Lemmy’s essential 25 PS1 games

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - because it’s literally one of the best games ever made. So good that when it borrowed the Metroid formula pretty much wholesale, they renamed the formula Metroidvania.
Metal Gear Solid - because it sits in the Goldilocks zone of Kojima-ness. Nutty but not impenetrable.
Silent Hill - because everyone should know what it’s like for seventeen pixels to make them shit themselves in fear.
Metal of Honor - because Call of Duty used to be the whippersnapper upstart. Know your roots, son.
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 - because there were THPS games with more, but there were never THPS games that were definitively better.
Resident Evil 2 - because hitting your stride while defining a genre is a beautiful thing.
Valkyrie Profile - because the world is ending but I really want this mermaid to be happy…
Fear Effect - because it’s a seven hour game across four CDs but my best friend and I couldn’t put it down until we finished it on day one.
Vigilante 8 - because they out-Twisted-Metaled Twisted Metal.
G-Darius - because sometimes you just gotta blast a giant robot fish in the face with a screen-filling laser beam.
Incredible Crisis - because we all have bad days.
Tenchu - because Solid Snake shouldn’t be the only one who gets to have fun sneaking around and killing people.
Rakugaki Showtime - because before there was Smash Bros, there was bashing the Smiley Ball for super moves and launching ICBMs against your foes.

i love your single sentence pitches. im sold on most of what you suggested.
- Thanks! There was a lot of wacky fun in the PlayStation generation.
Some additional deeper cuts:

Trap Gunner - because sending your friend on a trip around the entire level into a nest of bombs and mines never gets old.

Syphon Filter - because, how about… the taser? (The commercial is for 2, but the first one has a better taser… trust me.)

The Unholy War - because it‘s basically chess but with flying bladebots and chompy little toothbastards.

Die Hard Trilogy - because it’s 3 games and one of them is inexplicably one of the better light gun games ever made.

Ghost in the Shell - because find me another game where you drive a tank that climbs walls.

Return Fire - because if playing Capture the Flag with military vehicles while listening to classical music isn’t a good time, I don’t know what is.

Star Ocean: The Second Story - because an epic JRPG with 86 possible endings and dozens of different skills like Musicianship, Blacksmithing, Cooking, and Publishing most certainly is not overkill.

Blast Chamber - because all sports would be better if they were played in a room where you can rotate gravity.

Future Cop LAPD - because sometimes I’m just tired of conserving my ammo.

N2O: Nitrous Oxide - because 90’s techno and lasers.
- because an epic JRPG with 86 possible endings
  
  Wait, what?
You've sold me on several of these. "Fear Effect" looks wild.
- It’s one of the best, most coherent video game stories I’ve ever experienced. Super fun, utterly engrossing. The unfortunate part is the tank controls, but the story makes it totally worth it.

(Firstly, Apologize for formatting of this post)

(As of 2/26 2:00pm ish Pacific) Thanks for all the suggestions! It is clear that this is a library of games I certainly slept on. I'm looking forward to finding them to play!

I went through the comments and tried to tally up what people suggested and here was the list of games in no particular order, just based on the most tallies. I also combined series entires, for example Tony Hawk's Pro skater series were all the tallies for the single entry. Here is what I see:

Metal Gear Solid
Final Fantasy VII
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (series)
Final Fantasy IX
Ape Escape
Spyro the Dragon (series)
Crash Bandicoot (series)
Crash Team Racing
Silent Hill
Tekken 3
Wipeout 2097/XL
Xenogears
Final Fantasy Tactics
Syphon Filter
Parappa the Rapper
Gex (series)
Gran Turismo 2
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Ridge Racer / R4
Tomb Raider (series)
Resident Evil (series)
Medal of Honor
Dino Crisis
Mega Man Legends
Die Hard Trilogy

*Here were a list of games that were mentioned a few times, but didn't reach the list: *

MediEvil (1 & 2)

Herc’s Adventures

Monsters, Inc. Scream Team

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone

Future Cop LAPD

*Here were games mentioned once: *

Driver 2

King’s Field (1 & 2)

Rapid Reload (a.k.a. Gunner’s Heaven)

Jumping Flash!

Bishi Bashi Special

Vanark

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne

Tail Concerto

Silent Bomber

Namco Museum (Volumes 1–6)

Tempest X3

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Chrono Cross

Pitball

Valkyrie Profile

Fear Effect

Vigilante 8

G-Darius

Incredible Crisis

Tenchu

Rakugaki Showtime

Trap Gunner

The Unholy War

Ghost in the Shell

Return Fire

Star Ocean: The Second Story

Blast Chamber

N2O: Nitrous Oxide

Threads of Fate

Disney’s Hercules

Blood Omen (Legacy of Kain)

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

R-Type Delta

Omega Boost

Wipeout 3: Special Edition

Bushido Blade

Arc the Lad III

Parasite Eve

Jade Cocoon

Azure Dreams

Legend of Dragoon

Tomba (a.k.a. Tombi)

Rayman 2

Soul Blade

Spider-Man (Neversoft)

Dead or Alive

Frogger 2

Jet Moto

Rugrats: Search for Reptar

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

Toy Story Racer

Hogs of War

Worms Armageddon

Hydro Thunder

Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee/Exodus

Jackie Chan Stuntmaster

Colin McRae Rally 2.0

Front Mission 3

Grandia

Grand Theft Auto 2

DDR / DDR Konamix

Vib-Ribbon

Team Buddies

Tales of Phantasia

Suikoden II

Hugo

Legend of Legaia

Breath of Fire III

Guardians Crusade

Brightis

Love & Destroy

Intelligent Qube (a.k.a. Kurushi)

Scrabble

Devil Dice (a.k.a. XI)

I have certainly played a few from the top 25, and interestingly for what little of PS1 I played, I played a fair bit of ones only mentioned once or twice. I recall playing a demo for Meidevil and having a blast, same with Tenchu, Valkyrie Profile, Blood Omen, and Harry Potter.

What do you think?

seems i’ve nothing to add here - kudos
Very curious to me that FF9 made the list but not FF8. FF7 is a given, a seminal game. But I was a kid/teenager when both FF8 and FF9 came out and I remember FF8 being more of a hit than 9. I am sure part of it was that 9 came out more on the eol of the PS1 while the 8 was on the prime years. I think I read something about 9 becoming a cult classic over the years but I am not sure. Maybe also with the years 8 didn't fare as well and maybe the early praise when first launched came in part trailing how well was 7 that everyone wanted for 8 to be good.

Personally I did play a lot of 8 but I think only halfway through instead of completing like I did 7 and when 9 came around I wanted to play but never ended up playing it.
- I wanted to love FF9 but even the most basic battles (grinding) take way too long! Enter battle: swirl, loading... camera flies uselessly around the battlefield... sometimes we're at one minute already and haven't even started doing damage yet. Not a disc or laser problem because this happens on emulators, too. Solution is to use an emulator with fast-forward.
- i was expecting to see 7 mentioned but at the time of tallying just 9 was mentioned. though i could have certainly misread or glossed over it. aside from tactics on the gba i haven’t touched the series despite it being popular.
The majority of Square's games from the era are some of the best they've ever put out, like Chrono Cross, Parasite Eve (1 and 2) and Threads of Fate (aka Dewprism), so they're always good choices.

Mega Man X4 is also one of the best of the X series. X5 is still good, avoid X6, it's very clear how rushed the game is once you start playing.

I'd put Jackie Chan Stuntmaster in place 25 of Die Hard Trilogy and Soul Reaver on 16 in place of Gex, though every in game cutscene of Soul Reaver is unskippable, but the voice acting is pretty much the very best of the console and holds up well even today.

Silent Bomber decidedly deserves a playthru, as does C12 Final Resistance

PS: really hard to read the "mentioned once" list, it's all a single line without commas or anything
I was looking for Frogger! Didn’t know they made a Frogger 2… I’ll have to play it sometime…

Wipeout 2097 - Still one of my favourite racing games of all time and has a banging soundtrack

Gran Turismo 2 - Big enough that it needed 2 discs. A classic in sim racing.

MediEvil - Fun humorous story and great atmosphere.

Spyro - It was on the demo disc.

Final Fantasy 7 & 8 - RPG classics. Nuff said.

And a bonus game that sucked:

Command & Conquer port - Buggy, lots of lag and terrible controls

The Spyro trilogy is a masterpiece! It was one of the first games to use shifting levels of detail for objects in the distance, so you could see farther away.
You could link two playstations and play c&c in lan, waisted so many days on that.
- Fuck yeh. We used to do that but one person had to play under a duvet because both of the TVs faced in the same direction.

Soul Reaver, Castlevania: SOTN and Suikoden 2 are my personal faves.

It would be a crime to forget Metal Gear Solid on the list.

Bushido Blade is also fantastic.

Tetris Plus - Still my favorite version of Tetris. Has some really unique mechanics.

Wild 9 - A 2.5D platformer where you throw enemies into obstacles with an electric glove.

I feel like the major one for me (that hasn't been listed) is Ape Escape. Growing up i played the (arguably worse) remaster of it for the PSP. Genuinely interesting to play a platformer so different yet so clearly reactionary to Mario 64. And it's also just interesting how they handle the analog sticks in terms of controls

Like many games of the era the controls are frankly janky, but they are just so much fun

Oddly enough I've never played ape escape but ape quest on the PSP was one of my favorite "forgotten" games. Dunno if you're referring to that one or a different one lol.

WipEout XL, Spyro 1-3, Crash 1-3, Monster's Inc Scream Team, Crash Team Racing, Frogger 2, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone, JetMoto, Herc's Adventures, Rugrats Search For Reptar, Parappa The Rapper, Ridge Racer, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, The Tomb Raider games, Twisted Metal, Toy Story Racer. There's a lot more but those are some of my favorites.

I go on with games I didn’t see mentioned:

Crash Bandicoot 2
R-Type Delta
Tekken 3

And a bonus mention:

Omega Boost. Before Polyphony made Gran Turismo, they made a fun mech shoot em up. Doesn’t deserve to be on any list, but just a fun thing to bring up.

Otherwise, a list is incomplete without:

Metal Gear Solid
Gran Turismo
Final Fantasy VII
Silent Hill
Resident Evil
Tony Hawk Pro Skater
Wipeout (I prefer 2097)
Tekken 3

These games are too culturally significant to be left out.

Every time i see Omega Boost I think of Eifel 65’s song ‘My Consolle’

Final Fantasy Tactics and Front Mission 3

King's Field 1 and 2.

No King's Field, no Demon Souls and basically every other game that has made From a household name.

Grandia.

And Ridge Racer has been mentioned, but I would go with Ridge Racer 4 which is arguably the pinnacle of the series.

Crash Trilogy.

Spyro Trilogy.

Tekken (I’d get Tekken 3 if I were you)

Crash Team Racing

FFVII

Tony Hawk Pro Skater (the first one is the only one exclusive to PlayStation 1, THPS 2 and 3 came out on PS2)

Syphon Filter

Metal Gear Solid

Medal of Honor

Driver 2

Gex 2

Tomb Raider

Tony Hawk Pro Skater (the first one is the only one exclusive to PlayStation 1, THPS 2 and 3 came out on PS2)

Hi! I'm an 0Ld Tony Hawk player, so let me break it down. Mouseover the acronyms for full titles if your client supports it.

THPS1 and THPS2 were PS1 first, and then ported to Dreamcast, N64, and PC. THPS2 also got a weird Xbox port with THPS1 levels in it. That's not counting the portable versions and later HD remakes.
THPS3, THPS4, THUG1, THUG2, and THAW were all PS2/Xbox/GameCube first, and eventually PC too. The PS1, N64, and GBA got demakes of some of these games using the THPS2 engine, and they don't feel right. THUG1's PC port was exclusive to Australia and New Zealand 🤨. THUG2 has a PSP port. THUG2 PC mod THUG Pro is where the THPS community lives now. THAW has fantastic ports on DS and 360.
THP8 and THPG were 360/PS3-exclusive, but THP8 was eventually ported to PS2.
THPG and THDJ for DS were actually pretty good. Only the DS versions though.
We don't talk about Robomodo's games.
- What a breakdown about Tony Hawk games. Thanks for sharing.
Great list.

Lots of great games already listed. Here's the one I would add:

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Most of the best games gave been re-released or remade over the years, but Xenogears stands out as a great RPG that was only re-released once, for the PS3 in 2011. It's totally unavailable (legally) on modern hardware. It does have the very unfortunate flaw of basically becoming a visual novel once you hit the second disc due to them running out of time and money, but the game is still great as long as you know what you're in for. The best way to play it, as usual, is via an emulator, and you can even play it in widescreen that way.

Having played through this recently (via PS1 classics on a PS3):

Very important game to the genre. Absolutely fucking miserable to play in places.

Very slow paced, long load times, awful platforming dungeons. But fascinating plot and characters. And then disc 2 happens and it's completely batshit but also barely a game. And there's sequences like the prison that just drag on forever. It's worth playing but you're gonna need patience.

The funny thing about it is that despite it being revered as a classic but nearly everyone, it's also unlikely to ever get a remake or remaster because it's blatantly unfinished and Tetsuya Takahashi left the company decades ago to found Monolith Soft and make different Xeno games.
- Yeah, you have to be okay with clunky PS1 era RPG controls and pacing. But if you're looking for PS1 games to play in the first place, you probably are.

I've seen no love for Chrono Cross yet? Shame.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Final Fantasy VII/IX (not VIII)
Tales of Phantasia (has a PSP remake with a lot of extra content but that's JP-only...)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1/2

IX over VIII, my brother/sister
- I'm currently replaying all of them via emulator the last few weeks, and I have to say I respectfully disagree.
  
  IX's combat system just feels simplified compared to the depth that VIII had.
  
  Could you absolutely cheese the draw system...of course. But if you avoided the temptation, the almost limitless mechanics of stat pairing was fun to play around with when taking on different enemies.

Some more I haven't seen mentioned yet, maybe just outside the top 25:

Rapid Reload/Gunner's Heaven - Gunstar Heroes-inspired platform shooting chaos
Jumping Flash! - Low poly early FPS series with a robot bunny that jumps really high
Bishi Bashi Special - Compete with your friends in WarioWare-like rapid-fire three button minigames
Vanark - Basically Star Fox 64 for the PS1, but went almost entirely unnoticed
The Misadventures of Tron Bonne - Mega Man Legends spinoff starring goofy pirates and their adorable robot henchmen
Tail Concerto and Silent Bomber - CyberConnect2's first two games; both are hidden gems of 3D action
Gran Turismo 2 Combined Disc - Both discs combined into one oversized disc by Silent, creator of SilentPatch for the Grand Theft Auto games
Namco Museum (all six volumes) - I wish later Namco compilations had the first-person museum segments from the PS1 games
Tempest X3 - Back in my day, "Jeff Minter" was a euphemism for mind-altering drugs

Here's a weird one: Pac-Man World. 3Dish platformer with a lot of neat tricks and surprises. It's not groundbreaking, but it made me genuinely happy when I played it.

Also, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. There's so much stuff to do in this game, and if you do it right the

spoiler

castle flips upside down

and there's even more stuff to do.

Some pretty good stuff already but no one has mentioned Xenogears.

Definitely one of my essentials. I think the gameplay is bit meh, but it's still the best story in the genre.

Dance Dance Revolution. It was unique, healthy, a lot of fun, and popularized a new genre: rhythm games.

Not sure if I would recommend the PS1 versions specifically, especially with the cheap foam pads they came with.
- The actual konami dance mats are fantastic. Some minor issues if they bunched up in storage but they flatten well. Had bad luck with third party mats, especially the foam filled ones. They should have been amazing but the buttons didn't always work right and the heavier plastic material ripped easier than the soft stuff

Nobody said GTA 2 yet. Lost so many hours to that one. The last top down GTA I think.

Also of course MGS, FFVII, FF Tactics, FFIX, THPS2. DDR konamix was decent. Oh and tekken. I had tekken 2 but I think 3 might've been on PS1 as well. Yoshimitsu was always my favorite and I was stoked when he was put into soul calibur with his moveset intact.

Not quite the last - we also had Chinatown Wars for DS, in I think 2008?

Legend of Legia is my goat PS1 game that rarely gets the love it deserves. I loved the combat/combo system that allowed you to use the end part of one art into the beginning of another art was so awesome. The story was great and the characters were wonderful. It was such a fun unique take on jrpgs of the day

I came here to post this. I played the first few hours of it 30x+ because I didn’t have a memory card at the time but made it further each time.

Time for bed = pop the lid on the console so the disc would stop spinning then resume in the morning.

Not seeing much love for Wipeout 3: Special Edition (it has double the number of tracks as the standard edition)

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile is a fantastic 2.5D platformer with a great story.

An important thing to know beforehand is that there is a limited number of lives in the game and no way to replay levels until completing the game. This can be a big deal because you may find yourself unable to complete later levels on only a single life. This isn't an issue with the later Wii (not recommended) and Phantasy Reverie (recommended) versions since they allow replaying levels.

Anyone ever play a game called Team Buddies?

Fuckin Parappa the Rapper, baby

I want to recommend a game that I know wasn't that great, but is lots of fun: Pitball. It's like alien space basketball with gambling. If you like old school sports games with janky controls, give it a shot.

The only one I have that hasn't been mentioned yet is Suikoden II. Gorgeous sprite art, and it's also just a solid game. Ironically, it's getting a remaster very soon which is sure to clean up its biggest weakness (the English localization), though we don't know how the rest of it will shake out.

I consider the fifth gen to be a lost generation for sprite-based games, this is one of those on the console that make the case for an interesting "what could have been" scenario (Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Valkyrie Profile also being sprite-based standouts).

Suikoden III was my jam growing up on snes
- You're thinking of Seiken Densetsu 3. Suikoden 3 was on PS2.

I wasn’t a PlayStation guy. I quit consoles when the Mega Drive went end of life and I didn’t like what Sony or Nintendo were bringing to the party. But I have played some PS1 and there are a few I always like to put into my retro systems.

Symphony of the Night

Tony Hawk 2

Disney’s Hercules

Blood Omen

Hot Pursuit

Wipeout 2097

No one gonna mention ape escape? Tsk tsk.

Essential game if you are playing with an original dual shock for sure

Aside from the more well-known greats people have already mentioned, I have to nominate Herc's Adventures and MediEvil 1 and 2.

How we haven't seen a new MediEvil game in the age of souls likes baffles me. Souls combat with Dan's goofy comedy in an open, interconnected Gallowmere? Please take my money.

I also wouldn't mind seeing a new game in that style LucasArts used for Herc, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and Ghoul patrol. But with them under the mouse, it's probably as likely as another Monkey Island.

Couple I haven't seen yet:

Vib-Ribbon, a fun little rhythm game which also allows you to play with your own CDs
Team Buddies, a really unique action / strategy game that I've never seen replicated. Sort of a proto-MOBA.

My personal top pick (due to lack of playing psx in a long time) is Devil Dice (also known as XI in Japan if I remember correctly). I personally just play the arcade mode, though, since the other modes aren't as fun in my opinion.

It's nice to see some recognition for Devil Dice :)

Hear me out:

Monsters, Inc. Scream Team.

For a PS1 game it was ahead of its time. Fleshed out 3D levels that are actually navigable, decent camera angles, solid platforming + puzzles, and level revisiting that does not feel excessively repetitive. The difficulty is also not a god-awful sudden cliff like some PS1/2 games of the era. It’s one of the few, maybe the only PS1 game I’ve played multiple times through.

As a plus the soundtrack is banger.

Not a common suggestion, but the Scrabble PS1 port holds up surprisingly well, all the more so for how few Scrabble video games there are.

There are so many! I haven't seen these mentioned yet.

Future Cop LAPD Jackie Chan Stuntmaster Colin McRae 2.0 Abes Oddysee/Exodus

Breath of Fire 3

A classical JRPG. I still like it quite a lot.

Final Fantasy IX, one of the last classical FF experiences. Quite hard though.

Final Fantasy Tactics, a very enjoyable strategy game.

Mega Man Legends, this was one of my favorites but the CD was damaged so I couldn't finish the game.

Besides Metal Gear Solid?

Dino Crisis.

Both Brightis and Love & Destroy are good if you can read Japanese.

No one mentioned it yet, so:

Die Hard Trilogy

Silent Hill

Threadz of Fate. There’s something so charming and comfy about this game with the intertwined dual storyline, the fun combat system, and the great music.

Toy Story 2

Final Fantasy VII

Kingsley's Adventure

Gran Turismo 2

Jackie Chan Stuntmaster

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone

Rugrats: Search For Reptar

Tomba

Tekken 3

Rayman 2

R4 Ridge Racer

Soul Blade

Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped

Final Fantasy Tactics

Spyro The Dragon

Digimon World 2003

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

Tomb Raider 3

Guardians Crusade

Metal Gear Solid

Crash Team Racing

Spider-Man

Dead Or Alive

Ape Escape

Mega Man Legends

I know you said you didn't want a full list but thought it'd be an interesting exercise for me to do one anyway. If these were the only PS1 games I could play, I'd still be very happy with few that I'd truly miss that's not on here (which would mostly be games from series that I put here, spyro etc.)

Nice to see some love for Tomba. Loved Tomba 2. Just heard it’s getting a remake released this year.
- I never played it properly as a kid but I had a demo that I used to play all the time. I never even finished the demo as a kid. To me the world just felt so mysterious and massive.
list away! i just didnt want anyone to feel obligated to type it all out! I did get your entries in my count :)

Hugo