Games you can't remember the name of

[sp1nz | 733]

Post any descriptions for games you have played but can't remember the name of and maybe someone knows what it is.

I have a DOS or PC one that I've tried to search for on/off for quite some time:

I don't know how much of this is accurate but here goes: The game must've been like 1990-1997 release. I think it was isometric view puzzle game with some different colored aliens you have to command. The level layouts may have been blocky and floating in space. I think the characters walk with two legs and you had to plan routes for multiple of them and maybe you had limited amount of steps to map their movements with. Maybe bit like Contraption Zack (in picture) in graphical style but probably more zoomed out and in space but the alien colors were similar to those button colors. I think the level area was bluish. Maybe I have fake memories lol but I feel like it wasn't real time action game like Contraption Zack, if it even exists.

(suggested by RH), if you own a reddit account or want to make one then reddit.com/r/tipofmyjoystick are ninjas at helping people answer these questions.

Edited April 6, 2021 by sp1nz

[Webhead123 | 831]

Sadly, your particular game isn't ringing any bells with me.

This is a fantastic topic though and it brings to mind one particular game that I've tried to identify for years and have never managed to pin it down.

It was a game on either the Atari 2600 or possibly Colecovision (I can't remember which) that I owned and played in the mid '80s (probably '85-'87). The game was a left-to-right side-scrolling type game. You had a time limit to reach the end and I believe the concept was that you were a kid on his skateboard trying to get to school on-time. I seem to recall navigating through things like forests and hedge mazes (such as they were represented in Atari-era graphics) and having to cross roadways while dodging cars. As an early game, the screen didn't actually "scroll". Once you'd reach the border of one screen, it would advance you to the next.

I seem to remember, although your primary goal was to keep heading to the right, there were some screens where you might have to navigate up or down a screen to get around certain obstacles. It was all played from a "birds-eye" perspective, think like Legend of Zelda.

As the game was timed, the object was to maneuver through the challenges as quickly as possible in order to maximize your score and the player sprite was "ridin' a skateboard", so the game's action was pretty speedy, as I recall.

I just seem to remember lots of yellows and greens in the (Atari-limited) color palette.

Anyone have any clue which game that is?

Edited April 6, 2021 by Webhead123

[sp1nz | 733]

8 minutes ago, Webhead123 said:

Anyone have any clue which game that is?

Skate Boardin': A Radical Adventure (1987) Atari 2600 fits a lot of your description at least.

[Webhead123 | 831]

4 minutes ago, sp1nz said:

Skate Boardin': A Radical Adventure (1987) Atari 2600 fits a lot of your description at least.

You know, this is probably it! That start-up screen looks really familiar. And although there are some parts that don't quite jive with my memory, it's been 34 years since I've played it, so it is highly possible that my memory has been warped over time.

[AstralSoul | 524]

There was this game I played on PC many years ago, early to mid 90s, might've been on DOS. It was a point and click adventure and for years I couldn't remember the name of it but I always had it in my head it was Milon's Secret Castle because I remember a castle and a wizard, but I know that's definitely not the game, that's a totally different game.  I thought it had something like Milo or Merlin in the title. You play a little kid, and of I remember correctly he looked like a little wizard, and some of the puzzles were like mixing potions and stuff. It has cartoony graphics. I don't remember it being an edutainment title but it might've been. No amount of Google Fu has helped me apparently, as there were a few results under similar game names that weren't the game I'm thinking of. As soon as I see a screenshot of it I'll know.

[RH | 5,428]

I think it's fine doing this here, but the regulars at reddit.com/r/tipofmyjoystick are ninjas at helping people answer these questions. In fact, that sub might have been the one that got me to join the site. You'll often have an answer to even obscure stuff in an hour or two.

[JamesRobot | 6,268]

3 hours ago, AstralSoul said:

There was this game I played on PC many years ago, early to mid 90s, might've been on DOS. It was a point and click adventure and for years I couldn't remember the name of it but I always had it in my head it was Milon's Secret Castle because I remember a castle and a wizard, but I know that's definitely not the game, that's a totally different game.  I thought it had something like Milo or Merlin in the title. You play a little kid, and of I remember correctly he looked like a little wizard, and some of the puzzles were like mixing potions and stuff. It has cartoony graphics. I don't remember it being an edutainment title but it might've been. No amount of Google Fu has helped me apparently, as there were a few results under similar game names that weren't the game I'm thinking of. As soon as I see a screenshot of it I'll know.

Maybe a Simon the Sorcerer game?

[AstralSoul | 524]

1 hour ago, JamesRobot said:

Maybe a Simon the Sorcerer game?

I came across this while searching but it's not it. Very similar to this and Kings Quest games though. The character was like a short guy in a wizards robe iirc.

[sp1nz | 733]

3 hours ago, RH said:

I think it's fine doing this here, but the regulars at reddit.com/r/tipofmyjoystick are ninjas at helping people answer these questions. In fact, that sub might have been the one that got me to join the site. You'll often have an answer to even obscure stuff in an hour or two.

Good tip, I don't own a reddit account though and trying to bring some life here as well. I'll edit the subreddit in my opening post though.

6 hours ago, AstralSoul said:

There was this game I played on PC many years ago, early to mid 90s, might've been on DOS. It was a point and click adventure and for years I couldn't remember the name of it but I always had it in my head it was Milon's Secret Castle because I remember a castle and a wizard, but I know that's definitely not the game, that's a totally different game.  I thought it had something like Milo or Merlin in the title. You play a little kid, and of I remember correctly he looked like a little wizard, and some of the puzzles were like mixing potions and stuff. It has cartoony graphics. I don't remember it being an edutainment title but it might've been. No amount of Google Fu has helped me apparently, as there were a few results under similar game names that weren't the game I'm thinking of. As soon as I see a screenshot of it I'll know.

Scooter's Magic Castle (1993) PC?

[AstralSoul | 524]

33 minutes ago, sp1nz said:

Good tip, I don't own a reddit account though and trying to bring some life here as well. I'll edit the subreddit in my opening post though.

Scooter's Magic Castle (1993) PC?

YES! This was it! For some reason I thought the kids name was Milo or Merlin. This is definitely it though.  I haven't thought about the game in years until I saw this topic, it made me think of all those old DOS games that I'd forgotten about, but was able to locate all of them except this one. Thanks!!

[GPX | 1,444]

I feel this thread is like a game into itself: “guess the game someone has forgotten and you likely might have never heard of!”

[Redmond | 152]

This was a DOS game that I played on some shovelware collection.  From what I can remember, it was similar to Hugo's House of Horrors graphically and gameplay-wise.  You were a private investigator or something along those lines.  The main identifying bit was that there was a section where you could look into a window at a woman, I want to say you had binoculars or something and I can't remember what it showed exactly but it went into a "To see more, buy the full version" bit.  I don't think it was Leisure Suit Larry either.

[Tanooki | 5,267]

Voyeur?  Also on CDi.

[Redmond | 152]

It wasn't that one.  The graphics were basic 2D sprites.  I also don't necessarily think the voyeurism was that big of an aspect of the game so much as something they maybe tossed in just to try to get people to buy it.

[Nesmaster | 402]

I played a very crude bike game on a cousin's computer years ago, not sure what kind. From what I remember, it was black and white, and you'd have to set speed and whatnot to clear ramps on screen, which would change each level. Only the correct settings would have you ramp between successfully, or you'd crash. This is about as best as I can remember it looking, where the ramps would change shape/size and distance each level.

[SpoonMan Abrams X | 699]

To this point

There was a game I played (as a demo I think?) as a kid when this was out. It was a game that reminds me a lot of Resident Evil in control and in-game camera perspective, sort of isometric view anyway (though it did predate RE by a few years, this was 1995 at the latest iirc)

The duration of the game I played was a girl running around a courtyard or garden of some sort. One area in particular had a giant fountain in it. There may have been a hedgemaze. I remember not having a GD clue what was going on and eventually getting mauled to death by wolves(pretty sure wolves anyway lol) in the game. I think there were also Human enemies.

Also reasonably sure it was on a demo disc, as I recall there being other games, however I didn't get a lot of time to spend with it, I just remember it being there. Was not impressed lol

[fox | 1,858]

1 hour ago, SpoonMan Abrams X said:

To this point

There was a game I played (as a demo I think?) as a kid when this was out. It was a game that reminds me a lot of Resident Evil in control and in-game camera perspective, sort of isometric view anyway (though it did predate RE by a few years, this was 1995 at the latest iirc)

The duration of the game I played was a girl running around a courtyard or garden of some sort. One area in particular had a giant fountain in it. There may have been a hedgemaze. I remember not having a GD clue what was going on and eventually getting mauled to death by wolves(pretty sure wolves anyway lol) in the game. I think there were also Human enemies.

Also reasonably sure it was on a demo disc, as I recall there being other games, however I didn't get a lot of time to spend with it, I just remember it being there. Was not impressed lol

Alone in the Dark or Alone in the Dark 2 (which was just called Alone in the Dark in some ports)



 

[SpoonMan Abrams X | 699]

21 hours ago, fox said:

Alone in the Dark or Alone in the Dark 2 (which was just called Alone in the Dark in some ports)



 

Not this game. Game in question was on the CD-i. Also definitely not nearly as good lol

[Tanooki | 5,267]

Creature Shock?

[LostLevel83 | 87]

There was a Neo Geo game that we played on the arcade cabinet in Burger King (!!) back in the day. It was a first-person perspective and you could see your arm and knife when you moved room to room. 

I’ve tried to figure out what game it was and if there is a port of it, but with no success.

[sp1nz | 733]

26 minutes ago, LostLevel83 said:

There was a Neo Geo game that we played on the arcade cabinet in Burger King (!!) back in the day. It was a first-person perspective and you could see your arm and knife when you moved room to room. 

I’ve tried to figure out what game it was and if there is a port of it, but with no success.

The Super Spy (1990) Arcade?

[LostLevel83 | 87]

52 minutes ago, sp1nz said:

The Super Spy (1990) Arcade?

That’s it! Thank you 

[Tanooki | 5,267]

Solid game, quarter muncher as it's hard not to get whacked, often.  I own a copy of it for my cabinet and I think it's currently in there too as I was messing with it recently.

There's also Crossed Swords on MVS, same game, but knights and magic stuff.  A sequel exists on CD, Razoola though converted it to MVS and you can get it on a cart (I have it) and it's amazing.

[AlternatorDelux | 68]

I can remember a game with a high-pitched creature that says something along the lines of "Payamo!"  I can't remember what kind of game it is, but I suspect it's on Game Boy Advance.  Multiple voices in Super Monkey Ball sound like it, but I haven't found that particular line in those games.

[Tanooki | 5,267]

Klonoa?