Strange games through the ages...

OK, so this post is pretty self-explanatory really. Here I’m going to take a look at some of my favourite games that were always considered a bit strange.

 I think it’s fair to say that we now have a bit of a sub-culture of developers making intentionally ‘different’ games (see my ‘When is a game not a game’ thread) but that isn’t where this post is going.

Here I’m interested in programs that were released as main-stream games, which genuinely had something different, innovative, or just plain odd about them. And make no mistake, strange games are by no means a new phenomenon. As well as the odd left-field game (pun intended) from the mainstream software houses of the times; there have always been some developers that seemed to specialise in the strange and different.

The first game I ever picked up that seemed to break, or at least crack, the mould was the eponymous ‘Attack of the Mutant Camels,’ followed quickly by ‘Revenge of the Mutant camels’ both by Llamasoft and created by the hairy hand of the Yak; AKA Jeff Minter. It wasn’t long after this that I stumbled upon a copy of ‘Weird Dreams’ for the C64 and then ‘Trap-Door’ for the ZX Spectrum. I think that was the start of me becoming hooked on games that looked and played a bit different from the norm. But the strangest and best was still to come…

With the advent of 32Bit computing came the ‘LSD Dream Emulator’ for the Playstation (PS1) and I was captivated. There wasn’t much of a point to it, and it could be debatable whether or not it was even a ‘game’ in the normal sense, but I liked it. Although this was be no-means the first time the ‘But is it a game’ argument had come up. The first program I can think of to invoke this debate was probably ‘Deus Ex Machina’ first published in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum, and possibly the first ever entertainment program that had me seriously reconsidering what constitutes a video game. Although this program had received critical acclaim it didn’t sell, with many ‘games’ outlets refusing to stock it, apparently because they didn’t think it would sell, without giving people a chance to decide for themselves. Unfortunately, this seemed to have set a precedent and was only the start of a sort of self-imposed ‘Games are this and not that’ mentality that may only now be beginning to erode.

But strange games weren’t limited to old systems and the beginnings of modern gaming. 

With games like RES, Mr Moskeeto, Katamari Damacy, Oni, and many others on the PS2, the biggest selling console of all time had it’s fair share of the strange. 

But the PS2 was by no means the king of the weird. For that honour I would have to nominate the short-lived Dreamcast. Now here was a system that was truly a home of the bizarre. To even name all the strange Japanese stuff out for the DC would need its own blog, but I’ve added some of the most notable and interesting to the list at the end of this post, but you could do worse that check out all of the following:

Lack of love (LOL), D2, Roommania, Tokyo bus guide, Pen Pen Triicelon, Seaman, REZ, Rainbow Cotton, Bangai-O, SAGAGAGA, Guts Rage: sword of the berserk, CosmicSmash, The Typing of The Dead, Space Channel 5, Maken X, Ill Bleed, Ooga Booga, Tech Romancer.

Strange developments:

So what about these developers that seemed to constantly churn out stuff that was a bit different?

Well In my opinion the granddaddy of them all was Llamasoft.

For anyone who doesn’t know (is there anyone, really?) the daddy of Llamasoft was the great-hairy-yak himself, Mr Jeff Minter. It was truly amazing what this man could do with a few camels, some Lammas, and a handful of sheep!
Renouned for making out-there animal-related blasters, Lamasoft had always had a bit of a maverick-outfit vibe to it. But form the offset they always produced both highly imaginative, but above all highly-playable games. In today’s limited gaming envelope their games are often seen as alternative or niche, but in the 8Bit days they had massive hits by being different!
What’s happened to gaming today, where something different is somehow seen as less interesting that the next generic FPS?

Have you ever heard of Warp? Well if you have you will probably know that Warp = Strange, they sort of made a point of it. It is also very debatable whether some things they released were actually games… It could be argued that this was the first of the ‘alternative’ gaming companies. But you have to remember that when Warp did this, there wasn’t any concept of alternate or ‘Art’ games. They genuinely wrote their products for the mainstream market. ‘D2’ is another of my all-time favourite games. Yes there are things wrong with it, but if you can get past the differences to what was seen as the norm, there is a very different and engrossing game in there. I think this was very unfairly panned by people who didn’t take the time to understand it, instead comparing it with games that superficially looked the same.

Warp was the brain-child of Kenji Eno a somewhat niche Japanese musician, and he had some controversial ideas of what a game could be. The entire Warp back catalogue isn’t large and the company only lasted around six years. But I think it deserved to be remembered for its quirkiness if nothing else.

Warp games:

Name	Released
Totsugeki Kikan (Karakuri) Megadasu!!	(1994)
Trip'd (Flupon World?)	(1995)
Oyaji Hunter Mahjong	(1995)
D	(1995)
Short Warp	(1996)
Real Sound	(1997)
Enemy Zero	(1997)
Real Sound: Kaze no Regret	(1999)
D2	(2000)

Odd by name…

Well you know the old adage, odd by name odd by nature, and the last developer I’m going to look at, Oddworld Inhabitants, definitely lived up to the hype.

Firstly their decision to release a 2D side-on platformer in 1997 to an industry that had seemingly gone 3D mad seemed a little… odd… But it just goes to show that the industry parabola can’t stand up in the face of a truly great game. And when ‘Abe’s Odyssey’ hit the shelves everyone I knew seemed to adore the strange little anti-cute mouth-stitched character. It was a bold marketing decision that paid off in spades, quickly spawning a sequel that, perhaps even more surprisingly, was a better game than the first! Oddworld Inhabitants went on to make some other fairly inique games, but never re-captured it’s initial success, resulting in a lot of planned, and interesting sounding, titles being dropped before the company eventually folded. But I for one would just like to say thanks for the oddness folks…

Although I really would’ve liked to have seen ‘The hand of Odd’ completed.

Oddworld games:

Name	Released
Abe's Oddysee	1997
Abe's Exoddus	1998
Munch's Oddysee	2001
Stranger's Wrath	2005

The Loony List:

The following is a list of all the games I would consider strange, along with a short description for each.

Please let me know of anything else you think worthy, and I will definitely consider adding it to the list:

Title	Platform(s)	Difference	Reason
Attack of the mutant camels	C64, Atari 8Bit	concept	Shoot the gigantic laser spitting death-camels. Inspired by the walkers in star-wars? Possibly, but still an innovative shooter for the time.
Revenge of the mutant camels	C64, Atari 8Bit	concept execution	This time you are the camel and it’s time to spit laser death!
Deus Ex Machina	ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, MSX	concept execution	Follow the life of a 'defect' in 'the machine' Is it a game?
Trapdoor	ZX Spectrum	execution	This is at heart an arcade-adventure puzzle game, but it’s the execution of the very large graphics and offbeat humour that makes this one stand out.
Popeye	ZX Spectrum	execution	In a similar vane to trap door graphics-wise, but with more emphasis on the arcade elements.
Weird Dreams	C64, Amiga, PC	concept execution	Slap those monsters with that fish, and don’t wake up! A side on puzzler set in a dream.
Cho Aniki	PC Engine	concept execution	If bald Speedo-clad musclemen shoting through holes in their heads is your thing you should be right at home with this one! It also spawned many sequals over various platforms.
Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors	MEGA CD	concept execution	A complete waste of time. In a good way? Well you decide if you can find it!
Panic!	MEGA CD	concept execution	Possibly the strangest and most abstract puzzle-based game ever made. Think Monty-Python on… um… LSD…
LSD Dream Emulator	PlayStation	concept execution	Walk around, touch stuff and go Oooo at the weirdness.
Abe’s odyssey	PlayStation	execution	Shows what can be done in 2.5D in a 3D dominated market.
Abe’s Exodus	PlayStation	execution	More of the same, but still gold!
Neverhood	PC	execution	This is a fairly standard (if quirky) arcade-adventure with one huge exception; it’s entirely done using claymation!
D	3DO, Saturn, PlayStation, PC	Concept execution	Concept and execution are very intertwined in this real-time, no saves, and timed survival horror game.
SAGAGAGA	Dreamcast	concept execution	Possibly the strangest arcade-adventure game ever, become a SAGA executive and interact with a huge range of characters to save your crumbling empire.
Rainbow Cotton	Dreamcast	execution	A 3D shooter where you are a young witch. Doesn’t sound too weird… until you see it that is!
Bangai-O	Dreamcast	concept execution	Possibly the world’s only bullet-hell side on platformer. A misunderstood masterpiece?
D2	Dreamcast	concept execution	This is a game that tries to cover many genres, all at once. The main part is executed in a way that looks like a standard third-person survival-shooter, but the game-play changes for fights, sharp-shooting, and when exploring internal locations.
Enemy Zero (or E0)	Dreamcast	concept	An FPS with invisible enemies found only by sound.
Seaman	Dreamcast	Concept execution	Possibly the world’s weirdest virtual-pet simulator. Raise your Seaman (a fish with a human head) by talking to it via the DC mike.
Roommania	Dreamcast	Concept	Well, you are in your room, and you can do mundane stuff. Think solo big-brother.
Tokyo bus guide	Dreamcast		Drive a bus route, in Tokio. And remember to stick to the rules.
REZ (concept)	Dreamcast, PS2, 360	concept	Looks like a 3D shooter, but is in fact a cunningly disguised rhythm game.
Mr Moskeeto	PS2	Concept	Be a mosquito and suck blood from the Yamada family
Oni	PS2	execution	A very misunderstood SHMUP, which happens to look like a third-person action-adventure shooter.
Katamari Damacy	PS2	Concept execution	Probably the world’s first roll-em-up!
Muscle March	Wii	Concept execution	Be a body-builder and pose your way after a thief, then waggle your joystick to tackle him… I’m honestly not making this up!
Noby Noby Boy	PS3	Concept execution	Grow the Nody Noby boy through the universe and feed the Nody Noby Girl… oh dear…
Naughty Bear	PS3, 360	Concept	Be a bad-bear and do naughty things. The technical execution of this is a fairly standard 3D affair by the idea and visuals are a bit strange.
Fat Princess	PS3	Concept	Er, feed the princess until she’s morbidly-obese and you win! Again the game execution is fairly standard fair, but the concept is the strange part.
Prison Tycoon 5: Alcatraz	PC	Concept	Maintain inmates and oversee those guards, and this is the fifth game in the series! Play-wise it’s similar to the other ‘Tycoon’ type resource management games, but why the prison concept?

I see things like, ‘The Path’, ‘The Void’ and ‘Flower’ etc as art-games, and as I said, that isn’t what I’m looking for here, so any more suggestions?