Underrated PS1 games

[Peru oso donas]

2 people already mentioned it but yeah, Alundra is an amazing Zelda like which is pretty challenging both combat wise AND puzzle wise, has a pretty solid story and a pretty awesome soundtrack

 

[Papa Adolfo's Take'n'Bake]

For me, these 3 are the most underrated PS1 games:

1.SPYRO THE DRAGON
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Gonna have to stop you right there. Spyro, as good as it is is and was pretty fairly rated. When it came out it was one of the major reasons to even own a ps1 as far as a lot of kids of that era were concerned. (Not in the least bit because IMMA FUKKIN' DRAGON hype, and also it was a good game.)

 

[Syaoran Li]

Gonna have to stop you right there. Spyro, as good as it is is and was pretty fairly rated. When it came out it was one of the major reasons to even own a ps1 as far as a lot of kids of that era were concerned. (Not in the least bit because IMMA FUKKIN' DRAGON hype, and also it was a good game.)

True, but in retrospect, the first Spyro was overshadowed by the other two titles of the PS1 trilogy.

From my admittedly anecdotal experience, usually when people are referring to nostalgia for Spyro on the PS1, it's usually in reference to Ripto's Rage or Year of the Dragon.

Crash Bandicoot 1 had a similar thing where the other two overshadowed it, but not quite to the same extent as Spyro did.

 

[Papa Adolfo's Take'n'Bake]

True, but in retrospect, the first Spyro was overshadowed by the other two titles of the PS1 trilogy.

From my admittedly anecdotal experience, usually when people are referring to nostalgia for Spyro on the PS1, it's usually in reference to Ripto's Rage or Year of the Dragon.

Crash Bandicoot 1 had a similar thing where the other two overshadowed it, but not quite to the same extent as Spyro did.

I can see that. On my end for anecdotals, I still remember the first one coming out and how absolutely hype it became for a bunch of kids i knew (granted, not 5 minutes later we were going bonkers over pokemon, but such was ADHD.) And how rave a lot of reviews and talk around it was.

 

[The Penultimate Warrior]

2 people already mentioned it but yeah, Alundra is an amazing Zelda like which is pretty challenging both combat wise AND puzzle wise, has a pretty solid story and a pretty awesome soundtrack

I still own my copy from my teenage years, haven't played it in a long time but I remember the puzzles being pretty fiendish. As for my nominations:

Disruptor, a solid FPS with the requisite cheesy cutscenes.

Motorhead, nothing to do with the band, but a futuristic racer that is still fun to play and has a great soundtrack

World's Scariest Police Chases - looks like shovelware but is way more fun than it should be

Soviet Strike - first game I remember playing where the FMV had some effort put in to it. Still holds up well, but I never beat the final level without cheats.

 

[Peru oso donas]

I still own my copy from my teenage years, haven't played it in a long time but I remember the puzzles being pretty fiendish.

IIRC, 2 of the puzzles (specifically the final ice block shoveling puzzle in Klein's dream, and the puzzle to get the ice wand inside the ice manor) where so hard, that almost no one could get past them in the first week of the games Japanese release, so the devs had to put instructions on how to beat them on their website, but I haven't found a reliable source to verify that so i am probably misremembering.

 

[Idiotron]

Parasite Eve (1998 ):

Square's follow up to Final Fantasy 7.
It's a jrpg with a Resident Evil-esque aesthetic.
It has a very interesting battle system, the attacks are turn based but you can actively move on the battlefield in order to avoid the enemy's attacks.
It's actually a sequel to a Japanese horror book of the same name.
Pretty fun.

Parasite Eve 2: (1999):

It plays a lot more like Resident Evil but retains some of the jrpg elements.
It's a totally different game within the same universe, probably started as something unrelated and was later changed.
Doesn't matter though, it's solid.

Apocalypse (1998 ):

In this fast paced shooter, you play as Bruce Willis who takes on the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
This game is a lot of fun and Bruce's voice acting is amazing.

 

[sasazuka]

Rockstar's game adaptation of the original Italian Job movie released on the original Playstation in October 2001, after the Playstation 2 had already been out a year, probably isn't as great a game as the PS1 Driver games but it was a valiant attempt at releasing at least an open-ish world action racing game with some impressive London scenery by PS1 standards. I mean, yeah, The Getaway on PS2 blows this version of London away but that's on far superior hardware but I do like that they were trying to recreate London as it appeared in the late 1960s.

Spoiler: The Italian Job PS1 full playthrough

 

[Dom Cruise]

The third Gex game is a solid and pretty well polished 3D platformer of the era, the first and second Gex games are pretty "you had to be there' but the third game still holds up pretty well.

There's also MediEvil II, the original MediEvil got a remaster for PS4, but nobody seems to remember the second game which is a shame as I thought it was better.

It also gave me a love of the Victorian era that persists to this day.

 

[Overcooked Raccoon]

I remember playing Monster Rancher 2 on my brother's PS1 and thinking it was amazing. So I asked my mom to get me it from Best Buy and my brother came with me. I asked my brother if this was the game and he said "Yeah" and it turned out to be a completely different game as a sequel to a GBC game. I got so fucking pissed off at him for the first hour but fell in love with this game the more and more I played.

The attack and dodge system is really fun especially when you have to properly manage GUTS. I also remember finding out years later that there were sub breed monsters you could earn by winning tournaments and I tried getting them all. I think at the end before I lost my memory card I needed just two left.

Highly recommend if you enjoyed the Pokemon Trading Card game boy game to give it a try, the soundtrack is really addicting.

 

[Officer Eradicate]

"Team Losi RC Racer" (AKA "Buggy")

Looks weird as hell, but is a generally fun game with lots of secrets to discover!

"Runabout 2"

Crazy driving game where you score points for hitting objects and traffic, plus a variety of driveable vehicles!

 

[Elric of Melnibone]

After look through all the posts, I feel more confident in my entry to this list being very under rated. NASCAR Rumble. Now hear me out, I know what you are thinking, pfft NASCAR, if I wanted to drink beer and fuck my sister id just log off and do it, but no; NASCAR Rumble was an arcade and kind of CTR/Mario Kart take on NASCAR where you got to attack other drivers with tornado and other weapons while racing down the road. I rented this for a week end out of sheer boredom and the fact that all the "good games" were already taken, and by the time I took it back I went and bought my own copy.

NASCAR Rumble

Another good one that I haven't seen on this thread is Rogue Trip, which was like the creepy rip off of Vigilante 8. Car combat as a genre was short lived and if ever there was a genre more deserving of a renaissance Rogue Trip and Vigilante 8 would be at the top of that list.

Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012

Vigilante 8

 

[Officer Eradicate]

Another good one that I haven't seen on this thread is Rogue Trip, which was like the creepy rip off of Vigilante 8. Car combat as a genre was short lived and if ever there was a genre more deserving of a renaissance Rogue Trip and Vigilante 8 would be at the top of that list.

Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012

Rogue Trip was developed by same team who gave us Twisted Metal

 

[Karl der Grosse]

Soul of the Samurai. I loved that game, very visually appealing.

 

[Shield Breaker]

Suikoden 1 and 2 are really awesome. If you beat the first one and save at the last save point, you can import the save to your second game. All recurring characters get a level boost and you can even recruit the first game's protagonist as a character. It also has combo attacks like Chrono Trigger.

 

[Stasi]

Click an 'underrated' thread and see posts talking about Final Fantasy, Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. OK zoomers.

In that case I'm going to cheat a bit too. None of these were underrated at the time, pretty well received actually, but each franchise died and I don't really see people talking about them. Bit of a shame. If you are at all into racing games they are worth checking out.

World's Scariest Police Chases - looks like shovelware but is way more fun than it should be

I see you are a man of taste and culture.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

I’m not sure how underrated it might be to some, but where I live, no one knows about this game except for me:

 

[sasazuka]

"Runabout 2"

Crazy driving game where you score points for hitting objects and traffic, plus a variety of driveable vehicles!

I have the first Runabout, released as Felony 11-79 in the west. It's fun but short.

I rented the Dreamcast Super Runabout which was better since the entire game took place in a single, open-world map of San Francisco. I also like that it has a (Ferrari) Dino 246GT as one of the main cars (even if I don't think it had Ferrari licensing). Super Runabout is the single game that is right at the top of my list of "Sega Dreamcast games I rented from Blockbuster back in the day that I wish I owned" alongside Grandia II and... I can't think of anything else off the top of my head. I don't think my local Blockbuster rented out Dreamcast games for very long.

 

[Shield Breaker]

Legend of Legia is also good.

 

[Officer Eradicate]

I have the first Runabout, released as Felony 11-79 in the west. It's fun but short.

I rented the Dreamcast Super Runabout which was better since the entire game took place in a single, open-world map of San Francisco. I also like that it has a (Ferrari) Dino 246GT as one of the main cars (even if I don't think it had Ferrari licensing). Super Runabout is the single game that is right at the top of my list of "Sega Dreamcast games I rented from Blockbuster back in the day that I wish I owned" alongside Grandia II and... I can't think of anything else off the top of my head. I don't think my local Blockbuster rented out Dreamcast games for very long.

I also have Felony 11-79!
I even have Runabout 3: Neo Age (PS2) which wasn't released in the US, but was in JP and EU