Biggest Gaming Surprises

[Makar | 1,946]

Alright if I made a thread for biggest gaming disappointments, I have to do one for the positive side lol.

What are your biggest gaming surprises? Positive or neutral surprises that is. Put the negative ones in the other thread. Could be any surprises. Games that really wow'd you but you didn't have any high expectations for, gaming system that knocked it out of the park, etc. 

For me it's mostly games. 

Wargroove on the switch was a big surprise. Excellent turn based tactics game similar to advance wars. Really solid game. 

Drone tactics on the DS really surprised me too. Had no expectations for this but it's one of my top DS games. Another tactics game but closer to fire emblem than advance wars. 

Witch and hero 1, 2, and 3 for 3DS. These games look really really dumb but are all great. Not too hard, but still solid little games. 

Pocket Card Jockey for 3DS. A horse racing game mixed with solitaire and made by gamefreak??? Huh???? Well it's addicting. Very addicting and surprised me a lot. Solid game. Fun to play during the triple crown. 

 

The PSP. Only bought a PSP because someone gave me an incredible deal for it years ago. Now I have like 20 games for it. I was very surprised by how good the PSP library is and how ahead of it's time the system was. 

[Splain | 2,560]

When I played Link to the Past for the first time as a kid, it took my bad-at-games self a long time to get through the first three dungeons. So I really thought I was close to the end of the game when I went up that mountain and discovered the Dark World. I looked at the map and saw that I was at a big turning point, nowhere near the end of the game, and my jaw dropped.

[Makar | 1,946]

11 hours ago, Splain said:

When I played Link to the Past for the first time as a kid, it took my bad-at-games self a long time to get through the first three dungeons. So I really thought I was close to the end of the game when I went up that mountain and discovered the Dark World. I looked at the map and saw that I was at a big turning point, nowhere near the end of the game, and my jaw dropped.

Lol that's like me with modern games. "Oh surely I'm almost done the game"....nope, not even halfway done.

That reminds me of another surprise. Years ago I was playing SMB3 again and was like wtf, princess Toadstool???? I had no idea Peach's original name was Princess Toadstool.

Edited June 25, 2020 by Makar

[Sumez | 2,929]

I had no idea it ever stopped being Toadstool? I thought they just introduced Peach as a kinda nickname.

I know she was always Peach in Japan, though.

[Makar | 1,946]

4 hours ago, Sumez said:

I had no idea it ever stopped being Toadstool? I thought they just introduced Peach as a kinda nickname.

I know she was always Peach in Japan, though.

Well what do you know, you learn something new every day.

"In Japanese, Peach was always known as "Princess Peach". But originally in America, Peach was known as "Princess Toadstool". When Super Mario 64 came around, they combined the names so that her full name is "Princess Peach Toadstool", but she just goes familiarly as "Peach"."

 

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

I mentioned StarTropics in another thread. I went in expecting it to be a Zelda knock off and found out that it was every bit as good, if not even better.

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

My favorite surprise in my long history of gaming was probably when I beat Magus in Chrono Trigger. I thought that was the end of the game and was blown away when I realized that Magus was NOT the main bad guy and there was still about 75% of the game left to go. Awesome.

Also Aerith's death in FF7. Obviously not a good thing, but just a huge surprise that cemented the game as something special.

Edited June 25, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

1 minute ago, DoctorEncore said:

Also Aerith's death in FF7. Obviously not a good thing, but just a huge surprise that cemented the game as something special.

As far as in game surprises go, that has to be near the top of the list for me.

[MegaMan52 | 2,439]

In 2006, the announcement of a GameCube version of Tomb Raider Legend surprised me. Who'd have thought Lara Croft would appear on GameCube literally five years after the console was released? By the time Legend came out for it, I think the Wii just launched.

Edited June 25, 2020 by MegaMan52

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,011]

Among the biggest had to be Mario Galaxy. Coming off of Mario Sunshine, I didn't have high hopes. Mario Sunshine lacked a lot of what made Mario 64 so great and I honestly thought Mario 64 might end up being a gaming unicorn.

Then Mario Galaxy came out and I was floored. Incredible game mechanics, immersive world and even a decent story. The platforming was spot on and there was a great mix between linear progression and open world exploration.

It was a game, for me, that defined an era and going into my first playthrough basically blind I was surprised to say the least. 

[doner24 | 1,195]

24 minutes ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Among the biggest had to be Mario Galaxy. Coming off of Mario Sunshine, I didn't have high hopes. Mario Sunshine lacked a lot of what made Mario 64 so great and I honestly thought Mario 64 might end up being a gaming unicorn.

Then Mario Galaxy came out and I was floored. Incredible game mechanics, immersive world and even a decent story. The platforming was spot on and there was a great mix between linear progression and open world exploration.

It was a game, for me, that defined an era and going into my first playthrough basically blind I was surprised to say the least. 

Have you played Odyssey? If so, thoughts?

[DefaultGen | 5,395]

18 minutes ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Among the biggest had to be Mario Galaxy. Coming off of Mario Sunshine, I didn't have high hopes. Mario Sunshine lacked a lot of what made Mario 64 so great and I honestly thought Mario 64 might end up being a gaming unicorn.

Then Mario Galaxy came out and I was floored. Incredible game mechanics, immersive world and even a decent story. The platforming was spot on and there was a great mix between linear progression and open world exploration.

It was a game, for me, that defined an era and going into my first playthrough basically blind I was surprised to say the least. 

I was pretty excited for SMG from the start. SMG2 surprised me more because it looked like (and really was) a complete rehash, but it's possibly even a better game.

Along the same lines, NSMB Wii and NSMBU. The original NSMB was okay, but both of the console games are complete bangers. I think their crappy, samey art style and music are really the only things not exciting about them.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,011]

1 hour ago, doner24 said:

Have you played Odyssey? If so, thoughts?

Yeah I played it the whole way through. I thought the reward system (moons) was poorly implemented and a step away from Galaxy. Too much freedom and I felt like often times I was making mistakes that progressed me through the game. 

It had some great elements, mainly the platforming and world design. However, sometimes less is more. Showing restraint can be a worthy quality and I think should the devs shown restraint and had a little more direction in progression through the worlds it would've went from 8/10 to a 10/10.

[doner24 | 1,195]

32 minutes ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Yeah I played it the whole way through. I thought the reward system (moons) was poorly implemented and a step away from Galaxy. Too much freedom and I felt like often times I was making mistakes that progressed me through the game. 

It had some great elements, mainly the platforming and world design. However, sometimes less is more. Showing restraint can be a worthy quality and I think should the devs shown restraint and had a little more direction in progression through the worlds it would've went from 8/10 to a 10/10.

Fair. It was my favorite Mario game since SMW. Loved the platforming. 

[Strange | 1,700]

Most recently I was shocked by just how much I love Hollow Knight. I knew it was highly acclaimed, but I wasn’t prepared for how much I would love the atmosphere, the aesthetic, and the overall theme.

I remember being pleasantly surprised by Pokémon Black/White. I went in expecting another Pokémon game. What it turned out to be was the Pokémon game with the highest production value as far as music, environments, and story. 

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

45 minutes ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Yeah I played it the whole way through. I thought the reward system (moons) was poorly implemented and a step away from Galaxy. Too much freedom and I felt like often times I was making mistakes that progressed me through the game. 

It had some great elements, mainly the platforming and world design. However, sometimes less is more. Showing restraint can be a worthy quality and I think should the devs shown restraint and had a little more direction in progression through the worlds it would've went from 8/10 to a 10/10.

Same. I walked away from Odyssey happy to be done with it and pretty confident I would never return. Honestly, it just wasn't that fun for me.

[ICrappedMyPants | 302]

Goldeneye 64 - I knew it was cool that I would be getting a James Bond FPS game on N64. I had no clue that it would rock my world. I never played PC games, so this was my first multiplayer FPS experience. I loved playing with my brothers. The tv we had even got burn in from the hours of play.

[phart010 | 1,705]

3 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Yeah I played it the whole way through. I thought the reward system (moons) was poorly implemented and a step away from Galaxy. Too much freedom and I felt like often times I was making mistakes that progressed me through the game. 

It had some great elements, mainly the platforming and world design. However, sometimes less is more. Showing restraint can be a worthy quality and I think should the devs shown restraint and had a little more direction in progression through the worlds it would've went from 8/10 to a 10/10.

I know what they were going for.. I had this empty feeling after getting 120 stars in Mario 64. You just felt disappointed that there wasn’t more.

Mario Odyssey was loaded with content so you never feel like there not enough. The problem is that all the content in any given stage is available from the moment that stage is accessible. They should have made a base set of moons that you had to collect and then only after getting them, an additional set of moons becomes available.
 

As it is, you just feel like every corner you turn there’s another new moon and sometimes you don’t even have to work that hard to get them. This game just hands out the moons like candy.. I got desensitized to the thrill of getting a new moon.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,507]

So there were a flood of FPS games that came out in the wake of Quake.  Quake II was the id baby.  Daikatana was gonna make you suck it down.  Unreal had purple lighting.  SiN had those hyper-sexual ads.  Chasm had chainsaw dogs.  Trespasser had the bendy arm.  Jedi Knight had lightsabers.  Duke Nukem Forever had nonexistence.

Half Life had a developer with no pedigree, and no off-the-rails gimmick or ad campaign.  And immediately made them all obsolete.  It didn't come out of nowhere, but it was surprising as to just how good it was.

[Strange | 1,700]

I’ll throw in another - I was surprised at how much I enjoy Space Harrier. I first played it in the arcades in Yakuza 0. Then played it at a real arcade here in Nashville. It’s a simple arcade game that I just enjoy playing a few rounds of every now and then.

[T-Pac | 7,513]

I never would have anticipated how much fun I had with Guitar Hero on the DS. I was so addicted to that game one summer that I got wrist cramps and still didn't stop playing.

-CasualCart

[Sumez | 2,929]

Considering they advertised the game as taking a whole (real-time) day to run from one end of the world to the other, I'd say the scope of that game's world left me a little disappointed instead. In general I thought the game just felt a lot smaller than ALttP.

[Makar | 1,946]

6 hours ago, Sumez said:

Considering they advertised the game as taking a whole (real-time) day to run from one end of the world to the other, I'd say the scope of that game's world left me a little disappointed instead. In general I thought the game just felt a lot smaller than ALttP.

Anyone know if OOT was the biggest open world game that was out up until that time? Every game has a big world until something comes along to knock it out of the park. OOT looks super tiny now in comparison to BOTW, OOT is still pretty big.