Category Archives: Sony

Rapid Reload, PlayStation

Called Gunner’s Heaven in its native Japan, Rapid Reload is a run-and-gun scrolling shooter with amazing 2D graphics, massive amounts of destruction, and lots of tough boss battles. It was developed by Media.Vision and published by Sony.

Rapid Reload was first released for the PlayStation in 1995 and made an immediate impression with gamers, predominantly because of the action-packed gameplay and the sheer amount of on-screen carnage. Outside of arcades, little had been seen on this scale before – at least in terms of the amount of stuff going on on-screen. You only have to play the first level to know what you’ve got in store when you play Rapid Reload.

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Sony PlayStation Special

The Sony PlayStation was the first machine in the PlayStation series of video game consoles and it came out in Japan first, in 1994, and in 1995 everywhere else. It is widely seen as being the console that changed gaming forever; the console that marked the transition from cartridge-based console gaming to CD-ROM based games, and also the console that ushered in a new era of 3D gaming. It was also the console that made Sony a major player in the video game business.

Over its eleven-year lifespan 7,918 individual games were released for the PlayStation, accumulating just under a billion sales overall. The console itself became the first to sell over 100 million units.

This week I’m going to be featuring screenshots from a number of my favourite PlayStation games. Some you might have heard of (or even played), others you might never have seen before. One thing is for sure, though: interest in the original PlayStation is still going strong, some 27 years after its initial release. And that’s because these great games endure, and because emulation has breathed new life into the format.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what the blue PlayStation is: that is a development PlayStation – used by developers to create and test the games themselves. The photos are of my very own console, taken by myself, specifically for this blog.

Here’s a full list of what was published:

Rapid Reload
Kula World
No One Can Stop Mr. Domino!
Ganbare Goemon: Uchuu Kaizoku Akogingu
Devil Dice
Revelations: Persona
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
Pepsiman
Metal Gear Solid
Ridge Racer
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos
Strider 2
Jumping Flash!
Vib-Ribbon

Enjoy,
The King of Grabs

More: Sony PlayStation on Wikipedia

Everybody’s Golf Portable 2, PSP

Known as “Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2” in North America and Everybody’s Golf Portable 2 everywhere else, this superb golf game is arguably the stand-out sports title on the PSP.

It’s the eighth game in the Everybody’s Golf series and first came out in 2007.

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Patapon 3, PSP

Patapon 3 – the third game in the Patapon series – was developed by Pyramid and SCE Japan Studio and published by Sony in 2011.

I have to admit that I’d never played any of the Patapon games until recently, and – wow – I’m very impressed!

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Little Big Planet, PSP

Developed by SCE Cambridge Studio in conjunction with Media Molecule and published by Sony in 2009, the PSP conversion of Little Big Planet is a wonderfully-imaginative platform game based around a unique character called Sackboy.

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Ape Escape: On The Loose, PSP

This 2005 conversion of the classic PlayStation game, Ape Escape, is a colourful 3D “chase ’em up”, where you’re basically chasing monkeys with a net through time. Yes: through various cartoony periods of history! And it’s a fairly fun game…

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Jeanne d’Arc, PSP

This interesting 2006 release is based loosely on the story of Joan of Arc and her struggles against the English occupation of France during The Hundred Year War of the 15th Century.

Jeanne d’Arc is a cutesy fantasy adventure with magic and tactical combat sections (in the style of Ogre Battle and Final Fantasy Tactics), developed by Japanese video game developer Level-5.

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WipEout Pure, PSP

Published by Sony in 2005, WipEout Pure was a launch release for the PlayStation Portable in North America. Because of that it was originally lacking a few features that were included in the later European release.

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