Intensive Gaming Diary

Blog about different aspects of retro and new video games.

Tag: ps1

Some Reasons for the Success of Nintendo Switch

Posted on by Viljami

Today Nintendo Switch is the third most sold video game console. Only some legendary and popular devices are above it in the statistics. Those consoles are PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS. I am talking about the global top list of consoles sold. The statistics of a specific region, like North America, Europe or Asia, might differ from the ones that I here am writing you about.

The most sold consoles, huh? PlayStation 2 has held this position for a long time now. It dominated the statistics being the first DVD player for many gamers. It has also a very wide selection in a form of a game library. People were expecting something like this already when only PlayStation 1 was available. During this period we saw a great increase in the number of gamers worldwide as new players and groups were starting to get interested in video games.

What about Nintendo DS and its success. Why did it take place? I guess this has everything to do with it being a portable gaming device. You could take it everywhere and it provided solid library of games and a decent three-dimensional environment for these new types of video games. I guess that before the era of smart phones (I think Apple begun this era by releasing the first iPhone in 2007) this was something very attracting for a gamer.

We are taking now Nintendo Switch in to account while we are having a conversation about the most sold gaming consoles. And actually why is it so? Well, there are some quite clear matters that we can think for a while. One of them is that Nintendo Switch has a gaming library that has a very good quality. There are several Nintendo exclusive games being still released that are very good ones and that you cannot play on another console.

We have to take in count also these delivery problems that Sony and Microsoft faced during the pandemic. This is a reason you cannot underestimate in these talks. There was a long period of time that Xbox Series X and both PS5 models, the one with the disc drive and the one without, were totally unavailable. You could find a Xbox Series S if you were lucky but there was no serious lack of Nintendo Switch consoles. The availability might be the biggest reason that Nintendo Switch climbed to such high levels of units sold during these times.

Why is the Nintendo Switch so cheap? The price is today about 300 euros here in Europe while PS5’s and Xbox’s pricier models wear a price tags way higher. You have to consider that Switch doesn’t come with a proper controller so you might have to spend like 70 euros for Pro Controller. This is of course optional. One factor of the low price seems to be that Nintendo Switch is very underpowered especially when compared to its main competitors of this generation of consoles. It is compared to Xbox 360 when we are discussing about pure performance. The upcoming Switch 2 that we are going to get more information from Nintendo by 2nd of April is said to be as powerful as PS4. So, the pure power is not the case when dealing with success here.

We also cannot forget the appeal of Nintendo’s brand. They are known to be a “mega” huge gaming company since the early days of Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short, back in the beginning of 1980s. It was the video game console that made home video gaming popular again while many consumers were very disappointed in Atari’s 2600 and especially their games and overall quality that finally caused a big depression of video games consuming and playing in the first years of 1980s. NES was definitely the console that made gaming popular again. You could trust Nintendo and it was something considered to have a good quality.

Today PS2 has sold wolrdwide over 160 million units. Nintendo DS has sold 154 million units. Nintendo Switch is behind these two with 150,8 million sold units. It is very exciting to see how is the Switch ending up to sell as the sales might dive down after or even before Switch 2 is getting released. How many people are going to buy Nintendo Switch if the Switch 2 is already available? The price of this new Nintendo console is predicted to be somewhere between 400 or 500 euros. However the price or other details, like release date, are not yet officially announced.

Why Does THPS Draw So Much Attention From Us Gamers?

Posted on by Viljami

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skateboarding, or for short THPS, is a PlayStation 1 game that was released in 1999. After the first game’s amazing success there were many more games released in this series of good quality video games. This was also something that made skateboarding more popular again and also some of these skaters appearing in this game even more famous.

After all we didn’t see so many games after all. If you know THPS games there cannot exist a debate about if THPS 5 was a good game. It actually wasn’t. While being released in 2015. This actually ended the season of quality when it comes to THPS. It took to 2020 until we got a decent THPS game and this was THPS 1 + 2 that was actually a remake made of two of the first games in this series.

The first four THPS games are very good. Also THPS Underground and its sequel can be considered something that you could spend some hours into. So there are many good games bearing the name of Tony Hawk.

What makes this video game series so good? We must start with the first original THPS. Back in 1999 I was in junior high. I remember how the game felt at first. It was very easy to get into and even a bit easier if you were familiar with actual real skateboarding. I mean knowing the basics was enough. And this game also made me want to try and learn skateboarding myself.

So there is this formula of playability. It is very interesting to fade into this world of trying to complete a trick or a run of tricks in this three-dimensional world that is presented to you. The music in this game brings me so many memories. Also the outfits of these skateboarders seem so cool. There was this combination of a rewarding gameplay and also this cool atmosphere and feel that made you dream bigger and just enjoy your youth even more.

If you are thinking to getting into THPS games I would suggest that you pick the original first game. Then you can proceed to second or maybe the third game. The third THPS game is very good and its actually considered one of the best games on PlayStation 2. THPS 2 was released in 2000 and it was followed in 2001 with THPS 3. THPS 4 and Underground 1 and 2 bring some other elements while trying to achieve something more than just bare skateboarding. The HD remakes, THPS 1 + 2, is also a great start when you are beginning to look into the world of THPS. The collection is available for the latest gaming consoles.

If you are wondering how I came about and started to write this blog post I can tell you something. I tried THPS 3 on PS2 again today. I played the game for a while, just an hour or so, the amount of time spent isn’t important, and figured out this idea of a blog post. That is very typical for these blog posts and how they begin to take their form. I have lots of inspiration when it comes to my video game collection.

How to Rip Your PS1 Games

Posted on by Viljami

In this blog post we are going to go through about how to rip your PS1, PlayStation 1, games to rom files so that you can play with an emulator or a piece of hardware like Raspberry Pi 4/5. This way of copying your games for your personal use is completely legal. What is currently illegal is copying rom files of games that you don’t own and/or if you share some games that you have ripped to someone who doesn’t own that particular game. We are dealing with a sensitive legal issue right here and things can change, for better or worse, in the future. I don’t want to encourage you to break law in any way.

So you have your PlayStation 1 game. What else do you need? Here’s a list:

  • External DVD drive
  • A PC running, preferably, Windows 10 (this guide has been written using this OS)
  • Magic ISO Maker (the software that actually rips the disc and converts it to the rom file)

External DVD drives today cost something from 40 euros to maybe 60 euros. You don’t need a special DVD drive. You just need something that works. The DVD drive should be connected to your PC through USB. Many PCs today don’t have a DVD drive so you might need an external one. If you have internal DVD drive or something like that you can also use that.

The discs that PS1 uses are colored in black on the side that gets read in the DVD drive. That doesn’t stop the disc from being read. Note, also, that you can rip your PS2 games in this similar way if you are into emulating PS2 also.

You do need a special software. I am using currently Magic ISO Maker (trial version). However there are also some other alternatives. You might want to check them out also. Ripping the disc is pretty straightforward. You select “Tools” from the upper main menu. Then you select “Make ISO from CDRom”. There is a new window that pops up. Select your DVD drive that has the disc in it and make sure that you have connected the USB cable of the DVD drive to your PC.

Then you select your DVD drive from the drop-down menu. Now click the folder icon on the right side of the part that says “Output File” and choose the destination where you want to save the rom files and also give these files names. This doesn’t have to necessarily be the name of the game that is being ripped but that could make things somewhat easier. Then change the file format (“File Format”) to “BIN image file”. That way your game will be in a form of two files that are .bin and .cue. You need to copy both of them to your game library or the location that you are running your emulated games from.

Now make sure that there is Make CD Image selected from the radio buttons that is titled “Option”. Then just click “OK” button. Now the disc of your PS1 game gets ripped to a BIN-file and a CUE-file. You can rip multiple games and place them in some folder where you can have one game in one folder. That way you will find your games easily.

Getting Into PS1 (What Games Should You Play?)

Posted on by Viljami

There are thousands of games for Sony PlayStation 1 that have been published since the console was released in the middle of 1990s. The amount of games can be overwhelming especially if you are new to PlayStation 1. In this blog post I am going through some of the best games for PS1 in different genres from roleplaying to 2D and 3D platformer games.

Lets start with RPGs. Roleplaying games usually take longer to finish. It is improtant to know something about the game that you are about to start to play. First RPG for PS1 that comes to mind is, of course, Final Fantasy VII. While there are more RPGs, also, this must the most improtant out of all of them. It practically brought the Final Fantasy series to Europe and made it a popular game world wide. You can also check titles like Breath of Fire, Grandia, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story and Suikoden.

Maybe the favorite genre in PS1 games for me is racing. The first racing game that comes to my mind is, once again and of course, Gran Turismo. There were two Gran Turismo games released for PS1. If you are new to Gran Turismo I suggest that you start from the first game. Other good racing titles include Colin McRae Rally 1 and 2.0, Ridge Racer (at least Ridge Racer Type 4), Need for Speed series and Driver 1 and 2.

PS1 has also some great FPS games in its game library. While the graphics aren’t as impressive as with some later releases in this genre with some newer hardware. My first suggestion if you are interested in FPSes is Medal of Honor and the sequel Medal of Honor Underground. There was also a port of Doom and also Final Doom and I think these are also worth of getting into. I mention here also Alien Resurrection.

What would a list of the most significant PS1 games be without some survival horror games? If you’re into this genre you have the opportunity to check and play the games that almost started it all. I am saying almost because maybe the first survival horror game that was ever released was Sweet Home and it was originally designed for NES. Games that I have in mind right here are Resident Evil 1, 2 and 3, the first Silent Hill and Clock Tower.

Lets take a look at some fighting games that were released for PS1. Fighting Force 1 and 2 delivered some classic street fighting in a 3D environment. Games like Mortal Kombat Trilogy and many versions of Street Fighter brought you some 2D fighting while Tekken series and Battle Arena Toshinden presented some fighting content in 3D. I can also mention Bushido Blade here. If you are into stealth style of fighting you should check Tenchu and also the sequel for it.

There are also some very good 2D and 3D platformers for PS1 and I have to mention some good games in this genre also. We cannot forget Crash Bandicoot. There were a total of three games released for PS1 in this series. Spyro The Dragon is also one good game in this genre. If you like 2D platformers check the first Rayman and also Oddworld Abe’s Oddysee and the sequel to it.

Other good games that I haven’t mentioned yet in this list are: Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2, Metal Gear Solid, Tony Hawk Pro Skater series, all sport games, Spider-Man series, Wipeout, Tomb Raider series, Castlevania Symphony Of The Night and all other titles that you might find just if you look deeply into the PS1 game library.

There must and there has to be a game that I forgot. And of course this is the list of most important PS1 games in my opinion. You might have a different idea of it. If there are thousands of games there also have to be some hidden gems and you have to spend some time with PS1 to get to know these games. But anyways I hope you did find something from this blog post. I hope this gives you some sort of an idea of what games you shoudl play when you are starting to get into PS1 and its huge game library.

Double Life – Music for PlayStation

Posted on by Viljami

Double Life – Music for PlayStation is a music compilation CD featuring various artists. There is also a demo CD for PS1 included. It has demos of games: Ape Escape, Wip3out, Ridge Racer Type 4, Omega Boost, Anna Kournikova’s Smash Court Tennnis, Tomb Raider 3, Um Jammer Lammy and Crash Team Racing. So it has eight game demos.

This might not be the most meaningful find I have ever bought. Just something I got interested in while I was in the local flee market. It didn’t cost a lot. I think I got this for two euros. The CD plus PS1 demo disc have been released in 1999.

I do have a memory of seeing this compilation back in the days while visiting a record store. It might have been a super market. I really don’t remember so clearly.

The music featured on Double Life is the type of music you might hear while playing PS1. I didn’t like everyt track. Obviously I didn’t buy this thing for the music. I just thought it would be something I would like to own.

If you aren’t so familiar with PS1 demo discs like the one included in Double Life let me reminisce and also explain what they actually are. So, back in the 90s it wasn’t even possible to buy digital games. As PS1 was the most popular, maybe the best, gaming console out in the market there had to be some way for gamers to know what games were going to be released in the near future.

The promotion of new games was very much a responsibility of video game magazines. Well, there might have been some gaming websites already but my point here is that web wasn’t in the end  of the 90s what it is today. Today you can definitely download a game demo easily and watch the trailer online also.

PS1 demo discs were released to promote new and upcoming games. They had several demos of games. I remember clearly playing a demo of Resident Evil 2 before buying the game. You could test the game and play one demo for maybe 15 minutes or something. Just so much that you could make an opinion on if the game would be interesting and something that you would actually buy. There are several tens maybe even hundreds of these demo discs released.

So, just wanted to write a blog post once again. There haven’t been anything special happening in my life. I have played my video games and I have been, lately, reading a book about Resident Evil series’s history. I might write something about that book next in this blog. So, stay tuned for some more content.

Alone in the Dark Series

Posted on by Viljami

I have played lots of games during my whole lifetime. I just thought that it might be interesting for readers of this blog if I would write about Alone In The Dark game series. They might not be the best of the best in survival horror at the moment but their influence to this genre is huge. There is also a new Alone in the Dark game getting released in 2024.

The first game in this series was published in 1992. If you were playing it back when it was released I think there is a chance that you played it on a PC. Some of the first three games of Alone in the Dark were also released for PlayStation during 1990s. There are a total of seven games in the series.

What makes the influence huge was how the camera angels were adjusted. It made the game a scary one. Also the game utilises 3D graphics in a way that was never ever seen back in 1992. The most popular game that took influences of Alone in the Dark was Resident Evil and it was released in 1996 at least for PC and PS1. I obtained a book about RE some time ago and I am hoping to get to read it soon. I just have to finish the book that I am currently reading so I can begin with the book. It is called “Itchy, Tasty” and it is written by Alex Aniel.

Games in the series that were released during the 90s were of good quality in the standards of the games of that era. I think it might be a waste of your time to get back to them seriously. Well, maybe if you want to experience something old. There might be a retro feel in them.

So, is there a game in this series that would be a nice game to play even today? If we take a look on two games that were released in 2001 and 2008 we can figure an opinion for this question. Let’s face it. These two games are poor games. They don’t live up to standards and they defnitely don’t match my expectations. Out of these two the one released for PS2, Alone in the Dark – The New Nightmare, is better but it isn’t in any way a great game. It has also received a score of 66 out of 100 in Metacritic.

While these two games weren’t so good there are of course excpectations gathered towards this new Alone in the Dark game that is set to be published this year (2024). The genre of survival horror might bem rising its head again since there are rumours about new Silent Hill and also Resident Evil games getting released soon. There was already a short Silent Hill game released recently. It was only for PS5 and its name was Silent Hill – The Short Message. The game was released for free and it takes maybe three hours to complete. So, it is a short game for the fans.

One of my favorite game shops is saying that the new Alone in the Dark will be released in 19th of April. It will be released for PS5, PC and Xbox Series S/X. You can buy the PC release for example from Steam. The game has received open and cheerful welcomes and many fans are expecting this game to be good. For now we must wait for some more information. There are some trailers and early previews of the game avaialble online. You can also order it in advance if you wish to play it as soon as is possible.

 

The Certain Appeal of PlayStation 1

Posted on by Viljami

What does PlayStation 1 offer that makes you just pick up the controller and play? It was released almost 30 years ago. I still find that it has a lot to offer even compared to modern game consoles.

I can only try to describe what it felt like playing PS1 back in the day. We, gamers, were excited. Technology was new and it was advancing at a high speed. You could literally see how games became more and more realistic. It was the dawn of three dimensional game environments.

Sound quality reached also the level that was offered by the CD format. There were many electronic music artists that produced some cathchy musical vibes to these new kinds of video games. CD-ROM as a platform for video games offered game developers way more space than everyone was used to. Games became more complex and gamers started to spend more time playing. Little by little it came acceptable for grown ups to play games, also.

PC games were also developing. It became clear that computer gaming offered several strategy games and also some very good first person shooters. You really didn’t play FPS games on a console. The first FPS console game is often considered to be GoldenEye 007 that was released in 1997 for Nintendo 64. The point where FPS really conquered consoles and made them break out from only being playable with a keyboard and mouse to getting controlled with a gamepad became when Halo was released for Xbox.

The games that you preferred to play on PS1 were games like Gran Turismo, some early games of Need for Speed series, Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. These games had a combination of action, cool looking graphics and an excellent playability. This is how games of PS1 were presented and this is why they are still causing me to feel this endless joy and also nostalgia still after all these years.

Today I have a PSOne console along with my PS2. As you probably read form that earlier post I have been struggling a bit with my PS2. I currently have my PSOne in storage but I am thinking of moving it to my setup once again. It has luckily functioned very nicely since I bought it back in 2017.

I have a strong history in playing video games with PS1. It was important gaming console and it shaped my knowledge in video games and made me go deeper and deeper. It wasn’t my first gaming console. That spot is taken by Sega Mega Drive. I did play some PC games on DOS before I got to play with consoles.

It hasn’t always been clear in my life that games deserve a spot in my life. That is why I sold my PlayStation 1 back in 2000. I didn’t know if playing video games would make me progress in my life. I also sold all my games that I had. I think I had maybe 30 games back then. I do regret this. If I have to think something positive about this I can at least think that I made the buyer happy.

Today I have bought nearly all games I used to have back in to my collection. This featured image related to this blog post displays my current PS1 games collection. I have recently added games to it and it keeps getting new games to it all the time. I might have to update this image soon.

PlayStation 1 sold over 100 million copies. Its production was discontinued in 2006. You can still get your hands on a PS1 gaming console. You can get a used console for a bit below 100 euros. You can also get your hands on an emulator like ePSXe or DuckStation. For being a legit gamer you must rip these rom files that you use to play from game discs that you own. You also have to copy your BIOS from PS1 console that you own. And otherwise you are basically breaking the law. One other way to play PS1 games that I have to mention is to buy a PlayStation Classic console.

Some Problems with Retro Hardware

Posted on by Viljami

As you have probably noticed I have been lately playing lots of PlayStation 2 games. My console is fairly new. What I mean is that I have only owned it for under a year or so. It is now malfunctioning. I am having problems with audio and video being cut off in the middle of playing a game like Need for Speed Prostreet or Tenchu – Wrath of Heaven. They come back after some seconds but what it comes to playing this is very disturbing.

Well what can you expect? This device is old. PS2 was released over 20 years ago. Would you expect some similar device, like computer, to function after this long of a time? Probably not.

This isn’t the first time that I am coming across issues with old hardware. I have had Xbox, Xbox 360 and earlier I had one other PS2 that started to malfunction. It couldn’t read the disc anymore. Dust can be one issue. One issue is that these old parts just aren’t reliable anymore after all this time that has passed.

You can, of course, try to fix the console yourself. This can be tricky. Not everyone is capable of doing this on their own. You can contact your closest electronic repair shop and ask them how much would they charge for the repairment of your console. There is also one more option and it seems to be an interesting one.

I am talking about emulation. You have retro games but you aren’t able to play them since your gaming console is broken. Why not make copies of them for your own use? I think it is reasonable since the console is broken, right? And with games that are on DVD this shouldn’t be an issue. What we know is that PS1 and PS2 games can be ripped to ISO files (files that end in .iso) with proper tools (software).

There are many options available. Some years ago I came across NVIDIA Shield TV. It is a device that makes your regular television a smart device that is basically operating on Android. You can install RetroArch to it. It is this kind of a forntend that you can run retro games on. It combines several emulator together. I found this to be handy with for example PS1 games. You could even hook your PS4 controller to the Shield TV with Bluetooth. You can install RetroArch on several devices. Windows and Linux are also supported along with Raspberry Pi.

You can also use a full Linux operating system on any PC that you can also hook up to any television that has the connectivity required. That is means to transfer video and audio from your dedicated computer to your television. One popular opertating system of this kind is Lakka OS.

Lakka OS boots up to its own user interface. You only need to go through some menus with your controller. This can be any USB controller that you might have. Lakka OS supports several retro gaming platforms including NES, SNES, Mega Drive and so on. The full list can be found from your favorite search engine. I can tell you that this list is long.

What I am most interested about concerning emulation, like using Lakka OS or RetroArch, is playing games of PS1, PS2 and GameCube. I can currently play my NES, SNES, Game Boy, Mega Drive and Master System games with my Retro Trio console and with the assistance of some adapters (Master System->Mega Drive adapter and SNES->Game Boy adapter). I also have a Mega Drive Mini also for playing Mega Drive games. I also play PC games. I also play games on newer systems like Xbox Series X, PS3, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. As you can imagine my setup is huge.

I hope this blog post gave you some ideas concerning playing retro games. The hardware isn’t perfect. It does wear out with time. Software emulation might provide a more stable way for a gamer to enjoy his/her retro games for a long time.

My Take on Tenchu Wrath of Heaven

Posted on by Viljami

Tenchu Wrath of Heaven is the third game of series of Tenchu games. This game was released in 2003 for PS2. The first game of the series was released for PS1. This is also where my interest in this game series came to exist. I really enjoyed playing it. The name is officially Tenchu: Stealth Assassins.

Lets go over shortly about what kind of a game we are dealing with. I played Wrath of Heaven recently. This is not a review. I actually didn’t get too far inside this game. That is mainly because of its difficulty level. There are two characters to choose from. Both of them have ten missions that you can go through. I selected Rikimaru. The other character is Ayame. So, the first mentioned is male and other one is a female. There is also a third character but you have to unlock that feature by completing parts of the game.

This is definitely a game that depends heavily on stealth combat. The easiest way to defeat an enemy is to sneak behind its back where you can finish the enemy with one hit.If an enemy sees you before you strike you enter a combat mode and defeating of the enemy becomes much more heavier and you will probably loose a great deal of your health. In this kind of battle the enemy can take from three to five or even six hits to be defeated. You can try to block hits. Enemy is also very good at blocking your attacks. So battling is way more risky than catching your enemy off guard with a stealth attack.

Battling can be frustrating. There isn’t many ways you can better your situation during a battle. It isn’t a matter of skill. It is more about luck. You can try to block every attack of the enemy and try to hit as many times as you can but that’s about it. I think there is something in the source code of this game that makes winning battles a bit randomized. Timing your attacks doesn’t seem to matter as much and hits that are successful seem to come randomly.

Your weapon is a sword. You also have some health potions and also a grappling hook that you can move with. Sometimes while playing the levels seem like a maze. Poorly aged graphics of PS2 cause also some difficulties. It might help a bit if you have a PS2 HDMI adapter. I use my 4K TV to play also PS2 games with and a CRT TV would probably display the graphics of this game better. You will also get better graphics if you are playing this with a PS2 emulator.

This game is very difficult. I did get to mission 3 while playing with Rikimaru. I got frustrated with this particular mission. First of all the level is very difficult to move in. Controls aren’t as good with Dual Shock 2 controller. After I finally beat the level I had to face a boss. I could defeat the boss. But there is a but. There was another boss right after the first one which was way harder and of course I couldn’t defeat it. Then I died and had to start the mission three all over again. That makes me want to use a cuss word but I am however not doing that. So, I basically stopped playing.

The game might seem more to your like if you are familiar with these earlier entries in this series. I only have some experiences with the first game. For those of you readers that aren’t yet familiar with Tecnhu series I definitely recommend that you first play a bit of the first game before getting into this one. My opinion might change if I find the other character more into my linking some day. But today I might just change to another game for PS2 since I have lots of games for it.

I sometimes think that all games of this era of PS2 and its competitors aren’t always very good games to play today. Main points for this are poor graphical quality and outdated controls. Sometimes it just feels that many things are way better in today’s newer games. But also I have to tell you that sometimes you can definitely have this feeling of nostalgia. It just depends so much of the game. I have had some happy moments of nostalgia with some PS1 games. How poor are graphics and controls for those? It is nice that you can play PS1 and PS2 games on your PS2 console.

Right now I am going to continue my Sunday. I might play some other PS2 games that I have. I haven’t had time for all of them. I haven’t even tried every game that I own for this system. I have maybe 70 games now for PS2. I am definitely going to publish this post and add something about this post to Instagram and Facebook also. Did you know that I have a page on Facebook also? Well, now you know! Happy day for you the reader of this blog post!

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