Squaresoft was hitting on all cylinders on the PS1. They just left a good relationship with Nintendo to forge a new one with Sony for their first system and things paid off. They made a lot of great one-off games including Parasite Eve and Xenogears but their most significant contribution has to be Final Fantasy 7.
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As for Enix, their output in the West was a bit more sparse as many of their titles have yet to leave for Japan. There are some Squaresoft ones lost to time as well. So, let’s dive in and take a look at both of these juggernauts’ PS1 catalogs before they join forces.
8 Blade Arts: Tasogare no Miyako R'lyeh
Tomb Raiding With Daggers
- Released: September 28, 2000
- Developer: Ea Inc.
- Platforms: PlayStation
Blade Arts: Tasogare no Miyako R'lyeh was an Enix game that was not released outside of Japan. It was a more action-oriented version of Tomb Raider starring the game’s protagonist, Rei. As Rei, players could descend into tombs, fight enemies, solve puzzles, and avoid traps.
Despite it looking like a tank control game akin to Resident Evil, the controls were quite fluid for a PS1 title. While not as mind-blowing as any of the Tomb Raider entries, Blade Arts: Tasogare no Miyako R'lyeh was a decent late-system action game and it would be great to see it finally get released outside of Japan.
7 Cyber Org
Dungeon Crawler Hulks
Cyber Org
Cyber Org was a Squaresoft game that was also not released outside of Japan which is confusing. That’s because the spoken dialogue in cutscenes is in English and there are English text prompts as well alongside Japanese kanji. So even without a proper English translation, Cyber Org is an accessible import game.
The game itself is a dungeon crawler wherein players, as the hero TJ, will make their way across a countless body of spaceships. TJ can eventually mutate into other creatures, giving players a wide range of abilities throughout this action RPG.
6 Einhander
A Forgotten Shmup Classic
Einhander
Einhander is a Squaresoft game that did indeed release in the West although it rarely gets the love it deserves among other PS1 Squaresoft games. It’s a Shmup and a challenging one at that with gameplay coming before any sort of story.
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Players begin at a city level, fighting other ships and robots as they glide along. Weapon drops from enemies can be added to the player’s ship temporarily from rocket launchers to mini-guns. It’s relatively short but the challenge level and repeat process will have players thinking it’s a lot longer.
5 Front Mission Alternative
Going From Tactics To RTS
- Released: December 18, 1997
- Developer: Square
- Platforms: PlayStation and PSN
Front Mission is a long-running mech-based tactical RPG series from Squaresoft. In most games, players move around battlefields in their customized units like in Final Fantasy Tactics. Front Mission Alternative is an RTS spinoff wherein mech units move in real time.
There’s not much in the way of resource gathering or construction, but it’s still within the RTS genre. It, like many other titles on here, has not yet left Japan but there is always hope that one day it will get an official translation.
4 Pop'n Tanks!
A Cuter Twisted Metal
- Released: July 29, 1999
- Developer: Symbio Systems
- Platforms: PlayStation
Pop'n Tanks! Is another game from the Enix side of things that hasn’t crossed overseas yet. It’s not too hard to navigate through the menus though and the gameplay mechanics are easy enough to pick up. It’s a car combat game like Twisted Metal except in a more one-on-one scenario.
Also, everything is a lot more colorful thanks to the early use of the cel-shading style on PS1. Fans of the Sgt. Frog manga and anime might enjoy the game as the creator of that series, Mine Yoshizaki, did the art for Pop'n Tanks!
3 Rakugaki Showtime
A Dodgeball Fighting Mix
- Released: July 29, 1999
- Developer: Treasure
- Platforms: PlayStation
Rakugaki Showtime is another artistic game from Enix and it has a fighting game vibe mixed with a sports game. This one never left Japan but it’s very easy to understand control-wise as are the menus. Players will gain control of a ball and must execute enemy combatants on the field with the ball or they can punch with it too.
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The game is fun alone or with friends but perhaps the best thing about Rakugaki Showtime was the aforementioned art style which looked like a children’s drawing come to life. Around the 90s, crayon-like aesthetics were becoming a thing in games like this along with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island.
2 Tobal No. 1
Fighting Plus Dungeons
- Released: August & October 1996 (Japan & North America)
- Developer: DreamFactory
- Platforms: PlayStation
Tobal No. 1 was an early fighting game for the PS1, from Squaresoft which was released in the West, and it became popular for one major reason. It included a demo for Final Fantasy 7 which had a huge amount of hype in the 90s. Two other significant things helped it gain notoriety past the demo.
One, the character models were drawn by Akira Toriyama who is best known for creating Dragon Ball Z and for doing art on games like Dragon Quest. The other interesting thing was the RPG mode which allowed players to dive into dungeons with fighters. It wasn’t the deepest dungeon crawler mechanically, but it did add to the overall package.
1 Torneko: The Last Hope
A Dragon Quest Spinoff No One Remembers
- Released: September 15, 1999
- Developer: Matrix Software, Chunsoft
- Platforms: PlayStation and GBA
Speaking of Akira Toriyama and Dragon Quest, Torneko: The Last Hope is a spinoff from that series. It’s a dungeon crawler roguelike and part of the larger Mystery Dungeon franchise. Torneko is one of the party members from Dragon Quest 4 who got to star in his own mini-series of games.
Torneko: The Last Hope, from Enix, did get released in the West but the first game, Torneko's Great Adventure on SNES, did not leave Japan. However, there is a finished fan patch in English for those who enjoy Torneko: The Last Hope and want to see where things all began.
- Brand
- Sony
- Original Release Date
- September 9, 1995
- Original MSRP (USD)
- $299, £299