Game news 10 great PS1 games you might have forgotten

In cold blood

We start this list with De Sang Froid… This excellent infiltration and adventure game unfortunately went unnoticed when it was launched, due to poor timing. The title produced by the French Revolution Software offering you to play an agent of MI6 was released at the end of the fifth generation of consoles, on July 12, 2000. The PlayStation 2, meanwhile, was released on November 24 of afterwards with a few hits, namely SSX, TimeSplitters, FIFA 2001, Ridge Racer V or even Tekken Tag Tournament. Suffice to say that the players preferred to save to taste the next-gen.

Speed Freaks

Unlike today, the unmissable Mario Kart saga once had many competitors and most of them were on Sony’s first console, by the way. We inevitably think of Crash Team Racing, which had its small success and, more recently, a quality remake, or even Speed ​​Freaks. Unfortunately, the license quickly fell into oblivion. despite its many qualities, starting with its crazy and colorful universe which offers a gallery of crazy characters. Obviously, these pilots each have their own characteristics (weight, speed, acceleration, resistance to shocks…) and can also use power-ups and even slide in turns.

Rival Schools

Land of choice for three-dimensional fighting games, the first PlayStation saw the birth of many popular licenses. For example, we can cite Tekken, SoulCalibur and even Guilty Gear. Unfortunately, these potential hits overshadowed other productions of the same genre and yet of great quality. We refer to Rival Schools, our topic of the day, which would have deserved greater success. Offering a total of 17 playable characters with unique combat techniques, the title takes the player into a crazy universe taking place directly in a school setting. Although the license has since disappeared from the radar, note that the fighter Akira, one of the heroines of the game, recently made her big comeback in Street Fighter V.

GEX

The first PlayStation was not only the home of fighting games, it was also the star of platform games. Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon were indeed only the tip of the iceberg… At that time, players could also get their hands on Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, a game featuring a very cute crocodile, on Bubsy 3D or even on Gex. At first just two-dimensional, the platformer gained popularity during its move to 3D with GEX 3D: Enter the Gecko. One would have thought then that the spy lizard was going to become a big celebrity of the platform genre, but unfortunately, fate decided otherwise; the franchise has never ventured beyond the fifth generation of consoles.

Parasite Eve II

The first PlayStation also allowed the world of survival horror to explode and gain notoriety. It is also on this medium that Konami and Capcom have made their hand by releasing great masterpieces: Silent Hill for Konami and Resident Evil for Capcom. For his part, Square Enix followed the trend by offering players Parasite Eve and its sequel, soberly named Parasite Eve II: two must-see titles! As a reminder, this license, unfortunately forgotten, follows the eponymous books of the Japanese writer Hideaki Sena. She tells us about the supernatural adventures of Aya Brea, an FBI agent.

Pandemonium!

Another platform game license has found its place in this list dedicated to the forgotten games of the first PlayStation. This is of course the Pandemonium saga !. After having had the right to his heyday with Pandemonium! first of the name released in 1996 or even with its 1997 sequel, the 2.5D platformer franchise quickly returned to the shadows. However, the saga, with its levels strewn with pitfalls, its well thought-out game mechanics and its two eccentric playable characters, namely the witch Nikki and the magician Fargus, his long-time sidekick, had everything to seduce several generations of players. .. Pity !

MicroManiacs

As early as 1994, the MicroMachines top-down racing game saga gave pride of place to evenings with friends. It offers four participants to take the controls of a racing car and compete in frantic races taking place in everyday environments; the budding pilots cross a kitchen for example or an attic, a garden or even a toilet. On April 13, 2000, the MicroMachines universe expands with a successful and generous spin-off, but which has always remained in the shadow of its mentor: it is obviously MicroManiacs. The Codemasters title uses the successful formula of the original series, but this time around, players no longer control magnificent little cars, but rather miniature monsters.

Team Buddies

The PlayStation has played host to a number of fun party games. We still remember the Worms, the War Pigs or the Point Blank saga. But among them is also a title that has not had the success it deserves: the game Team Buddies. Apart from its single player campaign with poorly balanced difficulty, this astonishing game offers a successful multiplayer mode where four players can compete on small colored maps. The goal? Destroy the castle of the other and for that it is necessary to establish a small strategy and to forge an army. Luckily, many crates are scattered around the map, and once assembled, they create brave little soldiers and even vehicles.

Syphon Filter

Finally, we will focus on two studios that made the glory of Sony machines. And the first is none other than Bend Studio … Before becoming the famous Oregon house that we all know today thanks to Days Gone, Bend Studio made its reputation on the first PlayStation with the Siphon Filter trilogy. Released between 1999 and 2001, these three TPS featuring counterterrorism agent Gabriel Logan received great interest from gamers, but unfortunately, due to the mixed success of games released on PlayStation 2, both the franchise and the studio have was quickly put aside by fans and the video game industry.

Disruptor

The other studio is obviously Insomniac Games, but before recounting the adventures of Spyro, the cute purple dragon now unmissable or even of Ratchet, the hairy lombax and armed to the ears, the Californian studio had made its debut on Disruptor, a first person shooter game that features players saving the galaxy alongside Psyonics troops. Unfortunately, as you will surely suspect, the production did not reach many people. It was therefore not until 2007, until the launch of Resistance: Fall of Man, for the house to return to its first love: the FPS.