Admittedly I was young, but when Ape Escape came out and you could use the analog sticks to control all the equipment (swinging the net, spinning the sky flyer etc) I thought it was so cool
That was such a great game to show off analog sticks. I still remember when I finally learned you could just slam the net down and drag it really quickly in a circle to catch monkeys because it doesn't have to actually *catch* them, it just needs to *touch* them.
I was so young at the time I couldn't even beat the game. One day I'll go back and finish it....
Redeem yourself. Or if you prefer, avenge yourself. Settle your dispute with Kain. Destroy Him and your brethren. Free their souls and let the wheel of fate churn again. Use your hatred to reave their souls... I can make it possible. Become my soul reaver, my angel of death
This was my answer as well. I remember playing it with a friend who was a big Tomb Raider fan, and he kept going “I think you’re almost done with this level” for the first 2 hours until he had a “holy shit” moment when realizing the game had no loading screens.
My first PS1 game, that sold me on the console. Had every PlayStation since. Still play Would Blade on the mobile psx occasionally, cus I got the muscle memory down.
Destruction Derby 2.
It was the first game I got with PS1. I was 10, and I was setting up the playstation with my dad. Console was turned on, and as we tried to find correct channel from the tv, we scrolled past this racing show a couple of times. It took us a while to realize, that the ”racing channel” we were seeing was actually just the intro animation for Destruction Derby 2! It looked so good to us that we didn’t even realize we were watching a video game lol. I was totally blown away how ”realistic” and cool the game looked. I don’t think I’ve experienced that kind of awe since!
Resident Evil because of the cut scenes, violence, fear factor, and the premise of being stuck in a place and not know what to do.
Road Rash because it had funny cut scenes depending on if you crashed, got arrested, or won.
Grand Theft Auto because it had bad language (in the form of written dialogue), it was funny, and you could cause mayhem and kill people.
Metal Gear Solid because of the mature themes and cinematic style of the game.
For Psone, definitely Metal Gear Solid as well. I first played the game from the demo disc that came with the Playstation magazine back in the days. Completed it about a dozen times or so.
Bought myself a copy when the retail version came out. \\I started started playing it late evening and finished the game in the late early hours of 2 or 3am.
I was literally mesmerize and blown away by the cut scenes, gameplay, characters and storyline. The fight against Psycho Mantis was literally groundbreaking, because he mentioned Suikoden, as I had that game saved on my memory card, and the forth wall breaking when you had to switch your control to the second port to gain the advantage, was mind blowing to me. The soundtrack, especially *The Best Is Yet To Come* was one of the best tracks I've heard, and stayed in my head for a long time after finishing the game.
It's what makes the Shadow Moses chapter in Metal Gear Solid 4 much more impactful for me.
Final Fantasy VII was also another title that blew me away. I recalled when exiting Midgar and coming out to the over world for the first time, I was in awe at the sheer scale of the game. Over 100 hours was devoted into it, with no guides, walkthrough or any help, I felt such a sense of accomplishment when I discovered all of the games secrets and finally beating it.
Another game I for some reason never gave a try back in the day, even being a resident evil fan it just slipped the cracks. Gave it a try just to see what was up with it and was very pleased. Got it on a list of games I'm gonna dedicate myself to beating before starting another, along with the first in the series of course before.
The mega hits were mentioned. I had them too but they have been mentioned already.
How about Tenchu: Stealth Assassins? The graphics were pretty good but the music was amazing! Gameplay was solid as well. That feeling using that ninja hookshot deal was amazing!
Tecmo Stackers was another overlooked puzzle game. Maybe because it was pretty derivative and not executed really well but it was fun for short burst
Back on the PS1, definitely Metal Gear, especially with stuff like Psycho Mantis and Meryl's codec number, the game started to mess around with you IRL.
Final Fantasy VIII and IX were insanse. Resident Evil too in a way, I thought it was so scary at the time.
Like Metal Gear, if you want something that evokes that sense of a game reaching you in the real world, give Inscryption a try. That game blew my mind.
I know by modern standards, it isn't all that mind-blowing, but the first **Gran Turismo** game was just such an incredible achievement for the time.
The game had over 100(!) licensed cars, which was absolutely unheard of in games at the time. Not only that, but the game was more of a sim racer rather than most of the arcade style racing games of the era. Being able to modify, and customize the parts and settings on your car, and actually seeing and feeling the difference in how they made the car behave was not something usually seen at the time.
Not only that, but there was an absolutely killer soundtrack to the game. Now, licensed music is nothing new, but not exactly common back in 1997 either. Not only that, but getting to see a full replay of your race afterwards was pretty neat as well.
I don't think Gran Turismo really did much of anything new on its own, possibly other than having such a monster list of licensed vehicles to choose from, but what it did was package all these ideas together for the first time that I can recall. Not only did it package it all together, it executed it very, very well.
Sure, we can look back on it, and realize that the physics of the cars isn't all that great, and the visuals certainly aren't as impressive by today's standards. Also, the lack of real-world tracks is an omission that was later corrected in the sequel, but back in 1997, Gran Turismo certainly blew my mind.
I've been on a quest lately to revisit old PS1 games I've never played. Went through Gex 2 and 3, and - even though I played it *extensively*, I never 100% completed it - CTR.
Would you still recommend Gran Turismo today?
Of all the things the original Gran Turismo does, the sequel on the PS1 does even better. More cars. More tracks (some based on real-world tracks). They added rally racing. More challenges.
To be perfectly honest, I really only revisit the first Gran Turismo for a handful of cars that aren't in the sequel, and also to play in GT Hi-Fi mode, which doesn't exist in the sequel. GT Hi-Fi mode only permits you a two lap time trial on just three different tracks. It turns down the detail level, but runs at a silky 60 fps.
Don't get me wrong, the first Gran Turismo is a great game, and really blew my mind at the time as to what was capable in a console racing game, but the sequel just took everything great about the first game and really improved upon it.
> GT Hi-Fi mode only permits you a two lap time trial on just three different tracks. It turns down the detail level, but runs at a silky 60 fps.
That's actually really cool for a dang PS1 game.
Same, my dad got that game from some crack heads down the road for like 10 dollars and the only bright side I could see is it didn't cost much. Still played the hell out of it but never could beat it, always close but no cigar.
FF7. It was the first game I ever played that had a real story (besides the princess was kidnapped and is in another castle or beat up the robotic egg man and free the little critters, etc.) and I was enthralled. I remember reading about it in EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly) and my parents let me rent it from Blockbuster for a weekend. Well a weekend was not enough. I begged my parents to help me buy it because I didn't have enough saved from my allowance yet. I had to "sell" them my CD player which was totally worth it. I fell in love with the JRPG genre and haven't looked back
Apart from the obvious MSG, FF7, Resident Evil.
Castlevania Symphony of the night, it seems even by today's standards as one the best 2d platformers, the realization that there was a secret boss that then revealed a whole caste upside-down...
Suikoden 2 for the story and the 108 characters.
Breathe of fire 3, all those dragon forms.
Armored core, all those customizations and the couch PvP was awesome.
Forgot to mention Star Ocean the second story! Awesome and mature story, the private actions (...barrel. colorful barrel... Barrel, BARREL, BARREL, Barrel), the different recruitable characters depending on choices, the crafting system! (Just crazy for the time), the cave of trials... And the Soundtrack! Such an amazing game
Breathe of fire 3 was it for me. I had never played and beat such a long game with such an amazing story up to that point. And all those dragon forms were awesome. Armored core was top-notch as well.
Also the part that Ryu would swing his sword like a kid up to the point were you fight beside Nina and the animation changes to an actual slash. Also that later you suddenly play as a grown up Ryu was mind blowing
Yep, it was MGS for sure. I still remember playing it for the first time at my friend's house, and us both being blown away by just how friggin cool everything about the game was. The sneaking around, the snowtracks and enemies awareness and all that shit. It was next level back then, felt like something completely new and fresh.
Its so wild to me playing it again now and all the things I missed myself beating it numerous times as a kid, also not having access to the internet to find some of the out there stuff in the game. My youtube started suggesting shorts for the first game and the click bait gets me and I'm finding all kinds of crazy new things for future gameplays.
Get that nintendo crap outta here! I'm joking love me some nintendo everything and have owned all of they're systems expect the wiiu, mario 64 was mine though, zelda was later in life for me.
Shadow of the Colossus. Rented it in 2005 and the graphics and concept just scared the shit out of me. Don't think I beat more than a couple Colossus's at the time. I just beat it recently at age 30.
**FF7 / FF8 / FF9 aka. my Holy JRPG Trinity**
Gran Turismo , Metal Gear Solid , Resident Evil trilogy, Crash Trilogy & Wipe Out 2097
Time Crisis, Tenchu, Motorhead & Fear Effect was big surprized when i first played them
2024, and i still play those games and have always the same feeling !
In metal gear even this days I think mantis in metal gear solid it's one of the most creative boos ever! reading your mind or better "reading your memory card and controler" it's reali nice!
Metal gear solid, soul reaver and parasite eve, the three of them being in my demo disc. Fear effect was also mindblowing, and one of my all time favorites.
FFVII, it was the first game I had played with the big cinematic cutscenes. It also has what I’ve come to consider a perfect moment in gaming, >!Aerith’s theme playing during the fight with Jenova Life right after she dies.!<
This simple reply definitely deserves more upvotes. Somtimes it's the little details, like in gta vice city when Tommy had a index finger and thumb that was separated from the rest of his hand model.
FFVII and Metal Gear Solid for me. Played the demo of MGS over and over and loved it and the game was perfect.
FFVII my brother got , fell in love with it followed by 8 a year or 2 later.
I think the era of PS1 demos was amazing there were games like tombi, kula world, ghost in the shell, ape escape, tony hawk etc that I never owned the full version of but were so much fun to play.
Same: Metal Gear Solid. My dad actually got the game, but couldn’t get past the very first area, and neither could I, so for a while I just thought it was this complicated, difficult game, but then my friend who knew the game came over, got excited to see I had it, and proceeded to play through it. I quickly became hooked and couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was the coolest game I’d ever seen.
Seeing FF9 for the first time at a friends house as a kid was definitely the most mind blowing experience, maybe of my life (apart from the release of ChatGPT). All my epic childhood adventure fantasies, condensed into a real-life video game, but even more epic and wondrous and beautiful than in my Imagination
The level of creativity in games back then was incredible, I tend to play mostly indies nowadays, the AAA games just feel so safe or something now. Even the big titles just don't grab me the way the old PS1 and PS2 games did. MGS was amazing back in the day, pressing against the wall, going prone, the feckin laser sight on the socom. That game was something else
I would pay a decent amount of money for a handful of all those demo disc again! Always begged my mom for playstation magazine and everytime having to justify the price "because it came with a game" played alot of those disc longer then some of my actual games.
I'm going to be different and say WWF Warzone. climbing a cage and elbow dropping my uncle repeatedly was so awesome and hilarious to 14 year old me.
I got a Playstation the Christmas after WWF Attitude came out. Later on my friend lent me his copy of Xenogears and that was pretty awesome as well.
Oh yes my dude, those wwf games were the time in my life I was absolutely up the wall about the graphics and didn't think it could get any better! How wrong we were, and those games while I'll still pick up and play from time to time, did not stand up the test of time whatsoever. They held us over till we got the smackdown games at least and if you never played in your house I'd give it a recommendation, lots of hours in the game.
I remember playing some wrestling game as a kid where you could leave the arena, fight backstage, outside, in Vince McMahon's trailer, *all the hell over*, and I thought that was so cool. Could never remember which one it was, though.
Me yelling out “Volcano!” or “Gust of Wind Dance!” when I play fight with my friends.
I still do a play through of it whenever I get a new handheld emulator.
Old choice - Digimon World 1.
Like it was so ahead of it's time that no digimon game has ever caught up to it yet.
New Choice - Dark Souls and Bloodborne.
These games evoked emotions in me that I had never felt before. So much depth, maturity and rawness. I'm not ashamed to say I cried at moments playing these games. Legends. Absolute legends.
Star Ocean: The Second Story was my first JRPG and I was blown away by the scope, the battle system, and all the cool things you could do (item creation, private actions). This set the tone for my JRPG journey and the PS1 was the perfect system for this.
Chrono Cross blew me away with its surreal story, emotional music, and vibrant visuals.
FF7 blew me away in every way possible.
Driver blew me away with its fun physics and especially with its visuals and Director Mode for car chases. This was over the top fun for me because I love editing camera angles.
NHL '99 blew me away with its fun physics, great replays, and amazing commentary. I remember my friend made a sloppy pass to his own goalie and it almost went in the net and the announcer said, "(player name) makes a BAD decision with that pass in front of his own net!" and my friend said, "That was a bad decision, this AI is good."
Castlevania: SOTN blew me away with its atmosphere, endless array of items, enemies, and secrets, and wonderful music.
Not a game, per se, but I was a console gamer through the 90s and had a Super Nintendo and Genesis with a PlayStation joining in Christmas of 99. Sprite based stuff and Mario 64 polys was all I knew for video games. I aquired a PlayStation Underground disc and was blown away by the fact that my freaking video game system was playing a video shot on camera! It was a Madden game video, I think, but it was just so weird how my video game suddenly felt like a video tape.
We got in the boat around them same time so I feel that forsure. Was such a wild thing to experience that, even the cgi which you thought the game was gonna look like the whole time but looked completely different, which was fine but sometimes catfished my forsure.
FF7 blew my mind as a kid. The summon animations were crazy impressive for me...going to that from playing 2D Mario on a super nintendo was nutty at the time for my brain to comprehend.
Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed as it was the very first thing I saw and played on PlayStation. Then probably Syphon Filter 3, the first level felt mind blowing at that time.
Splinter Cell Double Agent
When I saw that game running in 2006, I knew I needed a ps3 at that momen
edit: I am just realizing this not the ps3 sub, my bad...in that case then I would say...Tenchu
All is good, I think for me it was resistance fall of man, that game was soooo crazy with (could be wrong) 32 players online at once. Have recently thought about buying a ps3 for that game,mgs4, and the twisted metal I never played for ps3.
I don’t play it anymore, but back then the CGs and 3D fights of tekken 2 got me hooked, perhaps because 3D was mind blowing in on itself. I dare say I played it more than tekken 3. Also ROCKman x4 (I say rock because japanese version was leagues better) because I was a huge fan of the franchise, and coming from the SNES to a full anime opening with a very catchy music and voice acting (the japanese was decent) intro was a huge leap. Every now and then I listen to its soundtrack.
Ok it’s super old title “D”. Just D
It’s short , you don’t get to save it , if you make a wrong move you’re instantly dead. It’s a weird creepy horror family drama with ***spoiler alert Vampire as the end baddie . The OG jump scare game for me. But it’s super interesting and has a few ways to play it if you want to replay. I think it has a few endings : good/bad.
Also Star Ocean. It was so fun, so huge, and my first time with item creation and some customization (outside of FF classes you can choose)
And final fantasy 7 was probably the most impactful for my LIFE. Formed my personality and entire taste for games & every game I played after
Some personal favorites:
- Quake II > the psx port was a technical marvel
- Driver > a pre-GTA open world title on the psx(!)
- Resident Evil 2 > a Romero zombie apocalypse come to life
For me it was Resident Evil. It was the first game I seen for PlayStation. To that point I only has a SNES as a kid and I was blown away by the graphics of it.
Castlevania nes circa 1986, then wolfenstein vga pc, then Mario n64….but within the last year: finding out that toy story 2 was on psx and not just n64, way easier and less glitchy to emulate
Bushido Blade was the first psx game I played and I remember thinking it looked like really life.
MGS and FFVIII were the next two that destroyed my perceptions.
Crash Bandicoot 2. I just remember feeling like the jungle went on *forever* past where I could see. How did they fit this much *stuff* in a level?!
Years later, the answer is...clever culling! Very close and aggressive culling, along with precise control of where the camera was allowed to go. It's still impressive that they could pull it off on the PS1 to this day.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It blew my mind as a kid seeing dust particles reflect the light shining through the windows. It's a shame the character models in that game are some of the worst to ever exist, because aside from that the game actually looks quite good
For me it was Demolition Derby and Twisted Metal, my friend would rent it almost every weekend and would invite a bunch of us over for pure mayhem! I recall the graphics being pretty good for that time, as 3D graphics were just being introduced to games
Tomba 2 was crazy to my little mind. Finding something and going what the heck is that only to unlock something later that would solve that problem and going "omg the thing I can do the thing!" Over and over. No quest markers, but the maps are designed so well you kust know while also being rewarded for exploring. Such great memories.
Syphon Filter because it actually felt like you were James Bond. Despite the butt ugly graphics, you had a lot of freedom of movement. Doing tuck rolls and coming out guns blazing. Also I remember using the shotgun and it actually blew the character backwards. Great physics for the time.
Final fantasy 7. Never has a game completely consumed my entire life. I was probably around 12 or 13 when it came out and I maxed out the game clock at 99 hours and 59 mintues more than once. The characters, summons, gold saucer, midgar... the entire world was absolute perfection in my eyes. Favorite game of all time by a mile and the only final fantasy I've ever beaten. I got pretty far in 8, dabbled in 9 but they could never compare to 7 for me.
Actually World of Warcraft. I was one of the beta users and god, the feeling was overwhelming.
I played many games before and loved them, but wow was just WOW!
I don't play it anymore, but I remember how it was like and I never had that game feeling anymore after.
[EDIT] I didn't see the sub name, sorry 🙄😂
All is good, never had a computer growing up, but I was around for the wow craze and lost alot of friends to that game lolololol once they picked it up you rarely ever saw them anymore.
MGS2.
That game was top-to-bottom chock full of incredible moments, surprises, red herrings, and misdirections.
There was absolutely no way to guess where that game was going. It still blows my mind.
I rented MGS and FF8 one weekend from Blockbuster. Both were mind blowing in terms of spectacle. Awful games for just a weekend rental though.
Could literally play the demo level of MGS on repeat over the weekend instead until you could of afforded to buy the whole game..
FF8 was a total “birthday wish gift” kinda game. You had to own it, could never rent, I would cry giving it up.
A girl in my elementary school gave me the game to have as a gift, can’t believe I took it for granted at the time, but I miss her and the game….
A boy in HS gave me FF9 as my birthday gift and I knew he was the one! He was my HS BF until first year of college.
Tbf I was going in blind for both of them. Other than Magazines talking positively about them there was nothing else to go on.
Can’t even make it through disk 1 of FF8 in a weekend
Skill issue
I remember loading up Gran Turismo 2 for the first time and saying “graphics can’t get any better than this” lol
That fucking menu was an abomination though.
But those “life like” graphics! It had me feel like I was in an actual race car!
I think Gears of War was the first time I said those words. It looks pretty terrible now lol. Even the Ultimate Edition is aging at this point.
It's okay we got e day coming ☺
That was me with Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Kirby is an actual *sphere!* You can't count the polygons from far away! Mario has *fucking* ***denim!!***
Admittedly I was young, but when Ape Escape came out and you could use the analog sticks to control all the equipment (swinging the net, spinning the sky flyer etc) I thought it was so cool
That and mario64 for the first time. When we actually figured out we needed to jump into the painting 🤯
That was such a great game to show off analog sticks. I still remember when I finally learned you could just slam the net down and drag it really quickly in a circle to catch monkeys because it doesn't have to actually *catch* them, it just needs to *touch* them. I was so young at the time I couldn't even beat the game. One day I'll go back and finish it....
Oh, man, definitely do that! 100% isn't even that hard of a task, I definitely recommend revisiting it!
Crash and Spyro were superb. FF9 was mind blowing.
Soul reaver. Those opening cutscenes, the lack of loading screens and changing to spectral realm.
I've commented similar before, But I think its under appreciated how good the cutscenes were in Soul Reaver for that era
And the music
Great call. The opening scene for me was mind blowing.
"Cast him in!"
Gives me chills thinking about it.
Some of the best voice-acting in a '90s game, along with Metal Gear Solid. These games raised the bar significantly.
Redeem yourself. Or if you prefer, avenge yourself. Settle your dispute with Kain. Destroy Him and your brethren. Free their souls and let the wheel of fate churn again. Use your hatred to reave their souls... I can make it possible. Become my soul reaver, my angel of death
This was my answer as well. I remember playing it with a friend who was a big Tomb Raider fan, and he kept going “I think you’re almost done with this level” for the first 2 hours until he had a “holy shit” moment when realizing the game had no loading screens.
I will never forget seeing the intro to Soul Blade, that was some damn good cgi for like 1997
And that song!
My first PS1 game, that sold me on the console. Had every PlayStation since. Still play Would Blade on the mobile psx occasionally, cus I got the muscle memory down.
Destruction Derby 2. It was the first game I got with PS1. I was 10, and I was setting up the playstation with my dad. Console was turned on, and as we tried to find correct channel from the tv, we scrolled past this racing show a couple of times. It took us a while to realize, that the ”racing channel” we were seeing was actually just the intro animation for Destruction Derby 2! It looked so good to us that we didn’t even realize we were watching a video game lol. I was totally blown away how ”realistic” and cool the game looked. I don’t think I’ve experienced that kind of awe since!
Re1 was my first experience with horror and story oriented games, i was like “ wooooow games now have dialogues and plot twists”
That was MGS for me
MGS, FF8, Vagrant Story.
I was a nerdy 10-13 year old and I wanted Vagrant Story so bad after learning how good of a game it was. I STILL want to play it.
Well, I played it when I was 14 and I still play it. I am 35 now. It looks amazing on my portable retro console.
Resident Evil because of the cut scenes, violence, fear factor, and the premise of being stuck in a place and not know what to do. Road Rash because it had funny cut scenes depending on if you crashed, got arrested, or won. Grand Theft Auto because it had bad language (in the form of written dialogue), it was funny, and you could cause mayhem and kill people. Metal Gear Solid because of the mature themes and cinematic style of the game.
Is road rash a good game? Only played the Genesis versions.
Fear Effect and Vagrant Story. These were later PS1 releases, but their art styles and graphics were so ahead of their time.
For Psone, definitely Metal Gear Solid as well. I first played the game from the demo disc that came with the Playstation magazine back in the days. Completed it about a dozen times or so. Bought myself a copy when the retail version came out. \\I started started playing it late evening and finished the game in the late early hours of 2 or 3am. I was literally mesmerize and blown away by the cut scenes, gameplay, characters and storyline. The fight against Psycho Mantis was literally groundbreaking, because he mentioned Suikoden, as I had that game saved on my memory card, and the forth wall breaking when you had to switch your control to the second port to gain the advantage, was mind blowing to me. The soundtrack, especially *The Best Is Yet To Come* was one of the best tracks I've heard, and stayed in my head for a long time after finishing the game. It's what makes the Shadow Moses chapter in Metal Gear Solid 4 much more impactful for me. Final Fantasy VII was also another title that blew me away. I recalled when exiting Midgar and coming out to the over world for the first time, I was in awe at the sheer scale of the game. Over 100 hours was devoted into it, with no guides, walkthrough or any help, I felt such a sense of accomplishment when I discovered all of the games secrets and finally beating it.
What this guy said about mgs, he completely gets it. Everything about it then/now is still amazing to me.
Kula world.
This person Playstationed
Dino Crisis 2
Another game I for some reason never gave a try back in the day, even being a resident evil fan it just slipped the cracks. Gave it a try just to see what was up with it and was very pleased. Got it on a list of games I'm gonna dedicate myself to beating before starting another, along with the first in the series of course before.
The mega hits were mentioned. I had them too but they have been mentioned already. How about Tenchu: Stealth Assassins? The graphics were pretty good but the music was amazing! Gameplay was solid as well. That feeling using that ninja hookshot deal was amazing! Tecmo Stackers was another overlooked puzzle game. Maybe because it was pretty derivative and not executed really well but it was fun for short burst
Back on the PS1, definitely Metal Gear, especially with stuff like Psycho Mantis and Meryl's codec number, the game started to mess around with you IRL. Final Fantasy VIII and IX were insanse. Resident Evil too in a way, I thought it was so scary at the time. Like Metal Gear, if you want something that evokes that sense of a game reaching you in the real world, give Inscryption a try. That game blew my mind.
Will definitely give it a go, I appreciate the suggestion .
I know by modern standards, it isn't all that mind-blowing, but the first **Gran Turismo** game was just such an incredible achievement for the time. The game had over 100(!) licensed cars, which was absolutely unheard of in games at the time. Not only that, but the game was more of a sim racer rather than most of the arcade style racing games of the era. Being able to modify, and customize the parts and settings on your car, and actually seeing and feeling the difference in how they made the car behave was not something usually seen at the time. Not only that, but there was an absolutely killer soundtrack to the game. Now, licensed music is nothing new, but not exactly common back in 1997 either. Not only that, but getting to see a full replay of your race afterwards was pretty neat as well. I don't think Gran Turismo really did much of anything new on its own, possibly other than having such a monster list of licensed vehicles to choose from, but what it did was package all these ideas together for the first time that I can recall. Not only did it package it all together, it executed it very, very well. Sure, we can look back on it, and realize that the physics of the cars isn't all that great, and the visuals certainly aren't as impressive by today's standards. Also, the lack of real-world tracks is an omission that was later corrected in the sequel, but back in 1997, Gran Turismo certainly blew my mind.
I've been on a quest lately to revisit old PS1 games I've never played. Went through Gex 2 and 3, and - even though I played it *extensively*, I never 100% completed it - CTR. Would you still recommend Gran Turismo today?
Of all the things the original Gran Turismo does, the sequel on the PS1 does even better. More cars. More tracks (some based on real-world tracks). They added rally racing. More challenges. To be perfectly honest, I really only revisit the first Gran Turismo for a handful of cars that aren't in the sequel, and also to play in GT Hi-Fi mode, which doesn't exist in the sequel. GT Hi-Fi mode only permits you a two lap time trial on just three different tracks. It turns down the detail level, but runs at a silky 60 fps. Don't get me wrong, the first Gran Turismo is a great game, and really blew my mind at the time as to what was capable in a console racing game, but the sequel just took everything great about the first game and really improved upon it.
> GT Hi-Fi mode only permits you a two lap time trial on just three different tracks. It turns down the detail level, but runs at a silky 60 fps. That's actually really cool for a dang PS1 game.
MGS, Soul Reaver, Mortal Kombat: Subzero Mythologies, Syphon Filter
Never thought I’d see someone mention mk mythologies smh, I remember raging out so many times as a kid playing it, the game is very unforgivable
Dark Souls complexity before Dark Souls. What about Tenchu: Stealth Assassins? 😎
Same, my dad got that game from some crack heads down the road for like 10 dollars and the only bright side I could see is it didn't cost much. Still played the hell out of it but never could beat it, always close but no cigar.
FF7. It was the first game I ever played that had a real story (besides the princess was kidnapped and is in another castle or beat up the robotic egg man and free the little critters, etc.) and I was enthralled. I remember reading about it in EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly) and my parents let me rent it from Blockbuster for a weekend. Well a weekend was not enough. I begged my parents to help me buy it because I didn't have enough saved from my allowance yet. I had to "sell" them my CD player which was totally worth it. I fell in love with the JRPG genre and haven't looked back
Apart from the obvious MSG, FF7, Resident Evil. Castlevania Symphony of the night, it seems even by today's standards as one the best 2d platformers, the realization that there was a secret boss that then revealed a whole caste upside-down... Suikoden 2 for the story and the 108 characters. Breathe of fire 3, all those dragon forms. Armored core, all those customizations and the couch PvP was awesome.
Forgot to mention Star Ocean the second story! Awesome and mature story, the private actions (...barrel. colorful barrel... Barrel, BARREL, BARREL, Barrel), the different recruitable characters depending on choices, the crafting system! (Just crazy for the time), the cave of trials... And the Soundtrack! Such an amazing game
Breathe of fire 3 was it for me. I had never played and beat such a long game with such an amazing story up to that point. And all those dragon forms were awesome. Armored core was top-notch as well.
Also the part that Ryu would swing his sword like a kid up to the point were you fight beside Nina and the animation changes to an actual slash. Also that later you suddenly play as a grown up Ryu was mind blowing
Yep, it was MGS for sure. I still remember playing it for the first time at my friend's house, and us both being blown away by just how friggin cool everything about the game was. The sneaking around, the snowtracks and enemies awareness and all that shit. It was next level back then, felt like something completely new and fresh.
Its so wild to me playing it again now and all the things I missed myself beating it numerous times as a kid, also not having access to the internet to find some of the out there stuff in the game. My youtube started suggesting shorts for the first game and the click bait gets me and I'm finding all kinds of crazy new things for future gameplays.
Metal Gear Solid and Ocarina of Time will always be the most epic gaming experiences I ever had
Get that nintendo crap outta here! I'm joking love me some nintendo everything and have owned all of they're systems expect the wiiu, mario 64 was mine though, zelda was later in life for me.
Shadow of the Colossus. Rented it in 2005 and the graphics and concept just scared the shit out of me. Don't think I beat more than a couple Colossus's at the time. I just beat it recently at age 30.
Ff8 Those fmvs were unreal at the time I low key hoped the entire game looked like that at the time 🤣
THPS and Tomb Raider series.
Vagrant Story
**FF7 / FF8 / FF9 aka. my Holy JRPG Trinity** Gran Turismo , Metal Gear Solid , Resident Evil trilogy, Crash Trilogy & Wipe Out 2097 Time Crisis, Tenchu, Motorhead & Fear Effect was big surprized when i first played them 2024, and i still play those games and have always the same feeling !
In metal gear even this days I think mantis in metal gear solid it's one of the most creative boos ever! reading your mind or better "reading your memory card and controler" it's reali nice!
Definitely MGS and FFVIII.
While MGS is up there as the most cinematic PS1 game probably, my jaw dropped at the pure direction of Vagrant Story
Metal gear solid, soul reaver and parasite eve, the three of them being in my demo disc. Fear effect was also mindblowing, and one of my all time favorites.
FFVII, it was the first game I had played with the big cinematic cutscenes. It also has what I’ve come to consider a perfect moment in gaming, >!Aerith’s theme playing during the fight with Jenova Life right after she dies.!<
Gran Turismo was way ahead of its time graphically
MGS is MIND BLOWING to this day. Pepsiman always fun lmao, probably one of the most quirky games ever.
I completed mgs1 probably 3.000 times, and still playing it nowadays. One of the best games in history.
Tomb Raider 2 when Lara had the ponytail.
This simple reply definitely deserves more upvotes. Somtimes it's the little details, like in gta vice city when Tommy had a index finger and thumb that was separated from the rest of his hand model.
Fade To Black (1995) Although it was difficult I am amazed I got the good ending.
FFVII and Metal Gear Solid for me. Played the demo of MGS over and over and loved it and the game was perfect. FFVII my brother got , fell in love with it followed by 8 a year or 2 later. I think the era of PS1 demos was amazing there were games like tombi, kula world, ghost in the shell, ape escape, tony hawk etc that I never owned the full version of but were so much fun to play.
Bloody roar 2 👌🏾
Same: Metal Gear Solid. My dad actually got the game, but couldn’t get past the very first area, and neither could I, so for a while I just thought it was this complicated, difficult game, but then my friend who knew the game came over, got excited to see I had it, and proceeded to play through it. I quickly became hooked and couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was the coolest game I’d ever seen.
Seeing FF9 for the first time at a friends house as a kid was definitely the most mind blowing experience, maybe of my life (apart from the release of ChatGPT). All my epic childhood adventure fantasies, condensed into a real-life video game, but even more epic and wondrous and beautiful than in my Imagination
The level of creativity in games back then was incredible, I tend to play mostly indies nowadays, the AAA games just feel so safe or something now. Even the big titles just don't grab me the way the old PS1 and PS2 games did. MGS was amazing back in the day, pressing against the wall, going prone, the feckin laser sight on the socom. That game was something else
Macross Digital Mission VF-X this was the reason I got the PS1 back then, didn't matter if it was in Japanese, it was a looker back then on shops lol
Legend of Legaia
Resident evil, final fantasy 7 and suikoden.
When I bought PS1 I got a demo cd with Gran Turismo, there was Tokyo track and 3 cars - I was blown away and played it 24/7
I would pay a decent amount of money for a handful of all those demo disc again! Always begged my mom for playstation magazine and everytime having to justify the price "because it came with a game" played alot of those disc longer then some of my actual games.
Yours is mine
Suikoden II
Chrono Cross. There’s just nothing like it.
I'm going to be different and say WWF Warzone. climbing a cage and elbow dropping my uncle repeatedly was so awesome and hilarious to 14 year old me. I got a Playstation the Christmas after WWF Attitude came out. Later on my friend lent me his copy of Xenogears and that was pretty awesome as well.
Oh yes my dude, those wwf games were the time in my life I was absolutely up the wall about the graphics and didn't think it could get any better! How wrong we were, and those games while I'll still pick up and play from time to time, did not stand up the test of time whatsoever. They held us over till we got the smackdown games at least and if you never played in your house I'd give it a recommendation, lots of hours in the game.
I remember playing some wrestling game as a kid where you could leave the arena, fight backstage, outside, in Vince McMahon's trailer, *all the hell over*, and I thought that was so cool. Could never remember which one it was, though.
One of the smackdown games maybe
Me yelling out “Volcano!” or “Gust of Wind Dance!” when I play fight with my friends. I still do a play through of it whenever I get a new handheld emulator.
Xenogears
Psychonauts. Especially the 2nd game, like holy shit the Psy King’s mind especially is cool as fuck
Old choice - Digimon World 1. Like it was so ahead of it's time that no digimon game has ever caught up to it yet. New Choice - Dark Souls and Bloodborne. These games evoked emotions in me that I had never felt before. So much depth, maturity and rawness. I'm not ashamed to say I cried at moments playing these games. Legends. Absolute legends.
FF7,8 and 9, metal gear solid, silent hill and resident evil especially.
FF7
Tekken 3 , Gran Turismo , Final Fantasy 9
Formula 1
Star Ocean: The Second Story was my first JRPG and I was blown away by the scope, the battle system, and all the cool things you could do (item creation, private actions). This set the tone for my JRPG journey and the PS1 was the perfect system for this. Chrono Cross blew me away with its surreal story, emotional music, and vibrant visuals. FF7 blew me away in every way possible. Driver blew me away with its fun physics and especially with its visuals and Director Mode for car chases. This was over the top fun for me because I love editing camera angles. NHL '99 blew me away with its fun physics, great replays, and amazing commentary. I remember my friend made a sloppy pass to his own goalie and it almost went in the net and the announcer said, "(player name) makes a BAD decision with that pass in front of his own net!" and my friend said, "That was a bad decision, this AI is good." Castlevania: SOTN blew me away with its atmosphere, endless array of items, enemies, and secrets, and wonderful music.
Batman & Robin, the most ambitious game made at the time.
FFVII-IX
Not a game, per se, but I was a console gamer through the 90s and had a Super Nintendo and Genesis with a PlayStation joining in Christmas of 99. Sprite based stuff and Mario 64 polys was all I knew for video games. I aquired a PlayStation Underground disc and was blown away by the fact that my freaking video game system was playing a video shot on camera! It was a Madden game video, I think, but it was just so weird how my video game suddenly felt like a video tape.
We got in the boat around them same time so I feel that forsure. Was such a wild thing to experience that, even the cgi which you thought the game was gonna look like the whole time but looked completely different, which was fine but sometimes catfished my forsure.
RE 1-3, Dino Crisis, Megaman X4 - X6... Best CAPCOM days ever...
Tekken 3
SH1, Ridge Racer Type4, Resident Evil 2, MGS
FF7 blew my mind as a kid. The summon animations were crazy impressive for me...going to that from playing 2D Mario on a super nintendo was nutty at the time for my brain to comprehend.
Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed as it was the very first thing I saw and played on PlayStation. Then probably Syphon Filter 3, the first level felt mind blowing at that time.
Splinter Cell Double Agent When I saw that game running in 2006, I knew I needed a ps3 at that momen edit: I am just realizing this not the ps3 sub, my bad...in that case then I would say...Tenchu
All is good, I think for me it was resistance fall of man, that game was soooo crazy with (could be wrong) 32 players online at once. Have recently thought about buying a ps3 for that game,mgs4, and the twisted metal I never played for ps3.
I don’t play it anymore, but back then the CGs and 3D fights of tekken 2 got me hooked, perhaps because 3D was mind blowing in on itself. I dare say I played it more than tekken 3. Also ROCKman x4 (I say rock because japanese version was leagues better) because I was a huge fan of the franchise, and coming from the SNES to a full anime opening with a very catchy music and voice acting (the japanese was decent) intro was a huge leap. Every now and then I listen to its soundtrack.
For PSX, Final Fantasy 7
Not even the best games, Simple ones like cool boarders or abes odyssey hooked me before any blockbuster games
First grand theft auto. Just loved it and also Driver. Ones of my favs
Destiny and gta 5
Klonoa Door to Phantomile blew my mind such a simple control concept well executed, cute art but unexpectedly touching story.
Ok it’s super old title “D”. Just D It’s short , you don’t get to save it , if you make a wrong move you’re instantly dead. It’s a weird creepy horror family drama with ***spoiler alert Vampire as the end baddie . The OG jump scare game for me. But it’s super interesting and has a few ways to play it if you want to replay. I think it has a few endings : good/bad. Also Star Ocean. It was so fun, so huge, and my first time with item creation and some customization (outside of FF classes you can choose) And final fantasy 7 was probably the most impactful for my LIFE. Formed my personality and entire taste for games & every game I played after
Xenogears. Still far and away the greatest story I have ever experienced in any form of media.
Triple Play 99 it was like watching a live game
Oh man msg is a classic, the game that truly blew my mind was FF7 I lost soooo many months of my life to that game 😂
Some personal favorites: - Quake II > the psx port was a technical marvel - Driver > a pre-GTA open world title on the psx(!) - Resident Evil 2 > a Romero zombie apocalypse come to life
For me it was Resident Evil. It was the first game I seen for PlayStation. To that point I only has a SNES as a kid and I was blown away by the graphics of it.
Yeah, Final Fantasy series! 🥰
Resident Evil. I was blown away by how a game could scare the shit out of me
Castlevania nes circa 1986, then wolfenstein vga pc, then Mario n64….but within the last year: finding out that toy story 2 was on psx and not just n64, way easier and less glitchy to emulate
GT. it looked better than any sim on pc on vastly inferior hardware than a custom rig.
Bushido Blade was the first psx game I played and I remember thinking it looked like really life. MGS and FFVIII were the next two that destroyed my perceptions.
Star Ocean Second Story. Didn’t help that my sound system was turned way up. Epic opening.
Crash Bandicoot 2. I just remember feeling like the jungle went on *forever* past where I could see. How did they fit this much *stuff* in a level?! Years later, the answer is...clever culling! Very close and aggressive culling, along with precise control of where the camera was allowed to go. It's still impressive that they could pull it off on the PS1 to this day.
Pac-mans world
Virtua Fighter 2 on the Sega Saturn
Gran turismo, mgs, syphon filter all blew my mind.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It blew my mind as a kid seeing dust particles reflect the light shining through the windows. It's a shame the character models in that game are some of the worst to ever exist, because aside from that the game actually looks quite good
Street Fighter 2 man, the crowds around that cab back in 1990, there hasn't been anything like that feeling since.
For me it was Demolition Derby and Twisted Metal, my friend would rent it almost every weekend and would invite a bunch of us over for pure mayhem! I recall the graphics being pretty good for that time, as 3D graphics were just being introduced to games
Tomba 2 was crazy to my little mind. Finding something and going what the heck is that only to unlock something later that would solve that problem and going "omg the thing I can do the thing!" Over and over. No quest markers, but the maps are designed so well you kust know while also being rewarded for exploring. Such great memories.
Syphon Filter because it actually felt like you were James Bond. Despite the butt ugly graphics, you had a lot of freedom of movement. Doing tuck rolls and coming out guns blazing. Also I remember using the shotgun and it actually blew the character backwards. Great physics for the time.
Legend of Legaia.
Final fantasy 7. Never has a game completely consumed my entire life. I was probably around 12 or 13 when it came out and I maxed out the game clock at 99 hours and 59 mintues more than once. The characters, summons, gold saucer, midgar... the entire world was absolute perfection in my eyes. Favorite game of all time by a mile and the only final fantasy I've ever beaten. I got pretty far in 8, dabbled in 9 but they could never compare to 7 for me.
Tomb Raider, 007, metal gear solid, pokemon, Red Dead, Gta
what are you talking about?? it’s psx here!
Lol. Does Tomb Raider qualify?
yes! and gta and mgs as well, not so sure for pokemon and 007 :D
Guy was just cranking them out there! But I'm for it haha
Actually World of Warcraft. I was one of the beta users and god, the feeling was overwhelming. I played many games before and loved them, but wow was just WOW! I don't play it anymore, but I remember how it was like and I never had that game feeling anymore after. [EDIT] I didn't see the sub name, sorry 🙄😂
All is good, never had a computer growing up, but I was around for the wow craze and lost alot of friends to that game lolololol once they picked it up you rarely ever saw them anymore.
Shadow of mordor
MGS2. That game was top-to-bottom chock full of incredible moments, surprises, red herrings, and misdirections. There was absolutely no way to guess where that game was going. It still blows my mind.
Gta 3 was got me to buy that ps2, I played it at my cousins house and had to have it.
I remember renting GTAIII as a kid with my buddy and realizing just truly how game changing it was in real time.