PLAYSTATION GAME RECOMMENDATIONS |

The original PlayStation was my first console, and I've got a big soft spot for it. Here's a bunch of games for it I've tried out over the years, either ones I've known for a long time or ones I just found, all of which I think are worth sharing with you.

[#] Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (Activision, 2002)

A long-forgotten swan song to one of the PS1's greatest series.

Frankly, it's impressive this port even exists. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 for the PS1 was a pretty simple level swap in the 2 engine, understandable, but the fourth entry brought the series open world, free roaming levels and goals given by pedestrians. How can the PS1 handle such a game? Surprisingly capably! Who would want to play such a port? Only me! But that's okay. This probably stretches the Apocalypse engine to its absolute limits in terms of technology and good taste, and you will get a workout from the increased difficulty playing it, but for the morbidly curious hardcore Tony Hawk fanatics, the dozens of us, it's a cool way to round out the series on PS1.

Each locale brings your skater a set of about thirty goals towards going pro (even though they're already pros, but stay with me here). A lot of the goals are your classic score goals. Sometimes, you gotta grab all the letters without breaking your combo (fuck those ones). Each stage now has its own competition goal. Remember Horse in the earlier games' multiplayer modes? Goal here too. All credit to Vicarious Visions, it's familiar without ever being transparently repetitive. This game does something really nice in sharing all goal progress and stat boosts across skaters--that's right, the days of doing the campaign fourteen times are done. Beat it once, do each pro's unique goal (2-3 per stage), and you've completed the game.

Alongside the timerless free roam between goals, THPS4 for PS1 includes all the spine transfers, hidden tricks, and grind extensions from the next-gen versions (skitching is obviously not included). I've heard people online complain about reverts into manuals not registering, but they not only felt the same as THPS3 on PS1, but I didn't have much issue with them. The only real trouble with this game is the sometimes sadistic difficulty, especially in the pro-specific goals. We're talking "wheelie down three ramps and around a corner and not bail" type stupidity. The market for this port is no doubt exceedingly small, but those in that group will find this a fun and fascinating final entry.

Recommended for... the hardest skaters (ew).

[#] Xevious 3D/G+ (Namco, 1997)

An arcade-to-PS1 conversion done right?

Xevious was a pioneering vertical scrolling shooter arcade game with several innovations--namely, multiple levels of targets to shoot, secrets, and a difficulty that adapts to how well you're doing. This disc is primarily a port of Xevious 3D/G, a 3D remake from when such things were fashionable, but as the name suggests, you also get ports of Xevious, Super Xevious, and Xevious Arrangement as extras. This disc is for the Xevious fanatic in your life (who doesn't know one?).

3D/G makes damn good use of the extra dimension, with crazy camera moves and huge end bosses. There's three upgradable weapons to choose from, a green laser and a red tendril cannon that locks onto enemies, but I still prefer the zapper you spawn with. It sounds short with only five levels, but they're ridiculously difficult, so I've yet to beat it. Nice bonus from Namco though: the ability to completely customize your control scheme, complete with a built-in rapid fire function!

As far as the other games go, they're all quality additions. Super Xevious rearranges the locations of the secret flags and citadels for folks who got bored of the original, and Xevious Arrangement is another remake of the game featuring weapon powerups. The menus are a bit funky (Circle is OK, like on the Japanese PS1), and you have to manually save your high scores, but this disc is a rooty-tooty point and shooty good time, and if you like arcade games, you should own it.

Recommended for... SHMUP fans of all stripes.

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