A rundown on the 10 best games for the original PlayStation
Posted by bedroomcoder on Jun 11, 2010 17:10 (Jun 11, 2010 17:10)
Top 10 PlayStation games:
10 - Ridge Racer: Possibly the earliest Killer-app for the PS1. Released in 1995, it was one of the first games for the spanking-new generation of consoles that could be classed as ‘arcade perfect.’ Such claims had been made before, but always there had been compromise. It was with such solid support from 3rd party technical wizards such as Namco that the Sony PlayStation quickly went from an obscure by-product of a deal gone wrong between Sony and Nintendo to the market leader. The game played like a petrolhead’s dream – fast cars, blue skies and exciting scenery whipping by. It may have been surpassed by its sequels, but for those who experienced it, none could match the visceral thrill of drifting around corners at warp speed and overtaking all your rivals in one fell swoop.
9 - Quake 2 If you’d ever played Quake, you’d probably have said “Too much brown.” You might also have said “What’s this all about then, eh?” The story in the original Quake was a tacked-on unnecessary distraction from the action. In the sequel, that’s all changed. You are a marine, part of an invasion on an enemy planet, and you need to carry out missions and fulfil orders. The plot is still nonsense – some half-baked mixture of Aliens and HP Lovecraft, but the overarching narrative does help to propel you on against some of the most grotesque and truly diabolical menaces the Strogg have to offer. Add in a more than capable multi-player mode (sadly a rarity on the PS1, which never really saw a true challenger to GoldenEye), and you have an addictive package that can liven up an evening with your mates or scare the pants off you if you’re alone!
8 - Metal Gear Solid Before MGS, stealth wasn’t cool. If you were facing an enemy, you manned the hell up and fought them head on, and you certainly didn’t run away and hide. This game turned all that on its head, with the emphasis being on sneaking around, interspersed with dramatic battles to spice things up. It had a great plot, with many twists and turns. It innovated with the way that you interacted with games, including a clue that was written on the game box, and a psychic character who would mess with your TV. Full of memorable moments, it’s also the last time the series made any real sense, before the plot took a left at Loopy Junction and left most people behind.
7 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night The big daddy. Without this game, the whole MetroidVania series would never have been born. A sprawling epic, with Castlevania gameplay suffused with RPG elements, it tells the story of Alucard, son of Dracula, on his quest to... well, that would spoil things. As deep as a mineshaft, you will be totally immersed in this game. Be warned – it’s not easy, but if you’re at all familiar with the Castlevania series, then you should need no warning.
6 - Wild ARMS A strange one, this. Cruelly overlooked at the time it was released, it’s a strange mixture of Final Fantasy VI’s techno-medieval setting and the Wild West. Playing as a small team of initially disparate characters, you embark on a truly epic quest to save the world from some of the most memorable villains ever seen in an RPG. The story is unusually excellent and easy to follow for a JRPG, and the translation is solid. The only gripe to be had is that it does get quite hard towards the end, but if you persevere you really won’t have another experience like it.
An odd list although I don't doubt they are all good games. I love the PS1 and can't resist giving my own top 10 games here:
1. Bishi Bashi Special 2. Final Fantasy VII 3. Gran Turismo 4. Metal Gear Solid 5. Tekken 3 (NTSC version) 6. Ridge Racer Type 4 7. Tomb Raider 8. Bust-A-Move 2 9. Wip3Out 10. Parappa The Rapper
Interesting choices, & a decent variety of genres in there. I'm a fan of FFVII & VIII and would just about concur with VII as #1 if I could only have 1 of them, just because it was the first FF I tried & couldn't believe how big it was back then.
I'd probably include one of the Tomb Raiders in there somewhere.
We linked up 2 Playstations at the last event I did. Doom and Ridge Racer seemed to be the games of choice for the link up - what other games are good for this?
While I thoroughly enjoyed Final Fantasy 7, Castlevania Symphony of the Night simply took my breath away from a 2D pixelmonkey point of view. But for me a major contender of best PSone game is Klonoa, Door to Phantomile. It's charm and totally heartbreaking ending does it for me every time.
Jun 15, 2010 20:00:31 (
Jun 15, 2010 20:00
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