The 25 Most Gorgeous 2D Playstation (PS1) Games

⚠️ All gameplay recording, game curation and opinions included in each video, as well as design or editing is completely done by me
In the early 90's, 32-bit consoles, such as the Playstation or the Sega Saturn, marked the entry of 3D environments in home video games. It seems that videogame developers forgot about pixel art to focus on polygonal proposals, with vast virtual worlds, and exploring new genres impossible in a 2D representation. Most of the PSX games adopted a more novel 3D look, but it is also true that there is a select group of video games that stayed on the more traditional path.
In this video we explore the catalog of the PS1 to discover the most colorful 2D games and how pixel art also took advantage of the increased capabilities of the 32 bit
In this video you will find:
• A didactic justification that the Playstation 1 was a system very capable of displaying beautiful 2D graphics
• A description of the PSX hardware so that the viewer understands how these video games are possible to display
• Information related to each game such as release date, developer company, game genre and system it was released on.
• Official game box arts with a 3D presentation.
• Educative and/or critical comments on the importance of the video game and why you should play it
Intro and Outro Music
In the Void "Amulets" está sujeta a una licencia de Atribución 4.0 de Creative Commons. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Fuente: • 🎵 In The Void - Amulet...
Just Breathing (Instrumental) "NEFFEX" está sujeta a una licencia de Atribución 4.0 de Creative Commons. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Fuente: • Just Breathing NEFFEX ...
Castlevania IV - Simon's Theme | Epic Rock Cover "Friedrich Habetler" está sujeta a una licencia de Atribución 4.0 de Creative Commons. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Fuente: www.friedrichhabetlermusic.co...
00:00 Intro
00:16 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
00:40 Rayman
01:04 The Adventure of Little Ralph
01:28 In The Hunt
01:53 Skullmonkeys
02:17 Legend Of Mana
02:41 Gundam: Battle Assault
03:05 Gradius Gaiden
03:30 Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
03:54 Alundra
04:18 The Adventures of Lomax
04:42 Gex
05:07 DoDonPachi
05:30 Rapid Reload (Gunners Heaven)
05:55 Heart of Darkness
06:19 Strider 2
06:44 Tenchi wo Kurau II
07:08 Silhouette Mirage
07:32 Valkyrie Profile
07:56 Strikers 1945
08:21 Disney's Hercules Action Game
08:45 Panzer Bandit
09:09 Street Fighter Alpha 3
09:33 Harmful Park
09:57 Mega Man 8
10:22 Outro
Bits & Beats creates videos about the history of video games. In this channel you'll find comparisons, retrospectives, technical analysis, but, mostly, game curations with the idea of having an important task of preserving video games, and make them relevant to society at large.
Curation isn't just about digging up neat games, but it's also about preservation, interpretation, and using one's knowledge to make it relevant to people. With my videos I want older gamers to look back and remember the influence of video games on their lives, and new gamers to understand the larger context of the series they're playing for the first time today.
I put significant time and creative effort into each one of my videos, including research, digging into archives, playing video games and recording hours of footage, selecting specific clips, writing reviews for each title, and making a very careful video editing in the way to transmit both educational and entertaining values to my audience. Every video takes a lot of hours to produce, because I strive to give my audience a consistent, high-quality content.
Fidelity and preservation of the video games is essential in Bits & Beats, so the recordings are made with the highest bitrate quality. It is done this way to preserve original game look and sound through modern footage, with no superfluous additions. I recommend you watch the video at 4K and 60 frames per second to get the best possible viewing experience.
I hope you enjoy my videos and find them useful!
#BITSANDBEATS #playstation #2dgames

[@FartherCaspian]

So glad you included Oddworld, the games have such a creepy atmosphere and it looks beautiful at the same time. Never seen a game like it since.

[@8BeatsVGM]

And so hard to beat

[@agamaz5650]

Oddworld is well known

[@bombergirlvera4348]

I really adore the Legend of Mana artstyle, but Valkyrie Profile is so stunning to me it really blew everything else out of the water. Not a lot of 2D games can compare even now.

[@setyoaomiya7504]

Glad there's someone who appreciate Valkyrie Profile in the comments.

[@lunagunplax8]

Symphony of the Night and Megaman X always be my best favorite PS1 2D Games

[@mapes2572]

theyre also my favorites

[@Yes12ok]

Agree 👍

[@-corridaparaascolinas]

Agree

[@mapes2572]

@Billa how?

[@Funtasters]

Agree

[@ChrisEbz]

Dang, Hercules actually looks fantastic! The multiple layers, nicely textured pixel art in the background, smooth animation. Never played it lol!

[@setyoaomiya7504]

Awww, if you grew up with Aladdin game (that horror magic carpet last mission), you should try this one too. Surprisingly satisfying game for one that actually based from a movie. Although you gotta be fan or at least like the movie first usually to not lost the magic touch.

[@renslo689]

Had a feeling Alpha 3 would be in, that game looks amazing, Capcom need to do a 2D street fighter again.

[@keemmaanz1985]

yeah but then there was capcom vs snk aswell though

[@danielricardo5029]

When it comes to art direction, design, vision and consistency, very very few games touch Symphony of The Night. It aged as fine as Dracula's wine.

[@noop9k]

It reuses art from Rondo of Blood

[@MiguelAviles175]

Not everything tho, not even close ​@@noop9k

[@morganmcgill3169]

Rayman is so damn clean it looks like a cartoon.

[@rockmanzeromodernday941]

I know I have been gushing over how awesome The Adventures of Lomax that much, but, it's so beautiful!

[@anpancake]

Any Metal Slug game is top of the line pixel art, like pixel art doesn't get any better than what a Metal Slug game can give you. Edit: I didn't know they had Strider for the PS1! Thank you for bring this to attention

[@MidBoss666]

Then you should check In The Hunt as well, it was done by the same creators and has a nigh identical style.

[@Moncayo_02]

@@MidBoss666 the pre metal slug games like gun force

[@MidBoss666]

@@Moncayo_02 Yes, Netal Slug was very inspired by these, and they are amazing games, I only mentioned In The Hunt cause it's the same creators and used the style they'd later use in MS games ^^

[@eddymadison9655]

This type of 2D graphics need to make a comeback, 2D indie games go for the 8 - 16bits so why not 32bit

[@1995yuda]

They DID make a comback bro, there's a ton of 2D games out these days, they're incredible! I just searched for this and found 10's of new games and they are all amazing! A new TMNT 2D game is JUST releasing now and it looks and plays amazing, look it up👍

[@riversart2030]

I had an N64 first as a kid and although I absolutely loved it I remember being jealous of how sharp the 2D graphics on Playstation looked in comparison. Eventually I got one with Gex and Resident Evil as my first two games and needless to say I was not disappointed.

[@tomgibson6801]

Amazing list, x4 would be another mega man entry that i think did a wonderful job with the 2d graphics(also seeing love for 8 always makes me happy considering how underrated megaman 8 is)

[@robernolli4264]

Rockman X4 💓 amazing Megaman game 👏

[@-corridaparaascolinas]

Agree

[@ThatOldSchoolMagic]

Two games I would like to add to the list are Guilty Gear and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Most of the time PS1 Fighting games tend to not have as much animation as their arcade counterparts but these two show that it’s possible to get something to look very nice on the ps1 with some technical Wizardry.

[@setyoaomiya7504]

Dude. Thank you. GGX was one of my favorite, especially the backgrounds. And further series, the sprites got more details to appreciate more

[@Freakshow-yg4hm]

Love the list! I grew up playing these games, keep up the great work!

[@Tofuu4811]

Excellent list!!! thank you!

[@funisinfinite6171]

SotN was nuts with its pixel art. So much detail on random non boss enemies that may only appear in one room in the entire game. Every area of that castle was a work of art!

[@aliceinmansonland448]

Great list! The majority of these games play really well on lower end retro gaming handhelds like the RG300, Powkiddy Q90, and the LDK. I appreciate that you put them all into one comprehensive list!

[@ComputerOyyy]

I love my Q90 🥰

[@talbokflashteun8695]

And i love m'y PocketGo S30 and Powkiddy RGB20 ! 2D games are crazies on these little screens !

[@diegocobo8]

On a softmodded Nintendo Switch PSOne games through DuckStation runs amazingly well, highly recommended.

[@romanista9776]

I like these kind of videos. People playing and appreciating old classics.

[@NickTaylor-Phantom-Works2]

First upload i watched from this channel, and it's waaayyyy better than most. With 1000s of video game channels, this stands out. I particularly love the single bit of info about the console that changes with each game shown. Subbed!

[@ViniViVinsi]

This is the most amazing 2d psx game list i've ever seen, thanks for the vid.

[@dyscotopia]

These are beautiful games, but it's interesting how many only kept to one layer of parallax, and I didn't notice any of the strictly 2d ones doing any of the trippy scan line based effects you'd find on the most impressive Genesis titles. If I recall tho, Sony was not particularly interested in encouraging developers to make 2d games, so that might be why we saw less trickery and experimentation in the backgrounds.

[@JD-mz1rl]

Literally puts X on the thumbnail, and literally did not include a mega man X game in the video :/

[@Vespene]

Wow this video was delightful! I always look at these videos sideways, but this is the first time I've gone into one thinking "WELL THEY'LL NEVER MENTION LOMAX" and then they end up mentioning Lomax... so many of these games are still so lovely to look at, Harmful Park, Skullmonkeys and Oddysee bring back fond memories.

[@ismailmuttaqien1203]

Ahh.. the pre rendered background of the old game. Soo beautiful

[@MorbidLyre]

Fantastic video mate, thank you!

[@FliskFLask]

Love your choices and the comments in your videos! subbed ;)

[@Jasmohan]

@BitsBeats Thank you so much!!! "01:04 The Adventure of Little Ralph" I was looking for the name of this game for so long, but I was not able to find it. This game was in a bundle CD. The original CD I had stopped working and I could not run it to find out. Based on my memory I was searching for it and today, your video brought back my childhood memories of playing the game. Once again, thank you. You just made my day. 😁

[@chesterfieldthe3rd929]

I still have never seen a game as beautiful as Legend of Mana.

[@nracicot]

I have a slight preference for SaGa Frontier 2 by the same company, even if it may not be as detailed. But Legend of Mana is close!

[@chesterfieldthe3rd929]

@@nracicot great pick!

[@tralhas]

Love the random technical information.

[@xenorac]

Great selection, Adventures of Lomax is new to me and it looks great!

[@farizshadier6324]

Strider 2 and Disney Hercules is my childhood PS1 games 😁

[@soulreaver1983]

Absolutely outstanding video thanks as always dude!!!!!😎👍👍 hell yeah symphony of the night 🌙!!!!!😁👍👍👍👍

[@gameoveragain6890]

All my childhood in one video

[@michaelgalang5863]

The nostalgia upon seeing Legend of Mana again

[@QwerkyPengwen]

I think it's very important to note that the scanlines are very important to making the graphics look the way they do. A crt mask takes it the rest of the way but with the way KZbin handles compression, the finer details for that would be lost. Kudos to the uploader for at least applying a basic scanline filter to try and show the art as best as they can here

[@kirbyloq8622]

Amazing as always

[@pihermoso11]

any Gradius soundtrack is always top notch... since the 8-bit era

[@grzegorz__]

Fantastic list ! :)

[@RichDolo]

This is the era i grew up with and my fave graphic style (32 bit)- you still had to be super creative and have beautiful colors/spritework

[@Charlie-eh6xc]

What emulator and filter are you using?? Them crt lines look crisp!

[@Gregoray88]

I thought Tomba and MegaMan X4, X5, or X6 deserved some recognition.

[@-corridaparaascolinas]

truth

[@fernandonascimento6761]

Amazing. How to plays with that quality today in 4k display? What i Need?

[@JimmyChao273]

wow! thanks for video

[@noobsaibot9490]

Phenomenal video.

[@iXien]

Very nice selection 👌 I think I would have added X² from Team 17 and Herc's Adventure from Lucasarts 🤩

[@snoopysatangore]

Great recommendations, I didn't know many of them.

[@JS-uh1ly]

Harmful Park is absolutely gorgeous.

[@nracicot]

The ones I see missing are SaGa Frontier 2 (which is my favorite visually) and the Breath of Fire games, if you want to add them. Cool video!! 🙂

[@ucuyylimpax5715]

one of the best retro channel

[@joeer.m7604]

Great memories. Thank you so much. The time when videogames were just videogames....

[@guilhermegontijo7407]

So many great games in the past. So little time to play them all.

[@G4System]

Ah my masterpiece Castlevania Symphony Of The Night & Rayman 😎

[@gonzotv2214]

Ahh the underrated Valkyrie Profile, such a masterpiece game

[@CiccioImberlicchio]

Klonoa looked really good on PS1 it's colorful and they show Klonoa sprite in different closeup and poses during the cutscenes, it's very stunning. In the Hunt was probably the last game some of the Irem devs worked on before leaving the company and going to found Nazca Corporation, the artstyle is so similar that i initially thought it was developed by Nazca. To this day, i will always love Rayman 1 colorful sprites over Rayman 2 dark and depressing 3d tone, i think that's the game that made me fall in love with pixelart in the first place, it was my first PS1 game and it has a special place in my Heart

[@Absolutely_puck_fakestine]

Klonoa is in 3d.

[@Kousaburo]

In the Hunt plays like the vechile sections from Metal Slug, but sadly it 's too difficult and has none of the personality that brought Metal Slug to life.

[@Vvewa]

nice vid, makes me want to get a ps1 again to revisit. When it came out it was all about the 3d games.

[@rosstee]

Don’t forget if you have a PS3 you can play PS1 games and they’ll look better through HDMI.

[@Vvewa]

@@rosstee crts only for ps1

[@rosstee]

@@Vvewa Purist I see. You could still use a PS3 if you connect to the CRT via RGB ;)

[@chain20009]

Gunners Heaven/Rapid Reload (pal version) is so underrated. Despite no 2 players mode, this game is beautiful and fun. Great to see on this list man.

[@guibezerra]

What emulator are you using? How do you get this beautiful scanline effect that makes the game looks great?

[@blueapple1728]

Finally someone make it the list

[@synkron1246]

1:44 In the Hunt does seem cool, but gameplay wise Metal Slug's comedic sprite animation, awesome soundtracks, beautiful background artwork, lore, and crazy bosses is what made it recognized.

[@marciocintra2988]

Nice CRT filter, I like it

[@1995yuda]

X Men Mutant Academy 2 was also one of the best 2D for PS1!

[@babymaharaja7638]

I've never seen the Legend of Mana game, wow that looks incredible.

[@xonanimations8075]

Square Enix re-released it for modern consoles so you can play it

[@aliceahlers6518]

Thx for the great games 🎮 👍 That's exactly what I need to install on my v90 😘👌

[@champion2106]

Tomba, Castlevania, and Megaman 8 were definitely amongst my favorite!!!!

[@nweditor875]

Love the look of Valkrie Profile on PS1 one of the most amazing games to look at even to this day.

[@Jackfromshack]

Hello. Do you use some kind of universal crt filter? Or is it added when editing a video? Classic games look amazing with it!

[@BitsBeats]

CRT Royale + video editing

[@SweBeach2023]

Legend of Mana seem like the clear winner. Not only gorgeous but also very consistent in its style.

[@strangehominid]

SaGa Frontier 2 is an excellent looking game, the best looking ps1 game for me

[@sirfrightmare4506]

Skullmonkeys, Alundra and Silhouette Mirage are so underrated.

[@TheLordJosh]

you forgot the Metal Slug (SNK) games, the MEgaman X4; those looked awesome!

[@gabochip4703]

Incredible!!!

[@GemGames3]

I love the colours on the Rayman games.

[@crimson8051]

U have the best intro ive see so far

[@julioramos6921]

Which filter or shader do you use for this video ??? Great info

[@BitsBeats]

CRT Royale with a few tweaks. Thanks!!

[@Tiagaohidalgo]

Nice vídeo vou pegar meu Retrogame box de elite pra poder jogar esses jogos maravilhosos também.

[@thiagozaccolan3615]

Thank you very much. You helped me discover a game I played in my childhood, but I couldn't remember the name (which was In The Hunt)

[@shadowslayer1985]

you did not mention the megaman trilogy x4,5 and 6 those were nice 2d games, yet you put many that i did not know and I love 2d games a lot sadly sony does not sell many of those on the psone classics guess im gonna need to use emulators to play some of those, wonderful video definitely will be rewatching many times

[@SnackCannon]

*Grand Theft Auto 2* *Mega Man X4/X5/X6* *Community Pom* *Castlevania Chronicles* *Puzzle Star Sweep* *Policenauts* *Persona 2* *Zanac X Zanac: Zanac Neo* *Tomba!* *Suikoden II* *Guilty Gear* *Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Dragon Ball Densetsu* *Tetris Plus* *PaRappa The Rapper* *Mortal Kombat Trilogy* *Worms Armageddon* *Breath of Fire III/IV* *Wolf Fang* Just to name some personal favorites that I find underrated or simply not listed. :]

[@buildinasentry1046]

Lol I used to play that Hercules game back at this pizza place when I was little. Might have to pick it up again and relive some nostalgia

[@Hengkiindrawan]

klonoa, tales of eternia, megaman x 4&5&6, metal slug, resident evil series, dino crisis, MediEvil, Harvest Moon. mann what nice childhood :"

[@mohameddhiajebali9836]

♥️ Great List ! ♥️ Tho, the other mega man games (mega man x 4 and 5) are so beautiful. annnnnnd ofc you forgot Suikoden !

[@lucasgarciaart]

muito obrigado, eu estava atras do Tenchi wo Kurau II e não lembrava o nome. esse jogo eu joguei minha infancia toda ;)

[@Onigumo.]

Sotn is my fav by far Look at Alucars cape, hard to see games like that

[@marcusohm187]

I remember when you had a playstation game and you would put in on a cd player you would be able to play a soundtrack on some games, cd technology in games was very innovating at the time.

[@iudexe3103]

Striders looks mind-blowing

[@kudalumping]

Valkyrie Profile is really the best looking 2D game for Playstation, it's just so beautiful

[@highpineapple]

Rayman looks so good, that if an Indy developer released it today on modern consoles, no one would think twice.

[@rachberachbe7664]

😭😭😭 Rayman 1 is the goat hands down

[@Bubba__Sawyer]

Wasn't Rayman developed for the Atari Jaguar and then ported to other systems? NBA Jam: TE looked great on the Jaguar as well. The 3D games for the jaguar looked terrible. Rather than pushing 3D too early, it seems they could've competed with the SNES and Genesis and pushed the limits with 2D graphics.

[@sebastianaliandkulche]

​@@rachberachbe7664In terms of visual style i agree, but in terms of gameplay? Idk Rick.

[@Whyteeford]

The PS1 was the first great 3D system, but the 3D was pretty damn bad lol. But for 2D, this system was absolutely gorgeous! And it had the support of every developer not named Nintendo or Saga

[@Whyteeford]

And with all due respect to Megaman...but Lomax, Abes Odyssey, Castlevania, and especially Gundam are insane...like seriously, look at how EVERYTHING moves on the suits in Gundam

[@wimpieyuwono2460]

In the hunt is absolutely a banger.

[@bananasaregood8655]

Abe’s odyssey is miles ahead of its time in it’s cutaway scenes. Like to this day its great. Plus its a unique clever puzzle game

[@hartdr8074]

What retroarch shaders are you using for that perfect pixel effect and interlacing?

[@BitsBeats]

CRT Royale with a few tweaks

[@ailtonpassos9020]

Excelente.

[@4.0.4]

Legend of Mana also had an incredibly good gameplay, full of creative ideas! I would recommend it, even today.

[@nsixties4380]

Wow Gex runs smoother than margarita night at Patrick Stewart's!

[@BitsBeats]

😂

[@Gabensy]

And ..... Tombi , parasite eve , FF7 / 8 , crash bandicoot ,klonoa , rr type 4😊

[@jorvananggara9191]

u missed megaman x4, digimon 1&3, rakugaki showtime, vigilante 8, metal gear solid, silent hill, gran turismo 2, crash bandicoot 1-3, megaman legends, tekken 3, tenchu, romb raider 2, resident evil 2, Saga frontier 2, and many more

[@Manmade023]

Hercules is absolute gem of a game.

[@HoaBangLen]

Como vc fez pra esses jogos ficarem tão lindos assim? Nem parece jogos do ps1

[@darkstardarin]

Was surprised to see Gex on the list, loved the first one.