Haven't been in the mood for anything specific lately, so I decided to go through a bunch of PS1 games I've been sitting on for a while now to root out the ones I don't want to keep. Most of them are games I owned as genuine original or as a burned copy while some of them I loaned from someone, haven't played any of them in 25 years either because they weren't among my personal favorites or were effectively replaced by the PC version later. But there are a few games I've never even tried but am curious about.
Bushido Blade
A refreshing take on the 1v1 fighting genre, a single good hit kills. Fun time killer, a keeper
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (never tried before)
This is likely to be the biggest surprise among all the games I intend to test. I'll be honest, while I'm perfectly aware this is considered to be one of the best games PS1 has I really didn't expect I'd like it but something compelled me to try it anyway. Well I'm glad I did because against expectations the game seemed actually fun! Bonus points for the wonderfully terrible dialog. Definitely a keeper, I just hope I don't end up liking it so much I'd want to get the physical copy, not the cheapest game out there
Civilization II
Oh boy. The UI seemed cumbersome enough but they somehow managed to make the soundtrack extra grating, you could use the PS1 version of Aristotle's Pupil as a torture device. No thanks, I'll pass
Command & Conquer & C&C: Red Alert
I went in fully expecting the d-pad controls would do my head in, and to no-one's surprise that's exactly what happened. Also noted the green grass on Red Alerts second soviet mission was rather weird shade of green, didn't look great. These PS1 versions were how I played them back in the 90's so I admittedly do feel some nostalgia for them, but the mouse controlled SVGA PC versions blow these out of the water so hard I see no other reason to keep these than to wonder how the heck I was able to play them like that
Destruction Derby 2
The music track that plays in the main menu is great, but didn't really like how the cars handle. Pass
Dino Crisis (never tried before)
Considering I'm a huge classic Resident Evil fan it's a bit odd I never ended up trying Dino Crisis. I guess I didn't think dinosaurs were as fun as zombies. Seems alright and I like the protagonist, thumbs up
Doom & Final Doom
Like with C&C I expected the worst from the d-pad controls but turns out it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared, I'm actually fine with the controls. Which makes me happy, the PS1 versions of Doom have distinctly different mood to them compared to the PC original thanks to the moody horror ambient soundtrack they have. Sure the levels are partially simplified (and I'm sure some levels were cut entirely), animations have less frames and the framerate has issues in open areas, but they also have lighting effects PC versions don't have and sound has some reverb to it. Keeping both.
Driver
I like how the car handles, but the game swaps the low poly models of other cars on the streets to higher poly model distractingly close and I can't unsee it. Also it has some framerate issues. Haven't tried the PC version but I expect I would much prefer that, so I'll skip this one
Duke Nukem: Time to Kill
Tomb Raider is one of my all time favorite games, but I'll freely admit the game doesn't have to most fluent controls in the world. Well this one clearly was heavily inspired by TR but somehow managed to make the controls even more cumbersome. Otherwise seems like one of those fast food equivalents, not the worst game ever nor the greatest, might be alright if you don't have anything else at reach. The intro made me smile, but I think I'll pass it for now
Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown
PS1 version of Duke 3D. I've heard it has some major framerate issues but what I noticed right away is how you can only switch weapons in one direction. The game has three different button layouts, they all have just next weapon button. So if you want to swap chaingun to shotgun you have to go through every single gun to get to it. That alone is enough for me to give it a pass
Grand Theft Auto & Grand Theft Auto 2
I don't get motion sickness from non-vr games nor do I get headaches. These are giving me both. I clearly can't deal with fast moving camera too low to the ground anymore, I have to skip both out of necessity
Still plenty others to test