Once again, it's time to do some serious mega-polling! This time we will try and give some games the attention they deserved for a long time. Our next search is a tricky one: we will try and find the most underrated MSX game in the world.

The top 16 of both the Best MSX1 game ever and Best MSX2 game ever megapolls can not be nominated. For your convenience, these games are excluded from the competition;

Aleste 1
Aleste 2
Aleste Gaiden (Aleste Special)
Dragon Slayer 6 (Legend of heroes)
Eggerland 2
F1 Spirit
Fantasm Soldier 2 (Valis II)
Firebird (Hinotori)
Hydlide 3
King's valley 2
Knightmare
Maze of Galious
Metal Gear
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Nemesis 1
Nemesis 2
Nemesis 3
Parodius
Penguin adventure
Puyo Puyo
Road fighter
SD Snatcher
Salamander
Space Manbow
Thexder
Usas
Vampire Killer
Xak 2
YS 2 (Ancient YS Vanished the Final Chapter)
YS 3 (Wanderers from YS)
Yie ar kung fu 2
Zanac

Furthermore, please don't only nominate a title, but also try and explain why you think this game is hugely underrated. Tell us what part of the game rocks, why you think it deservers more attention, what makes the game so special, etc. etc. etc. You are allowed to add links to websites with screenshots like Generation MSX or Tagoo to show some more details on the game. Links to downloads of copyrighted games are, of course, prohibited.

You can nominate as many MSX1, MSX2, MSX2+ and turboR games as you like. You can send in your submissions until April 13th, 23:59 CET.

you think SD-Snatcher is underrated? I bloody WON the Best MSX2 game ever megapoll.

sorry, didn't fully read it

I think Musical Memory is underrated. It's a totally different approach to the memory genre.

Topple Zip
-----------
+ very colorfull, and rather huge as well.. many multicolor sprites
- only 2 tunes

Frantic
--------
+ gameplay, atmosphere, all-in a rocksolid game
- gfx are somewhat childish here and there
- you aren't alowed to make a single mistake ..

Hardboiled
------------
+ stylish adventure
- no in-game music

Hardboiled is ace!

my nominations:
* Hype
Beautiful shoot 'm up, graphics are simple though gameplay is elegant. Very catchy tune.

* Skooter
It really has a lot of character. One of the true classics on MSX in my opinion. The game triggers the brain in a friendly way.

* Konami's Ping Pong
Still one of the best table tennis games on ANY system. It tackles the sport's mechanics in an unsurpassed manner.

* Breaker Breaker
Break-out, but not straight-forward. Those eyes. Multiple versions exist both for MSX1 and MSX2 (although under slightly different names)

* CoreDump
Never released, never played. But reading the Work In Progress diary was already mouth-watering. Probably the holy-grail on MSX that never was.

Herzog by TechnoSoft (1988) (www.generation-msx.nl/msxdb/softwareinfo/1210)

Brilliant strategy game. The MSX A.I. player is amazingly good (at advanced levels), and the 2 player gameplay rules also. Original game, totally different, unique and very playable.

*Step-Up
Breath-taking gameplay

*Girly Block (by Compile)
Big creatures, non-standard way of playing for this type of games

* Kyokugen

The graphics of the game need some 'getting used to', but the playability of this game is AWESOME.

* Daiva
Ahead of it's time, excellent gameplay, original concept at the time.

* Magical Wiz Kid
Fun, addicting gameplay, fairy-tale story, great ending.

* Magical Tree
Rarely noted as one of the best Konami games, but more fun and addictive than most.

* Zanac-Ex
Rarely mentioned in the same sentence as Aleste, but technically just as good and just as fun to play.

* Abu Simbel Profanation
The definitive platforms game. Well balanced: hard enough to tear your hair out, but beatable.

* another vote for Skooter

* Rune Worth
Lovely music and graphics, original storyline: you're just a laborer and the monsters are a PITA, instead of "you're a prince and the monsters give you treasure". Needs a translation.

I agree on Herzog, it's just an amazing game and very addictive too.

From the same company I'd select Feedack, it's fast, got great graphics and is technically very impressive. Very playable too.
http://www.generation-msx.nl/msxdb/softwareinfo/1200

But above all, I think the games published by Matra (Moskow 2024, Don't cock it up, Ark-a-Noah, Sex Bomb Bunny).They are recent, they got a fantastic technical level and yet they got the very nice simple (old school ) playability of arcade games. Yet, you hardly hear about those. I think most people haven't seen them or what ?

* Psycho World - Because the way you gather weapons etc. is very cool and original imo, the music is absolutely awesome and it's simply a very fun game

* Sa-Zi-Ri - Because it's so different from other games, and very nice to play

* Ninja 2 (?) - The MSX 2-version. Great PSG-music, various weapons to be used, unusual gameplay like being able to climb walls, make salto's, crouching etc.

Maggoo, right on dude! Feedback is way underestimated too, but a fantastic game. For MSX Standards it's even AWESOME

Hummm...
Those are great games, but I think the most underrated game ever is the game ZORAX.
Zorax has an original storyline, great music, disturbing difficult and an amazing parallax scroll!
Besides, it has 8 different levels with new enemies in each level!
It is a shame the authors had never ever released ZORAX 2 to the public.
q^=

Some underrated games that are also not very well known (but please take a look at them, if you can!)

- Traffic (by Sony): you are a traffic controller that has to make sure that the part of London that you are responsible for will not get fully crowded with cars. You control the traffic lights at all junctions! And do take care that the ambulance (the sound even has a doppler-effect!) gets through in time!
- Super Pierrot: very original music and a mix between pacman, Sex Bomb Bunny (which is a cover itself) and some other games that I forgot the name of! Very good looking graphics, too.
- Mr. Ghost: Very nice looking game with very good PSG music. Fast, too!
- Rock 'n Bolt: in my opinion an extremely original game concept: you can walk on moving platforms (in a colourful isometric 3D view) and you have to screw the bolts in the platforms to fix them at the right positions. But once they're tightened, you can't easily use them as transprotation device anymore! Later levels are multiple screens big. You really want to try this!

Maybe I'll think of more later!

Quote:

* Ninja 2 (?) - The MSX 2-version. Great PSG-music, various weapons to be used, unusual gameplay like being able to climb walls, make salto's, crouching etc.

I second that, the game is called Super Ninja 2 btw.

* Green Beret
This game is being underrated all the time, just because it's not the high-quality one might expect from a Konami game. In reality, it's a very decent game (and a decent port from the original arcade game). For a MSX1 game it's colorful, especially compared to other games from england.