Look At These PS1 Games and Try Not To Bleed From Your Eyes
There is probably not a single Playstation game more infamous than Bubsy 3D. The Eidetic game is considered to not only have the worst video game visuals of all time but the entire game itself is often referred as the all around worst game in history.
Final Fantasy XV is one of the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous games of all time so it’s only right that we take a look at the franchise’s more humble beginnings. Before the Final Fantasy series gave us food so realistic that we were all tempted to lick our TV screens, it was first a heavily pixelated world where muscles looked sharp and strange. Oh how times have changed.
Final Fantasy VIII was a huge visual improvement to its predecessor but that doesn’t change the fact that those graphics are pretty offensive to the eyes. Almost everything in the game felt flat and underwhelming and movement in the game never felt fluid or natural. That’s not to say that FFVIII wasn’t one of the best games of its time. It’s just a not so pretty reminder of how far we’ve come.
So let’s be honest. When Tony Hawks Pro Skater was released in 1999, gamers were thoroughly impressed by the graphics it offered. Details as small as rust on pipes or being able to clearly see different logos and graphics on t-shirts just felt special. Nearly 18 years later, Pro Skater is yet another eye sore that makes us grateful for technological advancements.
Perhaps the worst thing about X-Men: Mutant Academy 2’s graphics is that they actually didn’t significantly improve from the first X-Men: Mutant Academy. To make matters worse, Juggernaut looked way more like Clayface than the iconic X-Men villain.
Dragon Quest VII (known by North American gamers as Dragon Warrior VII) actually wasn’t a bad gaming experience. The lengthy RPG is rather enjoyable and has a story line that made the tremendous of hours of gameplay pretty worth it. The graphics, however, were pretty disappointing. Even for PlayStation 1 standards, Dragon Quest VII was visually underwhelming.
Any game with backdrops this barren and undeveloped should at least put some pretty solid sprites in the game to try to distract our eyes from the environments—or lack thereof. Even though Xenogears was released back in 1998, it doesn’t excuse the type of visual wasteland that, quite frankly, just felt like the result of a lack of effort.
Laura Croft is sexy. She’s strong and clever. She is a butt-kicking heroine for young girls and she was one of the first fictional crushes that young boys had. In Tomb Raider Chronicles, however, she looked downright weird. Laura, along with every other character in the game, was composed of sharp edges and blocky coloring.
It was probably in everyone’s best interest that game visuals had only come so far in 1996. Most gamers probably weren’t prepared to see the kind of gore and unprecedented violence that Mortal Kombat introduced to the gaming community in HD.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night reveals a side of gaming that the youngsters will never truly understand an appreciate. During a time when 3D gaming was receiving a huge boom in popularity, Konami put out this delighting 2D scroller that would go down in gaming history books as a surprisingly successful title. The game managed to capture a large audience even with blood splatter that looked like it had been added in later via Paint.
No explanation is needed, but we’ll give one anyway. There wasn’t a single redeemable quality about this games visuals even for a 1997 release. Despite being created for Sony’s flagship gaming console, Madden NFL ’98 comes dangerously close to looking like a game intended for the Gameboy Color.
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Bubsy 3D
There is probably not a single PlayStation game more infamous than Bubsy 3D. The Eidetic game is considered to not only have the worst video game visuals of all time, but the entire game itself is also often referred as the all around worst game in history.
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy XV is one of the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous games of all time so it's only right that we take a look at the franchise's more humble beginnings. Before the Final Fantasy series gave us food so realistic that we were all tempted to lick our TV screens, it was first a heavily pixelated world where muscles looked sharp and strange. Oh how times have changed.
Blasto
When it comes down to it, the graphics and distorted polygons present in Blasto are slightly improved versions of the horrific display gamers saw in Bubsy 3D. Only this time around, the backdrop slightly resembles that of space and the game features incredibly cubically shaped women who literally have hips that could kill.
X-Men: Mutant Academy 2
Perhaps the worst thing about X-Men: Mutant Academy 2's graphics is that they actually didn't significantly improve from the first X-Men: Mutant Academy. To make matters worse, Juggernaut looked way more like Clayface than the iconic X-Men villain.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
So let's be honest. When Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was released in 1999, gamers were thoroughly impressed by the graphics it offered. Details as small as rust on pipes or being able to clearly see different logos and graphics on t-shirts just felt special. Nearly 18 years later, Pro Skater is yet another eyesore that makes us grateful for technological advancements.
Tomorrow Never Dies
Ah, yes. James Bond. 007. The smoothest secret agent there ever was. The movies keep coming and the video game series holds a solid spot in gaming history. Those graphics, however, are incredibly painful to look at. That striped ramp over there was the best version of stairs the game could offer, and those black flippers Bond has on his feet ? Well, that was the best you could expect for shoes in 1999.
SimCity 2000
The entire SimCity series is one of the most popular simulators of its kind and these days you can truly create visually impressive cities just for the sake of entertainment. SimCity 2000, which was released in 1993, allowed you to drop buildings where you wanted and manipulate the landscape but even the most dedicated player could only create a city that looked like a child's Lego paradise at best.
Resident Evil
Resident Evil is a Capcom classic that is still considered one of the most popular horror games of all time, but in 1996 the poor graphics and choppy movements were way scarier than any zombie that players encountered.
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
In 1999, gamers of all ages were somewhat frightened as they attempted to take down undead attackers in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Playing through the game in 2016 makes it seem like this game was built for laughs instead of thrills. There's just something about pixelated blood and zombies made of polygons that take the fun out of a survival horror game these days.
Chaos Break
Chaos Break was a guilty pleasure of 2000 that many gamers would probably hesitate to tell you they actually played. On the surface, it was just another Resident Evil clone of sorts but something about it was still rather enjoyable despite the fact that nearly every corner of the game was barren and unexciting - visually speaking.
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
Utilizing new technology in games doesn't guarantee the game any success. Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is a harsh reminder of that. The 2000 release failed on many levels from awful gameplay that would make even the biggest Batman fan cringe to the weird musical scores in the background that seemed like an annoying afterthought. If that weren't enough, the game came complete with graphics that could only be described as "miserable," "clunky," "awkward," and "pathetic."
Tomb Raider Chronicles
Lara Croft is sexy. She's strong and clever. She is a butt-kicking heroine for young girls and she was one of the first fictional crushes that young boys had. In Tomb Raider Chronicles, however, she looked downright weird. Lara, along with every other character in the game, was composed of sharp edges and blocky coloring.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
It was probably in everyone's best interest that game visuals had only come so far in 1996. Most gamers probably weren't prepared to see the kind of gore and unprecedented violence that Mortal Kombat introduced to the gaming community in HD.
MLB '99
Sports games today have become so detailed and intricately designed that fans are even expecting to see their favorite athletes' tattoos represented accurately within the game. In the early PlayStation days you were lucky if your MLB '99 player even looked like he had a face.
Madden NFL '98
No explanation is needed, but we'll give one anyway. There wasn't a single redeemable quality about this game's visuals even for a 1997 release. Despite being created for Sony's flagship gaming console, Madden NFL '98 comes dangerously close to looking like a game intended for the Gameboy Color.
Star Wars Masters of Teras Kasi
Yes, there was a Star Wars fighting game and it was actually pretty fun. It's simply a shame that a film franchise notable for its groundbreaking visuals had a game with lackluster graphics. They even gave Darth Vader a cape that never seemed to adhere to the laws of physics. But hey, that's Darth Vader's cape after all. It doesn't have to listen to anybody.
Metal Gear Solid
In case anyone needs a reminder of just how far video game graphics have come, remember that the very first Metal Gear Solid game was an extraordinarily impressive display at the time of its release in 1998.
Grand Theft Auto 2
The Grand Theft Auto game is another big title praised today for how beautiful the game is and for the vastness and uniqueness of the world it presents to players. That's a long way from what it was in the late 90s. Even with those unsightly graphics, however, the Grand Theft Auto series was always leading the charge as a truly innovative open world game.
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
There is a lot about Rayman 2: The Great Escape that can still be appreciated even to this day. Unfortunately, graphics aren't one of those things. The brightly colored world with varying environments were certainly an impressive backdrop for the time, but now? Not so much.
3D Shooting Tsukuru
3D Shooting Tsukuru was released in Japan in 1996 with disappointingly muddy-looking graphics and an entire world that just felt bland and rather unexciting. ASCII Entertainment title is probably just what the doctor ordered for anyone who was hoping to find a newfound appreciation for their copy of No Man's Sky. Maybe the game wasn't what you expected but at least it looked great. This game ripped players off with a poor execution of both gameplay and visual appeal.
Tobal 2
The Japan-exclusive fighting game was actually met with decent reviews but one can only wonder if the reviews would have been as positive had the game been released in the U.S. where gamers seem to be less likely to give poorly constructed polygons a pass. The game's graphics featured such distorted polygons that Hom, who is actually a robot, didn't look too different from his human competitors.
Guilty Gear
The distorted and somewhat laggy display in Guilty Gear was honestly just what fighting game players had to expect in 1998.
Twisted Metal
To be clear, Twisted Metal is an enjoyable classic with a two-player mode that was a lot of fun. That does't change the fact that the actual stages you found yourself driving through were flat, pixelated canvases that failed to do anything to enhance gameplay. With the game being released in 1999, other titles had already demonstrated that the PlayStation was capable of pushing out more impressive visuals than this.
Gran Turismo 2
Yet another title that had impressive graphics at the time, Gran Turismo 2 is hailed by many racing game consumers as one of the best of its time. It gave gamers more details on the cars and even maps that boasted a little more variety than its predecessor. Even then, however, young gamers today would be mortified to take a second look at the 2000 release.
Diablo
More proof that iconic games aren't always pretty. Of course, the Diablo series was never one that made graphics a major selling point. It was, and still is, one of the best couch co-op experiences to be had with up to four players at once and for that it will always be legendary.
Asteroids
Believe it or not, the 1998 Asteroids remake was actually praised for what was considered to be outstanding visual achievements. The PlayStation game payed homage to an arcade classic and for many people, that black backdrop with flat heavenly bodies created a game that had some of the best visuals of its time.
DOOM
DOOM came to PlayStation in 1995 and while it holds a very important place in gaming history, it also turned out to be a pretty harsh game on the eyes. The distorted characters and backdrops often made it hard for your eyes to really pick where they wanted to focus and movement, needless to say, was far from being anything special.
Tunguska: Legend of Faith
Tunguska: Legend of Faith is a game that simply looks like it couldn't have possibly been designed for PlayStation. Everything from the game's backgrounds to the bizarre polygon of a character that was supposed to be an actual human being, everything about this game was just choppy and misshapen. Even the game's movements just felt incredibly unnatural and nothing about it felt smooth or cohesive. It essentially felt like one giant laggy glitch that you couldn't manage to fix and so you just kept playing through the madness.
Hugo: Black Diamond Fever
Whether Hugo was battling frogs or trying to liberate Kikurian slaves, Hugo just never seemed to end up exploring a world that looked particularly polished or detailed. Honestly, it's a bit difficult to understand why this series actually received multiple games. It fell short in many areas but the 3D platform game certainly proved to be another example of just how rough the early days of 3D really were.
Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger
While it's easy to see that Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger was a troubling game graphically, it's harder to tell if the actual animations and character movements were on purpose or not. Movement within the game is choppy and unnatural but with the entire Power Ranger television series also featuring dramatic, choppy movements who can really say that the game isn't simply an accurate portrayal of its TV counterpart?
About the author
Taylor Danielle
Just a girl that likes gaming, anime & singing K Pop in the shower. She's worked as an entertainment journalist for roughly four years but finds rumors about video games to be way more interesting than gossip about real people. Go figure.
