Great Semi-Forgotten Games

My apologies if this type of thread has been done before. I looked through the first several pages here and didn't seem to find one.

Anyway, I was just wondering what some of the games you guys played back in the day that were great (at least to you), but don't really seem to be remembered as often as some games are. I'll list a few of mine to start with, although I'll probably think of more later.


System Shock 2 - I'm going to list this one, even though it has gotten a lot more attention since Bioshock came out. Before that, it seemed to live in relative obscurity. SS2 creeped me out a lot whenever I would play it, but I couldn't stop booting it up. The different character classes offered several different ways to play, and what game isn't made better with zombie monkeys running around?

Thief: The Dark Project & Thief: The Metal Age - Looking Glass Studios had some serious game-making skills. Not only did they make System Shock, but they made these two gems as well. I spent many hours sneaking through mansions, zombie-infested prisons, police stations, and underground lairs thanks to these games. Many of the levels are designed so well that I still go back to tackle them every once in a while. I also think that Garrett, the main character, is a very interesting one. Sneaking around in a video game has rarely been done better.

Blade Runner - The Blade Runner point and click adventure game is often overlooked, but I really enjoyed it. It's several endings were enough for me to play through it a few times. The main character (you don't play as Deckard) ended up being either a human or a replicant at the end, depending on the choices you made throughout the game.

One Must Fall 2097 - This is a fun little fighting game from Epic's past. Who doesn't want a game with giant robots battling it out? Anyway, the tournament mode was pretty well done, letting you upgrade your bot as you went. You got more cash to spend based on how well you fought in the ring. I also remember the game having some fun "fatality" moves and the main theme still pops into my head from time to time.

ZZT - Created by Tim Sweeney, founder of Epic, ZZT is a DOS-based scrolling adventure game where the graphics are made entirely out of ANSI characters. You play as a little smiley face symbol running around. The game had some pretty fiendish puzzles, and some fun enemy tyes. However, the real appeal of ZZT is its robust level-editor (complete withits own programming language, ZZT-OOP). I'll have to see if I still have my ZZT floppy disc lying around somewhere.

Hence the phrase "semi-forgotten". They certainly have a cult following, but System Shock and Thief have never really hooked into the mainstream as much as something like Half-Life, Doom, Quake, etc.

Also, I was trying to think of a good name for this thread, and this is the best I could come up with this morning.