Underrated/Favorite Spinoff Games

[DarthGohan1]

I'm curious what spinoff games do you think are underrated? Or if you can't think of any underrated ones, what are your favorite spinoff games of all time?

 

[DVD]

There's a specific game that lives rent-free in my head and it's the Sims 2 in the DS

Basically the only thing close to regular Sims gameplay it has is the needs system, the town you're in and the fact that you can make your character, but other than that, it's just a spinoff game in which you end up stuck in a town called Strangetown and end up working there as the manager of a run-down hotel. During the game, you get several sketchy guests who are trying to do sketchy things and you need to stop them. It was surprisingly kinda fun, I played it as a kid and I honestly enjoyed it a lot. It was an interesting kind of game and everything that happened as well as the characters was all so wacky

 

[Jam86]

happy home designer! i've said it before but this is by far the best animal crossing game
i've noticed a lot of people on here don't like it but i love it so much

 

[Midoriya]

A game I don’t hear people talk too often about is Pokemon Conquest for the DS! I actually still have it after all these years and am doing the post-game in it once again. Nobunaga’s Ambition series of games meets Pokémon’s series of games for the gameplay of a lifetime! You fight with warriors who control Pokemon, and the warriors have special abilities that can help the Pokemon out. You fight to take over kingdoms and try to control all of the Ransei region. It came out back in the fifth generation of Pokemon games, and others including myself always hoped there would be a sequel, but sadly there hasn’t been. I love it so much though. It has so much replayability it’s ridiculous. I don’t think I could ever get tired of it. Here’s the box art for it:

 

[Mairmalade]

I'm also on the Pokemon spin-off train here. Love Pokemon Snap, Conquest, Colloseum, Ranger, and Mystery Dungeon.

One of my favorite Final Fantasy games is a spin-off of the series: Crystal Chronicles (GCN, not the Switch version). Let's not talk about that.

Other favorites:

• Darksiders Genesis
• Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
• Rune Factory if it counts, often regarded as a 'fantasy Harvest Moon'

Pretty sure all of these are fairly well-known though!

 

[JemAC]

Another fan of the Pokemon spin off games, I like nearly all the games not in the main series (as well as nearly all the main titles) but a particular favourite is Pokemon Colloseum. I loved playing the game when I was younger and really enjoyed the story to it, in fact it is one of the few games that I've replayed all the way through multiple times so I have a soft spot for it. Plus you get to travel around with Umbreon and Espeon and it contains my favourite legendary trio so that's a big bonus to me.

 

[Jam86]

back again because i just remembered pokemon battle revolution, i don't think i've heard anyone talk about this
that game was so lit, my brother put his pokemon from diamond on there so we had a really jazzy team lol

that game came out like 15 years ago and still had better graphics than pokemon sword and shield

 

[dude98]

Aw no love for the Pokemon Ranger games. Although I haven't played Gaurdian signs, I liked the first two. Shadows of Almia being my favorite

 

[DarthGohan1]

So many good games in this thread!

@Zhongli I've heard good things about Conquest but never played it before. I'll have to see if I can't find a copy somewhere in the future

@Mairmalade Crystal Chronicles was such a fun game. I remember playing multiplayer with friends and we had our GBA's linked up to the Gamecube as controllers

The reason I made this thread is the new Pokemon Snap is coming out in a couple months, and imo Snap is one of the best spinoffs ever. Such a random spinoff for a series, but turned out to be an awesome game. I can't wait to play the new Snap.

 

[Sharksheep]

I actually like playing Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days which is a mouthful. I've been calling KH: Math Problem. It's been so long so I might be getting some of the details wrong or just nostalgia is clouding my memory. The gameplay is similar to KH:2, the story is relativity straight forward for a KH game. I think this is one of the very games where I perfected all the missions including that one really annoying optional boss that's in Twilight Town that likes ground slam every 5 seconds that will KO you if you don't dodge in time and swoop across the map. It's was just a painful 10 minutes of jumping, running and gliding.

 

[-Lumi-]

Do those Art Academy games count as spin offs? Because I really like then Disney version, lol. I still can’t really draw and it’s a bit tricky on the small 3DS screen but I like it anyways. I think it’s relaxing and it’s a nice game that I can “play” while watching movies or something! I don’t have the original version of the game just the Disney one

Edit: I’ve been playing Disney Art Academy again since I mentioned it and I really wish there was an Animal Crossing version!! Would be so nice getting to learn how to draw all the villagers & NPCs!