PS1 Games That Wouldn’t Get Made Today

Stating that the gaming industry is different now to what it was back in the days of the PS1 is perhaps the biggest understatement we’ve ever come out with. Without getting all doom and gloom on you, it felt the bigger companies in gaming were more willing to take risks and bet on creativity, whereas now AAA developers would rather chase trends and invest in safer ideas. With that in mind, we’re taking a look at some games for the PS1 that wouldn’t be released today, at least in how they were released back then.

 

1. Metal Gear Solid

It feels like the gaming industry just isn’t making the same kind of auteurs as it once did. While directors and developers like Suda51, Hidetaka Miyazaki, Yoko Taro, and Tim Schafer have established themselves in the industry, becoming some of the most well-known figures attached to gaming, it feels like we’re never going to see another auteur rise in the same way that some from the previous generation had. Seeing how Microsoft put Tango Gameworks out to pasture just because Shinji Mikami left the company kind of left that idea as a pipedream, so could you imagine a game like Metal Gear Solid today?

Hideo Kojima’s previous work like Snatcher and Policenauts were critically successful but commercially mediocre at best, so a video game company these days probably wouldn’t back a project that’d require as much work as the original MGS. A high budget 3D sequel in a series that’s last release was on the forgotten MSX2? Yeah, that’s not getting greenlit today, and the fact it did back in the 90s is still wild.

Somehow though, Kojima managed to squeeze every last yen out of that budget to create a genuine masterpiece here.

Playing through the first game and having Psycho Mantis tell you what games you’ve been playing felt like nothing else in gaming at the time, and it’s a moment that hasn’t been topped since.

Even the method of beating Psycho Mantis, where you have to swap your controller to the other port, couldn’t be replicated today, as PCs and consoles rely now on wireless peripherals instead of wired ones, with the Master Collection version of MGS 1 including a facsimile version of a virtual console to facilitate the controller swap. It feels like the only game that’s come close to achieving that kind of meta moment is the original Doki Doki Literature Club on PC.

Kojima’s status as an auteur does also come from his heavy love of movies and cinematic references within his work. The choices in shot composition and framing within Metal Gear Solid are fantastic, and were genuinely unlike anything else in the medium at the time. Compare that to now, where most conversations and cutscenes in game have the most formulaic and safe blocking and camera placement you can think of. I’m not saying every RPG conversation ever needs a dutch tilt, but let’s try to mix things up. Take more risks.

 

2. Vib-Ribbon

If we’re being honest, we could probably devote this entry to the works of NanaOn-Sha on PS1, as the Japanese developers were responsible for Vib-Ribbon along with Um Jammer Lammy and, most crucially, PaRappa The Rapper.

Launching in 1997 in the West, PaRappa The Rapper was a Sony published rhythm action game that helped the character become a genuine mascot for the PlayStation, spawning a sequel and the previously mentioned spin-off, Um Jammer Lammy. It’s the rock version instead of rap, basically.

These days, with £700 PS5 Pro consoles and the pursuit of live service titles, do you really think Sony would roll out the red carpet for a new PaRappa The Rapper game, especially when games have become way more expensive? It would be hard to justify paying £50-£70 on a new PaRappa game, even if we do love the little hip hop dog.

At least PaRappa The Rapper is vibrant and recognisable though, compared to Vib-Ribbon which is basically just white wireframes on a black background. It’s hardly going to become the new killer app for the PS6, if console gaming even gets that far. The gameplay of Vib-Ribbon is also a product of its time, though. Another rhythm action game, the gimmick with Vib-Ribbon was that it relied on your own music via CDs, generating platforming levels to beats and tune of the songs. We obviously don’t need to launch into a diatribe about how CDs have been curb stomped by music streaming services, but any game like Vib-Ribbon which would launch today probably wouldn’t let you use your own CDs (if your console or PC/laptop even has a disc drive), and would likely try to nickel and dime players with costly microtransactions on a per song basis.

About as close as you’re getting to something like Vib-Ribbon would be Spotify integration with something like Fortnite Festival, but again, we can only see that coming with huge caveats. The cost for songs in that mode is bad enough as it is.

 

3. Clock Tower 2: The Struggle Within

Look, we know that WayForward, SUNSOFT, Limited Run and even Capcom are collaborating on a revival of the original Clock Tower, the one that never left Japan and not Clock Tower 2 the one that launched a year later that was simply called Clock Tower in the West. Cue the “it was the style at the time” clip.

While this original 16-bit game is being brought into the modern age, we’re not so sure that the third game in the series, confusingly titled Clock Tower 2: The Struggle Within, would get made today. Mostly, we reckon it’s because of the weird name stuff, because we’re only at game number three and I’m already confused. The game was simply known as Clock Tower: Ghost Head in Japan, and was positioned as more of a spin-off as opposed to a continuation of the first two games, but in the West, it was marketed like a straight up sequel. This wasn’t the first time it had happened, as King’s Field in the West was actually King’s Field 2 in Japan, but it’s a trend we’ve thankfully left behind as more games from the East have been localized for worldwide releases.

Gameplay-wise, Clock Tower 2: The Struggle Within follows the same principle as the rest of the series. It’s a point and click horror game where you have to solve puzzles and dodge enemies in order to survive. Unlike the other games in the series, The Struggle Within allowed players to take a more active approach in dealing with monsters, as protagonist Alyssa switched from her regular persona to the evil Mr. Bates persona depending on whether she didn’t have her amulet and had been panicked.

As Mr. Bates, you could finally use weapons to fight enemies, but because of the game’s genre and controls, combat was more fiddly than it needed to be. The first two Clock Tower games proved that point and click horror games still worked, but The Struggle Within tried too much and accomplished too little, and wouldn’t be made today.

In before Nightdive announces their next remaster.

Beyond the issues with Clock Tower 2: The Struggle Within though, you’re not going to get a developer and publisher quite like Human Entertainment these days either. While they’re perhaps best known for Clock Tower, they were prolific in the 90s with their work on bizarre horror titles and, weirdly, sports games. They were the jack of all trades studio, and it feels like this industry is perhaps too quick to pigeon hole developers and publishers into just one style of game, instead of letting them experiment.

 

4. Trap Gunner

Explaining the gameplay of Trap Gunner might be like trying to explain quantum physics to a goldfish, as it’s perhaps one of the most bonkers ideas for a game ever.

A 1v1 arena fighter of sorts, players can punch, kick and shoot each other, but those attacks only do minute amounts of damage. In order to actually put away your opponent, you need to lay traps around the arena, which will remain invisible to your opponent, and then try to funnel them towards those traps. Imagine if Bomberman was infinitely more complex and powered by mind games and a wide array of power-ups that forces players to panic and make mistakes, and you’re somewhat close. Each character in the game also has their own inventory and stats, giving Trap Gunner an almost fighting game/MOBA feeling.

Like some of the other games featured here, a game like Trap Gunner would probably make for a solid indie game, something that you could imagine would be featured as a side tournament at events like EVO, but this game was published by ATLUS and Konami, depending on which region of the world you lived in.

On top of that, Trap Gunner is clearly made for the same-screen local multiplayer experience, where you can cheekily look at your opponent’s portion of the screen and try to ascertain where on the map they might be. Games that are made as local multiplayer games, specifically ones where you compete against other, are a dying breed, so obviously trying to make Trap Gunner in modern day is going to be like ice skating uphill.

As cool as the game is in concept, people seemingly don’t want multiplayer games like Trap Gunner, which require more from the player than just pointing and shooting. The amount of multiplayer games that have failed in recent years which have tried to innovate or offer something new just proves that something like Trap Gunner launching today would just flounder. If Rumbleverse couldn’t succeed, Trap Gunner definitely wouldn’t. I know those games aren’t similar, but I just wanted to mention Rumbleverse. I miss that game.

 

5. The Legend Of Dragoon

It can’t just be us that think some kind of modern version of The Legend Of Dragoon would slap. One of Sony’s few, if only, attempts at creating a traditional RPG in the same vein as Final Fantasy, The Legend Of Dragoon is an underrated adventure that follows the protagonist Dart and an ever-growing cast of his friends as they try to save the world from some kind of impending destruction.

Critics would give the game a “Metacritic mixed” level of reviews at the time, which roughly translates to “it was actually pretty decent for the most part”, and The Legend Of Dragoon would ultimately go on to sell over a million copies for Sony. Despite the moderate level of success, along with a manga adaptation and a soundtrack album release, Sony haven’t touched The Legend Of Dragoon beyond a PS3 re-release. Dart didn’t even make the roster for PlayStation All-Stars, for instance, but clearly there was room for a Big Daddy from BioShock (for some reason), two versions of Infamous’ Cole MacGrath and Fat Princess from Fat Princess fame. Where’s the real Dart appreciators among us?

The reason why The Legend of Dragoon wouldn’t get made these days isn’t due to the game’s mechanics, as it contains a blend of turn-based combat with quick-time events called additions that allow you to tack on even more damage to your attacks. If that sounds like most RPGs that are released these days, you’d be correct. People are falling over themselves getting hyped for the upcoming RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, so it’s not hard to imagine the same being true of a revival for The Legend Of Dragoon if given the right style and presentation.

Unfortunately, Sony isn’t the company it once was, more content to add RPG mechanics to its legacy franchises before making their own one. Instead, Sony will throw money at Square Enix to obtain timed exclusive rights for Final Fantasy, all the while gutting teams like Japan Studio.

Will we get RPGs like The Legend of Dragoon again? 100%, but a Sony-fronted RPG? Not likely.

 

6. Die Hard Trilogy

We don’t have to tell you that developers and publishers just don’t make movie tie-in games like they used to. Sure, you’ll get the occasional game based on some kid’s movie every now and again, but back in the 90s and 2000s? We were blessed. Or cursed. Usually cursed, as most of them were absolute crap, but one PS1 tie-in did manage to stand out from all the rest: Die Hard Trilogy.

Instead of just being one game, Die Hard Trilogy was a collection of three games each reflecting the tone and story of the first three films in the series. The first film plays out as a third person shooter, the second game is an on-rails shooter that operates like most traditional light gun games (more on them in a bit), while the third film is a driving game, as you race around New York trying to defuse bombs. Looking back, there was a lot of driving in Die Hard With A Vengeance, so that genre pick makes a lot of sense.

A game like Die Hard Trilogy, that offers three completely different modes of play in one package, definitely wouldn’t be released today as a major game. Again, an indie release for something Die Hard Trilogy adjacent would be the pick, with UFO 50 being a prime example of a modern “compilation” game, but the pixelated graphics for UFO 50 make it easier to develop multiple gameplay styles. Meanwhile, the Die Hard Trilogy offered three different fully 3D experiences at a time when game developers were still trying to get to grips with the third dimension. Creating three unique experiences that each are up to the same standards as other modern games, and releasing it as a regular full price game seems like an impossible task in this day and age, especially with how long development time can be for most AAA games.

Going back to Die Hard Trilogy being a film tie-in though, releasing a tie-in game these days often means you’re releasing a mobile game, which means a modern version of Die Hard Trilogy would just be three different versions of Bejeweled with Bruce Willis dropping quips in the corner of the screen every now and again.

 

7. Ehrgeiz: God Bless The Ring

Look, we’re not saying that Square Enix should down all their tools right now and make a fighting game like Ehrgeiz: God Bless The Ring, though we wouldn’t be opposed to the idea either. Square already have their own fighting game series anyway, with the Dissidia franchise popping in and out every now and again whenever Square feels like throwing together Final Fantasy characters for a big scrap. In a way, Ehrgeiz was a precursor to the Dissidia series, as it’s an arena fighter and features FF7 characters, though the influences of Tekken and other 3D fighting games of the time were also clear when Ehrgeiz released in the late 90s. Throw in the RPG-like Quest Mode that added a massive single-player mode to the package, and you’ve got the recipe for one of the more underappreciated brawlers on the PS1.

So why couldn’t you make a game like this again? Square just aren’t interested in publishing their own fighting games these days unless it’s all about Final Fantasy, with Dissidia being the prime example of that. Instead, they’re much more interested in having Final Fantasy characters show up as guest characters in other fighting games. Look at how Cloud and Sephiroth made appearances in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, or how Noctis from Final Fantasy XV was part of the first season of DLC characters for Tekken 7. At this point, we’re closer to getting Tifa as a guest star in Street Fighter 6 or Garou: City Of The Wolves than we are seeing Square publishing their own traditional fighting game.

We’d totally be okay with that though. Just throwing it out there.

This isn’t just a problem with Square though, as the industry has moved in such a way where it’s easier to stick your legacy characters into a game like Fortnite etc., as opposed to making their own game. Take a game like Masters Of Teras Kasi for instance. Do you think LucasFilm is going to commission Bandai Namco, Capcom or Arc System Works to make a Star Wars fighting game in this day and age? Nah, they’ll just throw all the characters they can into Fortnite and call it a day. At least we’ll always have Soulcalibur 4.

 

8. Point Blank

Back in the day, which is a phrase we can say because we’re old and our knees hurt, peripherals were all the rage with gaming. You couldn’t move without hearing about a new game with some kind of fancy new controller or way of emulating the arcade experience from the comfort of your own home. Lightgun games were a huge factor in that, as allowing kids to play Time Crisis without actually funding a day out in Southport was pretty appealing for some. The PS1 was filled with lightgun games aplenty, but perhaps the most interesting one of them all was Point Blank. Developed by Namco, the Point Blank series was basically the result of Mario Party being interrupted by someone with a Glock, as all mini-games are solved with the liberal application of rapid-fire lead.

Point Blank’s whole premise revolved around two players competing against each other across the same mini-games, making it a more unique lightgun game than others that focused on more co-operative experiences.

While we can definitely see someone like Nintendo commissioning a motion control version of Point Blank for the Switch, or its successor, we can’t imagine the gaming industry going back to the days of peripherals as far as the eye can see. Along with lightgun games, you had dance mats, motion controllers and then the sudden wave of rhythm game controllers, thanks to the success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Both franchises would ultimately flood the market, while the Wii’s motion controls made lightgun gaming more accessible for everyone, with those factors ultimately ending the plastic gold rush. Sure, there’s also VR, which can occupy the same space that lightgun games did, only in a more immersive way. Going back to regular House of the Dead after playing something like Superhot VR is like stepping backwards in time, but the cost of VR, along with the physical demands of using VR controllers, makes the entire medium largely inaccessible to most players.

You might get a new Point Blank one day, but you’re definitely not getting cool pistols to go with it.

 

9. Fear Effect

If your initial thought when seeing a game like Fear Effect on this list is that it wouldn’t get made today because of that infamous elevator scene from the sequel, remove the pillow and calm down. RPGs like Baldur’s Gate 3, Dragon Age and Mass Effect have massively pushed the boat out when it comes to depicting romance and sexuality that two women having a bit of a snog on a lift barely pings on the radar these days. Not to say that Fear Effect was a piece of positive representation instead of just some “girl-on-girl” action, but it’s definitely not for those reasons why Fear Effect wouldn’t get made today. You’re definitely not going to get this kind of marketing for a modern game, though.

The real reason comes from how idiosyncratic the game’s action and puzzles are, something that wouldn’t come from a mainstream publisher today. Despite being a cyberpunk release, Fear Effect’s core gameplay and controls are heavily reminiscent of those first Resident Evil games, complete with fixed cameras, tank controls and extremely obtuse puzzles. It’s not that there aren’t games like Fear Effect being made today, with Signalis being a relatively close approximation, though obviously with more of a horror focus, but an exact clone of Fear Effect definitely wouldn’t be published by a big name brand these days.

Eidos might not be the world-conquering brand they once were, but back in the late 90s, they were one of the biggest players in the gaming space. Imagine a publisher like EA, Square Enix or Capcom throwing their weight behind an ultraviolent fixed camera shooter/puzzle hybrid in this day and age. There was even a remake of the first game in the works for a few years, but it’s been canceled, which shows you how a game like this wouldn’t be made today.

Shame really, as those cel shaded graphics were incredibly ahead of the PS1’s time.

 

10. Parasite Eve

Another one in the column of games that would spiritually still be made today, the ideas, tone and atmosphere of Parasite Eve are still influencing modern indie horror releasing in 2024 and beyond.

The unique blend of ATB combat in a survival horror setting makes Parasite Eve and its body horror story of mitochondria and people spontaneously combusting in a theater such a compelling game, and one of the finest examples of ingenuity and inventive game design on the PS1. Throw in a cool protagonist like Aya Brea, who’s perhaps the only cop having a worse day than Leon S. Kennedy, and you’ve got the makings of a real winner. At least Aya can do Kamehamehas, something Leon could’ve used against Mr X. Honestly, we could probably sit here and gush about Parasite Eve a lot more, along with its sequel and even that third game that no one likes apart from us.

So what would stop Parasite Eve from being made today? Well, Parasite Eve feels like it was created as a response to what trends were popular in gaming, specifically on the PS1, at least in Japan anyway. Aside from fighting games, the big players in Japan were either working on survival horror games, like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, or RPGs such as Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire and Suikoden. Parasite Eve is the result of blending those two disparate influences together, and while we’re not suggesting that the modern gaming industry isn’t habitually trend chasing, it’s just that the trends of today often don’t lead to magic like Parasite Eve.

Following the trends these days, you’re either getting another battle royale/extraction shooter riddled with microtransaction slop, or some kind of cozy life sim mode thrown into the mix for no reason. We love you, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but you know you’re guilty for this.

Going back to the body horror of it all though, it feels like no big publisher these days is even trying to make a game as ridiculous or as bonkers as Parasite Eve. It’s a sequel to a really obscure book, which is a leftfield place to start from, but it also has rats exploding into weird crocodile mutants and people forming a giant orange in Central Park. No one was doing it quite like Square were with Parasite Eve.

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