I think my keys are in that mess.
Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Playing Games column listed their nine Most Bizarre Video Games of All Time. To limit the list, the authors decided to concentrate on titles that were “actually kind of fun to play” and exclude licensed titles. (I’ve included my impressions for the games that I’ve played.):
- Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee – It was definitely a strange premise, but ultimately it was all about herding the Mudoken’s through each level, which registers about a three on my bizarre scale.
- Alien Hominid
- Frog Bog
- Rez
- Grim Fandango – This was a brilliant game, definitely not bizarre. However, the author admits in the article’s comment section that he was coming off a steady diet of sports, fighting and side-scrolling shooters so the game was bizarre for him.
- BurgerTime
- Katamari Damacy – One of the all time wierdest games on the planet. Playing it was like experiencing someone’s drug-induced efforts to clean up their room. The music, alone, proves the devs were on something. I loved every wacky moment of it.
- Elite Beat Agents – Who doesn’t need male cheerleaders to make everything better? My preference is the original Japanese title, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, solely because I enjoyed the J-Pop tunes more than the rock titles offered with the westernized Elite Beat.
- Seaman
I’m crushed that the authors didn’t include Chulip, which for me, is my number one most bizarre game. Evah! I mean, your sole goal is to kiss everyone in town – and I do mean everyone, including the crazy people living beneath the city – so that you can eventually kiss the girl of your dreams.
What’s your most bizarre game?
I know gaming taste is like musical taste–there is just no accounting for it but how anyone can compare Grim Fandango to a Choose Your Own Adventure book is just beyond me. It was a lot of things to a lot of people, but to compare it to a flaccid, failed experiment like that….just wow!
If anyone is qualified to make a top ten list of bizarre games, it’s you toger.
Oh, one of the most bizarre games I ever played was a rare adventure game by H+a called Mortalus. I never finished it but I’ll never forget it either. Super cheesy FMV cut scenes apparently acted out by the guy who delivered pizza to the H+a devs. I believe lakerz actually made it all the way through. And to my amazement it’s available on eBay.
Hee hee. It certainly sounds like this writer has limited experience with the truly bizarre. I think he might have been better off outsourcing this one to us. We know bizarre!
And seriously, Grim Fandango? BurgerTime? The first is an honest-to-god classic, the second’s just… well, it’s not bizarre.
I played some bizarre games for GameTap… Tube It! comes to mind. Oh, and I remember a game called Tass Times in Tonetown from my childhood, that one was odd.
Seriously, we specialize in the weird and bizarre. If I haven’t played some wacky title, Lakerz or Yapette have. Thanks to Yapette having imported the European version of Enchanted Folk , I’m anxiously awaiting the NA release aka Mysterious Magician. She says it’s weird even by our standards!
Wow! There are a lot of worthy games missing from the Chronicle’s list.
How about Mister Mosquito for the PS2? Suck blood from the Yamata family as a mosquito in a world where “summer makes people crazy.”
Where’s Tail of the Sun for the PSOne? I don’t think this one even qualifies as a game because there would be times when your character would pass out from exhaustion and sleep for a long time, which left you unable to play. You had to sit there and watch him sleep with no way to awaken him.
I’m going to have to think on this one. There are so many more.
Garry’s Mod? I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much surreal stuff come from one ‘game’.
This.
Gregg, what the hell was that?! 😀 From what “game” is this?
That’s Garry’s Mod – a free mod for Half-Life 2 (done by a guy named Garry) that lets you do weird stuff in the Source engine, using the existing Havok physics and HL assets.
Chulip is agreat call. A weird and wonderful game. But how come Katamari Damacy is on the list and Nobi Nobi Boy isn’t? I mean, KD is a better game, no doubt about it, but NNB is ALL about weird.
@Toger: what Meho said. The band that created that hilariously woeful song are a Euro pop band called Scooter and they are so dreadful but that video is so appropriate. “Respect to the man in the ice cream van!” – “Chilli bowl!”. Me and my colleague were boss free at work on Friday afternoon and that video made us cry with laughter.
@Meho: My god, Nobi Nobi Boy. Why? What? Eh? Who? I didn’t understand the appeal at all. I wholeheartedly agree though, totally weird but nowhere near as good as Katamari.