Games which were poorly received at first, then loved

[Erik_Twice]

I've been reading a bit about films lately and specially about films that were poorly received at first but eventually grew to be considered classics. And it made me realize that I can't think of any games that had the cultural turnaround that, say, Blade Runner did.

I mean, sure, there have been many games that had poor response for critics and are now much better regarded, but they were always well regarded by the people who they were directed to (That is, I don't think the people complaining about Castlevania SOTN and Street Fighter III being 2D were ever the majority).

Any particular cases come to mind?

[BogusMeatFactory]

It is still far too early I feel, combined with the modern media moving forward and never looking back.

The only game that can point to are psychonauts. Reviewed well, sold poorly, but over time became a cult hit.

Outside of that we really are working on people's hidden gems.

[Exhuminator]

Nobody really cared much about Nier when it first released, but now everybody talks about it like it's a classic and seems loved by all.

[Xeogred]

God Hand, or most things Clover?

[prfsnl_gmr]

Game Informer gave Shantae a 3/10 when it was released...Other publications gave it very positive reviews, however.

[marurun]

I think games suffer the opposite problem movies do, which is that they get reviewed well and then don't hold up 10 years later.

[Tanooki]

I'd hate to ever admit to agreeing with Game Misinformer but on Shantae I do.

You could easily make a somewhat accurate blanket statement for a lot of games that were totally ignored and reviled, even for years or decades that now are coveted and loved for being rarities and classics which they usually are neither.

[Anayo]

I remember reading that Gunstar Heroes was kind of overlooked and didn't sell so well when it first came out.

[8bit]

There are probably a lot of Saturn games that could fall into this category. Even if they were reviewed fairly at the time with scores in the range of 7-9/10, the average gamer wasn't still wasn't buying a Saturn to play them. Now many of these games each have a cult following of sorts and there is an extremely high demand to own them. Some examples may include: Burning Rangers, Guardian Heroes, Panzar Dragoon (and Saga), Saturn Bomberman.

I would also go out on the limb and say most Working Design titles have a bit of a cult classic status, albeit probably more based on the publisher itself and each of the games included physical extras. None of them sold exceptionally well (except maybe the lunars on ps1) but all are highly sought after and well regarded games.

[BoringSupreez]

Nobody really cared much about Nier when it first released, but now everybody talks about it like it's a classic and seems loved by all.

That's probably the biggest one in recent memory. It's like reverse Chrono Cross. They're even making a sequel now, that would have been pointless in 2009.