It’s Baffling How These PSX Games Still Hold Up Graphically In 2024

The PlayStation 1 is a timeless video game console, harboring a deep-dyed relationship with the heart of every gamer born in the 90s, and then some. Taking a look at the console a whopping 30 years later and comparing it with the times and tech of today, the difference in standard is otherwise immeasurable, save for some specific titles that blur the line between retro and modern. 

In my experience, the PlayStation 1 isn’t just home to some of the best games ever made, but also to surprisingly good-looking titles that somehow manage to play and feel relevant even to this day. I recently played Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on my dusty old PSX, and while going through the iconic Metroidvania, I couldn’t help but feel like, “Wow! This looks awesome.” 

Timeless PlayStation 1 Games That Look Gorgeous Even Today

I decided to put together like-minded games that came out on the PlayStation 1 and retrospectively delve into the console’s sheer technical capacity, even from back then. Feel free to add to the list in the comments section ahead and spark a discussion. 

1. Final Fantasy 8

Starting off this list is the olden Final Fantasy 8, a far cry from what the gaming world has seen now in terms of the latest Final Fantasy titles. This one was held in high regard across the globe when it first made landfall, garnering acclaim from across the world for various positives, including its cinematic cutscenes that made quite the boom in the industry at the time. Easily ahead of its time, that one. 

2. Ridge Racer Type 4

Labeled as one of the most stellar racing games on the PlayStation 1 from back then, Ridge Racer Type 4 didn’t just boast great graphics but pulled everything off with style. And according to critics, it struck the perfect balance between realism and arcade gameplay, meaning that the whole package was just full of fun and nothing else. You could hours and hours playing this and not get tired. 

3. Tekken 3 

Although there’s no doubt that Bandai Namco has elevated the iconic Tekken franchise of fighting video games to a new level with the release of Tekken 8 thanks to current-gen hardware, one can’t simply ignore the impact that Tekken 3 made when it hit shelves in 1997.

Even to this day, this particular iteration in the series stands on the top for Tekken fans and having played an indefinite number of hours of the title myself, it’s not hard to see eye to eye with that notion. 

4. Syphon Filter 2

The current AAA gaming sphere is in dire need of a franchise like Syphon Filter, I kid you not. These games genuinely realized how to sell themselves on the PSX, with each rendition in the franchise offering such unique lighting and visuals that you couldn’t help but keep on going back to them from time to time.

Syphon Filter 2, in particular, is a personal favorite, just because of how much attention it paid to the little details. Kudos to Eidetic (now Bend Studio, the creator of Days Gone as well) for making such a quality game in an era where stealth-action titles were scarce and fairly inadequate. 

5. The Legend Of Dragoon 

I often find myself firing up The Legend of Dragoon for a classic RPG experience that borrows the best of other notable works as well to deliver what it calls an all-in-one package. Anyway, the title in question is known for its graphics across the board, and you can’t deny the boundaries it attempted to push on a console as limited as the PlayStation 1. 

6. Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night

What we have here at our disposal is a chef’s kiss, and there’s not a soul out there who’d disagree with that in their right mind. Seriously, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night sports aesthetics and vigor that resembles indies coming out in the last 5 years, and for reference, the game came out in 1999. Do the math yourself, play the game, and then come to a conclusion. 

7. Crash Bandicoot: Warped

Ars Technica’s YouTube series “War Stories” once put the spotlight on Naughty Dog’s co-founder Andy Gavin who said that he purposefully “hacked” into the PSX to liberate some memory and make the Crash Bandicoot games achieve better graphics. That’s pure dedication right there, and a reason for you to revisit Crash Bandicoot: Warped, one of the best titles in the franchise, without a second thought in mind. 

I just hacked their code by just changing the byte codes. I’m like, you can do this. Look, I fixed it. If they wouldn’t fix it for me. I was just gonna like edit their code. It was free memory [laughing]. The memory was finite. But you were definitely not supposed to do that,” said Andy.