Since the first PlayStation was released 27 years ago, games have advanced significantly. Despite this, it is impossible to ignore the long-lasting influence Sony’s flat, grey box had on the industry and popular culture as a whole.
Crash Team Racing
Although many have vied for the Mario Kart throne, Crash Team Racing may be the kart racer that has come the closest. The original CTR surprised and delighted fans with a mascot racer deserving of excitement alongside Nintendo’s venerable franchise long before its contemporary remake.
Crash Team Racing is still regarded as one of the most cherished entries in the history of kart racing thanks to the addition of a diverse and enjoyable selection of original tracks, zany weapons that cleverly drew from existing Crash lore, and the provision of an innovative and entertaining skill-based drifting/boost system.
Spider-man
The Spider-Man PS1 game, created by Neversoft (the same studio that created the Tony Hawk series), acted as a model for pretty much all subsequent successful superhero games. Many of us first played this Spider-Man game, which effectively captured Spidey’s distinct movement style of swinging between buildings, scaling walls, and acrobatically dispatching enemies.
There were a ton of Marvel cameos in it, such as the Human Torch and Daredevil, as well as unlockable costumes like Spider-Man 2099, the Amazing Bag Man outfit, or even his vintage Captain Universe outfit. Even Stan Lee himself completed all of the character descriptions for the character viewer!
Gran Turismo 2
Gran Turismo 2 was an absolute gorilla of a racing game, so stuffed with content it had to ship on two CDs. Gran Turismo 2 did not take anything away from the original, groundbreaking Gran Turismo, which is the best-selling PlayStation game of all time and the father of all console racing sims.
The scope of GT2 was unprecedented, dwarfing its otherwise excellent 1999 crosstown rival, Need for Speed: High Stakes, with nearly 650 cars from over 30 manufacturers. In the late ’90s, the PS1 was home to a small but cherished collection of serious racing games, including the TOCA and Colin McRae series. However, Gran Turismo 2 was the largest and broadest of the bunch (and the only one that included a scratch ‘n sniff disc).
Castlevania: Symphony Of the Night
Some people found the 1997 PlayStation release of a “ancient-looking” 2D Castlevania odd; even IGN’s initial review stated, “It seems like the same old 2D platform action as before.” While new titles like Tomb Raider were demonstrating what the PS1 could do that earlier consoles could not, other well-known franchises had already made the transition to 3D, but by keeping Symphony of the Night in 2D, Konami was able to perfect Castlevania’s gameplay, and the game’s stunning pixel art has held up much better over time than most of its 3D counterparts.
Final Fantasy VII
JRPGs were (nearly) exclusively popularized by Final Fantasy VII. When it debuted on the original PlayStation in 1997, no one had ever seen anything quite like it. With respect to sales, it trails only Gran Turismo, and for good reason. Sony and Square were unable to foresee how the dark, sci-fi plot and strikingly modern character designs would take a playful fantasy series and introduce it to a global audience. Despite some of its more obvious flaws, it’s a timeless masterpiece that inspired a vast array of spin-offs (and one fantastic remake) and is wholly deserving of acclaim.
Metal Gear Solid
The third game in Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear series cardboard-box-crawled its way onto the PS1, and things were never the same again, long before we had the intricate sandbox of The Phantom Pain, the twisting plots of The Patriots, or the bloated diatribes on the complex political realities of war.
Featuring a wholly bizarre yet utterly endearing cast of characters, Metal Gear Solid offered a singularly unique blend of stealth/action gameplay, pushed the limits of cinematic storytelling in video games at the time, and challenged our perceptions of traditional video game “heroes.” A gaming experience that still ranks among the greatest today was made up of all of these outstanding components as well as some very unforgettable breaks in the fourth wall.
Tomb Rider
The original Tomb Raider is essentially a solitary, eerie journey through a hostile world where real-life animals like wolves and bears coexist with dinosaurs, cats, and… mummies? The original Tomb Raider should be praised for its brilliance, with its intricate level design and suitably awe-inspiring environments, in addition to how it solidified Lara Croft as a video game icon that would last for several more generations. Additionally, a shotgun that you can still feel today.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
One of the highest-rated video games OF ALL TIME is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, which is not only regarded by many as the most significant game in the series and one of the best sports games ever made. THPS2 was a complete cultural haymaker, despite what some desperate ding-dongs trying to review bomb it 18 years too late may believe.
The original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was one of the most influential and iconic games of its era, fusing exquisite arcade extreme sports action with a soundtrack that inspired a million mixtapes. By adding more moves, a straightforward but wildly addictive skate park editor, and a bagful of more scorchingly good songs, this stunning sequel transformed the formula in spectacular ways.
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 2’s strength as one of the best Resident Evil games remains unaffected by its cracker of a remaster in 2018. Resident Evil 2 was set in a bizarre police station, which was an intricate development of the haunted house idea from the previous game. It mixed elaborate, strange puzzles with a variety of monsters, from commonplace zombies to more bizarre ones like a giant moth and sentient, mutant poison ivy.
Tekken 3
The well praised Tekken 3 is still regarded as one of the best fighting games ever created, but it was its remarkable capacity to draw in players who weren’t fighting game enthusiasts that helped make Tekken 3 one of the console’s most recognizable titles. A fundamental change was made to Namco’s classic brawler by introducing a third dimension to the action and allowing players to dodge left and right while circling their foes. The King of Iron Fist tournament is the indisputable champion among PS1 fighting games and will always rank among the top competitors in the industry. It is a concoction of absurd cinematics, eccentric characters, and brutal beatings. Thank you, Eddy Gordo, for at least making a whole generation of gamers aware of what capoeira is.
