Biggest Suprises

[ChaoofNee]

Guitar Hero, I thought Guitar Freaks was pretty good, but this one blows it away with better music and even better gameplay. Amazing.

Harmonix can easily take something like Guitar Freaks or something awful like Karaoke, piss on it, and make it better.

[Brianvgplayer]

Some big surprises for me:

Metal Gear Solid/Ghost Babel GBC: Excellent portable Metal Gear game. Has some elements from the PSX MGS and MSX Metal Gear Solid 2. I never expected Metal Gear to turn out so good on the GBC.

Rayman GBC: Surprisingly good portable version of Rayman. Despite some magazings mislabeling it as a port of the Jaguar version, it's actually a different game made for the GBC hardware.

Xevious 3D G+ PSX: It got low ratings from some reviewers, but I found the main game to be a blast and a fine upgrade of Xevious. The other Xevious games included make this a must have for any Xevious fan.

Racing Gears Advance GBA: This game was an unexpected surprise. A well rounded racing game from a new publisher without a lincense attached. I love how it has upgrades and weapons too.

Activision Anthology GBA: A GBA Atari 2600 collection with over 40 games and good emulation? Wow! Pitfall, River Raid, Spider Attack, and more portable rock!

Jumping Flash 1/2 PSX: Platform and FPS combo? This game really surprised me with how fun it is. Both games are a bit on the easy side, but they both are a blast to play.

Trauma Center DS: I never knew that surgery could be so fun. The sci-fi elements add to the game and make it even more fun.

[Revoltor]

I have to second the Metal Gear Gameboy game too. Fucking incredible and totally overlooked. I'll never forget that scene with the exploding handcuffs.

[Sqoon]

Jumping Flash 1/2 PSX: Platform and FPS combo? This game really surprised me with how fun it is. Both games are a bit on the easy side, but they both are a blast to play.

The games play okay, but all the shit they did and how smoothly they ran remain real impressive.

[Salsashark]

Killer 7, not because I thought I wouldn't like it, but because I wasn't sure how it was going to play. And I had no idea how much I would like the actual gameplay.

Also, Resident Evil 4. Again, not a suprise that it was good, but the first few hours seemed too good to be true.

Yeah, Capcom is awesome.

[Kev]

I really enjoyed Sword of the Berserk: Gut's Rage for Dreamcast. I came in expecting the Dreamcast version of The Bouncer (a game I fucking loathed) and actually came away impressed.

Skies of Arcadia really impressed me. I came in expecting a ten hour, horribly written RPG, and was completely blown away.

Ex-Ranza, the first import game I ever played, really impressed me. I didn't know WHAT to expect with that game, and it's now a game I play at least once a year.

Shinobi 3 won me over. I always heard it was a disappointment after Revenge of Shinobi, yet I think it blows RoS out of the water.

Axelay is probably my favorite shooter ever. I bought it figuring it would be another typical shooter, and the game still amazes me with its detail and beauty.

Most everyone else named the games that pleasantly surprised me, Mars Matrix, Red Dog, Cardfighter's Clash.

[Partialartist]

DBZ Budokai 3: Picked it up for cheap, fooled around in practice mode, and it actually has some depth to it.

Gripshift: SOme guy was pimping it like crazy, so I tried it out, and it turned out to be a very fun and challenging game. It's a shame they marketed it as a racer.

[arjue]

Psi-Ops (XB) - One of the better original titles released this generation, completely overlooked by so many people.

Fantavision (PS2) - I thought this game was a joke until I played it for 5 minutes, now its my favorite puzzle game.

Terracon (PSX) - A PSX game I had never even heard of. how good could it be? turns out, utterly awesome. Smoothest 3d action I've seen on the console, fairly innovative gameplay and very pretty.

Cybernator (SNES) - I got this for my birthday. I had never heard of it and my parents accidentally left the price tag of $20 on it (a fifth of the regular price of SNES games at the time). I popped it in expecting it to suck balls, but it fucked my face with awesomeness.

theres probably hundreds of others.

[Changeling]

I popped it in expecting it to suck balls, but it fucked my face with awesomeness.

Such a great way to put it.

I'M GONNA FUCK YOUR FACE WITH AWESOMENESS!!!!