25 years of history of Sony's first home console, millions of games sold, but it's time to review its Olympus.
This past December 3 Sony publicly remembered that PlayStation was celebrating: 25 years of history of the company's first console. A successful system, a domestic machine that surely established many of the standards that now accompany the sector and, especially in Spain, an undeniable correlation with the environment that unites us. Sales apart, it's time to remember your 10 best rated games.
The video game press has also changed; It has evolved, has professionalized in some countries and continues on its way to doing so with guarantees in others. Criticism, the way to value this cultural environment, also evolves. The portals aggregators of qualifications, such as Opencritic and, above all, Metacritic for its media importance and belonging to the CBS Interactive group, make the average marks of this last portal be considered as a reference for the players.
The PlayStation case is already contemplated in Metacritic and, therefore, separate subjective interpretations and taking into account that at that time they were computing very few means in Metacritic with respect to the current times, where several dozen media are counted, serve this article as a retrospective respect to the PlayStation catalog. No more no less. Sometimes they accompanied sales; in others, no.
PlayStation | 25th anniversary
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 – 98
A forgotten saga, a genre surely no longer has such popularity in the sector, but that in the early 2000s was part of the youth of many. Neversoft made possible what a dream was for many to improve and complete an idea. The press, mostly American, agreed: it was almost perfect. There were multiple versions in a myriad of platforms, each one developed by different companies, but it is that of PlayStation that was a real commercial success.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
Tekken 3 – 96
For some it is still the best installment of the saga or, at least, the one that finished consolidating the brand and the saga of Katsuhiro Harada on consoles. It was an institution in the Japanese recreation rooms; the difference is that Tekken 3 closed a stage – already notable – in PlayStation with a game whose success has not been seen again (8.5 million units worldwide), the synonym for the snack of, surely, more from a FreeGameTips reader in youth. The eternal Iron Fist.
Tekken 3
Grand Tourism – 96
Another emblem for the brand; In fact, it is the best-selling video game in the history of PlayStation with more than 10.8 million copies … only on this platform. He set a precedent and allowed years later there was a sequel, a second part that for some still has that "something" that the other episodes did not have. But the first also has an intangible element, of those that only feel at hand, that have defined the name of Kazunori Yamauchi.
Grand Tourism
Final Fantasy IX – 94
The ninth of the family, third and last of PlayStation. It was also the return of Yoshitaka Amano in a medieval style that involves connecting better than the eighth part and, interestingly, has a better note than Final Fantasy VII (92). There are those who stay with the soundtrack of Uematsu; others believe it was the cast of characters that made a dent … There are many factors that make FFIX an unforgettable title, now available on many more platforms, even mobile. Will it have remake in the future?
Final Fantasy IX
Chrono Cross – 94
One of those cases not backed by sales. The still Squaresoft, by the hand of Masato Kato, entered with this sequel on PlayStation, far from SNES, a play similar to that of the Final Fantasy intellectual property, which set aside the house of Kyoto to say yes to the brilliant PSX CD-ROM It went well, for many very well, with sales of more than 1.5 million units, although far from the sales tops. The paradox: he never arrived in Europe.
Chrono Cross
Metal Gear Solid – 94
Few games are more linked to the original PlayStation catalog as Metal Gear Solid, especially in countries like Spain. That dubbing and, above all, what was behind the work of Hideo Kojima, began to make a constant appearance of this name on the covers of many of the printed magazines of the time. First it was this one, but there were many more. The first, surely not the one who has aged better, sat in the specialized critic.
Metal gear solid
Gran Turismo 2 – 93
One of those who go against the saying that the second parts were never good. Gran Turismo 2 understood perfectly what the saga needed to, on the one hand, improve the first iteration of the series; on the other, take advantage of the hardware of an increasingly veteran PlayStation, a console that began to see on the horizon the name of PlayStation 2, although that is already another story.
Gran Turismo 2
Street Fighter Alpha 3 – 93
Another representative of the fight genre in this ranking. The most successful sub-saga of Street Fighter had to face the Namco titan with this name, which after going through arcade halls in 1998 broke into the catalog of Sony's domestic in 1999 (it also appeared in Dreamcast and also in Saturn, but only in Japan in this case, one year later). His main novelty was to be able to choose the fighting style of each character: A, V, X …
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – 93
It is impossible to agree with the followers of Castlevania when it comes to choosing the best episode of the original saga. This installment, closely linked to the figure of Koji Igarashi, is really the thirteenth episode of the saga, which already knew perfectly the environment where it moved, but that knew how to intelligently take advantage of the options it offered – technically and in magnitude thanks to your memory— PlayStation. RPG elements, exploration of levels, comfort at the controls, an artistic section that still looks today … One of those particular cases that are repeated once every long time. Who knows when we will see something like that again.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
WipEout 2097 – 93
We finish with speed. Known as WipEout XL in North America and developed by Psygnosis, it is a direct sequel to the original game with few differences from that title, but there is no doubt that it was more … and better. A clear base, futuristic races, with more content and the opportunity to eliminate other pilots from the track by destroying their ship. A more interactive delivery with the environment. One detail is that the development lasted only seven months (see: The Making of WipEout). Enough time to get an outstanding grade. They were different times.
WipEout 2097
