PS1 Xmas Gift

kuhlmeye

My younger brother has decided to take the old PS1 back to school with him this year. The only problem is he is lacking games. He wants some new ones, but was too young when the PS1 was in it's prime to know what is worth a damn. So, it's my job to get him a couple games that he will enjoy. One he has asked for is FFIX, which is a good idea by him. Any other good PS1 games the fine folks here can recommend. Probably looking a mostly RPG's, and my local game store has a pretty good selection last time I checked.

Thanks!

badpoet

I'll preface by saying I'm not sure how expensive these things are these days, but, here are few games I really loved on that platform:

Suikoden
Wild Arms
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
Grandia
Xenogears
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Tekken
Grand Turismo II
Space Griffon
Wipeout 1 or 3
Tenchu 2
Bushido Blade
NHL 2000
Road Rash
Need for Speed
Syndicate Wars.

badpoet

I left off the Battle Arena Toshinden games, and I really loved those fighting games at the time. I'm sure they don't hold up though.

Kick_04

If he asked for FFIX, would have to get FFVII, Xenogears, & Chrono Cross.

Another one that I loved playing was Legend of Legia (never played 2nd so can't comment on it).

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver isn't exactly an RPG, but is puzzle heavy.

Pantshandshake

FF Tactics!

Enc

Keep in mind the PS1 version of a lot of these games can run 50-100 bucks, even with digital versions floating on the more recent consoles.

Donovan Puppyfucker

Resident Evil 2, Metal Gear Solid, Wipeout, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Tomba.

Yeah I know none of those are RPGs, but they ARE all-time classics native to the console.

Steev

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain for an overhead Zelda-ish hack and slash adventure with good voice acting for its time. It's also pretty bloody.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is its sequel, which did a lot of neat things involving shifting between the spirit/real world. Might feel a little dated these days.

I really liked the Arc the Lad Collection, which had Arc the Lad 1-3. Unfortunately I can imagine it being pretty expensive these days. Nice little JRPGs that were brought to the US around the end of its lifespan. In fact, I'm pretty sure the PS2 was already out at the time. I never did get too far in the third one.

kuhlmeye

Enc wrote: »

Keep in mind the PS1 version of a lot of these games can run 50-100 bucks, even with digital versions floating on the more recent consoles.

Yeah, I know. I checked out my local place yesterday, and prices were... reasonable. FFIX was the black label I think, and they were asking 20. They're doing christmas sales this week, and I'm hoping PS1 games show up as buy 2 get 1 or something along those lines.

I know he's played Tactics, 7 and 8 for Final Fantasy. I'm not super well versed on other PS1 rpgs from the time though. I think I might have a copy of Metal Gear Solid I can gift him...

Enc

Suikoden 2 is amazing, Suikoden 1 is ok, but loading a file from 1 makes 2 even better.

I'm a big fan of Legend of Mana and Chrono Cross.

Kick_04

I have no idea on the pricing right now, but the other game I played a ton of was Lunar: Silver Star Complete & Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete.

I bought Lunar 1 used, didn't have map/trinket/book. I bought lunar 2 new, had the original box, trinket and map still in plastic wrapping, leather bound book with starting guide, etc.... step-son sold it for drug money...

I forgot about Legend of Mana, I played a lot of that game as well. Not as much as Legend of Legia or Lunar.

Reznik

Does your brother have a DS or whatever it was that they re-released FFIV, V, VI on? If not, you could get him FF Chronicles and FF Anthology. They're... not the greatest because of load times, but if he doesn't have any other way to play them and you can get 'em cheap then it's worth a shot at least for collection purposes.

I never got to play Legend of Dragoon, but a friend of mine liked it an it's another RPG.

MediEvil 1 and 2 are pretty fun action/platformer games with a great style.

If he has any interest in racing or sports games, I had a lot of fun with Jet Moto 2, Cool Boarders 2 and 3, and Sled Storm.

Siska

Silent Hill

Rhesus Positive

Does he have a memory card?

kuhlmeye

I think so, yes. Good idea though. I might pick him up one.

Xaquin

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Final Fantasy Tactics and he'll be set!

I will note that FFT looks like complete ass on a big screen TV though =(

Metalbourne

My personal faves from that era:
wild arms
metal gear solid
Castlevania: sotn
FF tactics
Persona

Out of those, I feel like castlevania has aged the best. Wild arms still has the best intro though.

djmitchella

yes, yes, it does.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrDV6VksSRU

djmitchella

Seconding MGS1, Chrono Cross, Grandia, Suikoden 2, Xenogears. (I really want to replay Xenogears one of these days but I don't think I have the time, and I suspect I'm under-remembering how many random encounters there were)

Also, I don't think anyone's mentioned Tony Hawks' Pro Skater, which may or may not hold up nowadays but was a heck of a lot of fun back then. I'm pretty sure PaRappa the Rapper is still going to be great, even in the face of all the newer equivalents.

JohnnyCache

if he likes fighters, Street Fighter Alpha 3 was the gold standard for quite a while and holds up well. Akuma is OP as fuck in it, though.

Zoku Gojira

Arcade Hits: Shienryu
Front Mission 3
Metal Slug - Any you can find, these are probably collector's items now
Namco Museum Vol. 4 - for Assault, specifically

Donovan Puppyfucker

JohnnyCache wrote: »

if he likes fighters, Street Fighter Alpha 3 was the gold standard for quite a while and holds up well. Akuma is OP as fuck in it, though.

Just like Rare Akuma in SaltyBet...

ASimPerson

One gotcha I discovered when getting PS1 games for my PS2 is finding memory cards that still work.

Donovan Puppyfucker

My old genuine Sony PS1 memory cards still worked the last time I put one in my PS2, which was admittedly a few years ago. The genuine PS2 card still works, too.