Obscure PS1 Games That Deserve Remakes

5 min read

Once in a while, I like to mention the interests that I have that go beyond fitness, and one of these interests is video games, which I’ve enjoyed since I was the age of three years old. In the spare time that I game, I sometimes find myself wishing for remakes from the olden days.

As we’ve been getting a number of remakes (Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Final Fantasy VII, Resident Evil, etc.) and as people have been clamoring for more such as Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, and Dino Crisis, I find myself looking toward obscure PlayStation 1 games that I would love to get remakes of, but, sadly, I know these games are too niche to get greenlit. Here are six of them.

Overboard!

Developer: Psygnosis
Year: 1997
Genre: Action, Adventure, Puzzle, Strategy

Also known as Shipwreckers! in North America, Overboard! was a lighthearted, pirate-themed game focused on journeying through treacherous waters and finding and picking up treasures as you sink enemy ships and towers while avoiding being sunk yourself, amidst being mindful of hazardous obstacles throughout different maps. This game was primarily single-player, but it had a versus mode where you could go against a friend. If this game was to make a comeback, I could see it working as a party game helmed by an indie developer; it’d likely allow more players, have several different modes, and also have an online feature.

Fun fact, some of you might know Psygnosis as the team that made the games: A Bug’s Life, Kingsley’s Adventure, and/or (arguably their most popular game) Wipeout.

Omega Boost

Developer: Polyphony Digital
Year: 1999
Genre: Shoot ‘Em Up

Among all the games that appear on this list of obscure PS1 games, this is the one that I actually think could have a successful remake. Where the other games are arguably too niche to be profitable, Omega Boost, as a shooter, actually has a wider base to appeal to.

This game is about flying a mech through space and alien planets, shooting down hostile mechs and spaceships as you battle to go back in time to save earth from a computer virus that, in the future, is on the brink of wiping out mankind.

On a personal note, the irony about my intrigue in this game is that I’m not a fan of sci-fi media, yet despite my disinclination for the genre, I’d love to see this game come back in some kind of reiteration but I guess Polyphony Digital is too busy enjoying the success they’ve been acquiring through Gran Turismo.

Monkey Hero

Developer: BLAM!
Year: 1999
Genre: Action-Adventure RPG

If you ever got to play this game then congratulations, you’re a real one. Like the name and art cover would suggest, this game was based on the Chinese mythology of the Monkey King and it is one challenging game where your mission is to travel the lands to restore balance to the world by collecting pages of a mystical book.

I remember struggling through this game as an eight-year-old kid, but what kept me going despite constantly dying at the beginning section of the game (when you’re instructed to go to the library) was that it appeared to be interesting. And boy was it! The controls are stiff and movement can get frustrating very quickly, but the size of the world and the creativity put into this game were stellar. This game has a lot of mixed reviews therefore it’s one of those where you’re either on board or couldn’t care less what it has to offer.

Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time

Developer: Behaviour Interactive
Year: 1999
Genre: Adventure Platformer

I don’t know what it is, and I’m sure it’s an amalgamation of several things, but back in the 90s and early 00s, games based on existing intellectual properties were actually good. Nowadays, if you have a game that ties into an existing IP, by default the game is already trash.

Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time was creative, fun, and addictive. Being based on the trope of time, you traveled to different time periods as you collected game tokens in order to get Bugs Bunny back to his own time period.

The only complaint I can have about this game is that the camera would give me motion sickness. But I suppose, that meant I couldn’t play for long hours and that’s supposed to be a good thing, right?

Herc’s Adventure

Developer: Big Ape Productions, LucasArts
Year: 1997
Genre: Action-Adventure

It’d be between this game and Monkey Hero fighting for the privilege of being my favorite among these listed games (FYI, my ultimate favorite PS1 game was FFVII). Herc’s Adventure was a quirky, fun, and silly open-world adventure that based itself on Greek mythology.

Unlike the other games on this list that are either strictly multiplayer or single-player, in this game you can play either solo or with a friend and you have three characters to select from – Hercules, Jason, and Atlanta. The goal is to rescue Persephone from Hades and it puts you on a wild adventure where you perform tasks for the gods and battle mythological creatures across sections of Greece.

Klonoa: Door to Phantomile

Developer: Paon DP, Namco
Year: 1997
Genre: Adventure Platformer

In an era of Sonic, Ninja Turtles, Martian Biker Mice, and Crash Bandicoot, I suppose having an anthropomorphic hero was a no-brainer in the 90s. I don’t know what Klonoa is but he looks like a cat to me so I’m running with it.

With all that said, this one is a bit of a cheat entry in the sense that I never got to fully play this game when it initially released like I did for the other entries. I got to experience a bit of the game but what I experienced was a type of platforming that felt very different from the other games around at that time; it was enough to hook me and perhaps my memory is off but I wouldn’t mind experiencing it again in better graphics and gameplay that adhere more to modern times.