While a lot of care goes into an “exclusive” that doesn’t mean they all formulaic. Sure, main-franchise titles will always play similar to others in the series, but every now and then, developers like to try something a little different. This obviously leads to varying degrees of quality, but one thing for sure, these more experimental exclusives are welcome. We want to highlight the weirdest ones we can think of. Here are ten weird console exclusives you totally forgot about.
10 Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
Believe it or not, when Microsoft was looking for that “Mario killer” of a game, they looked to American developer, Oddworld Inhabitants. Their plan was simple — bring the next generation of the critically acclaimed Oddworld games to the Xbox, giving Microsoft some much-needed brand recognition in the process. The first game to appear was Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee.
Playing as the Titular hero, gamers are thrown into a dystopian world where corporations have completely pillaged its resources. Munch, a frog-like creature whose species is farmed by an evil corporation, along with Abe, the hero from the previous title, work together to save Munch’s species. With multiple endings, a unique aesthetic, and an underlying message of environmental conservation, this game is fantastic and, well, odd.
9 Rise of Nightmares
The Xbox 360’s Kinect add-on may not have been universally loved by everyone, but it did introduce a whole new way to interact with video games. Now, how great that was depended on the game, and the player’s tolerance for full-body motion control, but there were some down-right weird games that came out of it. One such title was Sega’s Rise of Nightmares.
As the first R-rated game on the notoriously kid-friendly add-on, Rise of Nightmares takes the genre in a much darker direction than we could have ever imagined. With a creepy European setting, and some grotesque visuals, this game feels so out of place on the Kinect, but in a way, that’s its charm.
8 Alex Kidd In Enchanted Castle
In reality, you could put any Alex Kidd game on this list and it would apply, but we’re going to stick with the Genesis exclusive as it wouldn’t fair to include titles on consoles that didn’t reach mass-appeal. Taking control of the titular character, run and jump their way across a variety of levels in some really strange platforming action. Clearly inspired by Super Mario Bros., Alex Kidd does share some similarities but shakes things up to feel different. To start, players gamble in a game of rock-paper-scissors to earn items and even beat bosses. Also, combat involves straight-up punching and kicking enemies.
While fun, the entire game feels like a fever dream. The character design is strange, yet cartoonish. There are random item boxes that can hurt you, and Alex himself turns into a ghost the second he touches an enemy. What’s even more bizarre is that Alex Kidd was Sega’s mascot before the release of Sonic The Hedgehog.
7 Earthbound
Sure, it may be cool to like Earthbound in 2020, but in 1994, it was an overlooked turn-based JRPG on the SNES — which had quite a few of those already. So, we don’t blame you if you missed out on this cult-classic. But if you did manage to get your hands on it, you experienced one of the wittiest, best-written, and fun games of its generation. While it doesn’t do much to break the mold, it’s strong writing and rolling HP box that allows for a last-second save, Earthbound is much better than its visuals lead you to believe.
With all that said, this game is weird. Whether it’s the strange Mr. Saturn race, a boss that uses his turns to insult himself, or a cult-town, Earthbound is unapologetically strange.
6 Mr. Mosquito
We don’t think anyone ever asked to play as a mosquito, but developer Zoom gave us just that in 2001/2002 when they released this PlayStation 2 exclusive. Taking control of Mr. Mosquito, players are tasked with terrorizing one family and are given missions to suck blood from specific parts of specific members, which are only available during certain times of the day. Equal parts creative and bizarre, Mr. Mosquito is extremely overlooked, but we can totally see why.
5 Super Mario Strikers
In Nintendo’s GameCube era, they were very open to trying new things. Luigi got his own spin-off title, The Legend of Zelda took on a whole new aesthetic, and Metroid was transformed into a first-person shooter! What doesn’t get talked about enough, however, is Super Mario Strikers, a bizarrely violent soccer game developed by Next Level Games.
Allowing players to choose a famous Nintendo character as a captain along with some sub-characters to play with, gamers can hit their opponents into electric fields, throw objects at anyone in their way, and knock out goalies with a strong enough shot. It’s so unlike anything we’ve seen from Nintendo, and the only experience that comes close is the game’s sequel.
4 Segagaga
At the tail-end of the Dreamcast’s life, the failing console manufacturer released a strange swan song in Segagaga. While it never reached Western shores, this Japan-only exclusive took shots at Sony’s PlayStation brand while celebrating everything that made Sega great. Putting players in the shoes of a new worker for Sega, who is tasked with saving the company while their rival “DOGMA” tightens its grip on the industry. To do this, players must fight other employees and even some classic Sega characters in some turn-based action.
Brilliantly written and exceedingly creative, this game should have seen a worldwide release. Unfortunately, it’s been stuck in one specific region on a console that didn’t really sell well, making it even harder to get noticed.
3 Captain Rainbow
While the Wii is one of the best selling systems of all time, many players who shelled out some dough for the console complained about some long content droughts. What made these dry spells even more frustrating is that Nintendo released fantastic games, but kept them kept away in specific regions. One such title was fantastically bizarre Captain Rainbow.
Putting players in the shoes of a washed-up TV superhero, Captain Rainbow, they must traverse and island doing tasks for random obscure characters of Nintendo’s past. While the gameplay doesn’t feel that strange, everything else about this feels like a series of deep cuts from the big N’s lore.
2 Seaman
When Nintendo launched Hey You! Pikachu on the Nintendo 64, gamers got their first taste of a strange new genre where players control a character by shouting commands into a microphone. While gimmicky, it was unique, and it inspired Sega to try something similar. The result is Seaman — a game where players raise a weird human-faced fish voiced by Leonard Nemoy. Completely misunderstanding what made players love Nintendo’s Pokémon title, this game was strange, unsettling, and kind of creepy. The seaman can get mean, and while interacting with and raising him can be fun, it’s just so weird and fans glossed over this Dreamcast exclusive.
1 Mad World
The Nintendo Wii was known as the kiddie console in its heyday, and Sega devised a plan to change that. The result was a series of M rated games, most of which did not meet expectations, but were met with critical acclaim. One such title was Mad World. Developed by Platinum, this stylish beat-em-up is incredibly over the top and hyper-violent. Putting players in the shoes of Jack, a simple man with a robot arm that houses a chainsaw, they must build up their high-score with increasingly creative murders as they work their way up the ranks of a twisted game show.
With absolutely hilarious writing, some fantastic graphic novel-inspired visuals, and exciting gameplay, Mad World shouldn’t have been slept on as hard as it was. Yet, now, a decade after it’s launch, it’s still overlooked despite sticking out on the Wii library.
Next: 10 Of The Best Modern-Day CRPGs, Ranked
