RetroGaming

• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - because it’s literally one of the best games ever made. So good that when it borrowed the Metroid formula pretty much wholesale, they renamed the formula Metroidvania.
• Metal Gear Solid - because it sits in the Goldilocks zone of Kojima-ness. Nutty but not impenetrable.
• Silent Hill - because everyone should know what it’s like for seventeen pixels to make them shit themselves in fear.
• Metal of Honor - because Call of Duty used to be the whippersnapper upstart. Know your roots, son.
• Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 - because there were THPS games with more, but there were never THPS games that were definitively better.
• Resident Evil 2 - because hitting your stride while defining a genre is a beautiful thing.
• Valkyrie Profile - because the world is ending but I really want this mermaid to be happy…
• Fear Effect - because it’s a seven hour game across four CDs but my best friend and I couldn’t put it down until we finished it on day one.
• Vigilante 8 - because they out-Twisted-Metaled Twisted Metal.
• G-Darius - because sometimes you just gotta blast a giant robot fish in the face with a screen-filling laser beam.
• Incredible Crisis - because we all have bad days.
• Tenchu - because Solid Snake shouldn’t be the only one who gets to have fun sneaking around and killing people.
• Rakugaki Showtime - because before there was Smash Bros, there was bashing the Smiley Ball for super moves and launching ICBMs against your foes.

Wipeout 2097 - Still one of my favourite racing games of all time and has a banging soundtrack

Gran Turismo 2 - Big enough that it needed 2 discs. A classic in sim racing.

MediEvil - Fun humorous story and great atmosphere.

Spyro - It was on the demo disc.

Final Fantasy 7 & 8 - RPG classics. Nuff said.

And a bonus game that sucked:

Command & Conquer port - Buggy, lots of lag and terrible controls

(Firstly, Apologize for formatting of this post)

(As of 2/26 2:00pm ish Pacific) Thanks for all the suggestions! It is clear that this is a library of games I certainly slept on. I'm looking forward to finding them to play!

I went through the comments and tried to tally up what people suggested and here was the list of games in no particular order, just based on the most tallies. I also combined series entires, for example Tony Hawk's Pro skater series were all the tallies for the single entry. Here is what I see:

1. Metal Gear Solid
2. Final Fantasy VII
3. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (series)
4. Final Fantasy IX
5. Ape Escape
6. Spyro the Dragon (series)
7. Crash Bandicoot (series)
8. Crash Team Racing
9. Silent Hill
10. Tekken 3
11. Wipeout 2097/XL
12. Xenogears
13. Final Fantasy Tactics
14. Syphon Filter
15. Parappa the Rapper
16. Gex (series)
17. Gran Turismo 2
18. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
19. Ridge Racer / R4
20. Tomb Raider (series)
21. Resident Evil (series)
22. Medal of Honor
23. Dino Crisis
24. Mega Man Legends
25. Die Hard Trilogy

*Here were a list of games that were mentioned a few times, but didn't reach the list: *

MediEvil (1 & 2)

Herc’s Adventures

Monsters, Inc. Scream Team

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone

Future Cop LAPD

*Here were games mentioned once: *

Driver 2

King’s Field (1 & 2)

Rapid Reload (a.k.a. Gunner’s Heaven)

Jumping Flash!

Bishi Bashi Special

Vanark

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne

Tail Concerto

Silent Bomber

Namco Museum (Volumes 1–6)

Tempest X3

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Chrono Cross

Pitball

Valkyrie Profile

Fear Effect

Vigilante 8

G-Darius

Incredible Crisis

Tenchu

Rakugaki Showtime

Trap Gunner

The Unholy War

Ghost in the Shell

Return Fire

Star Ocean: The Second Story

Blast Chamber

N2O: Nitrous Oxide

Threads of Fate

Disney’s Hercules

Blood Omen (Legacy of Kain)

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

R-Type Delta

Omega Boost

Wipeout 3: Special Edition

Bushido Blade

Arc the Lad III

Parasite Eve

Jade Cocoon

Azure Dreams

Legend of Dragoon

Tomba (a.k.a. Tombi)

Rayman 2

Soul Blade

Spider-Man (Neversoft)

Dead or Alive

Frogger 2

Jet Moto

Rugrats: Search for Reptar

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

Toy Story Racer

Hogs of War

Worms Armageddon

Hydro Thunder

Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee/Exodus

Jackie Chan Stuntmaster

Colin McRae Rally 2.0

Front Mission 3

Grandia

Grand Theft Auto 2

DDR / DDR Konamix

Vib-Ribbon

Team Buddies

Tales of Phantasia

Suikoden II

Hugo

Legend of Legaia

Breath of Fire III

Guardians Crusade

Brightis

Love & Destroy

Intelligent Qube (a.k.a. Kurushi)

Scrabble

Devil Dice (a.k.a. XI)

I have certainly played a few from the top 25, and interestingly for what little of PS1 I played, I played a fair bit of ones only mentioned once or twice. I recall playing a demo for Meidevil and having a blast, same with Tenchu, Valkyrie Profile, Blood Omen, and Harry Potter.

What do you think?

So many RPGs. A few of my favorites.

Final Fantasy VIII - It may be the best looking game on the PS1, and my personal favorite. Unique leveling.

Arc the Lad III - The whole collection is worth it. But the third game had a streamlined polish that is rarely appreciated over the second game of the series.

Parasite Eve - Unique gameplay and weapon upgrading (GUNS). Very adult oriented.

Jade Cocoon - Monster capturing and MERGING. This creates completely new monsters with new stats and appearances. Infinite possibilities.

Honorable mentions: I played these a bit, but never enough to give a full endorsement. But still they are popular picks.

Azure Dreams - Rogue-Lite grid movement monster capture dungeon exploring.

Legend of Dragoon - Timing emphasized attacks. Bad translations.

It would be a crime to forget Metal Gear Solid on the list.

Bushido Blade is also fantastic.

I feel like the major one for me (that hasn't been listed) is Ape Escape. Growing up i played the (arguably worse) remaster of it for the PSP. Genuinely interesting to play a platformer so different yet so clearly reactionary to Mario 64. And it's also just interesting how they handle the analog sticks in terms of controls

Like many games of the era the controls are frankly janky, but they are just so much fun

Original Spyro trilogy (Gateway to Glimmer first, Year of the Dragon second, Spyro the Dragon third. Although they are all so good it's hard to choose an order.) The first two games were a part of my childhood, I think they both came with the console when my sister and I bought it. £20 second hand from Game with three games I think, we each saved up to pay half. Very cool worlds to run around and explore, especially Treetop Village I think it's called (the supercharge level from Spyro the Dragon). I love these collect-them-all games where you know where everything is - it's very comforting to me. And skateboarding and playing as Sparx in Year of the Dragon still feels special, because it's the one game I didn't own as a kid.

Crash Team Racing is the ultimate carting game IMO. "Start your engines for a Sony Computer Entertainment Europe production! Fasten your seatbelts for another Naughty Dog creation! Bwam bah bah bamp, bah da dam da da da dum". Absolutely iconic loading screens and music. I don't think I've ever beat the campaign mode completely, but it's a lot of fun. Several years since I've played now, which is a bit of a shame. My PlayStation needs to be repaired but no-one near me has the expertise and I didn't want to go inside and make things worse..

Hogs of War was on a demo disc I had and it seemed quite fun, but I never got to experience the full version.

I seem to remember Driver 2 being challenging but cool, but not much else other than those two emotions.

Final shout-out to Worms Armageddon.

Edit: actually, final final shout-out to that boat racing game. Hydro Thunder maybe? I played it at a friend's house then spent years searching for it again in a cool games shop that another friend now owns (never would have guessed that when I was a kid!). I don't think I ever found it though..

WipEout XL, Spyro 1-3, Crash 1-3, Monster's Inc Scream Team, Crash Team Racing, Frogger 2, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone, JetMoto, Herc's Adventures, Rugrats Search For Reptar, Parappa The Rapper, Ridge Racer, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, The Tomb Raider games, Twisted Metal, Toy Story Racer. There's a lot more but those are some of my favorites.

Final Fantasy Tactics and Front Mission 3

I go on with games I didn’t see mentioned:

• Crash Bandicoot 2
• R-Type Delta
• Tekken 3

And a bonus mention:

• Omega Boost. Before Polyphony made Gran Turismo, they made a fun mech shoot em up. Doesn’t deserve to be on any list, but just a fun thing to bring up.

Otherwise, a list is incomplete without:

• Metal Gear Solid
• Gran Turismo
• Final Fantasy VII
• Silent Hill
• Resident Evil
• Tony Hawk Pro Skater
• Wipeout (I prefer 2097)
• Tekken 3

These games are too culturally significant to be left out.

Grandia.

And Ridge Racer has been mentioned, but I would go with Ridge Racer 4 which is arguably the pinnacle of the series.

• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
• Final Fantasy VII/IX (not VIII)
• Tales of Phantasia (has a PSP remake with a lot of extra content but that's JP-only...)
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1/2

Lots of great games already listed. Here's the one I would add:

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Siphon Filter
Parappa the Rapper
Gex

Dance Dance Revolution. It was unique, healthy, a lot of fun, and popularized a new genre: rhythm games.

Most of the best games gave been re-released or remade over the years, but Xenogears stands out as a great RPG that was only re-released once, for the PS3 in 2011. It's totally unavailable (legally) on modern hardware. It does have the very unfortunate flaw of basically becoming a visual novel once you hit the second disc due to them running out of time and money, but the game is still great as long as you know what you're in for. The best way to play it, as usual, is via an emulator, and you can even play it in widescreen that way.

Some pretty good stuff already but no one has mentioned Xenogears.

Legend of Legia is my goat PS1 game that rarely gets the love it deserves. I loved the combat/combo system that allowed you to use the end part of one art into the beginning of another art was so awesome. The story was great and the characters were wonderful. It was such a fun unique take on jrpgs of the day

King's Field 1 and 2.

No King's Field, no Demon Souls and basically every other game that has made From a household name.

Nobody said GTA 2 yet. Lost so many hours to that one. The last top down GTA I think.

Also of course MGS, FFVII, FF Tactics, FFIX, THPS2. DDR konamix was decent. Oh and tekken. I had tekken 2 but I think 3 might've been on PS1 as well. Yoshimitsu was always my favorite and I was stoked when he was put into soul calibur with his moveset intact.

I've seen no love for Chrono Cross yet? Shame.

Not seeing much love for Wipeout 3: Special Edition (it has double the number of tracks as the standard edition)

Crash Trilogy.

Spyro Trilogy.

Tekken (I’d get Tekken 3 if I were you)

Crash Team Racing

FFVII

Tony Hawk Pro Skater (the first one is the only one exclusive to PlayStation 1, THPS 2 and 3 came out on PS2)

Syphon Filter

Metal Gear Solid

Medal of Honor

Driver 2

Gex 2

Tomb Raider

Some more I haven't seen mentioned yet, maybe just outside the top 25:

• Rapid Reload/Gunner's Heaven - Gunstar Heroes-inspired platform shooting chaos
• Jumping Flash! - Low poly early FPS series with a robot bunny that jumps really high
• Bishi Bashi Special - Compete with your friends in WarioWare-like rapid-fire three button minigames
• Vanark - Basically Star Fox 64 for the PS1, but went almost entirely unnoticed
• The Misadventures of Tron Bonne - Mega Man Legends spinoff starring goofy pirates and their adorable robot henchmen
• Tail Concerto and Silent Bomber - CyberConnect2's first two games; both are hidden gems of 3D action
• Gran Turismo 2 Combined Disc - Both discs combined into one oversized disc by Silent, creator of SilentPatch for the Grand Theft Auto games
• Namco Museum (all six volumes) - I wish later Namco compilations had the first-person museum segments from the PS1 games
• Tempest X3 - Back in my day, "Jeff Minter" was a euphemism for mind-altering drugs

My personal top pick (due to lack of playing psx in a long time) is Devil Dice (also known as XI in Japan if I remember correctly). I personally just play the arcade mode, though, since the other modes aren't as fun in my opinion.

I want to recommend a game that I know wasn't that great, but is lots of fun: Pitball. It's like alien space basketball with gambling. If you like old school sports games with janky controls, give it a shot.

Fuckin Parappa the Rapper, baby

Aside from the more well-known greats people have already mentioned, I have to nominate Herc's Adventures and MediEvil 1 and 2.

How we haven't seen a new MediEvil game in the age of souls likes baffles me. Souls combat with Dan's goofy comedy in an open, interconnected Gallowmere? Please take my money.

I also wouldn't mind seeing a new game in that style LucasArts used for Herc, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and Ghoul patrol. But with them under the mouse, it's probably as likely as another Monkey Island.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile is a fantastic 2.5D platformer with a great story.

An important thing to know beforehand is that there is a limited number of lives in the game and no way to replay levels until completing the game. This can be a big deal because you may find yourself unable to complete later levels on only a single life. This isn't an issue with the later Wii (not recommended) and Phantasy Reverie (recommended) versions since they allow replaying levels.

The only one I have that hasn't been mentioned yet is Suikoden II. Gorgeous sprite art, and it's also just a solid game. Ironically, it's getting a remaster very soon which is sure to clean up its biggest weakness (the English localization), though we don't know how the rest of it will shake out.

I consider the fifth gen to be a lost generation for sprite-based games, this is one of those on the console that make the case for an interesting "what could have been" scenario (Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Valkyrie Profile also being sprite-based standouts).

Couple I haven't seen yet:

• Vib-Ribbon, a fun little rhythm game which also allows you to play with your own CDs
• Team Buddies, a really unique action / strategy game that I've never seen replicated. Sort of a proto-MOBA.

No one gonna mention ape escape? Tsk tsk.

Not a common suggestion, but the Scrabble PS1 port holds up surprisingly well, all the more so for how few Scrabble video games there are.

Soul Reaver, Castlevania: SOTN and Suikoden 2 are my personal faves.

I wasn’t a PlayStation guy. I quit consoles when the Mega Drive went end of life and I didn’t like what Sony or Nintendo were bringing to the party. But I have played some PS1 and there are a few I always like to put into my retro systems.

Symphony of the Night

Tony Hawk 2

Disney’s Hercules

Blood Omen

Hot Pursuit

Wipeout 2097

Besides Metal Gear Solid?

Dino Crisis.

Both Brightis and Love & Destroy are good if you can read Japanese.