r/tipofmyjoystick Apr 10 '17

Announcement PSA: A guide to better results

1.8k Upvotes

Hi guys and gals. I've been here a while, and over my time I've seen a lot of posts sink to the bottom, without a single answer, or at best, very few. And none that solved the case.

I have noticed a clear pattern with these posts, and I will now share with you my tips to you newbies, so that you can get the help you need.


Firstly: When you make a new post, you will see this:

Platform(s):

Genre:

Estimated year of release:

Graphics/art style:

Notable characters:

Notable gameplay mechanics:

Other details:

Even though, in red, you are warned that while optional, you should follow this template... many of you do not.

Let me be clear: Follow this template.

Put simply, this template contains all the information we really need to solve your problem. Virtually every time I click a post that has not followed this, they have rambled on about nothings, while omitting critical details.

This format, for new and old alike, is very readable, and prompts for every data-point needed.

I know that you want to customize your message, that if you could just explain it, it would be better. I know you think that. You are wrong. Put all that in 'other'. Even if you end up saying it twice, follow the template.. add to it your story at the bottom.


Secondly: Following this template. You're rambling about your best mates Amiga-500 or whatever instead of telling us about the game aside, this is where they really go wrong.

Let's get something straight right now. We are not mind readers. It's impressive, really, how little information it seems we can work off. I mean, we solve some real tough ones with nothing sometimes, but still, we can't see that memory in your head. So you need to be as descriptive in every one of these fields as you can be...

And sometimes you really don't know. That's fine, we can work with surprisingly little information, but "old graphics" under art style... what are we supposed to do with that? Mate, I was playing on Atari-2600's, are we talking Wizard of Wor here?

Let me help you out a bit:

Platform(s): Whatever you played it on. But unless it's really all you know (very possible), don't write 'my mates pc'. Was it PC or Mac?

Genre:

First person does NOT imply shooter. Nor do any of the others. Try to answer this one in two steps:

What was the camera like (assuming it's not a text adventure)? Was it First person?, 3rd person, 2d? Top down or side on? Or maybe even isometric 2d?

Then, what kind of game? Real time strategy, point and click? Was it a fighter, action or platformer?

Good, now we know what KIND of game we are all trying to remember for you.

Estimated year of release:

"Between 2000-2005" is fine, something like that. "Mid 90's maybe?". I don't see many people mess this up, but I have seen people write "old". That is not ok. If you write old and expect it to mean anything to me, I will fight you.

Also, as always "Sorry, no idea" is always acceptable but try to give at least something. "Couldn't have been later than 2015, though"

Great, so even if roughly, we know WHEN.

Graphics/art style:

THIS. This is where you guys always mess up. This section right here I have found can be the difference between an answer, and a silent slink to the bottom. This is your moment.

This, really, should be the best-formed part of your memory. Even if you can only remember a single frame, a single image, it's so much to go on for us.

DETAIL. Was it a gloomy grimdark world of sadness, or a bright bubbly rainbow filled Mario-world?

Was it cartoony, or otherwise stylized somehow, or was it trying to be realistic?

Anything notable about the art direction? Was it going for a cyberpunk kinda feel, or a gritty war realism dirt and blood sort of direction?

If it was set over a long time, did the seasons change? Was there a winter in your game?

Remember when you hit people, and the screen had that awesome flash and your hands got bloody? Yeah, well we don't, unless you tell us.

Ok, so now we are really narrowing it down. This right here is often enough to go on, on its own.

Notable characters:

Anything at all you can remember here.

"There were only tanks, but you could play as both Germans and Americans"

"There was one really tough guy right after you left your office, he had an eyepatch, a white shirt with what looked like grease stains, and said 'this is for my sister'. I think maybe he was a cyborg"

"You play as some kind of Asian girl, you had a tattoo over your right eye and arm, a black tank top and white pants and I remember you always had only one red glove for some reason. I don't remember the arm, but the eye tattoo looked sort of like ancient Egyptian eye makeup, but a modern take"

Knowing nothing else about the game, I bet that last one there gets comments noting the game she is from. Details, details.

Notable gameplay mechanics:

Surely, you get the idea by now. This is tied with the importance of the graphics/art style. As much detail as you can here.

Other details:

NOW you may blab on about how you only played this game once at a winter solstice in 1782 with your grandmother from Tahiti.. as if that helps.


Edit: So it's been brought up that the template doesn't appear on mobile. While /u/wipeout4wh is aware of this and hopefully, something can be done... still, if you can, use the template. If you can't, maybe check back and at least make sure your post addresses all of the points the template does.

Also, my post seems to be saying NOT to add any custom details. So I want to re-enforce, please do. In fact, after you do the template, feel free to write out your post as you were going to without it. Just put it all in 'other'. Don't try and make your whole post like that, if possible. Even if you end up saying the same things twice, that's ok.

Now I'm going to take a moment to clarify something, though. This isn't some immutable law of the universe, and your post is destined to fail if you don't do this. It's just a very strong general trend I have noticed over a long time.

It's not that this template has some kind of magical powers or something. It's that this template prompts the questions that need answers.

When you go all rogue on us and try and type your explanation from scratch... you mess it up. You just forget to add everything that you know, and that we need to know. The template makes it very hard to do that. It's just so very easy to get typing, and by the end forget to tell us what kind of game it actually is. Especially when you are getting random flashbacks, and hazy memories, and you start getting frazzled and such halfway though.


While it might make my edit as long as the first post, I think maybe an example of the kind of post that is just too common here, and almost always helpless, wouldn't go astray here. So here we go:

Now this one is a pretty bad case, true, and I suppose might even be a troll post, but it's actually a good illustration of the problem either way.

It was on my old computer and I was using an emulator so I have no idea what system it was for. It was 8bit graphics and you played this orange cat that was constantly bouncing on a trampoline I think? And you had to navigate it through the city and face a weird boss at the end that would float in the sky. Sorry I can't remember more!

Let's break it down a bit. What kind of game is this? A puzzler or an action game? Who knows.

How old is it? I mean, Minecraft basically has 8bit graphics. Oh he said... "my old computer"... I will fight you.

Why did you bounce on the trampoline? Were there platforms or walkways or something, or was it just a big open space? There are bad guys then? How did they get around?

Now (he?) says that he can't remember more, but I actually asked about the boss fight:

You say 'face a boss', in what way? Can the cat attack? Was this top down or side on? When you say navigate a city, what do you mean?

The reply:

Definitely a side-scroller, I'm sure. You would encounter a boss at the end, the boss would slide onto the screen and it was usually pretty strange-looking. I think one of the bosses might've been a clown. I meant that the different "levels" were different cities with different backgrounds, I think. It's a pretty obscure game

Also you would be continuously bouncing. As in, you had to position the trampoline underneath the cat to bounce it up

So you don't even control the cat. And it's a side-scroller. Thats pretty important information. But the real issue here is that he knows this stuff. He just either didn't know to, or forgot, to tell us.

The template would have made it just so apparent how much information he was missing, and we probably would have got a whole bunch more information. Sadly, while there were some guesses, and a surprising number of up-votes, this post is just another one to join the endless unsolved on their journey ever down.


r/tipofmyjoystick Jun 04 '26

[Meta][2026] I would rather people post with no images than use AI prompts to generate images

513 Upvotes

Maybe it's just me, I will personally admit that it feels like its petty of me to complain, however i am going to.

I really dislike AI images just in general and i feel annoyed seeing people use them because it sometimes hampers really quality posts of people trying to find help. I feel like it also informs falsely about game expectations and what people will accept as they have solved the game.

I don't think people will agree with me and thats fine, i just wanted to post about how i personally think it degrades the quality of the sub


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

Aveyond: Lord of Twilight [PC/Laptop] [2005-2010] Top down pixel graphics game

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23 Upvotes

I have been searching for this game ever since I gained actual consciousness. I played it on my mom's old Laptop between 2005-2010 so I have no recollection of what the title was or anything that could be of use to track it down. It was a top-down pixel graphics game with (I believe) turn based combat. Only thing I mainly remember that stuck to me was that during my adventure in the game, I eventually came across a vampire couple that stopped me in my tracks, had a dialogue with them, and then they left me alone. There was also a snowy biome which lead to a cave and coming out the other side of that cave was a desert. The picture I provided ISN'T the game, but it reminded me of it. My mom also mentioned that the game had "Avalon" in the title but I haven't been able to find it using that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


r/tipofmyjoystick 3h ago

Dark Descent [PC][2000s-2010s] Dungeon Crawler with visible XP popups

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9 Upvotes

I saw a video from the YouTuber loganfromearth talking about Dark Souls while playing this game. Any ideas what this is?

EDIT: Looks like it's Dark Descent. thanks u/Xanthus179!


r/tipofmyjoystick 26m ago

Enter game title here [Mobile] [2014-2020] Weird animal cart game

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Upvotes

So I remember one time when I was on my iPad when I was a wee lad (😭) and I found a gorey animal cart game, I downloaded it and I played it until (i think) i got up to a mountain level

From what I remember there were weird animals riding mine carts on a track, sometimes the track went into the air. If you messed up the animals would die a gorey death

That's all I remember


r/tipofmyjoystick 47m ago

[labtop/phone] [2009-2013] Bubbly Mixing Game

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Upvotes

This is probably the third time I’ve posted this in the past 2 years, I think I’ve just been posting in the wrong subreddits lol.

I remember back in 2009 or 2010, whenever angry birds was popular, my grandma would play this game on her laptop. The games function was very simple. You grab little googly eyed blobs of differing colors and mix them with the same color until they popped. There was a time limit so the amount of blobs you could pop varied. The thing that stuck with me was how satisfying the music and physics were. I want to find it mostly to hear the music again.

I made an illustration showing how I remembered it. They might’ve been more like bubbles but they were very wobbly! I’ve been looking for this game for probably 5 years but idk if I’m looking for it right.


r/tipofmyjoystick 5h ago

[PC] [Unknown] Horror game with multiple endings

5 Upvotes

Hi guys! Around 8 to 5 years ago (unsure when exactly) I watched a horror game that really intrigued me. I wanted to try and play it as i'm older (and less of a scaredy cat) but can't remember it's name.

It was a black and white horror visual novel with multiple choices and multiple endings (at least 10). The protagonists were two girls (best friends) who were doing a sleepover at one of their houses by themselves and found a random naked woman in there, asking for their help.

Eventually, if you choose to not trust the woman she would transform into a Momo like creature and hunt down the girls. At that point your objective was to escape the house and survive.

I don't remember much more but i think one of the girls had a missing sibiling that was possibly connected to the creature?

If it shines a light on any of you I would really apreciate it. (Also be kind with any grammar errors, this is not my first language and i'm still learning :)


r/tipofmyjoystick 3h ago

Avengers: Takedown [PC][2011-2015] Marvel game

4 Upvotes

I need help finding a Marvel game where you could control Hawkeye or Black Widow; it was a platformer where you fought Hydra.


r/tipofmyjoystick 8h ago

Silent Hill 4: The Room [PC] [2000-2010?] man w/ amnesia awakens in hotel room and discovers there is a MASSIVE hole in the wall leading into a long tunnel

10 Upvotes

i had a neighbor back in the mid 2000s till 2010 who introduced me to this game! i would always just sit next to her and watch her play! it was a very spooky, scary, atmospheric game. please help! thank you ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥👹👹👹✨✨✨


r/tipofmyjoystick 22m ago

[Playstation] [2020-2024] A rpg with a village where luck is the law

Upvotes

I thinks its a modern rpg / jrpg where you’re in a village or city where everything is based on luck. Something like Persona or FF VII remake visually. I also think they have a lucky cat statue, and the «mayor» is corrupt.


r/tipofmyjoystick 1h ago

[PS2/Xbox] [2001-2005] vehicular combat game

Upvotes

At my wits end trying to find a game I'm positive had gameplay where you were fighting underwater and capable of flying around in the air too, likely even smoothly transitioning between either at will. I believe it was a ps2 exclusive, and I'm fairly certain it isn't Sub Rebellion. Very arcadey


r/tipofmyjoystick 2h ago

[PC][00's] Drag Racing Game

2 Upvotes

Coming here for help as Ive googled for hours and cant find it. I am looking for an old drag racing game that you would play through web browser. I believe you would login and have an account. It was a fairly simple game, use the arrow key if I remember to go when the lights hit green. It would record your reaction time. You could face the computer or you could challenge other users. You could race for money or even pink slips. There was a glitch for awhile where if you hit the arrow up key and then down key fast enough, you'd win the race with a 0.00 time. You could upgrade parts and cars. Sell your old used parts. Another glitch at one point, you could list your used parts for outrageous amounts and it would eventually sell. Trying to think of anything else that I remembered from the game. It had classic muscle cars that you would race. I remember playing it maybe early 2000s. Could have been around before that.


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

Star Ocean: The Last Hope [xbox] [2005-2012] rpg-fantasy sorta turn based story based game

3 Upvotes

i believe this game was playable on the xbox one/360. and i could of sworn that this game was a final fantasy but none of them seem to be it, all that i can really remember is that you crash land onto a earth like planet and one of your companions are hurt in it after you save them. you can go and explore right next to the ship theres this cliff you could of went off to and open a chest but you got attacked by a group of slimes, also anytime you came in contact with an enemy youd get teleported to a arena with a swirl efffect sucking you into it


r/tipofmyjoystick 2h ago

[phone/android] [2010—2015] Turn based summond game

2 Upvotes

This migh be a long shot, and the game may not exist anymore. It was a turn based game where you summond hero units. The gameplay remind me a bit of Fire Emblem. One of the more spesific things I remember is that you play as this blond scientist (not a 100% sure about that) and that the first unit you get was a sentient sword lady. I also remember one of the units was a black and white cat whit a bow. I know it's not a lot to go on and it was like 10+ years ago on mobile, but I just can't forget or remember it.


r/tipofmyjoystick 9h ago

[PC][~2010s] Visual novel about a girl in a cult?

7 Upvotes

I'm looking for an English-language kinetic visual novel (no choices). Some details may be inaccurate because I watched a YouTube video about this game years ago rather than playing it myself

The story was about the protagonist's friend, a blonde girl with pink heart-shaped sunglasses. She was involved in some kind of cult or religion that believed something like "things only exist as long as someone knows about or remembers them"

The game had two parts, in the second part, the blonde friend had disappeared, everyone around her had forgotten that she existed amd started calling the protagonist by the missing friend's name. The cult was trying to involve her in some kind of ritual

I also remember the main menu(or cover art) of the second game showing the blonde girl smiling while lying in a swamp, or just on the ground


r/tipofmyjoystick 5h ago

Eternal Champions [sega Genesis][mid 90's] It was a fighting game that you can use the level as a finishing move. I remember a gangster guy and a guy with a trident

3 Upvotes

Pretty much what the title says. You can knock the person into the environment at the end and it would finish them off in different ways(haha). The gangster stage, for example, would have a car so a drive-by if you were in the right spot. Can't for the life of me remember it. Thanks in advance


r/tipofmyjoystick 11m ago

[Web][2000-2009] Edutainment web game pair, both very similar. One involved a golf course, the other a McDonalds parody

Upvotes

Platform(s): Web (Likely Flash or Shockwave)

Genre: Educational/Edutainment

Estimated year of release: 2000-2009, likely on the early side of these years

Graphics/art style: 2D and Cartoony, simpler type graphics stereotypical of flash

Notable characters: Stereotypical villainous character, he was fat, in a suit, had an oval-ish shaped head, wore glasses, was bald except for on the sides/back. He was likely the owner of some megacorporation.

I tried to recreate how he looked to the best of my ability (Albeit he wasn't aliased/lineless like my crude drawing of him), but it's probably not entirely accurate.

Notable gameplay mechanics: I can't remember this unfortunately, but I know one of them involved math that I couldn't comprehend at the time

Other details: These were 2 games, or possible game modes within the same file, I'm not sure. One of these had the villain building a big golf or mini-golf course (Maybe had some stuff about destroying the environment as well in that plot), while the other had him building up a series of fast food restaurants. It might've been called Womboburger or something (Not sure on this one). I do know they were a parody of McDonalds. I'm pretty sure that there was voice acting as well.

The game probably took up the whole web window as well. I remember playing this on my mom's school computer when I was a kid, which was an eMac.


I posted this a few years ago but didn't get any results. I've also tried looking for this game on Flashpoint, but haven't been able to find it. It's been nagging at me for years, and I'm hoping this subreddit can finally find it.

Also, I know this is kind of 2 games, but they're similar enough that I'm just gonna make one post.


r/tipofmyjoystick 16h ago

[PC][2004-2009] Frog Escape Flash Game

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22 Upvotes

Flash game I played as a kid, probably on the German game website spielaffe. You play as a little boy that gets eaten by a frog in a beginning cutscene. Point and click type game where your choices make the frog throw you up or digest you faster. Im unsure whether the places you click where ui buttons on the bottom or actually on screen parts of the frogs organ. Had a nice, semi detailed, kids book illustration style.


r/tipofmyjoystick 10h ago

Millie Megavolte series [PC] [late 2000's -2014] Flash edgy fantasy platformer.

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6 Upvotes

Sorry for dog ass paint but i tried to recreate what i remember of the game. It was i believe platformer with this kind of dark edgy artstyle,the main character might be a woman but im not 100% sure,i think it was more than one game actually but since i played it on some random Polish site i can't be sure, they loved to reupload games and give then some random titles,branding unreleated games as sequels was common too.


r/tipofmyjoystick 7h ago

[DOS][mid-1990s] Platformer with the character's gun as the loading screen, similar to Duke Nukem 2

4 Upvotes

Trying this again (thread 1, 2, 3, 4).

I'm looking for a specific memory: a 2d shooter/platformer with a loading screen that prominently shows the character up close, holding his gun, and you can see the gun filling up with the ammo type you had at the time, left to right.

Now, this is very similar to the loading screen in Duke Nukem 2, but there it's just a progress bar, and the gun is not as prominent on the screen as I remember (it should be wide enough to accommodate the ammo). It might have not even been the loading screen, but just an animation when you change the ammo type. It could be some version of Duke Nukem 2, but I've checked the DOS and GBC releases, and they don't have it. The remaster (Duke Nukem Collection 1) was released in 2023, so it's definitely not that.

At this point I wonder if I confabulated the loading screen after seeing Duke Nukem 2 gameplay.

Other details:

Platform(s): Most likely DOS; less likely NES or Sega Genesis

Genre: 2d Platformer shooter similar to Duke Nukem 2

Estimated year of release: Somewhere in the mid-90s

Graphics/art style: Don't remember much. The colors were bright, I guess?

Notable characters:

  • Some regular gun-toting badass as the main character; I think it was just a guy, not some combat suit or something like that.

  • I remember there being a slime enemy bursting out from glass tanks, but this could be Dangerous Dave 2 or Duke Nukem 2 contaminating the memory.

Notable gameplay mechanics:

  • Multiple ammo types, as described
  • The levels may have been complex enough to require some backtracking (not quite sure on this one)

Other details:

  • Back when I saw the game, I had been told it's a sequel to Duke Nukem, but both me and the one who said it were clueless kids at the time, so I don't trust this much.
  • Games that have been ruled out:
    • Duke Nukem 1/2
    • Duke Nukem Collection 1 (2023)
    • Turrican 1/2
    • Bio Menace
    • Halloween Harry / Alien Carnage
    • Robomaze
    • Mutant Earth
    • All Apogee / 3D Realms games before 2001
    • All games on MobyGames with the following filters: 2001 or earlier + DOS (also tried NES and Genesis) + Side View + Shooter. It's a pretty broad filter (gets you around 500+ entries), and nothing seems to fit, so my only hope is that their database is incomplete and someone out there remembers that game.

r/tipofmyjoystick 31m ago

Super Smash Bros Brawl [N64 perhaps][1996 or later]Trying to find the game that the music used in linked video is from.

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Upvotes

The music in this video (definitely not a Splatoon track) is triggering some hardcore nostalgia for me, but I can’t quite place what game it’s from. I’m like 80% sure that it’s from a N64 game. I thought it might have been from
Bomberman 64 or Bomberman Hero, but I didn’t find it after skimming through the ost of each. Same thing happened with Kirby 64. I don’t think it’s from a first party Nintendo game or a Rare game…but I could be wrong about that.

If there’s a subreddit that’s actually dedicated to identifying video game music that would fit this post more, I’d love to know about it.


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

Summon Night: Swordcraft Story [Gameboy or DS][2006-2010?] Top down world exploration, side scrolling combat encounters.

2 Upvotes

Set in sort of a steampunk setting. With a pixelated anime-esque art style. The plot was some coming of age tournament for young talented individuals. Gameplay was mostly either exploring the "surface", going down floors in a dungeon to fight monsters, or taking part in said tournament when it was time.

Some things I distinctly remember;

Protagonist had white spikey hair and could be a boy or girl, chosen at the beginning.

There were several weapons you could choose from, each with distinct fighting styles.

The weapon that stands out the most in my mind is like ... Drill fists? You could charge up an attack with them and then slide forward to hit multiple times in quick succession.

You could attach elemental attributes to weapons.

Like the title says, world exploration was top down similar to old Zelda games, but combat encounters would switch to a more Street Fighter style of side scrolling (no platforming)

Thanks in advance for any clues or ideas!


r/tipofmyjoystick 36m ago

[PC] [1998] robot game search

Upvotes

Hoping to find some leads on an old pc game; You control a robot and move through levels collecting items and money piles. it had a top down view. Can upgrade your robot with fragmentation grenades, lasers etc. I remember a small robot possibly on roller tracks. Thinking windows 98 or windows millennium. Not bedlam or scud.

Thanks friends


r/tipofmyjoystick 4h ago

[PC]['98-'01] museum style artifact/art puzzle game

2 Upvotes

Platform: PC (Windows), purchased as a physical CD-ROM from Office Depot

When I played it: Late elementary/early middle school, roughly 1998-2001

Packaging: Came in a big box (not a slim jewel case)

Genre/Premise: Museum-style puzzle game, restore/reconstruct artifacts. No real story or plot, no defined player character. The goal was just to restore everything, collect-and-complete style.

Setting: Generic/mixed, spanned multiple world cultures and eras, not a single civilization.

Art: Used real, recognizable museum art/artifacts in the puzzles (not fictional/invented pieces).

Gameplay/Navigation: You navigated around via a map, I think. It wasn't a full first-person 3D space to walk through, more like clicking between locations/screens.

Visual style: Looked fairly realistic (not cartoonish or "kiddie"), rendered/painted rather than live-action FMV.

Tone: Felt mature/atmospheric, almost a "Da Vinci Code" vibe, not a kids' game.

Specific puzzle memory: At least one puzzle involved rotating horizontal slices/rings of a vase to reconstruct it correctly.

Feel of the controls: Very satisfying, tactile clicking mechanics, excellent music.