EDIT: This article is part of a trilogy read the 2nd part here, and the 3rd one here. This was written in 2017, it was reformatted in 2022.
Salam (Peace)
PS1 was the first gaming system I remember I had, I had a gaming device before it but I don't remember much of it. At the time I didn't care what I was playing. Seeing the pictures on TV screen change when I press a button was 'the amazement' itself!
Until my cousins bought their PS2 when I was 16 years old, I played PS1 games every summer. Sometimes, when I was really young: From the early morning till late at night. (16 hours playing?! Even the current me had trouble believing it's possible.)
My English at the time was very weak... I could translate a few things like "Game Over" and "You Lose" or maybe "Good Morning, Crono" but that was it. I wasn't able to understand complex things, even Dictionary didn't help me with phrases like "Kneel before me!" (In which the word before actually means "in front of...") Playstation 1 was still the number one reason I learned English.
I Never Finished Most Of The Games When I Was Young, I Just Played For Fun. (I never had Memory Card until I was maybe 13yrs old?) I Returned to Many of These Games to Finish Them When I Got Older.
PS1 image is public domain, taken from wikimedia.
CTR
I played this game before I even know what the title "CTR" means. (Took me months to notice that Crash Team Racing is part of the title...) I didn't even know the names of the characters.
When I saw "Mario Cart" I was thought they stole the idea from CTR but it's probably the other way around.
This game eventually became the gateway for Crash games for me. I spent with my brother a lot of time in this game. I remember playing it with him for 12 hours one day trying to finish the story mode. (We did. If I remember correctly.)
These days, there's a Remake for Crash Team Racing on Modern Consoles.
Tekken 3
This game defined PS1 for me: Tekken 3!
It's the best fighting game on the system (at least for me) with its unique characters and quick controls. Even after finishing and unlocking all the characters, we still played it once every year. We only stopped doing that when our PS1 died.
Never understood what's going on with the story until a few years go in my twenties.
I wish I had more to say since I have many good memories about of this game. If you haven't played this series game, I recommend you go play Tekken 7, but Tekken 3 has a unique charm lost in the games after it.
Digimon World (Series)
| Digimon World | Digimon World 2 |
|---|---|
 |  |
| Digimon World 3 | Digimon Digital Card Battle |
 |  |
This series is just... Amazing!
I first got Digimon World as a used game that wasn't for sale. My father convinced the shopkeeper to sell it anyway. I thought it was Pokemon and never knew where there isn't a Pikachu in it. LOL.
I hated it at first but after some time I started loving it... It became one of the first games I replayed when I got older after my English was good enough.
Digimon World was my first Open World experience. The island is huge and can be explored in any order. The main game mechanic has your Digimon reset once in a few in-game days. You can only continue the story when your Digimon is in a strong point in its cycle. The game did a great job at making the Digimon feel like they're living creatures. No other Digimon game made me feel that even Re:Digitize, the latter tried to attempt this thing.
Digimon World 2 was first recommended by one of my relatives. I didn't like it at first. I never knew how to reach Lv.14 nor how to DNA for 2 years of playing. I was stuck at the 4th domain of the game (there are more than 50 domains in it.) I still don't like this games as much as other ones listed, but after I knew the trick the only problem with this game is how grindy it is. I don't think today's gamers will like it.
Digimon World 3 I played this in my late childhood.. and in terms of content, it's one of the biggest PS1 games ever! ...The game includes many Digimon that aren't in the first two games. The story has a lot of action but has comedy and mystery moments. Like the second one, this game is very grindy... when I reached the English level I need to finish it I didn't have enough time to play it anymore.
Card Battle is the second best card game I ever played, (the best being Yu-Gi-Oh) The Digimon animations in this game is better than DMW1 & DMW2 so it's worth playing.
Also Read: My retrospective reviews on Digimon World 1, Digimon World 2 and Digital Card Battle.
Disney Games
| Tarzan | 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue |
|---|---|
 |  |
| The Lion King | The Little Mermaid II |
 |  |
I loved Disney at the time and each one of these games had the best graphics they could've had and good gameplay. Each one of those let me feel that I'm part of the movie. (Newer games rarely give me that feeling.) Also, since I'm familiar with the movies in Arabic, and the stories were easy to understand, I didn't have to know any English to know what is going on in all of these Disney games! Mostly so...
102 Dalmantians is one of the best games I played in my childhood. It was the closest to open-world (for a Disney game at least.) Or that's how it felt like, in reality, the options were actually limited. This game made me feel like a Dog! ...Uh, I mean it made me feel like.. uh... well, you get the idea!
Tarzan was very hard for the young me and my brother, we played it for many days but still couldn't reach the 5th stage. I loved the young Tarzan and how they made the game feel like you're in that world, surrounded by lovely nature. Finished the game when I got older.
And The Lion King was one of the first games I finished!! and we still played it even after we finished it... It was also one of the Disney movies we actually watched in our native language so having a game about it was mind-blowing.
For The Little Mermaid II I remember the mini-games more than the main game, maybe because I played those a lot with my brother and cousins. This game was good... A little hard sometimes. I liked Ariel's parts better than her daughter's.
Dino Crisis 2
Maybe, my father buying this M rated game (gruesome scenes) for the 11-years-old me wasn't a good idea, but I won't deny it was one of the best games in my childhood.
Dino Crisis was too scary for my younger self because it felt so real. I kept hearing the roar of the Tyrannosaurus (after his encounter 2-hours into the game) in my nightmares for while.
I finished it with my brother when we got older along with the first game of the series... Really!! why they haven't released more games of this? the story is convoluted but interesting!
Also Read: "The Roar of T-Rex" and "Dino Crisis 2's Awesome Use of Sound"
Final Fantasy Chronicles
I got this one in my late childhood, it contains 2 games: Final Fantasy IV and CHRONO TRIGGER. Both are my first encounter with traditional JRPGs, (unless you count the Digimon games above.)
I didn't understand a word of what Final Fantasy IV characters were saying. Maybe because of my weak English at the time? FFIV had a deeper dialogue than any other game I played before it. Despite not understanding the story, and the (seemingly-)crappy 2D art, I knew it was a good game but I just couldn't understand what is good about it at the time.
CHRONO TRIGGER was different. I feel in love with it 10 seconds into its opening. Akira Toriyama's character designs are just that good. I fell in love more when I learned the battle system. I was sure of my love when I discovered it had time travele that affected both the story and gameplay. (I didn't read anything about the game before I played it.) My English was just as bad so I couldn't understand the story well, but the graphics did a lot of helping to convey what was happening.
When I played it again a few years later on PC I fell in love with it all over again when I understood everything. Both games became in my All-time-favorites list later.
Also Read: "Memories with Chrono Trigger" and "Final Fantasy IV Review"
So these above were some of the games I liked in my childhood... I liked a lot more PS1 games at the time like Spyro, 007 (which was my first FPS,) and Pepsi Man (I talked about all of them in the other Parts...) I played many more PS1 games after I become a teenager like Resident Evil & Harry Potter.
What Is Your List?
please tell me in comments
- All Covers are taken from GameFaqs.com and are owned by their respective publishers.
- EDIT: This article now is on Publish0x now.