This week marks the 15th anniversary of the Playstation. The first console from Sony, the original Playstation was released in America on September 9, 1995. Competing against the Sega Saturn and later, the Nintendo 64, the PS1 was an immense success, eventually selling over 100 million units through its lifetime. Followed by the even more successful Playstation 2, various iterations of handhelds Playstation Portables, and the Blu-ray equipped Playstation 3 in the modern console generation.
As we like to do for Co-Op Classics, we thought a look back at some of the co-op games that were available on the original Playstation would be in order. Unfortunately, we don't have very many games for the PS1 in our database; not content to let the slim pickings get in the way of celebrating the Playstation's anniversary, I asked other staff members for their input, since I myself didn't own a Playstation until late in the lifespan of the PS2. For most of my colleagues, PC gaming was order of the day during the mid to late 90s, but a few titles did come to mind.
When most people think of Diablo, the PC version pops into mind first. But there was a port of Blizzard's genre defining action/rpg hybrid for the Playstation. Released in 1998, a year after the PC version, Diablo for PS1 was a generally well done version, though it was lacking graphically when compared to its PC elder. Two players could co-op their way through Tristram and the hellish dungeons below.
As you'd expect, Driver 2 is a sequel to one of the earliest examples of open world, "sandbox" style games. One feature absent from the first Driver was any form of co-op; Driver 2 fixed this by adding a split screen two player mode. Untethered to one another, both players could roam around at will to complete missions or just explore the city.
Fighting Force was another co-op title for the Playstation that comes to mind. The 2D beat em up was incredibly popular throughout the early to mid 90s, and with the advent of the Playstation and Nintendo 64 and their 3D capabilities, it was only natural that the brawler would make the leap to 3D. Fighting Force was one of the most successful of these early 3D brawlers, spawning a sequel, Fighting Force 2.
The first of the Star Wars prequels came in 1999, and Jedi Power Battles came soon after. Players took on the role of prequel era Jedi Knights and fought their way through missions loosely based on The Phantom Menace. Says Jim of his love for the game: "My favorite was Jedi Power Battles. Still have it, still love it." Not bad for a game that came out 10 years ago.
The Playstation was a rousing success, elevating Sony to the status of a major player in the video game industry. Sony has maintained that strong position through two more hardware generations, as you can tell from the long list of PS2 and PS3 co-op games in our database. We're sure there are more co-op PS1 gems out there, so now we ask you, readers, for your input. What are some of the great co-op classics you remember from the Playstation era?