My Favorite PS1 Games

I've been messing around with list lately because there is something strangely fun about making them. So I made a list featuring my favorite PS1 games and now I am feeling a bit nostalgic for Sony's first console. I still have most of my old games and accessories but lack a working PS1 or PS2. I am really considering buying one of those cute little PSones that were released towards the end of its life cycle. Anyway here is my list of favorite PS1 games. Tell me what you think. Am I missing one of your favorites or do I have horrible taste in games?

My Top Twenty Favorite PS1 games in no particular order

	1. Resident Evil 2While I like 1 and 3, this is the pinnacle of the pre RE4 games. The ability to start as either Leon or Claire then play a second run through as the character you didn't choose and getting different bosses, puzzles, and weapons was pretty cool.
	2. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2You could make the argument that some of the later sequels were better but for me this was the peak Tony Hawk.
	3. Herc's AdventuresA forgotten classic that more people need to play. Part Legend of Zelda and part Zombies Ate My Neighbors with a liberal dose of Lucas Arts humor. Did I mention it was co-op as well? Do yourself a favor and find this game.
	4. Street Fighter Alpha 3This is still my favorite Street Fighter and I'm sad that it has pretty much faded from the spotlight.
	5. Metal Gear SolidWhat can I say? It is freakin' Metal Gear!
	6. Castlevania: Symphony of the NightI hear you like Castlevania.
	7. Tekken 3I was a beast with Ling Xiaoyu and Bryan Fury.
	8. Twisted Metal 2The pinnacle of PS1 car combat games. Honorable mentions to Vigilante 8 and Rogue Trip.
	9. Tomba!A great blend of platforming and RPG elements. I am ashamed that I never played the sequel.
	10. Ape EscapeYou could argue that this game was nothing more than a glorified tech demo for the original Dual Shock controller but I found it fun as hell.
	11. Final Fantasy IXOf the 3 PS1 Final Fantasies this one has aged the best. 7 looks awful, 8 tries something new with the game mechanics and fails, but 9 feels like a classic Final Fantasy experience.
	12. WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your RoleNot as good as the N64 wrestling games but miles ahead of other PS1 wrestling games.
	13. Crash Bandicoot: WarpedMy favorite of the Crash Bandicoot series.
	14. Syphon FilterThe taser from Syphon Filter is my favorite video game weapon. Something satisfying with electrocuting a guy until he burst into flame.
	15. Jumping Flash!I think this is the oldest game on my list. It is also features the best first person platforming.
	16. Final Fantasy TacticsI bet this was a lot of peoples first foray into strategy RPGs.
	17. Bushido Blade 2Fuck guns and throwing weapons.
	18. Parasite EveA cool mix of Survival Horror and JRPG mechanics. I love that combat uses weapon range and real time dodging.
	19. Spider-ManThe first really good Spider-Man game.
	20. Vagrant StoryA late era Square RPG that uses a more melee based version of the Parasite Eve combat and has some lite Rogue-like elements.

That sure is a great list. Unfortunately, I missed out on most of the Ps1 era and have been backtracking ever since.

Replace RE2 with Spyro: Year of the Dragon and Herc's Adventures with Star Wars: Dark Forces and this is basically my list as well.

Ape Escape, Parasite Eve, and Vagrant Story in particular are all really great games that don't get much mention these days. I also really like Bushido Blade 2, but as the recent livestream showed, it's, uh, a bit hard to look at these days.

I highly approve of numbers 1,5,7,11 and 18.

All of them are some of my favorite games of all time, particularly Parasite Eve, Resident Evil 2 and Metal Gear Solid.

Tekken 3 is by far my favorite fighting game ever though i'm not a fighting game fan in general and Final Fantasy 9 is a fantastic game but not my favorite PS1 FF. That would be FF7.

Also if you have a PS3 you don't need to buy a PS1 or 2 to replay those games. A lot of people assume you can't play PS1 games in a PS3 because all but the original model are not backward compatible with PS2 discs but PS1 discs work just fine.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Some pretty solid choices there OP!

I might quibble a bit with the order of the list, but everybody has different tastes!

If there is a game I spent more time with on the playstation and it wasn't smackdown 2 I don't know what is.

Lots of times watching bars full up.

I rue the day I snapped Tony Hawks 2.

You definitely need Spyro the Dragon

@gecokid: Weird seeing this pop up after three years but I wasn't a fan of Spyro and was more of a Crash Bandicoot kid. Coincidentally in the PS2 era I flipped game companies because I loved the Ratchet and Clank series over Jak and Daxter.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 was also my favorite game i have played this game a lot and have so many memories attached with it.

Herc's Adventures is underrated.

• Suikoden 1 & 2
• Battle Arena Toshinden 2 - I have a soft spot for this game (Vermillion with the double barrel shotgun!)
• Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver - Suck them souls!!
• Intelligent Qube
• Megaman Legends 1 & 2 - Kick the can!
• Harvest Moon: Back to Nature
• Vandal Hearts
• Fighting Force - Dumb fun
• Soulblade - Intro music is the shizzzzzzz

Tomba was always fascinating to me. Never owned it but I had a demo disc with it on there and played it way too often.

This is a cool lists. Some overlap, some I missed at the time.

The issue with PS1 and PS2 is that a lot of those games don't age well. If you missed Syphon Filter at the time, there is no going back to it. Doesn't mean they are 'bad' games or didn't make an impact at the time (I enjoyed what I'd played of Syphon Filter), but they're pretty rough now.