Topic: What's a good PS1 game I may not have played?

@themcnoisy I don't have my PS1 but I have a PS2 and PS3 for playing the games if I want to. I have a small collection of games but I wouldn't get into buying anymore, I don't mind spending up to a tenner I guess but games like Klanoa (as good as they are) are no way worth £90-£100 to me! Especially when its on the PS store for a few quid.

I really wish they would put more games up though, and allow you to get them on the PS4 store.

Vib Ribbon.

@johncalmc I bought vib ribbon at release. That was a mistake, absolutely hate it. The music CD / level designer didn't work properly at all which was never mentioned in reviews at the time. The button mapping was weird as well from what I can recall.

I think for rhythm action bust a groove was pretty good, but there's no way I'm pulling a mat out.

I have problems with recommending PS1 games because they are so steeped in nostalgia for me at a time when my tastes were at their worse (teenage lad - for example, a lot of time was spent getting Lara Croft to climb things in Tomb Raider 1 and 2). I probably couldn't tell you what is a genuine classic outside of the obvious choices (FInal Fantasy, GTA Metal Gear etc.). Plus, a lot of good games have been remastered and made better, like Resident Evil.
One game I have always wanted to get back to was Destruction Derby 2 but I have no doubt that hasn't aged well...

@themcnoisy I'll leave aside some of the more obviously popular games like FF7. MGS, etc.

Monster Rancher 2 - Find monsters in your CDs and PS1 discs, raise them lovingly on your ranch as you feed them, train them, get in snowball fights with them, deal with their temper tantrums, etc. before subjecting them to brutal 1 v 1 fights against other monsters in official tournaments for money. Probably the most addictive game I've ever played. Raise your monsters, curse them for not minding when you first get them, grow to love them, and curse yourself for your sentimentality when they die of old age one night and you can't help but shed a few tears (or have them die of an injury sustained from a battle and go back to an older save file because you could never deal with that sort of guilt).

Dragon Seeds - Somewhat similar: use an in-game system to create the DNA sequence for a dragon, train it, and then have it fight in arenas for money. This game had something of a rock-paper-scissors element to its battles where you had to guess what moves an opponent will use and react accordingly. The emphasis in this game is almost entirely on that battle system.

Clock Tower - Horrible, but in the best way possible. It's like a super-cheesy horror movie crossed with a point-and-click adventure game.

Spider: The Video Game - You're a scientist who has to implant his consciousness into the body of a tiny robotic spider, and you have to fight for your survival. Great action game.

Silent Hill - One of the best horror games ever made.

Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu - Awesome monster-collecting JRPG with characters designed by Studio Ghibli.

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete - Two legendary remastered Sega CD JRPGs. You ought to play both in order, as there are connections between them. Lunar 2 is, overall, one of my all-time favorite JRPGs, but the original is also fantastic. If I ever had to show someone why I love the JRPG genre, I'd have them play these. Full of wonderful music, loveable characters, fun dungeon-crawling, and utterly unashamed dialogue about the "power of friendship."

@Ralizah
Monster Rancher 2 - sounds like vib ribbon on steds Lol. Interesting premise so will look it up.

Jade Cocoon was great. But I didn't like the movement like micro machines on the mega drive. Left / right turns slowly and forward moves in the direction you face. Like resident evil but even more annoying! Good game though and quick to get through over a couple of days.

Spider the video game.
No idea what this is - on my list!

Silent hill - great series, I've played SH 1+2.

@themcnoisy There were four Monster Rancher games across PS1 and PS2. The PS2 ones are obviously more polished, but I felt like they had too much dialogue and didn't care for a lot of the game design changes. As for Monster Rancher 1, it was a bit too basic for me after experiencing the sequel. MR2 struck the perfect balance, IMO.

The only real drawback to the game is that it can't read the majority of modern discs. If I could have one wish of mine granted this gen, it would be to get a MR5 on PS4 that read data from blu-rays, DVDs, and CD-Roms

RE: Jade Cocoon, I've played so much classic RE that tank controls don't really bother me. It's actually my preferred method of play REmake, since the game was designed around that control scheme.

Overboard was a good competitive couch co-op game if anyone played that. I've still got the original but there was a demo floating round back in the day too.

@Ralizah Yeah I've no problem with tank controls still, feel right at home. The new controls for REmake were frankly a pain in comparison.

@Ralizah Oh and Lunar Silver Star Story haha. I remember playing that trying to convince myself I was having the same level of fun I'd had with FF7.

"In your dreams, magical thoughts, all things are real..unless you dream their nottt"

So..painful :')

@kyleforrester87 The music and story in Lunar are both wonderful, partly because they are so cheesy and heartfelt. They speak to an age when stories in video games could be old-fashioned and largely innocent without irony (although Working Designs' localization was certainly wry and full of innuendo and wit), which is something I very rarely see outside of Nintendo games these days (although what I've seen of Stardew Valley comes close... really need to play that!)

Did you ever get to the boat song? Probably my favorite part of the game. I was really taken by surprise when this cutscene triggered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uPobOuLAMs

And yeah, REmake was designed around the need for tank controls, so implementing an alternative control scheme breaks the game, unfortunately. At least tank controls can be re-enabled in REmake HD. I can understand why later games ditched the control scheme, though: it's a bit of a relic at this point, even if it's a relic I appreciate.

@Ralizah Haha yes, I very much got to that part.

"Now all I neeeeeed - desperatelyyy - is my starrr toooo commeee"

I do agree, I can see what it's going for, and honestly I don't hate it for that..and I could still make my way through it.. but eeeehhh it still makes me cringe up haha.

I'd have to go for Suikoden

Lunar Silver Star Story, which originally released on the ill-fated SEGA Saturn. That game is pretty awesome, albeit a very grindy JRPG.

Edit: Do you live in NA? Perhaps we could make a trade after I beat the game as it'd probably be WAY too expensive for you otherwise.

@Reanfan7 I belive @themcnoisy lives in the UK.

@Tasuki Too bad, thanks for the quick response though!

@Reanfan7 strangely now we are talking the saturn and stuff, I've always wanted to play more shining force, I played shining force 2 to death, as I had a mega drive and that was really the only good jrpg on the system. (sorry phantasy star). I had the 32x but missed out on the mega CD and saturn. Then jumped back in with the dreamcast. Long story short. What other shining force games can I get and are any on a Sony platform, and if not what are they on?

I would pay £100 for shining force 3/4 or 5

Thanks for the trade offer pal appreciated, but I'm pretty flush right now so don't mind paying for games.

@Tasuki correct, I do live in the UK. Not too far from Liverpool.

@themcnoisy Haha I was the opposite I had a Genesis and Sega CD but skipped 32X. After being a consumer burnt by Sega's actions with the CD and 32X I skipped the Saturn (that and I went with the N64 at the time as I was still a Nintendo fan and went with PS over the Saturn as my other system. As a result I didn't have enough money or time to dedicate to 3 consoles and games!!). I wanted a DC but opted for a PS2 instead and by the time I had enough for a DC the darn things were discontinued.

Parappa the Rapper (also on PS4)
Suikoden (short but great RPG, the sequel is longer)
Vandal Hearts (short but great SRPG)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (there's a distinct Konami flavor on this list)
Klonoa (great, fun 2.5D platformer)

It's too bad xseed re-translated the songs in Silver Star Harmony on the PSP and ruined them (they're more accurate, but less heartfelt and natural-sounding as a result of a translation that's too intent on being literal). Then again, Silver Star Harmony is pretty thoroughly mediocre in the first place: adds scenes that are unnecessary at the beginning, streamlines the dungeons to the point where very few of them take more than a few minutes to complete, changed the lovely art-style... bleh.

More PS1 games to consider:

• Klonoa: Door to Phantomile
• Syphon Filter
• Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
• Galerians and Dino Crisis (both really decent RE clones: the former is about a psychic kid who can pop peoples' heads/set stuff on fire/etc., the latter is about dinosaurs running amok in a facility)
• Tomba/Tomba 2
• Legend of Legaia
• Breath of Fire III/IV
• Colony Wars

Off the top of my head. The PS1 had so many amazing games.

Vigilante 8 if you like vehicle combat.