15 Most Criminally Underrated Video Game Franchises Of All Time

12. Startropics

Where to start? Startropics

Coming four years after the original Zelda, Nintendo attempted to make lightning strike twice, innovating on the original's top-down aesthetic with the mighty Startropics; a completely forgotten RPG that's held up pretty damn well.

Nintendo actually included it on their NES Classic Mini, presumably as a way to get more eyeballs on the thing, but as they handled that system's release about as well as can be expected, let's just say it was a bit of a failure.

Still, thanks to its basic plot premise, inviting art style, simple controls and focus on exploration, there's a real sense of charm that - had Startropics dropped a few years earlier - would see it immortalised alongside Link and co.