Let's Talk About Our Favorite Retro RPGs.

Everyone has that one game that touched them. That one game, that all those years later you reminisce playing. That warm sense of nostalgia washes over you as you think back to those days; staying up till the quiet hours of 2am, alone, trying to figure out how to beat Pyscho Mantis on your first playthrough of Metal Gear Solid.

I want to take you down memory lane with some of my favourite PS1 games that played such a big part of my growing up. This is an exclusively Playstation 1 list... So bare with me.

Starting from the first game I ever played on a PlayStation (don't imagine many of you played this).

FIGHTING FORCE

This was the ultimate game for any 7 year old and first-time gamer, I mean... this was the kind of game I've only known in arcades until now. Now I'm sitting in a mates house playing with unlimited lives and it was the fucking greatest time ever.
I would always pick the appropriately named HUGE dude, 'Smasher,' while my mate will lock in the main guy (looked like a hybrid version of Solid Snake and Ryu from Street Fighter) and we would rock that game all day till my mom picked me up.
I knew it from then... I had to get a PlayStation.

METAL GEAR SOLID

You knew it was going to be here... What is there to say that hasn't already been said about this beauty of game. My personal story with MGS, wasn't the typical one though... I hated it in the beginning... Purely because I couldn't figure out how to get into the Shadow Moses base in the beginning of the game, despite there being several ways in. I remember hiring the game out for 24 hours and experiencing my first rage quit. A few years later, I had matured and was ready for another go. This time effortlessly find a small crawl way into the base on the second floor. What followed, was a game of a lifetime.

LEGEND OF DRAGOON

From stumbling across this gem on a PlayStation demo disk, to playing this game from beginning to end about 7 times. It was my introductory for role playing games and I became OBSESSED. I played the demo countless times, mastering Darts and Lavitz first 2 additions (Dragoon transformations included) so by the time had the full game, I was slashing through enemies pretty much blindfolded.
It will forever hold a place in my heart (Sequel?!)
A story of 7 heroes that can fucking turn into a hybrid version of their counter part dragons. I mean, how awesome is that?! Each character was based on an element (Fire, Ice, Wind, Earth, Storm, Light & Darkness). I think what was most memorable for me, were the characters and setting, some were annoying but the ones I liked, I loved. Rose (Darkness Dragoon) was such a badass with a VERY dark secrete & Kongol (Earth Dragoon) was a goliath who was being exploited as a warrior. Damn, they were cool and probably the most OP besides Dart (Fire Dragoon) the main protagonist. Get to level 5 of their Dragoon levels and the could summon their dragon counter part for a ultimate attack. It was quite exciting!

FINAL FANTASY 8

How can this be a list of PS greats without a Final Fantasy? Look, all were great (7-9), but 8 was the journey I most enjoyed. It was the only FF game I played without viciously studying it before hand, so when I did get to playing it, it was the raw experience... and there is something rewarding playing a game or watching a series without knowing anything about it. These days, I'm an expert on Final Fantasy 8 from gameplay to lore - even some of the fan theory is super interesting (if you haven't seen the Squall is actually DEAD theory, go check it out now!).

TEKKEN 3

Another cult classic. A full cast of diverse characters, this game set a huge bench mark for beat em ups in it's day. I would go as far to say it was the best fighting game ever. Sure, some characters were super OP (*cough Eddy Gordo picking bastards), but figuring out an unorthodox character like Xiaoyu and getting her 10 hit combo down, to the point of getting a PERFECT against your mate who perma picks Eddy was possibly the most rewarding experience EVER. But can we just talk about the music? (Listen to that for some ass kicking inspiration!)

Crash Team Racing

The first game you actually owned on PS will always have a place in your heart... For me, it was an X-mas gift, and unwrapping that paper to find my first OWNED game made me the happiest kid on the planet. But what's this!? This isn't Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped?! I was so angry with my mother's X-mas gift after begging her so much for a copy. Being a classic Mom, she didn't have ANY idea what the hell PlayStation was, let alone distinguish a game from games. Bless her. She came home with a Crash Bandicoot racing game!

Little did I know what I was in for... From the opening scene, I was hooked... I was DONE caring about Crash warped and became obsessed with mastering the game and beating Nitrous Oxide! I also managed to successfully get 100% completion rate, that means all the platinum trophies on the races and all the secret characters unlocked! This game was just pure fun. I even bought a multitap, so I could bring my friends and play 4 people split screen.

I realize I must sound like an ungrateful brat... Which I assure you, wasn't the case. *Embarrassed emoji.

WELL! What did you think of my list? I genuinely would LOVE to hear about your favourite games from PS 1 days as well as any comments you may have on my first piece on Steem!

Thanks!!
-Kyle