- 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.
this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2025
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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.
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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.
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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
You could link two playstations and play c&c in lan, waisted so many days on that.
Fuck yeh. We used to do that but one person had to play under a duvet because both of the TVs faced in the same direction.
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(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?
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
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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?
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It would be a crime to forget Metal Gear Solid on the list.
Bushido Blade is also fantastic.
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.
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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Final Fantasy Tactics and Front Mission 3
Grandia.
And Ridge Racer has been mentioned, but I would go with Ridge Racer 4 which is arguably the pinnacle of the series.
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.
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Lots of great games already listed. Here's the one I would add:
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Siphon Filter
Parappa the Rapper
Gex
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- Final Fantasy VII/IX (not VIII)
- Tales of Phantasia (has a PSP remake with a lot of extra content but that's JP-only...)
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1/2
But have you considered FFVIII, the best of the PS1 RPGs?
Dance Dance Revolution. It was unique, healthy, a lot of fun, and popularized a new genre: rhythm games.
Not sure if I would recommend the PS1 versions specifically, especially with the cheap foam pads they came with.
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Some pretty good stuff already but no one has mentioned Xenogears.
Definitely one of my essentials. I think the gameplay is bit meh, but it's still the best story in the genre.
Nobody said GTA 2 yet. Lost so many hours to that one. The last top down GTA I think.
Also of course MGS, FFVII, FF Tactics, FFIX, THPS2. DDR konamix was decent. Oh and tekken. I had tekken 2 but I think 3 might've been on PS1 as well. Yoshimitsu was always my favorite and I was stoked when he was put into soul calibur with his moveset intact.
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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
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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.
Not seeing much love for Wipeout 3: Special Edition (it has double the number of tracks as the standard edition)
I've seen no love for Chrono Cross yet? Shame.
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.
No one gonna mention ape escape? Tsk tsk.
Essential game if you are playing with an original dual shock for sure
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.
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Fuckin Parappa the Rapper, baby
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.
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
Hear me out:
Monsters, Inc. Scream Team.
For a PS1 game it was ahead of its time. Fleshed out 3D levels that are actually navigable, decent camera angles, solid platforming + puzzles, and level revisiting that does not feel excessively repetitive. The difficulty is also not a god-awful sudden cliff like some PS1/2 games of the era. It’s one of the few, maybe the only PS1 game I’ve played multiple times through.
As a plus the soundtrack is banger.
The only one I have that hasn't been mentioned yet is Suikoden II. Gorgeous sprite art, and it's also just a solid game. Ironically, it's getting a remaster very soon which is sure to clean up its biggest weakness (the English localization), though we don't know how the rest of it will shake out.
I consider the fifth gen to be a lost generation for sprite-based games, this is one of those on the console that make the case for an interesting "what could have been" scenario (Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Valkyrie Profile also being sprite-based standouts).
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My personal top pick (due to lack of playing psx in a long time) is Devil Dice (also known as XI in Japan if I remember correctly). I personally just play the arcade mode, though, since the other modes aren't as fun in my opinion.
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Not a common suggestion, but the Scrabble PS1 port holds up surprisingly well, all the more so for how few Scrabble video games there are.
Couple I haven't seen yet:
- Vib-Ribbon, a fun little rhythm game which also allows you to play with your own CDs
- Team Buddies, a really unique action / strategy game that I've never seen replicated. Sort of a proto-MOBA.
Aside from the more well-known greats people have already mentioned, I have to nominate Herc's Adventures and MediEvil 1 and 2.
How we haven't seen a new MediEvil game in the age of souls likes baffles me. Souls combat with Dan's goofy comedy in an open, interconnected Gallowmere? Please take my money.
I also wouldn't mind seeing a new game in that style LucasArts used for Herc, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and Ghoul patrol. But with them under the mouse, it's probably as likely as another Monkey Island.
No one mentioned it yet, so:
Die Hard Trilogy
Gex
Besides Metal Gear Solid?
Dino Crisis.
Both Brightis and Love & Destroy are good if you can read Japanese.
Final Fantasy IX, one of the last classical FF experiences. Quite hard though.
Final Fantasy Tactics, a very enjoyable strategy game.
Mega Man Legends, this was one of my favorites but the CD was damaged so I couldn't finish the game.
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