I started out with Palladium system. It was a bit rough around the edges as a rules system, and still is, but we got the hang of it pretty quick.
The main thing I took away from playing it was it beat D&D hands down once I saw another group of friends play that game. They had THAC0. We had Strike vs Parry/Dodge.
The second big advantage. We had all the genres covered in one rules set. We had anime Mecha Macross, post apocalypse After the Bomb, super heroes Heroes Unlimited, traditional fantasy, kung-fu action Ninjas and Super Spies, and the big one, all of the above mashed together into another super post apocalypse with magic and hi-tech Rifts. You could even do space opera with Rifts Phase World, complete with Uber powerful Cosmo-Knights as stand ins for Jedi. Or zombie apocalypse in Dead Reign. A sort of Terminator vibe with Splicers via biology vs technology. Even the Vietnam War, but using different rules than the other games.
However. I’m older now. I know what I like. I’m not the fanboy I used to be. If somebody wanted to restart a Palladium game group today I’m not sure it would appeal to me. With the OSR and other game companies that put out tons of prducts, many for free, my library of games to choose from is insane. I think I have enough to keep me busy.
Honestly, to get back into Palladium they need a rules lite core book, and each setting could just be an expansion to that. I won’t hold my breath for that.