Not a series but the Saboteur is an awesome AC/GTA clone set during WW2 that I never see anyone talk about

Edit: special mention for Klonoa 2. My dad picked it up for me when I was a kid and I recently replayed it. It’s a pretty challenging 3D platformer with a story that will draw tears

Hell yeah, the Army Men games are so dope. Terribly clunky, combat leaves much to be desired, mediocre map layouts but goddamn do I still find them fun. Specifically Sarge’s Heroes, would love a switch port.

i feel like there are two ways to interpret this question. some games are unpopular because they’re widely known, but considered to be not good, but others are merely niche games that never got widespread recognition.

for the former, Mad Max (2015) got mixed reviews and seems to have been generally regarded as MEDIOCRE, but i still keep coming back to it every so often. for the latter, I wanna plug an old PS2 game called Steambot Chronicles, that has never gotten the recognition it deserves. Its a steampunk mech sandbox rpg, and is legit fantastic, but my partner is the only other person i’ve met that has even heard of it.

Maybe not an unpopular game, but my unpopular game opinion is that I prefer Fallout 3 to Fallout New Vegas. Both are fantastic games, but I prefer the more bleak and desolate Capital Wasteland to the more lived in Mojave Wasteland. Plus I kinda liked the karma system of fo3.

The most unpopular/niche game series I’ve really liked is the Princess Maker series. Japanese games which only received official English translations recently, niche genre (life raising sim), some silly fanservicey elements… but it reminded me of playing with dolls when I was younger, and in some ways the Sims series also.

Another series I liked which is much more well known but still has a small presence in the gaming consciousness is Star Fox. Character cameos in the Super Smash Bros series don’t count.

Azure Dreams. A PS1 Konami game that mixes elements of RPGs, roguelikes, dating sims, and creature collectors.

I’ve never known anyone else IRL who’s heard of it, but it’s always been at the top of my favorite games list.

Shepherd’s Crossing 2, for the DS. I’ve put a truly ridiculous number of hours into it over the years, and keep coming back.

It’s not popular in the farm sims because a key part is butchering your meat animals so you can feed your dogs.

I was genuinely unaware for a long time that P.N. 03 on the Gamecube was pretty strongly disliked, and now seemingly forgotten.

I love everything about this damn game - the ridiculous “inside a macbook” looking aesthetic, the Drum n Bass-esque soundtrack, the fact that it’s a game based on getting a high score (which is probably the one game mechanic I miss the most in a lot of more modern games), what more could you want?!

Gallop Racer (psx)

It’s about racing and breeding horses.

“Newer” titles of the series (ps2) also had the element of raising/training the horses.

The collab with G1 Jockey on the PS3 also had those obstacle course racing included.

My dad loved betting on horses (he got it from his father), and loved the game.

It was simple game of racing horses with some fine details mixed in (when to gallop, correct positioning and timing, and etc.)

The best thing about the series is that the list of horses are already laid out, so you know which ones are the strong ones in a particular course except for the secret horses that you only get through winning particular races in a particular order throughout the horse’s career.

The endgame though is through breeding the horses, which is another element of euphoria when winning the genetic lottery.

Sometimes when I miss it, I just play it on my phone (through an emulator) and it’s always been a fun experience.

Creeper World. It’s like an RTS/TD type game that uses fluid dynamics that is always fun to go back to. The campaign writing and UI are just terrible but the gameplay is great and there are plenty of good community made maps to try.

I would say Rebel Galaxy and especially Rebel Galaxy: Outlaw, which reminds me of Wing Commander: Privateer for the “Good game with little recognition”.

For the “Objectively bad but I still love it” type, Lichdom: Battlemage and Technomancer are deeply flawed but wonderfully fun gems that require you to ignore some pretty big problems to find your enjoyment in them. Same with DarkStar One and the Starpoint Gemini series.

New Super Mario Bros U. Many people may hate it for being the same as the others NSMB games but it was the first Mario game I played and I very much enjoyed it. I revisit it to collect all the star coins.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands. It’s your typical Ubisoft open world game, boring gameplay even on extreme difficulty but the world is so beautiful, and I love just driving around the map with no HUD.

Dragon Age 2. Lot’s of people think it’s the weakest game in the Dragon Age series and there is a lot to not like: dungeons and outdoor areas are largely the same recycled maps with different layouts, story was a bit lackluster compared to the previous title, party controls were a step down from Dragon Age Origins. I still enjoy it for the party dynamics and the main character dialogue wheel had more varied option that didn’t along with previous Bioware titles that had the good, neutral, and evil/jerk responses.

SSX Tricky

My whole family has put in way too many hours, it’s the only game where we actually are competitive against each other. Even my dad, who plays 0 other video games likes to play with us. I wouldn’t say it’s unpopular, just irrelevant today for most people, but not for us…

For a long time, we each had some PS2s to play, but not I emulate on the steam deck and and play even more than before. I’ve never had a game before where I actually try for high scores and practice.

My oldest brother is definitely the undisputed champion, but I can beat him when my favorite character, Moby, is maxed out, while his, Mac, is default level (which is the case and will remain the case on my steam deck)

Also, I still play Black Ops 1 zombies. I think they added more to the zombies in future games than I’m interested in. I own black ops 3 and hear that Shadows of Evil is amazing but every time I sit down to learn it, I just lose interest. Maybe there’s extra friction because I’m usually playing solo.