10 mind-fuddling minigames that entirely forgot the main genre

These minigames flipped the script, transforming beloved games for better or worse.

Death Tank (PowerSlave, 1996)

The SEGA Saturn FPS PowerSlave was a fantastic DOOM-like adventure taking place among cursed Egyptian tombs. As an additional challenge, and an early example of collect-a-thons in gaming, players went in search of 23 hidden Realm Dolls. Find them all and a new game mode unlocked – the tactical terrain 2D shooter for up to six players: Death Tank. It’s crazy addictive to this day, and you can even still grab the 2009 Xbox Live version for $14.99. Alternatively, Early Access indie title ShellShock Live has refined the formula further, adding wild new weapons and modes to play with.

Destiny ‘Sparrow Racing League’ (Destiny, 2015)

© Bungie
© Bungie

We’re not going to rag on Bungie’s decision to elevate the antics of Guardians performing tricks on speeder bikes to something more official. The Sparrow Racing League (SRL) was well produced, and a fine distraction for those who didn’t feel like shooting. The problem, however, was that the new event rewarded clumsy Wipeout-lite grinding with gear of the maximum (320) Light level, belittling the efforts of anyone who’d waged war against Oryx. After all, why risk your life against a terrifying beast when you could simply fly a hoverbike about for a bit?

Geometry Wars (Project Gotham Racing 2, 2003)

British developer Bizarre Creations slipped this one into the Xbox racing game like it was almost nothing. Just a thing you could do, if you wanted. A 1980s style coin-op cabinet, tucked away in a far corner of the garage. Well, this little game turned out to be the hottest vector-graphics shooter since Tempest, and we’d spend more time in this garage than racing the Nürburgring. Swiftly turned into a full release, the latest edition, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, is available to buy on Steam and Xbox LIVE.

Grifball (Halo 3, 2007)

One of the highlights of the Halo glory days was this Forge creation in Halo 3 by the guys from Rooster Teeth, which became so popular that it made the playlists of every Halo up until Halo Guardians. It’s a crude and brutal variation of football, rooted in Assault, in which the ‘ball’ (actually a bomb) is carried toward the goal of the opposing team, while both sides lay into each other using Gravity Hammers and Energy Swords. Ahh, that Halo community humor.

Writer

Paul’s first videogame was Space Invaders in 1978, which gives away his age a bit. We put his encyclopedic knowledge of the beforetimes to good use in our Retro coverage. If you want to reach Paul, you can email or tweet him @FutureKick.

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