Best PS1 Games

[Darkseid Is]

Can some of you guys make a list of 5 to 10 essential PS1 games? Try not to make lists of 20 or 30 games... I can't afford it!!!

I just mean the best and most essential games. I've been buying some classics (Spyro, Crash, Tony Hawk 2, Tekken 3) and games I owned as a kid that maybe aren't classics (Rugrats Search for Reptar, Spongebob Squarepants Super Sponge, Armey Men 3D, Gameday 99) I'm looking for more stuff to play.

[Derek Metaltron]

In my case I would consider essentials to be Metal Gear Solid, Tekken 3, Crash 3, Final Fantasy VII and Spyro. Sounds like you have two of those already?

[Carabas]

If I had to pick just one game, it would be the original Silent Hill, there's not even a close second for me.

Honorable mentions that haven't been mentioned yet: Syphon Filter, Deathtrap Dungeon, and Tenchu Stealth Assassins.

[Za Waldo]

Final Fantasy Tactics
Vagrant Story
Grandia
Xenogears
Chrono Cross
Valkyrie Profile
The Oddworld games

[Derek Metaltron]

If I had to pick just one game, it would be the original Silent Hill, there's not even a close second for me.

Honorable mentions that haven't been mentioned yet: Syphon Filter, Deathtrap Dungeon, and Tenchu Stealth Assassins.

Gah, I feel guilty not thinking of Tenchu or Syphon Filter, those games were awesome. Also another yes for the original Oddsworld: Abe's Odyesee.

[GozertheGozarian]

Symphony of the Night, by a large margin.

[BeastieRunner]

My favorite PSX games were Crash Bandicoot, 2Xtreme, Syphon Filter, and Need For Speed.

[rui no onna]

Not quite essential but Parasite Eve (SquareSoft) helped me pass my Biology class.

[Basara]

Don't forget about:

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
Lunar II: Eternal Blue Complete
Wild Arms
Wild Arms 2
Legend of Dragoon

Yeah, I like Japanese RPG's. Why do you ask?

[comicscollector]

By no order:

.Final Fantasy 7.
.Resident Evil 1.
.Chrash Bandicoot.
.Street Fighter Alpha 3.
.Tony Hawk 2.
.Driver 1.
.Final Fantasy 8.
.Alundra.
.Tomb Raider 1.
.Metal Gear Solid 1.

[TheCape]

Crash Bandicoot (pure 90s cheese)
Metal Gear Solid.
Tenchu.
Silent Hill.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (for a totally nostalgic point of view).

[Vic Vega]

Metal Gear Solid
Syphon Filter
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 9 (I never played FF8)
Grandia
Crash Bandicoot
Crash Team Racing
Soul Edge
Wipeout
Klonoa

Honorable Mentions:
Legacy of Kain
You Don't Know Jack
Parappa The Rappa
Tenchu

[JCAll]

...I'm not even sure where I have my PS1 games stored right now. Dammit. Some I have on my Vita not mentioned so far are Breath of Fire III&IV and Megaman X4. Megman 8, X5, X6, Legends and Legends 2, and more are also on PS1. X4 is my favorite of the PS1 era Megamans though.

Man, remember the days when a console could have a half dozen Megaman games from 3 different sub-series? I miss that..

[Master Planner]

1.Metal Gear Solid.By far the best game of PSX.Great plot(still the best of the series IMO),great gameplay and the best voice acting in PSX and probably one of the best till now.

2.FF VII.Not my favorite one(VIII has that privilage),but it put FF franchise to the map and probably the most iconic rpg of that era.

3.Crash Bandicoot trilogy.I can't separate them.It's a full enjoyment playing the first 3 Crash games.My favorite platform games.

4.Tekken 3.The best overall game of the series and one of the greatest fighting games of all times.

5.Legacy of Kain.The fact that our anti-hero turns into a tyrant it's one of the elements that makes LOK one of PSX classics.

6.Resident Evil 2.The best of horror game of PSX.4 scenarios to play and enough stuff to keep you interested.

7.Silent Hill.I always loved RE's monsters,but i feel that Silent Hill atmosphere and creepy feeling makes it a slightly superior game in comparison to CAPCOM's franchise.

8.WWF Smackdown 2.The best wrestling game of it's time and the best roster.

[TotalSnorefest]

It obviously depends on your personal tastes, but a few obvious classics that haven't been mentioned yet and are all really cheap:

Gran Turismo - this was a mammoth release back in its time, really elevated simulation racing and made it more broadly accessible than just the usual Formula 1 titles did.
Ape Escape - pretty fun game that Sony pushed to show off the DualShock controllers once those were released.
Rayman 2 - it's not the best version of the game (Dreamcast probably has that distinction, and they cut some of the N64 content to cram voice dialogues into the PS1 version), but still good.
Spider-Man / Spider-Man: Enter Electro - if you like the character, these are really fun games. Enter Electro is the better title by quite a mile, way more to do, longer story mode, way more funny cheat codes. Stan Lee reads out all the enemy biographies in this, and if you write swearwords in the cheatcode screen Spidey censors them to innocuous words instead.
Colony Wars - I can't imagine this holds up at all, but it was a game where you piloted a spaceship in first-person view and tried to shoot down other spaceships. I feel like a lot of people thought this was really cool back in the day though.