23 PSone games to mark PlayStation's 23rd anniversary

Happy birthday to one of the greatest consoles of all time.

14. WipEout

The game that earned PlayStation its reputation as a console for the sort of people who went to nightclubs, WipEout was a futuristic racer where you 'piloted' racing craft around low-gravity racing environments slung across sci-fi cityscapes while proper techno music played in the background. One of those games that sold an image while also being good.

15. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Developed by Crystal Dynamics, who are better known these days as custodians of the Tomb Raider franchise, Soul Reaver was the second installment in the Legacy of Kain series and its dark, gothic atmosphere and great visuals made this one of the archetypal third-person hack-and-slash games of an era where they proved very popular.

16. Tekken 2

The original Tekken was a fantastic fighter, more than justifying its existence in a world that already played host to Toshinden and Virtua Fighter, but the second one is the game that barely left our disc trays for months on end. It had a huge roster of characters, refined the great gameplay of the first title, and introduced practice mode, which became a genre staple.

17. Grandia

A notably great Japanese RPG during a period that felt like their heyday, Grandia saw protagonist Justin inherit a magic stone that took him on adventures all around the world, brought to life as 3D maps with 2D bitmap sprites. As well as a distinctive appearance, Grandia's battle system gave players more strategic options than most turn-based efforts at the time and inspired other similar approaches.

18. Syphon Filter

One of those franchises that fans regularly ask Sony to resurrect, Syphon Filter was a third-person shooter that also included stealth and puzzle-solving elements. The inspiration from games like GoldenEye and Metal Gear Solid was obvious, but Syphon Filter still felt like its own thing, and picked up plenty of fans.

Editor-at-Large

Tom is probably best known for the 15 years - FIFTEEN YEARS! - he spent at Eurogamer, one of Europe's biggest independent gaming sites. Now he roams the earth, but will always have a home here at AllGamers. You can try and raise him from his deep, abyssal slumber through tom.bramwell@allgamers.com or he's also on Twitter.

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