Games Like Castlevania Chronicles

The first game to require the DualShock analog sticks — Ape Escape's 204-monkey catching adventure across 26 stages used every feature of Sony's then-new controller in creative ways.

Naughty Dog's refinement of the Crash Bandicoot formula — adding the slide, body slam, and super-powered spin makes Crash more capable, and 27 stages with expanded variety mark it as the series' most balanced entry.

The commercial peak of the Crash Bandicoot series — Warped's time-travel premise introduces motorbikes, planes, sea-doos, and baby T-rex riding across 30 time-period stages, making it the most varied entry in the trilogy.

Naughty Dog's technically dazzling PlayStation launch platformer introduced the world to the wacky orange marsupial and demonstrated that 3D platforming could be precise, challenging, and visually spectacular. The game that made Sony's console a genuine rival to Nintendo.

Crystal Dynamics' 1998 PS1 3D platformer — Gex: Enter the Gecko follows the wisecracking gecko into the Media Dimension to defeat Rez across themed television worlds. Gecko wall-crawling and tail whip combat in a pop-culture-reference-heavy adventure that was one of PS1's notable 3D platformers alongside Spyro and Crash.

Capcom's 1997 PS1 Mega Man entry — Mega Man 8 features anime-quality cutscenes, eight Robot Masters including the fan-favorites Tengu Man and Frost Man, the Rush Super Adapter's return, and one of the franchise's most distinct visual presentations. Polarizing due to cutscene quality but admired for stage design and Mega Man legacy.

The best-received Mega Man X game after the original, X4 is the series' PS1 debut and the first to offer Zero as a fully playable alternative protagonist. With two complete campaigns, anime cutscenes, and the finest level design in the PS1-era X series, Mega Man X4 is the entry point most Mega Man fans recommend.

Capcom's 2000 PS1 action-platformer and the intended conclusion of the Mega Man X series — Mega Man X5 adds a time-limit mechanic threatening destruction of Earth, introduces dual selectable protagonists (X and Zero with substantially different combat systems), and features Axl Rose-inspired boss names in Western localization, making it Keiji Inafune's intended X series finale.

Capcom's 2001 PS1 action-platformer developed rapidly after Mega Man X5 — Mega Man X6 continues with Zero's apparent death, introduces Nightmare enemies that make stages harder dynamically, adds the Zero-like playable Gate and Nightmare bosses, and represents the final Mega Man X game developed entirely for 32-bit hardware.

Oddworld Inhabitants' 1998 PS1 sequel to Abe's Oddysee — Abe's Exoddus expands the Mudokon rescue formula with more GameSpeak commands, possession of new creature types, a "quick save" system replacing the limited lives of the original, and 300 Mudokons to rescue across more stages than the first game.

Abe is a Mudokon slave working at RuptureFarms who discovers that his kind are the next product on the menu. His attempt to escape and liberate his enslaved people turns a dark industrial satire into one of the most original platformers of the PS1 era — with GameSpeak letting Abe possess enemies and command fellow Mudokons.

Insomniac's refinement of Spyro the Dragon — 30 levels with unique characters, expanded abilities (swimming, headbash, climbing), NPCs with voiced quests, and greater world variety than the original.