00:12Ready to go back to the 90s, and yes, we mean even more than the current trend for bucket
00:17hats and crop tops. It's time to turn back the clock and travel back to the birth of
00:22PlayStation with Sony's original little grey box. How many of these classic PS1 games do
00:28you actually remember? And hey, remember how cool it was that the discs were black?
00:36Let's kick things off with a nostalgic heavy hitter. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 was a formative
00:41PS1 game. If you didn't have the muscle memory to get all of the goals in Hangar in under two
00:46minutes,
00:46were you even alive in the year 2000? Not only had we never seen anything like these levels,
00:51but the incredible mixtape of a soundtrack is what cemented Tony Hawk's 2 as a stone-cold classic
00:57that no remake can truly recapture the magic of. Admittedly though, the new one does come pretty
01:02close. Yes, our next game is a rabbit bouncing along a string in a minimalist black and white
01:14world, and hopefully you remember it. Incredibly, Vib Ribbon actually started life as part of a tie-in
01:19promotion for a Mercedes car. The promotion was dropped, but Papa the Rapper lead Masaya Matsura
01:25took over and the rhythm platformer was born regardless. Vib Ribbon epitomises the weird joy
01:31of the sudden potential of the PS1, and even better, you could play your own music CDs. The game was
01:38so
01:38small it loaded onto the PS1's RAM, so you could swap out the game's disc for your own albums and
01:43platform across your favourite tracks.
01:49Say it with me now, Cool Borders. It didn't quite do for snowboarding what Tony Hawk's 2 did for the
02:00wheeled variety, but Cool Borders was a chilly solid addition to many a demo disc back in 1996. Even if
02:07you
02:07never played the full game with its various tracks, chances are that you got a chance to hurtle down
02:11a polygonal slope and choose between a selection of colourful boards. It's probably, er, borderline
02:18unplayable now, but games like Cool Borders and its sequels paved the way for many solid winter
02:22sports games we love today.
02:28Let's face it, whenever anyone talks about their first classic Silent Hill experience,
02:32it tends to be James' misty trip in Silent Hill 2. Some of us, though, found our nightmares much
02:37earlier, playing as Harry Mason when we headed to the infamous town in search of his daughter Cheryl.
02:43It's in much more pixelated form, but everything terrifying about the series was born here in the
02:47first game. Deformed creatures stumbling in the darkness, twisted screaming fire babies chasing you
02:52through dim basements, and a complete inability to run for any length of time. Survival horror in 1999
02:58was truly scary, and that definitely isn't just because we were about 10.
03:04Don't move!
03:09Is this the first time you ever pointed a gun at a person? Your hands are shaking.
03:14It is official. It's against the laws of the internet to make a list of best PS1 games and
03:19not mention Metal Gear Solid. It might sound like the start of it, but MGS was actually Hideo Kojima's
03:25third edition to the Metal Gear series, but was specifically designed to make the most of the
03:29fresh 3D tech inside of the PS1, hence the solid part of the title after two previous 2D games.
03:36Among many other gifts, it gave Kojima the ability to smash down the fourth wall, with Psycho Mantis
03:41reading your memory card and forcing you to change controller ports to keep your mind free of invaders.
03:46Such was the impact Snake's stealth adventures on PlayStation are considered a historic achievement
03:51that changed the way the world perceived video games.
04:10Welcome to the Fruit Dojo.
04:12If kick, punch, it's all in the mind has instantly appeared from nowhere in your brain, then you
04:17definitely remember Parappa the Rapper. The surprisingly tricky rhythm game, one of the
04:21earliest of the genre, follows young Parappa as he trains in the art of rhyme with none
04:25other than Chop Chop Master Onion. The game spawned a spin-off with Um Jamma Lammy and a
04:29sequel was released for PS2 in 2001, but we'll always remember the true frustration of thinking
04:34we were hitting the beat, and well, just not. As Parappa would say, we've just got to believe.
04:46Another PS1 game, more revolutionary game design, and another astonishing soundtrack. No wonder we
04:51all have such good music taste. Wipeout 2097 was the second in the now legendary series,
04:56and didn't just feel like the future because of the 21st century title. Whether you were flying
05:01Vector, Venom, Rapier, or Phantom, the speed of these futuristic craft felt genuinely game-changing.
05:06Soaring through the air, risking boost zones, and carefully handling turns with air brakes meant
05:11Wipeout was a whole new level of racing games. And now we're off to listen to Firestarter.
05:24Truthfully, the PS1 was a golden era of brilliantly colourful platformers. And move over Rayman,
05:29Spyro, and Crash, because we want to talk about Toy Story 2, Buzz Lightyear to the rescue.
05:34Here was Traveller's Tales already showing off the skills that would become the lifeblood of the
05:39LEGO adaptations. But in 1999, it meant taking on the role of everyone's favourite Space Ranger,
05:44and diving through the Technicolor world of Pixar to save the rest of Andy's toys.
05:48I am Buzz Lightyear. I come in peace.
05:51The result is a dizzying platformer that you can still play on the PlayStation Classic Store,
05:56if you want to go and play it now. Well, actually, maybe wait until this video's over.
06:05Okay, this next game has a slightly different title depending on where you are in the world. But,
06:10regardless of whether you know it as Twisted Metal 2 or Twisted Metal World Tour, we're sure you're
06:15in agreement that this demolition derby was absolutely the best in the series. Twisted
06:19Metal 2 was many people's first introduction to the terrifying Needles Kane, driver of an
06:23ultra-deadly ice cream truck known as Sweet Tooth. Don't worry if you still get panicked when you hear
06:28one in real life. Singleplayer was brilliant carnage, but the local split-screen offering
06:32meant things could get truly personal. Sorry, not sorry.
06:38Let's end on a fiery curveball with Roscoe McQueen, Firefighter Extreme. If you're wondering why
06:44you're so at home playing Powerwash Simulator, it might be because in 1997, you were handling high
06:49pressure water and putting out fires in various towering infernos. The intrepid Roscoe didn't
06:53review particularly well at the time. Okay, badly actually, he reviewed very badly. But we have
06:58fond memories of battling robots with our fire axe and collecting water bottles to keep our house
07:03topped up. Hindsight is a dangerous thing, hey? So hopefully we've stirred up some PS1 nostalgia to
07:10send you into the cupboard looking for your original PlayStation, and wires that definitely
07:14don't have connection to modern TVs. Good luck with that!
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