Unpopular series that you love (And maybe wish it was more well-known)

[ShinyMagicalGirl]

So this is similar to -BANLK-'s "Popular series that you just don't get" thread, but the opposite. So, I'd like to know what hidden gems you guys love! Here's some:

Fossil Fighters series - Unpopular, but was good enough to warrant a slot in the trophies of Smash 4. I love this despite its cliches. Also, I love dinosaurs.

Etrian Odyssey series - So unpopular, despite ATLUS's efforts to showcase it. Very rich and interesting lore, a plethora of optional builds for characters, colorful NPCs, GODLIKE MUSIC, scary and truly tough bosses and of course, Story Mode. I love so much that I am one of the few making character profiles for them on this website, with thanks to my pal Lasatar.

7th Dragon series - Like Etrian Odyssey, this series is another "make your own party" game and while it isn't as good as Etrian Odyssey, I believe it still warrants a mention.

D-Frag! - One of favorite anime of all time, this hilarious pseudo-harem comedy series is just plain FUN, and yes all caps was necessary. Also, Roka and Kenji is the best ship. NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

Wish Upon the Pleiades - Last, but definitely not the least. There's a reason why the main pairing is my profile picture. It's such an innocent magical girl series that just warms your heart. While the series starts out slow, it eventually unfolds into a very interesting (admittedly confusing) story. There's also the infinite multiverse thing, so this might warrant a 2-A rating if this series was ever in this wiki.

I'd love to know what are your favorite, unpopular series! Maybe I can try them out too.

 

[CrossverseCrisis]

Kongou Banchou. Personally speaking, i don't think it's really that popular and likely not well known because of it. It's that it's because it's bad, it's just not well known compared to Nanatsu no Taizai, which is a more well known series created by the same guy that made Kongou Banchou.

For me, i find it really amazing along with other series like Kingdom Hearts or the Masadaverse. The characters are amazing besides some or so cliches that seem to be evident on them, the powers are aite and are not really that complicated to learn (though some are pretty quite....odd, as hell. Like one being able to shapeshift for some dumb odd reason....but there's sort of been some other weird stuff in it so eh). Story is really aite and enjoyable. And the protags are just amazing and funny overall.

Wish it was more well-known, really. It would have even gotten an anime too if that were the case. -.-

 

[AidenBrooks999]

Charlotte: While it has a decend number of fandom, stills a really unknown series. Nice characters that you can feel related with, good characters development for the protagonist, a decent and interesting plot. I re-watched the series like four times and I still enjoying it.


Also Yü Otosaka is pretty broken... for his verse

 

[Reppuzan]

I also loved the first two Fossil Fighters games. They had a lot of depth underneath that silly exterior, and dinosaurs were my first obsession as a kid. I can still drop assorted dinosaur trivia whenever applicable (i.e. Seismosaurus is the longest dinosaur to have ever lived, with scientists speculating that it was 150 feet long). I'm sort of annoyed at the third game for doing away with the original combat system though.

Here's some others:

Mega Man: Yes, it has a large, thriving, and demanding fanbase, but how many young kids today know who the Blue Bomber is? Seriously, his lack of popularity outside of Japan is depressing now. Luckily, X is literally the first new character on the newest Marvel vs. Capcom roster!

Digimon: I'm really freaking tired of people calling Digimon a Pokemon ripoff. It tackles mature themes like divorce, parental abandonment, and depression in a way that Pokemon doesn't while also remaining light-hearted enough to entertain everyone. All in all, an amazing series that just can't seem to leave the shadow of its more popular counterpart.

Ratma: A relatively short and sweet manga of sixty chapters, it details the story of a teenager named Shuto Kisaragi who admires the superhero Shiningman and dreams of becoming one himself. Unfortunately for him, he's scrawny, just under five-feet tall, and not particularly coordinated. He's later shanghaied into a criminal organization during his attempts to become a hero, but gains the power he needs to do so. Ultimately, this was my first "commercial superhero" story and a great casual read. If you like My Hero Academia, you'll also love this one.

Shibatora: Another relatively obscure manga that follows 22-Year Old Shibata Taketora, a young, idealistic police officer who dreams of helping kids in the youth division. To his chagrin, he still has the appearance of a middle school student, being only a few inches above five feet tall with a childish face to boot, making it extremely hard for him to gain others' respect and is repeatedly dragged away by police officers who think he's just a kid. He remains determined in spite of this, and is a total badass with anything remotely resembling a sword. This is another great read that hasn't gotten a lot of attention and tackles all sorts of real-life criminal activity in Japan, from drug abuse, to child prostitution, to organized crime. It's optimistic and lighthearted while also having its dark, action-packed scenes with a thought-provoking story.

I basically wrote a bunch of book reviews here, but I hope this works.

 

[AidenBrooks999]

@Reppuzan

Mega Man is really popular today.

Actually, more than his fanbase, apparentally was Capcom who started to forget him

 

[Reppuzan]

Pretty much, they changed their mascot to Ryu a few years back, despite the fact that Mega has been their most iconic character for over twenty years.

It really makes me sad to think that people are forgetting him when he was once a household name.

 

[Rtyoyo]

Bloody Roar. It's one of those old 3D fighters that stuck around even all the way into the Gamecube Era. It's incredibly unfortunate that Hudson couldn't have squeezed out a Bloody Roar 5 before closing down. Not only is the game amazing, with characters that take the likeness of and transform into animals, but the lore is incredibly well thought out and no two characters are the same. *sigh* RIP.

 

[ShinyMagicalGirl]

I also loved the first two Fossil Fighters games. They had a lot of depth underneath that silly exterior, and dinosaurs were my first obsession as a kid. I can still drop assorted dinosaur trivia whenever applicable (i.e. Seismosaurus is the longest dinosaur to have ever lived, with scientists speculating that it was a 150 feet long). I'm sort of annoyed at the third game for doing away with the original combat system though.

Gotta love the first two games, especially the super evolved forms. Also, the Dinaurians were cool! Also agree with you on the third game...

Digimon and Megaman still are rather popular... But the others are definitely unknown for me. (X IS IN MARVELVSCAPCOMINFINITE OMGASHHHHH)

 

[Grudgeman1706]

Charlotte: While it has a decend number of fandom, stills a really unknown series. Nice characters that you can feel related with, good characters development for the protagonist, a decent and interesting plot. I re-watched the series like four times and I still enjoying it.


Also Yü Otosaka is pretty broken... for his verse

I agree, this was an amazing series to watch, made me almost cry ;-; "almost".

 

[TISSG7Redgrave]

Masadaverse comes to mind due to the fact that it's untranslated so i think ppl won't know about it that well. I hope the anime makes it's well-known in a good way. Now watching about paralost in YT but…it's still not translated lol

 

[CrossverseCrisis]

Don't forget the ENG translation for DI as well, Red. That's also in the works along with the anime as well iirc.

 

[TISSG7Redgrave]

http://imgur.com/a/QSpmZ (Ren's stats)

http://imgur.com/a/5JTmb (Reinhard's stats)

http://imgur.com/a/RFFet (Valeria's stats)

Trex gave the link and oh my god the stats are nuts

 

[CrossverseCrisis]

Masadaverse Stats tho,,,

 

[TISSG7Redgrave]

The beast's stats from yetzirah already went out of bounds too OP XD

 

[Flames_of_power64]

those all sound like they would really be really fun to play.

also here's another one.

Star Fox: yes it has a large and somewhat active but most people haven't played the game and how many young even know of the game series, good thing Fox and Falco are in smash or even more people peobably wouldn't even know of the series. none the less it's still a fun series with an okay story.

 

[Amelia_Lonelyheart]

Phantasy Star: One of the more underloved of the classic JRPG series from the 8-Bit to 16-Bit eras. They were a series of Science-Fantasy Role-Playing games that took place in the Algo Solar System. While Science-Fantasy RPGs weren't exactly a new idea, with Ultima having a section where you shot down Alien spaceships and Final Fantasy having a space station for a dungeon, they were still fantasy first with science-fiction second. Phantasy Star was science-fiction first with fantasy concepts like the classic "sword and shield" and magic systems.

While the first two Phantasy Star games were rather...basic in terms of aesthetics (other than the amazing dungeon graphics in Phantasy Star 1, keep in mind those were on the SEGA Master System), they're still regarded as classics among many. I mostly play Phantasy Star 4 though. In my opinion, it had the best soundtrack, gameplay, characters and of course, story. You take control of a young Chaz Ashley, a new hunter who, along with his stoic mentor, Alys Brangwin and somewhat bubbling scholar, Hahn Mahlay is sent off to investigate monsters that have been terrorizing an university.

As you may except, that initial investigation spirals into uncovering a mystery that spans the entire solar system, and that's what I adore about the game. You're not just bound to the first planet, but you go to three different planets with distinct themes. Theirs Motavia, which is recovering from an Apocalypse they suffered long ago, Dezoris which only has a small population that is straight up dying and the ever mysterious, Rykros.

As you probably except from a science-fiction RPG, the game also has a colorful cast of characters. Theirs the aforementioned Chaz, who plays somewhat of a straight man. The rude and selfish Rune Walsh, who may or may not be the messiah. Demi, an android whose entire life is a series of horrible events, but she's just so happy to be alive. I can gush about these games for hours, but I've probably been going on to long anyway.

Mega Man: I played these games a lot as a kid, but I never actually managed to beat one. Ironically, the only one I came close to beating was the infamously difficult "Mega Man and Bass", but damn I love soundtracks in each game. I recently started reading the Archie Mega Man comics and they're reigniting my love for the games. The comics are amazing, by the way.

Voltron: Legendary Defender: Apparently it's popular, but almost no one I've met enjoys it, including my sister and two friends. Anyway, its an anime-styled series on Netflix that is a reboot of the original Voltron series from way back (which itself was an Americanization of Beast King GoLion). It's a really fun mech show with great comedy, world building, drama and of course, mech action. I like how it has a good blend of Giant Robot v Giant Monster fights, but also more grounded fights with the Paladins. The world building is one of my favorite aspects of the series, personally. From the get-go, you get a really grim image of the greater Universe. It's all but been conquered by Emperor Zarkon, who rules it with an iron fist. He's a great villain in the sense that he just has this commanding and evil presence, that presence isn't all for show either, he's horrifically strong too, being able to utter dominate The Lions in combat. With Season 2 just around the corner, I really recommend this series.

 

[Fabtastic_Glasses]

Steampunk Series A.K.A What A Beautiful (WAB) Series : A really good VN series that has many references to Real World histories and influental figures. And Lovecraft references. And it has many interesting abilities and power in VS context.

 

[C2_of_Omegon]

Age of Sigmar: Basically the successor to Warhammer Fantasy. It got a lot of crud hurled at it when it came out and I feel like it never got a fair rating on it's own. While I haven't played the game, I have been keeping up with the lore. It's got a lot of potential, a good number of worlds to explore and it friendly to people who never knew anything about Warhammer Fantasy. It's also a shame that we don't have any profiles for it or Warhammer Fantasy.

Digimon: I have loved this series since I saw it nearly two decades ago. The fact that so many compare it to Pokemon (whose anime is just there to turn people onto the games and other products), drives me nuts. Digimon has a very cool cast of characters (both human and digital monsters) with stories that tackle a load of themes that some might call a tad too dark. Luckily, the series handles them with care.

Outlaw Star: A cool story about an outlaw and his crew trying to find the ultimate prize of the universe and their adventures along the way. It also has guns that SHOOT MAGIC! Honestly, it's a nice serious that has some true heart and soul to it. I wouldn't call it unpopular as much as I would say that it flew under the radar. Then again, it was competing with Cowboy Bebop at the time, IIRC.

Saint Seiya: It's not that it is unpopular but that manga/show is not big here in the States and that drives me crazy.