Top 10 Overlooked Video Games of All Time

After looking through the most criminally overlooked games out there since the days of the NES to the more recent PS3/360 era, its time to show off the ones that are the very best at not standing out. Welcome to Watchmojo.com and today we’re concluding out Overlooked video game series with our final video, the top 10 Overlooked Games of all Time.

In the final video of our overlooked series we’ve combined the games from our previous lists that we’ve felt really didn’t get the recognition they deserved at launch, or have been forgotten overtime. If you think something has been overlooked by US, be sure to check out the rest of our overlooked series starting with the 3RD Generation to see if your favorite made it there.

Inspired by the novel “Heart of Darkness” you play as Captain Martin Walker, an American soldier sent to save the man who once saved him, Colonel Konrad, who has disappeared in sandstorm ravaged Dubai. The game eventually takes a twisted turn when you begin to realize that the enemy you are seeking might not be the one you though they were. Dealing with issues such as PTSD, the desire to be a hero, and the ethics of war in general, you’ll be remembering this one long after the credits roll.

When this 3d beat'em up was first released, it did not get as much attention as expected because of it’s difficulty, mostly thanks to the large amount of enemies in each stage, each of which take a while to bring down. This game demands that you take your time, luring enemies with your taunt in order to fight them one on one. Still since grilling difficult games are all the rage these days, if you’re the kind of person that likes to get punished a lot in Video Games, track this one down.

Based off the ancient Chinese tale “Journey To The West,” and reimagined into a post-apocalyptic United States settings, Enslaved tells the tale of Monkey and Trip. The duo is trying to return to Trip’s home village, with Monkey bound to Trip via a slave collar. The gameplay is rich and exciting, ranging from close quarters combat, to daring acrobatics and nail biting escape sequences. On top of that, Monkey is played by Andy Serkis, who also did the motion capture for his character, so you know his performance is going to be memorable. Man, Serkis is the go-to monkey man eh?

The Dreamcast many not have been the greatest home console but it did leave us with quite a few gems that no one played. For example, this JRPG features one of the most unique settings for a video game world, as the game takes place high in the sky among various natural floating islands and airships. As such, what would normally be your rather standard RPG battles are spruced up with the occasional airship encounter. The game later received a Gamecube port as “Skies of Arcadia Legends” yet it still didn’t get the recognition it deserved.

If you’ve ever wanted to feel the trill of doing parkour running in the most dangerous of locations, than this game is just for you. As Faith Conners, a runner trying to clear her sisters name, you jump, climb and swing across giant skyscrapers - resulting in some great breathtaking moments. A strong and interesting female protagonist, and a beautiful soundtrack, Mirror’s Edge had all the makings of being an amazing game, but made a bit of a misjump.

This game is original on many levels. The goal is the save the inventor of the doomsday device, and stop said device. But for that, you need to travel all over the non-linear map in order to find the power ups and items you'll need. The graphic look like an old Japanese anime, giving the game a somewhat comedic look, and there are many useful before-their-time features such as the ability to access a shop on demand. Better still though, was the look on the bad guys faces when you hit them.

In the future, the titular space station - that was meant to be a fun park - has been overrun by its mechanical animals inhabitants. Two unlikely heroes are sent to investigate but due to a crash landing, Evo, the robot, gets reduced to a mere micro-chip and must take control of the different robotic animals of the station to get his body back. And of course, those animals can vary from real life creative to one with mechanical upgrades like wheels or weapons for an insane amount of gameplay variety.

As a gigantic object approaches your homeland, you are sent to confront it. The game is a combination of a Zelda style Adventure game, where you have to solve puzzles and buy stuff, and sections called corridors that are essentially Shoot Em Up stages, where you blast through enemies and fight large bosses. Even though it combined elements from two very popular games, Zelda and Gradius, it came out late in the NES life-cycle and its box art did not correspond to its excellent content.

These days comic books are all the rage, but in the 90’s most comic book games carried a bad stigma, which is why this one went unnoticed. You play as Sketch, a comic book artist who gets trapped into his own comic book by the villain. The game itself is classic beat'em up, but it is the details that make it nice: Since you are in a comic, you move across different panels, your profanities get censored, you talk in speech bubbles and each blow you land generates a comic onomatopoeia. Extremely tight combat, but also brutally difficult with only one life, this is one stylish game that’ll make you go (“Oh Yeah!”)

Before we get to what we feel is the best overlooked game of all, here are a few honorable mentions.

"Jet Force Gemini" (1999)
"Beyond Good and Evil" (2003)
"Terranigma" (1995)
"Illusion of Gaia" (1993)
"Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver" (1999)

Tim Schafer you magnificent bastard, take a bow knowing that you are the king of hidden gems. In this game about psychic secret agents, most of the levels take place inside the minds of various individuals, like say…. inside the mind of a giant fish, where it’s actually you that’s the monster in a city filled with fish people. This novel concept results in a wacky, memorable experience, both figuratively and literally. Oh and if you ever thought that your local dentist was a mad scientist, then you’ll certainly relate to this game really well.

Chances are that due to the nature of this list that we’ve overlooked a few games, again if you didn’t see a game you felt should have been on this list, be sure to check our 5 other videos on the overlooked games per generation, and for top 10’s that you hopefully won’t overlook, be sure to subscribe to Watchmojo.com