Let's Reminisce: Sony Playstation

[Uriel]

The PS1 was my favorite console ever (I went Colecovision->NES->SNES->N64->PS1). Just so many iconic games, and a lot of people forget what a haven for experimentation it was. Any crazy concept could get published (by a major publisher), and I remember those MASSIVE game mags containing more releases for a month than today's consoles seem to get in a year. There was a lot of crap, but there were also a lot of gems that could never be a retail release today. Nowadays I also perceive a bit of charm in primitive 3D graphics. The models themselves had an element of "style" to them parallel to the actual art direction, trying to see what they could build with so few pieces. Today's 3D modelers don't have to be so creative since they can perfectly render whatever they're asked to.

[Nash]

Which was better, One or Apocalypse?

I only played a little bit of Apocalypse at a friend's house, but I remember not enjoying it as much as One.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

I haven't gotten to the point where the playstation's shitty textures are charming, but I used to detest flat shaded polys and now I find them very charming indeed.
It pains my inner nerd to say, but at this point...I'd take the playstation library over the SNES and Genesis combined.
Like Uriel said, there are so many crazy games for it. Jesus Christ, just based on Artdink's games alone you have outstanding creativity and experimentation.
Carnage Heart? Aquanauts Holiday? Tail of the Sun? Pure bliss.

[gameoverDude]

Out of the launch titles, my pick was Raiden Project. Raiden II is either perfect or at least damn close, and the original Raiden put the Genesis 8-Meg cart to shame. Unfortunately SCEA made a lame choice that forced Tate-ers to play with their controller turned 90 degrees. The walking tank bosses' animation at the end of stage 1, downed enemy popcorn planes crashing into houses and causing damage, gunports opening and closing on boats, large aircraft plummeting into a forest and taking out trees, and the 3D rotating asteroids are just some of Raiden II's greatest parts. Then there's the Purple Toothpaste Laser that locks onto a larger enemy and snakes around. Raiden II truly took advantage of 32-bit- it could probably have been attempted on Genesis, but in that case the graphics would have had to be extremely stripped down while losing a lot of the slick animations, colors, and special effects.

Capcom got more out of the PS1 in Strider 2 than you'd think possible. They made 2.5D work really well here. Hiryu's new moves like dashing, double jumps, and midare-giri savage slashes kick the pace up a bit over the original Strider. Its background textures may look a bit rough today and some boss battles have serious slowdown, but the 2D sprite art is amazing and the gameplay holds up nicely. An HD remake of Strider 2 would be welcome.

Some of my other favorites on PS1 are NBA JAM TE, RayStorm, RayCrisis, N2O, G.Darius, Gunner's Heaven/Rapid Reload, Ridge Racer, and Xevious 3D/G.
I traded in 30 Genesis games on launch day to pick up the PS1 with Ridge Racer, Raiden Project, and NBA JAM.

[No One]

Carnage Heart? Aquanauts Holiday? Tail of the Sun? Pure bliss.

I don't know what's more insane: that these games were ever given a green light at all, or that all three of them came out here. Carnage Heart in particular had just insane depth. It was months before I could competently "program" something, but it felt like a huge accomplishment when I finally came up with a routine that worked. I was a bit sad to see that Tail of the Sun was listed on HG101's list of shitty games. I thought it was brilliant.

Edit: Oh, and I can't believe I forgot to mention Blood Omen and PaRappa. Blood Omen was one of the first games I ever owned for the PSX (and the first game I ever bought on PSN), and I still get a huge kick out of it. PaRappa was great, although I preferred Umjammer Lammy. I thought both Bust a Moove/Groove titles (the Enix dancing games) were pretty fun, too. Now that I think about it, there was a lot of pretty experimental stuff coming out back then.

[Diff-chan]

There was another Carnage Heart on PSP, I wish it came out here. It feels like we have regressed. Bloom Omen was rad, except for the load times.

I played a ton of PSX games but I can't remember many. I loved Tomba! 2. I also thought Trap Gunner was kind of neat. It'd make a cool XBLA game today.

[Fe 26]

Bloom Omen .

Bloom'n Onion?

[jyoung]

How were the Clock Tower sequels?

They seem to go for much less money than the original, especially 3.

[kingoffighters]

Ghost in the Shell is another gem. Sure, it looks terrible now but it was a good game.

A lot of people didn't like Tempest X, but I did. Plus, you can unlock Tempest 2000 (not sure how authentic it is though compared to the Jag version).

[No One]

Almost forgot this gem.