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The greatest JRPG of all time?

In today's daily ephemera of new releases and dazzling technologies and breakthroughs, it's easy to forget about the Golden Age of the PSONE -- or, as we knew it at the time, the PlayStation. This is especially true of the JRPG's of the system, which today still have no parallel. While many consider the SNES as the glory days of the JRPG, to me, that has always been just a prologue to what we saw on the PlayStation. It is true that many of us cut our teeth on Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, but the explosion of the genre catalyzed by Final Fantasy VII is a whole different matter. Not only were we treated to Square's trilogy of FF VII, VIII, and IX, but we also had Xenogears, Grandia, Wild Arms, Chrono Cross, Suikoden, among others. This was when the JRPG truly matured into an art form, and while we have had great games since, the depth and variety of them has never eclipsed what we saw on the PSONE. 

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Shifting the 32-bit generation into high gear.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again-- a new video game console is only as strong as its launch titles. Such was the case of the PlayStation when it was released stateside on September 9, 1995. As Sony’s first video game system to go toe-to-toe with Nintendo and Sega, the PlayStation came out swinging with Ridge Racer. Developed by Namco and ported from their arcade machine, the game was early proof that the PlayStation was capable of providing a convincing arcade-like experience at home in a way that simply couldn’t be done on the Super NES, Sega Genesis, or any other 16-bit console. Ridge Racer sent a clear message-- the 32-bit generation was going to be awesome and the PlayStation would lead the way.

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Only YOU can prevent mediocrity.

The only thing worse than knowing about an import game you’ll never get to play is receiving the inferior sequel that you do get to play. Such is the case with The Firemen 2: Pete & Danny. Originally released in Japan in 1995 on the PlayStation, the game was recently re-released as an import download on PSN, courtesy of MonkeyPaw Games. In a nutshell, the game is more or less an overhead shoot ‘em up that focuses on fighting fires instead blowing up aliens. It’s a novel idea to be sure, but one that wasn’t executed nearly as well as it was in the previous game on the Super Famicom (aka: Super Nintendo).

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We learn a sequel was also once in the works for the cult classic.

Sony Computer Entertainment hasn’t exactly been a hotbed of RPGs from a development standpoint, but there was a time back in the late 90’s that the genre had the studio’s full attention.  The genre was a behemoth then, with titles regularly gracing the covers of video game publications and garnering respectable development and marketing budgets.  SCEI wished to put forth their offering and the result was the cult classic Legend of Dragoon.

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A PlayStation Blog post by Lorne Lanning reveals that the announced titles will be available this week.

Oddworld is the creation of Lorne Lanning, co-founder and creative director of Oddworld Inhabitants. His first two PSone titles, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Oddworld: Abe's Exodus will be available this week on PSN, according to a recent post of his on the PlayStation Blog.

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