"Sleeper" Arcade Titles

Digmac

Leona's Therapist
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I will say Susume looks WAY better than the couple of their games I'd played. You'll have to let us know how it is!

So I got my Susume Mile Smile board and have put a little time into it, credit feeding and single credit runs. I can say, for the price I paid, this is an extremely solid game. I think it’s obscurity is what keeps the price down, because I could see it being more cash if it were on a cartridge based arcade platform. It’s not an easy game by any means. The gameplay is simple, but enemies in later stages like to huddle around your location or the remaining items you have to pick up. I’ve found myself pushing the stage timer close to 0 being as careful as possible later on in the game. The visuals are well drawn and have a cute charm. The different worlds have good variety, and the music is catchy for some of them. The more I play it, the more I enjoy it. I highly recommend it, wether you try it out in your emulator of choice or decide to seek out the PCB.

Also, the board remembers your highest score even when you continue, which rocks. That’s something I’ve seen on Cave boards, but I’m surprised Fuuki added that. Such a nice touch.
 
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NERDtendo

Igniz's Servent
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I picked up GO!GO! Mile Smile too a few months back. I like it a lot. I like to search for the sleeper games too. Some others that I have acquired are...
- Buster Bros./Pang - not quite as sleeper as the others, but huge fun and great prices
- Coin Puzzle Moujya - very similar to the mechanics of Money Puzzle Exchanger
- Uchuu Daisakusen Chocovader Contactee - mini game multiplayer competitive game and lots of quirky fun
- Uo Poko - Cave game, but not shmup...cute ball popping cat game
 

Atro

Who?,
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Game looks dope Digmac! I'd buy it haha.

Magical Cat Adventure feels like a solid 7/10 SNES game on a PCB, it's decently fun. Have never heard anyone talk about it. No idea about prices, never seen one:
I have that one.

The best I can describe it, would be "it's a wonderful borefest".

It seems at first you'd be playing a fast Sonic game, but you can jump on enemies.

You get weapons like GnG. But most are useless.

The stage designs are decent and they have fantastic gfx. But the music ruins it.
It could have been much nicer of you could jump kill the enemies.
 

KGRAMR

Another Striker
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Hmm... Here's some of the "sleeper" arcade games that I've played so far: Pipi & Bibi's by Toaplan is surprisingly fun. Ghox (also by Toaplan) is decent as well. Gaelco's Alligator Hunt is great. Puzzle Uo Poko is cool as well. I also recommend giving Repulse a chance (made by members that would later form Toaplan). Other sleeper arcade titles that I'll give little shoutouts are Performan, Splendor Blast and Equites.

 
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LoneSage

A Broken Man
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I dunno if I'd call them sleepers, but I really like the Pang (Buster Bros) series. It is far and away my favorite arcade series that is single-screen. Unique idea, cool backgrounds, good music, positive atmosphere. Much like Puzzle Bobble, good game to introduce to people who don't play games at all.

I've always felt that they deserved to be more popular than they were. There was a French-developed update that came out a few years ago that wasn't as great but good enough.
 

SignOfGoob

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The already mentioned Cannon Dancer is maybe the ultimate, but that PCB has to be $$$.

I absolutely love the game Outfoxies. Its Namco (1995) so it isn’t super obscure but nobody ever talks about it for some reason and I think it fucking rules, personally. Especially the stage with the shark tank.

Asura Blade: a really cool fighter from...some nobodies. Very smooth, like Vampire. There is a sequel too. I’ve never seen either PCB ever.

Radical Bikers: this is a polygonal game, made in Brazil IIRC, requires motorcycle controls of one kind or another. You deliver pizzas on a scooter, sort of like Crazy Taxi. Being polygonal it’s not much to look at but it’s a lot of fun on the real cab.
 

Burning Fight!!

NIS America fan & Rent Free tenant
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Now I need to look up Radical Bikers, but if I had to guess isn't that one of those Gaelco (Spain) games?
 

pixeljunkie

Whilst Drunk., I Found God., Booze = Bad.,
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These threads can be dangerous. Doesn't take much for a PCB to shoot up in price lol

Demon Front used to be a sleeper. I picked up the PCB for like $75 and was blown away with it years ago. Gladiator Road of the Sword is another on PGM that doesn't get much recognition - it's an amazing beat-em-up. The KOV games on PGM2 are also extremely fun, especially with 2-4 player.



I also think Thunder Zone is damn fun and also under the radar a bit

 

SignOfGoob

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Now I need to look up Radical Bikers, but if I had to guess isn't that one of those Gaelco (Spain) games?

I looked it up and yes, it is from Spain. I don’t know why I thought it was Brazil. Maybe the machine was stuck in Portuguese.

The Wiki says a few interesting things. It says SNK published it in Japan, which means anyone at a Neo Geo Land in 1998 would have seen it probably. The Wiki also says there is a PlayStation version, PAL only. It won’t be any good of course because the PlayStation sucks but I may still look for that. I don’t have any arcade racing controllers.
 

wataru330

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Asura Blade: a really cool fighter from...some nobodies. Very smooth, like Vampire. There is a sequel too. I’ve never seen either PCB ever.
Nobodies?

Lol.

Earlier in the thread, multiple members including myself were hating on Fuuki.
Asura Blade and Asura Buster are two of their only redeeming qualities.
PCBs (and a kit containing both games) were inexpensive and widely abundant, before High Score Girl and covid spiked anything and everything to do with this hobby.
back OT:

do y’all even GunMaster?
Metro brought us a treat, in 1994. Arcade Gunstar Heroes, w/ fighting came command inputs!




0E4A6BD5-E123-44B1-9733-64972E36C57E.png
 
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mr_b

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I miss the days of being able to take $20 flyers on random boards I’ve never heard of before on ebay. Id youtube the game or try and find screenshots online. If it looked mildly interesting I’d give it a shot.

Those days are long gone. Now even shit games are over $100.
 

Atro

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I dig Puzzloop a lot. Kaneco version is leagues more fun than the 2nd game on cps2.
 

Hawwa

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The already mentioned Cannon Dancer is maybe the ultimate, but that PCB has to be $$$.

I absolutely love the game Outfoxies. Its Namco (1995) so it isn’t super obscure but nobody ever talks about it for some reason and I think it fucking rules, personally. Especially the stage with the shark tank.

Asura Blade: a really cool fighter from...some nobodies. Very smooth, like Vampire. There is a sequel too. I’ve never seen either PCB ever.

Radical Bikers: this is a polygonal game, made in Brazil IIRC, requires motorcycle controls of one kind or another. You deliver pizzas on a scooter, sort of like Crazy Taxi. Being polygonal it’s not much to look at but it’s a lot of fun on the real cab.
I played the hell out of Radikal Bikers here on Spain on its dedicated cabinet.

I even remember we made up lyrics for the music to match the gameplay "Powerpig in your feet, your mother fucks with me" we were 15 and thought it was cool. LOL
 

max 330 mega

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I played the hell out of Radikal Bikers here on Spain on its dedicated cabinet.

I even remember we made up lyrics for the music to match the gameplay "Powerpig in your feet, your mother fucks with me" we were 15 and thought it was cool. LOL
We always sang "i wanna bang alot of guyyyysss" instead of "i wanna take you for a ride" on MVC 2. Lmao
 

SignOfGoob

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We always sang "i wanna bang alot of guyyyysss" instead of "i wanna take you for a ride" on MVC 2. Lmao

Yeah, but that’s because the MVC2 music is so bad it can literally change your sexual orientation, cause multiple personality disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, suicidal thoughts, or worse. Ask your doctor before playing MVC2.
 

Ajax

way more american than wyo, way more
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I snagged a Punk Shot board a couple months ago, but then had to move all my arcade junk, so still haven't had a chance to try it out. It's certainly not among the hits people normally cite when mentioning Konami's golden era.

Also, MVC2 music really does suck very, very bad.
 

sylvie

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