15 Games That MUST Be On The PlayStation Classic
Spice World isn't one of them.
When the Sega Dreamcast launched in 1999, Sony wisely rested on the laurels of their ageing PlayStation. Over the course of five years, the company's first bit of kit had dramatically reshaped the console landscape; as Nintendo had ahead of the Mega Drive's launch in 1989, the market leaders took a backseat as they observed their competitor's next move.
The response came swiftly and brutally, as the PS2 shattered Sega's dreams, forcing them out of the hardware market for good.
Staying slightly behind the curve paid immense dividends for the PS1 back then, and it is once more. Having watched Nintendo invigorate the nostalgia hardware market over the past few years, Sony have finally played their own hand, unveiling a true PlayStation Portable lined up just in time for Christmas.
Five games have already been announced - Final Fantasy VII, Tekken 3, Ridge Racer IV, Wild Arms and Jumping Flash. It's a line-up that suggests the company aren't at total liberty over its library - and that many top titles will be forcibly omitted. Were that not the case, these are the fifteen that absolutely must make the cut. Narrowing a back catalogue of just under 8000 games to three-hands' worth isn't easy, so fair warning - many of you will be disappointed.
15. Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver
The pompously portentous dialogue of Crystal Dynamics' 1999 goth-em up might not seem quite as cool as it did when you were 12, but the game absolutely does. A dark tale of vampiric redemption, Soul Reaver sucks the blood of Ocarina of Time and cloaks it with a shroud of bleakness, delivering an engrossing action-adventure with few equivalents on its home console.
The second game in the Legacy of Kain series marked something of a major departure from its RPG predecessor. The protagonist's role was reversed - Kain, now a soothsaying villain, was the other side of the coin to deposed wraith Raziel, a man whose lack of lower jaw didn't prevent him from spewing riddles. The most significant departure was the action: gone was the plodding top-down dredge, and in its place a dynamic combat system layered atop a versatile world dripping in atmosphere.
Other than a Dreamcast burnish, Soul Reaver is one of the few significant PlayStation games that hasn't been resold to death in the intervening years. For fans of the series, inclusion is not just wanted, but necessary if the franchise is to ever make a vampire-like comeback.