After a failed partnership with Nintendo in the early 90s, Sony dived headfirst into the deep end of the home console market. Released in 1995 (US and Europe) the PlayStation offered 32-bit CD gaming and stood alongside the SEGA Saturn and N64. Thanks to a decent line up of games and lifetime sales of 102 million units it’s safe to say that the project was a success and the rest, as they say, is history. With over 3,000 games released there was always something to play and here’s ten that you simply must play.
THE LEGEND OF DRAGOON
With remasters of classic RPG’s flooding the markets, we can only hope and pray The Legend of Dragoon will find it’s way back into the spotlight. A fresh twist on turn-based combat, the game implemented a QTE system to level up and unlock new attacks. The game features well-rounded characters, emotional storytelling, and plenty of dragons. It gets everything right in the era of late 90s RPG’s.
PARAPPER THE RAPPER
As far rhythm games are concerned, PaRappa the Rapper is a must-play. The game is about a dog that wants to win over a flower by rapping. A true modern-day love story. The unique art style and catchy songs make this a memorable experience. It even spawned a sequel and an anime series.
TOMB RAIDER
This game needs no introduction. The Lara Croft action-adventure video game has come a long way since its initial release back in 1996, but there’s no denying that the original games were the most fun. Complete with her triangular body, Lara has to overcome some insanely difficult puzzles as she traverses the globe in search of a trio of ancient artefacts.
FINAL FANTASY VII
Considered one of the all-time greats Final Fantasy VII was a giant leap in storytelling and visuals wrapped in magic. Ok, so the main in-game backgrounds were all pre-rendered and only the characters were created as basic 3D models but the experience was cinematic and deep. Simply unlike anything before and loved enough that we will finally see the release of the remake this year.
VIB-RIBBON
Many people have not had the fortuitousness to experience this game, it was never released in the U.S. Vib-Ribbon is a rhythm game with an amazing J-Pop soundtrack and the ability to accept any regular music cd into the PlayStation, which you can then play along to, admittedly with partial success. Its rarity makes it very special.
DINO CRISIS
Resident Evil crossed with Jurassic Park enough said, if a game ever needed a remaster or a reboot it is this. The sequel did equally as well and then Capcom went and released some half-arsed third instalment on the OG Xbox, it was here that the franchise died. Let’s hope it gets a resurrection.
DESTRUCTION DERBY 2
A massively underrated game. Let’s be honest the original was poor, yes it was a technical marvel at the time but the driving mechanics were diabolical. This sequel has the excellent deformation model from the first but with an actual driving game that works, controlling along similar lines to the immortal Daytona USA.
DIE HARD TRILOGY
Firstly, it was three games in one, 3rd person action, light gun game and an arcade driving game. Singularly these games aren’t great, however, the Light Gun section stands out as the clear strong point on par with Virtua Cop, the other parts were a decent bonus.
INTERNATIONAL TRACK AND FIELD
A simple game anyone can play, from its arcade heritage, nothing, other than the graphics, changed. Plug in a multitap and it’s the most fun a group of four adolescents can legally have.
WIPEOUT
Wipeout was an absolutely stunning explosion into the world of 3D gaming. It was not just the fact the game was stunning to look at, it was the smooth frame rate, the physics and inertia-based driving/flying and the amazing soundtrack. Finally, games which exceeded the expectations of arcade cabinets had arrived in our homes.
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TWO BEARD GAMING 