RetroGaming

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_%27Em_Sock_%27Em_Robots_Arena?wprov=sfla1

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots Arena was pretty good. A robot fighting game where you could focus damage onto specific parts of your opponent to knock them off. Not only would they be unable to use that part in that match, but then you'd have the option of swapping out your own parts between matches in the tournament mode.

I'm not particularly fond of fighting games, but the gimmick really drew me in to this one. I remember a lot of fights where I had to choose whether to prioritize just plain winning vs trying to get a specific part for a build.

Gorillas.bas

Maybe Hover!. Basically hover bumper cars in the future playing capture the flag. Was a lot of fun and never saw any rereleases or remakes or another game like it.

Some gameplay.

Slipstream 5000

Probably the first and last racing game that I invested a lot of time in.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiklus

Great game. Seems simple at the start. But it's deeper than you'd think. Beautifully made game.

Road Trip Adventure

Seven Kingdoms II: The Fryhtan Wars

I found the disk at a Dollar Tree Store when I was a teen. I spent hours in endless matches trying to build my empire. I remember the spy system in this RTS was incredibly fun and nothing I've seen in any other game. Truly a gem with so much potential to become a cult classic with its charming art style.

For me its screamer. It's a pretty nice PC arcade racer with a great soundtrack. I still listen to it from time to time.

Everything on this

I think the last game I bought for my 386 was Nomad. ISTR having to make space since it required like 9Mb of the 40Mb drive.

30-polygon-per-ship level 3-D space RPG with limited combat sequences. I think I played it wrong because I seemed to walk largely linearly through the story and defeat the Big Bad without seeing more than 1/10 of the galaxy

I don't know how obscure this is. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. illusion of gaia/illusion of time was one of my favourites growing up. It had a cool story, kind of a dystopia fantasy. I don't think I ever actually finished it. Come to think of it, that might be a good idea to put on my list for this year.

Breath of Fire 2 for me

I don't know how obscure it actually is, but I played the hell out of Threads of Fate when I was a kid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads_of_Fate?wprov=sfla1

my niece thinks Morrowind is retro

Some ancient PC role playing games.

The Dark Heart of Uukrul I like this one because I think your party is restricted to having a character of each class: Fighter, Paladin, Cleric and Wizard. I learned what a Paladin was from this game and fell in love with the class. Lots of exploration and tactical battles that are on a map that is the same as where you are in the dungeon were all pretty awesome features of this game. Has permadeath but you can recruit a new person to replace the old one. Always hated doing that though.

Disciples of Steel Team of 8 characters going on an adventure to save the world. The endgame actually has you setting up armies in different parts of the world to help you when the final battle comes. Pretty neat game.

Soldam immediately comes to mind as the deepest cut I can think of. You might not be too impressed the first time you put a quarter in, the singleplayer modes are nothing too special. But if you can get a second player, it has one of the most interesting versus modes I've seen in a puzzle game. Sadly, you do need a second player, there is no versus CPU.

This game got a modernized remake on Switch a while back, they added online play... but they still didn't add CPUs.

Whiplash!

NFS Porsche Unleashed aka Porsche 2000 for PC. It had great physics and tons of realistic modifications you could purchase for every car. So many details in the game that made it truly great.

One of my favorites was definitely Kororinpa (Wii) Yes, the Wii is now considered retro. It is now older than the NES was when the Wii first was released.

I really like the old PSP Patapon games. They're catchy. After playing, I find myself humming the beat. The original creators are making a spiritual successor called Ratatan. Still not out yet, but I'm looking forward to playing it.