The original PlayStation was the console that helped put gaming into the mainstream during the 1990s. With games like Wipeout being played at night clubs around the world, it was no longer a past time that would be associated with being anti-social and "nerdy".
The console was also responsible for popularizing Japanese RPGs in the west with the megahit Final Fantasy VII is available to a larger world audience than ever before. This opened the floodgates for other games in the same genre to find a home on the console.
Final Fantasy VII was one of the console’s biggest hits and is getting the full-blown remake treatment in 2020. Another huge hit for the machine in the late 90s was Resident Evil 2 which saw a fantastic ground-up remake this year. With the passage of time not being very kind to some of the PS1's low res classics and modern consoles having the power to fully explore a developer’s vision let’s take a look at the 10 PS1 games that also deserve a remake.
10 Tobal No.1
Tobal No. 1 was released in 1996 and was developed by DreamFactory for Square. The was directed Seiichi Ishii was best known for his work Sega’s Virtua Fighter, Tekken, and Final Fantasy VII fighter Ehrgeiz. The character’s distinctive artwork came from famed Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Quest artist Akira Toriyama.
Over twenty years later the fighting system in Tobal No. 1 is still seen as one of the best in console gaming. It featured a very smooth grappling and blocking system and ran at 60 frames per second. Furthermore, the game featured a quest mode, tournament mode, and two-player local play.
9 Silent Hill
Silent Hill is a survival horror game that was released on the PlayStation in 1999 and was developed by Konami. The game remains one of the scariest videogames ever developed. This was not just because of the incredible monster design and jump scares but the focus on sound design and psychological terror.
The player was placed in the shoes of an everyday normal human who was vulnerable and confused. This is a huge part of what made Silent Hill so effective the feeling of helplessness and tension is felt by all those who played the game. With today’s technology, one can only imagine just how great a faithful remake of Silent Hill would be.
8 Bushido Blade
Bushido Blade is a one-on-one 3D combat game released by Square in 1997 on the PlayStation and it was followed by a sequel Bushido Blade 2 just a year later. What separated the game from other PS1 fighters like Tekken and SoulBlade was that there’s no time limits, no health gauges, and fights could end in one hit.
Fights in Bushido Blade focus on deflecting, countering, parrying, blocking, and positioning. The closest modern-day equivalents would be For Honor and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice both of which require patience and timing over brute force and button combos. The popularity of those titles proves that a modern-day Bushido Blade stands up well against those titles.
7 Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain is a top-down action RPG developed by Silicon Knights and released on the PlayStation and PC in 1997. It was the first game in the Legacy of Kain series that continued with the Soul Reaver series.
The game had arguably the best narrative in the series because it focused on the Kain character and his origins from a young nobleman murdered in a tavern to a reluctant but vengeful vampire. It has been 16 years since the last Legacy of Kain title so a reboot would definitely be merited. Rise of the Tomb Raider developers Crystal Dynamics currently owns the rights to the series and the semi-open nature of Lara Croft’s recent titles would work perfectly for the non-linear exploration mechanics of Blood Omen.
6 Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
Tenchu: Stealth Assassins was the first game in the series and was released on the PlayStation in 1999 and was developed by Acquire and Dark Souls developers FromSoftware. It’s a stealth game set in 16th-century Feudal Japan that incorporates Japanese mythology and history-based fantasy.
The last game in the series was released in 2009 with Tench: Shadow Assassins on the Nintendo Wii. However, FromSoft’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was originally planned to be a rebooted Tenchu game and is considered to be a spiritual successor. A new game in the series built on the same engine with more refined stealth mechanics would be the perfect starting point for a remake.
5 Time Crisis
Time Crisis was a 1995 on-rails arcade light gun game that was eventually ported and released on the PlayStation in 1997. It was developed by Namco as a rival to Sega’s Virtua Cop series and was bundled with Namco’s official Guncon light gun accessory.
With the rising popularity of VR and the success and accessibility of the PSVR system, a Time Crisis remake on the headset would be the perfect platform for an on-rails light gun shooter. With its slightly corny storyline and amazing set pieces, Blood and Truth is the closest to a modern-day equivalent, if Namco would be willing to make Time Crisis a PSVR exclusive, developers Sony London would be the perfect fit.
4 Dino Crisis
Capcom’s Dino Crisis was a survival horror game that was released on the PlayStation in 1999. The game played similarly to Resident Evil: Code Veronica which made the shift from pre-rendered backgrounds to a real-time 3D engine.
Dino Crisis is still considered to be Resident Evil with dinosaurs but was unique enough to be a great game with its own mechanics that set it apart. The game still has a big fan base and with Capcom’s near-perfect Resident Evil 2 remake now would be a perfect time to Dino Crisis franchise back on modern machines.
3 Xenogears
Xenogears is a science fiction Japanese RPG that was released on the PlayStation in 1998. It was an incredibly ambitious game that featured themes based around various religions and the works of philosophers Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Friedrich Nietzche.
Even with Xenogear’s last act feeling rushed the story was an epic and one that should have continued with sequels and even prequels to expand its universe. The original team formed Monolith Soft and went on to develop spirituals sequels with the Xenosaga trilogy on the PS2 and the Xenoblade series on the Switch.
However, the team is now owned by Nintendo so if there ever was to be a remake Square would have to work with Nintendo to get it done but the quality of their recent games shows that Xenogears would be in good hands and back where it belongs.
2 Die Hard Trilogy
The Die Hard Trilogy was released on the PlayStation in 1996. It was three games in one based on the Bruce Willis action films of the same name. The first game was a third-person shooter, the second game was a light gun game, and the last was a Twisted Metal style driving game.
If the player had the correct accessory the strongest part of the trilogy was arguably the light gun game based on Die Hard 2: Die Harder. On rails, light gun shooters are perfect for modern-day VR games and Die Hard 2 would be a perfect fit. However, with the right developer, all three games could be remade into a VR game that plays like Sony London’s Blood and Truth for the PSVR.
1 Suikoden I And II
Konami’s much-loved Japanese RPG series Suikoden and Suikoden II were released on the PlayStation in 1995 and 1998 respectively. Even though the second game is widely considered to be the superior game in every way it benefits the player to play both games due to their connections and deep lore.
The series is heralded as having some of the most in-depth storylines seen in an RPG. The games feature the kind of emotional character development that can only be rivaled by Falcom’s Legend of Heroes series Trails in the Sky and Trails of Cold Steel. Since Konami doesn’t seem interested in making any more games in the series a developer like Falcom would be the perfect fit to make a modern-day Suikoden. Just like Konami did back in the day Falcom proves that an RPG doesn't have to have an AAA megabudget to make an all-time classic.