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When do you think a game is no longer a "hidden gem"? Do you have your own measuring stick you use? Just a buck a month gives you access to early segments like this and the ability to vote on each week's topic! patreon.com/cupodcast
From my experience, and going by the criteria you listed.....there was never such a thing as a hidden gem, they no longer exist. not if you watch MJR anyway: Every time I learned about an obscure game on nes, sega genesis, etc, that seemed good and i never heard of it before....has always been over 50-100 to even $400+ on ebay for complete copies. So hidden gems may have been a thing once, but i feel like I'm way too late to the party on that (Long winded comment short: I don't think there's such a thing as hidden gems anymore for nes, the second MJR or John Hancock releases a hidden gems video, the games are automatically debunked and are already expensive on ebay from what it seems )
There are no more hidden gems, at least for retro consoles anyway. The only place left that you might be able to find hidden gems is (perhaps) arcade games - just because there are so many of them, they are a lot rarer, and they haven't been trawled as much.
Back in like 2012-2014, we relied on "hidden gem" videos just to easily find a game you haven't heard of that's actually good, from someone with zero subscribers to Pete Dorr, it didn't matter. It was just about playing as many good games as possible, and "hidden gems" helped people refine the games/genres they like. But when Metal Jesus started saying things like "Better get this game quick before people find out about it", ten videos in a row, now we got a problem (Poop Slinger was the last straw, f that game). Now, hidden gem videos are meaningless, thank you. Sadly, the best way to find new games are to watch those videos of every game made for a particular system, only way to truly vet your tastes with an entire library. Get a pen and pad ready, and set aside 6 hours.
After 16 years of youtube I feel like there really aren't any hidden gems left. That particular idea has been strip mined so thoroughly as to have rendered the term meaningless. The libraries have been so mined for hidden gems that 99/100 if someone "discovers" a new one it's just a game that's mediocre because all the good former hidden gems are all well known now.
...are u kidding I love his personality but his content is SHIT outside of him fixing stuff. I hate to shit on the guy I love him But I wouldve said just blanket statement of once it's been related to METAL JESUS SUCKSS!! hard.
Ian had the perfect take on this. The whole hidden gem concept is really silly. Video games are forefront pop culture. Nothing is hidden anymore. There are a million half assed RU-vid channels that spread the word about everything.
When everyone from James to Sega Lord X to Game Sack makes a video about it I'd say it's not really hidden anymore. It could still be a gem though. Lol.
I prefer the label "cult classic" over "hidden gem." There are very few quality console games that are unknown to hardcore fans. There are a lot of quality console games that have relatively smaller dedicated fanbases.
Cult classic tends to refer to things that are badly received and unpopular when they come out, but receive a fanbase later. Hidden gems are good games that are more or less forgotten by the general public. A cult classic doesn't actually need to be good.
I think that hidden gem is really something that is important to newer systems that are drowning in releases. The Wii for instance is a system overflowing with bloat that genuinely overshadow good games that had more limited print runs. A lot of "hidden gem" videos are just listing obscure games or obscure systems without realising that the games have to actually be good to qualify as a gem.
I still consider Joy Mech Fight a hidden gem, for the Famicom. It holds up really well, graphic wise and playability. There's some Japanese, but with a phone translation or fan translate rom you can go far. Hardly anyone seems to talk about it, not even Nintendo. Though I think there's a reference to it in Smash Bros. I hope one day it'll show up on the Switch.
I got into the Ps3. Bought all the classics for like £2 or £3 (pre-pandemic prices) but the "hidden gems" are costing between £20 and £40 at the moment for me. I really want 3d dot heroes but can't grab it for less than £35. I don't agree with price being a good indication of a hidden gem not being hidden anymore. Price gouging always happens on rare games regardless of if they're good or bad.
The Toy Story 3 game was a true hidden gem IMO... the main levels were great platforming fun, but then after you finished the game you had the extra open world-ish toy box mode which was simply amazing... it was like a whole separate game for free. It was so good it became the direct inspiration for the Disney Infinty franchise.
At this point, a lot of the older consoles have been covered so extensively I think we're to the point where we should use the term "underappreciated" more than hidden gem. I mean, there's even books out there that cover like, the entire library for a few systems (or so I hear). Nothings really hidden at that point.
My suggestions for hidden gems on the NES: Air Fortress and Isolated Warrior. If we're a bit more lenient on the term I would also throw Gyruss and James Bond Jr. into the mix. If you're enjoy first-person dungeon crawlers then Dungeon Magic might be worth a try, too. I feel like this one gets shit on a lot, even by dedicated retro RU-vidrs. But if you read the manual and give this game an honest attempt, then you'll be rewarded with a pretty unique and fun experience.
When I describe Robotrek, even hardcore SNES fans and classic JRPG types look at me like I described an anime fever dream. So I'll stand by it as a Hidden Gem.
Stops being hidden once a person with a big following on youtube talks about it. I could talk about X hidden gem, but it won't stop being hidden because no one watches my videos that i would upload if i wasn't lazy
Sometimes even if a game costs a fortune overseas, it still seems to be a hidden gem in other regions. Like, I LOVE majuu ou on the super famicom, but I literally never hear people mention this game. But it still costs about $500 to buy in Japan.
I think we have a conception about what the gem games are for a system, and some games are really just as good if not better and it may not be the consensus as so
Somewhat related, people say Earthbound is a cult game, hone at it it’s one of the most popular rpgs so no I think it hasn’t even been a cult game since the early 2010s
I hate "hidden gems". People suddenly think that means it's worth asinine prices. When games are priced out of your hands and they only keep getting even more expensive, collecting stops being fun. Do I think every game needs to depreciate in value? No, but I do think games that used to go for $100 now commanding nearly a grand is total bullshit.
@@deezy81 it's even more annoying when the Japanese versions are readily available for super cheap, but the NTSC copies you have to get insanely lucky for a good deal. And it's even worse because now there's bootleggers making fakes and selling them as legit. Some people may not care because supposedly it plays the same, but why pay someone to make a fake?
@@grantmortensonva Exactly. The market is all askew and is not going to balance out for the foreseeable future. As long as people accommodate price gougers, resellers and scalpers by continuing to pay these ridiculously exorbitant prices, it is going to continue. We have to stop supporting them so that they will be forced to drop the prices.
@@deezy81 they either drop the prices or the market of not-insanely-wealthy or lucky people stop caring about authenticity and just download the games. I'm all for playing with official hardware, but not when it isn't economically feasible to try to own the official hardware, let alone the official games.
Low G Man. I really liked it. Good music. Interesting mechanics. Good weapons. You freeze things with a stun pistol and stab them in the head with a spear. Also a short 4 character password system. Worth a look.
Speaking of where’s Waldo. I’ve seen a couple you-tubers playing it lately and asking for people to help find him. Lol It looks like little dots and just weird colors meshed together on my phone. Now that’s expert mode. Honestly it was so bad that it was kind of fun just getting a little laugh.
Consoles with huge libraries are always a good place to look for hidden gym it just takes a while to dig through it all in my mind I think Nintendo switch will be the next great console for hidden gyms
Hear me out we make the Hillbilly on the Phalanx cover art the mascot of shoot em ups, imagine it your at a retro game convention when a hillbilly with a banjo starts singing about a hyper-speed shootout in space.
+Brandon J. I'm not really surprised by that. It was ported to many systems and was available on the PC, plus it was heavily advertised, so I think there are a ton of copies floating around out there. I was going to order a cart for my SNES but haven't yet, for some reason. It's a really cool game, by the way!
@@deezy81 I never played the 32X port of "Blackthorne," but have heard it's the best version. I had the SNES version, which I think was the 2nd-to-last new SNES game I ever picked up.
That term means nothing anymore because of RU-vid gaming "celebs" will talk about these hidden gems, which gets the resellers going on to sell them for astronomical prices.
A game a lot I think would consider a modern hidden gem is Titanfall 2 and, despite me enjoying the game, I wouldnt call it one. The game has always been praised when brought up, even at launch, and never received a bad critical review. The only thing that put the game into light obscurity was the poor launch sales
I absolutely hate it when someone says a game is a hidden gem then I try to buy a copy on EBay and the fucker is nearly a hundred dollars or more…..yeah that’s not a hidden gem.
This just came to mind: Pat is in the convention then some guy comes and shows a game he got: A boxed copy of Wheres Waldo on the NES. Pat asks where he got it the guy says from that vendor who was just giving these out for free and now he is going to get it wata graded so that he can sell if for 5000 dollars. And then Pat will just have to take it.
Yeah, like on the Amiga a shooter was a nice addition on a magazine coverdisc. I wouldn't pay $/£60 for one. (GrumblegrumbleNier Automatagrumblegrumblebastards)
Doesn't the phrase "hidden gem" mean a little something different for everyone? I'm well aware of "Shatterhand" but i would guess most people that say they enjoy NES haven't heard of the game.
They're usually always some lesser known arcade game; RPG or Shmup. Mainly because these genres are less appealing to younger audiences. As a result when they become older and are earning a wage they want to play the games they missed from their childhood.
People are also paying over a thousand for Little Samson in auction on ebay, and have been ever since I first heard of the game's existance. can you really call it hidden anymore when so many people know about it and want to pay that much for it?
Little Samson is no longer a hidden gem. Most NES collectors know about it. A hidden gem needs to be a game that no one talks about it anymore and its value is like a frozen pizza. Alpha Protocol comes to mind as a hidden gem. No one talks about it and it's cheap, cheap cheap and still super fun!
@@yakkowarner1990 I understand, and I am one of those people who has purchased Little Samson that way... twice. But even still, so very few people even know what Little Samson is. If only hardcore NES fans know what a game is, it isn't famous. Every last great NES game has been discovered by hardcore NES fans. But these games remain hidden from regular people.
@@SamusGunship not gonna lie, I can't help but feel a bit jealous. It's like this holy grail that everyone has heard of by now but can never afford, I'd love to play it one day. Insanely stupid price be damned, it looks like one fun game for the system
@@yakkowarner1990 Well it makes me sort of wish I could easily invite you over to have fun playing it for as long as you like. My kids play it, and they love it. I play it and I love it. I wouldn't have bought the game if it was merely rare. But the fact that I truly love the game made it worth it to me to buy. I realize it is something not everyone can afford. You may be glad to hear that it isn't just collecting dust as a trophy here. It gets played every couple of months, thoroughly. I have many more such rare and expensive games, but they all get played, because they all are actually fun and there is a genuine desire to play them. They all get taken very very good care of, but they don't just sit there as trophies to be had and not played. Well some of the duplicates do.
