1. Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator (SEGA 1983)

There were three versions of Sega’s STSOS: the white sit-down “captain’s chair”, the dedicated standup cabinet, and the retro kit sold by Sega to switch over one of their other vector graphic standup machines to the Star Trek game for about $1200. You sat down, took the controls on either side of your command chair as Spock-like synthesized voice and main theme pumped into your ears. Then it was time to defend Starbases and kick some Klingon D-7 ass! Borrowing heavily from the look and feel of Star Trek II: TWOK, it was a real winner that could be merciless, but it did not replicate the complexity of capital ship combat seen in the Trek universe.

Despite the extensive porting of STSOS, the game never seemed to attract much in the way of attention at the time or even now. Part of this has to do with the historical context. Star Wars was much more popular in the video game market and easier to develop games for. In addition, when the ATARI ports came out, it was the Video Game Crash, making the ports of STSOS much rarer than on the home computer systms. While I loved this game at the arcade, I never knew it was ported to the ATARI 2600 until a few years ago, reflecting possibly poor advising at the time. Then there is the other issue: STSOS is simplistic space shooter video game lacking the magic of what Star Trek really is. Star Wars was much more geared to being packaged into space shooter arcade games, and it seemed hollow when applied to Star Trek. If there is to be combat, it needs to be more complex and detailed as seen in tabletop starship combat games released by FASA.
2. Solaris (ATARI 1986)
The wood-enhanced ATARI 2600 was the progenitor of all home video game consoles and it lasted longer than most people think. After ATARI emerged from its financial troubles in 1983, it would keep the iconic, but outdated 2600 with a fresh remodel to match the 5200 and 7800 aesthetic. This version was called the 2600 Jr. and would see new video games being released, they were mostly downgraded 7800 titles. One of the real standouts was the 1986 2600 Jr. only release Solaris. This is one of those iconic sci-fi names and while it has no connection to the 1961 Stanislaw Lem novel, it is one of the best 2600 titles of all time. It originally started off life as the sequel to Star Raiders and then was attempted movie tie-in title for 1984’s The Last Starfighter. Those were abandoned with the 2600 Jr. getting Solaris and the 8-bit ATARI systems getting Star Raiders 2. The story of Solaris is lacking and it involves finding a pioneer mission to the planet Solaris before the evil alien collective, the Zylons, find and destroy the lost settlers. Your low-profile mission is to locate Solaris, rescue the settlers on the planet along with killing any Zylons you can. The game was a classic space shooter in the vein of Star Raiders, due to those games sharing the same creator, and Solaris is viewed as a spiritual sequel to that iconic title.
Your view is behind your space cruiser and you warp from location to location over a massive amount of space that seemed to be the upper limit of the 2600 hardware. To locate the Planet Solaris, you have to hunt through 15 quadrants (map pages) with 48 “sectors” on each quadrant. Limiting your range is fuel and only Federation planets have docking stations. If the fuel station is destroyed, it fucks up everything with the ship controls being reversed. Without a save system, the game was extremely difficult to get through in a single sitting, despite owning this game for my 7800, I never beat it. The game is widely praised today as being one of the best titles on the older ATARI hardware and I agree with them. If it was so praised, why is it a lost title? At the time, the NES was the goliath on the 8 bit home console market and it nearly blotted out the Sega Master System and the ATARI 7800 let alone the older 2600. With the market share for ATARI consoles was small, the market for 2600 games was even smaller.
3. Military Madness (Hudson Soft 1989)

I was fully aware of the Turbografx-16 due to a display system at a high-end Tulsa area electronics store and badly wanted one...but, in Xmas of 1990, my father bought a home computer for my brother and I, launching me to become a PC gamer for much of the 1990's. One of the titles that stood out to me, due to the name, at the time of the Turbografx-16's release was Hudson Soft's Military Madness. This noted Japanese software company partnered with NEC to develop the PC Engine/Turbografx-16 system. This meant that a great deal of games on the system were developed by Hudson Soft, including Military Madness (AKA Nectaris in Japan).

4. Oni (Bungie West 2001)

For those of us gaming back at the turn of the new century, we can recall this awesome manga-inspired cover-art. On the heels of success with Myth, Bungie was able to expand, opening a new studio in California called Bungie West in 1997. Their only release before being shut down was the oddity called Oni. Released on the PS2, Mac, and PC; this 3rd person futuristic shooter borrowed heavily from Ghost in the Shell with the Japanese anime opening being a love letter to the world created by the 1995 OVA. That was the hook of the game: western anime beat'em up/shooter with an rocking badass female warfighter with big guns that could be Major Kusanagi's punker little sister. That cover-art wrote a big check that the actual Oni game just could not cash when gamers got their hands on it January of 2001. The game takes place in 2032 where the Earth has been ruined by pollution, forced the formation of an one world government and you take the role of specialized police officer Konoko assigned to special taskforce of TCTF. When she learns the truth, Konoko begins working for the other side and is hunted. She makes use of melee combat and gunplay that all channels your inner John Woo. Once again, it all sounds great, but the final result is a game that did not deliver on the concept or the vision presented in the trailer along with a LAN multiplayer.
The failure of the game caused Bungie West to be closed and Oni piled up in used game stores as a cheap title...then it was forgotten for the most part. There was to be a sequel developed by Bungie West and Take 2 until the failure cancelled the sequel and ended the studio. That sequel was to be called Oni 2: Death and Taxes developed by Angel Studios (Rockstar San Diego today) for PlayStation 2. Some of the work done around 2001/2002 on the sequel has been dug up showing improvement on the melee Martial Art combat being a primary focus, but it was never released and it likely will never be finished.
5. G-Nome (7th Level 1997)
As computer technology increased, so did the promise of bring mecha that we’d seen in some many classic animes to the realm of video games. One of those 1990’s mech video games lost to time was 1997’s G-Nome; developed Dallas based software developer 7th Level. This studio only existed for a brief time, but their most known game, G-Nome, was continued onward by other developers after the end of 7th Level. Ion Storm would release a sequel in 1998 under the name “Dominion: Storm over Gift 3” and is the terminus of the series at present due to the massive failure of the game. This was due to the fact that Dominion: Storm over Gift 3 came out the same day has Starcraft. So, what was G-Nome? The central story revolves around several factions’ battle for the control of the mineral-rich planet of Ruhelen in the Omicron Reticuli system. Union intelligence has learned in 2225 of the alien super-soldier program codename G-NOME. Your character has been assigned to hunt down any information on the Scorp Republic G-NOME program.
The mecha of G-Nome are the HAWC (Heavy Armored Weapon Chassis) and much like Titanfall, you can get out of the HAWC and either carryout mission objective or capture a better HAWC. Sounds solid, but there were issues with the development of G-Nome. The first trailer was revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1994 and fatal delays pushed the game back until winter of 1997. During this, the original developer of G-Nome was Distant Thunder, which was acquired by 7th Level. This delay caused the initial interest in the mech game to cool and by 1997; the market had changed with Activision’s MechWarrior being established PC mech game. Other reasons for the lack of impact were the actual name of the game itself, some play issues, and heavily pixilation. In the end, G-Nome’s sequel was developed by another studio and was converted to an RTS with a terrible name.
6. Marathon Trilogy (Bungie 1994,1995, and 1996 )


The second reason for Marathon's forgotten status is the rise in popularity of Apple products. In the late 1990's, Apple would be turned around and rise to being one of the largest, most profitable companies on the face of the Earth. This might that mainstream software developers were creating for the Macs than ever before, eclipsing Marathon under other releases. Third, is due to popularity of HALO: Combat Evolved. Without Marathon, we would not have HALO, due to the lessons of Marathon being rolled into HALO and some of Marathon's genetic code can be found sawn into HALO:CE, but it was the crushing popularity and praise that killed Marathon. That wasn't all. Bungie was bought by Microsoft just before the release of HALO:CE and they were not about to have this game released on a Mac when it was eyeing HALO for their new Xbox console. With the massive success of HALO and some similarities between Marathon and HALO, Bungie was out of the Marathon business. The company's resources and energies were turned to making the sequel, not a fourth Marathon game. Adding insult to injury, HALO: CE was ported to the Mac in 2003, hitting the home turf of Marathon directly.
Finally, as stated above, Marathon was not released on a widely popular platform, that included home video game consoles. If Marathon had been ported to a popular home console system at some point in history, it could have increased its longevity. Sadly it was ported to the failed and forgotten Apple/Bandai Pippin. Released in September 1996 in North America, the joint effort of the American Apple Corporation and Japan's Bandai played CD-based software that included a port of Marathon called Super Marathon.
The $599 Pippin would die a quick death in the home console market of 1996 with total sales of 42,000. If you like to learn more of the history of the Pippin, click here. There have been stories from time to time about the resurgence of Marathon due Bungie still owned the IP rights, but those were around as Bungie was getting out the HALO business and before we knew of Destiny. Marathon is widely available today for download and there was even a physical boxset released on 1997. There was rumors of Marathon being released on the Sega Dreamcast, and some fans have homebrewed a port of the game to the last Sega console.
7. Battle Unit Zeoth (Jaleco 1990/1991)

This side scrolling game changes with odd and even stages from horizontal to vertical platform battling the alien forces in New Age City across five stages. From the reviews, the game is just okay and is good at what it does, but certainly not the best of the original Game Boy releases.Some have criticised the length of the game: it can take as little as 10 minutes to beat. Developed by Jaleco Entertainment One of the most interesting elements of this forgotten military SF handheld game is that original name was altered for western release to "Jetpack". This was fairly common occurrence in the video game industry, but the name was changed back despite Jaleco believing that the name was too foreign for western audience. The name was one of the most attractive elements of the game along with arresting cover art.
8. Time Soldiers (Alpha Denshi 1987)

9. Vajra and Vajra 2 (Data East 1990's)
As I said above about NEC’s TurboGrafx-16 and Military Madness applies to the mecha-shooter series of Vajra only seen in the States on the most insane home console of all time: the Pioneer Laser Active. While widely unknown at the time of launch and nearly completely forgotten about today due to the price and rarity, it is damned interesting. At its heart, the Pioneer Corporation LaserActive system was intended to be a hub for all manner of entertainment options with the ability to be an laserdisc player, karaoke machine, play multiple video games over a variety of systems and media types, along with being a platform for future development. These feats were accomplished via changeable “PAC modules” that allowed for the LaserActive to play games from the TurboGrafx-16, Sega Genesis, and possibly PC games via the Japan only PC PAC module. The base system sold for an insane $970 in 1993, which is over $1600 in today’s money. Ouch!
That did not include the PAC modules that allow for the owner to play Sega Genesis/Mega Drive/CD games nor the TurboGrafx- 16/NEC games. Those were $600 a piece in 1993 or $1100 today’s money. The Karaoke PAC module is still the cheapest and the Japan only PC PAC being the most rare and little understood by Western collectors. The LaserActive was on sale in America from 1993-1996 with limited sales and thus making the games themselves rare and forgotten. There were two military SF mech-shooter games called “Vajra and Vajra 2” that featured you controlling various mecha, represented by a crosshair, going up against other hostile mecha in various full-motion backgrounds. Little is available on the game or its story, but it was a DataEast LaserDisc game designed for the NEC PAC Module that sells in the neighborhood of $200 today for Vajra. The second game was designed to be used with the 3D visor system and seems to sell for a much higher price, over $500! If you want to know more about the system, click here.
10. Iron Soldier (Eclipse Software Design 1994, 1996, 2000)

The only hope is that an early prototype of the mech has fallen into the hands of the Resistance, and you are the pilot on a holy quest to destroy the evil megacorporation. The first game was released in 1994, the second year of the Jaguar’s short lifespan, and was one of the few Jaguar games that nearly fulfilled the promise of the hardware and the "Do the Math" ad campaign. Over the course of 16 missions, you roamed the 3D environment fulfilling objectives while engaging all manner of Iron Fist forces, from mechs, to attack helicopters, to tanks.

Next Time on FWS...
FWS says it over and over again: military terminology is a trick thing and often sci-fi creators get it wrong. Well, FWS is here to help! And next time on FWS will be exploring and explaining the word "marine", the history of these sea-based warfighters, the current status of marine units, and the future of marines. Of course, we will be discussing space marines again in full detail.
Wow, I remember Oni, loved that game. I feel like there could be a hundred games on this list. Stuff like Incubation, the Crescent Hawks Battletech games, it goes on and on.
ReplyDeleteI thought it would be a good series and it is interesting to see "the what ifs" of gaming. I've never heard of Incubation, but I added to Volume 5!
ReplyDeleteI remember reading about Iron Soldier in Electronic Gamer Monthly back in the day, I did forget that mecha title existed nor did I know it actually had sequels until now.
ReplyDeleteGnome and it's RTS part Dominion were the games I wanted the most when I was a teen. But I don't know if Dominion ever was published and as you said G-Nome was a bad game when it final made it on the market - I played a Demo Mission and the look and feel gave me a headache.
ReplyDeleteIncubation btw was a X-Com Derivative made by a German developer (can't remember who)
Gnome is *fine* from the reviews and game play videos, it came to the market too late and was underwhelming. I never knew iron soldier had sequels until the research phase of this blog post. Thanks for all of the comment!
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, Military Madness received a remake on the Nintendo Wii. It was a download only title, though.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/2010/03/military_madness_nectaris
Nice list Ive hope in Vol.2 got place for Project Snowblind
ReplyDeleteThat game it meaned to be Deus Ex sucessor but later droped that idea and make fast action FPP shooter with usning nano agumentions.
Ah, Oni and G-Nome, that really brings me back. Though to be honest I've had better memories with Oni then I did with G-Nome since the latter I got from a thrift store and thus any quick guide to the control layout I could have had were a bit lost, though I did recal a few tutorial missions that showed me how to use the "on foot" play (for lack of a better in-game terminology) to one's advantage. It actually reminded me of a game with a similar mechanic on the N64 called "Battlezone: Rise of the Black Dogs" though it was mostly with tanks and hover tanks across the solar system.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of G-Nome, I hope that a few other PC mech games are on the succeeding volumes that I've also had fond memories playing (when there was enough memory to even play them, let alone software compatibility (which is also another reason why I'm not really into the whole "PC Master Race" thing if the game I'm trying to play can't be used on my computer)) was "Shogo: Mobile Armor Division" and "Earthseige 2"
Of course a mech-game like "Battle Unit Zeoth" would have passed under my radar. There was, when I was younger, no justification in the Blockbuster/Hollywood Video rental of gameboy games over a home console.
Speaking of home console, I do recall actually owning an Atari Jaguar back in the day. However, the darn thing overheated every time I played and I had to return it and so missed out on all of those other iconic Jaguar games. One could only wonder what could have been if I still had the Atari.
Probably traded it in for an N64 probably, same with my Super Nintendo.
Still, looking forward to another nostalgic trip to the past. Might see a few other games I may have played on those entries.
You are one of the few people I've known that actually owned an Jaguar! I am going to add Earthseige and Battlezone to Part 7!
ReplyDeleteIf I recall correctly, I had to wait at least an hour if I wanted to keep playing Cybermorph. Though my dad and sisters tried to convince me to keep it, what with all the games coming out, I ultimately concluded that it's overheating issues outweigh any future games I might get for it.
ReplyDelete"G-Nome’s sequel was developed by another studio and was converted to an RTS with a terrible name."
ReplyDeleteWhat was it called?