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.
this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2025
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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:
- 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?
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.
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
Anyone ever play a game called Team Buddies?
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.
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.
No one gonna mention ape escape? Tsk tsk.
Essential game if you are playing with an original dual shock for sure
- 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.
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:
- 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.
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!
Lots of great games already listed. Here's the one I would add:
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
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.
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Some more I haven't seen mentioned yet, maybe just outside the top 25:
- Rapid Reload/Gunner's Heaven - Gunstar Heroes-inspired platform shooting chaos
- Jumping Flash! - Low poly early FPS series with a robot bunny that jumps really high
- Bishi Bashi Special - Compete with your friends in WarioWare-like rapid-fire three button minigames
- Vanark - Basically Star Fox 64 for the PS1, but went almost entirely unnoticed
- The Misadventures of Tron Bonne - Mega Man Legends spinoff starring goofy pirates and their adorable robot henchmen
- Tail Concerto and Silent Bomber - CyberConnect2's first two games; both are hidden gems of 3D action
- Gran Turismo 2 Combined Disc - Both discs combined into one oversized disc by Silent, creator of SilentPatch for the Grand Theft Auto games
- Namco Museum (all six volumes) - I wish later Namco compilations had the first-person museum segments from the PS1 games
- Tempest X3 - Back in my day, "Jeff Minter" was a euphemism for mind-altering drugs
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.
I've seen no love for Chrono Cross yet? Shame.
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.
It would be a crime to forget Metal Gear Solid on the list.
Bushido Blade is also fantastic.
Fuckin Parappa the Rapper, baby
I go on with games I didn’t see mentioned:
- Crash Bandicoot 2
- R-Type Delta
- Tekken 3
And a bonus mention:
- Omega Boost. Before Polyphony made Gran Turismo, they made a fun mech shoot em up. Doesn’t deserve to be on any list, but just a fun thing to bring up.
Otherwise, a list is incomplete without:
- Metal Gear Solid
- Gran Turismo
- Final Fantasy VII
- Silent Hill
- Resident Evil
- Tony Hawk Pro Skater
- Wipeout (I prefer 2097)
- Tekken 3
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.
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.
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
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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..
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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.
Silent Hill
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