Summary
Sony took a gamble with thePS1,but it paid off. Now they are one of the gaming industry’s three major console manufacturers alongside Nintendo and Microsoft. It wasn’t always smooth sailing for the PS1, though, as Japan’s operations were unsure if some games would appeal to Western markets, but that was the case for a lot of companies in the 90s.
Nowadays, most gamesreceive global releases, but back inthe PS1 era, the console featured a number of obscure titles that many still don’t know about.Think about the weirdest PS1 game and then triple that experience. Some of these games were pretty great too. Let’s dive intothe best largely unknown PS1 gamesand see what lurks beneath that giant gray lid.
Dropping Explosives
Bomberman Fantasy Race
Wacky Animal Racing!Race atop 10 different animals through 7 unique fantasy courses. Use special techniques, such as the triangle jump, bomb dash, and catapult to get ahead of the competition.Intense 2 player action!Compete against your friends in the split screen mode to prove who’s #1. Best of all, clean out their piggy bank with the unique wagering system.Over 15 Crazy Power-Ups!Wield over 15 wacky weapons, including rocket bombs, power gloves, roller shoes, power bombs, shields, and power suits. Unleash long-range attacks utilizing the unique throw meter.
TheBombermanseriesdates back to 1983 when the first game was released for the MSX computer in Japan. Most games in the series feature players navigating mazes and dropping bombs to defeat enemies or other players in versus modes, and this has sustainedBombermanfor decades.
Yet there have been other spinoffs, likeBomberman Fantasy Race,which surprisingly released in North America thanks to Atlus of all publishers. Instead of driving go-karts, players could ride bunny- or dragon-like creatures and drop bombs on unsuspecting rivals. There were also more traditional go-kartBombermanspinoffs on the PS2, includingBomberman KartandBomberman Kart DX.
7Hakaiou: King Of Crusher
Office Life Is Hard
Ever get frustrated in the office or at a job in general and don’t know how to control that anger? Well,Hakaiou: King of Crusheris an extreme case of work-related anger, as a typical Japanese salaryman gets infected during the job and, when angry, he starts transforming into different monsters.
Players will evolve throughout the game’s levels, going from a beastly man destroying offices to demolishing whole buildings asa giant kaiju. There are plenty of unseen and unknown Kaiju games on the PS1, but this one is worth checking out, and there’s even fan patch for it in English.
6Hard Rock Cab
A Cabbie At The End Of Times
This game has quite a history, as things began in 1994 with the release ofQuarantineon MS-DOS-based computers. It eventually received a Sega Saturn port calledDeath Throttleand then a PS1 version calledHard Rock Cab.Quarantinewas released in North America, but the console ports remain trapped in Japan.
History aside, the game takes place ina post-apocalyptic city, but despite things being chaotic, people still need cabs to get around, and that’s where players come in. They’ll have to drive NPCs to their destinations and rip apart baddies with their heavily armed taxi. The best part about the game is its PS1 cover art, which screams “80s B-movie.”
Horror fans of the 80s and 90s may recognize the name “Screaming Mad George,” as he was a famous special effects and makeup artist of the era. Even if the name doesn’t sound familiar, his filmography might be, as he worked on variousA Nightmare on Elm Streetmovies,Big Trouble in Little China, and one of his strongest offerings,Society. He also helped release a game calledScreaming Mad George’s ParanoiaScape,or justParanoiaScape, for the PS1 in Japan.
It’s a pinball game that takes place in the underworld and has some shooter mechanics as well, since players aren’t stuck in one arcade cabinet and can move around levels with their skeletal paddles. The gameplay mechanics are odd but not as weird as the visuals, which are nightmare-inducing in the best possible way.
4Speed Power Gunbike
Go Go Biker Rangers
Inti Creates is an important developer in gaming history, but it isn’t as widely known as developers/publishers like Capcom or Square Enix. Most might know them from their work with the aforementioned Capcom on theMega Man Zerogames, or perhaps their ownMega Man-inspired franchise,Azure Striker Gunvolt. However, Inti Creates' first game was a PS1 exclusive in Japan calledSpeed Power Gunbike.
It was an action title wherein players could cruise through levels and shoot enemies from their futuristic motorcycle or transform into a mini-mech with a bike of its own. While clunky and not as fluid as some laterTransformersgames,Speed Power Gunbikeis an important title that helped establish Inti Creates, and is still fun to check out today.
Street Fighterwas one of the earliestvideo game movie adaptationsmade in the 90s, and while it wasn’t great, it’s fondly remembered as a movie that’s so bad it’s kind of good. It made sense, then, to adaptStreet Fighter 2into a movie, as it was wildly popular.
What didn’t make sense was to turn the movie back into a video game calledStreet Fighter: The Movie,which used digitized spritesMortal Kombat-style. The game lacked the polish that the series was known for, but it certainly is weird and well worth a look just for a laugh, in the same way that the movies are.
2Super Adventure Rockman
Mega Man’s Anime Experience
WhenMega Manfans think about the series, they probably picture Mega Man or some other robotic hero going through levels and shooting other robots. What they probably don’t imagine isSuper Adventure Rockman,which was an adventure game with on-rail segments released for both the PS1 and Sega Saturn in Japan.
Presented in an anime style reminiscent ofMega Man 8, players have to make decisions and occasionally shoot some stuff. Another oddMega Manspinoff on the PS1 wasRockman: Battle & Chase,which was a racing game, butSuper Adventure Rockmanis absolutely the stranger of the two.
1Tales Of Fandom Vol. 1
Not Much Of A Game
MostTales ofgamesare action RPGs, and while there have been some odd spinoffs, they mostly stick to action in some form or another. That’s not the case withTales of Fandom Vol. 1,which was released in different versions not unlike thePokemongames. It gathered characters from the first threeTales ofgames, and players could interact with them, much like an adventure game.
There were mini-games as well, and it should come as no surprise that such a text-heavy game was never released outside of Japan.It did get a sequel on the PS2,Tales of Fandom Vol. 2, which also got multiple versions and upgraded the interactivity between characters a bit more.
