Best obscure and/or import PS1 games?

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:39 am

I have 2 Taito titles that people don't talk much about.

Ray Tracers - Polygon futuristic Chase HQ. I wouldn't call it a gem, but its playable and a nice addition to my library.

Power shovel simulator - I never did get the huge controller for it. It does take a while to get used to the controls. I really feel like picking up the US release of this just to play in English as I have gotten stuck on some levels.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:02 am

it's featured on the link posted by UFO, but I'll give it a second nod

Trap Gunner. It's very addictive and fun... even better with a friend to play against.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:16 am

Ralph looks a bit like superfrog on the Amiga, very fast and slick. I'm definitely picking that up. Superfrog was one of my fave platformers of all time. I want a HD version lol.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:03 am

Superfrog was very fast up until you decided to jump. Then he would go very slow.

I always found that really weird in the game, how is speed at jumping was always slow, even though you were going very fast before jumping.

Team 17 had great coders, great artists, but they couldn't design a good game to save their lives. I think that was the case with most european teams at that time. I believe everytime they actually made a good game, it was purely a big stroke of luck. Though, those were the cases when the game would not just be "good", but usually a brilliant masterpiece (Team 17 with their Alien Breed games or Bitmap Brothers with Speedball 2 and The Chaos Engine, to give a few examples)

it290 · Post by **it290** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:30 am

I dunno, I think Team17 had more hits than misses really. The Alien Breed series was awesome, as you mentioned, and AB3D (the first one) was also very good. Then you have Arcade Pool, which is still one of my favorite pool games, Assassin (pretty decent Strider clone), the Body Blows series which were respectable for their time, and of course Worms (and Worms:Director's Cut), which is one of the best game designs of the period. They also published some awesome stuff like Spheris Legacy and Super Stardust.

The Bitmaps were a bit more hit or miss, though - all of their games had great graphics, but only a few (those you mentioned) really had good playability. Speaking of them, I actually have the Speedball game for PSX still in the shrinkwrap - is it any good (I've heard not)?

One Euro Amiga/ST developer I can't really fault, though, is Thalion - most of their games are pure awesomeness.

NTSC-J · Post by **NTSC-J** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:25 am

Time Gal and Ninja Hayate is one of my favorites.

Post by **spadgy** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:38 am

it290 wrote:Sweet. I completely forgot about that Heart of Darkness game - will definitely give it a spin since Another World and Flashback are two of my favorite games ever (I've even done a no-hit run of Flashback on expert/hard mode).

Wow! That's tough! Honestly, if you love Another World and Flashback, Hearts of Darkness will be right up your street - almost exactly the same kind of platforming...

P_HAT · Post by **P_HAT** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:49 am

How about Kowloon's Gate?

Post by **spadgy** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:12 am

it290 wrote:I dunno, I think Team17 had more hits than misses really

I agree - and don't forget arcade Arcade Pool. (EDIT: You didn't miss it out did you? Oops! In that case, I just want to give props to it. Love that game)- I even like Project X a little bit...

Assassin was really awesome.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:31 am

I am getting Puchi Carat RIGHT NOW

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 12:25 pm

Shooter Space Shot
Nectaris - Military Madness
Scrabble

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 5:20 pm

szycag wrote:I am getting Puchi Carat RIGHT NOW

Good man. It's not only my favourite PS1 game, but also my favourite 'hanging balls' puzzle game. Arkanoid meets Puzzle Bobble, with all the awesomeness that implies. It's got a dead clever mechanic where if you miss the ball, it rebounds off the bottom of the screen and lowers the balls by one line, which means you can abuse it to give yourself the opportunity for a larger drop, but at risk of fucking yourself over if you accidentally miss the bounce afterwards.

It also has a giant rabbit that screams BOOBIES! BIGGER BOOBIES! whenever it hits the other player with a combo.

The Adventure of Little Ralph is available on the PS3 through the Japanese PSN, by the way, which is a much more affordable option than trying to source the original disc (£3.50ish instead of £70ish, I think).

Dale · Post by **Dale** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:12 pm

Team Buddies
Apocalypse

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:42 pm

it290 wrote:I dunno, I think Team17 had more hits than misses really. The Alien Breed series was awesome, as you mentioned, and AB3D (the first one) was also very good. Then you have Arcade Pool, which is still one of my favorite pool games, Assassin (pretty decent Strider clone), the Body Blows series which were respectable for their time, and of course Worms (and Worms:Director's Cut), which is one of the best game designs of the period. They also published some awesome stuff like Spheris Legacy and Super Stardust.

The Bitmaps were a bit more hit or miss, though - all of their games had great graphics, but only a few (those you mentioned) really had good playability. Speaking of them, I actually have the Speedball game for PSX still in the shrinkwrap - is it any good (I've heard not)?

One Euro Amiga/ST developer I can't really fault, though, is Thalion - most of their games are pure awesomeness.

I never enjoyed Arcade Pool, though I seem it has its fans. Body Blows was "respectable" just because the Street Fighter 2 port was horrible. Assassin only got really good on its special edition... and it wasn't even developed by Team17, it was made by another team. Project X sucks. Full Contact also sucks. Miami Chase was fun for 15 minutes, though it was nearly unplayable if you tried to give it a serious run. Worms, Qwak and All Terrain Race were all masterpieces, though all of them were developed by a single guy, then bought by Team17 and got a "professional lift-up" from them (Worms more than other 2, I believe ATR and Qwak just had music made by Bjorn Lynne, everything else was handled by one single guy)

And Bitmap Brothers, I always got pissed how their games were incredibly overrated by magazines. I always found funny how "The One" gave 94% to Magic Pockets but "just" 85% to The Chaos Engine, which is truly their best game ever.

Speedball 2010 on PS1 isn't very good, but isn't terrible either. They left out the 16 directions throw, you can only throw the ball at 8 different directions. That alone would kill the game for me, since speedball 2 was all about getting the ball thrown at the "not quite diagonal, nor quite straight up" directions

.....but the game is also kinda slower.

You will play it, remember how Speedball 2 was good... and then wonder why you aren't playing Speedball 2 indeed.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:35 pm

Just a couple random ones. Maybe not "the best" but worth a look:

Grandoll
Gundam Battle Master 1&2
Gussun Paradise
Korokoro Post Nin
Landmaker
Lattice
LSD
Lup Salad
Mad Stalker
Mezase! Senkyuu-Ou
Mirano Arbeit Collection
Money Idol Exchanger
Moujya
Panzer Bandit
Pop’n Pop
Star Sweep
Vib Ribbon

Zeether · Post by **Zeether** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:32 am

Two words: Silent Bomber.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 1:03 am

Cool.

Am I crazy for thinking Nightmare Creatures is fun?

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:03 am

ZeetherKID77 wrote:Two words: Silent Bomber.

Beaten to it by a few hours. Got this one fairly cheap IIRC ($30ish). Hopefully it's down in price from where it was ($50 is what I remember it going for some years ago, lol). Pretty decent but hated the cutscenes so much.

Post by **undamned** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:02 am

ROBOTRON wrote:Nectaris - Military Madness

I've got this for sale if anyone wants it.

Here's a vote for Finger Flashing.
-ud

Khan · Post by **Khan** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 3:08 pm

parasite eve 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5ducWrnynw
Panzer bandit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjxUZzqyswM
rapid reload http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCSbnnLRjD4
Deception series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmyYK7qSnhI

enjoy

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:12 pm

ROBOTRON wrote:Shooter Space Shot
Nectaris - Military Madness
Scrabble

...lol

Raiden DX
Umihara Kawase Shun
several excellent puzzle games you're totally missing out on by having terrible taste in videogames...

here they are anyway:

Mr. Driller G
Zoku Gussun Oyoyo
Landmaker
Senkyuu/Battle Balls
Pop 'n Pop
Money Idol Exchanger

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:19 pm

Neon wrote:
ROBOTRON wrote:Shooter Space Shot
Nectaris - Military Madness
Scrabble
...lol

Raiden DX
Umihara Kawase Shun
several excellent puzzle games you're totally missing out on by having terrible taste in videogames... here they are anyway:

Mr. Driller G
Zoku Gussun Oyoyo
Landmaker
Senkyuu/Battle Balls
Pop 'n Pop
Money Idol Exchanger

There's also the $10 budget PSX puzzler game from A-1 Games by the name of Star Sweep that was based on the original arcade PCB of the same name. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:50 pm

I'll second the Landmaker recommendation.

Limbrooke · Post by **Limbrooke** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:21 pm

Jon wrote:I'll second the Landmaker recommendation.

Landmaker, while a good game, has too much loading for my tastes. Perhaps it can be overlooked, but when I'm waiting around a good chunk of the time, the fun factor drops a bunch.

Not only, but go for Builder's Block, the NTSC-U/C release, it's cheaper.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 11:32 pm

several excellent puzzle games you're totally missing out on by having terrible taste in videogames... Wink here they are anyway:

It's not that I hate puzzlers, it's that whenever I'm in the mood for something with the approximate duration and attention span requirements of a puzzler, I end up playing a 2d fighter instead. Also, Tetris, Puzzle Bobble, and Magical Drop are pretty much all I need.

ZOM · Post by **ZOM** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 2:36 am

it290 wrote:It's not that I hate puzzlers, it's that whenever I'm in the mood for something with the approximate duration and attention span requirements of a puzzler, I end up playing a 2d fighter instead.

I know this all too well, I can relate

Strider77 · Post by **Strider77** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:03 am

gamera 2000 is a good panzer dragoon clone and has a great soundtrack by zuntata.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtbZWOQ_ ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf7I1bwGrCY

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 12:24 am

Limbrooke wrote:
Jon wrote:I'll second the Landmaker recommendation.
Landmaker, while a good game, has too much loading for my tastes. Perhaps it can be overlooked, but when I'm waiting around a good chunk of the time, the fun factor drops a bunch.

Not only, but go for Builder's Block, the NTSC-U/C release, it's cheaper.

It loads quick if you turn on the fast-loads option on a ps2

Thanks PCE, I will have to check out Star Sweep, is it in mame?

Limbrooke · Post by **Limbrooke** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 1:28 am

Neon wrote:
Limbrooke wrote:Landmaker, while a good game, has too much loading for my tastes. Perhaps it can be overlooked, but when I'm waiting around a good chunk of the time, the fun factor drops a bunch.

Not only, but go for Builder's Block, the NTSC-U/C release, it's cheaper.
It loads quick if you turn on the fast-loads option on a ps2

Yeah yeah, I knew this would be brought up again. The loading time is nearly halved when using Disc Speed Fast. Don't get me wrong, I would still recommend it as it's a good game but you need to address the faults. Not like court; Landmaker/Builder's Block versus Limbrooke, I feel that the truth must be heard.

Code: Select all

PS2(fat) - Normal               Time taken

PS1(Sony screen) to title       18s
Loading Puzzle mode              4s
Loading Arcade mode             11s
After skipping Intro.            5s
After skipping Tut.              2s
After Character Sel.             6s
Wait before battle               7s

Code: Select all

PS1(original, not PSOne)

PS1(Sony screen) to title       25s
Loading Puzzle mode              6s
Loading Arcade mode             13s
After skipping Intro.            7s
After skipping Tut.              3s
After Character Sel.            13s
Wait before battle               8s
Wait after battle                5s

Code: Select all

PS2(fat) - Fast                    

PS1(Sony screen) to title       15s
Loading Puzzle mode              3s
Loading Arcade mode              7s
After skipping Intro.            4s
After skipping Tut.              2s
After Character Sel.             5s
Wait before battle               6s
Wait after battle                3s

Times might differ slightly whether on a newer Slim PSTwo or even a PSOne, perhaps PS3 even but yes, the loading is better on Fast yet there is still a lot of loading, Arcade mode-wise anyway. Puzzle mode has basically none as it was designed for the PlayStation so no complaints there.

Back on topic, Speed Power Gunbike is awesomeness as is SD Gundam over Galaxian. Both are worth checking out.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 4:35 am

Gave Silent Bomber a spin last night ... this game is truly excellent, although the plot and cutscenes are indeed painful. It's really too bad that nearly _every game_ during the 32-bit era felt like it had to have some kind of narrative focus. Guardian Heroes is another good example of this with it's unskippable cutscenes. Who wants that crap in an action game, really?