Ideas so weird they shouldn't work

[Ashley]

Was just watching some random YouTube video while getting ready and it mentioned Pocket Card Jockey and it got me thinking about ideas (in this case; a horse-racing card game) that are so weird they shouldn't work but do. Although I've not placed PCJ I've heard really good things about it.

It reminded me of Boom Street (or Fortune Street/Itadaki Street depending on where you're from) which is a mixture of Monopoly and the stock market with Dragon Quest characters (and Mario in the case of Boom Street but not the franchise as a whole). I have no idea about the stock market but it was fun to play back in the day when @Josh64 got me into it.

So any games, ideas, mechanics etc you can think of which on the surface sound really bizarre but work really well?

[Dufniall]

Not really bizarre, but the combination of pinball and metroidvania in Yoku's Island Express worked like a charm. Mario + Rabbids is also a funny one, with 2 franchises crossing over that mix pretty well, plus a type of gameplay new for both franchises. And all Warioware games are such a crazy blend of characters, microgames and random weirdness.

[Ronnie]

My first thought went to:

Spoiler

 

[Julius]

Hideo Kojima has entered the chat

Haven't played all of his games yet, and no doubt I'll find countless examples of this in the ones I've yet to play, but there are just too many ideas in his games which are one-and-done things and surprisingly haven't been aped on by everyone else in the industry.

In Metal Gear Solid there's the ketchup incident, everything about Psycho Mantis (memory cards, controller ports, have at it), and a bunch of others. Metal Gear Solid 2 in its structure and the reintroduction of mechanics from the first game is almost a jab at Hollywood sequels and expectations. Metal Gear Solid 3 has injuries to contend with and a bunch of camo options which should simply destroy the flow of the game, but don't. Metal Gear Solid 4 has blink-and-you'll-miss-it opportunities to see flashbacks to older games during cutscenes. And then there's P.T. and the entire way that the game's publicity through streaming and sharing of ideas and knowledge about the game was practically a mechanic unto itself, and absolutely necessary to see the end of the demo. 

Dude bleeds weird and originality when it comes to mechanics in games. 

ᵃ ʰᶦᵈᵉᵒ ᵏᵒʲᶦᵐᵃ ᵖʳᵒᵈᵘᶜᵗᶦᵒⁿ

You know who else gets super weird with mechanics? Yoko Taro.

NieR: Automata has a bunch of examples of this, but the one which is front and centre for me is the plug-in chips. For those that haven't played the game, you're an android and so can customise your character through finding and installing chips: robot companion, upgraded fire rate, more melee damage, etc. Excellent use of context for upgrades in a game.

But what do you do when you need more space, in real life, such as on your phone or computer, beyond increasing memory capacity (which you can do in the game)? You start deleting things.

And so, NieR: Automata gives you the option to straight up remove HUD elements to make space for other chips to be installed, and you can go so far as even removing the Operating System and dying as a result. Fascinating game! 

EDIT: also, every Yakuza mini-game, especially those with a story, and substories. Weirdest quests of any game series I've played (seriously, it's not even a question), but in line with the games themselves, they're often stupidly wacky and incredibly endearing by the time they're over. They're very difficult to forget as a result, despite some only being a few minutes long, and so I'd say that despite their weirdness, Yakuza might have the most memorable quests in a game series. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by Julius

[Ashley]

2 hours ago, Ronnie said:

My first thought went to:

  Hide contents

 

Ah yeah good shout and just reminded me of this photo

Spoiler

Had it like that for ages and one day I realised the figure lines up pretty well with the book behind it (and coincidentally both gifts from different Italians)

Now where's the sequel...

 

[Sméagol]

Let's maken an adventure / railshooter / racing game!

It did none of those things particularly well, but that didn't stop it from being highly entertaining.

Edited April 20, 2022 by Sméagol

[Ronnie]

2 hours ago, Ashley said:

Ah yeah good shout and just reminded me of this photo

  Not a spoiler (Hide contents)

Had it like that for ages and one day I realised the figure lines up pretty well with the book behind it (and coincidentally both gifts from different Italians)

Now where's the sequel...

 

I loved the first game so much I bought those big figurines of the four Rabbid characters... then spotted them like 80% discounted 12 months later 

Edited April 20, 2022 by Ronnie

[Jonnas]

Ah, what an apropos thread. You know what We have been playing as of late?

Very few games before this one featured Katamari, much less one so Damacy.

[Ashley]

8 hours ago, Jonnas said:

Ah, what an apropos thread. You know what We have been playing as of late?

Very few games before this one featured Katamari, much less one so Damacy.

I put the soundtrack to this on at work once and they were like "what is this?"

[Josh64]

On 21/04/2022 at 6:35 AM, Ashley said:

I put the soundtrack to this on at work once and they were like "what is this?"

I could never properly get into that game but really really love the theme tune

[WackerJr]

I love this.  The first ones that sprung to mind have already been mentioned, so here are a couple of others:

Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat

A new Donkey Kong platform game, but can only be controlled by a pair of bongo drums!

 

Super Smash Bros (N64)

The thought of pitting popular Nintendo characters against each other sounds a great idea, especially when there were some popular fighting games around. Just a standard battler with energy bars on a flat ground would’ve been a hit, so I can only imagine the planning meeting when it was suggested that characters battle over various platforms.  Plus now you don’t whittle their energy down, you instead increase it and try and knock them off screen, or until they fall off platforms… Of course new players are also likely to fall off lots of times and lose lives until they get used to it.

Thankfully they decided their idea was the best!

Wario Ware Inc

Dropping players into mini-games that only last 3 seconds sounds quite fun to me.  What ideas did the developers have for players to do in those 3 seconds?  Stick fingers up your nose, snot up dripping mucus, leaping over a car that’s actually a sausage, eat a banana, shake hands with a dog, bounce a watermelon off a man’s stomach… 🤣