Use this thread to recommend a random game that you want people to check out!
Here’s one that I constantly recommend to anyone that’s a fan of action-puzzle games:
SUSHI STRIKER KICKS ASS, YO.
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you know what, i’m going to take this opportunity to recommend a game i don’t think anyone’s heard of before:
Guru Logi Champ is one of my favourite puzzlers of all time, it’s a Japan-only GBA release where you have to complete puzzles by picking up and firing squares. It starts off pretty simple but gets pretty challenging quickly. I love the ingenuity, the music and the responsiveness of the controls. You don’t need to speak Japanese to play it, you can stumble your way through the menus and the puzzles themselves don’t have any text.
here’s the first level to give you an idea of how it works, it’s extremely simple so it doesn’t spoil the solution:
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This looks SOOOOO fluid for a GBA game! I love this!
Recently I discovered Cave Noire on GB, it is……a rogue-like on GB ?? It’s japan only but there’s a fantrad you can find easily.
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i can’t recommend it enough, i wish they’d localise it and re-release it because i think the puzzle aspect is timeless and the style of the game still holds up. it wouldn’t need much work imo.
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THANK GOODNESS FOR FAN TRANSLATIONS! I’m absolutely checking this out 
great stuff!
I’ve never heard of this before but it looks awesome - trying it ASAP
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Shadow Hearts. I don’t even remember the story anymore, I played this when I was a kid. The combat, however, lives in my heart forever. Entirely skill based despite being an RPG. The roulette wheel with a clear mark for where you hit and where you crit. So novel it stayed with me for my whole life (＾ｕ＾)
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I was on a real bullet hell kick there for awhile. Give them a try, especially in an emulator like MAME where you can pump endless virtual quarters into them.
I honestly thought they’d be too difficult and overwhelming for me, but a lot of the classic Cave games are surprisingly approachable, at least for the first 1-3 stages. They’re (fairly?) deterministic so pattern memorization goes a long way and you just kind of get into a nice flow state. The music in Espgaluda is SOOO good, crank that shit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJSlYmeW_es
My personal recommendations are:
Espgaluda, great aesthetic and the time slow mechanic helps for beginners- ESP Ra.De., the spiritual predecessor to Espgaluda, another one with good vibes but I think just harder to approach
- Mushihime-sama Futari, bugs, bugs, bugs
- Deathsmiles, horizontal shooter, but I also think very approachable for beginners
- DonPachi, not DoDonPachi, the FIRST! it’s a bit basic by comparison but it still slaps, you can see the ideas really came together here and starting at the beginning (yes, yes, I know about Batsugun et al) can help flesh out the genre when you approach it
Bonus points for Angel at Dusk, not a Cave shooter but super weird body horror. A+ vibes for spooky season.
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this game has been on my radar for a really long time. After I finish two other games, Shadow Hearts is next on my list
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Great choices! I’ve heard of these games and definitely need to give them a shot! I’ve played a lot of other arcade shmups, like In the Hunt, Dragon Blaze, and Last Resort, but I’m still kinda of an amateur to those games 
Do you like town builders? I like town builders. Do you like RPGs? I love RPGs. Do you like early 2000s anime weirdness? Its alright… BUT if you want to wake up in the middle of a forest, build a town to support your dungeon delving, all the while dodging taxes, as a gunslinging snail fighting gnomes and demons the you’re gonna want to try out:
ELIN, or, if you don’t to drop the cash, its predecessor Elona!
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everyone here should play void stranger, it has great gameboy-style graphics with amazing puzzles and it’s actually a game that changed me.
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I’m a sucker for Game Boy graphics and puzzle games 
I need this in my veins
Dominique Pamplemouse is a really great, small point and click of detective adventure! Very fresh and fun while staying in the comfort genre of detectives stories and point and click. Truly a itsrainingandcoldandIdontwanttogetout-game
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For those who want to get into rhythm games or get better at it, I would recommend PROJEKT GODHAND (uses both sides of the keyboard and encourages keyboard mashing), MUSYNX (Very cheap but much content is locked behind Forever Friends), DJMAX RESPECT (definitely get it during a sale. Base game has plenty to offer despite lots of dlc), and vivid/stasis (Completely free, packaged with a visual novel and ARG puzzles to solve. Not recommended for photosensitive people though).
Crimson Tears!!! very weird 3d brawler with action rpg elements like leveling up. its on the ps2 and afaik released in all regions but i’m playing the original japanese release. Reminds me a bit of t.r.a.g. on ps1 but its not tank controlled like that game is
Thanks to sylvie, I found this incredible gem from an ancient GM era https://bsky.app/profile/sylviefluff.bsky.social/post/3m7l2cahmxc2u very broken, unfair, extremely hard, incredible midi music, very satisfying to beat a level, you will groan a lot.
also because of this deep dive, today I learned that Helix games / Yomamasmama / Maddie Thorson are all the same person :o
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1000x Resist, it’s a narrative focused game, so you’re mostly just exploring and talking to people, but the story is really interesting, it’s about clones living in this weird paradise place seemingly in space, but there’s lots of mysteries about why you are clones of a seemingly normal girl, you slowly find out who she was, what happened, why only clones seem to remain, it’s just really good, highly recommended if you’re a fine of Sci-Fi
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I was considering starting a new thread for “Weird/Obscure Games from Childhood” but for now I’ll throw it here:
Speedy Blupi (and Speedy Blupi 2), also known as Speedy Eggbert in some territories.
You can download all Blupi games for free from Blupi.org, a few of them even have modern versions. HOWEVER, the versions provided for Speedy Blupi and Speedy Blupi 2 have some issues, mainly related to the fact that it will stop working because it thinks you don’t have the disc inserted. But luckily there is a great version provided by someone on Archive.org that works out of the box on Modern Windows. I just wanted to share that.
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