Tero's Top 10 - PSX

Okay, it hasn't been long since the last one of these, but I've had a very busy weekend so it'll have to do.

The PSX, I would say, is a very solid choice for "best system of all time". In a lot of ways, it represents a continuation of what the SNES was (and what the N64 wasn't), but it also brings about a shift in the focus of gaming - rather than seeing it as a hobby for children and "geeks", the Playstation began to agressively target a mainstream teenage demographic, expanding the market beyond what it had ever been before. It sold ridiculously well, and with this, a gargantuan software library was produced, spanning over 4000 titles. That's more than 10 times more games than were produced for N64!

1 - Tales of Phantasia
2 - Choro Q2
3 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
4 - Chrono Cross
5 - Monster Rancher 2
6 - Final Fantasy Tactics
7 - Final Fantasy 7
8 - Suikoden 2
9 - Parappa the Rapper
10 - Snowboard Kids Plus

Obviously, with a system library like this, making this list isn't easy, it's basically a long process of "think of a game, see if I'd take it over any of the current games, shift down". I'm apparently reasonably consistent, though, because I later found another list I had posted for PSX and it contains roughly the same games (though in a different order).

One thing you'll immediately notice about this list is that it contains a fair number of imports, in particular, the top two slots, which are about the only ones I'm consistent on. Tales of Phantasia is very similar to Tales of Destiny (which is an awesome co-op RPG, compare to how I also rank Secret of Mana very high for SNES), except better in basically every respect. Choro Q2 is my favourite game in the Choro Q series, it's similar to Gran Turismo except it has more content and is more arcadey.

Positions 3-8 contain a lot of PS1 all-stars, and it's really just a matter of their placement in the list. Symphony being third isn't a big surprise, though I used to rate this a bit lower since it'd been a long time since I'd played it and I'd forgotten to some extent just how awesome it was.

Of all the games on this list, the one that moves by far the most is Chrono Cross. Most of the games here are extremely solid in all respects, but CC is more of an unbalanced game. In particular, the gameplay and story of CC are not spectacular, but it has fantastic presentation, in particular, I'd say it has the best soundtrack ever composed - it's powerful, it's artsy, it conveys the thematic differences between the two worlds brilliantly, and the game is easily worth playing for it alone. I would totally pick the theme from Home Arni Village for the first dance at my wedding (to the confusion of all present), it's that good. Where I place Chrono Cross on the list depends on my perception of the relative importance of Presentation vs Gameplay at any given time. I would, however, generally pick Chrono Trigger as the superior game.

Monster Rancher 2 is really the only other surprising pick in this group, and if you've played it, I don't think it's too much of a stretch. Of all the pokemon clones, this is definitely my favourite one, it's basically Pokemon + action RPG + simulation.

Parappa is a late addition to this list. It's kind of an odd choice, because it's such a short game, but to me at least, it's probably the funniest game of all time. When I think of all the enjoyment I've gotten out of freestyling on this game, I just can't leave it off the list.

I guess one other thing of note is that while my N64 list omits the "biggest name", my PSX list doesn't. I've always liked FF7 far more than Ocarina of Time, FF7 is one of my favourite FFs. The thing I like most about FF7 is the atmosphere, it combines artistic design and music in a way that I think makes it more immersive than any game to come beforehand, and it still holds up pretty well all this time later. It's kind of like Chrono Cross that way, except it trades some music quality for much better gameplay (as such, I waiver on which one I rate higher).

The final slot is definitely the biggest battle here, just like on the N64 list (and probably every list) there's a whole next stratum of games which battle for this slot. Snowboard Kids Plus is an upgrade to Snowboard Kids for the PS1 (you'll notice I said in the N64 list that SBK's absense has something to do with the PSX), which adds some very needed length to the game. I can't really give any justification for why this comes above the games listed below, they're all very even.

Once again, I can easily list 5 more games that I was considering for this list, Bishi Bashi Special 2, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Marvel vs Capcom, Megaman X4.