How many of you like to buy the "smaller video games?"

For old, 'dead' systems like Genesis, SNES, NES, Saturn, Dreamcast, etc. how many of you people like to buy those rather weird, off beat, cheap domestic titles?

I love it. Hunting the rarer, "must have" games can be exciting, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I enjoy going to ebay for instance, place a bid of 3.00, and know that most likely in the end no one will outbid me.

I guess buying small, often times neglected games appeals to me because:

1. I like to take a small risk and see how the little game holds up to other games, especially those in the same genre and those which are talked about most (for example, "Corridor 7" vs. the almighty "DooM")

2. Small games are pretty accessible (in other words, inexpensive and common)

3. Whether the game is good, great, okay, or horrible, I like reporting back to the gaming community of which the system concerns. It's *usually* more fun to read well-informed topics about weird games as oppose to say, GTA3. There are some "sleeper" titles out there for every system, and if I helped someone in discovering a worthy title to their collection, hey -- it's all in a day's work.

4. Small games don't bring forth excessive hype generally. Small games can tend to catch you completely off-guard and make you say, "Hey this is pretty damn good." That's a good and refreshing feeling, trust me.

5. Balance. I don't want a collection full of costly, "must-have" games. Sometimes I want to whip out a game that IS one-dimensional. A quick fix. It makes you appreciate video games a lot more when you play both the "gems" and the common "US small games."

I always been a fan of underrated, under appreciated or neglected games. Would like to hear your thoughts on this topic.

I bought strider on megadrive for exactly this reason

I love to buy smaller games, I think Pulesman, All-stars, and Dynamite Dekka are the most slept on games ever

like pen pen tri-icelon or trickstyle?

i love em

Hell yeah. Pen Pen TriIcelon is sweet.

I also pick up some cheap unknown games once in a while. It's a refreshing change of pace and you're right, when you don't expect much in the first place you have much better chance of being pleased.

Crusader...(sigh) <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[Crying]" />

but that's a PC game...

Sometimes the finest games are the ones nobody ever talks about. I agree with you friend!

I have a copy of Crusader No Remorse on my Saturn.

Its a fun game for its time.

These days I grab DC games at EB when I can find them there , the stranger the better , and they tend to be a dime a dozen these days.

Oh, I do that from time to time.

It's also cool to buy prequels of hype games. When Virtua Tennis 2k2 for DC came out, nobody wanted the first part anymore, and its price dropped dramatically. Same with THPS on PSX or Sonic on Genesis.

Or take Destrega for PSX. It's a kind of fighter with spell users. You can cast spells on your opponent or go into melee. The game sat on the shelve, only a few of my friends even noticed let alone played it, but I wanted it from the day it was announced and still enjoy it.

I have a faible for "off games". When I was heavily into C=64 and other micro computers, "budget games" were a major thing in the scene. Most of them came on tape and cost about $10, and some of them were true gems; the world famous Thrust, one of the best C=64 games of all times, was a budget game too.

Excellent post Steve, I personally enjoy many of the off-beat domestic, and if it's also cheap, many obscure import titles as well.

I try to ignore hype, because in the end it makes no difference to me. If I like the game, then I like it, if I don't, so be it.

The only problem I have with smaller, more unknown works is that there is generally a lack of information about them on the web. Which is a damn shame too, because sometimes what's out there on a particular game is rather uninformative. But I guess that is the point of this topic.

Also, unknown games are a double-edged sword as well, because they can sometimes be very difficult to source a copy of. Many games for the PSX, SF, MD still elude me

If it's cheap, and seems interesting then I'll buy it.

I remember when I picked up "Circuit Breakers". Ahhh... Awesome.

Ahh... I know I can be burned by crap, at which case that gets put to the I don't care about pile.

The problem is if you don't take a chance you won't find the hidden gems out there.

There lots of great games for the older consoles that can be picked for some bucks (on ebay), because no one knows them.
I love buying carts for my SNES that I always wanted to play, but could not afford, back then.
On the other side, I don't play these suckers as long as the ones I spend all my pocket money on, almost a decade ago - It's more like a 'try out' thing.