The Playstation Appreciation Thread

[NeoZeedeater]

Given that this is a Genesis forum, I imagine a lot of people would like The Adventure of Little Ralph if they haven't played it already. It's a somewhat Ghouls ' N Ghosts-ish platformer.

[DarkDragon]

Get Bloody Roar 1 & 2 if you like 3D fighters. Much more fun than Tekken 1-3 and with awesome metal soundtracks. I also love the Sypro trilogy as well. 2 is probably my least favorite because of how they broke up the worlds but its still good. Love all the Square/Enix rpgs though I wasnt able to puchase them all. I missed Threads of fate and Romancing Saga I think. Also Einhander by Square the best shump of all time for me.

[Barone]

Get Bloody Roar 1 & 2 if you like 3D fighters. Much more fun than Tekken 1-3 and with awesome metal soundtracks. I also love the Sypro trilogy as well. 2 is probably my least favorite because of how they broke up the worlds but its still good. Love all the Square/Enix rpgs though I wasnt able to puchase them all. I missed Threads of fate and Romancing Saga I think. Also Einhander by Square the best shump of all time for me.

Tekken is a way too damn overhyped series IMO, hehe.
DreamFactory's Tobal games are also better than Tekken ones (both in graphics, sound, gameplay and presentation quality). Ehrgeiz, also from DreamFactory, puts Tekken 3 to shame in several different ways.
Racdym's fighting games on the PS1 are also very good. Genei Tougi: Shadow Struggle looks 10x better than the first 2 Tekken games. Heaven's Gate is also cool, however, it's capped at 30 fps. But Critical Blow is, by far, their best effort IMO. It rivals with the best 3D Fighters on the system both in gameplay and technical levels, even with most of the others being later releases.

Bloody Roar & Bloody Roar 2 use totally different graphical engines.
The first game is low res, but has animated 3D backgrounds.
The second game is high res, but uses simpler backgrounds. The characters 3D models look awesome though, so it ends up being more impressive IMO. It also has widescreen support.
Both games are very cool to play, especially in 2P mode.

[tz101]

PSX, to me,is the best 90's game platform, 2nd to none. The sheer volume of quality titles and variety of genres covered back this up. Relatively inexpensive to collect for. There is no reason not to have a good PSX collection from a fun and enjoyability standpoint.

[sheath]

While I was looking to see if any Magazines noticed any of these 60FPS PS1 games back in the day, I stumbled on this gem from the model of game magazine objectivity.

Edge Magazine's Review of Tekken for PS1

Tekken Review






Edge Staff at 12:00am April 27 1995




This review originally appeared in E21, June 1995.

Namco took a significant risk in basing its Tekken coin-op on raw PlayStation hardware, considering that it would be competing directly with Sega’s Model 2-powered Virtua Fighter 2. But, as arcade gamers around the globe will testify, that decision was vindicated: although lacking the overall visual allure of VF2, Tekken not only matches (some would say surpasses) the style and quality of Sega’s character animation, but it pushes its rival to the wire in playability terms, too.


And now, for once, a home system can boast an identical conversion of acutting-edge coin-op – that overused phrase ‘arcade perfect’ actually does apply to PlayStation Tekken. Regardless of its merits as a conversion, though, the game welcomes scrutiny in its own right – it’s fair to say that it jostles with Ridge Racer for consideration as the best PlayStation game yet.


Patently taking its inspiration from the Virtua Fighter series, Tekken presents a 3D polygon environment furnished with Virtua Fighter-style 2D gameplay. A selection of eight fighters present themselves at startup, each with his/her own range of special techniques, and the action takes place against a range of backdrops, varying in colour from the calm blue tones of Lake Windermere to the deep red hues of the superb Monument Valley stage, complete with slowly setting sun.


Rarely has the difference between static screenshots and the game itself been so pronounced as it is with Tekken. Stills may look pretty but they fail to do the game justice: in action, Tekken is like no other title available on a home system. While Virtua Fighter’s motion-captured figures move with a breathtaking level of accuracy, they still fall way short of Tekken’s standards. Here, the characters bear phenomenal levels of shaded, texture-mapped detail and are remarkably fluid. The game runs at 60 fps throughout (the same speed as the Virtua Fighter 2 coin-op), but it’s only during the replay mode (which automatically kicks in at the end of each bout) that you’re able to fully appreciate the grace of Namco’s animation. This is best illustrated by grapples, throws and slams: as soon as one of these moves takes hold, the camera switches to the position that gives you the best vantage point, thus fully exploiting the potential of three dimensions.


With such attention devoted to the fighters’ appearance and movements, it was perhaps inevitable that compromises would be necessary elsewhere. The game offers only flat parallax backdrops which fall far short of the benchmark set by Toh Shin Den, with its expansive, solid 3D features. However, the sheer speed and smoothness of Tekken’s zooming landscapes more than compensate.


Beneath Tekken’s head-turning graphical flair lies a beat ’em up of unmatched sophistication. Although it essentially plays very similarly to Virtua Fighter, Tekken differs in that each of the PlayStation pad’s four main buttons controls a fighter’s limb, each of which in turn has its own characteristics. Certain characters can manage only a jab with their left arm, for example, while their right arm is able to deliver a meatier, more substantial blow. The game arguably has as many possible moves as Virtua Fighter, plus many other cunning tactics to enhance the gameplay. When floored by an opponent, for instance, it’s possible to either get straight to your feet, roll towards or away from danger, or even flip directly back into the fray with an attack – a hugely satisfying gameplay twist.

Beat ’em ups are respected for their ability to supply twoplayer enjoyment but are often accused of limited oneplayer longevity. Tekken is really no exception – with continues, you should be able to master all five of its difficulty settings in the first day’s play. But there are also nine extra boss characters to control and hidden extras which allow you to fiddle around with additional playing modes.


Tekken’s sound is just as well-realised as its visuals. The selection of powerful tunes which play from CD have been ‘arranged’ to sound even better than the chip-generated coin-op music (although you can still select the originals in the options mode), and the samples and effects burst forth just as effectively, courtesy of the PlayStation’s SPU.


The painfully long loading times ofCD-based systems is, of course, a familiar complaint, but it’s in this area that Tekken finally overpowers its competitors – the initial boot-up (during the splendid, arcade-perfect Galaga game) lasts just eight seconds, and between-bout delays are non-existent.

Tekken rips up the rule book and delivers an experience that even its £2000 coin-op namesake can’t match. Expect to see it alongside Ridge Racer on the shelf marked ‘Absolute Essentials’.

Interestingly enough I was just reading in Sony's officially sanctioned book "Revolutionaries at Sony" that Namco was dumbfounded by Sega's creation of Virtua Fighter. The book claims that nobody thought such a game could be made until the new millennium and Namco was left without any answer in hardware or software. Until, that is, Sony announced its Playstation based Arcade board. Thanks to Sony, Namco was able to create the "mind blowing" Tekken and Tekken 2 they otherwise would not have been able to release in step with Sega's Virtua Fighter 2.

Shenanigans.

[old man]

I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun "Legend of Mana" turned out to be.

[Segadream]

And lets not forget Castlevania SOTN.

Who could ever?
And I like this one even though I have no idea what I'm doing when I play,

Besides being trippy as hell, the music seems to be as random as the levels.
If your Ps1 is modded I recommend this game.
Interesting to say the least.

[sheath]

I'm not sure why I always thought Tekken 1 & 2 were 30FPS and only Tekken 3 got to 60FPS. I'm also not sure why I've had so many conversations with Sony fans about 60FPS games and only Tekken 3 ever came up.

At any rate, like the first Tekken, Fighter's Impact by Taito is another 60FPS 512x240 resolution 3D Fighter for the early PS1 library, unfortunately only released in Japan. The links above have 60FPS DIVX videos captured from ePSXe. What is amazing about this game aside from the framerate is the real time shadow casting effect, it's better than anything I have seen that generation.

[The Jackal]

I dont get why people write off alot of 3D PS1 games; yeah, sure, a few were ugly, especially some of the earlier titles, but later ones looked and played great. Terracon (EUR only) C-12, the MediEvil games, Pandemonium 1+2 (it's polygons dammit), the Crash games, Spyro games, Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Driver 1 (again EUR only) + 2 and others still shine even to this day.

Special mention: Even though I prefer playing the superior Dreamcast port, I still fucking adore the original PS1 version of Soul Reaver. Both from a technical standpoint and as a game; that single title alone made the machine for me.

[old man]

[sheath]

Ninja was a flipping terrible game that simultaneously exemplifies how limited most "3D" games were at the time.

[KitsuneNight]

i played a demo of that
i still remember just how awfull the grpahics were and how unresponsive it was

then again it was done by core so thats not much of a surprise

[sheath]

Core was absolutely awesome at the time, they went south quickly after Sony paid them off to farm out nothing but Tomb Raider sequels. I haven't gone back to find the source but I think the founders of the company left shortly after Tomb Raider II was finished. So it is more accurate to say that Core under Eidos and Sony flat out sucked. Oddly enough Ninja started out life as a VDP2 exploiting Saturn game, but there is no excuse for the poor level design and gameplay.

[old man]

Ninja wasn't that bad

I'm not big on furry games, but I always liked the demo to "Tai Fu wrath of the tiger" I had. I still need to get the full game.

[The Jackal]

Jersey Devil, I can't tell if this is a good game or a bad one. Looking at the video, it looks alright, but I remember renting the game out years ago and getting stuck on the thing I hate most about 3d platformers: Cheap bottomless pits and moving platforms. Anyone able to throw their opinion on this?