As I mentioned in my other top/fave retro video games lists, 2020 was the year I got back into playing retro video games from my youth. This was heavily influenced by me ordering a Sega Mini to hook up to the tv I won at a Super Bowl party right before the world went on a long-running lockdown quarantine, but the thing that really kicked the new hobby up a notch was realizing that my Sega Mini could be ‘hacked’ to add ANY old retro video game from any old retro video game console. And once one goes down that online retro video game rabbit hole, one eventually realizes that one could have been playing any old retro video game right on one’s old iMac the whole time.

I guess that’s why they say hindsight is 2020.

And after blahg’n about some of my Sega Mini adventures, I started noticing that my most visited website pages, month after month, were my blog posts about retro video gaming (even though I am a ‘not a music blog, not not a music blog’), and most of those visits were coming from Google’rs.

So, since I also did a lot of searching for “best ps1 games” or “most underrated ps1 games” or “ps1 games that are still worth playing today” or “hidden gem ps1 games” once I was done googling the same “how to hack a sega mini” queries that had started directing people to my blahg quite consistently, I figured I should probably put together some console specific lists too — out of my own interest in sharing my interests in these games (and in making lists), but also… because SEO, innit?

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Please keep in mind that this list is not really in a strict ‘ranked order’ and it is definitely not an attempt at creating a “Best PS1 games EVER” list (so prepare to adjust your “how could you not include ___?!” outrage appropriately). This is just a list of games that I still find personally enjoyable playing as an aging millennial in the 2020s + it should be noted that I don’t really care much for fighting games or button-mashing or turn based strategy RPG games (no matter how ‘critically acclaimed’ on the Youtubes & Reddits).

Sure, specific-to-me nostalgia does come into effect here with my personal list (I was a person born in 1983 after all), BUT, I would say that the most important factor for me is “do I still find there to be something enjoyable and/or engaging with this game when I think about whether I would want to actually spend time playing it NOW over all the other things I could spend time on instead?” — which means sometimes I make changes to this list as different games grow on me more while others fade out of my ‘jump back into’ queue.

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AND NOW THAT WE’VE GOT ALL THE EXPLAINERS & DISCLAIMERS OUT OF THE WAY… HERE’S MY LIST OF 36 PLAYSTATION ONE GAMES THAT are still engaging to play today:

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Ok, that’s it for my personal ‘Top 36 Playstation One Games That Are Still Fun To Play Now’ list. I know that there are some classic titles that seem crazy not to have included, BUT, again, this is not meant to be a ‘Top 36 All-Time Best Ever’ list and it’s also not meant to be your list. Besides, reading another list that just confirms what’s on every other ‘best of’ list is a bit boring and pointless, especially if you’re looking for games/roms that might not be top of mind (and especially when you consider how all this stuff is individually subjective & doesn’t really matter beyond the enjoyment that comes from thinking/talking about your own experience & finding temporary moments of connection/agreement/discovery with others).

So, on that note, here’s FOURTEEN more PS1 games that are of the kind of quality that has them constantly circling outside my TOP 36 (and since making a TOP 36 list is an odd choice, these extra 14 games can be used to round out a TOP 50 list for me — and you can click their cover art to watch gameplay over on the Youtubes or you can scroll a bit further down for a “HIGH 54” Youtube gameplay playlist):

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And since I’ve already found Youtube videos for my ‘FAVE 50’ PS1 games, and since I also have a thing about the number 54, I decided to put all the gameplay videos into one big-ass "High 54" Youtube playlist in case anyone would want to watch one HI54LOFI-ly recommended PS1 game being played by strangers on the internet after another (I’ve also added 4 more games to make the total 54 now):

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And while we’re listing things, here’s my other lists of retro video games that are still fun playing today… if you happen to be looking for more than just PS1 games to check out (and if you think you might have some crossover tastes in retro games with me):

Finally, please feel warmly encouraged to hit up the comment section below if there’s any games that I left off that would definitely be on your ‘Fave Playstation One Games’ list (whatever number you’d cap your list off at), as I’ve been known to make tweaks to my lists when a new ‘old game’ starts making a stronger case for more of my limited attention span (plus I also have a thing about the number 95, eh).

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JEREMY / @HI54LOFI

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