I like these games a lot, and while they're not completely unknown, even most people who are really into less known games seem to be unaware of them (or at least don't talk about them much). All of these are either games that do something that is (as far as I can tell) unique, or games that have refined something to an exceptional degree (imo). These are not reviews, so I'm not going to talk about any flaws, I'm only going to talk about the things that (I feel) make them stand out. ALSO these are only games that I have actually played, there are a lot of games games that I'm aware of that look really interesting, but I haven't played them myself due to money, hardware, or "I just haven't gotten around to it yet" reasons.
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Epic Battle Fantasy 1 through 5: this is a series that starts off pretty fun and has only gotten better with with each game. The first game introduces something small, but unique, that's present through the whole of the series: you can spend a turn in combat to change equipment for various, situational advantages. Also when I say the series only gets better, I mean it. Every concept introduced in each game is expanded and improved in the next one, and when new things are added they never make the game worse for their inclusion. I say to you, with 0 irony, EBF 5 has the best gimmickless turn based combat in any video game. I suggest playing the whole series, but I guess it's fine only playing 5 if you want.
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Crimson Glaive Sigma: probably most games have a jump button. A lot of games have a dash with I-frames. A lot of games have a parry/counter mechanic. A lot of games have ammo that you have to reload. This is the only game I've played where all of these are combined into the same action. Every time you press the jump button, you have a small window of time where, instead of getting hit by projectiles, you reflect them and refill some ammo for your non-basic gun. And I can say all that, but I don't think it gets across just how good it feels every single time. It's just an absolutely brilliant combination of common mechanics. Also, you have 3 aim modes for your gun (8-way, free aim, and lock on) that you can switch between at any time by pressing a button, and I just think that's really nice.
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Bullet Heaven 2: this is a spin-off of Epic Battle Fantasy. I don't play that many shmups, so my opinion on this game is probably less meaningful than the opinions of hardcore shmup players. HOWEVER, like EBF 5, Bullet Heaven 2 is just an example of its genre that does a lot of things very well. It also does difficulty selection very well by, not only having difficulty modes, but also unlockable "cheats" and "handicaps" that make the game easier or harder in various and distinct ways.
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Spybot: The Nightfall Incident: this is a tactics game that isn't an RPG, and actually takes inspiration from Snake. Each unit has a maximum size, and every time they move they leave behind a segment of themselves. When they reach max size and move again, the segment furthest from the head disappears. Damage also removes segments, and when a unit has no segments left, it's gone. Some abilities can only be used when a unit is long enough. It's a very interesting system, and there have been no other games like it since (as far as I know).
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Distorted Travesty 1 through 3: these games have the absolutely fantastic movement. Typically in a game with a fast character, either a light tap of the movement button will make you take a couple steps, or there's a significant amount of time you have to spend accelerating before you can go fast. Doing a light tap in DT lets you make very small movements, while also having you accelerate to top speed nearly instantly. The acceleration happens so fast that I didn't notice it at first, but your speed at the start of movement is near 0 and ramps up in such a way that you have very fine control of your position at all times. You also get movement upgrades that in other games would be incidental quirks only useful in speedruns, but in DT you're expected to learn and use them.
I'll probably add more to this later, if I think of something else. Also, if there are any games that aren't well known and not produced/developed by well known companies, and also do cool things, please comment about them on this post. Maybe one day I will play them and list them here too c:
(btw, I don't feel like doing it now, but I'm gonna add links to where you can get these games down here later)
