PlayStation was a different beast. I don’t remember all the games we got started with, but Tekken was definitely one of them. Gran Turismo and Crash Bandicoot weren’t far behind.
We did play a lot of single-player games changing the player on death or something like that. I admit that there were times when I hogged the controller.
Over the following 5 years, I also got my own PS1 and there were so many games that I can’t list nor remember them all, but I will write about a few of them. Different versions of Tekken and Crash Bandicoot (racing and bash) were the go-to games for multiplayer, thru that time.
I can’t talk about PS without talking about Spyro. We must have played thru Spyro: Year of the Dragon at least 4 times. It’s been fun watching Speed runners destroy it.
All of my friends got bored of Gran Turismo unlike me, so those were the games I played when I was alone (upgraded to GT2 at some point). And I did drive every endurance race there was.
One day I got my hands on Command & Conquer: Red Alert. I had been using a computer enough to instantly know how much better it would be with keyboard and mouse. I didn’t have good enough computer to run it, but it was a turning point because I really started to want to get into PC gaming.
This was a time that we didn’t really have internet yet and there were these “gaming bibles” that were huge books containing cheat codes and play thru guides. I remember playing Tomb Raider with a friend reading a guide. He said, “Continue thru the corridor on your left”. So I did. Couple steps later the floor opened and dropped me into spikes… A friend changed the page and kept reading “…but be aware of the spike trap in the floor.“ I still remember that moment after almost 20 years. However, I did play thru and loved every Tomb Raider on PS1. Even if I had to take a few leaps of faith.
In the earlier post, I mentioned the Club Nintendo magazine. Well, as my console change I also change the reading material. Playstation magazine had a demo CD with every issue. And that’s how I got into Metal Gear Solid and sneaking games in general. I don’t remember what part the demo was, but I bought the game next time I saw it on sale. But, f* Psycho Mantis and no, I didn’t figure it out myself. I think there was also a demo of Driver on one of those CDs. Doing burnouts in the parking garage, then driving around the open city. I was sixteen, what changes did I have? I loved it.
Resident Evil was the first survival game we played (I think), where you actually had to think about how much ammo you have and actually discover things out. Camera angles were bs sometimes, but it did add the difficulty and it felt like a part of the game mechanics and not an annoyance. I like every game in the series until the rail shooter Umbrella Chronicles (or something like that). I’m a fan of RE and I even like the movies, but I still admit that especially the newer games have their issues.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is the first game I remember reading a negative review about and still loving it. There was one part in the Gungan city that I had to try many times, for some reason. I don’t remember why, but I was stuck on it for a week. Also, you can’t force Watto.
My first touch on twin-stick shooters was an attack helicopter game series that (on PS1) contained Nuclear Strike and Soviet Strike. War, big explosions, quirky sense of humor, bad puns, what else do you need? 😀
Oh and there was International Track & Field also on PS1, so you know… Played that. This time I might have cheated a little, when my friends weren’t around with a “turbo”-button controller, to get the “world records”. 😀
I did buy used PS2 at a few years back and played thru Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and some Tekken, but by that time I was dedicated PC gamer, so I sold it rather fast.
I have been thinking about getting another Playstation after that, I have talked about it with friends, but I have never done it. There are so many games on PC that I love and don’t have time to play, that I just haven’t been able to justify the cost to myself. Maybe I will someday because I really would like to play more Gran Turismo and Tekken, also wouldn’t be a bad thing to finally get into Uncharted.
I think I need to return to this topic someday.
