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Sean Seanson: A Look At EVERY Psygnosis PS1 Game

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


Who ordered the overly long vanity project where I talk about 63 PlayStation games from the big UK owl company over the course of two hours....? Nobody? Oh well... I made it anyway so here ya go.

A Look At EVERY Psygnosis PS1 Game | Sean Seanson

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-Timestamps for each part of the video.

0:00 - Intro
2:40 - Format
4:17 - Wipeout
8:30 - 3D Lemmings
10:32 - Novastorm
11:46 - Discworld
13:17 - Defcon 5
14:56 - Destruction Derby
16:31 - Krazy Ivan
18:14 - Assault Rigs
19:53 - Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors
21:23 - Adidas Power Soccer
22:55 - Formula 1
24:46 - Wipeout 2097
26:45 - Lomax
28:26 - Myst
29:50 - Chronicles of The Sword
31:06 - Destruction Derby 2
33:01 - Riot
34:15 - Adidas Power Soccer International '97
35:17 - Speedster
36:25 - The City of Lost Children
37:57 - Sentient
40:16 - Lifeforce Tenka
42:19 - Discworld II
44:06 - Formula 1 '97
45:43 - Overboard!
47:27 - G-Police
49:47 - Monster Trucks
51:38 - Rosco McQueen
53:15 - Colony Wars
55:10 - Alundra
56:17 - Adidas Power Soccer 2
57:37 - Shadow Master
59:23 - Rascal
1:01:05 - Newman Haas Racing
1:02:38 - Spice World
1:04:43 - Adidas Power Soccer '98
1:06:26 - Blast Radius
1:07:29 - Roll Away
1:09:17 - Sentinel Returns
1:11:29 - O.D.T
1:13:15 - Formula 1 '98
1:14:40 - Colony Wars: Vengeance
1:16:14 - Psybadek
1:17:47 - Lemmings & Oh No! More Lemmings
1:19:31 - Eliminator
1:21:48 - Retro Force
1:23:13 - Rollcage
1:24:54 - Global Domination
1:26:58 - Pro 18 World Tour Golf
1:28:42 - Attack of the Saucerman!
1:30:10 - G-Police: Weapons of Justice
1:32:16 - Kingsley's Adventure
1:34:09 - Wip3out
1:36:47 - Formula One '99
1:38:33 - Rollcage Stage II
1:40:13 - Colony Wars: Red Sun
1:42:05 - Destruction Derby Raw
1:44:39 - Wipeout 3: Special Edition
1:48:08 - Team Buddies
1:50:06 - Formula One 2000
1:52:09 - Formula One 2001
1:53:33 - Formula One Arcade
1:55:09 - Firebugs
 

AGRacing

Gold Member
Holy crap their output was that good? What happened? They made almost nothing for PS2 and even less for PS3!
I just played WipEout Fusion for the first time in years. I always wonder if I missed something and it was my fault that I didn't like that game.

It wasn't my fault.
 

Kagey K

Banned
Literally who?
iu
The publisher Sony bought. Controlled a giant marketshare.

Edit for those who may not have gamed in the 90s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psygnosis
 
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Ozzie666

Member
The development system they developed for the PS1 is perhaps one of the most underappreciated and important pieces of software they provided Sony. This helped kicked start a mass amount of cheap development in Europe and North America. If I recall at the the time it used standard PC hardware with their software/interface. Part of the reason PS1 was so easy to develop for, compared to the mess that was Saturn. Although they may have been using the same system for Amiga and Genesis already, which was odd.

Their reputation for ST and Amiga, won them many fans in the UK. This can't be understated.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Colony War games on PS1. Fantastic games. Yeah they can get repetitive, but they played sweet, 60 fps, with good production values.

I guess they sold poorly, since the entire franchise was capped on PS1.
 

Drew1440

Member
The development system they developed for the PS1 is perhaps one of the most underappreciated and important pieces of software they provided Sony. This helped kicked start a mass amount of cheap development in Europe and North America. If I recall at the the time it used standard PC hardware with their software/interface. Part of the reason PS1 was so easy to develop for, compared to the mess that was Saturn. Although they may have been using the same system for Amiga and Genesis already, which was odd.

Their reputation for ST and Amiga, won them many fans in the UK. This can't be understated.

Was that the PSY-Q system? They did a version for the Saturn at some point.

The PS2 era was disappointing, they just became a Wipeout/F1 studio after that.
 

Kagey K

Banned
The development system they developed for the PS1 is perhaps one of the most underappreciated and important pieces of software they provided Sony. This helped kicked start a mass amount of cheap development in Europe and North America. If I recall at the the time it used standard PC hardware with their software/interface. Part of the reason PS1 was so easy to develop for, compared to the mess that was Saturn. Although they may have been using the same system for Amiga and Genesis already, which was odd.

Their reputation for ST and Amiga, won them many fans in the UK. This can't be understated.
It's fair to say that they were the biggest publisher on Earth at that time.

Very similar to Activision in 2008 or so.
 

cireza

Banned
Another excellent European developer. They made a lot of great games, and were very good at using the capabilities of the hardware.
 

Lysandros

Member
The development system they developed for the PS1 is perhaps one of the most underappreciated and important pieces of software they provided Sony. This helped kicked start a mass amount of cheap development in Europe and North America. If I recall at the the time it used standard PC hardware with their software/interface. Part of the reason PS1 was so easy to develop for, compared to the mess that was Saturn. Although they may have been using the same system for Amiga and Genesis already, which was odd.
Are we supposing that they didn't do the same for Saturn? As the to 'PS1 being so easy to develop for compared to mess that was Saturn' a former Saturn developer recently posted that by 1997 making 3D games was actually easier on Saturn (Sega after 1994 thread).
 

Ozzie666

Member
Are we supposing that they didn't do the same for Saturn? As the to 'PS1 being so easy to develop for compared to mess that was Saturn' a former Saturn developer recently posted that by 1997 making 3D games was actually easier on Saturn (Sega after 1994 thread).
Seems by then it was far too late. I know Sega themselves released better 3D libraries to help with Saturn development. But far as I know Psygnosis didn't provide Saturn third parties with any development environment in 1994 or the early years or provide Sega with the kit. Correct me if I am wrong. And are you suggesting that by 1997 Saturn 3D was easier then the PS1, or it was just easier to make 3D in 1997 versus 1994 on Saturn only.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Skipped to Team Buddies for a quick nostalgia flash. What a game.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
It would be the first publisher under Sony if its still exist

Oh No Reaction GIF by BrownSugarApp
 
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Lysandros

Member
Correct me if I am wrong. And are you suggesting that by 1997 Saturn 3D was easier then the PS1, or it was just easier to make 3D in 1997 versus 1994 on Saturn only.
Not me, the former Saturn developer.
I'm going to admit here that I was a former Saturn developer (yes I'm incredibly old). By the time 1997 or so rolled around, there were pretty good C libraries available for Saturn devs to use for 3D, and it even made using the VDP2 to integrate "fake" 3D backgrounds into your games really easy to do.
To be honest, at that time (around 1997), it was actually easier to develop 3D games for the Saturn than the Playstation, the standard 3D libraries for PS devs were a lot more low level and required more work.
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/sega...1994-then-wtf-happened.1631998/post-266394859
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Firesprite Studios is the spiritual successor to Psygnosis.

Early days of Psygnosis they called themselves:
880px-Psyclapse_logo.png


They made some of the greatest games on Commodore 64 and Amiga. An absolute legendary studio in the 80's and 90's.
Wow never knew this. Wiki says they used that name for a handful of games.
 

Ozzie666

Member
Wow never knew this. Wiki says they used that name for a handful of games.

Used it a lot for their early C64 stuff, especially in North America (Baal and Menace for example). I used to think it was their lower budget label or their distribution label for non internal developed games. It's a bit confusing actually. But neat concept. It wasn't until I got an Amiga, did I see the true Psygnosis branding and their abilities with Shadow of the Beast and maybe Blood Money?
 

bitbydeath

Member
Firesprite Studios is the spiritual successor to Psygnosis.

Early days of Psygnosis they called themselves:
880px-Psyclapse_logo.png


They made some of the greatest games on Commodore 64 and Amiga. An absolute legendary studio in the 80's and 90's.
And Sony rebought them to fix their past mistakes, they just need Evolution Studios back.
 

skit_data

Member
I remember Lomax, it was good. I bet it’s one of those games that hold up pretty well today due to it’s art style. But damn was it hard.

Edit: I remember my dad accidentaly buying it when I asked him to buy Abe’s Oddysee per my description of the main characters look. Don’t know how Abe = Lomax but yeah.
 
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Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Really good video, seeing every release listed sequentially really shows how dependent on independent contractors Psygnosis was for the overwhelming majority of its successes.

The only complaint I have really is that the PS1 era is basically only half the story, in many respects the most important and formative influences/relationships were forged in the 16-bit home computer era with Ian Hetherington making hand-shake deals with what turned out to be a whole generation of UK talent. Bizarre Creations, DMA design, Reflections, Travellers Tales, all started here pre-Playstation.

The key thing is to remember that all these guys only got their hands on Playstation dev-kits so early thanks to Ian H.

In retrospect this was huge for UK dev because prior to that most of their output had been confined to the local and European markets. Finally they had a springboard into the global gaming scene, crucially one without all the logistical difficulty and manufacturing convolution of the 16-bit cartridge console scene.
 

Mossybrew

Member
Colony Wars games were my jam back in the day. The original dual analog controller was fantastic for this kind of game.
 
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Apocryphon

Member
The Wipeout, G-Police, and Colony Wars games on PS1 were my jam. I'd take remakes or remasters of them in a heartbeat.
 

Calverz

Member
Sony ran them into the ground. Real shame. They made some of my favourite ps1 games. Including my first ps1 game, destruction derby.
 
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Shifty

Member
A long-form analysis channel I don't already know?

And with an Irish accent as well?!

Thank you OP. Good shit.
 

Fredrik

Member
The Psygnosis owl used to be a seal of visual quality on the Amiga. Iirc they had graphics artists that moved from project to project while the coding and game design could be outsiders, it’s not like all games were great to play but no matter what you always knew that a Psygnosis game would be a step up above most other games visually.
 
Holy crap their output was that good? What happened? They made almost nothing for PS2 and even less for PS3!

I know this is old because the thread was bumped, but what happened is most of those games listed were underperforming or flopped.

It's not the only studio that had seen it's high output end when the finances finally came to roost either.
 
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