PS1’s Hidden Gems – Investment Policy

Summary

Spyro The Dragon innovated LOD scaling for realistic environments and NASA flight controls for aerial gameplay.
Gran Turismo 2 featured realistic lighting and instant replays, setting a new standard for car racing games.
Crash Bandicoot rewrote the rules with console hacks, advanced animation techniques, and ahead-of-its-time platforming.

Approximately 25 years have passed since the initial release of the PlayStation, marking its debut alongside other systems during the fifth generation. This arrival sparked a groundbreaking transformation within gaming. With the introduction of cinematic Full Motion Videos (FMVs) and intricately detailed settings equipped with dynamic cameras, the PlayStation Experience (PSX) transported players into a third dimension, all thanks to an era of unprecedented advancements in design and programming.

These games stood out not only due to their transition to 3D, but also by pushing boundaries through clever optimization, artistic innovations, and sometimes even manipulating memory limits. They effectively redefined game design principles and, at times, even rewrote the console’s own technical rules to create technological marvels.

Spyro The Dragon (1998)

Space-Age Flight Controls And Setting The Standard For Draw Distance

Pioneered LOD (level of detail) scaling, meaning that far away objects would still be rendered at lower resolution, doing away with the need for fog
Uses NASA flight system technology to provide a smooth and satisfying control system for flight on a rigid D-Pad (before analogue sticks were available)

In a time when mist effects and strategic wall placements were employed to conceal loading issues known as pop-in and pop-out due to the PlayStation’s limited draw distance, the team behind Spyro the Dragon at Insomniac demonstrated their boundless potential by creating level-of-detail scaling. This innovative technique transforms distant objects into lower-resolution renders, thereby conserving processing power in expansive maps, a feature now commonly used across games.

The ability for Spyro to fly freely in certain levels might have been one of the team’s goals, considering the game was released prior to the common use of the analog stick. To make up for this limitation, they enlisted the help of Matt Whiting, a rocket scientist from NASA, who designed advanced flight controls that would mimic the sensation of flying on real dragon wings, providing players with an experience as smooth as soaring through space.

Gran Turismo 2 (1999)

A Photorealistic (For The Time) Racer

Innovative lighting that gives each car a metallic, reflective sheen that shimmers while moving
Able to cue up an instant replay with zero processing delay

Initially plagued by numerous bugs upon launch, Gran Turismo 2 nonetheless made a significant impact in the graphic domain and with its engaging instant replay features, paving the way for a promising future for the Gran Turismo franchise and boosting the PlayStation’s lead in terms of production value.

In simpler terms, the car models in the game appeared incredibly lifelike due to their shiny, mirror-like surface that mimicked the track and surroundings. This effect was particularly striking because it could be observed clearly through the game’s remarkable slow-motion replay function, which made it hard for players to distinguish between playing the game and watching a real race on television.

Crash Bandicoot (1996)

Rewriting The Rulebook Before It Even Hit The Printing Press

Overclocked the console by hacking the in-built system memory and real-time “data chunk” swapping
Raised the bar for 3D animation quality with in-game stretch frames, efficient animation data storage, and textureless shading
Wrote advanced theory for 3D platforming before the genre had even been established

Despite lacking a blueprint in the 3D platformer genre, Naughty Dog harbored lofty aspirations for their maiden venture into this new dimension with Crash Bandicoot. They aimed to surpass rigid animations and lengthy loading times.

To achieve the processing power required, Andy Gavin, Naughty Dog’s lead programmer, had to optimize every bit of memory available on the console. This was done by using data chunks instead of textures, focusing on lightweight shading, and minimizing text elements. As a result, Crash Bandicoot featured incredibly detailed levels and animations, stretch frames reminiscent of cartoons, and bone weighting techniques that significantly boosted the character’s appeal in the 90s and 2000s.

Metal Gear Solid (1998)

A Masterwork That Uses Every Shred Of The PSX’s Architecture

Used innovative blurring and camera effects to produce cinematic, seamless look between cutscenes and gameplay
Uses optimized code assembly to display models and textures at an unusually high level of detail and polish
Overcame the PSX’s pixel integer glitch that causes many textures in games to wobble, creating solid, stable surfaces

It’s hardly a challenge to admire Metal Gear Solid as an impressive technical feat, considering its stunning graphics and intricate mechanics. From tiny aspects like the stable environment (free from console-wide pixel rendering issues that cause wobbling) to the meticulously detailed characters and environments, Metal Gear Solid outshines its peers in every way.

The impressive cinematography found in the series is a result of various technological advancements, ranging from high-quality blurring techniques to smooth video rendering and efficient audio compression methods. Many iconic moments that seemingly broke the fourth wall, like the battle against Psycho Mantis, were made feasible due to an in-depth knowledge of the PlayStation’s architecture.

Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999)

Not One Seamless, Loading-Screen Free Worlds, But Two!

Eliminates loading times via innovative culling and data streaming
Dynamic, instant transitions between two levels (the spectral and physical realm) with the press of a button
Astounding lighting, fluid animation, and dynamic audio transition effects

Despite the PS5’s primary appeal being its nearly non-existent loading times, Crystal Dynamics astonishingly developed Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver with no loading time whatsoever from the moment the player begins or resumes their game. By skillfully designing interconnected levels and employing culling techniques, Raziel can seamlessly navigate the entire map without any scene transitions (even during portal travel).

The game maintains a dual rendering process, presenting two levels simultaneously. Moreover, Raziel has the flexibility to move between the tangible, living world and the haunting realm of wraths and spirits, effortlessly switching environments whenever he pleases. This transition also triggers a smooth change in music, with the innovative audio manager adapting to the new atmosphere by selecting an appropriate soundtrack.

Quake 2 (1997)

Giving Cutting-Edge Computer Hardware A Run For Its Money

Built from the ground up (rather than ported with lesser quality) with technology that could overcome the PSX’s limitations
Uses sophisticated algorithms and data chunk loading to compress large levels and provide high FPS

When Quake 2 debuted on PC, it revolutionized first-person shooters. Since the PlayStation lacked the advanced rendering capabilities of contemporary gaming computers, the team responsible for porting the game had to make a decision: either scale back and make concessions or painstakingly construct the now iconic ’90s sci-fi shooter anew from scratch.

Bravely, they opted for the second solution. They designed a fresh engine tailored for PlayStation, leveraging algorithms and dynamic level loading to maximize the console’s processing capabilities. This decision resulted in a seamless and visually stunning port, maintaining its frame rate without any drop, and it remains renowned as one of the finest ports ever created.

Terracon (2000)

More Like A Game From The PlayStation 2 Than The PSX

Huge open areas reminiscent of the sixth console generation (PS2) with impressive detail, all with smooth FPS and minimal fogging
Demonstrates features that were well-ahead of their time for the PSX, including highly-detailed facial animations, a day-night cycle, and impressive particle effects

Since Terracon was primarily confined to Europe and not widely distributed, it isn’t as famous among retro gaming enthusiasts as other groundbreaking games. However, this PlayStation 1 game might as well have been launched alongside the PS2 due to its extraordinary draw distance and capacity to render intricate objects in these colossal, fully-explorable landscapes.

In this game, I find myself exploring over thirty sprawling levels, seeking launch codes to dismantle the menacing Terracon, a rogue AI that’s got an itch for destruction. The Terracon was way ahead of its time, boasting cutting-edge features like its realistic day-night cycle and stunning 3D, fully expressive facial animations.

Vagrant Story (2000)

The Envy Of Even The Greatest Developers

Pioneered camera and lighting effects, including depth-of-field techniques and secondary models with hand-placed, brighter pixel work
Simulates environmental lighting through painstakingly lightened and darkened pixels similar to 2D pixel art
Uses super-compressed audio by eschewing memory-heavy sampling for memory-light waveform manipulation

In their past work, the creators of Vagrant Story were skilled in 2D and isometric art but relatively inexperienced in developing 3D characters and settings. Instead of this being a disadvantage for another team, they leveraged their expertise in rendering lighting effects and intricate pixel detail on a flat surface to breathe life into the world of Ivalice.

The environments are skillfully illuminated using color shading techniques, to the extent that the game engine can depict soft light without a separate lighting system. Additionally, character models are illuminated within scenes due to model swapping. This allows for the representation of facial expressions, lip movement, and lifelike eye tracking on models that have only half the polygon count compared to characters in other Square visual-rich games like Final Fantasy 8.

2025-03-14 18:52