Summary
The PlayStation brand began with the PS1 in 1994 with its Japanese launch. 1995 is when North America would get their taste. Together with other studios, Sony was able to create a massive library of hits on the PS1, spanning countless genres from sports games to RPGs. Many of these franchises began on the PS1 and are still going today.
Other franchises saw historic sequels on the PS1 likeFinal Fantasy 7. That is a good sequel but it is not a direct sequel to a PS1-branded game. These other eight franchises did begin on the PS1 and they got better with the second entry. Did they peak at the second title? Let’s find out.
Metacritic Score: 76
Mega Man Legends 2made the world feel a bit bigger. The original was stuck on one island although Capcom made good use of that island to make players feel like they were on a grander adventure. In the sequel, players could use the airship to travel between islands which varied in climate from a dense jungle to a tundra. Thecel-shading art styleon the polygonal models was better than ever and the cast was expanded too like a rival pirate gang to the Bonne Family. It was everything fans would want in a sequel but it is too bad the series stopped after this.
The originalBushido Bladewas achallenge to fighting gamesas it presented players with an easy-to-understand gimmick. No matter what weapon players choose, that weapon would kill an opponent in one hit. There were ways to block and party though, so it wasn’t easy. The sequel expanded the roster of characters, added more weapons, and made the story mode more robust too. This is where the series ended but plenty of indie developers were seemingly inspired by the one-hit kill system likeDivekick. That’s the legendary legacyBushido Blade 2and its predecessor have in the games industry.
Suikoden 2did not have the graphical leap thatFinal Fantasy 6toFinal Fantasy 7had between the SNES and PS1. Suikoden and this sequel still used sprites and low-textured maps to convey the world. It may not have seemed next-gen visually, but the ideas were more wild.
The gimmick ofSuikoden 2was that players could recruit over a hundred playable characters. They could be usedin turn-based battleslike a normal RPG, or they could be stationed at a home base to make it better. It truly felt like a rebellion was being built to take on an evil empire and most RPGs of this era didn’t have that immersive feature.
Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rageproved Insomniac knew what they were doing in the platforming department. What made the first game fun compared to its PS1 contemporary,Crash Bandicoot, was that levels were open-ended. Players could explore overworlds to look for gems, talk to NPCs, solve quests, and hunt down secrets.Spyro 2: Ripto’s Ragewas more of the same but that wasn’t a problem as the mechanics were as solid as ever. From blowtorching enemies to gliding around levels, it all felt great.
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Backwas a bigger improvement over its predecessor compared to the aforementionedSpyroseries. The firstCrash Bandicootwas a proof of concept but many of the levels lacked variety and there wasn’t much personality with the characters. The opposite is true of the sequel as Dr. Cortex behaved more like aSaturday Morning Cartoonvillain and levels had an extreme amount of variety. From surfing down a jungle stream to riding a polar bear, there was a lot to experience. The platforming was also more forgiving and tighter.
Syphon Filter 2, to begin, had a better-starting level than the original. In the first game, Gabe, the secret agent protagonist, had to save a city block from terrorists. In the sequel, things kicked off on a snowy mountain wherein terrorists were trying to recover highly secretive items from a helicopter crash.
It was a challenging first level too, but the variety would not stop there as there was also a memorable dance club scene set to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” along with an infiltration mission into a museum. It was the peak for theSyphon Filterserieseven though there were more good sequels to follow.
Resident Evil 2moved the story from an umbrella-run mansion in the woods to a heavily populated metropolis. Raccoon City was overrun with zombies andnewbie to the force Leonand Chris’ sister Claire were brought on as the two new heroes to save the day. They each had their own disc and playing the game in alternative orders would change scenarios between both characters. An item or enemy may move, for example. It was an ambitious sequel that many thought was the peak untilResident Evil 4came along during the next generation of consoles.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2took things to the max after the developers hammered out the details from the original. There were more courses, tricks, and skaters to test out. The soundtrack was bigger too, offering plenty of contemporary bands at the time like Rage Against the Machine and Powerman 5000. Tons of secret characters helped the sequel stand out too like Spider-Man. It still wasn’t the easiest game to get into for beginners tothe skateboarding sport, but veterans thought it captured the essence nicely and it is still one of the highest-rated Metacritic games of all time.
