A console is only as good as its games, and the PlayStation had a lot of fantastic ones.
Yesterday, we talked about the system’s mediocre launch line-up when it came out on September 9, 1995. However, its library quickly filled with quality games. Today, we’re looking at the five most important ones.
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Twisted Metal
Release date: November 5, 1995
Above: Who wants some ice cream?
The PlayStation’s launch line-up wasn’t great, but it didn’t take long for the console to get an exciting title that would set it apart from its competition for the rest of its life-cycle. Twisted Metal was a car-combat game that had players trying to shoot each other from demonic ice cream trucks and other vehicles.
Remember how the Genesis set itself apart as the cooler, edgier system because it had a blood code for Mortal Kombat and the Super Nintendo didn’t? Twisted Metal had a similar effect, except this game was entirely a PlayStation exclusive. That means if you wanted to play this dark, violent game, you had to give Sony your money.
The sequel, 1996’s Twisted Metal 2, was a better game that improved every facet of the original. Still, you have to give the first one credit for helping to establish the PlayStation as a more grown-up console.
Resident Evil
Release date: March 22, 1996
Above: This was actually the scariest thing evil in 1996.
While Twisted Metal raised eyebrows with its violence, Resident Evil brought new standards to console gaming graphics and presentation. It used pre-rendered backgrounds to create 3D environments that looked far more realistic than most of what came before it. The whole thing even had voice acting! OK, it was bad voice acting, but it was still cool back in 1996.
Resident Evil helped to popularize the survival-horror genre, and it launched a series that would eventually see releases on multiple consoles. The original would see a release on the Sega Saturn the following year, but that was when that system was already deep in its sales struggles. Most associated Resident Evil with the PlayStation brand, and it became one of the console’s most important franchises.
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Crash Bandicoot
Release date: September 9, 1996
Above: Booga booga.
One of PlayStation’s most important games came out exactly one year after the system’s U.S. launch. Developed by Naughty Dog (which we now know as the studio behind Uncharted and The Last of Us), Crash Bandicoot was one of the first great 3D platformers.
It also came out just a few weeks before the Nintendo 64, which launched with a landmark 3D platformer of its own, Super Mario 64. While that game was a bit more ambitious with its open worlds, Crash Bandicoot’s solid design and colorful visuals helped to keep Mario from completely stealing all of Sony’s thunder. Crash would become the PlayStation’s mascot until the series went multiplatform in the next console cycle.
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Final Fantasy VII
Release date: September 7, 1997
Above: That’s one interesting cast.
This game still holds a huge place in gamers’ hearts. Hell, Sony even made its announcement of a remake one of the big moments in its E3 2015 press briefing. Final Fantasy VII was the first 3D entry in the series, and it wowed players with its cinematic presentation that combined pre-rendered backgrounds and animations with real-time characters.
This was the most mainstream Japanese role-playing game ever made, with children everywhere talking with friends about how to breed Gold Chocobos or find the overpowered Knights of the Round spell. It would launch a golden era of Japanese role-playing games, almost all of them launching on the PlayStation, including Xenogears, Legend of Dragoon, and Chrono Cross.
Metal Gear Solid
Release date: October 21,1998
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Above: How did he know that?!
Metal Gear Solid was even more cinematic than Final Fantasy VII, and it managed that without the heavy use of pre-rendered graphics. Like Resident Evil, it featured full voice-acting, but this time it was actually pretty good! It had a ton of classic moments, from Psycho Mantis noting other Konami game save files in your memory card to an epic fight against a giant, nuke-carrying robot of death.
Also, just like how Crash Bandicoot came out in a time when Sony needed to combat a huge Nintendo 64 release, Metal Gear Solid released a month before The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Even though that was one of biggest games ever released, Metal Gear Solid kept the software race even.