The PS1 Nostalgia Thread

[Merzbow]

I'll be that one person that says that Ridge Racer was the true king of electronic music soundtracks, from Jungle to Gabber to Breakbeat Hardcore it slapped the shit out of everything else for me even without the big name UK artists. Rotterdamn Nation 94 from Ridge Racer Revolution alone is enough for me to vote in the series' favour, it's a proper headbanger.

It also helped that I'd often hear it in arcades when down in Skeggy, so the nostalgia goes deeper than just the console.

[FLips]

1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

I'll be that one person that says that Ridge Racer was the true king of electronic music soundtracks, from Jungle to Gabber to Breakbeat Hardcore it slapped the shit out of everything else for me even without the big name UK artists. Rotterdamn Nation 94 from Ridge Racer Revolution alone is enough for me to vote in the series' favour, it's a proper headbanger.

It also helped that I'd often hear it in arcades when down in Skeggy, so the nostalgia goes deeper than just the console.

I don't think I'd class it as Electronic music, maybe more synth rock/dance? But Ape Escape has a whopping good and weird soundtrack too. Crumbling Castle is a PS1 all-timer. There are uncompressed quality versions of the whole game on Spotify. 

PS1 Version

Uncompressed:

Finding the full uncompressed or pre-console versions of soundtracks is another PS1 rabbithole I've fell down a few times. Being a huge Mark Mothersbaugh/Devo fan it was really interesting to go listen to the pre-console Crash Bandicoot recordings and see so much Devo influence in it without losing quality to fit on the PS1 disc. Yet for the sound quality they gain a lot of differences in instruments make some of them sound completely different.

[Loki]

The Playstation actually had a MIDI chip like old Nintendo consoles, it was pretty much the last one to do so.  So some games had the old synthy console music.

 But very quickly everyone switched to streams; and as someone pointed out earlier some games low-key just played a CD track; track 1 was the game data and track 2 upwards was music.  Puzzle Bobble was a good example of this.

 I’ve worked  a few of those composers; I was at a friend’s  studio the other day and realised that he wrote the music for Star Trek: Invasion on the Playstation!

 

Edited August 10, 2022 by Loki

[FLips]

37 minutes ago, Loki said:

The Playstation actually had a MIDI chip like old Nintendo consoles, it was pretty much the last one to do so.  So some games had the old synthy console music.

 But very quickly everyone switched to streams; and as someone pointed out earlier some games low-key just played a CD track; track 1 was the game data and track 2 upwards was music.  Puzzle Bobble was a good example of this.

 I’ve worked  a few of those composers; I was at a friend’s  studio the other day and realised that he wrote the music for Star Trek: Invasion on the Playstation!

 

It’s easier to see exactly what games do that when downloading ROMS because instead of just a .bin and .cue file sometimes you’ll also find dozens of tracks included as part of the zip folder.

 

[Butch2000]

“It’s in the air and safe… AND OUT!”

[The Gaffer]

Final Fantasy VII famously just uses the PS1's midi chip. It's just very very good at it. You can almost remember it as being orchestral recordings until you listen to it back and it's all those quite simplistic synth samples, just really well done. 

I remember in the case of Wipeout you could just bang it into a CD player and listen to it like an album. 

Speaking of great music, another "No but look dad, video games are really good and proper now" moment was Silent Hill having that cheesy TV show style intro that showed you loads of what you were going to end up playing and seeing, psyching you up for it:

 

[MungoChutney]

What a thread. The PlayStation one has always been far more than just any old console. It marked the start of the console being the deciding factor of whether kids were 'in' or 'out'. I don't think the previous generation of consoles had that same societal influence as what defined being cool or uncool changed month to month depending on the current action figure/collectables (Pogs!). When the PlayStation came along it changed that and any kid, like me, who didn't have one was automatically 'out'.

Its wider appeal can be seen in the fact it was heavily merchandised and sponsored the big launcher ride at Blackpool Pleasure beach, which is now the Tango IceBlast I think.

When I did eventually get one I played all the classics to death and played every WWF and WCW game to get everything unlocked with no cheats. The PS One is also where I discovered PES. I remember complaining to a friend that FIFA 99 was starting to feel less liked a game of football and more arcade based. He said 'try PES. The names are fake but the game is class'. As soon as I played the first one I was hooked and lost weeks of my life to the games well into adulthood.

PES was also the first game I bought from a stall at the Barras market in Glasgow where the guy had a huge list that your ordered from and then he got someone to meet you outside to hand them over like a class A drug. His list also had bold print saying he offered a copying service only and you agreed you already owned the original. Not sure that actually changed the legality but he certainly thought it did.  My PS One wasn't fully chipped either so it involved putting the extra spring in the lid and then loading a normal game before ejecting and inserting the copied disc. 

This thread has been superb reading and I'm now seriously considering heading to CeX to buy one.

Edited August 11, 2022 by MungoChutney

[Accident Prone]

13 hours ago, FelatioLips said:

 Great idea @Accident Prone here’s my list!

Racing: Crash Team Racing

Platformer: Spyro The Dragon

RPG: Final Fantasy IX

Action/Adventure:  Medievil

Puzzle: Bust a Move 4

Fighting: Tekken 2

Sport (yes includes wrestling): WWF Smackdown 2

Sim/Strategy : Theme Hospital

Horror: Resident Evil

Licensed: Rugrats: Search for Reptar

Free Pick: Ape Escape

The PSX library is so vast and deep that I never even considered the likes of Spyro, Medievil or Ape Escape.

Spyro brings back great memories of when I first moved out in 2010 and staying up late into the night and early morning with a bunch of potheads who were courageously trying to 100% the game.

I know it's a wrestling forum and it's already been discussed a lot even before this thread, but Smackdown 2 really was a game changer. Plenty of wrestlers, easy to play, fast without being silly, tons of match types and the creation suite was way ahead of it's time. I still play a bit on my Vita here and there, constantly trying to have the best PPV ranking. I've never envied the N64 dorks with their WCW/NWO Revenge and No Mercy because Smackdown 2 was in a league of it's own.

[BomberPat]

12 hours ago, Loki said:

 But very quickly everyone switched to streams; and as someone pointed out earlier some games low-key just played a CD track; track 1 was the game data and track 2 upwards was music.  Puzzle Bobble was a good example of this.

yeah, it was always a delight finding those games, and sticking them in the CD player to have a listen, because I was the kind of nerd who did that.

Some of the old demo discs were fun for this, too - there were some demos (it may even have been the aforementioned Deathtrap Dungeon or Excalibur 2555AD) that clearly had a bit of code for "when this track finishes playing, move on to the next track" that worked in the full game, but on the demo meant that it started playing the music from one of the other demos on the same disc.

[RedRooster]

LOVE your idea, @Accident Prone 

Here are my picks for the revised PS Classic: 

Racing: Wipeout 2097 - OK, cards on the table, I bloody hate racing games. Except Kart racers. While I'd like to include Crash Team Racing, that would make the system a little Crash Bandicoot-heavy. I don't want to include Gran Turismo or Ridge Racer, because I don't like them...which leaves a game from the Wipeout series as the best option. The soundtrack, fast-pace and visuals are a great representation of how exciting gaming felt back then, and how cool it became...a real contrast from how gaming had been perceived up until this point. 

Platformer: Crash Bandicoot 3 - It has to be, hasn't it? Crash was the PlayStation's unofficial mascot, so to not have him on this system would feel a bit wrong. He's so important to the history of the console, that I can't justify any other pick. 

RPG: Final Fantasy VII - FFVII is one of my favourite games ever, and while there are other RPGs I would like to include - simply because it's really easy to play FFVII on other systems - I'm trying to treat this system as the best of the best, packing it with games that truly represent the original PlayStation experience. And this was a crucial part of it. It's an iconic game, and so important in the history of the PS1. Much like Crash Bandicoot, this game just has to be on the PS Mini. 

Action/Adventure:  Tomb Raider 3 - Even though Tomb Raider appeared on other systems, Lara Croft was the other unofficial PlayStation mascot. It used to be, that you would think PlayStation, and you would think Lara Croft and Crash Bandicoot. For me, Tomb Raider 3 is the best of the series on the PS1. It has to be on there. 

Puzzle: Kula World - One of those games we all played through Demo One, but very few of us actually owned. But it's actually pretty great, and has aged really well. I'm surprised that no one (as far as I'm aware) has attempted to create a spiritual successor to this one. 

Fighting: Tekken 3 - An easy choice. This is actually one of the first PlayStation games that I owned, and what a way to be introduced to the system. I remember my heart thudding after I finally reached Dr Bosconovitch in Tekken Force mode - the final character I had to unlock - only to have my arse kicked by him. If at first you don't succeed, however...and fuck, it felt absolutely brilliant to beat the guy. Easily the best Tekken game, and it surely has to go down as the most iconic PS1 fighting game. 

Sport: Gran Turismo - Ah fuck, it. I know I didn't include this as my racing game, and I'd initially included Cool Boarders 3 here, but Gran Turismo is the best-selling PlayStation game of all time. If, as I'm trying to claim, I'm creating a console that encapsulates the full PS1 experience, this game should be on here, even if I do hate it. 

Sim/Strategy: Final Fantasy Tactics - I know I've already included a Final Fantasy game, and that the "Sim/Strategy" category is probably designed without the inclusion of strategy RPGs in mind...but for many people, this was their first introduction to the brilliance of tactical RPGs. Not in Europe, mind, as it wasn't released here, but I bloody love this game, and I think it merits more attention than it typically gets. With a "Classic" style system, I think there should always be at least one attempt to give a fantastic game a second life. 

Horror: Silent Hill - Personally, I prefer Dino Crisis, but if I'm designing the system to effectively be the "history of the PS1" in summary form, it has to be either Resident Evil or Silent Hill. Given that the Silent Hill series has disappeared in recent years, because of strategic choices made by Konami, I think it's worth reminding people what this series was all about. 

Licensed: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 - I'd initially listed this as my sport game, but I'm cheating a little in order to include both this, and Gran Turismo. 

Free Pick: Metal Gear Solid - I considered including Ape Escape, Abe's Oddysee, Spyro, Medievil and Parappa the Rapper, but MGS surely has to be on this system. It still plays incredibly well; it kickstarted the stealth genre, which had been in a bit of a lull; it's absolutely vital in the history of the PS1 and it's going to become increasingly challenging to play this game on modern consoles, if Konami continues to move away from quality game development. 

[Fatty Facesitter]

On 8/10/2022 at 1:20 PM, HarmonicGenerator said:

And that has just reminded me of my 13th birthday and this beauty of a game:

Glorious, joyous fun. I remember me, my dad and my grandad (who never played games) having a brilliant afternoon taking turns at blowing up enemy pigs and laughing at the Rik Mayall voiceovers. Great memories.

+1 for this absolute masterpiece. Delirious fun. Rik's impressions and different accents throughout the game are an absolute delight. Nothing in life has ever made me prouder than promoting my hogs for their service in combat! 

Bastard hard as you got to the latter stages, even when you promoted your pigs. The final level on the Isle of Swill is absolute torture if you do it the conventional way. 

 

 

 

[The Gaffer]

On the subject of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, I remember the PS1 release at the time being a significant downgrade because its primary version was purpose built for next gen consoles. So almost sort of the opposite of what happens now. But so in love was I with the PS1 aesthetic that I eschewed the fancy new version in favour of sticking with PS1 Hawk. Even though I had a PS2 at the time. 

I eventually got the PS2 version but the slick smooth versions of Skater Island and Tokyo didn't quite provide the same challenge as navigating the jaggies and draw distance of the downgrade port. 

One of those perfect, weird gaming examples of how you can take something that's objectively worse to heart. 

On the flip side of that is PS1 Doom. A subjectively significant upgrade that included a sleeker HUD, effect laden skyboxes, dynamic lighting and a creepy ambient soundtrack instead of the cheesy midi trash metal. 

I love ports. 

Edited August 11, 2022 by Gay as FOOK

[air_raid]

Tony Hawks 2 was played to death in my uni hall. "Here I am... doing everything I can.... pretending I'm a Superman" etc.

Mashing buttons to deperately pull off a 450 LATE KICKFLIP SHOVE IT TO NOSEBONE etc etc while the on screen text struggled to keep up, barely caring if you landed it or not.

[Keith Houchen]

12 hours ago, Butch2000 said:

“It’s in the air and safe… AND OUT!”

I hated Agnew for years because of “There’s runs here HES IN TROUBLE HERE”

 

I think my first experience of a PS1 was when one of my ex wives was at uni. The boyfriend of one of her housemates was a right posho competitive rugger and cricket type on loads of money. He bought it round to the house one weekend when I was visiting too. It was his first games console and had Wipeout with him. He was winning all the races against the girls and then me, who had been gaming all his life picked it up real quick and won convincingly every time. 
 

He was visibly annoyed at losing but bridges were built by me giving him gameplay tips which he used to then beat all his Tarquin mates back home. 
 

The console was a societal changer. It’s what people played when they got back from the pub where as previously gaming was what you did instead of going to the pub. 

[Merzbow]

6 minutes ago, Gay as FOOK said:

On the flip side of that is PS1 Doom. A subjectively significant upgrade that included a sleeker HUD, effect laden skyboxes, dynamic lighting and a creepy ambient soundtrack instead of the cheesy midi trash metal. 

I love ports. 

A fellow man of taste! Aubrey Hodges doesn't get enough love for his creepy as fuck soundtracks.