Retro - News
January2021
Random The 25-Year-Old PS1 Demo Disc Cheat You Never Knew About
Total WipEout
Picture the scene: it’s January 1996 – an eye-rolling 25-years ago – and you’re gawking at the non-interactive WipEout demo included with the first copy of The Official PlayStation Magazine. The so-called “rolling demo” technically wasn’t playable – but what if we told you there actually was a way to commandeer those...
January2020
Random Royal Mail Celebrates British Video Games with Awesome Retro Stamp Collection
Pixelated postage
If you're a lover of both retro video games and postage stamps, then we have some good news for you. The UK's Royal Mail has just announced a new collection of stamps featuring various titles from the 80s and 90s developed right here in Blighty, and it's honestly pretty cool. This special run of stamps includes games such as...
December2019
News PSone's Iconic Startup Sound Was Designed to Detect if the Console Could Read Your Disc
The more you know
PSone’s iconic startup sound is arguably one of the most recognisable audio sequences in all of games, but did you know it was designed specifically to detect issues with the console’s CD drive? “The function of this sound is to tell the user that the hardware is running like it is supposed to, and that the disc has...
November2019
"It was the dog’s bollocks"
The original 32-bit PlayStation was a game-changer, but Sony's follow up was even more successful, eventually selling over 155 million units worldwide. Powered by "The Emotion Engine" CPU – developed and manufactured by Sony Computer Entertainment and Toshiba – the PS2 is officially the most successful video games...
June2019
Review Crash Team Racing - Naughty Dog Created the Best Kart Racer on PSone
Bandicoot power slide
Start your engines, and fasten your seatbelts for another Naughty Dog creation. In this case it's CTR: Crash Team Racing from 1999, which also happens to be the greatest kart racing game on the PSone. Released in the same year as Speed Freaks, and colourful mascot racers like Bomberman Fantasy Race on PSone, Crash Team Racing...
December2018
Review Ridge Racer Type 4 - The Pinnacle of PSone Ridge Racer Games
I want to be R4-ever young
Push Square has pondered the infancy of 3D console graphics during the 32-bit era, and reflected that the ageing process was not always visually kind, especially to PSone launch games. Some early titles like Jumping Flash! hide their pixelated wrinkles behind bright colours and plain models, while others like Battle Arena...
Guide Where to Buy the PlayStation Classic Mini Console
There's still plenty of them around
Sony announced the PlayStation Classic earlier in the year, a pint-sized PSone console with a bunch of games pre-loaded. The mini machine is available right now, and you can get it from various retailers across the web. But where can you buy the PlayStation Classic? Here's a quick guide on the mini machine and how...
Review Intelligent Qube - The Most PSone Game Ever
Blockstar
You run around on a floating platform in the middle of a void, swallowing cubes into the ground one-by-one as they menacingly roll towards you. Every time you survive one wave, a disembodied, booming voice shouts “PERFECT!” before more cubes are sent your way. The process goes on for what seems like forever until the cubes eventually...
Review Rayman - An 'Armless PSone Platforming Treat
Ray-manifestation of UbiArt
Even twenty years ago, any love felt towards PSone Rayman's luscious art style could quickly turn into hate due to its spikily relentless difficulty barrier, but a cathartic sense of satisfaction could also be found by perseverant gamers who endured to conquer all eighteen of its levels. As a December 1995 EU launch...
Review Battle Arena Toshinden - Significant But Not Special
Not quite a load of old Tosh-inden
"Play History. Make History." The marketing tagline for the 2018 release of the PlayStation Classic highlights an added attribute of the miniature console in the sense that all 20 games included may not actually be classic PSone games, yet even the less worthy inclusions provide gamers with a snapshot of playing...
November2018
Review Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six - Not a PS Classic, But Interesting Nonetheless
Back to basics
Believe it or not, but there was a time when the Tom Clancy game franchise that haemorrhaged titles in the 2000s was actually less popular than the legendary novelist himself. Even by the late 90s, only a handful of games based on his books had come out – most of them Hunt for the Red October submarine sims. That all changed in...
Review Resident Evil: Director's Cut - Iconic Survival Horror
Jill sandwich, please, petrified with mixed herbs
Spencer Mansion, set deep in Raccoon Forest, looming loftily in the Arklay Mountains, is the true star of Resident Evil. The colossal and creepy house setting of the game was inherited from Capcom's 1989 Famicom title Sweet Home, but it was Resident Evil on PSone that popularised the survival horror...
Review Metal Gear Solid - An All-Time Classic
Liquid gold
You’ve just infiltrated a highly secure enemy base using only your cunning and the scant equipment that you happened to find on your way. After rendezvousing with your hostage, you’re showered with a stirring speech on the importance of global nuclear disarmament, as well as the horrific impact of an increasingly militarised world...
Review Spyro the Dragon - The Classic Collectathon That Put Insomniac on the Map
Don't Gnorc it
While Insomniac Games has become one of PlayStation's most recognised developers, it cut its teeth with the little known PSone first-person shooter Disruptor, which launched in 1996. It was a DOOM clone among many others that populated the gaming landscape at the time, but there were aspects to it that made it stand out among the...
Review Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee - Dark, Bizarre, and Packed with Personality
Slimy, yet satisfying
True to its name, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee is one of the oddest games ever created, with a unique look and feel, bizarre visuals, and an enjoyably dark wit. Now known as the first of a franchise, the original classic wowed players back in 1997 with impressive graphics and full voice acting. This was a game that reminded...
Review Jumping Flash! - Unique 90s Platforming from a First-Person Perspective
Buy it, don't Robbit
The 16-bit console wars were merciless. During the early concept stage of the PlayStation console, Sony took part in an ill-fated collaboration with Nintendo to create a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES. In September 1995, Jumping Flash! was a PSone launch title, and it's the type of game that makes you wonder what would have happened...
September2018
News PlayStation Classic Games Lineup Will Differ Between Japanese and Western Versions
Apart from the five announced
So far, we only know about a quarter of the titles that are set to feature on Sony's PlayStation Classic mini console, but depending on where you buy it, the rest of the lineup could be quite different. The five currently announced will feature on the machine in Japan and the West, but the other titles will vary by...
Guide The Best PSone Games We Want on a PlayStation Classic Mini
The king's classics
Update, 19th September 2018, 8am BST: This article has been republished following Sony's announcement of the PlayStation Classic. There’s no doubting that the PSone is one of the greatest video game consoles of all time. The plethora of brand new IP, quality RPGs, and game-changing releases that landed on Sony’s debut...
July2018
Feature Spider-Man 2 - Does It Still Hold Up Today?
"I lost my balloon!"
Insomniac's imminent superhero blockbuster, Spider-Man, has looked increasingly promising since its announcement all the way back at E3 2016. We've yet to try the game out for ourselves, but based on what...
September2017
I want to be your canary
Republished on Tuesday 19th September 2017: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the game's remastered release on PlayStation 4. The original text follows. As far as Final Fantasy games go, Final Fantasy IX is one of the most cohesive, charming entries in Square Enix's beloved series. It marked the...
October2016
News We Got Up Close and Personal with the Nintendo PlayStation
Alternate universe
On display at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this weekend was a real treasure: the Nintendo PlayStation. The disc-based edition of the Super Nintendo system was produced by Sony in collaboration with the House of Mario, but never saw the light of day after the two Japanese giants had a difference of opinion. A prototype unit did,...
July2016
Video We Unboxed a Brand New PocketStation
Because why not?
With our attempts at creating meaningful YouTube content either drawing indifference or ire, we figured that we'd do something really dumb today – like, unbox a brand new Sony PocketStation dumb. Your humble host snagged this on eBay a few years ago, and it's been sitting in its packet ever since. Why? Because… Well, that...
Feature The Making of Cancelled PS2 Sci-Fi Shooter EXO
The story of Sheffield's most ambitious undertaking
Scheduled 60 years in the future where a ruthless corporation and its cyber terrorists hold a city to ransom, EXO pushed the creativity and technological innovation of a Sheffield company to the limit and promised to be a blockbusting, game-changer for the PlayStation 2. Creative supremo Glyn...
February2016
News Watch Five Seconds of Every PSone Game Released in the US
Are you sitting comfortably?
How's this for a trip down memory lane? To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of PlayStation – a celebration that we must stress seems to be lasting a decade – Game Rave TV has compiled five seconds of footage from every PSone game released at US retail. It's a gigantic hunk of a video weighing in at over two hours, so...
Feature A Brief History of Virtual Reality
Alex Boz tours the '90s VR graveyard
With the Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR well and truly on the way to our living rooms, virtual reality (VR) is the biggest news in gaming right now. But let's rewind the clock some two and a half decades, back when Sony was working on the Nintendo Play Station and the inventor of the Oculus Rift, Palmer Luckey,...
November2015
A pair of 2.5Determined magical hoppers
How could a developer solve a problem like a desire to build a side-scrolling platformer in a 1996 3D graphics obsessed world? The answer was to find a middle ground, which we affectionately refer to as 2.5D today. Published by Crystal Dynamics and created by Toys for Bob in Novato, California close to the...
October2015
GEX-sticulates yelling '90s pop culture quips
A game can be an interesting representation of its generation without being beautiful, timeless, and artistically ageless. Released on the EU's PSone in April 1996, GEX was loud, brash, and in-your-face, but so were films like Point Break and ska-punk bands such as Assorted Jelly Beans during the 1990s...
Review Mickey's Wild Adventure
Traveller's tenaciously timeless theatrical tales
Every gaming generation has a few genre styles that are dominant, and in the early 1990s scrolling shmups, brawlers, and cutesy mascot platformers were the most prevalent titles on a game shop's shelves. Julian 'Jaz' Rignall was prophetic in his editorial for the February 1991 issue five of Mean...
September2015
FEISARis, not Surfaris
Republished on Tuesday, 29th September 2015: We're bringing this review back from the archives to celebrate the PSone's big 20th Anniversary in Europe today. The original text follows. Originally published on Saturday, 12th October 2013: When the magazine reviews of WipEout landed a month after its September 1995 release,...
Feature The Making of the Sony PlayStation
Investigating the birth of a legend
Republished on Tuesday, 29th September 2015: We're bringing this article back from the archives to celebrate the PSone's big 20th Anniversary in Europe today. The original text follows. Originally published on Thursday, 9th August 2012: It's almost impossible to conceive it now but prior to the 32-bit...
April2015
You need more practice
If you were into Mobile Suit Gundam Wing back when it aired in the 1990s, then you may have heard of or even played Gundam: Battle Assault on the PSone. In an attempt to capitalise on the aforementioned anime's popularity, publisher Bandai decided to localise the 2D fighter, which was called Gundam: The Battle Master 2 in its...
December2014
Dan, Dan, you’re decomposing, man
Republished on Thursday, 4th December 2014: We're bringing this review back from the archives to celebrate the PSone's big 20th Anniversary this week. The original text follows. Originally published on Saturday, 19th October 2013: It can be a tough life being a PSone retro game. After all, you were fresh and...
We speak exclusively to the guys that changed the face of racing games
Republished on Thursday, 2th December 2014: We're bringing this article back from the archives to celebrate the PSone's big 20th Anniversary this week. The original feature follows. Originally published on Friday, 14th September 2012: Following the recent closure of Studio...
The pig-eating caveboy gets a second chance
Republished on Wednesday, 3rd December 2014: We're bringing this review back from the archives to celebrate the PSone's big 20th Anniversary this week. The original text follows. Originally published on Monday, 12th November 2012: While many retro enthusiasts will grumble endlessly about how digital...
Marsupial madness
At one time, Crash Bandicoot was the face of the PlayStation brand, but through licensing headaches and the creation of other characters, the spunky star hasn’t quite gone on to fill the role of Nintendo’s Mario or Microsoft’s Master Chief. However, the hero’s titular game remains a signature PlayStation classic that served...
Reflections in your rear-view mirror
Before Driver rolled onto the PSone in 1999, developer Reflections Interactive had already delivered two enjoyable driving experiences, in the form of the Destruction Derby games on Sony’s first console. With a physics engine that delivered a fun drive, and destructible vehicles that had debris flying off their...
Feature The Third Place - A Brief History of PlayStation Hardware Marketing
Live in your world, play in ours
Republished on Tuesday, 2nd December 2014: We're bringing this article back from the archives to celebrate the PSone's big 20th Anniversary this week. The original feature follows. Originally published on Saturday, 26th October 2013: With the PlayStation 4 now mere weeks away from release, Sony is starting to oil...
July2014
Feature What the Heck Is a PocketStation?
Lifting the lid on Japan's best PlayStation accessory
Back in the mists of time, when Tamagotchi was still a thing and we were all wondering if SEGA’s Dreamcast was really going to turn things around for the ailing hardware company, Sony took the Sonic the Hedgehog maker's new Visual Memory Unit concept – a portable memory card with a built-in...
February2014
Feature Mad About Madden - Then and Now
It's (still) good
With the United States bracing itself for its annual football frenzy in the form of the elaborately named Super Bowl XLVIII this weekend, we’re avoiding predictable prophecies regarding likely victors, and instead looking a little closer to home. While the game of American Football has always remained something of an underground...
January2014
Feature An Ode to the Owl: The Inside Story of Psygnosis
Ex-Psygnosis staffer Richard Browne pays tribute to the legendary UK studio
Back in August 2012, Sony closed the doors of Studio Liverpool. Formerly known as Psygnosis, the studio was arguably most famous for its Wipeout series of futuristic racing titles, but it's easy to forget that it enjoyed a rich and vibrant history long before it was acquired...
Matters of Import Battling with Beautiful PSone Brawler Panzer Bandit
A distinct lack of panzers and bandits
There’s no getting away from it: Panzer Bandit is obviously “inspired” by Treasure’s seminal SEGA Saturn classic Guardian Heroes. Fortunately, there’s far more to Fill-in-Cafe’s beat-‘em-up than merely imitation for imitation’s sake, as what we have here is a stunning game that not only serves...
News Mix Some Fresh Green Herbs, Resident Evil: Outbreak Is Back Online
Back from the dead
If you’ve ever bleached your hair blond to mimic the looks of antagonist Albert Wesker, then you’re probably aware of Resident Evil: Outbreak. Released over ten years ago, the PlayStation 2 survival horror employed the console’s network adaptor to create the first online experience in the series’ storied history...
Matters of Import Cute Witches Blow Things Up in Cotton 100%
May contain less cotton than advertised
Märchen Adventure Cotton 100%, to give it its full and unwieldy title, first allowed us to summon magical death on baseball bat toting snowmen and boggle eyed trees back in 1994 on the Super Famicon, before finding itself ported to the PlayStation almost a decade later under the budget ‘SuperLite 1500’...
December2013
Killer Carrots and Crazy Cats
Back in the nineties, the eventually unreleased Amiga version of Putty Squad was praised by the press for its varied level shapes, consistent game logic, and “masterful” animation. Jump forward 15 years, and we no longer get excited by shapes (unless they’re naughty shapes and you’re a member of Reddit), or game...
October2013
News Want to Play PSone Games on PS4? Sorry, You're Gonna Need Your Old Consoles
Starting over
If our very own Jamie O’Neill’s recent roster of retro reviews have got you frothing at the mouth over some old-school gaming, then you’re going to want to keep your classic consoles hooked up. Revealed as part of yesterday’s colossal PlayStation Blog post, Sony has stated that the PlayStation 4 will not be backward compatible...
Events Replaying PSone at Play Expo 2013
Always time for a go-a on Klonoa
Forget the smoke, smog, and stench, the most challenging aspect for an eighties or nineties arcade to recapture is the wonderful way each coin-op would bustle together to create an electric attack on your senses. The noise, the flashing lights from each blinking screen, and the buzzing of gamers towards video game...
News PlayStation, This Is Very Much Your Life
For the players since 1995
If last week’s ‘Perfect Day’ commercial didn’t get you suitably hyped for the release of the PlayStation 4 next month, then this PlayStation Access video should do the trick. Dubbed ‘For the Players’, the poignant clip depicts almost two decades’ worth of PlayStation gaming from the perspective of a London...
September2013
Feature Celebrating the 18th Anniversary of the PSone
Happy Birthday, PAL
Hip-hip-hooray, because today is the 18th anniversary of the original PlayStation console, as it was released on the 29th September 1995 in Europe, just twenty days after it was made available in North America. Therefore in the UK, at the age of eighteen, the PAL PSone can legally participate in a champagne tipple, so we raise...
January2013
Feature Castlevania's Gory PlayStation Bloodline
We take a look back at the Sony history of Konami's famous franchise
Konami’s Castlevania series may have established its reputation on Nintendo consoles, but in recent years it has branched out to find commercial and critical success on other systems, most notably the PlayStation line of consoles. With Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 looming...
September2012
Feature The Making Of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Koji ‘IGA’ Igarashi reveals the history behind the gothic classic
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night marked a major turning point for the Castlevania series. With the exception of the free-roaming Simon’s Quest on the NES, over a decade’s worth of instalments had displayed an unwavering commitment to the fairly straightforward ‘platform...
March2012
News God of War 'Demake' Now Available
Free for PC
The God of War series is arguably amongst the best-known franchises on PlayStation 3, and one recent release that has grabbed our attention is an 8-bit re-imagining of these titles' universe. It may seem like an unlikely project, but that's exactly what indie developer Holmade Games has produced. The indie developer decided that it...
September2010
News Hey PlayStation, It's Your Birthday! It's Your Birthday! *Does Camp Dance*
The PlayStation turns 15 today in Europe
Happy Birthday to you, Tekken and Point Blank 2, Happy Birthday dear PlayStation, Happy Birthday to you! Brappppppppp! The original grey box launched on September 29th, 1995 in Europe. Ridge Racer was the big title from the launch line-up. The brand later became synonymous with Final Fantasy VII, Wipeout, Metal Gear Solid, Gran Turismo and Tomb Raider..
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