the last time any of you actually played this game? i found the combination of making alchemy interesting and having various pets.
35. #35 avi says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 11:18 am

    where is mario land 2 and mario 2 is actually quite popular.
36. #36 you're all retarded says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    this list is wrong.

    where’s GUN?
37. #37 Avi says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 12:11 pm

    @shadsilvon:worst Zelda game not counting the CD-i Zeldas.
38. #38 Wolf says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 10:45 am

    underrated?
    Mario 2? Zelda 2? Final Fantasy 2?
    Maybe you mean under appreciated with those 3?
39. #39 yep says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 1:57 am

    I would say Chrono Cross is a very underrated game.
    I even heard from people that they refused to play it because it was “too different” from Trigger.
40. #40 LEGONESFISH says:
    November 20th, 2009 at 8:21 pm

    definitely agree with illusion of time (european name for illusion of time) being a great, underrated game, it plays a lot like zelda, and is arguably better