Weird PS1 Games That Are Good

The PS1’s library runs the gamut of genres, but there are some games across all those genres that just so happen to be a little bit weird. Too weird for this world in fact, and definitely too weird to garner any kind of mainstream success on the PS1. Some of these games you may have heard of, others might seem like they come from your nightmares, but they’re all weird and we love them. Well, most of them. This first one is straight up nightmare fuel.

 

1. Screaming Mad George’s ParanoiaScope

The name Screaming Mad George might not be immediately familiar to the majority of people, but it’s likely that you’re familiar in some way with the guy’s work.

Real name Joji Tani, Screaming Mad George made a name for himself in the late 70s and 80s as part of the punk band The Mad, but not for the music. The band’s videos would feature a healthy smattering of gory visual effects, something that would catch the eye of Hollywood and would help Screaming Mad George achieve some work in the film industry. His credits went on to include special effects work on films like Big Trouble In Little China, Predator, A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 & 4 and Tales From The Hood. However, George also dipped his toe into the world of video games in 1998 with Screaming Mad George’s ParanoiaScope, and the results were — well, they were certainly something.

Far from being a social deduction sniping game, ParanoiaScope was released in Japan only in 1998 and is a first-person pinball game, of all things. While you’re not given the ball’s POV, thankfully, you’re essentially playing from behind the flippers, trying to keep the ball in play while various enemies and threats try to kill you. It’s already a bonkers premise for a game, but what really makes ParanoiaScope such a weird game is the influence from Screaming Mad George himself: the horror elements. George is best known for his “anti-realism” approach to special effects, so the game is filled with some of the most grotesque enemies, environment and overall design ever seen in games.

There’s more screaming mouths attached to floors, walls and ceilings than in your average panel of Berserk, and that’s saying something.

 

2. Mizzurna Falls

A good barometer of whether or not a game is a bit too weird for this world is if it never makes it out of Japan. Some of the most bonkers video games ever made are Japan exclusive, and there’s going to be a few of those games appearing on this list. Mizzurna Falls is perhaps the most curious of the PS1 Japan exclusives though, as even if the game is incredibly weird, the story, aesthetic and overall atmosphere is so clearly inspired by American culture and even TV shows like Twin Peaks. Clearly, the idea of a Japanese take on a David Lynch-esque mystery/nightmare is something that stook around for years after Mizzurna Falls launched, as games like Deadly Premonition would ultimately make their way to the West, but if you want to experience one of the original prototypes, Mizzurna Falls is worth checking out.

Set in the fictional titular town, located near the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, the game opens with Mizzurna Falls being rocked by both the mysterious, bear-like attack of a young girl, followed by the disappearance of high school student Emma Rowland. You control one of Emma’s classmates, Matthew Williams, as you take it upon yourself to investigate both mysteries and get to the heart of a conspiracy residing within the town. The game follows a full 7 day schedule, with NPCs following scripted behavior and events, and it’s up to you to be in the right place at the right time to find the truth.

It’s a vague, difficult game that requires either a guide or plenty of patience, but it’s also pretty innovative for a PS1 title. If you’re interested, there is a fan translation out there so you can experience Mizzurna Falls in English too.

 

3. Blast Chamber

Ask hundreds of people what their fondest memories of the PS1 are and you’ll probably receive quite a few different answers, but we’re willing to bet literally one coin on most of those reasons circling back to multiplayer in some form or another. Gathering together friends to compete or collaborate with each other across the PS1’s vast library never got old, but even those who loved the PS1 can admit that most of those multiplayer games were either shooters or some kind of car combat game. Few developers dared to try and do things just a little bit differently, so you have to give credit to Attention To Detail when they released Blast Chamber, a multiplayer puzzle action game that was probably a bit too complicated for its own good. It’s weird yet unique, and we do love unique things.

The tagline on the box of Blast Chamber describes it as “the 3-D rotatable deathmatch”, which is a pretty accurate summation of what the hell is going on. Up to four players are dropped inside of a rotating cube with bombs strapped to their chests. Everyone’s bomb is continuously ticking down unless you’re holding the crystal, and if you can deposit the crystal inside of your coloured chamber, you can extend your overall timer. However, if you deposit in someone else’s chamber, their time gets drastically reduced. Cue a mad scramble for the crystal as everyone desperately tries to avoid becoming the arena’s new coat of red paint.

Admittedly, the action can get messy and confusing, but there’s plenty of joy to be found here.

 

4. Germs: Nerawareta Machi

Mizzurna Falls absolutely broke new ground for the PS1 by offering a 3D open world adventure game on the PS1, years before Grand Theft Auto 3 became one of the most successful PS2 games ever made, but it was far from the only example. Granted, the other one we’re talking about today also never made it out of Japan, but Germs: Nerawareta Machi is arguably even bigger in scope and scale than Mizzurna Falls. Instead of being set in a sleepy Colorado town, Germs plants players in the middle of a possible Bodysnatchers situation happening in a bustling city. Well, as bustling as the PS1 could handle anyway, but Germs oddball characters and choice of game mechanics also make it one of the weirdest PS1 games you could play.

A first person game, you control a newspaper journalist in the city when reports start trickling in of strange lights in the nearby forest and potential mutant sightings in the area. Because this clearly isn’t a situation for the authorities, it’s on you to speak to the townsfolk, gather information and, when the need arises, put some mutants down. The characters themselves are all ripped straight out of a Lynch tale, while the body horror on display would make Cronenberg proud. Perhaps the weirdest and also best feature about the game is the fact that the game doesn’t end if you get taken down by the mutants. Instead of restarting from a save point, you’ll instead wake up outside the city as a mutant, where you can then either go to the hospital for a cure, or start running amok within the city. Sometimes, it’s just good to be bad.

 

5. Sheep, Dog ‘n’ Wolf

Jot down this as a future idea: PS1 Games With The Coldest Cover Art Ever Made. Just look at this picture of Ralph Wolf and tell me that it doesn’t go harder than most metal album covers. Vulgar Display Of Power wishes it was this good.

It might seem strange to talk about a game based on the Looney Tunes on a weird games list, but Sheep Dog ‘n’ Wolf is far from your simple licensed platformers or kart racing games that also found their home on the PS1. Instead, Sheep Dog ‘n’ Wolf (also known as Looney Tunes: Sheep Raider in America, which is truly a terrible name, tough luck, America) shone a spotlight on two Looney Tunes characters that have often been overlooked in recent years, Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog, as the two are locked in eternal conflict over some precious sheep. Well, not really eternal. They’re both on the clock after all.

Sheep, Dog ‘n’ Wolf takes their rivalry to the virtual world, as Daffy Duck basically plonks the two of them into a game show to see if Ralph is finally capable of stealing some damn sheep. Playing out like Looney Tunes crossed with Metal Gear Solid, you’ll have to navigate various levels, avoiding Sam while trying to steal and lure as many sheep as possible. Because this is a Looney Tunes game, and because Ralph Wolf bears more than just a passing resemblance to fellow animal chaser Wile E. Coyote, Ralph can employ a variety of ACME gadgets and tools to get one over on both the sheep and Sam. Perhaps what makes Sheep, Dog ‘n’ Wolf so weird looking back is that it feels like no company is ever going to be this experimental and goofy with its IP ever again, and that’s a shame.

How else are we going to get such hidden bangers?

 

6. Koudelka

We’ve spoken about the Shadow Hearts series in other lists, a series of supernatural horror/Cthulu inspired RPGs that earned themselves a cult following on the PS2, but what a lot of people might not realize is that the first Shadow Hearts game is actually the second game in the series. In fact, Shadow Hearts is just a continuation of the story, themes and gameplay showcased in developer Sacnoth’s first game, Koudelka for the PS1. While you might argue that Koudelka clearly isn’t too weird for this world considering it managed to receive an entire follow-up trilogy, the below average review score compared to Shadow Hearts and the fact that Koudelka didn’t appear on publisher Infogrames’ 2001 financial report suggests it was weird enough to warrant rebranding and refocusing, if nothing else.

Named after the main character, who happens to be a Romani psychic, Koudelka is set near the turn of the 20th century and sees the player traveling to the fictional Nemeton Mansion located near Aberystwyth, Wales, the best country in the world. Because this is a horror RPG hybrid, the mansion is naturally teeming with monsters, but Koudelka is able to join up with other characters like adventurer Edward or Catholic bishop James in order to try and survive the mansion’s horrors together. As you explore the mansion, with fixed cameras and pre-rendered backgrounds reminiscent of Resident Evil, you’ll often be drawn into random encounters, with turn-based combat occurring on a grid that lets players move and attack.

If you’re interested in seeing the beginnings of Shadow Hearts, Koudelka is well worth checking out.

 

7. Incredible Crisis

Incredible Crisis is about as weird as weird games get, and we love that. A precursor to games like WarioWare, Incredible Crisis is basically a story-driven collection of minigames, each one telling the story of how four members of the working class Japanese Tanamatsuri family are trying desperately to get home for grandmother Hatsu’s birthday party. Like a giant Coen Brothers farce dialed up to 11 though, certain forces conspire to block Taneo, Etsuko, Tsuyoshi, and Ririka from making it back home, whether it’s giant boulders smashing through buildings, exploding bombs, UFOs, massive toy bears, shrink rays or a poor, helpless boatman who nearly has his boat sunk on three separate occasions. The Tanamatsuri family aren’t kind to vehicles that float on water, apparently.

The gameplay itself is pretty simplistic, with over 20 levels of constantly changing minigames, whether it’s from dodging obstacles, solving puzzles, finding specific items or getting the right answers on a quiz. The one constant across all of the game modes is the stress meter, which depicts how close the player is to failing the level. Do the wrong thing, whatever that might be in the level, and the stress meter will build until you ultimately lose a life. Again, it’s a pretty simplistic game, but it scratches the same itch that games like Katamari Damacy hit, in that they have to be seen to be believed most of the time. The best part though? It’s actually pretty cheap compared to other PS1 games, so you don’t have to break the bank if you want to play it on original hardware.

 

8. Destrega

Sometimes, all you need to do is look at a game’s name and know why it didn’t become an immediate success. Take Soulcalibur for instance: from name alone, you’ve got references to the supernatural and weapons, both of which describe SC’s demonic, weapons-based fighting game schtick. Meanwhile, you look at Destrega and the only reactions you have are “isn’t that a Final Fantasy spell?” What information are you supposed to glean from that? Anyone who did get over that initial barrier though and made the leap into the world of Destrega found a 3D fighting game that dared to do things just a little bit differently. Did it work? Well, Omega Force never brought out another one, so the answer is pretty obvious, but its attempts to create a different type of fighting game deserve to be remembered.

A 3D arena brawler/fighting game that on first glance doesn’t look too dissimilar to Ehrgeiz: God Bless The Ring, Destrega is set in a world where some people, known as the Strega, have special magical powers, while regular humans could obtain powers from relics. One such human, Zauber, has used the relics to seize control of the land and order the extermination of all Strega, leading to all out war. The fights themselves allow players to roam around decently-sized arenas, with the distance from your opponent affecting your moves. At close range, all you have are your melee attacks, but once you’ve gained a bit of distance, you can start throwing your magical powers at each other.

Few fighting games have ever played with distance like this, making it a pretty unique fighting game experience.

 

9. Spider: The Video Game

You know how earlier in the list, we talked about how the Sheep, Dog ‘n’ Wolf box art went hard? Well, the box art for Spider: The Video Game may have actually traumatised some kids when they saw it in their local Woolworths.

Those who were able to actually suppress their arachnophobia to actually play Spider found a 2.5D platformer that’s not about sitting in the corner of dusty living rooms, waiting to scare hapless people going about their day. Nah, Spider is a lot more bonkers than that, as you control a skilled scientist by the name of Dr. Michael Kelly who’s working on a device that can transplant your mind into cybernetic insects. Clearly, Kelly moonlights as a fortune teller in his spare time, as one night on the job, he’s shot and killed with his body abducted, but not before he can transfer his mind to a cybernetic spider.

Gifted with six extra legs, but cursed to be a spider, Michael must use his new abilities to crawl through the labs and eventually the wider the city in an attempt to stop rival company Micro Tech from stealing all his technology. A 2.5D game, you’re given all the powers that a spider would have in order to navigate the game’s various obstacles, from crawling on walls and ceilings to the ability to dangle from a silk thread. Fortunately for Michael, he also sought to improve the spider experience before his untimely brain transfer, as you can swap some of your mechanical legs for new weapons, making you more deadly against the game’s various bosses.

If that doesn’t sound weird enough for you, the final boss is a brain in a jar who orchestrated the whole thing. What would Nixon think?

 

10. Hellnight

We’ve probably saved the weirdest game for last, but also, if this game happened to launch in 2010-12 instead of for the PS1 in the late 90s, it could have been one of the most successful horror games for content creators of that time period. In the early 2010s, YouTubers and streamers could earn more money than we’ve ever made uploading just one or two videos of themselves playing games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent or Slenderman.

A first-person horror, which was already unique enough for 1998 , Hellnight, also known as Dark Messiah in Japan (no relation to Dark Messiah of Might & Magic), fits the same pacifist horror experience as those games, only with a few more systems thrown in for good measure. Reviews were pretty polarizing at the time, but looking back, Hellnight was one hell of an idea.

Set in a futuristic Tokyo, you control a nameless protagonist who finds themselves chased onto a subway platform by a mysterious cult. Already, we’re getting spooky but the fun has only just started, as elsewhere, a symbiotic life form has broken containment, bonded with a researcher and created a zombie-like creature. The protagonist’s train is then derailed by the creature, forcing the player and a companion, the schoolgirl Naomi Sugiura, to run for their lives into the sewers, discovering a self-sustaining society called The Mesh. Meanwhile, the monster, referred to as the Hybrid, is closing in on its new prey.

The Hybrid is the only monster in the whole game, but all attempts to fight it will end in you and your companion dying horribly, meaning you need to play smart and use your companion’s abilities to figure out a way to survive. Imagine if Nemesis looked a bit like Frieza and you have the right idea.

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