I am loading up a flash card with the digital spirits of interactive entertainments made for the Sony Playstation, which I will play through RetroArch and an 8BitDo SN30+ via the easily hacked Playstation Classic on my modern television (don‘t worry I have a shelf full of physical discs and a CRT upstairs, shit’s just too expensive these days).
I have gone over the [SB Recommends](http://wiki.selectbutton.net/sb:recommended:playstation) page (always a treat)... and the archived SB threads... but those are >10 years old at this point and I thought it would be a good question for the new IC to answer.
I've got a bunch of stuff in the folder already, but scrolling a list of titles and looking at YouTube-lists gets old. So you - _you_! - give me your favorite stuff on the PS1. This isn't meant to be an exercise in who can produce the deepest cut, but, the more Insert Credit-y, the better. To me that means one or all of these 3 categories: Japanese, underplayed and mechanically satisfying.
But, if you want to talk about why Resident Evil 2 is good, then go for it! It _is_ good.
I'll start: **_AKUJI THE HEARTLESS_**
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This is a genuinely fun 3D platformer that plays like a _Hellraiser_ movie directed by Crash Bandicoot. Or vice versa. You pick up still-beating hearts to regenerate your health (because Akuji's was ripped out of him). The graphics are your classic low-poly PS1 gorgeousness. At some points it feels like a Mario game - using Pipes to traverse levels, throwing fireballs, etc. - but, again, in Hell. I actually beat this one.
**_T.R.A.G.: TACTICAL RESCUE ASSAULT GROUP - MISSION OF MERCY_**
[upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/U9Qiej5.jpeg]
Or, the infinitely better Japanese title, _HARD EDGE_ is like if Resident Evil took place in FF7's Midgar. Tank controls with jazzy music, while kickboxing mutant zombies. I got to the first boss and gave up because I hate tank controls, but it's got personality and I'm glad I found it at the thrift store for a couple bucks
Fast, stupid, fun, short. Maybe not the origins of the drive around like a jerk and break stuff genre, but the Street Fighter 2 of that idea. The kind of game you couldn't really do until the PS1. Just watching the crummy people sprites scatter as I smash stuff up is a joy.
…God, it just hit me how hard it‘s going to be to name anything people haven’t heard of when the retro scene has been so ludicrously active over the past five years or so. Kowloon's Gate used to be relatively unknown, but now it‘s common knowledge. Galerians and Silent Bomber aren’t even on the table anymore. Anyway, let's see what I can dig up:
- Meremanoid, for the person who wants RPG action that is somehow both flowery and spartan.
- *Yuuyami Doori Tankentai*, for the person who wants a positively chilling critique of post-Bubble Japan. (I feel obligated to mention the *Twilight Syndrome* games here, even if the connection is basically coincidental.)
- *Neues*. Imagine *Wonder Project J* for the *Serial Experiments Lain* crowd.
- Anybody in the mood for some band promotional material? Then check out either *Planet Dob*, *Paranoiascape* (although that's kinda a gimme now), and *Groove Jigoku V*. That last one serves as the basis for *Work Time Fun*!
- I should probably also mention *Gekitotsu Toma L'Arc: Tomarunner vs L'Arc-en-Ciel* - another promotional material thing, but more straightforward than the last few entries.
- People don't talk about *Starfighter Sanvein* all that much. Is there a reason? It looks pretty cool.
- I don't see people talking about *Mad Panic Coaster*, either, and I know that one is worth looking into. What the hell?
- *Lattice 200EC7* I genuinely forgot about until I looked it up.
- Visual novels that played with time became somewhat popular following *Yu-no*, and *Prismaticallization* is certainly one of them.
There are a ton more I could list, but I'm OK stopping here for now.
I just discovered that there is a European PS1 game based on the Philip K Dick novel UBIK, which happens to be my favorite of his works. Looks like a point ‘n click. Yeah I’ll try that!
haven‘t read SB recommends, but here’s some faves off the top of my head, insert creditiness may vary
- Bomberman Party Edition - my first bomberman game. seems bare bones, but it‘s not, and it’s underrated
- Suzuki Bakuhatsu, always on whatever weird list you wanna mention
- Jingle Cats, wasn't on many lists, probably is now
- HYPER CRAZY CLIMBER, enough said
- King's Field 1-3 + Shadow Tower, you already know
- GERMS, I downloaded the ISO off tumblr when it was impossible to find anywhere else to my knowledge aka google, lol. 2010...
- OH NO!, very good game recommended by Jimmy Hapa
- Hoshi de Hakken!! Tamagotchi, weird!! and underrated like all the tama games before the early 00's reboot
- Namco Museums. Why is this the only retro collection with a first person fully freaking walkable museum simulator? I guess there's plenty of VR Arcade stuff now but the big companies like namco stopped doing this. Even with the low res images, this game always fills me with wonder. Probably what walking through the video game history foundation feels like. I wonder if they play the [relaxing namco museum music](https://youtu.be/x5il1KMitew) in there. (wow this ost really needs a high bitrate/remastered upload)
- Thunder Force V is really impressive in RGB on a CRT
- All the pocketstation standalone CDs and all the pocket station mini games for classics like FFVIII are super overlooked.
I'll post more next time I go through my PS1 iso collection. rather than name the obscure ones for the sake of being obscure I'm naming ones I enjoy and feel are undervalued.
@"Funbil"#p77212 picked up wild arms 1 for the first time back in 2018, need to move along with it again.
@“Video_Game_King”#p77237 I was the first to make my rip of the doubutsu no mori e+ disc ISO available publicly on the english speaking web, also published on tumblr, along with manual cover art scan of the N64 game, both of which are still circulating! but at the time it felt futile. I really hadn't found a healthy outlet yet.
I posted about this in the thread what with the games we're playing a while ago but there was a Panzer Dragoon ripoff Gamera game on the PSX that seriously owns. It's called Gamera 2000
I really appreciate this thread right now btw, I finally installed the PSX core on my MiSTer just a few days ago and I'm hungry to discover some stuff
@“GigaSlime”#p77239 I really appreciate this thread right now btw, I finally installed the PSX core on my MiSTer just a few days ago and I’m hungry to discover some stuff
Glad to hear that.
I should be more clear that I didn't mean this thread to ONLY be about hyper-obscure Japanese oddities.
Go one level higher, don't assume everyone here has heard of everything, ever - nobody's even mentioned _LSD Dream Emulator_ yet! (Fan translation patched ROM already on the cart thank you very much).
I have been playing a ton of PS1 on my MiSTer lately. Here's what I got.
Ore no Ryouri: PS1 cooking arcade game. Really interesting use of dual analog sticks.
https://youtu.be/iNB8ydeM8rs
Panekit: Interesting game where you build machines and complete challenges and stuff. Impressive physics simulation for the time, surprisingly intuitive building mechanics. Also supports the PS1 mouse in the building mode. Look at this wild plane someone built:
https://youtu.be/9z27ScZ8rHU
Guranyuu Tou Daibouken: Obstacle course racing game. 4 players! It's surprising how unknown this game seems to be, it's got a lot going for it. Not much on it in english, and references to it in english vary heavily. In the redump set I used it was called "Granew Tou Daibouken" but it's a bit of a mess to find online, some places romanize グラニュー differently, some read 島 as しま and others as とう.
https://youtu.be/cauwoSbBDY0
Hellnight. Localized for PAL regions only. Survival horror, kind of a weird one. You get people that join your party that die permanently. It's got some neat gimmicks. Play the undub version as the European release literally just muted all of the dialogue.
https://youtu.be/fMgKiwKmRi0
Power Shovel! Port of a Taito arcade game. Another great use of dual analogs. Keep ambitious!
https://youtu.be/lZ4DfREkWxA
Will probably post more as I think of 'em. Lately I've been playing Wild Arms 2 and that's phenomenal imo. Also seconding Suzuki Bakuhatsu, Hyper Crazy Climber, and Mad Panic Coaster. Those are all great. Also re: Pocketstation specific games, I haven't played this (yet) but its boxart lives in my brain forever:
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It‘s based on that, actually. Also on the topic of Jingle Cats, there’s a (contemporary) PC release of that game with higher resolution sprites and stuff. It's up on archive.
@“connrrr”#p77288 a friend of mine found that album on tape while we were on a thrift store and to this day I think she keeps it in her car along the “car tapes”.
Whenever I hear Brandon give his “Got anything like Gunstar Heroes?” story, I think of Gunners Heaven (Rapid Reload in Europe). Media.Vision made this to get their grips on the PSX before making Wild Arms.
Monster Rancher 2 is the peak of the series and recently got an okay Switch port if that‘s your sort of thing. If you’re not familiar, think Princess Maker meets Pokemon. You get a monster friend and decide how it gets raised. The CD gimmick isn‘t as accessible these days, but it’s not essential to the experience. It was cool though.