Lemmy’s essential 25 PS1 games
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!
Soul Reaver, Castlevania: SOTN and Suikoden 2 are my personal faves.
Here's a weird one: Pac-Man World. 3Dish platformer with a lot of neat tricks and surprises. It's not groundbreaking, but it made me genuinely happy when I played it.
Also, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. There's so much stuff to do in this game, and if you do it right the ::: spoiler spoiler castle flips upside down ::: and there's even more stuff to do.
Tetris Plus - Still my favorite version of Tetris. Has some really unique mechanics.
Wild 9 - A 2.5D platformer where you throw enemies into obstacles with an electric glove.
I was gonna say Star Ocean: Second Story, because it's incredible.
But "Second Story R", the recent remake, is incredibly good and clearly made by people who understand and love the original. I'd go so far as to say "objectively superior version."
Even the soundtrack I'd call "enhanced" instead of "changed." I'm continually impressed and loving every minute of it. Especially since I got really stuck on the PS1 version and never beat it.
So here's one I'm not sure I've seen here yet!
Dragon Valor. It was a really neat fantasy beat 'em up by Namco, with some cool ideas and presentation, fun combat, really slick aesthetic, and a Castlevania-esque storyline of playing various characters through a family legacy.
It was really neat. And when I had trouble with a gimmick to beat the final boss, Namco's support email kindly replied to me back in the day with a hint. That was pretty cool. :D
(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:
*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?
I was looking for Frogger! Didn’t know they made a Frogger 2… I’ll have to play it sometime…
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.
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 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.
Some additional deeper cuts:
because an epic JRPG with 86 possible endings
Wait, what?
Most of the best games gave been re-released or remade over the years, but Xenogears stands out as a great RPG that was only re-released once, for the PS3 in 2011. It's totally unavailable (legally) on modern hardware. It does have the very unfortunate flaw of basically becoming a visual novel once you hit the second disc due to them running out of time and money, but the game is still great as long as you know what you're in for. The best way to play it, as usual, is via an emulator, and you can even play it in widescreen that way.
Having played through this recently (via PS1 classics on a PS3):
Very important game to the genre. Absolutely fucking miserable to play in places.
Very slow paced, long load times, awful platforming dungeons. But fascinating plot and characters. And then disc 2 happens and it's completely batshit but also barely a game. And there's sequences like the prison that just drag on forever. It's worth playing but you're gonna need patience.
The funny thing about it is that despite it being revered as a classic but nearly everyone, it's also unlikely to ever get a remake or remaster because it's blatantly unfinished and Tetsuya Takahashi left the company decades ago to found Monolith Soft and make different Xeno games.
Yeah, you have to be okay with clunky PS1 era RPG controls and pacing. But if you're looking for PS1 games to play in the first place, you probably are.
Anyone ever play a game called Team Buddies?
Crash Trilogy.
Spyro Trilogy.
Tekken (I’d get Tekken 3 if I were you)
Crash Team Racing
FFVII
Tony Hawk Pro Skater (the first one is the only one exclusive to PlayStation 1, THPS 2 and 3 came out on PS2)
Syphon Filter
Metal Gear Solid
Medal of Honor
Driver 2
Gex 2
Tomb Raider
Tony Hawk Pro Skater (the first one is the only one exclusive to PlayStation 1, THPS 2 and 3 came out on PS2)
Hi! I'm an 0Ld Tony Hawk player, so let me break it down. Mouseover the acronyms for full titles if your client supports it.
THPS1 and THPS2 were PS1 first, and then ported to Dreamcast, N64, and PC. THPS2 also got a weird Xbox port with THPS1 levels in it. That's not counting the portable versions and later HD remakes.
THPS3, THPS4, THUG1, THUG2, and THAW were all PS2/Xbox/GameCube first, and eventually PC too. The PS1, N64, and GBA got demakes of some of these games using the THPS2 engine, and they don't feel right. THUG1's PC port was exclusive to Australia and New Zealand 🤨. THUG2 has a PSP port. THUG2 PC mod THUG Pro is where the THPS community lives now. THAW has fantastic ports on DS and 360.
THP8 and THPG were 360/PS3-exclusive, but THP8 was eventually ported to PS2.
THPG and THDJ for DS were actually pretty good. Only the DS versions though.
We don't talk about Robomodo's games.
What a breakdown about Tony Hawk games. Thanks for sharing.
Great list.
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.
Wipeout 2097 - Still one of my favourite racing games of all time and has a banging soundtrack
Gran Turismo 2 - Big enough that it needed 2 discs. A classic in sim racing.
MediEvil - Fun humorous story and great atmosphere.
Spyro - It was on the demo disc.
Final Fantasy 7 & 8 - RPG classics. Nuff said.
And a bonus game that sucked:
Command & Conquer port - Buggy, lots of lag and terrible controls
The Spyro trilogy is a masterpiece! It was one of the first games to use shifting levels of detail for objects in the distance, so you could see farther away.
You could link two playstations and play c&c in lan, waisted so many days on that.
Fuck yeh. We used to do that but one person had to play under a duvet because both of the TVs faced in the same direction.
No one gonna mention ape escape? Tsk tsk.
Essential game if you are playing with an original dual shock for sure
Lots of great games already listed. Here's the one I would add:
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
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.
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.
Never expected to see Azure Dreams mentioned anywhere. I loved that game.
Some more I haven't seen mentioned yet, maybe just outside the top 25:
It would be a crime to forget Metal Gear Solid on the list.
Bushido Blade is also fantastic.
I've seen no love for Chrono Cross yet? Shame.
I go on with games I didn’t see mentioned:
And a bonus mention:
Otherwise, a list is incomplete without:
These games are too culturally significant to be left out.
Every time i see Omega Boost I think of Eifel 65’s song ‘My Consolle’
And from omega boost to resident evil Just play for the fun cause we've got it going on
Tekken three, metal gear solid Resident evil, grand turismo Omega boost, bloody roar X-files, all over the world Come on, Ridge Racer, Odd World Winning Eleven that came on our playstation
P--L--A--Y S-T A T-I-O-N! (Like 50x)
Still a banger. I always had trouble understanding a lot of the lyrics. When I was a kid I could'a swore it said something like "We get to Heaven, to game on the play station" LMAO.
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.
I feel like the major one for me (that hasn't been listed) is Ape Escape. Growing up i played the (arguably worse) remaster of it for the PSP. Genuinely interesting to play a platformer so different yet so clearly reactionary to Mario 64. And it's also just interesting how they handle the analog sticks in terms of controls
Like many games of the era the controls are frankly janky, but they are just so much fun
Oddly enough I've never played ape escape but ape quest on the PSP was one of my favorite "forgotten" games. Dunno if you're referring to that one or a different one lol.
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
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..
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.
WipEout XL, Spyro 1-3, Crash 1-3, Monster's Inc Scream Team, Crash Team Racing, Frogger 2, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone, JetMoto, Herc's Adventures, Rugrats Search For Reptar, Parappa The Rapper, Ridge Racer, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, The Tomb Raider games, Twisted Metal, Toy Story Racer. There's a lot more but those are some of my favorites.
Fuckin Parappa the Rapper, baby
Final Fantasy Tactics and Front Mission 3
I want to recommend a game that I know wasn't that great, but is lots of fun: Pitball. It's like alien space basketball with gambling. If you like old school sports games with janky controls, give it a shot.
Grandia.
And Ridge Racer has been mentioned, but I would go with Ridge Racer 4 which is arguably the pinnacle of the series.
Silent Hill
I wasn’t a PlayStation guy. I quit consoles when the Mega Drive went end of life and I didn’t like what Sony or Nintendo were bringing to the party. But I have played some PS1 and there are a few I always like to put into my retro systems.
Symphony of the Night
Tony Hawk 2
Disney’s Hercules
Blood Omen
Hot Pursuit
Wipeout 2097
Not seeing much love for Wipeout 3: Special Edition (it has double the number of tracks as the standard edition)
Siphon Filter
Parappa the Rapper
Gex
But have you considered FFVIII, the best of the PS1 RPGs?
IX over VIII, my brother/sister
I'm currently replaying all of them via emulator the last few weeks, and I have to say I respectfully disagree.
IX's combat system just feels simplified compared to the depth that VIII had.
Could you absolutely cheese the draw system...of course. But if you avoided the temptation, the almost limitless mechanics of stat pairing was fun to play around with when taking on different enemies.
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?
Dance Dance Revolution. It was unique, healthy, a lot of fun, and popularized a new genre: rhythm games.
Not sure if I would recommend the PS1 versions specifically, especially with the cheap foam pads they came with.
The actual konami dance mats are fantastic. Some minor issues if they bunched up in storage but they flatten well. Had bad luck with third party mats, especially the foam filled ones. They should have been amazing but the buttons didn't always work right and the heavier plastic material ripped easier than the soft stuff
Legend of Legia is my goat PS1 game that rarely gets the love it deserves. I loved the combat/combo system that allowed you to use the end part of one art into the beginning of another art was so awesome. The story was great and the characters were wonderful. It was such a fun unique take on jrpgs of the day
I came here to post this. I played the first few hours of it 30x+ because I didn’t have a memory card at the time but made it further each time.
Time for bed = pop the lid on the console so the disc would stop spinning then resume in the morning.
Some pretty good stuff already but no one has mentioned Xenogears.
Definitely one of my essentials. I think the gameplay is bit meh, but it's still the best story in the genre.
Aside from the more well-known greats people have already mentioned, I have to nominate Herc's Adventures and MediEvil 1 and 2.
How we haven't seen a new MediEvil game in the age of souls likes baffles me. Souls combat with Dan's goofy comedy in an open, interconnected Gallowmere? Please take my money.
I also wouldn't mind seeing a new game in that style LucasArts used for Herc, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and Ghoul patrol. But with them under the mouse, it's probably as likely as another Monkey Island.
Couple I haven't seen yet:
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 :)
The only one I have that hasn't been mentioned yet is Suikoden II. Gorgeous sprite art, and it's also just a solid game. Ironically, it's getting a remaster very soon which is sure to clean up its biggest weakness (the English localization), though we don't know how the rest of it will shake out.
I consider the fifth gen to be a lost generation for sprite-based games, this is one of those on the console that make the case for an interesting "what could have been" scenario (Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Valkyrie Profile also being sprite-based standouts).
Gex
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.
There are so many! I haven't seen these mentioned yet.
Future Cop LAPD Jackie Chan Stuntmaster Colin McRae 2.0 Abes Oddysee/Exodus
Hear me out:
Monsters, Inc. Scream Team.
For a PS1 game it was ahead of its time. Fleshed out 3D levels that are actually navigable, decent camera angles, solid platforming + puzzles, and level revisiting that does not feel excessively repetitive. The difficulty is also not a god-awful sudden cliff like some PS1/2 games of the era. It’s one of the few, maybe the only PS1 game I’ve played multiple times through.
As a plus the soundtrack is banger.
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.
Breath of Fire 3
A classical JRPG. I still like it quite a lot.
Final Fantasy IX, one of the last classical FF experiences. Quite hard though.
Final Fantasy Tactics, a very enjoyable strategy game.
Mega Man Legends, this was one of my favorites but the CD was damaged so I couldn't finish the game.
Besides Metal Gear Solid?
Dino Crisis.
Both Brightis and Love & Destroy are good if you can read Japanese.
No one mentioned it yet, so:
Die Hard Trilogy
Toy Story 2
Final Fantasy VII
Kingsley's Adventure
Gran Turismo 2
Jackie Chan Stuntmaster
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone
Rugrats: Search For Reptar
Tomba
Tekken 3
Rayman 2
R4 Ridge Racer
Soul Blade
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
Final Fantasy Tactics
Spyro The Dragon
Digimon World 2003
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Tomb Raider 3
Guardians Crusade
Metal Gear Solid
Crash Team Racing
Spider-Man
Dead Or Alive
Ape Escape
Mega Man Legends
I know you said you didn't want a full list but thought it'd be an interesting exercise for me to do one anyway. If these were the only PS1 games I could play, I'd still be very happy with few that I'd truly miss that's not on here (which would mostly be games from series that I put here, spyro etc.)
Nice to see some love for Tomba. Loved Tomba 2. Just heard it’s getting a remake released this year.
list away! i just didnt want anyone to feel obligated to type it all out! I did get your entries in my count :)
Hugo
Metal Gear Solid
Final Fantasy 7 and 9
Resident Evil series
Dino Crisis
Silent Hill
Ape Escape
Intelligent Qube
Grand Theft Auto 2
Uh... I'm gonna have to dig out my CD book from my closet. I still have all the best (IMO) PS1 games and I can't remember them all off the top of my head. It had hella bangers.