PS1 News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

It seems as though the PlayStation 1 game Star Wars: Rebel Assault 2 — The Hidden Empire is coming to the Premium tier of PlayStation Plus in April 2024. PlayStation Plus subscribers were recently treated to the reveal of the free PS Plus games for April 2024, but it will be a couple of weeks before the Extra and Premium game additions are revealed.

Persona 1 and 2 are getting remakes.

Ben Starr, the voice actor of Final Fantasy 16's Clive Rosfield, has joined fans in calling for a brand-new entry in the Final Fantasy Tactics spin-off subseries. The first Final Fantasy Tactics game was first released in 1997 for the PS1 as a tactical RPG spin-off to the mainline games. The original game got plenty of critical acclaim and would become one of the franchise's most well-regarded spin-offs, which eventually created a mini-franchise. While the series hasn't had a new title since the 2007 remake of the first game on PSP, there are still a number of fans who are hoping the series will make a comeback one day, with Ben Starr being one of them.

Atlus has partnered with Tose Software for one of its upcoming games, a prominent leaker has claimed. The two Japanese companies collaborated in the '90s and have a pair of joint PS1-era projects to their names, both of which were published by Atlus.

One of the original directors of Chrono Trigger, Yoshinori Kitase, asked fans about the best approach to bringing back or remaking the classic JRPG for a modern audience. First released for the SNES, 1995's Chrono Trigger was one of the most influential JRPGs of all time. It had a team of talented creators working on the game, including Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi from Square, Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball fame, and more. Chrono Trigger also had three directors, Yoshinori Kitase among them, who was the director of many critically acclaimed Final Fantasy games and continues to work at Square Enix to this day as a producer.

A re-release of the 90s point-and-click Discworld game «may happen», designer Gregg Barnett has teased. However, the developer said because of the way intellectual property rights work in the UK, 50 percent of the game currently belongs to the crown, which complicates matters a tad.

Final Fantasy 8 director, and series producer, Yoshinori Kitase has said he would change its combat system in a hypothetical remake.

The director of Final Fantasy 8 has shot down hopes that the next numbered Final Fantasy might see a remake once the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy comes to its conclusion. The reason? Simply that it’s a lot of damn work.

Many gamers have found creative ways to pay homage to classic gaming, and a recent example includes one fan of the original PlayStation who created neat PS1-style cases for modern games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Assassin’s Creed Mirage, complete with customized box art. 2024 marks 30 years since the PS1’s debut, so this fan’s project, besides being rather timely, is a fun and practical way to pay homage to Sony’s debut console during a huge milestone year.

Due to an issue with its branding, the developers of the fan-made Bloodborne Kart announced that the demake-styled kart racer will be delayed to an unknown release date. Back in 2022, independent developer FanSoftware created a PS1-style demake of FromSoftware's Bloodborne. It had aimed to turn the gothic PS4 Soulslike adventure into a game that would fit the more limited capabilities of the original PlayStation. After this demake was released, the developers revealed they were working on a game that is usually considered a running joke in the fandom, Bloodborne Kart.

A remake of the original Metal Gear Solid game is reportedly still in development at Konami.

Peacock has renewed its Twisted Metal TV adaption for a second season.

I love retro controllers, but even I'm eager to get my hands on 8bitdo's Retro Receiver for PS1 and PS2. As much as I'm into hardware preservation, I can't blame anyone for wanting to play retro PlayStation games with a modern gamepad. So, rather than trying to use a pad that has been the victim of FIFA rage throughout the years, you'll want to pick the receiver up while it's cheaper for Cyber Monday.

Walking sims might have only gained widespread attention (and a name) in the late 2000s, but non-violent artgames that focused on exploration have been around for decades. One such example was the oft-forgotten 1998 PS1 game LSD: Dream Emulator, which has now been lovingly restored in a fanmade version.

Of all the iconic moments in Metal Gear Solid, the battle against Psycho Mantis is tough to top. It’s both a cool boss fight and a mild deconstruction of your gaming habits!

A fan-made Bloodborne racing game based on an April Fools’ joke is nearing completion, and now has a release date.

We've finally got some new screenshots of Hogwarts Legacy running on Nintendo Switch, and let's just say it looks about as good as you were probably expecting.

Hands up: who remembers Hogs of War? Published by Infogrames late in the PS1's life, this was a 3D, military-themed, turn-based strategy game, only instead of human soldiers, it was pigs at war with each other. Playing a little bit like a 3D Worms (before Worms 3D existed), it secured cult hit status thanks to its silly British humour and fun multiplayer battles. If you're among those who fondly remember this oddball title, you're in luck — it's coming back.

An indie shooter called El Paso, Elsewhere is making waves on Steam with some gorgeous retro aesthetics and a blend of Max Payne-style action and vampire-fueled supernatural horror.

I never knew that I needed a mashup of Metal Gear Solid, BioShock, and Resident Evil, but after playing the demo for indie horror gem Endless Blue I can't wait to see more.

Konami’s Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 aims to be a definitive collection of the first three mainline games. It includes Metal Gear Solid with its VR and Special Missions and the HD Collection versions of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. There are digital graphic novels, screenplay books, guides and more.

One of my methods of preliminary research for my kusoge column–my dumpster scouting, if you will–involves searching through old forum threads of people describing bad games they played. You kind of have to sift through the obvious mentions of Too Human and the philistines who say something like King’s Field, but sometimes I come across something I’ve never heard of, and I go into it largely sight-unseen.

The classic PS1 first-person shooter Star Wars: Dark Forces is being resurrected on the PS5 and PS4 – almost 30 years after it first released. The game – which originally launched on MS-DOS – is being remastered by Nightdive Studios, which is using its proprietary KEX Engine to rebuild the original in 4K resolution at up to 120 frames-per-second.

A demo for Twin Peaks: Into the Night, a PS1-style reimagining of the cult hit TV series, is available to play right now.

A demo is now available for a fan-made Twin Peaks game designed to look like a PS1 title.

One indie developer is attempting to build the "greatest PS1-style video game ever made," and judging by the first bits of footage, this game might just have what it takes to live up to that moniker.

You may have watched the original run of Twin Peaks so many times that you exclaim “damn fine coffee” each and every time you grab a cup, but have you ever played the story through the eyes of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper? You’ll soon be able to do just that via the magic of video games. A small French developer called Blue Rose Team has been prepping Twin Peaks: Into the Night for a while now, and it just dropped a demo of the fan-made game.

Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see, one chants out between two worlds: Twin Peaks is on PC. Not officially, mind you; I'm talking about the demo for Twin Peaks: Into the Night, a fan game based on the classic David Lynch and Mark Frost soap opera that's just hit Itch.io.

It's a good day for PlayStation fans, as a handful of delightful PS1 classics just landed on PS5 for standalone purchase.

The 90s American mystery drama series, Twin Peaks, is getting an all-new PS1-style video game thanks to a pair of fans, Jean Manzoni and Lucas Guibert (who together form Blue Rose Team).

Diane, it's 10:30am, August 10, and I've just made the most incredible discovery. You remember the Laura Palmer case, dramatized in the 1990 television series Twin Peaks? Fans of the program are creating - excuse me - a damn fine-looking PS1 demake.

If you’ve still got your original PS1 console stored away, chances are its accompanying gamepad has seen better days. I’ve had to restore old DualShock controllers for friends on more than one occasion, but if you’ve not got a weirdo like me who finds cleaning old pads relaxing nearby, it could stop you revisiting your classic PlayStation library, Thankfully, 8bitdo seems to understand this pain, as the controller maker just announced a Retro Receiver that’ll let you hook up modern controllers to the 30 year old system.

I can feel all my Cool Culture Critic points dribbling out of my ears as I type this, but I've never actually watched Twin Peaks, David Lynch's acclaimed paranormal smalltown TV show. The nearest I've come to doing so is that one episode of the Simpsons. The major things I am given to understand about it are that it is very confusing, sexy in a ghoulish way, and 100% comprised of memes in the same way that Hamlet has retrospectively become a book's worth of quotations.

8BitDo has announced that they’ve finally gotten around to creating a wireless Bluetooth receiver for PS1 and PS2. The timing couldn’t be better since I just bought a PSone the other week.

For several years, 8BitDo has offered a dongle that lets folks connect modern controllers to the NES Classic Edition, SNES Classic and Sega Genesis Mini. The latest version of the Retro Receiver brings support for the likes of the Switch Pro Controller, Xbox Elite Series 2 and the DualSense Edge to older hardware in the form of the PlayStation 1 and the PlayStation 2. The $25 dongle includes Windows 10 and 11 support as well.

You can finally use a DualSense controller on your PS2 with this adorable new Bluetooth dongle from 8BitDo.

I have to wonder if the fighting game boom of the ‘90s would have lasted longer if companies didn’t pump out sequels at such a dizzying pace. When you have Street Fighter Alpha 2 and X-Men vs. Street Fighter alongside Street Fighter III: New Generation and Street Fighter EX, what do you choose? These all came out in a roughly two-year span. The arcade mentality generally meant you dedicated yourself to a particular cabinet so you could dominate all competitors. A lot of people still weren’t willing to move away from Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo.

I want to preface this Weekly Kusoge by saying that I absolutely love Tecmo’s Deception, but it is complete shit. I was inspired to try out the Deception series by community member Kerrik52. My only previous experience was watching a roommate try out 2005’s Trapt. However, upon looking at screenshots of Tecmo’s Deception, I fell in love.

Sometimes, it feels like the age of the classic 3D platformer is long behind us. Then, I see a game like Pseudoregalia and feel that burst of excitement at the chance to double-jump, wall-run and parkour my way around the world. In even better news, I won’t have to wait long to play it, as it’s out on Steam next week.