• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Best Playstation 1 launch game (North America)

Best Playstation 1 launch game (North America)

  • Air Combat

    Votes: 22 3.5%

  • Battle Arena Toshinden

    Votes: 77 12.2%

  • NBA Jam TE

    Votes: 22 3.5%

  • Raiden Project

    Votes: 12 1.9%

  • Rayman

    Votes: 154 24.4%

  • Ridge Racer

    Votes: 324 51.4%

  • Other

    Votes: 19 3.0%
  • Total voters
    630

Phediuk

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,327
The Playstation launched in North America on September 9, 1995, with twelve games. Which is the best? SIx of them are options above. The "Other" option refers specifically to the six not listed, those being ESPN Extreme Games, Kileak: The DNA Imperative, Power Serve 3D Tennis, Street Fighter: The Movie, Total Eclipse Turbo, and Zero Divide

Gonna go with Rayman on this one; that really captured my imagination at the time. Very difficult though.
 
Last edited:
Anustart

Anustart

9 Million Scovilles
Avenger
Nov 12, 2017
9,058
I never played any of those, but I suspect if I had, I'd say Air Combat?
 
Lowblood

Lowblood

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,223
At the time, probably Toshinden or Ridge Racer.

In retrospect, Ridge Racer, Raiden, and Rayman all lay a solid claim.

Personally, I had Toshinden and ESPN Xtreme and got decent mileage out of both.
 
Rosol

Rosol

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,397
Ridge Race and Xtreme games were favorites, I remember the demo disk well too. And shortly after launch I think PGA 96 was one I played a lot.
 
chatsquared

chatsquared

Member
Nov 19, 2020
502
Ridge Racer, no contest.

Anustart said:
I never played any of those, but I suspect if I had, I'd say Air Combat?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Air Combat is the absolute most bare bones framework for what Ace Combat would EVENTUALLY become but it has not aged well at all. I respect it for being the blueprint of what would eventually become an incredibly consistently good franchise but... Ridge Racer and Rayman have held up considerably better.
 
BrickArts295

BrickArts295

GOTY Tracking Thread Master
Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,821
If I would have been old enough with money back then, Rayman and maybe Ridge.
 
z1ggy

z1ggy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,196
Argentina
I think Ridge racer will win the poll because back then it was the main reason to get the PSX, followed by Battle Arena Toshinden.
 
sfedai0

sfedai0

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,001
I was too poor as a young teen to buy at launch so no real opinion nor knowledge on any of these, except I remember seeing Ridge Racer and Toshinden on demo units and being wowed.

I eventually bought a used one from a classmate and the first game that absolutely blew me away was Twisted Metal. Full 3D roaming environment was ground breaking to me.
 
Bengraven

Bengraven

Powered by Friendship™
Member
Oct 26, 2017
26,934
Florida
I barely played any of these - I seriously thought the Playstation would be the next 3DO and fuck off. I also didn't like BAT in arcades.

THAT SAID, when I was proven wrong, the only one of these games I went back and played was Ridge Racer and it was super fun.
 
FinKL

FinKL

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,978
Man I think y'all are tripping RIDGE RACER? I was a kid when PSX released, but I did rent Ridge Racer. After being able to play Multi-Linked Daytona USA in the arcades, Ridge Racer just paled in comparison, it just didn't feel right racing by yourself.

Maybe I just can't get into racing games, my dad bought Wipeout and I had to force myself to play it to appease him.
 
ghibli99

ghibli99

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,897
Ridge Racer, Rayman, and Raiden Project. I was admittedly most excited to have what were (are?) pretty much arcade-perfect ports of the Raiden games, particularly 2!
 

CubicReg

Member
Dec 15, 2021
7
I'd say Rayman because compared to the other ones listed, it is still very much playable today and the game art style and design still hold up.
 
Anustart

Anustart

9 Million Scovilles
Avenger
Nov 12, 2017
9,058
chatsquared said:
Ridge Racer, no contest.


Air Combat is the absolute most bare bones framework for what Ace Combat would EVENTUALLY become but it has not aged well at all. I respect it for being the blueprint of what would eventually become an incredibly consistently good franchise but... Ridge Racer and Rayman have held up considerably better.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You're probably right then. If it were super bare bones, next up would be a theoretical Rayman from me. I like the other games in that series well enough.

Ridge Racer might be good, but I'm not huge on racing games. Perhaps I would be if I had only picked that up on launch. (Note I picked up a PS1 with FF7, whenever that came out)
 
GamerJM

GamerJM

Member
Nov 8, 2017
15,675
Rayman is a banger. Raiden's fine though the sequels are better. NBA Jam is one of the best games of its kind to this day but not really my thing.

Haven't played the others in any capacity.
 
rdbaaa

rdbaaa

Member
Oct 27, 2017
189
chatsquared said:
Air Combat is the absolute most bare bones framework for what Ace Combat would EVENTUALLY become but it has not aged well at all. I respect it for being the blueprint of what would eventually become an incredibly consistently good franchise but...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I don't see one word of this that doesn't apply to RR. they are both straight arcade ports. I'd consider them as one entry in this case!
 
Dr. Zoidberg

Dr. Zoidberg

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,267
Decapod 10
Toshinden was the one I bought, so...

Ridge Racer is good but there is not a lot of content there, IMO. I could play a fighting game over and over. I will play a racing game a few times and once I've gotten tired of seeing the track(s) on offer I'm done.
 
Cabal

Cabal

Drive-in Mutant
Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,347
United States
I didn't get a PSX quite at launch but Toshinden was the game that made me want one at launch. Oddly enough I still haven't played it, by the time I bought one Resident Evil and Tekken were out so I went with those instead.
 
CenaToon

CenaToon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,308
Ridge Racer was the game that put Playstation on the map for a lot of people that didnt even know the console existed and wasnt a joke console like the jaguar or 3do
 
OP
OP

Phediuk

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,327
SharpX68K said:
Air Combat wasn't a launch game, it came out a few months later.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Source? Mobygames says September 9, 1995:

www.mobygames.com

Air Combat Releases - MobyGames

Detailed release information for Air Combat. Including release dates, countries, product codes, publishers, developers and other credited companies.
www.mobygames.com www.mobygames.com

As does the game's Wikipedia article. If you have evidence to the contrary, you could correct a long-standing error.
 
Version 3.0

Version 3.0

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,250
Rayman, but I can tell you from personal experience, it wasn't technically a launch game, either. I had to wait until September 15th to get it on Day 1. I lived in Maryland at the time, and it definitely was not available on launch day.
 
SharpX68K

SharpX68K

Member
Nov 10, 2017
10,524
Chicagoland
Phediuk said:
Source? Mobygames says September 9, 1995:

www.mobygames.com

Air Combat Releases - MobyGames

Detailed release information for Air Combat. Including release dates, countries, product codes, publishers, developers and other credited companies.
www.mobygames.com www.mobygames.com

As does the game's Wikipedia article. If you have evidence to the contrary, you could correct a long-standing error.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I remember getting Air Combat the day it was released and that was in October. I don't know if I can find any sources but I am positive Air Combat was not a PS1 launch game in September 1995.

Edit: Gamefaqs shows October 1995 https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps/572387-air-combat/data
 
Ruu

Ruu

Member
Oct 28, 2017
931
Ridge Racer is super bare bones but it was extremely solid. I played it a TON. Definitely my favorite of the launch titles. Though it wasn't until I got Twisted Metal and Jumping Flash that I was completely sold on the PS1.
 
David Matter

David Matter

Member
Apr 16, 2024
117
at the time ridge racer was solid!!!! incredible game and that moved lots of PlayStation units at the time

RIIIIIIDGE RACEEEEER, its a classic
 

Shoeless

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,007
My launch game at the time was Battle Arena Toshinden but if I were doing it again... yeah, probably Ridge Racer.
 
ThereAreFourNaan

ThereAreFourNaan

Member
Nov 8, 2017
13,149
SharpX68K said:
I remember getting Air Combat the day it was released and that was in October. I don't know if I can find any sources but I am positive Air Combat was not a PS1 launch game in September 1995.

Edit: Gamefaqs shows October 1995 https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps/572387-air-combat/data
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I have no first hand knowledge here but I do know sometimes games had scattershot distributions back then.

People making a mistake on wiki or whatever is also very possible ofc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.