With many gamers owning a PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and even the Nintendo Switch it is easy to forget just how amazed gamers were when they first saw 3D games like Tekken on display at superstores all over 🅠the world ru♑nning on the original PlayStation during the mid-nineties.
Visually, gamers today are spoilt with titles like Uncharted, Horizon Zero Dawn, or The Witcher series. However, as good as those games are, old-school gamers still෴ appreciate the games that pushed hardware limits from 20 years ago.
The PlayStation was a 32bit machine that managed to outsell more powerful consoles like the Nintendo 64 and even the Sega Dreamcast before the PlayStation 2🍃 was even launched. This was partly because the developers were able to work around the machine’s limitations and squeeze every last drop of power that the machine was capable of.
Unfortunately, not all games faired so well, because even though there were developers that accomplished great thing๊s on Sony’s little grey box others were not so fortunate. This was partly due to the rise and demand for 3D gaming, so the transition from 2D sprites to polygons wasn’t always a smooth one.
So while some games looked amazing for their time it was only nostalgia th🉐at kept some of these titles relevant today, many games from the PS1 era still look and play as well as they ever did.
30 B𒀰ad: Metal Gear Soli♍d
Metal Gear Solid’s story and flair for the cinematic are still as great as ever. However, after the release of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, The Phantom Pain, and even last generation’s Metal Gear Solid 4 fans have been spoilt in the visuals and the gameplay department.
Going back to MGS on the PS1 is difficult because we have become accustomed to the third person perspective that was introduced in Metal Gear Solid: Subsistence. The top-down viewpoint used in earlier MG games can make modern-day gamers feel like they’re playing Pac-Man with guns.
29 Amazing: Finalꦚ Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII was a landmark tiꦉtle in 1997 and despite the dated polygonal in-game character designs, the game still holds u🍸p very well today. At a time when its nearest rivals were still using 2D sprites, the visuals and presentation were unprecedented in a Japanese RPG.
The towns, area maps, and dungeons, in particular, boasted beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds and blended seamlessly with the cutscenes. In addition, the 3D world map still provides a sense of wonder as you see a new town or location in the distance. FF7 became one of the most i꧟nfluential titles of all time and rai💦sed the bar for future RPGs.
28 Bad: Tomb Raider 🔯
It is an understatement to say that Tomb Raider changed the face of 3D action adventure games forever, and its influence can even be seen in the Uncharted series. The game’s title character Lara Croft became one of the first major female prꦯotagonists.
What makes that image even more unbelievable is that even with nostalgic goggles on her character model did not look good even in 1996. 𝓀Still, her jagged and polygonally pointed assets sparked the imaginations of more than a few gamers at a key moment in gaming.
27 𒅌 Amazing: Tekken 3 ൲
The first Tekken was a launch title for the original PlayStation and was one of the system’s biggest sellers next to Namco’s racing series Ridge Racer and the best selling 3D fighter. However, it was Tekken 3 that was to be the pinnಌacle of the series and is considered by fans to be the best in th🔴e series.
Namco achieved the impossible 🌜when they ported the game to the PlayStation home consoles b♕y downgrading the background visuals. As a result, the character models, animation, and fluidity of the game still hold up today.
26 Amaz♐ing: Legend Of The Dragoon
When Japanese RPG’s were still hot property after the success of Final Fantasy VII, there were very few developers that could compete with Square when it came to the production values. Enter Sony Computer Entertainment Japan who threw their $16 million dollar hat into the ring with The Legend of Dragoon in 1999.
Even though it featured beautiful prerendered backgrounds and CGI cutscenes LoD was underappreciated due to comparisons with the Final Fantasy series. Thankfully, the game has aged well in the visual department. Also, the story holds up very nicely against most modern titles, and the precision-based battle system will be appre🔥ciated by gamers that enjoy a challenge.
25 💜 Bad: Raꩵgeball
During the 1990s, one of the most beloved games on the Amiga and the Sega Mega Drive was the vicious future sports game Speedball 2. Combining ice hockey and football with the best parts of the film Rollerball it has seen several remasters becau𝄹se it is as playable today as it was nearly 30 years ago.
Rageball, which was hyped as a spiritual successor on the P🍰S1 didn’t quite fair so well. The visuals were ugly even at the time of its release and instead of a top-down view, it offered an awkward side on camera angle which made gameplay frustrating. It was another attempt at modernizing a classic with a misguided 3D update.
24 Amazing: Gran Turismo ಌ
When Gran Turismo was released in 1998 on the PlayStation it surpassed all expectations of what the console was capable of. More than just a simple racing game Gran Turismo was a true simulation of the sport featuring an almost intimidating level of depth anꦫd detail.
Considering the developers Polyphony Digital were indeed working with the aging tech they absolutely pushed Sony’s little grey box to the limits of what it was capable of. As a result, they created a landmark title and the series continues with the rather beautiful Gran Turismo: Sport on the PS4.
23 Bad: Tony Ha⛄wk’s Pro Skater
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was the dominant force in the skateboarding video game market since the release of the first game 🧸in 1999. The series made ♚the titular skateboarding champion a household name across the world and the first game help lay the foundation for its much-improved sequels.
Unfortunately, laying the foundations for a successful franchise doesn’t mean the game holds up in 2018. Series staples like chaining together different combinations of moves are absent in the first game and the lack of v♊ariety is glaringly obvious when compared its PS1 sequel to the more recent titles.
22 Bad: Star Wars: Masters Of The Teras Kasi 🌜
For fans of the franchise, a 3D Star Wars fighting game on the PlayStation sounded incredibly exciting on paper. Unfortunately, the execution and the prospect of Luke Skywalker beating up his twin in Star Wars: Masters of the Teras Kasi fell flat and disappointed on many levels.
While the backgrounds look good and the music scratches that classic Star Wars itch, the hideously rendered characters didn’t fare as well. The combos animations were awkward and the fighters somehow looked like they were doing combat underwater. The forgotten classic Star Gladiator from Capcom was the true master of the – unofficial – l🌸ightsaber.
21 ⛎ Amazing:꧟ Soul Blade
Soul Blade was the first in the long-running series of 3D weapons-based fighting games which are now known as Soulcalibur. The game featured a number of visual upg𒁃rades from the arcade version which was known as Soul Edge and the game still looks good and plays just as well today.
While the game wasn’t as fast-paced as other fights like the Tekken series, this allowed for a more strategic combat system which open doors for sidestepping, parrying and counter moves. In addition, Soul Blade is jam-packed full of features secret characters, fully animat♊ed endings, and weapons to unlock.