Playstation memories

For all the cool kids, September 1995 was a good time.

The original Sony PlayStation hit the shores of our green and pleasant land, and if you were like me (and not actually cool at all) it might have been the first pre-order you ever made.

Console, extra joypad, memory card, copy of Wipeout. Sorted.

I'm sure a myriad of articles or a quick Wikipedia search can give you all the technical stuff (games on CD, easy to modify for imports) so lets just stick to the good stuff, the games.

Wipeout – My first purchase, a spacey racing game with an amazing soundtrack. Developed by the 'familiar if you had an Amiga' bods at Psygnosis, this game really grabbed me despite my general dislike of racing games.

Tekken – Second purchase, what needs to be said? The cream of the crop when it came to 3D arcade fighters at the time. Having a character that was basically Bruce Lee was also a massive bonus.

Tenchu: Stealth Assassins – The first stealth game that really worked for me, and basically a ninja simulator. Sneak and stab your way to victory, the Arkham Asylums of this world all owe a nod to the orignal Tenchu. 'Echigoya, where have you hidden?'

Final Fantasy VII – The big one of the era for me, the first Japanese style RPG I ever played, and it hooked me entirely. No other FF game has come close for me since, and I still replay it from time to time (albeit on Steam). Honourable mention for the soundtrack of this game, as a lot of the tracks still invoke nostalgia. Here's hoping that the eventual remake is up to par.

Bushido Blade – Hilarious 'realistic' fighting game where crippling blows and one hit kills were common. Kind of boring on it's own, add a second player and the blood spattered grudge matches lasted for days.

Die Hard Trilogy – The game you bought a light-gun for, a triple whammy of Bruce Willis inspired gaming magic. Whether you are top down shooting in Nakatomi Plaza, light-gunning your way through Washington International Airport, or screeching tires around New York, fans of the films found a lot to like here.

Worms – Available on all sorts of formats, this is another game that became a star with two players present. Make you team of little worm dudes and throw bombs and knock-off hadoukens at your opponent's team for death dealing hilarity. Speaking of hadoukens...

Street Fighter Alpha (series) – Everyone likes Street Fighter, apart from that one guy, but lets not talk about that. The Alpha games brought stylised graphics to familiar faces along with some new mechanics to learn. The real star here is Alpha 3, which has an amazing character roster and selection of modes, and still holds up as a stellar entry in the Street Fighter series overall.

Best Import Honourable Mention – Final Fantasy Tactics – I mostly bought this as I heard some of the characters from FFVII had cameos, and it turned out to be a hell of a game in it's own right. Challenging turn based combat meets mixed class systems, re-workings of the Tactics format are still being released and for good reason.

Hilarious P.O.S. Badge of Shame – Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Battle 22 – Technically also an import as I bought it in France in 1997 without knowing much about Dragon Ball (as it was fairly unknown in the UK at the time). Interesting artwork and music, but sucked as game. It was later officially released in North American and the UK in 2003 for some reason, and it sucked even harder in comparison to games of that era. Goddamn.

MPW
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