Retro Review – Page 17 – Savior Gaming

Top 5 PS1 RPGs, Assuming Final Fantasy Didn’t Exist.

If you were to make a list of best RPG’s for the Playstation one, or even of all time you couldn’t do it without a Final Fantasy game showing up on the list. Hell you probably would have to include at least one of them in the top 5 if we are being honest, whether it be 7 for the influence it had, or 6 because for some reason I don’t understand people think it was amazing or even 9 because it was actually as good as people think 6 or 7 was. But what would a list look like if we pretended it simply didn’t exist? Well here is my top 5 list, for once from 5-1 as if Final Fantasy just didn’t happen.

Beyond the Beyond is a title many people didn’t seem to play and as such doesn’t get much love. Its also a typical RPG in every fashion. Your home kingdom is attacked, you set out to find your dad, you flee the country, you end up as the chosen one to fight evil. But with how its presented and it turns out better than most on PS1.

Long before Persona 5 practically perfected balancing a home, school and dungeon life and before 3 introduced the concept, we were given Persona. Persona didn’t introduce the idea of an adult philosophical RPG, but it certainly was the most in depth and best done at that point. With the power of the PlayStation starting to hit its stride we were challenged to ask which one is the real you, and even shown why you don’t mess with crossing dimensions.

Grandia is one of those games I don’t even know how I ended up with. I think my mom thought hey hey this looks like the stuff Matt likes and my dear dead dad went ” hey this chick has green hair” and bought it ended up as a Christmas gift one year. Be that as it may it wasn’t long before I was calling Justin an idiot for not knowing Feena was in love with him and wondering how the hell I was supposed to win that fight against Gadwin, which it turns out I wasn’t supposed to.

This game was damn near number one, but you will see why it wasn’t. Breath of Fire 3 has multiple endings, great battles, character customization to rival many games even today with its master system and ability to learn moves and transfer them to others and it even had dragons. Add to that an amazing story about a war between dragons and a god and a possible betrayal and its no wonder this thing is remembered so fondly.

Anyone that knows me knew Suikoden was going to be number one, that being said while I prefer one over two, they are pretty much interchangeable to this spot. Both are amazing games, with amazing stories and their sprite characters hold up well even in 2018. Both involve wars in their respective kingdoms that take place in the same world, just different kingdoms. In fact you will visit the kingdom from one in 2 and many of the characters show up in multiple games in the series. Regardless collecting the 108 stars of destiny is an amazing feat to undertake that is both manageable and challenging at the same time. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Crazy Taxi (Sega Forever)

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Crazy Taxi is one of those games I played as a kid and finally got around to trying out the Sega Forever version. I won’t lie, I was worried about this one. Graphically it is one of the more impressive games they released and the sound is also higher end of the stuff they have given out. So how does it hold up?

Well honestly it holds up pretty damn well. Graphically my G6 played it very well and the sound played beautifully. Both of these things actually surprised me but not as well as the actual controls worked themselves. I was expecting this to be the worst in the series of Sega Forever games so far but in fact it functioned the best, so if you are a fan of Crazy Taxi give this one a shot. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Star Fox 64

Nothing brings me back to the magic video games can bring than Star Fox 64. In the Lylat System, a far away system of anthropomorphic animals, a evil scientist named Andross is trying to take control after being banished to planet Venom. Years ago the original Star Fox team: James McCloud, Peppy Hare, and Pigma Dangar went to investigate disturbances from the planet only to be caught in a trap. Pigma betrayed them, and Peppy narrowly escaped, leaving James in Andross’s hands. It’s up to Fox and Peppy with new crew members Falco Lambardi and Slippy Toad to save the Lylat system and destroy Andross.

This underappreciated N64 gem stole my heart as a kid with it’s epic level designs, smooth flying I still haven’t felt replicated to this day. What blew my mind then was how you could forge you’re own path across the system by beating hidden objectives on stages and unlocking passage to harder worlds. Though seven stages to finish the games, there are a crap load of outcomes, including two totally different final battles (the hardest and true ending providing some damn good nightmare fuel at that too). The bosses are fun and many are pretty tricky and the unrelenting hordes of cannon fodder never gets old. If you’re older, there’s plenty of either messed up or funny things you will catch like Peppy constantly rubbing how your father is dead in your face or Slippy trying to talk trash. It’s one hell of a fun time and I give it my highest recommendations. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Lethal Weapon 3

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We are once again back with Riggs and Murtaugh, and this time they are chasing an ex cop with inside knowledge of how the whole system works. This normally doesn’t seem so bad, but he is using it to steal weapons an drugs from the department and out them back on the street. He also happens to have armor piercing bullets. Murtaugh has about a week until retirement and is starting to worry he won’t quite make it.

At this point we all know the Lethal Weapon routine, and it hasn’t much changed tho weirdly the movies are all pretty solid. They have managed to use the same formula and stay interesting and fun which isn’t something easily done. The movie has some twist and turns and Riggs ends up with a new love interest which is nice. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

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Lethal Weapon 2 finds Riggs and Murtaugh chasing down a South African diplomat using his diplomatic immunity to cover his crimes. While totally unrealistic is still kind of fun.

The formula has slightly changed this time around tho. Riggs while still kind of crazy seems to be no longer suicidal which while is nice for him and his character growth does make him seem crazy for no real reason at this point and now just seems like an idiot.

The movie is still fun, and the relationship between Riggs and Murtaugh is fun as always tho the tradition of Riggs having rought luck with women and Murtaugh’s family being threatened will pretty much be a staple of the movies at this point. It works but it won’t much change from here on out. The stories will change, how will change, but this this will basically stay. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Lethal Weapon (1987)

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Oh Lethal Weapon, such a classic. Also may count as a Christmas movie,seriously this thing starts out with a Christmas and even involves people sitting down for Christmas dinner. I can’t say for certain but there may be a discussion to be had on this. Any way moving on to more serious stuff. What happens when you take a veteran officer that hates being on a team and stick in with a young, possibly suicidal officer suffering from the loss of his wife that also hates being on a team? You get the Lethal Weapon franchise.

Riggs and Murtaugh will be thrown together against their will and stumble upon a huge drug trafficking ring. The movie itself is one of the more popular movies from the 80’s and the franchise continued with the last movie coming out in 98, tho a T.V. series did come out recently. The movie is great,action packed and is pretty much as 80’s action as 80’s action gets.

Lethal Weapon however does have its flaws, for example the dialogue at times feels forced and like its trying to hard and the story shouldn’t be looked at too hard, kind of like most movies from its time period. Bets wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Caddyshack (1980)

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Oh caddyshack, you beautiful classic bastard. Its hard to believe this movie is going on 38 years old. The late Rodney Dangerfield is hilarious playing a brash new member of a very exclusive golf club as a very young Bill Murray plays an obsessed grounds keeper just trying to kill a gopher, and directed by the late great Harold Ramis, so at least he has that going for him. This movie is one of those classic 80’s movies that people today still quote and look at as an all time great and with good reason. People just loved this movie from the very beginning. Even today sitting down to watch it just brings a smile to my face. Any movie fan needs to watch this movie, even if its just for the history. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Next Karate Kid (1994)

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The Next Karate Kid is the 4th and last of the original movies and the only one not to star Ralph Maccio. Mr Miyagi at a commemoration for WW2 soldiers Mr. Miyagi meets the widow of an old officer and gets to know her granddaughter.

The movie sounds good, but really it is just the story of an angry girl Mr. Miyagi tries to teach karate in order to help her deal with the loss of her parents. This in itself would be fine but many of the jokes in the movie are essentially about how he has no experience with girls and their problems. This isn’t on either actor, both Pat and Hillary Swank play their parts very well. I think the biggest issue was the movie was written with no real sense of direction. It has its moments and I don’t agree the movie is horrible, but it is the worst in the series. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Karate Kid 3 (1989)

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Karate Kid 3 is viewed by most as the worst of the originals staring Daniel, and its not hard to see why. While it was nice to see Johnny make a come back his quest for revenge leaves much to be desired as does his assistance from a seemingly random business man and Vietnam war vet that coincidentally owns a toxic waste disposal company.

Don’t get me wrong the movie isn’t a train wreck, and if all you are after is to see some karate action and a small story this will fill the gap, but I have actually met many people that forget this movie exist or have never even seen it. So don’t be that person, go check it out. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Karate Kid 2 (1986)

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This time around Daniel and his teacher go to Okinawa Japan, his home town to visit his dying father. While there Danny boy will meet a woman, fall in love and watch as his mentor faces off against an old rival from his past and learn many new things. Daniel will also make a new enemy of his own.

The movie was less well received than the first tho was still a pretty average movie in its own right. The acting was as good as one would think as is the sound and the music. The movie itself tho does have a few down points that seem to stretch on longer than needed. It is still worth checking out tho. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.