Someone posted a bit ago about the super station one fpga system and i decided to preorder one. Now I’m curious, what would all of your essentials be for the playstation system?
No need to give me a whole list, but if you can share me some of your standouts and why, id appreciate it.
i’ve played very little of ps1 and didn’t even realize it was a system until the ps2 came out!
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Original Spyro trilogy (Gateway to Glimmer first, Year of the Dragon second, Spyro the Dragon third. Although they are all so good it’s hard to choose an order.) The first two games were a part of my childhood, I think they both came with the console when my sister and I bought it. £20 second hand from Game with three games I think, we each saved up to pay half. Very cool worlds to run around and explore, especially Treetop Village I think it’s called (the supercharge level from Spyro the Dragon). I love these collect-them-all games where you know where everything is - it’s very comforting to me. And skateboarding and playing as Sparx in Year of the Dragon still feels special, because it’s the one game I didn’t own as a kid.
Crash Team Racing is the ultimate carting game IMO. “Start your engines for a Sony Computer Entertainment Europe production! Fasten your seatbelts for another Naughty Dog creation! Bwam bah bah bamp, bah da dam da da da dum”. Absolutely iconic loading screens and music. I don’t think I’ve ever beat the campaign mode completely, but it’s a lot of fun. Several years since I’ve played now, which is a bit of a shame. My PlayStation needs to be repaired but no-one near me has the expertise and I didn’t want to go inside and make things worse…
Hogs of War was on a demo disc I had and it seemed quite fun, but I never got to experience the full version.
I seem to remember Driver 2 being challenging but cool, but not much else other than those two emotions.
Final shout-out to Worms Armageddon.
Edit: actually, final final shout-out to that boat racing game. Hydro Thunder maybe? I played it at a friend’s house then spent years searching for it again in a cool games shop that another friend now owns (never would have guessed that when I was a kid!). I don’t think I ever found it though…
I’m curious, why that specific order for Spyro? I’d personally just go in release order, same with the Crash games.
I was ordering based on my favourite, rather than what order to play them. I phrased it ambiguously.
But why that order? Gateway to Glimmer is my favourite because the world feels so much more open with being able to swim, and then (spoilers) especially when you can swim underwater.
I’m actually going to change my ranking and put Spyro to Dragon as second best, because it has some really cool level designs like Treetop Village and the Magic Crafter’s homeworld. Also the neh-neh-neh-neh-nehs (blue thieves).
Spyro 3 is also very good too
Ah - in that case, I’m going YoTD, Spyro the Dragon, Ripto’s Rage! (I do like 2 a lot, but it’s always felt weirdly disjointed to me. Ripto is a very good villain though.)
Such a shame that the crash team racing remaster suffered such brutal load times and had such poor networking online play. They put so much time and effort to keep it faithful to the original, but minute long load screens so frequently really sapped the fun.
I’ve got Hydro Thunder still. I literally played it like a couple weeks ago. When I was a kid I would use the GameShark to unlock all of the boats and tracks.
I don’t know that I ever made it past the first mission of the second city in Driver 2. I remember getting into that baseball field in free-roam though. Cops and Robbers was a hell of a multiplayer game too.
Worms Armageddon was way more difficult than it had any right being. I remember their challenges being nearly impossible. Like shoot a rocket through a pinhole using the wind.
I’m slightly ashamed to admit that I went back to Worms Armageddon as an adult and found it too difficult to be enjoyable. I know I’m out of practice now but I have to assume I just didn’t mind constantly losing to the AI when I was younger…
(Firstly, Apologize for formatting of this post)
(As of 2/26 2:00pm ish Pacific) Thanks for all the suggestions! It is clear that this is a library of games I certainly slept on. I’m looking forward to finding them to play!
I went through the comments and tried to tally up what people suggested and here was the list of games in no particular order, just based on the most tallies. I also combined series entires, for example Tony Hawk’s Pro skater series were all the tallies for the single entry. Here is what I see:
- Metal Gear Solid
- Final Fantasy VII
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (series)
- Final Fantasy IX
- Ape Escape
- Spyro the Dragon (series)
- Crash Bandicoot (series)
- Crash Team Racing
- Silent Hill
- Tekken 3
- Wipeout 2097/XL
- Xenogears
- Final Fantasy Tactics
- Syphon Filter
- Parappa the Rapper
- Gex (series)
- Gran Turismo 2
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- Ridge Racer / R4
- Tomb Raider (series)
- Resident Evil (series)
- Medal of Honor
- Dino Crisis
- Mega Man Legends
- Die Hard Trilogy
*Here were a list of games that were mentioned a few times, but didn’t reach the list: *
MediEvil (1 & 2)
Herc’s Adventures
Monsters, Inc. Scream Team
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone
Future Cop LAPD
*Here were games mentioned once: *
Driver 2
King’s Field (1 & 2)
Rapid Reload (a.k.a. Gunner’s Heaven)
Jumping Flash!
Bishi Bashi Special
Vanark
The Misadventures of Tron Bonne
Tail Concerto
Silent Bomber
Namco Museum (Volumes 1–6)
Tempest X3
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Chrono Cross
Pitball
Valkyrie Profile
Fear Effect
Vigilante 8
G-Darius
Incredible Crisis
Tenchu
Rakugaki Showtime
Trap Gunner
The Unholy War
Ghost in the Shell
Return Fire
Star Ocean: The Second Story
Blast Chamber
N2O: Nitrous Oxide
Threads of Fate
Disney’s Hercules
Blood Omen (Legacy of Kain)
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
R-Type Delta
Omega Boost
Wipeout 3: Special Edition
Bushido Blade
Arc the Lad III
Parasite Eve
Jade Cocoon
Azure Dreams
Legend of Dragoon
Tomba (a.k.a. Tombi)
Rayman 2
Soul Blade
Spider-Man (Neversoft)
Dead or Alive
Frogger 2
Jet Moto
Rugrats: Search for Reptar
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
Toy Story Racer
Hogs of War
Worms Armageddon
Hydro Thunder
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee/Exodus
Jackie Chan Stuntmaster
Colin McRae Rally 2.0
Front Mission 3
Grandia
Grand Theft Auto 2
DDR / DDR Konamix
Vib-Ribbon
Team Buddies
Tales of Phantasia
Suikoden II
Hugo
Legend of Legaia
Breath of Fire III
Guardians Crusade
Brightis
Love & Destroy
Intelligent Qube (a.k.a. Kurushi)
Scrabble
Devil Dice (a.k.a. XI)
I have certainly played a few from the top 25, and interestingly for what little of PS1 I played, I played a fair bit of ones only mentioned once or twice. I recall playing a demo for Meidevil and having a blast, same with Tenchu, Valkyrie Profile, Blood Omen, and Harry Potter.
What do you think?
Very curious to me that FF9 made the list but not FF8. FF7 is a given, a seminal game. But I was a kid/teenager when both FF8 and FF9 came out and I remember FF8 being more of a hit than 9. I am sure part of it was that 9 came out more on the eol of the PS1 while the 8 was on the prime years. I think I read something about 9 becoming a cult classic over the years but I am not sure. Maybe also with the years 8 didn’t fare as well and maybe the early praise when first launched came in part trailing how well was 7 that everyone wanted for 8 to be good.
Personally I did play a lot of 8 but I think only halfway through instead of completing like I did 7 and when 9 came around I wanted to play but never ended up playing it.
i was expecting to see 7 mentioned but at the time of tallying just 9 was mentioned. though i could have certainly misread or glossed over it. aside from tactics on the gba i haven’t touched the series despite it being popular.
I wanted to love FF9 but even the most basic battles (grinding) take way too long! Enter battle: swirl, loading… camera flies uselessly around the battlefield… sometimes we’re at one minute already and haven’t even started doing damage yet. Not a disc or laser problem because this happens on emulators, too. Solution is to use an emulator with fast-forward.
seems i’ve nothing to add here - kudos
The majority of Square’s games from the era are some of the best they’ve ever put out, like Chrono Cross, Parasite Eve (1 and 2) and Threads of Fate (aka Dewprism), so they’re always good choices.
Mega Man X4 is also one of the best of the X series. X5 is still good, avoid X6, it’s very clear how rushed the game is once you start playing.
I’d put Jackie Chan Stuntmaster in place 25 of Die Hard Trilogy and Soul Reaver on 16 in place of Gex, though every in game cutscene of Soul Reaver is unskippable, but the voice acting is pretty much the very best of the console and holds up well even today.
Silent Bomber decidedly deserves a playthru, as does C12 Final Resistance
PS: really hard to read the “mentioned once” list, it’s all a single line without commas or anything
I was looking for Frogger! Didn’t know they made a Frogger 2… I’ll have to play it sometime…
Klonoa: Door to Phantomile is a fantastic 2.5D platformer with a great story.
An important thing to know beforehand is that there is a limited number of lives in the game and no way to replay levels until completing the game. This can be a big deal because you may find yourself unable to complete later levels on only a single life. This isn’t an issue with the later Wii (not recommended) and Phantasy Reverie (recommended) versions since they allow replaying levels.
Gex
Hugo
Nobody said GTA 2 yet. Lost so many hours to that one. The last top down GTA I think.
Also of course MGS, FFVII, FF Tactics, FFIX, THPS2. DDR konamix was decent. Oh and tekken. I had tekken 2 but I think 3 might’ve been on PS1 as well. Yoshimitsu was always my favorite and I was stoked when he was put into soul calibur with his moveset intact.
Not quite the last - we also had Chinatown Wars for DS, in I think 2008?
King’s Field 1 and 2.
No King’s Field, no Demon Souls and basically every other game that has made From a household name.
It would be a crime to forget Metal Gear Solid on the list.
Bushido Blade is also fantastic.
Threadz of Fate. There’s something so charming and comfy about this game with the intertwined dual storyline, the fun combat system, and the great music.
Not seeing much love for Wipeout 3: Special Edition (it has double the number of tracks as the standard edition)
My personal top pick (due to lack of playing psx in a long time) is Devil Dice (also known as XI in Japan if I remember correctly). I personally just play the arcade mode, though, since the other modes aren’t as fun in my opinion.
It’s nice to see some recognition for Devil Dice :)
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - because it’s literally one of the best games ever made. So good that when it borrowed the Metroid formula pretty much wholesale, they renamed the formula Metroidvania.
- Metal Gear Solid - because it sits in the Goldilocks zone of Kojima-ness. Nutty but not impenetrable.
- Silent Hill - because everyone should know what it’s like for seventeen pixels to make them shit themselves in fear.
- Metal of Honor - because Call of Duty used to be the whippersnapper upstart. Know your roots, son.
- Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 - because there were THPS games with more, but there were never THPS games that were definitively better.
- Resident Evil 2 - because hitting your stride while defining a genre is a beautiful thing.
- Valkyrie Profile - because the world is ending but I really want this mermaid to be happy…
- Fear Effect - because it’s a seven hour game across four CDs but my best friend and I couldn’t put it down until we finished it on day one.
- Vigilante 8 - because they out-Twisted-Metaled Twisted Metal.
- G-Darius - because sometimes you just gotta blast a giant robot fish in the face with a screen-filling laser beam.
- Incredible Crisis - because we all have bad days.
- Tenchu - because Solid Snake shouldn’t be the only one who gets to have fun sneaking around and killing people.
- Rakugaki Showtime - because before there was Smash Bros, there was bashing the Smiley Ball for super moves and launching ICBMs against your foes.
Some additional deeper cuts:
- Trap Gunner - because sending your friend on a trip around the entire level into a nest of bombs and mines never gets old.
- Syphon Filter - because, how about… the taser? (The commercial is for 2, but the first one has a better taser… trust me.)
- The Unholy War - because it‘s basically chess but with flying bladebots and chompy little toothbastards.
- Die Hard Trilogy - because it’s 3 games and one of them is inexplicably one of the better light gun games ever made.
- Ghost in the Shell - because find me another game where you drive a tank that climbs walls.
- Return Fire - because if playing Capture the Flag with military vehicles while listening to classical music isn’t a good time, I don’t know what is.
- Star Ocean: The Second Story - because an epic JRPG with 86 possible endings and dozens of different skills like Musicianship, Blacksmithing, Cooking, and Publishing most certainly is not overkill.
- Blast Chamber - because all sports would be better if they were played in a room where you can rotate gravity.
- Future Cop LAPD - because sometimes I’m just tired of conserving my ammo.
- N2O: Nitrous Oxide - because 90’s techno and lasers.
because an epic JRPG with 86 possible endings
Wait, what?
A lot of it is that depending on who your party ends up being, it stitches together each one’s ending, so beating the game may let you watch several of said endings. You don’t have to beat it 86 times.
That said, it’s still a crazy game.
You’ve sold me on several of these. “Fear Effect” looks wild.
It’s one of the best, most coherent video game stories I’ve ever experienced. Super fun, utterly engrossing. The unfortunate part is the tank controls, but the story makes it totally worth it.
There is a remaster coming! Hopefully they update the controls.
I know! But it’s been “Coming soon” for ages now. I hope it’s still going to come out and not suck. Fear Effect Sedna was pretty damn weak.
I loved the original! I should load it up on an emulator on my Vita. Ya don’t hear about it very often!
Glad to meet a fellow traveler. It’s a gem. I should play through it again too. I have so many little retro emulator handhelds I’m sure I could get through it on one of them in my spare time.
i love your single sentence pitches. im sold on most of what you suggested.
Thanks! There was a lot of wacky fun in the PlayStation generation.
So many RPGs. A few of my favorites.
Final Fantasy VIII - It may be the best looking game on the PS1, and my personal favorite. Unique leveling.
Arc the Lad III - The whole collection is worth it. But the third game had a streamlined polish that is rarely appreciated over the second game of the series.
Parasite Eve - Unique gameplay and weapon upgrading (GUNS). Very adult oriented.
Jade Cocoon - Monster capturing and MERGING. This creates completely new monsters with new stats and appearances. Infinite possibilities.
Honorable mentions: I played these a bit, but never enough to give a full endorsement. But still they are popular picks.
Azure Dreams - Rogue-Lite grid movement monster capture dungeon exploring.
Legend of Dragoon - Timing emphasized attacks. Bad translations.
Never expected to see Azure Dreams mentioned anywhere. I loved that game.
where does the Alundra games sit for you? i guess maybe their more action/adventure than RPG?
I never got around to playing that one. I’ll have to put it on my list to get around to. But after watching a video, it’s definitely more action than the games I was listing. The PS1 is really an endless supply of quality games. Castlevania Symphony of the Night would another great action RPG which is even more on the action side compared to Alundra.
Not a common suggestion, but the Scrabble PS1 port holds up surprisingly well, all the more so for how few Scrabble video games there are.
I’ve seen no love for Chrono Cross yet? Shame.
