Retro Arena: PlayStation Classics

[Leon Retro]

Ridge Racer - Namco - 1994

Gunners Heaven - Sony - 1995

Doom - Williams - 1995

Tomb Raider - Eidos - 1996

Pandemonium - Crystal Dynamics - 1996

Einhander - Square - 1997

Harmful Park - Sky Think Systems - 1997

Crash Bandicoot 2 - Sony - 1997

Bloody Roar - Hudson Soft - 1997

R-Type Delta - Irem - 1998

Crash Team Racing - Sony - 1999

Wipeout 3 - Sony - 1999

Driver - GT Interactive - 1999

Silent Hill - Konami - 1999

Rollcage 2 - Psygnosis - 2000

Vagrant Story - Square - 2000

Choose 3 stand out games from this collection of PlayStation classics.

[buster_broon]

Harmful park, einhander and silent hill

Vandal hearts is better than vagrant story

[Colin]

Well from the selection given it’s pretty easy -

1: Harmful Park - My favourite game on the system which I still play a ton, even though it’s via Raspberry Pi.

2: Ridge Racer - One of the greatest wow moments in home gaming.

3: R-Type Delta - Wouldn’t be in my personal PS top 3 but it’s my favourite of the remaining titles.

[beecee]

Easy, these three are my most played Ps games ever.

Ridge Racer - Namco - 1994

Doom - Williams - 1995

Tomb Raider - Eidos - 1996

[speedlolita]

I'd only really pick Crash Team Racing of those twelve games, not my PlayStation games.

[Leon Retro]

Vandal hearts is better than vagrant story

I haven't played Vandal Hearts. I decided to put Vagrant Story because I needed a late PS1 game that also has a good rep. I'm not an expert when it comes to these sort of games.

1: Harmful Park - My favourite game on the system which I still play a ton, even though it’s via Raspberry Pi.

Yeah, a PS1 game that really stands the test of time. It's such a great game for people who appreciate cute 'em ups.

2: Ridge Racer - One of the greatest wow moments in home gaming.

I remember it amazed me in the same way F-Zero had on the SNES back in 1991. There's still something really fun about playing it that keeps me coming back for more and more.

3: R-Type Delta - Wouldn’t be in my personal PS top 3 but it’s my favourite of the remaining titles.

A top quality shooter that deserves more recognition. Easily in my Top 20 PS1 games.

It's crazy that Sony didn't put any shooters on the Classic machine in the West.

Easy, these three are my most played Ps games ever.

Ridge Racer - Namco - 1994

Doom - Williams - 1995

Tomb Raider - Eidos - 1996

All three were immensely popular back in the day, so they really should have been on Sony's PlayStation Classic machine.

[Neon Ignition]

Ridge Racer, Tomb Raider and Silent Hill. All key title winners for the system

I enjoyed most of the rest of the list but their classic status quickly comes up for dispute.
That and *cough* CTR was never actually that great, merely ok *cough*

[Leon Retro]

That and *cough* CTR was never actually that great, merely ok *cough*

Well, they're certainly more worthy of "classic" status than some of the games Sony have included on the PlayStation Classic, such as Rainbow Six.

I think all of them are at least good games that are still worth playing. When I say "classic", it's also to do with games that had good reviews and were popular. I'm not necessarily saying they're all games I really like.

[Neon Ignition]

That's well true, it's still eye opening as to just how weak the PS1 Classic's line up is

[Leon Retro]

That's well true, it's still eye opening as to just how weak the PS1 Classic's line up is

It really is terrible how Sony has decided to celebrate its first console in such a lackluster way. Not much passion or thought has gone into the collection of games they've included with the Classic. I think anyone who has fond memories of the PlayStation could come up with a far more appropriate list of games. Leaving out loads of popular games like Tomb Raider, Wipeout, Crash Bandicoot etc.. is just cheap for such a big company. Sony should have been 100% committed to delivering something special.

[QualityChimp]

Ha! First post was a "swap x for y request"!

Of that list:

Tomb Raider: First "next gen" game for me that wasn't an arcade conversion or 2D with nicer graphics.
Some standout moments in gaming too - Sword of Damocles, The Touch of Midas and the t-rex!

Driver: Never been a massive fan of driving around in a circle, and Driver let me fulfil all those movie car chase fantasies I'd dreamed of playing. Hubcaps go flying as big muscle cars powerslide around corners on big springy suspension, chasing the perps down.

Einhander: Quite late in the day for me. I actually played this at the first Game On exhibition at the Barbican Centre. I was wowed by the gameplay.

[Leon Retro]

Ha! First post was a "swap x for y request"!

Driver: Never been a massive fan of driving around in a circle, and Driver let me fulfil all those movie car chase fantasies I'd dreamed of playing. Hubcaps go flying as big muscle cars powerslide around corners on big springy suspension, chasing the perps down.

Such a unique game at the time -- and it showed there was still a bit of life left in the PlayStation by '99. One of the last big hits for the machine.

Einhander: Quite late in the day for me. I actually played this at the first Game On exhibition at the Barbican Centre. I was wowed by the gameplay.

The graphics were stunning for the time. It stands up well as a really good shooter that has a distinct vibe about it.

[Asura]

A lot of great stuff to talk about there, but I would draw particular attention to Bloody Roar.

It's a real shame that series died off. I think it had a great balance of fun and skill, and the gimmick was great fun - but the game was much more than the gimmick.

First off, technically, they were very proficient on PS1. The original game compared very favourably to Saturn games like Fighting Vipers (which had some similarity to it, with the blowback/armour-breaker moves), in that it had light-sourcing, 3D backdrops with animated elements... It was a good-looking (if slightly glitchy) game. The sequel then used the PS1's higher resolution and had a good framerate. I personally preferred the first game as I felt it was a bit faster and more immediate, but both were good.

In terms of balance and design, they had some clever touches. Something which is not clear, but clever, is that the transformation into animals does not make the characters inherently stronger. Instead, it allows the characters to perform moves that they can't do in their human form, some of which may be stronger. This means you're not necessarily outclassed just because you're not in the beast form.

It also had a good dodging mechanic back when that was very novel in fighters (remember that Tekken 1&2 and Virtua Fighter 1&2 lacked an easy way to move around your opponent, and Toshinden's roll, whilst novel, was tethered to an otherwise quite poor game). I can't remember exactly how it worked but I remember it being fun.

That being said, I think it saw diminshing returns. After 2, the series went into a bit of a downward trajectory. If I remember correctly, there were two versions of 3, which looked similar but were different games (a la Turtles Tournament Fighters for the 16-bit machines) and a fourth?

It'd be a good one to bring back. Personally I would bring it back as something more akin to PowerStone.

[Leon Retro]

but I would draw particular attention to Bloody Roar.

It's a real shame that series died off. I think it had a great balance of fun and skill, and the gimmick was great fun - but the game was much more than the gimmick.

It'd be a good one to bring back. Personally I would bring it back as something more akin to PowerStone.

Yeah, everything you've stated about the game is true. It really did deliver in every department. I did think it might be a gimmick sort of game, but it turned out to be really well crafted in the gameplay department. Definitely a PS1 gem that is still worth playing.

I think bringing back the franchise in the style of PowerStone could be a good move.

[nakamura]

Vandal hearts is better than vagrant story

It's also totally different!

Ridge Racer is an all time classic. One track and I still play it today!

Doom just gets the edge next, amazing port and the best audio in the entire series.

Vagrant Story edges out Einhander for 3. Absolutely amazing game with tons of depth and a fantastic script.