Surprise hit games, any favorites? Options

[unitself]

What's a game that totally took you by surprise? One that was cheap or you knew nothing about but you took a chance and ended up having the time of your life.

For example - Soul Reaver for the DC. I picked it up for like $7 one day cause the cover looked cool and I read some article about it saying that it was kinda fun. OMG. It was the best $7 I had ever spent. I ate and drank nothing but Razael for weeks and weeks.

Another one was Shadow Man, again for the DC. Now I know this game wasn't the be-all-end-all if games, but I really really liked it. There was a stage where it literally creeped me and my wife out. There was this sound of a baby crying... over and over and over... it made you feel really bad and gave you a purpose for finding out what the hell was going on!

I guess we can all put PSO on the list too.

[unitself]

You know Mute, I have this game too. I had never played Diablo before, or anything like it, so I was new to the whole 3/4 top down thing. I really got hooked as well. I played and played... UNTIL, I got stuck on that damn fire guy. It's been forever since I havd played this game so I don't really remember who this boss was or how far along I was... I just remember getting stuck on him and putting the game down. Funny thing now is that now I understand about the whole "leveling up" thing - thanks to PSO. If you can't beat him, run around a bit more and get stronger, then come back and kick his butt!
Your post has just inpired me to break this puppy out and give it another go!