Given its success, there were a lot of games released for the original PlayStation. Everyone wanted a bite of its sweet cherry pie.
Sometimes, however, it feels as if the likes of Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Tekken, Ridge Racer, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid et al overshadow everything else. What's more, so many PlayStation games seemed to be finding their way in a new 3D world, trying to understand the rules and make the technology work for them. In short: they have aged badly.
But that isn't the whole story. In truth, while it may not be my favourite console ever, the PlayStation was home to a lot of brilliant games which got swamped by the high-rollers. Lots of inspired J-RPGs, lots of splendid side-scrolling shooters, and many games which went against the grain did something entirely new.
Here are just ten of these ripe "plums".
Sometimes, however, it feels as if the likes of Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Tekken, Ridge Racer, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid et al overshadow everything else. What's more, so many PlayStation games seemed to be finding their way in a new 3D world, trying to understand the rules and make the technology work for them. In short: they have aged badly.
But that isn't the whole story. In truth, while it may not be my favourite console ever, the PlayStation was home to a lot of brilliant games which got swamped by the high-rollers. Lots of inspired J-RPGs, lots of splendid side-scrolling shooters, and many games which went against the grain did something entirely new.
Here are just ten of these ripe "plums".
KLONOA: DOOR TO PHANTOMILE
To play Namco's Klonoa was to love Klonoa. It was a classic-style platformer, using the PS1's power to render some truly gorgeous, brightly-coloured, 2.5-D visuals.
Achingly cute and characterful, it was considered an also-ran next to the Sonics and Marios of the world, but felt completely at odds with almost everything else on the PlayStation. Instead of trying to be all grown-up and dark and edgy and cool, like far too many PS1 games, Klonoa just wanted players to enjoy themselves. It may not have been quite Super Mario good, but it was certainly Kirby or Sonic good.
Admittedly, it probably didn't help that Klonoa - as a character - wasn't as immediately identifiable as a plumber or hedgehog. Was he - or she - a dog? A cat? A stoat?
Achingly cute and characterful, it was considered an also-ran next to the Sonics and Marios of the world, but felt completely at odds with almost everything else on the PlayStation. Instead of trying to be all grown-up and dark and edgy and cool, like far too many PS1 games, Klonoa just wanted players to enjoy themselves. It may not have been quite Super Mario good, but it was certainly Kirby or Sonic good.
Admittedly, it probably didn't help that Klonoa - as a character - wasn't as immediately identifiable as a plumber or hedgehog. Was he - or she - a dog? A cat? A stoat?
JUMPING FLASH
The PlayStation launch title I - perhaps controversially - enjoyed the most, Jumping Flash was a 3D platformer... but in a completely different way to, say, Super Mario 64. In short: it was a first-person platformer, with the player housed inside an exoskeleton resembling a giant rabbit. As you do.
The graphics look basic by today's standards, but it was frantic, and - given the heights you could leap to - genuinely vertigo-inducing. Sadly, it was overshadowed by that one-track special, Ridge Racer, and the too-cool-for-school Wipeout.
You real bad idiots... you all bought the wrong games!
The graphics look basic by today's standards, but it was frantic, and - given the heights you could leap to - genuinely vertigo-inducing. Sadly, it was overshadowed by that one-track special, Ridge Racer, and the too-cool-for-school Wipeout.
You real bad idiots... you all bought the wrong games!
G-POLICE
G-Police arrived at a point when developers had really started to get to grips with the PlayStation hardware. Though the draw distance came in for some flack, it was clearly not a first-generation game, being set in a beautifully-realised futuristic metropolis. It was a simple, but solid, shoot 'em up, as you piloted your craft through a series of Blade Runner-esque domes. Plus... it still holds up today.
What did the G stand for? Garibaldi.
What did the G stand for? Garibaldi.
VIB RIBBON
A rhythm-action game unlike anything before or since, Vib-Ribbon's vector-style graphics were generated on the fly using music from the player's own CD collection. It was a simple concept - vault over obstacles in time, say, S-Club 7 or "Meat" Loaf - but nightmarishly tough to master.
Unnaturally, hitting obstacles would devolve your character from a rabbit to a frog and then a worm. Darwin must've been vomiting in his grave.
Unnaturally, hitting obstacles would devolve your character from a rabbit to a frog and then a worm. Darwin must've been vomiting in his grave.
BISHI BASHI SPECIAL
A massive influence on Nintendo's Wario Ware series, Bishi Bashi Special was a compilation taken from a series of games released in Japan. Like Wario Ware, players were confronted with a succession of bizarre mini challenges, some emulating classic video game genres, designed to test the player's reactions; a bride had to throw a pie at her guests... or you had to click the top of a retractable pencil as fast as possible... or spray cockroaches with insecticide.
To play it is to realise that even Nintendo is capable of ripping off somebody else's work, and not giving a fig.
To play it is to realise that even Nintendo is capable of ripping off somebody else's work, and not giving a fig.
ONE
You know those bits in Uncharted where it all goes a bit crazy, and you're pushing forward while being assaulted by a tank, and the whole world is blowing up around you, and bridges are collapsing, and that? Yeah, well, One did that 20-odd years ago. Yes, the graphics have dated, but it's alarming to revisit it now and realise how modern it feels.
INTELLIGENT QUBE
Imagine being trapped in a game of Tetris. That would be real awful, wouldn't it? The blocks are rolling towards you, and you have to lay traps to destroy them to clear path so that you're not pushed off the bottom of the screen.
That's the basic idea of Intelligent Qube. It may not have been the prettiest PlayStation game, but it used the technology to offer players something new and unique.
That's the basic idea of Intelligent Qube. It may not have been the prettiest PlayStation game, but it used the technology to offer players something new and unique.
GLOVER
Originally released on the N64, where it never stood a chance next to a certain turtle-slaughtering plumber, Glover was different to many platform games in that the character's design was integral to the gameplay. Rather than just create a game featuring a generic anthropomorphised animal character, Glover was - as you might suspect - a "funny glove".
Aside from being able to run on the middle two of his four fingers, Glover could pick up a number of different balls and - depending on the type - bounce, slap or roll it towards enemies.
Aside from being able to run on the middle two of his four fingers, Glover could pick up a number of different balls and - depending on the type - bounce, slap or roll it towards enemies.
EVIL ZONE
Pretty much any PlayStation beat 'em up existed in the shadow cast by the Tekkken series, but Evil Zone was an overlooked gem.
The graphics were solid, the characters were great - with some original move sets - and it had a neat, anime, style all of its own. Also, the fact you had just one button for block and one for attack may have upset beat 'em up purists, but made it far more approachable to the likes of me.
Plus, it featured one of the earliest examples of realistic breast physics seen in a game. Which, of course, might not exactly be a good thing... but, well, it is a thing.
The graphics were solid, the characters were great - with some original move sets - and it had a neat, anime, style all of its own. Also, the fact you had just one button for block and one for attack may have upset beat 'em up purists, but made it far more approachable to the likes of me.
Plus, it featured one of the earliest examples of realistic breast physics seen in a game. Which, of course, might not exactly be a good thing... but, well, it is a thing.
MDK
Yes, it had appeared on the PC already, and yes the PlayStation version didn't look quite as good, but MDK remains one of the most original - and unjustly-forgotten - games of all time. Being Dave Perry's follow-up to The Earthworm Jim series, it displays the same levels of imagination and weirdness.
A jarring - but welcome - mix of styles, MDK's levels would begin with the character free-falling towards a huge mining machine, which was stripping Earth of its resources. It would then become a third-person shoot 'em up... albeit with snowboarding and sniping thrown in.
As well as having a unique visual style and colour palette, it also had a sense of humour. Weaponry available included The World's Most Interesting Bomb, which would lure enemies over to it,
Though most believed MDK stood for "Murder, Death, Kill", the manual insists on "Mission: Deliver Kindness".
A jarring - but welcome - mix of styles, MDK's levels would begin with the character free-falling towards a huge mining machine, which was stripping Earth of its resources. It would then become a third-person shoot 'em up... albeit with snowboarding and sniping thrown in.
As well as having a unique visual style and colour palette, it also had a sense of humour. Weaponry available included The World's Most Interesting Bomb, which would lure enemies over to it,
Though most believed MDK stood for "Murder, Death, Kill", the manual insists on "Mission: Deliver Kindness".
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