It’s essentially Goldeneye while in cars with a bit of demolition derby thrown in for good measure. But the updated graphics and gameplay in Pro Skater 2 made it my favourite sports game on the console. This entry in our list of the best PS1 games makes Luigi’s Mansion look like a walk in a brightly lit park in comparison! New weapons, moves, and vehicles are available to enhance the gameplay, and you can save your progress pretty much anywhere you like without having to find one of those annoying crystals from the first game. Items and weapons are scattered around each of the battle arenas for players to collect. Sound’s like we’ve got a lot to look forward to! While Sony’s PlayStation Classic console comes preloaded with 20 games, those aren’t the best ones that could’ve appeared on the micro console. It’s one of the most popular vehicular combat titles of all time and resembles a gnarlier version of the Battle Mode in Mario Kart multiplayer. MGS is without a shadow of a doubt the worthy winner of the top spot in our best PS1 games list. One of its main conceits is the ability to swap between the physical and spectral realm at any time. Released in 1995, one year before Super Mario 64, Jumping Flash! Lucas Arts could well have made a simple Star Wars title, though they went to great efforts to add engaging NPC dialogue into the game and areas for players to explore. Downloadable. You can pick up and throw enemies as weapons or turn them into springboards to reach new areas. In retrospect, its infusion of RPG progression systems into a survival horror framework can be seen reflected in more modern games such as The Evil Within, though its pausable real-time combat has been less explored subsequently. Long and ambitious, it amazed some and perplexed others with the plot’s complicated political and religious themes, along with a healthy dollop of Jungian psychoanalysis. Also share? For many people, myself included, this was the closest they’d ever get to pulling off a 1080 or cruising down a half pipe. The design elements in Oddworld: Abe’s Odysee are spectacular. R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 is the perfect title for recreating arcade feels in the living room. Players accomplish this quest by literally placing parts of the land — which were previously sealed in artifacts — on the map. That’s not a bad award to have under your belt as a developer, right? In its prime, Gran Turismo 2 was a bestseller among both car fans and regular gamers, establishing Gran Turismo as a key racing franchise that has endured through the present. And we all know that the success of this console has now led to the PS4 and PS5. Mario Kart clones flourished on all consoles in the years following Mario Kart 64’s huge success. No matter your preferred brand of nostalgia, you’ll find a retro genre or series that is perfect for you. Here he is; everyone’s favourite dragon. It’s one of the first games to truly embrace the ninja as a stealthy infiltrator. PlayStation $77.38 $ 77. Check out how good the graphics look too. As a marvel nerd anyway, anything with Spider-Man is usually on my radar. It’s PlayStation platforming at it’s finest and is usually twinned well with…. Imagine Mortal Kombat with Ninja Swords. The Oddworld games are a prime example. Even though the Raptors are the smartest predators and highest risk, there are plenty of species to fight. Despite being another stealth game that I was initially terrible at, I knew that this game was worth persevering with. Like many of the following third-person PS1 games in this list, stealth is the key to both winning and surviving. Ranging from novel-length, narrative-driven RPGs to fast and furious races to mind-bending puzzles, games for the original PlayStation offered a wildly diverse lineup over its 11-year production run. Gameplay is standard for the genre, with enemies, puzzles, and bosses spread out across themed levels. The smooth forms and inorganic materials of cars have always been an excellent test case for the cutting edge of realistic graphics, and as such Gran Turismo 2 was one of the first racing games where you might glance at the screen and think you’re watching live television. The fictional kingdom of Valendia was and still is one of the greatest places in gaming history. 1 on itch.io, the indie game hosting marketplace. I love a good hidden Easter egg! Narration from the one and only Stan Lee, the opportunity to unlock comic book covers, swinging through cities; the Spider-Man video game has it all. Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles is up next, a simplified version of Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace that gives players the opporunity to control other Jedis. It’s the well thought out tracks, the large array of cars, and addictive gameplay that separate it from other titles in the genre. It was never hard to find a favourite with all of those vehicles to choose from, and it made replaying all of the courses with the different cars super fun too. Sound like something you’d be into? Critics and fans also praised its gameplay as one of the most generally refined shooters released to date. The gameplay is standard for the genre — patrolling enemies, jumping challenges, power-ups, and collectibles, though levels are generally linear: It’s more Mario than Banjo-Kazooie. Final Fantasy Tactics, however, opened up into a much richer, isometric, grid-based encounter reminiscent of X-COM, with an elaborate job system allowing for deep, strategic party customization. It’s an odd system that wasn’t used in subsequent entries, but demonstrated the franchise’s ongoing willingness to reinvent itself in core ways. You can even unlock the city of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, with a cheat code. Indie developer Puppet Combo has the market cornered when it comes to vintage-esque, horror movie-inspired games, with titles like Babysitter Bloodbath offering PS 1-style graphics with storylines that feel like something straight out of an ‘80s slasher flick. The players are all racing against the tyrannical Nitrous Oxide in a bid to save their planet from being blown to smithereens. Robbit’s ability to triple-jump mid-air is the game’s mechanical focus, supplemented by various power-ups with classic effects like temporary invincibility, extending the level time limit, or increasing Robbit’s health. However, it’s far and away the most beloved and influential tactical RPG of that era.. But Spyro didn’t just capture the hearts and minds of children. They’re on a mission to stop a German terrorist from wreaking havoc in America (sounds a little like another franchise loved by ‘die-hard’ action fans). Racing games. Although released in the West, it was most successful in its native Japanese market, garnering several sequels. bjorntuga. score: 16 of 200 (8%) required scores: 1, 2, 3, 12, 33 list stats leaders vote Vote print comments. 306,140 views made by Rune Årstein. Gameplay follows a similar pattern to Pokemon, albeit without the fluffy monsters and a load of burning bodies instead. Rayman doesn’t rock any boats in terms of gameplay, but it’s still beloved as one of its generation’s most solid iterations on the platforming genre, which is still alive and well today. It’s perfect for those players that love to explore every nook and cranny. Its one of the best PS1 games for blowing off steam! The game mechanics are similar to every fighting game of the genre. That and the mega bosses you had to face up against too. One took me absolutely ages to find pictures and links for, so the least you can do is stick around to learn a little more about it. Unlike Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter, there is no time limit or health bar. Released early in the PlayStation’s life cycle, Rayman is a stunningly colorful and charming 2D platformer, using the console’s 32-bit processor to present one of the most vibrant and detailed games to date. Symphony of the Night is part action-adventure platform game/part RPG. The characters and the attention to detail on the levels are what makes the Tekken series the best in the business if you ask me. FF IX has a new item reveal system, a little like the noise that appears in Links Awakening to tell you that there are hidden secrets nearby. Looks like we’re kicking off our best PS1 games with a winner! You play as Klonoa, an anthropomorphic resident of Phantomile with a power-granting wind spirit that inhabits a ring. Haunted PS1 Madvent Calendar 2020. Before Harmonix made the genre explode with Guitar Hero on the PlayStation 2, PaRappa the Rapper was the name in rhythm games. Original Sony Playstation Games on Sale. Many of these beloved series began on the original PlayStation and still feature new entries to this day. FF9 follows the rogueish Zidane, the rebellious princess Garnett, and their assembled friends taking on the sinister Queen Brahne and her world domination plans. The series has since spawned four more critically-acclaimed main entries and various spinoffs, radically expanding upon both its deep gameplay and Kojima’s baroque, nuclear mythology. Selling close to 10-million copies worldwide, Gran Turismo 2 is one of the most successful games on the PS1 and considered by many to be the daddy of all racing games. The look was magnificently refined by the time Darkstalkers 3 arrived, with detailed and fluidly animated sprites that are among the best of the decade. Expect reincarnation, magic, upgradable skills, and every other desirable trait one might find in a Square game. Squaresoft have made some of my favourite ever titles for the PS1. Except Goeman wasn’t an anthropomorphic animal in a dream world. Dino Crisis boasts commendable, real-time 3D backgrounds, in contrast to the pre-rendered gamescapes of its ancestors. Don’t get me wrong, the first Tony Hawks game was still amazing. Like Guitar Hero, you have to press different symbols to make PaRappa Rap in time with the teacher. Pilot all kinds of crafts from the Star Wars franchise including X-Wings as you take down Tie Interceptors in the heart of space. Check out our 40 best PS1 games below. This game looks well ahead of its time and plays like a PS2 title. Wipeout 2097 has some incredible Star Wars inspired futuristic vehicles and is the second instalment of the series. I couldn’t get enough of this game when it first came out. CoolROM.com's PSX ROMs section. We’re talking biological outbreaks, terrorist attacks, and saving the United States. stashed by a maniacal science boffin. Players remember this Resident Evil game most fondly for the creepy atmosphere and unsettling presentation. Though the series continued for decades — we’re up to Resident Evil 7 as of 2017 — many still consider the second as the high watermark. Yasumi Matsuno’s action RPG stood out from its peers at Square because of its razor focus. Before leading the team behind God of War, designer David Jaffe rose to prominence for his work on the PS1 vehicular combat series, Twisted Metal. It’s an action-adventure RPG, but there isn’t any trading of armour or speaking with every character to find a specific clue. It’s a perfect 2D platforming experience that simply works, and the detail in the background is just as impressive as what you see in the foreground too. While classed as 2.5D with occasional 3D viewpoints, the game mostly follows a side-scrolling format. The game mechanics are very similar to Mario Kart, with weapons to stop other opponents appearing in crates and apples to collect instead of coins. The duck and reload element of Time Crisis is what made the Arcade game so exciting. Between Thief: The Dark Project on PC and Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation, 1998 was the year that modern stealth video games were born. Relatively standard (but solid) mechanically, the series is mostly recognized for its anime-meets-gothic-horror aesthetic, with characters like vampires, mummies, demons, and a yeti. Then keep reading! Tomb Raider II was a huge success. It used asynchronous loading to keep gameplay flowing, leaving players to pump enemies full of lead and figure out clever ways of staying alive. This story encompasses governments, multinational pharmaceutical companies, and conspiracies that extend to the top. Syphon Filter is secret-agent spy action at its finest. Try your hand at Julia Chang or Brian Fury instead. 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