PS1 appreciation thread

[importaku]

Seeing as my PS1 collection shows no sign of stopping anytime soon and the fact i'm playing a hell of a lot of it at the moment i thought a thread would be a fun way to chat about the general oddness of the Japanese PS1 library without the latest retro purchases thread been too cluttered up.

This is the majority of my PS1 collection so far, there's more stuff in the post but this is whats here at the moment. Pretty happy with what i have managed to find so far, it hasn't been easy or cheap sometimes but this is one of the collections i'll never part with.
















Like i have said many times in the past the PS1 library is insane in it's depth and selection of game types only one other console got the volume of weird and experimental games like the PS1 did and that was the DS. The PS1 however has some truly obscure stuff, some of it so rare that there's barely any mention of it online let alone trying to find a physical copy. So many games came out during it's lifespan that some games were just ignored in the deluge of games that came out and slipped into obscurity pretty fast. Fast forward 20-30 years ahead and now they are even more harder to track down. Still this is where the fun lies nowadays, hidden away in the dusty depth of game stores all over Japan and online are copies of games that are sometimes extremely odd & quirky and in 2020 they are still super fun to play. These are the games i truly love to track down and play. The list of games i'm still after is as long as my arm, there's quite a few music games still left to find as well as a stupid amount of shootemups and other interesting games.

This thread has no main purpose apart from me to ramble on about fun Jp games for PS1, i may cover some of the pocketstation stuff in here just for fun.

[Leon Retro]

That is an awesome collection of PS1 games to show off. Brings back great memories of when import shops were treasure troves of interesting games with cool box art.

Away from games like Tekken 3, Soul Edge, and the Ridge Racer series, I'm really fond of Gunners Heaven and The Adventures of Little Ralph. The Runabout games are also pretty good.

It's cool that you have the Parodius games , Oh No!, Cho Aniki , Harmful Park, Zanac X Zanac, and Pepsiman. There are also loads of games in that collection that I haven't played.

The PS1 is still a fun machine to use when you delve into all the Japanese goodies to be enjoyed.

[importaku]

Kind of wish the import scene was a bit more developed online storewise back when PS1 was at it's peak as getting games was a random experience for me here in Leeds you had CEX and that was pretty much it so you had to rely on what was on the shelves so my choice was super limited. The PS1 pioneered quite a few genres the main one for me was music rhythm games Konami's output on PS1 was insane, there is still a few i'd like to pick up.

The Maestro music is one that i have still yet to play but it has a weird motion controller and it's pretty cheap so it's on the list, has a couple of extra song disks released for it to to extend the play value.


Sega's Mini moni shaka to tambourine is another i want to get hold of as Sega reused the technology from the home version of samba de amigos ultrasonic sensors to port the arcade machine version of shaka to tambourine to the PS1. Thankfully both are pretty cheap despite having quirky controllers.


Still debating on wether to re-buy guitar freaks as i used to have it on ps1 in my original collection with the guitar before i sold it all but the PS1 only got 2 versions before Konami abandoned it for PS2 that guitar is pretty bulky for just 2 games and the first game has a smal track listing. It is however last of the PS1 bemani games i dont have.

[Hirst]

Ha, we probably used to look at the same import games in Leeds Cex (until they got rid of them one day). I agree though, the PS1 library is insane if you dig deep. You could easily have it as your only system for the rest of your life and still be finding weird titles.

[Leon Retro]

I used to look at all the imports in CEX(Rathbone Place West End) every week, but never paid the inflated prices. There were import places that sold the games for £10-15 cheaper. But at least I got to browse the new stuff and play some of them in CEX.

[samanosuke]

It was CEX in Watford for me with regards to imports.

Incidentally they had a new shop manager one time who was super-enthusiastic and a proper hardcore gamer. A few days after the launch of the GameCube in the USA, when it was discovered that the unit could be nodded to switch between USA and Jp modes, I was in there to buy Rogue Squadron having modded my unit myself. I got chatting to him and he was super excited that a batch of parcels had arrived - pre-modded Gamecubes - and he opened one and tested in front of me. The next time I went there, Nintendo had issued a C&D to stop trading in any of their products, and their shelves were empty.

I’m guessing he no longer works for the company.

[chopemon]

Great collection! I need to take some better pictures of mine.

I have never got on with Mega Man games but I love how nice those covers are on the PS1 games.

I love finding all sorts of weird stuff for the PS1. Whenever I go to japan I root around in Book Off and just buy anything that looks interesting since it's all so cheap. Recently tried Kiganjo which seems to be a mix of resi 1 and a dungeon crawler in ancient Japan.

The two that I really want to add to my collection are Germs Nerawareta Machi and Yuuyami Doori Tankentai. They're expensive but hold such wonder and mystery that I'm more than happy to pay for them when I can afford them.

I've got a copy of Mizzurna Falls and cannot wait for the fixed localisation patch to come out. after the kerfuffle with it last year, a proper fixed patch is near release with the blessing of the original coder. Cannot wait to dig into it.



Also very happy to have a signed copy of Biohazard 3 by the director Kazuhiro Aoyama.

[DeathAdder]

Tell me more about Mizurrna Falls

[importaku]

Tell me more about Mizurrna Falls

^ What this man said, i have never heard of that one either.

Excellect collection Chopemon ooh a signed biohazard too man i'm jealous that's a treasure right there , hehe you have expensive tastes with those 2 you are after especially germs the only place i saw a copy of that for sale was on the amazon japan marketplace and they were wanting close to a grand for it. Thankfully though the other is a lot cheaper but the fact that there are so many games for it out in Japan there are chances of still finding that stuff in the wild in some hidden games shop just sat on a shelf waiting to be bought. Still amazes me when i see sealed copies of PS1 games as i wouldn't think some would survive for that long well until they meet me as they get stripped naked lol.

The next main one i'm wanting to try and get hold of is Tokyo wakusei planetokio, it has a very unique artstyle like planet D.O.B it's animation is pretty jank as it looks like someone still learning to draw in 3D in the rendered cutscenes but the artstyle is really REALLY appealing the enviroment of Japan is on some weird floating futuristic islands is one i want to explore. Finding a copy of it is a pain though as it's over 4 disks so finding a set that isn't scratched one one or more of the disks is pretty hard, i remain hopeful that i can eventually find either a mint copy or even better a new unfaded copy as it's one i want to have in my library.

Oh new copy of planetokio somewhere you are out there waiting for me.

[wakka]

Well jel of the Mizzurna Falls. I have also been waiting for the English patch for many years now.

I'm sure Chopemon can add more, but it's essentially an adventure/narrative driven 3D game set in a mysterious mountain town. Heavy Twin Peaks overtones.

[chopemon]

Mizzurna Falls is an open world mystery game set in a small snowy American town. It's notable because it is a 3d open world before GTA3. It was made by Human who made all sorts of amazingly cool stuff. A woman goes missing in the town and you are drawn into the mystery and work to solve it by driving round the town and talking to people and exploring. What's cool/infuriating is that without telling you, the game's NPCs have a full schedule and get on with it regardless of what you're doing. So if you're not in the right place at the right time you'll miss a story beat. It branches a lot and has a few different endings. It's like a precursor to Deadly Premonition but far less weird and with no combat.

Resident Evie did a translated playthrough and translated the whole script. It was being patched into the game by someone called Gemini who dropped it. It has a problem where if the translation goes over the character count for a text box, it crashes. Someone recompiled Gemini's work last year and released it without permission. I played some of it but word got around that the crash was still present. Gemini got the patch taken down but since then fan translator cj iwakura has brought different parties together and someone is making a fixed patch using Gemini's code with Gemini's blessing. Very excited for the patch.

I've been enjoying seeing your PS1 collecting importaku and am very glad you're opening up those sealed games. games are meant to be played after all.

For me I'm not too worried about condition as I like just having a big library to dip into and throw in to see what they're like. Some last for five minutes, some get played properly but for only a couple of hundred yen each it's fine if they only get a few minutes play. That said, there are some that I definitely want/wanted to find with the obi. I bought The Silver Case a few years ago from ebay and asked the seller if it had the spine card. They said it didn't but the prices was fine so I went for it. When it arrived I opened it up and the spine card was tucked inside. I love that game and was very happy to get a full copy (now signed by Suda).

[importaku]

Damn that's actually pretty impressive for a PS1 game, germs is of a similar style but a little beyond my reading comprehension & bank balance hehe. Sometimes i wished consoles were made to go longer than the makers wanted them to as the stuff towards the end of the life cycle tend to be really impressive as the devs have worked out how to use all their tricks to make amazing games. But nowadays you get a few years tops then the makers move on instead of squeezing out the best of a machine. I'm spoiled by spine cards now, never used to give them much thought but ever since i got some of those plastic protector boxes for my games i love seeing the spine cards displayed on boxes im corrupted now by the obi bug as quite a few complete the artwork like a missing part of the jigsaw puzzle understandably most people chucked them so a lot of copies are missing them which is yet another reason i try to find totally new.

[importaku]

Had a little go of Dokodemo issho it's surprisingly charming and i can understand a lot of what Toro asks me which surprised me even more as my vocabulary is pretty crap all things considered. I love that there's no music on the playstation just ambient sounds of birds tweeting and traffic going past is apartment window, he seemed a little skittish at first going on about been scared and wether i'm scared of zombies of all things lol which i told him i wasn't he asked if i would go with him when out to protect him i of course said yes and he was relieved at my answer. It's pretty fun, once i get my pocketstation cases to protect my stations i'll be taking out with me to keep interacting while i'm out and about. Sadly the imode version of dokodemo doesn't work unless you have a phone connected i need to read the instructions a bit better as i may be doing something wrong and you may actually need Toro in your pocketstation before you swap games and try and boot that one up.

This is my cozy sat in bed setup, usually how i play now till i can find a better scaling solution so i can play on my tv without having to wait 6 hours between resolution switches thanks to framemeisters snail like ability, i was even thinking about finding a bigger monitor for my PS1 seeing as this tiny official ps screen gives such an amazing image i was wondering of other larger lcd screens might do just a good of a job theres quite a few tablet sized portable screens but no idea if they would work.


So delightfully cute, i have been a fan of Toro for the longest of time. Still remember many years ago pestering Yakumo to find me a Toro mousemat.


transferring to the station


He's in and in super cute low res form, like a tamagotchi on steroids lol. The font is a little hard to read but i'm getting used to the way the kana looks.

[samanosuke]

Glad to hear cj iwakura is still working on translations. He/she/they was at some point working on Shadowrun for the Mega CD so a small part of me still hopes it will see the light of day.

[Team Andromeda]

Sold mine to pay for the LG TV, still have the Working Desgins USA Lunars mind. Kind of wish I didn't sell Harmful Park and Ore no Ryouri.
But needs must.