Intensive Gaming Diary

The blog about videogames.

Category: 90s

The Certain Appeal of PlayStation 1

Posted on by Viljami

What does PlayStation 1 offer that makes you just pick up the controller and play? It was released almost 30 years ago. I still find that it has a lot to offer even compared to modern game consoles.

I can only try to describe what it felt like playing PS1 back in the day. We, gamers, were excited. Technology was new and it was advancing at a high speed. You could literally see how games became more and more realistic. It was the dawn of three dimensional game environments.

Sound quality reached also the level that was offered by the CD format. There were many electronic music artists that produced some cathchy musical vibes to these new kinds of video games. CD-ROM as a platform for video games offered game developers way more space than everyone was used to. Games became more complex and gamers started to spend more time playing. Little by little it came acceptable for grown ups to play games, also.

PC games were also developing. It became clear that computer gaming offered several strategy games and also some very good first person shooters. You really didn’t play FPS games on a console. The first FPS console game is often considered to be GoldenEye 007 that was released in 1997 for Nintendo 64. The point where FPS really conquered consoles and made them break out from only being playable with a keyboard and mouse to getting controlled with a gamepad became when Halo was released for Xbox.

The games that you preferred to play on PS1 were games like Gran Turismo, some early games of Need for Speed series, Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. These games had a combination of action, cool looking graphics and an excellent playability. This is how games of PS1 were presented and this is why they are still causing me to feel this endless joy and also nostalgia still after all these years.

Today I have a PSOne console along with my PS2. As you probably read form that earlier post I have been struggling a bit with my PS2. I currently have my PSOne in storage but I am thinking of moving it to my setup once again. It has luckily functioned very nicely since I bought it back in 2017.

I have a strong history in playing video games with PS1. It was important gaming console and it shaped my knowledge in video games and made me go deeper and deeper. It wasn’t my first gaming console. That spot is taken by Sega Mega Drive. I did play some PC games on DOS before I got to play with consoles.

It hasn’t always been clear in my life that games deserve a spot in my life. That is why I sold my PlayStation 1 back in 2000. I didn’t know if playing video games would make me progress in my life. I also sold all my games that I had. I think I had maybe 30 games back then. I do regret this. If I have to think something positive about this I can at least think that I made the buyer happy.

Today I have bought nearly all games I used to have back in to my collection. This featured image related to this blog post displays my current PS1 games collection. I have recently added games to it and it keeps getting new games to it all the time. I might have to update this image soon.

PlayStation 1 sold over 100 million copies. Its production was discontinued in 2006. You can still get your hands on a PS1 gaming console. You can get a used console for a bit below 100 euros. You can also get your hands on an emulator like ePSXe or DuckStation. For being a legit gamer you must rip these rom files that you use to play from game discs that you own. You also have to copy your BIOS from PS1 console that you own. And otherwise you are basically breaking the law. One other way to play PS1 games that I have to mention is to buy a PlayStation Classic console.

I Finally Got To Add This Game To My Collection

Posted on by Viljami

I am a huge fan of survival horror games. I especially enjoyed first two and maybe also the third game in series of Resident Evil games. Resident Evil 2 was my first touch to this genre back in 1998. I remember first playing the demo that had this time limit in it. It really made an impression. I had to soon buy RE2 for the first PlayStation.

RE 2 is definitely, at least in my opinion, best out of the first three games. But RE1 isn’t a bad game. It isn’t even a decent game. It is actually something very nice. This is also where the story of Resident Evil games starts.

RE 1 was released in 1996. It is a kind of a remake of an early adventure/horror game Sweet Home which was released in 1989. So the roots of this game are deep in video gaming history. RE 1 also takes lots of influence from Alone In The Dark series. The game also brings horror games to the era of 3D environments.

This game only cost me 30 euros. It is a platinum version which might lower its price a bit. Otherwise it is in a great consition. There is not one scratch on the disc. The case is also clean and shiny. The cover leave is also in good consition. You might not expect this for a game of this age.

I had this game when I earlier owned PS1 and tens of games for it. I have several times complained about my decision. I shouldn’t have sold my PS1 and my game collection. I didn’t get so much money. I just couldn’t figure at that moment what kind of a role would video games have later on in my life. Now, as you can witness, I am a serious game collector and also a player of video games.

I somewhat like how games where back in this generation. It takes about 7 hours to beat this game. This is very nice. I don’t like every game to be such a marathon. I mean some games have to be lengthy but I can also appreciate a shorter game at times. I might play latest NBA2K for hundreds of hours but I am not a serious fan of lengthy role playing games. In this era I also finished almost every game I bought.

What else can you say about the first Resident Evil game? If you aren’t familiar with the concept of survival horror games I can tell you that there is a limited amount of ammo. This isn’t actually an action shooter game. There is also limited amount of opportunities to save your game. Music is very important. I can already hear the background track playing when you enter a safe room which is a room that you can make a save in.

Also camera angles and views are somewhat, how to say it, well…evil. This kind of arrengement causes a bit of an anxiety. And it makes you also a bit nervous. I have read that the person that was responsible for the vision of the game had encounteres some very depressing and violent moments, even a trauma, in childhood and this game is some kind of a way to handle these experiences. That would sort of make a sense. I don’t confirm this so this is only a rumor.

There is also a book that I have some deep interest to some day get into. I think it was called “Itchy, Tasty” and it describes how this game came to be. When I last time checked this book was sold out. It would be interesting to read it.

So, you probaply get the picture. This is a game for me that left a serious impact. I had to get it once again to my collection. This is also a good game for you if you want to get intoduced to this genre called survival horror games.

Playing Some Tony Hawks Pro Skater On Nintendo Switch

Posted on by Viljami

I have now played THPS 1+2 for a bit over seven hours. It really makes me to go back, with an amount of nostalgia, to this game series that so many of us still do love. I am playing this on Nintendo Switch. I have also this very neat controller that is actually Pro Controller. I think it is the best way to play sports games and many action games and also driving games. I do not have a driving game currently for Switch but it might be a fun to have one some day.

I first started playing the first THPS game on PS1 back in the 90s. It made a huge impact on me as a player of video games. Skateboarding has been popular but that hasn’t always been the case. Some other famous skateboarding games are Skate or Die for NES and Skate series. I also have to mention a game called OlliOlli right here. But if you think about THPS back in the end of 90s you have to consider that it made skateboarding a very popular field of extreme sports.

How it feels to play it once again remastered one might ask. I think that these developers have made a great job. The music is  a big part of the game. In the original game it at times felt like the music stopped too soon since the runs were only one or two minutes long. In this remake they have kind of corrected this issue and the music track continues to play more constantly.

All these tricks are present in this remake. You can grind and manual to get some points in your run. You can also do air tricks like grabs and also flip tricks. You get more points by combining tricks as creatively as possible. This guarantees a good score of points for you. You have different attributes that you can add points to also. So your skater is also developing all the time as is also the case of your actual skills in playing the game. There are many famous skaters for you to choose from. Of course Tony Hawk is included as well.

THPS has been released in many forms for many different consoles. One of my favorite games in this series is THPS 4 for GameCube. Switch offers you a decent an similar way of control that was utilized in the original game for the first PlayStation. I am talking mainly about the layout of buttons. Pro Controller doesn’t differ so mmuch from Dual Shock controller that is actually the game pad of PS1.

It is nice to play this skateboarding game once again. I feel so much of this nostalgia. At the same time I am glad that this remake turned out to be a good game in overall. While it does require good reflexes I can compensate a bit on my skills in playing this game. Who knows how many hours I did spend on this one. I mean especially the first game. I picked up also THPS 3 for PC back in the early 2000s. Today I have also a copy of that game for my PS2. I am also glad that my PS2 is currently working and that I can utilize it perfectly. Although I haven’t recently played any particularly excellent games on it. I am hoping to get some time to play Tenchu – Wrath of Heaven and also continue my campaign in Gran Turismo 4. I would like to complete it but it seems to take a long time and also a deep dedication if I wish to finish it.

I think this is all for now. Hope you are feeling nice. This game I think is available nicely and it doesn’t cost so much if you are buying it for Switch like I recently did. It is also available for any other modern gaming consoles including Series S/X and PS5 and PS4. It is available also now on Steam for PC so if you are more into some personal computer gaming I guess you can check that out.