Pie-Station

When I got my Retropie, it came with a mammoth selection of games - to a point where one would think that every game released on the Megadrive/Genesis, SNES, NES, and Gameboy was thrust onto a microSD card.
Conversely the no. of games for the N64 and the PS1 are about....ten each.

To me this represents something I've often felt in recent years: The legacy of the PS1.

As mentioned above, there is no shortage of games on the systems of the previous generation(s). Looking at such a library for my Retropie, there will be little to no effort required to pick out a classic. Sure one may find some shlock  but what does it matter when there are plenty of games that have managed to withstand the test of time.

But the PS1?

On my Retropie I have added to the PS1 library but that was with games I already own. But even then it library looks kinda sparse. I know the PS1 had a huge library but whereas the above-mentioend consoles also had huge libraries, the question arises: How many games on the PS1 were actually..well.... good?
If you have a huge gaming library then what exactly is the ratio of great games to stuff that has been forgotten?

A quick glance at the wikipedia page of the PS1 has the proclamation that the console has a game library of well over 7000 titles. That is an impressive number to be sure but, again, just how many of those games are actual game-changers (so to speak)? And more importantly, how many of those games have withstood the remorseless ravager that is time?

The PS1 games that came with my Retropie are as follows:

• Colin McRae Rally 2.0 
• Crash Bandicoot
• Destruction Debry
• Dino Crisis 2
• Gran Turismo
• Grand Theft Auto
• Mortal Kombat Trilogy
• Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
• R-Type Delta
• The Raiden Project
• Resident Evil 1
• Resident Evil 3
• Ridge Racer
• Street Fighter Alpha 3
• Tekken 3
• Tomb Raider
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
• Twisted Metal 2
• Wipeout 3

Not a bad showing. I do recall some of these games being a big deal during the PS1's heyday  but how many of these are considered indisputable classic on par with, say, Super Mario 3, Chrono Trigger and Super Metroid? Three? Four?

Conversely, the PS1 games that I added to my Retropie are as follows:

• Final Fantasy Tactics
• Ghost in the Shell
• Loaded
• Metal Gear Solid
• Return Fire
• Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels
• Suikoden 1
• Suikoden 2

Of course, being the guy who added these puts me in a position where I can decide for myself what games I want to play and project what games are worth a damn to any onlooker. Note how two of those titles are exclusive to the PS1 (Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy Tactics) and have since come to be recognized as two of the defining moments for the console. But, as stated previously, they represent two of the big three that everything else on the PS1 seems doomed to remain in the shadow of (the other one being Castlevania Symphony of the Night).

Needless to say, whereas the PS2 has gone down in history as a monumental hit (highest selling console ever), as the years go by the PS1 is looking more like a fluke...