10 Best Ever Playstation Launch Games
IN HONOUR OF OUR BRANDSPANKING NEW PS4S, LET’S TAKE A LOOK BACK AT THE BEST LAUNCH GAMES ON SIX DIFFERENT SONY CONSOLES – FROM THE ORIGINAL PLAYSTATION TO THE PS4 AND EVERYTHING IN-BETWEEN, THESE ARE GAMES THAT MADE US WANT A CONSOLE FROM DAY ONE…
RIDGE RACER
For our first game, we’re going back in time, all the way back to where it all started: the PlayStation. Ridge Racer is, for many, the quintessential arcade racing game. Reality is thrown out the window as we enter a world of brightly-coloured cars doing insane powerslides while an announcer screams excitedly. For many, Ridge Racer was also their first experience of 3D graphics, and although it might look dated now, at the time it was jawdropping. The series has lost its way since the PSone glory days, but we’ll always remember this.
TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT
Fast-forward to the PS2 and we come to one of the best launch games of all time, Tekken Tag Tournament. Originally released as an arcade game in 1999, TTT was to receive a PSone port until development switched to the PS2. This port received upgraded graphics to create, arguably, the best looking game on the console at the time. Tekken Tag Tournament brought together every character in the series up to that point in a combination of classic Tekken gameplay and new tag team rules. It’s still considered by many to be the best in the series.
LUMINES
The PSP had a bunch of average games at launch, but the only really great one was also one of the most basic – a puzzle game. Not just any puzzle game, however. Lumines was marketed as a fusion of puzzles and music, with the gameplay affecting the soundtrack and vice versa. It’s hard to describe if you’ve never played it, but trust us: it works, and it works really well. Jumping into it now and hearing those opening songs as you start Challenge Mode takes us back to 2005… Lumines still holds up today, as good puzzle games do.
FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 3
We reach the PS3 era with one of the best boxing games ever. Fight Night Round 3 looked utterly stunning on release, and remains a superb punching simulation to this day. Lifelike graphics combined with excellent stick-based punching controls to create a dream title for fans of the sweet science. EA has followed up with two more excellent Fight Night games, and just imagining the kind of graphics it could pump out on the PS4 gets us shaking with excitement. There’s no better feeling than slipping a jab and nailing that counter…
FANTAVISION
Another PS2 launch title, FantaVision was originally nothing more than a tech demo to show what the new console could do. This demo was received so well that Sony decided to develop it as a full title. Fireworks are launched onto the screen, and players are tasked with detonating them and creating as many chain reactions as possible, with huge scores for setting off huge chains. Behind the easy-to-learn exterior lay a puzzle game with some serious challenge for score hounds. Playing another friend in the competitive two-player mode was frantic fun, too.
SSX
SSX may have originally stood for Snowboard Supercross, but it was about so much more than just racing. SSX was a new kind of snowboarding game, one that emphasised huge air and over-the-top tricks as much as going fast and winning races. Few games have captured that simple fun of going downhill at high speed as well as SSX, and some excellent courses made it even better. The series went from strength to strength with SSX Tricky and SSX 3 before hitting a bit of a slump. Thankfully, the 2012 reboot managed to recapture that original magic.
DYNASTY WARRIORS 2
The first Dynasty Warriors was an average fighting game, easily forgotten. The second used the same setting but transformed into an open-world hack-andslash. This explains the disparity in the numbering between Western and Japanese versions – in Japan, DW2 was called Shin Sangokumusou, and every subsequent game has been a number behind the Western equivalent. At the time, seeing so many soldiers on-screen at once was amazing. Sequels may have made little progress, but the original was extremely impressive at the time.
VIRTUA FIGHTER 5
Another game about punching each other, Virtua Fighter is, to many fans, the best fighting game ever made. VF5 is no exception, an incredible game with simple concepts but endless depth and finesse for the dedicated players. We’ve lost countless hours battling each other on VF5 and we still have so much to learn – the road to mastery never ends. VF5 Final Showdown, an updated version with online play and new characters, is available on PSN for just over £10. Trust us when we tell you it will be the best tenner you ever spend.
WIPEOUT 2048
Wipeout was a big part of PlayStation until recently, with the closure of SCE Studio Liverpool. 2048 was its last game; a Vita title full of the blistering graphics and insane speeds that made the series famous. Racing high-powered hovercars has never been this good, with 2048 showing the result of over a decade of refinement. We don’t know if we’ll ever see more WipEout games, but even if we don’t, 2048 was a hell of a way to end the franchise. There are few better ways to kill a bus ride than with a few races in the Anti-Gravity Championship.
RESOGUN
We end with a new addition: Resogun for PS4. Who would have thought that the must-have launch title for the PS4 would be an old-school, arcade shoot-’em-up? Developed by Housemarque, the team responsible for the awesome Super Stardust, Resogun is a brilliant throwback to the days when getting a high score was the only thing that mattered. Addictive gameplay and crazy voxel effects combine in a game that we simply can’t stop playing. Everyone with a PS Plus subscription at launch will have received Resogun for free, a genius move by Sony.
