{"id":13183,"date":"2015-02-27T00:01:11","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T00:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=13183"},"modified":"2015-02-22T23:29:19","modified_gmt":"2015-02-22T23:29:19","slug":"carys-top-playstation-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/27\/carys-top-playstation-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Cary’s Top PlayStation Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"klonoaicon\"<\/a>It\u2019s the 20th<\/sup> Anniversary of the original PlayStation!\u00a0 Well, technically 2014 was, since it was released in Japan in 1994.\u00a0 BUT, I\u2019m counting the US release, which was 20 year ago.\u00a0 So in honor of that, here is a list of my favorite original PlayStation games!\u00a0 Keep in mind that list this isn\u2019t in any particular order, though.\u00a0 All right, let\u2019s begin!<\/p>\n

Well, before we begin, a little bit of background info.\u00a0 While the PlayStation had many milestones, which you can read about elsewhere on the Internet, it was a milestone console for me personally as well.\u00a0 It was the first non-Nintendo console I owned in ten years.\u00a0 My first gaming consoles were an Apple][+ PC and an Atari 5200.\u00a0 But after I got the NES, I was a Nintendo only console household up until the N64.\u00a0 The N64 was great, but it had a serious lack of games at first.\u00a0 I was reviewing games for The Dallas Morning News at the time, and wanted to review as many games as I could (because I was actually getting paid for it back then).\u00a0 And the N64 just wasn\u2019t cutting it.\u00a0 The year that Diddy Kong Racing was Nintendo\u2019s \u2018big\u2019 holiday release (don\u2019t get me wrong, it was a great game), that was the same year I got a PSX.\u00a0 That was a couple of years after the console\u2019s release, though.\u00a0 When the PSX first came out, I was still happy playing games like Chrono Trigger and Yoshi\u2019s Island on my SNES.\u00a0 When I bought a PSX, I was in college and really couldn\u2019t afford it, but it was one of the best gaming purchases I ever made.\u00a0 After I bought one, I was reviewing games left and right for that thing.<\/p>\n

Even though the PlayStation isn\u2019t my favorite game console (that would be the SNES), I would say it\u2019s probably in my top five.\u00a0 While the PS2 was more refined and had more polished games and could play DVDs, there was just something charming about the original PlayStation\u2019s simplicity.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it was more memorable to me for some reason.\u00a0 Also, at this time it seemed that with the new CD-ROM medium, the possibilities were endless and game developers had a whole world to explore waiting for them.\u00a0 That was the same kind of attitude I had in college (which quickly crashed and burned once I got out in the real world).\u00a0 But since I got my PSX in college, it was a good pairing.\u00a0 And finally, back then it seemed like game developers were making games on that console with their heart, not their wallets.\u00a0 You can tell that in many of the games on my list.\u00a0 Remember that as you read onward.<\/p>\n

Namco Museum vol. 1 to 5<\/strong><\/p>\n

The five Namco Museums on the PSX are probably my favorite games on that console, as well as one of my top five favorite game series of all time.\u00a0 Namco Museum vol. 2 was the first game I got for my PlayStation, and I was excited to be able to play Super Pac-Man again.\u00a0 The opening cutscene just blew me away back then.\u00a0 Plus, you all know I like classic Namco arcade games anyway.\u00a0 But what was cool about this game was that you could walk through a virtual 3-D museum, with facts on each game and a special themed room where you played the arcade cabinet.\u00a0 This was back when the Internet wasn\u2019t so big and you couldn\u2019t get all sorts of info on old arcade games.\u00a0 And \u2018multimedia\u2019 was still a buzz word.\u00a0 But what was really cool about this was that when I was little, I imagined a theme park where you could play arcade games in themed rooms.\u00a0 Like a Pac-Man room.\u00a0 And the Namco Museums were almost exactly what I imagined, so that was really cool.\u00a0 Of course my park had rides, too, like a Centipede roller coaster.\u00a0 But because of all those things, that\u2019s why I really like the Namco Museums on PSX.\u00a0 Arcade collections started getting lots of games during the PS2 era, but I still played a lot in college on the PlayStation.\u00a0 Aside from the Namco Museums, my brothers and I enjoyed playing the Konami Arcade Classics and Bubble Bobble collections mostly.\u00a0 But on the Namco Museums, Jeff loved Ordyne.\u00a0 He would ask to play it and call it \u201cThe Flying Game.\u201d\u00a0 Anyway, I could write whole blogs about the PSX Namco Museums, which I have, but I\u2019ll stop right now.<\/p>\n

Ridge Racer Type 4<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ridge Racer is kind of synonymous with the PlayStation for many reasons, but the arcade game was a launch title for the system.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get into it then, but my dad sure loved playing it in the arcade.\u00a0 Back then, Namco\u2019s slogan was \u201cPowered by Namco\u201d but they should\u2019ve called it \u201cPlayStation Powered by Namco\u201d because they helped carry the system and many of the best games on it were from Namco.\u00a0 Anyway, when Ridge Racer Type 4 came out, I didn\u2019t get it right away because I was still a poor college student.\u00a0 But I wish I would\u2019ve gotten it so I could\u2019ve gotten the JogCon controller that went with it.\u00a0 I did find Type 4 really cheap later on after college at a flea market, still new, so that\u2019s when I got into Ridge Racer games.\u00a0 Type 4 had a good amount of tracks, tons of cars to unlock, and excellent graphics at the time.\u00a0 I also thought the Ridge Racer race queen Reiko Nagase was cool for some reason, even though she didn\u2019t do anything in the game.\u00a0 Many people on the Internet say she was modeled after a guy, but that doesn\u2019t surprise me because many animated characters are designed by whoever made them, and even will look in the mirror to base facial expressions off of them.\u00a0 If anything, I feel sorry for the guy she was designed after because he must\u2019ve been a really feminine looking guy!\u00a0 Anyway, Ridge Racer Type 4 was really fun and it\u2019s what got me into the series from them on.<\/p>\n

Pac-Man World<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pac-Man World isn\u2019t really that great of a platformer, but I have special memories associated with it anyway.\u00a0 It was the first game I got to follow from start to finish in development as a game reviewer for the newspaper, and I got to know several of the members of the team who made it.\u00a0 I enjoyed seeing them and their progress every year at E3, and they were really nice, too.\u00a0 In fact, when Pac-Man World 2 came out, that was about the time that I was let go from the newspaper, and I emailed them and told them not to send me a review copy after all since I wouldn\u2019t be able to review it.\u00a0 Well they sent me a copy of the game anyway and they all signed the box!\u00a0 I thought that was really cool, and I\u2019ll never forget that.<\/p>\n

Point Blank 1-3<\/strong><\/p>\n

I loved played Point Blank in the arcade.\u00a0 It was a silly light gun arcade shooting gallery.\u00a0 I had all three home versions on the PSX and even got two GunCon controllers so I could play it with my brothers.\u00a0 I\u2019m surprised Namco never made a Point Blank game on the Wii.\u00a0 Seems like the perfect system for it.\u00a0 They did release a weird DS Point Blank game where you used the touch screen to shoot, though.<\/p>\n

Mr. Driller<\/strong><\/p>\n

I first played Mr. Driller in an arcade and loved it, and sat there for two straight hours playing it the first time I saw it.\u00a0 It was a simple 2-D action puzzler that could\u2019ve come out ten years before, but Namco had the balls to release it when they did.\u00a0 When I got the home version, I discovered it had awesome music, too, and the game\u2019s composer, Go Shiina, became my favorite video game music composer after that.\u00a0 I wish we could\u2019ve gotten Mr. Driller Drill Land in the US when it came out on the GameCube in Japan.<\/p>\n

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile<\/strong><\/p>\n

Klonoa is an amazing 2-D platformer.\u00a0 It impacted me so much I still use the name Klonoa for console nicknames when going online (like on the 360 and Wii U).\u00a0 Klonoa had memorable characters, settings and music.\u00a0 The play control was tight and the simple gameplay mechanics were used in so many creative ways.\u00a0 And for such a cutesy game, it had a surprisingly sad ending.\u00a0 The original game is hard to find now, but luckily you can play it on PSN (as well as the Namco Museums), and there was a pretty slick Wii remake a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Final Fantasy 9<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back when I was in high school and college, I was a huge Square fanboy.\u00a0 But you really can\u2019t blame me, as that was when they were doing classics on the SNES like FF4, FF6, Secret of Mana, and Chrono Trigger.\u00a0 All on Nintendo systems.\u00a0 So it was kind of a shock when they jumped ship and started making games for the PlayStation.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the reasons why I got a PSX.\u00a0 I had just finished enjoyed Final Fantasy 6, which ended up being one of my top five favorite games of all time, so I HAD to play FF7.\u00a0 Unfortunately, while I did appreciate Square trying to be different with FF7, ultimately after beating it, I decided I didn\u2019t like it very much, and I never even bothered with FF8.\u00a0 Some of Square\u2019s other 32-bit offerings, like the depressing Xenogears, was the cause for me starting to get out of RPGs at this time (college and life commitments helped, too, so it\u2019s not all their fault).\u00a0 But then a glimmer of hope came with Final Fantasy 9.\u00a0 FF9 paid homage to classic FF games on the NES and SNES, and it\u2019s really what FF7 and 8 should\u2019ve been.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost as if Square was saying, \u201cHey FF fans, thanks for sticking with us. We\u2019ll be taking the FF franchise to bold and new directions in the future, so here\u2019s one last game for you old school fans who fear change.\u00a0 Go nuts.\u201d\u00a0 I wish Square still made games like that.\u00a0 Sure you might get a FF Dimensions on iPad or Bravely Default on 3DS, but it\u2019s not the same.<\/p>\n

Brave Fencer Musashi<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another reason why I kind of got out of Square games in the 32-bit era was because they were all becoming all dark and angsty and depressing (and long and meandering).\u00a0 But just when I was about to lose all hope, they released Brave Fencer Musashi.\u00a0 It was an action adventure game like Zelda, but very silly and light hearted.\u00a0 Later on, they made another action game on the PSX I liked called Threads of Fate, but it wasn\u2019t as good as Brave Fencer Musashi.\u00a0 They made a sequel on the PS2 called Samurai Legend Musashi, but it wasn\u2019t very good at all.<\/p>\n

Chocobo Racing<\/strong><\/p>\n

The N64 did have better kart racers than the PSX, that\u2019s for sure.\u00a0 It took a few years before Sony would be able to compete with the likes of Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing.\u00a0 But once they finally released Crash Team Racing, Sony had a good kart racer to compete with Nintendo.\u00a0 But for me, I really liked Chocobo Racing better.\u00a0 It probably mostly has to do with the fact that I like Final Fantasy better than Crash Bandicoot.\u00a0 A lot of reviewers bashed Chocobo Racing, but I didn\u2019t think it was THAT bad.\u00a0 It had some awesome FF themed race tracks and music, and lots of secrets.\u00a0 You could even customize your own kart specs and unlock super-secret racers like the guy from 3-D WorldRunner!\u00a0 I even liked the ending song.\u00a0 It kind of symbolizes how I kind of got out of the Square loop and said \u2018goodbye\u2019 as a fan.\u00a0 Go to YouTube and search for \u201cDiamonds in my Heart\u201d if you\u2019d like to hear it.<\/p>\n

Mega Man 8<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aside from Namco and Square, Capcom had a lot of games on the PlayStation I really enjoyed.\u00a0 Around the time of Mega Man\u2019s 10th<\/sup> Anniversary, they made a bunch of Mega Man games that year, and most were really good.\u00a0 Sure, Mega Man 8 has bad voice acting (which I think makes it more memorable) and there was that \u2018jump, jump, slide, slide\u2019 thing, but otherwise I really liked Mega Man 8 and I thought it was a very polished game.\u00a0 I loved the cartoony graphics and while I liked the idea of future Mega Man games being 8-bit looking, I wish they would\u2019ve made more modern cartoony Mega Man games as well.<\/p>\n

Mega Man X4<\/strong><\/p>\n

I never was a big fan of the more \u2018serious\u2019 X series, but I will say that the first Mega Man X is exactly what the series needed at the time.\u00a0 Most of the sequels were more of the same (aren\u2019t they all), but Mega Man X4 felt significantly improved for some reason.\u00a0 Plus you got to play as Zero.\u00a0 X5 was at least playable, and was really the end of the series, but Capcom got too greedy and X6 was one of the worst Mega Man games ever made.\u00a0 It went downhill from there, unfortunately.<\/p>\n

Mega Man Legends 1 and 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Remember when I said at the beginning of my blog that game makers back in this time were making games more with their heart instead of their wallets?\u00a0 This is the perfect example of what I\u2019m talking about.\u00a0 The characters in these games were so likable and charming that Capcom still uses them in titles like Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Dead Rising.\u00a0 I will say these games haven\u2019t aged well.\u00a0 I think if they would\u2019ve waited until the PS2, the games would\u2019ve benefitted from better controls with dual joysticks, and cel shaded graphics (they seemed to want to make the game look like a cartoon anyway).\u00a0 I\u2019m REALLY sad that Capcom cancelled Mega Man Legends 3 on the 3DS.\u00a0 They just aren\u2019t the same company anymore.<\/p>\n

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yup, the bad guys in the Mega Man Legends games were so popular, they got their own game!\u00a0 I love, love, love this game, and it won my Game of the Year when it came out.\u00a0 It even beat better games like Banjo-Tooie and Majora\u2019s Mask (yes I am insane).\u00a0 This was a unique mix of action, puzzles, RPG, and simulation.\u00a0 I\u2019m also really proud that I have this game still, because it\u2019s REALLY rare!\u00a0 Forget Mega Man Legends 3, I want Capcom to make a sequel to this!<\/p>\n

Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I saw this game really cheap, I snatched it up right away.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of my top favorite puzzle games alongside plain ol\u2019 Tetris and Puzzle Bubble\/Bust-A-Move.\u00a0 Back in the day, I got REALLY good at it, too.\u00a0 I bet I could\u2019ve beaten all of you at it.\u00a0 Luckily you can still download this game on many different consoles.\u00a0 But I won\u2019t challenge you anymore, I haven\u2019t played it in a while and I\u2019m probably out of practice!<\/p>\n

Tail Concerto<\/strong><\/p>\n

Atlus used to make games I like, but not anymore.\u00a0 This was published by Atlus and I loved it.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of a cross between Mega Man Legends and Ape Escape.\u00a0 You\u2019re a police dog named Waffle and ride around in a mech and must catch little naughty kittens around town.\u00a0 The game has a charming Miyazaki-like storyline with lots of animated cutscenes and voices.\u00a0 The interesting thing is that more than ten years later, this game finally got a sequel on the DS called Solatorobo.\u00a0 It was still fun, but not as charming as Tail Concerto.\u00a0 This is another rare game I\u2019m proud of.<\/p>\n

Tomba 1 and 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

These were 2-D platformers that played like Monster World or Metroid games.\u00a0 You played as a pink-haired cave boy and defeated evil pigs.\u00a0 The first game used sprites with 3-D backgrounds, but the sequel was all 3-D but was still on a 2-D plane.\u00a0 Both of these games are pretty rare now, but you can download and play them on PSN.\u00a0 Just stay away from Tomba 2 on PSN, as it\u2019s the Japanese version.\u00a0 Goals were pretty unclear to begin with in English!\u00a0 I still really liked these games, though.<\/p>\n

Ape Escape<\/strong><\/p>\n

One thing that N64 had over the PSX was 3-D platformers.\u00a0 The N64 had stuff like Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie and its sequel, DK 64, and much more.\u00a0 Sony\u2019s platformers were not so good most of the time.\u00a0 I never liked Crash Bandicoot, and the less said about Captain Blasto the better (although he was voiced by Phil Hartman, R.I.P.).\u00a0 Even Sony\u2019s better platformers, like Spyro and Medievil, were not as good as the ones on N64.\u00a0 But late in the life of the PlayStation, when they released the Dual Shock controller, they also came out with Ape Escape.\u00a0 You used gadgets controlled by the dual analog stick to catch monkeys.\u00a0 The game was very cute and colorful and loads of fun.\u00a0 They continued making sequels on the PS2 and I enjoyed those as well.\u00a0 I wish Sony would still make Ape Escape games.\u00a0 I might have a PS4 by now if they did.\u00a0 Anyway, Ape Escape was really neat and they made sneaking up on monkeys really fun, and normally I don\u2019t like stealth in games.<\/p>\n

G-Darius<\/strong><\/p>\n

And finally, Darius is one of my favorite shooter series.\u00a0 You shoot robot fish, yup.\u00a0 The neat thing about this game is that you can capture enemies and they\u2019ll be on your side.\u00a0 You can use their weapons, make them be a shield, or even power up your super laser with them.\u00a0 There was another shooter called Einhander from Square that was pretty good, too.\u00a0 But I liked G-Darius a little more.<\/p>\n

Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all for now!\u00a0 In the comments section, let me know what you think of my picks, and tell me your favorite PlayStation games.\u00a0 Later!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s the 20th Anniversary of the original PlayStation!\u00a0 Well, technically 2014 was, since it was released in Japan in 1994.\u00a0 BUT, I\u2019m counting the US release, which was 20 year ago.\u00a0 So in honor of that, here is a list of my favorite original PlayStation games!\u00a0 Keep in mind that list this isn\u2019t in any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13183"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13186,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13183\/revisions\/13186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}