The list – Other interesting results
I figured I hadn’t obtained all these survey responses to answer only one question! The interest of data collection is to parse out additional meanings based on the results. Yeah, once again, these would have probably changed somewhat if I had received more than 42 responses – but hey, gotta work with what I’ve got. Let’s jump into this, shall we?
THE GAMES EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST HEARD OF
My previous article was all about finding the games that (seemingly) nobody has heard of. Well, there’s the opposite possibility: Games that everyone has heard of. At the very least, all 42 responders at least have a passing knowledge of the existence of these. And, as you can imagine, those are much, much rarer than the opposite! Going at it alphabetically.
The first, a surprise, was Cuphead. I mean, it is one of those games that’s got a huge following, and even expanded into a TV show, so I guess it shouldn’t be that surprising. But hey, I’ll always approve of indie games enjoying such fame. (I guess part of the weirdness is that even larger games and franchises, like Undertale or FNAF, all had at least one person going “Never heard of ‘em”.)
Second, also not too surprising, is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Probably one of the most famous AAA games ever made, with more re-releases than one can count. It deserves that reputation, even with all its glitches and bugs.
And… that’s it! That’s the only two!
And the games that “almost” everyone has heard of, with only one answer going by the negative: Five Nights at Freddy’s 1, Goat Simulator, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Undertale. That’s all, yep. I won’t lie, some of these surprise me as well.
THE GAMES MOST HAVE HEARD OF (BUT NOT NECESSARILY OWNED/PLAYED)
Okay, so most games had a majority of responders going, “Never heard of this one”. The logical step is to check the other possible survey responses and what we can understand from them. Starting with the “I did hear of this one!” option.
The biggest point we can figure out: Franchises are the leaders of this category. Be it classic gaming franchises that have been around for decades, indie franchises (as well as singular indie titles) that have broken into the mainstream, or sometimes non-gaming franchises with several video game entries out there. It makes sense; by the fact that they have several titles under one denomination, it’s likely that you’ve at least heard of every major franchise out there, even if you might not always be able to outright name a game from a franchise when prompted.
Examples include:
-Alan Wake (original & American Nightmare, I assumed that second one was a lot more obscure than that);
-Ace Attorney series: Apollo Justice, Phoenix Wright;
-Final Fantasy: I (to be fair, that’s the only one I covered so far, not for lack of trying);
-Five Nights at Freddy’s series: 1/2/3/4/Sister Location (Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator had an equal between “I’ve never heard of it” and other responses, with 21 on each side, so it doesn’t quite fit on this list but almost);
-The Just Dance franchise (I didn’t feel the need to list every single game I covered here for the needs of this survey;
-Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded (I haven’t covered any other games from that series… yet);
-Kirby series: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby’s Adventure, Kirby’s Dream Land 1/2/3, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Kirby Super Star (the only one I covered that people declared more obscure was the newer entry, Kirby and the Forgotten Land);
-The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Hyrule Warriors Legends, (see further down the list for the rest);
-Mario series: Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Mario Kart DS, Mario Party 2/DS/Superstars, Super Mario 3D Land, Super Mario 64 DS, Super Paper Mario;
-No More Heroes: 1;
-Pokémon series: Shuffle, Snap (almost an equal split with “I’ve played it”, though only one fewer person has responses the latter), Sun/Moon, Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, White/Black, X/Y;
-Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, The Sands of Time;
-Rayman series: 1, 2: The Great Escape, 3: Hoodlum Havoc, Legends, Origins. And then, Raving Rabbids: 1, 2;
-RollerCoaster Tycoon: 1, 3: Platinum;
-Shantae: Half-Genie Hero;
-The Simpsons: Road Rage, The Simpsons Game;
-Sonic: & the Black Knight, & the Secret Rings, Colors, Forces, Mania (beating out “I’ve played it” by only one response), Riders: Zero Gravity, 4 (Episodes I and II), CD, Unleashed;
-And the crossover: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games;
-South Park: The Stick of Truth;
-Super Smash Bros. series: for Nintendo 3DS;
-Wario series: Land: Shake It!, WarioWare: D.I.Y., Get It Together, Smooth Moves, Touched!.
Singular games also in this category: American Truck Simulator, Balatro, Beyond Good and Evil, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Brawlhalla, Dead by Daylight, Doki Doki Literature Club, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Game Dev Tycoon, Goat Simulator, Grand Theft Auto V, Octodad: Dadliest Catch, Papers, Please, Punch-Out!! Wii, Rhythm Heaven, Scott Pilgrim VS The World: The Game: Complete Edition, Scribblenauts, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Splinter Cell, Super Contra, Surgeon Simulator, Untitled Goose Game, Valheim, Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York, Wii Music, Wii Sports Resort (this last one, almost an equal split with “I’ve played it”).
And games with an equal amount of people going either “I heard of it” VS “I’ve never heard of it”: Abzû, Journey, Drawful 2, Kirby’s Dream Collection: Special Edition (may be understandable since it’s a milestone celebration and a game collection rather than a single product), Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links.
Perhaps the most peculiar answers are Mirror’s Edge and Mario Kart DS, with both an equal split between “I’ve played it” and “I’ve heard of it”, with fewer responses for it being “I own it” or “I’ve never heard of it”.
FRANCHISE GAMES FEWER PEOPLE KNOW OF
A companion to the upper point: Games that haven’t been saved by being backed by the name of a franchise. Yes, it happens!
-Mario series: Pinball Land, Super Sluggers, New Super Mario Bros. 2;
-No More Heroes: 2: Desperate Struggle;
-Pokémon: Picross, Rumble;
-Rayman: Hoodlum’s Revenge. And Raving Rabbids: TV Party;
-Scribblenauts: Unlimited;
-Shantae: Risky’s Revenge;
-Sonic series: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (may be understandable since it was a free April Fools game, and a recent one at that).
THE GAMES THAT NARROWLY AVOIDED TOTAL OBSCURENESS
By which I mean, games that received only one answer other than “I’ve never heard of it”; it’ usually going to be an “I’ve heard of it”, but there’s a few that instead go “I own it” or “I’ve played it”. You might as well take this section as a list of honorable mentions to the Top 12 posted last Friday.
Of note, whereas the list of the most obscure games was entirely comprised of indie games on Steam, this list includes a handful of titles from physical consoles. Not many; just two, which is still more than zero! Oh, and one from WiiWare, too.
The list: The Astonishing Game, Business Tour, Dépanneur Nocturne, DRAGON: A Game About A Dragon, Dusty Revenge, EM: Shader Attack, Eternal Senia, Face it – a game to fight inner demons, Fingerbones, Flash Focus, Flight of the Paladin, Fortified!, Hexoscope, Indie Pogo, Last Word, Midnight Play Pack DS, Mushroom 11, Offensive Combat: Redux!, The Old Tree, Only If, Paw Paw Paw, Play With Birds, Plazma Being, Rabbit Hole 3D, Recesses, Rituals, Rolling Sun, Saviors, Shutshimi, Spaceport Hope, Spectrum, Spirits, Tadpole Treble, Three Heroes, TIMEFrame, Tiny Bridge: Ratventure, Yard Sale: Hidden Treasures Sunnyville. In total: 37 games.
For the sake of it, I also calculated how many games had exactly two responses aside from all the “Never heard of”s, and that's 40 titles.
THE MOST-PLAYED GAMES
And of course, why talk about the games no one has heard of, yet leave no room for the games that plenty of people not only know, but have played? I felt it was a good idea to specify that, when answering this survey, you could pick this option for a game you’ve played even if you don’t actually own it, since that opens the way for some specific entries. Most of the entries listed for this section are, truly, some of the more famous games out there (or the ones that have a good reason to have been played by several people). For the sake of brevity, I’ll focus on the games that had more than 10 people go “I’ve played it”.
Once again, games from famous franchises had a lot more chances of having been played, but a couple of noteworthy indies made their way in as well. I think including the “played but not owned” part really helped, as denoted by the presence of two Jackbox games. I thought Undertale would rank even higher than it did, but I also see that the most-played games are classics, or truly famous.
11: Drawful 2, the Just Dance Franchise, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Mario Party DS, Rayman Origins, Scribblenauts, Splinter Cell, Super Contra, Transistor, Valheim, VVVVVV
12: Alan Wake, Bastion, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Game Dev Tycoon, Kirby’s Adventure, Kirby Super Star, Octodad: Dadliest Catch, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Scribblenauts Unlimited
13: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Mario Party 2, Mirror’s Edge, New Super Mario Bros. 2, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Platinum!, Super Mario 3D Land, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
14: Goat Simulator, Grand Theft Auto V, Sonic Mania, Super Mario 64 DS, Super Paper Mario, Untitled Goose Game
15: Balatro, Final Fantasy I, Kirby’s Dream Land, Mario Kart DS, Papers, Please, Pokémon Snap, The Simpsons: Road Rage
16: Cuphead, Pokémon White/Black, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Wii Sports Resort
17: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Pokémon Sun/Moon, RollerCoaster Tycoon
18: New Super Mario Bros., Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Pokémon X/Y, The Stanley Parable
19: Super Mario Odyssey, Super Metroid
20: Paper Mario, Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen, Undertale
21: Quiplash, Tabletop Simulator
22: Mega Man, Super Mario Galaxy
23: The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past
24: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario World
25: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
26: The Jackbox Party Pack
27: Portal, Wii Sports
THE MOST OWNED YET UNPLAYED GAMES
When I first thought of this survey, I believed it made sense to include an option for when you do own a game, but haven’t played it. Backlogs, and all that. However, the responses made me realize just how rarely that option got selected. As a final thing of interest, I’ll make the list of games with the highest owned-but-unplayed rate. Those numbers aren’t big, but it’s interesting to see that I was wrong about something: I misjudged how big people's backlogs actually have, or maybe that phenomenon isn’t quite as widespread as I first thought.
Alright, the results now (focusing at 4 “Owned” responses or more).
4: American Truck Simulator, Asterix and Obelix: XXL Romastered, Chroma Squad, Cuphead, Day of the Tentacle Remastered, Dead by Daylight, Evoland, Final Fantasy I, GRIS, Guns of Icarus Online, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Mario Party Superstars, Mirror’s Edge, The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, Pokémon Snap, Pokémon White/Black, Sonic CD, Transistor, Undertale
5: Abzû, Alan Wake, Bastion, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Goat Simulator, Mario Kart DS
6: AI War: Fleet Command, Beyond Good and Evil, DuckTales Remastered, Grand Theft Auto V
8: Alan Wake’s American Nightmare
…That’s it! Yes, I was expecting a lot more as well.
All this to say: If there are games you own but haven’t touched; if there are games you’ve heard of but never tried; it’s never a bad thing to expand your gaming horizons, so go for it! Dare play those games that have been waiting for too long, go and play the franchises you’re unfamiliar with. At worst, you’ll only confirm what you don’t like; at best, you’ll find new stuff you didn’t know you were going to love!
See you this Friday for my Year Plans article and the games I’ve failed to get to during the year.
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