My Top 50 Favourite Playstation 1 Games: #1 + more!

If you missed #2 click here.

We're finally here. What is my favourite PS1 game? Before I reveal that, let's have a recap from #50 to #2...

• #50 Spiderman ***1/2
• #49 Sled Storm ***1/2
• #48 Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 ***1/2
• #47 Kula World ***1/2
• #46 Destruction Derby ***3/4
• #45 Hogs of War ***3/4
• #44 Tekken ***3/4
• #43 Team Buddies ***3/4
• #42 Psychic Force 2 ***3/4
• #41 Crash Bash ***3/4
• #40 Lego Racers ***3/4
• #39 Bust a Move 2 ***3/4
• #38 MediEvil ***3/4
• #37 Tekken 2 ***3/4
• #36 Tombi! ****
• #35 Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver ****
• #34 WWF War Zone ****
• #33 Wu-Tang: Taste the Pain ****
• #32 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee ****
• #31 Driver ****
• #30 Soul Blade ****
• #29 Parasite Eve II ****
• #28 Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring ****
• #27 Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko ****
• #26 Rage Racer ****
• #25 Street Fighter EX2 Plus ****1/4
• #24 Crash Bandicoot ****1/4
• #23 FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 ****1/4
• #22 Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer ****1/4
• #21 WWF Smackdown! ****1/4
• #20 Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories ****1/4
• #19 Jade Cocoon ****1/4
• #18 FIFA 2000 ****1/4
• #17 Spyro the Dragon ****1/4
• #16 Resident Evil 3: Nemesis ****1/4
• #15 Gran Turismo ****1/4
• #14 The Legend of Dragoon ****1/2
• #13 Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back ****1/2
• #12 Silent Hill ****1/2
• #11 Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon ****1/2
• #10 Final Fantasy VIII ****1/2
• #9 Resident Evil ****1/2
• #8 Worms Armageddon ****1/2
• #7 WWF Smackdown! 2: Know Your Role ****1/2
• #6 Crash Team Racing ****1/2
• #5 Tekken 3 ****3/4
• #4 Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped! ****3/4
• #3 Final Fantasy VII ****3/4
• #2 Resident Evil 2 ****3/4

So my favourite Playstation 1 game is...

#1 - Final Fantasy IX

Released: 2000
Genre: RPG
Rating: ****3/4 stars

Best Moment: The ending. For me, this is possibly my favourite ending in video game history. It gets reduces me to tears. Every. Damn. Time.

Well, if you know me personally, you probably knew more than 50 days ago that my #1 game was going to be Final Fantasy IX. It would possibly top my favourite games of all time list, if I were to ever make one, which I may well do one day.

FF9 to me is everything. Sure, I didn't give it a perfect score of 5 stars, but I don't think a game has been released that I'd rate a perfect score. FF9 has some flaws, some frustrating moments even, but it has HEART. It has more heart than any game I've ever played, period. This game makes me emotional in so many different ways. The story is perfect, the characters are just a great bunch, the music is timeless, the graphics are beautiful in their flawed way. I just have so much love for this game it's unreal. I even named my daughter, Vivi, after the black mage in this game. That black mage is, one of the best characters in video game history by the way.

FF9 is not the first Final Fantasy game I played. It's not even the first Final Fantasy I'd suggest people play. It's for a very particular audience. It has an old school, nostalgic, poetic feel to it. It does play like the classic Final Fantasy games but it's also harder than other games, probably intentionally as a nod to the very classic FF games on the NES. But the way the story is told, the twists and turns, the excellent cast of varied characters, and, for me, the most perfect ending, is what makes this game truly special. I do struggle to put into words why I love this game so much, but this has been my best effort. I just love this game with all my heart, and for me, undisputedly, is my Favourite Playstation 1 Game.

So Final Fantasy IX, congratulations, you've earned this prestigious trophy!

Here's some nerdy stats if you're into that thing!

Video Game Series With Multiple Entries

Crash Bandicoot - 5 (Crash Bandicoot #24, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back #13, Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped! # 4, Crash Team Racing #6, Crash Bash #41)

Final Fantasy - 3 (Final Fantasy VII #3, Final Fantasy VIII #10, Final Fantasy IX #1)

Resident Evil - 3 (Resident Evil #9, Resident Evil 2 #2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis #16)

Tekken - 3 (Tekken #44, Tekken 2 #37, Tekken 3 #5)

Spyro the Dragon - 3 (Spyro the Dragon #17, Spyro 2: Gateaway to Glimmer #22. Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon #11)

WWF Smackdown! - 2 (WWF Smackdown! #21, WWF Smackdown 2: Know Your Role #7)

Best PS1 Game Per Year

1995 - Tekken - ***3/4 #44

1996 - Resident Evil - ****1/2 #9

1997 - Final Fantasy VII - ****3/4 #3

1998 - Resident Evil 2 - ****3/4 #2

1999 - Crash Team Racing - ****1/2 #6

2000 - Final Fantasy IX - ****3/4 #1

Total Games Per Year

As you can see, the year 1999 dominated my list. It's one of my all time favourite years in video game history. Crash Team Racing, Worms Armageddon, FF8, Silent Hill, Legend of Dragoon, Resi 3, FIFA 2000 all are in my Top 20!

Best PS1 Game By Genre

Party - Crash Bash - ***3/4 #41

Puzzle - Bust a Move 2 - ***3/4 #39

Action - Driver - **** #31

Strategy - Worms Armageddon - ****1/2 #8

Sports - WWF Smackdown! 2: Know Your Role - ****1/2 #7

Racing - Crash Team Racing - ****1/2 #6

Fighting - Tekken 3 - ****3/4 #5

Platformer - Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped! - ****3/4 #4

Horror - Resident Evil 2 - ****3/4 #2

RPG - Final Fantasy IX - ****3/4 #1

Total Games By Genre

So Platformers, Fighting games and Sports games dominate the list. Despite RPGs being my favourite genre, there were only 5 in the list, compared to the 9 Platformers in the list.

So... that's pretty much it from me! Thanks for reading my Top 50 Favourite Playstation 1 Games list. To go back all the way to #50 click here!

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My Top 50 Favourite Playstation 1 Games: #11

If you missed #12 click here.

#11 - Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon

Released: 2000
Genre: Platformer
Rating: ****1/2 stars

Best Moment: It's got to be the skateboarding right??

Spyro 3 for me, like Crash 3, is as good as the Spyro games ever got. There's so many parallels between the building of the Crash and Spyro games - the first ones set the foundations, the second games raised the bar significantly, then the third games really set the icing on the respective cakes. Sure, I may prefer Spyro 1 to Spyro 2, but I'm sure if I actually played Spyro 2 growing up, my opinion would have changed.

But Spyro 3 is a masterpiece. With the abilities that you learn from the first game, they added a lot more mini games in this Spyro game. And instead of saving adult dragons like in Spyro 1, you have to save the dragon eggs and help them hatch into baby dragons - which, by the way, are super cute. The music is splendid, the Sparx minigames are super fun 2D style games and the plot feels a lot more fleshed out in comparison to Spyro 2. The level designs are excellent, and the layout of each world is really well done, something that Spyro 2 really confused me with when I played that. All in all Spyro 3 is simply one of the best platformers ever made, and certainly the best in the Spyro trilogy, and I can't wait to play it on the Remaster in September.

So what game kicks off my Top 10? Click here to find out!

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My Top 50 Favourite Playstation 1 Games: #17

If you missed #18 click here.

#17 - Spyro the Dragon

Released: 1998
Genre: Platformer
Rating: ****1/4 stars

Best Moment: Releasing the dragons from their stone statues, I love hearing all of the stories and chats they have with Spyro!

Ah, the game that started it all for this little purple dragon. The original Spyro is a very special game. Sure, they may have improved the formula in Spyro 2 and added great mini games and plot in Spyro 3, but there''s something particular about the first one. It's not even like Crash - Crash 1 was, by comparison to its two sequels, inferior. But Spyro 1 lives right up there with it's two follow-ups, having its own style with the dragon releases from statues, and Spyro sounding as young as he's ever sounded, before giving him a slightly more mature voice in the sequels. Some of the level designs are just exquisite, and I probably prefer the music in Spyro 1 to the two other games as well. It's just a magnificent piece of work, and, along with the entire trilogy, I can't wait to get my hands on the remasters this autumn.

What game was in at #16 in my countdown? Find out by clicking here!

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My Top 50 Favourite Playstation 1 Games: #22

If you missed #23 click here.

#22 - Spyro 2: Gateway to Glimmer

Released: 1999
Genre: Platformer
Rating: ****1/4 stars

Best Moment: When you finish the levels, you get very funny outro videos showing you what happens after you leave, they're awesome and hilarious!

Here's another game I played live on YouTube only a couple of months ago, you can watch that stream here if you're interested. Spyro 2 was actually called Ripto's Rage in the US.

As I stated many times in my broadcast live, I never did properly play Spyro 2 until recently. I played the first and third ones many times but not the second. I have no idea why either, it just never happened!

Now that I finally beat the game live on YouTube recently I can say that I do think Spyro 2 is very very good, but for me it's the weakest Spyro game in the PS1 series. What I do love about Spyro 2 is the fact that they started to put the structures in place that made Spyro 3 so great - things like unlocking the abilities, helping people directly in each individual world,  minigames in some of the worlds and putting in characters like Moneybags and Hunter.

I should say that Spyro 2 is probably a better game than Spyro 1 overall, but I do have a strong place in my heart for Spyro 1, because it was the first one I played and I love some of the worlds a lot in that game, as well as saving the dragons in the first place.

Looking for #21 in my list? Click here!

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My Top 50 Favourite Playstation 1 Games: #27

If you missed #28 click here.

#27 - Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko

Released: 1999
Genre: Platformer
Rating: **** stars

Best Moment: Time attack levels are lots of fun, and I just love bouncing on my tail as Gex!

I never did play the first two Gex games, and I only played this because I saw it in a video game renting shop (oh, those were the days...). But it was a really good platformer. It's actually not particularly PG, despite it being a platformer that looks and plays like a game for kids. Gex is a smooth talking gecko who must try and save Agent XTra, who is played by Baywatch actress and model Marliece Andrada, the only live action character in the game. The game is just a fun little platformer, where you go through TVs which act like levels to collect items, sometimes in a time limit, and defeat enemies. It's not the most original platformer, but the fact that you're a gecko who can bounce on his tail is quite unusual I suppose. It's a fun game, one you should consider if you're looking for a left of field platformer on the PS1 that's not called Spyro or Crash Bandicoot.

What game narrowly missed out on the Top 25? Click here to find out!

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My Top 30 Favourite Crash Bandicoot Levels: #30

Hey everyone, and welcome to my newest listing. On the 30^th June the remaster/remake of all three of the original Crash Bandicoot games is coming out. I am/was a MASSIVE Crash Bandicoot fan. I’d probably say it’s only second to the Sonic the Hedgehog Mega Drive games in terms of my favourite platformer series. Yes that means I prefer it to Mario and Spyro, and all of the others.

I can’t put my finger on why I loved the Crash games so much. I love the sense of humour, it’s a style that you just don’t find consistently in other platformers. The games are so slick, or, at least, the second and third games were. Crash as a character is the perfect mixture of nerdy and cool, and he’s just so awesome. I love the many, MANY different level designs. I love the music. I love the power ups in Crash 3. I love the chase levels. I love riding the hog, Polar and Pura. I love trying the Time Trials on Crash 3, unless they’re super tough anyway! I just love this game series so much.

Unfortunately, since Naughty Dog sold the Crash series, a load of mediocre Crash games have been made since. Activision have held the rights to the series since 2008 and have only really made one major title , Mind Over Mutant back in 2008, and a few mobile games in ’08, ’09 and 2010. For the last seven years we’ve had nothing.

But a couple of years ago, rumours were flying that Crash was going to return. Rumours that Activision were going to bring the series back, or Naughty Dog were going to buy the series off them again. Either way, the rumours were initially false, but the hype and excitement that came from those rumours set in motion the beginnings of a fully remade version of Crash 1, 2 and 3. And to be fair, Activision have paid a very good tribute to Naughty Dog’s original gameplay, music and level design, the game does look fantastic. We’ll all find out on June 30^th if all the hype and hard work that Activision has put in will be worth it.

So! To pay homage to Naughty Dog’s three fantastic video games, and to celebrate the release of the remaster, I thought I’d countdown, one day at a time, my favourite 30 Crash Bandicoot levels. So please note, these levels are only in Crash 1, 2 and 3. Also, there are no boss levels in this listing either. By all means tell me about your favourite levels, and favourite moments in the series by commenting below. So without any further delay, let’s start with #30!

#30 Heavy Machinery

Game: Crash Bandicoot

Level: 18 (of 31, including boss fights)

Level Type: Factory

Random Fact: This was actually the first level Naughty Dog created, ever!

Despite the level being difficult (to be honest, the second half of Crash 1 is harder than any of Crash 2 and 3, in my opinion anyway), this level is lots of fun. The song is really catchy, the gas platforms that push you upwards very fast are cool and are very reminiscent of Sonic, the steam popping upwards as a hazard is a good idea to add further difficulty to the level, and the hot and cold pipes are a fun and novel idea too. Simply, all in all, it’s just a fun level to start off the third and final island in the game.

Click here for #29!
...or go straight to #1 by clicking here!

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