Hey Pandas, What’s A Video Game Or A TV Show You Love But Nobody Knows About?

Hopefully, this last one will be the one I mention, but another franchise I love is the Valkyria Chronicles series.

To give it a comparison to another series for gameplay, it's very much some of the X-Com games, where you have to strategically place your units in certain areas (including behind cover, or concealed) to get the advantage on the enemy units.

Each character has their own quirks that make them unique, both for the better or worse (for example, some soldiers might be allergic to pollen, so having them near flowers will make them perform worse).

The art style is amazing. It mixes 3D models with cell-shading, and an anime aesthetic amazingly. Everything in this game looks amazing.

I think the biggest reasons why this series is not as known is for the following;
1: The series released on inconsistent platforms. Before re-releases, the first game was on PS3, the two following games were PSP exclusives, and the fourth game was released on the last generation of consoles (PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and Windows).
2: The third game was never released outside of Japan due to the low sales of the second game (I think some of that can be blamed for moving the second game from a console to handheld system).
3: The first game released in a busy few months of 2008, November. October had the first Dead Space and Far Cry 2 as notable releases, Left 4 Dead 2 would release two weeks after Valkyria Chronicles, and early December would see GTA 4 come out. And right before Christmas, I think most teens would have asked for one of those aforementioned games instead.

The first game is more accessible with re-releases, so I'd strongly recommend this series.

Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal game. I was in college and became intrigued after watching a review on X-Play. Something about magic and fairies appealed to me and I ended up spending time playing it when I should have been studying.

Video game: shining force.

Tv show: OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB!

Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin

Realistic 3D rice farming meets 2D plattform hack and slay. Amazing.

It isn’t unknown, but Bendy and the ink machine, and Bendy and the dark revival are my favorite video games but yeah

gegege no kitaro/spooky kitaro, an anime based off of traditional japanese folklore stories. the anime’s been running since the 1960’s with new versions each 11 years, but not a whole lot of people in regions outside japan know about it. i recommend it if you like folklore and spooky stuff.

Tangled the damn series. Yes I know it’s inspired by a Disney movie but please watch it. And there is a movie before it (not the one you know about) so watch that for context.

Plenty of people know about it, but it came as a surprise to me. I was coming home from work on a Friday and learned that my wife would not be there. So I stopped at a family fun center that I'd been noticing on my commute during the week. They had a Virtual Reality setup and I gave it a whirl. Breaking a sweat with the body movements, I thought the investment might be justified, to purchase a headset for myself. Then I found a game that I and many others play almost exclusively on that format. They say its like a 3-D version of Fortnite, called Population One. I was never a gamer before, so I wouldn't know. But I've played it almost 7,000 times now and really enjoy the comradery created between squad members. Doctors, police, retied professionals and of course plenty of school kids are my "friends " from around the world.

Actually, it's a musical. It's called Be More Chill, and it was based on a book, but it's really different in terms of plot and actually better. The songs are a m a z i n g and the storyline makes sense. All the characters are likable somehow and it's generally a great show that no one I know has heard of.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

It's a video game, and the sequel is coming out within the next year (I think). You play as Senua, a Norse woman battling to save the soul of her dead lover from the Norse god Hela. There is a lot of Norse and Celtic mythology throughout the game.

I've been a gamer since I was little (my first console was an Atari), and I've never played anything else like this game. The immersion you get with the main character is mind-blowing. She suffers from psychosis, and you can hear the voices in her head througout the game (they literally have psychologists listed in the opening credits). There is some combat and puzzle solving, but the heart and focal point of the game is the storytelling and the visuals. Play it on Xbox Series S or X, if you can (I think it's free on Gamepass, so you can probably also play it on PC). It's relatively short, I think about 7 to 8 hours for a full playthrough.

The graphics for the sequel look INSANE, and I would urge you to check out the teaser/gameplay trailers on youtube. Whatever your expectations, you will not be disappointed.

Dave

It's a TV show that is both heartwarming and hilarious, with great adult humor. Season 3 starts this week! It's on FX and Hulu.

If you're like me, and trust IMDB ratings, then I'll let you know it's currently sitting at an 8.3/10 (for reference, there are only 23 TV shows in history that have a score of 9 or higher on IMDB, with the highest score being the nature documentary Planet Earth 2 which scored 9.4)

Svengoolie !

“Lost in Space !
What sets !
What story lines !
What acting !!!

Earthworm Jim! Both a game and a show that I loved. I bought myself a Jim action figure when I was in high school. You pushed a button and it shot the head/worm out of the suit.
Also Freakazoid. So many people have never heard of it and I can never find it to watch.

Corner Gas. A delightfully funny sitcom from Canada.

Sneaky Pete on Amazon Prime was really good. Not enough seasons of it imo. Another favorite of mine and my fiancé is an oldie but goodie is, The Andy Griffith Show. I watched the B&W ones growing up at my Great Grandma’s house and just recently began watching the ones in color.

Hudson's Adventure Island on Nintendo NES. Apart from Mario this was my favourite video game to play. I think I preferred it over Mario. Not many people talk about it. Not many people had it, that I know of. Of all the video game remasters, recreates and movies, this gets overlooked.

Favorite movie is a toss up between "Across The Universe" with Jim Sturgess.
or "My Blue Heaven" with Steve Martin at his best. The movie that reflects my life almost to a T is "Dazed and Confused".

A Man Called Otto. Newer movie but sooo good. Lots of representation and amazing actors

May I be permitted to add a film here? Billy Wilder's 1961 comedy One Two Three is every bit as funny as Some Like it Hot and is Jimmy Cagney's second best role. He does both Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell at the same time without losing his breath. It's unknown because it takes place during the Berlin blockade which is old news now. Give a look see