PS1 "hidden gems"

[Xeogred]

I feel like I should mention Vandal Hearts. It's not all that unknown, but I don't see it get brought up very often, and it's one of best PSX SRPGs. The sequel is pretty good too.

Been wanting to check this one out eventually myself. Not a huge SRPG fan, but I'm up for the old ones. I still need to hit up Front Mission 3, but Tactics Ogre which I beat about a month ago... damn that was epicly good stuff (talking SNES/PSX version here).

[the7k]

Here are some of my favorite PS1 games that I never hear people talk about, as they were neither 'hidden' enough to bring up nor popular enough to be on everyone's mind:

Future Cop LAPD
Unholy Wars
Jade Cocoon
Pandemonium
Pocket Fighter
Threads of Fate
Legend of Mana
XI (Devil Dice) - It's free on Japanese PSN!
The Adventure of Little Ralph
Real Bout Fatal Fury Special: Dominated Mind

[noiseredux]

Pocket Fighter

agreed. This game is great. It's basically all the super-deformed Capcom Vs sprites from Super Puzzle Fighter put into a fighting game. Kicks ass.

[fastbilly1]

Jade Cocoon - even though it has tank controls it is a solid Pokemon inspired title.

Team Buddies - the only PSX game I think that is worth the premium it goes for. It is the best four player PSX game and one of the best titles of the 32/64 bit generation.
Opening:

Multiplayer:


Average cost is $100+ - it is the main reason I still have a PSX and multitap

[elmagicochrisg]

[BRIK]

Anyone ever play Sheep, Dog and Wolf? I remember it being insanly hard for a 10 year old
Another favourite growing up was Worlds Scariest Police Chases, not sure if it was a hidden gem or not but was certainly one of my favourite games.

Also one game I loved (but sadly have never got my hands on) was Theme Hospital. Only ever had the demo as it was kinda rare, but I think you can buy it on the PSN now.

[Bradtemple87]

Colony Wars and Tomba!

[cabrando]

I remember enjoying Jackie Chan Stunt Master as kid. Not sure if it still holds up

[Dup]

Team Buddies - the only PSX game I think that is worth the premium it goes for. It is the best four player PSX game and one of the best titles of the 32/64 bit generation.
Average cost is $100+ - it is the main reason I still have a PSX and multitap

Ah, Team Buddies. My friend and I found a copy for $5 once. Could have gotten violent.

Anyway, I'll pick three that haven't been mentioned (I think).
First off, the two Harry Potter games for the PSX are actually really great games in my opinions, I would call them platformers if it weren't for that auto-jump when you run off a ledge, taking away any challenge from platforming segments. But they're great games anyway.

I'd also like to mention WRC Arcade, it's not quite as fast and arcade-y as Sega Rally, but it packs in a lot of content. Costs next to nothing too.

[CatchFiveBats]

Apocalypse - Fun, simple shooter. Bruce Willis without a movie tie-in
Jumping Flash - Quirky first-person platforming. Rented this game so many times as a kid, was so glad to rediscover it a few years ago.
Geom Cube - Tetris from above, in 3 dimensions.
Grandia - My favorite RPG of all time. Definitely flawed (mostly the port/localization - bad voice acting, save glitches, etc), but the battle system is so good and the world is so charming I think that can be overlooked.
One Piece Mansion - Awesome puzzle game where you must arrange tenants in an apartment building so that everyone is happy. Fully explaining would be lengthy, but I can say for sure it's worth looking into.
Silent Bomber - Great action game where you must (big surprise) use bombs to defeat enemies. The ability to set multiple bombs and then detonate them in the order you set them (I think that's how it worked, been a while since I played it) was awesome.
Trap Gunner - Action game where you set traps to defeat enemies. Multiplayer is awesome.
[::EDIT::]Poy Poy - How could I have forgotten this, super quirky and one of my favorite 4-player games on PSX~

Lots of shmups mentioned already, of course. Saw Gekioh, that's a pretty good one that generally gets overlooked.

King's Field gets another recommendation from me, along with Shadow Tower. Echo Night as well.

No One Can Stop Mr. Domino: Quirkiest game of them all, who here as actually heard of this game?

I definitely remember that one haha, played a demo on one of the early OPM discs and loved it. Worth owning, if only for the weird factor.

What about Ghost in the Shell?

I've got that one, surprisingly good action/shooting game. Didn't get very far though...

Devil Dice

Great puzzle game. The learning curve is a bit steep, but once you get a handle on the gameplay it's a blast.

I remember enjoying Jackie Chan Stunt Master as kid. Not sure if it still holds up

I remember playing this game constantly on one of the family camping trips as a kid (if an RV with TV and PSX in the back counts as camping ). Played it very briefly a couple years ago and vaguely remember it still being good, but not quite as as awesome as I remembered it.