You may’t make a primary impression twice.
A online game intro units the tone for what’s to come back. This stays true to today, however within the occasions of FMV intros it was much more vital. Within the grandiose period of the PS1, an intro was as thrilling to see as the sport was to play. It was a present, a cinematic deal with to whet the urge for food for the journey we had been about to embark on. A lot nostalgia is wrapped up in these intros; they’re echoes of recollections from our childhoods. However, occasions have modified and recreation intros have advanced with them, however the FMV’s have remained in our recollections.
Listed below are 10 of the best PS1 intros.
Remaining Fantasy VIII
Sandwiched between two beloved installments, Remaining Fantasy VIII is the PS1’s divisive Remaining Fantasy. To some it’s an underrated masterpiece unfairly maligned due to its proximity to its extra standard brethren. To others, it’s the unlucky center little one, the awkward one which doesn’t quantity to the identical degree of success. It’s an argument that has raged for years and can proceed to take action. If there may be one space the place VIII can stand head and shoulders above the others, it’s its sensible intro.
Starting with the tide and backed by the sound of Nobuo Uematsu’s haunting Liberi Fatali, the sequence is a masterpiece. There are glimpses of scenes from the sport, however extra importantly, there’s a battle between Squall and his rival Seifer. It’s an intense battle, interspersed with pictures of Rinoa and the sorceress Edea. In the midst of the battle Squall receives his trademark scar, a results of Seifer slashing him with a gunblade. The music, the battle and the leading edge graphics set the groundwork for the epic story to come back. No matter whether or not the sport lives as much as the hype, there is no such thing as a higher Remaining Fantasy intro than this.
Chrono Cross
It’s a robust gig to be the sequel to some of the beloved video games ever made. To today some would argue that Chrono Set off is the best RPG in historical past. Will anyone make the identical argument for Chrono Cross? In all probability not, however that doesn’t imply the sport is with out its personal deserves.
The FMV intro encapsulates most of what’s nice concerning the second Chrono recreation. The fantastic music “Time’s Scar” is our introduction to the sport’s strongest part — its sensible soundtrack. Starting with a shot of a guide, it’s a gradual begin, nevertheless it builds to a cacophony of brilliance. We transition from the guide to varied pictures of scenes to come back within the recreation. Each blends extremely effectively with “Time’s Scar” because the monitor turns into more and more frantic and epic. Honestly, the intro wouldn’t work with out the music, however that’s true of the sport additionally. Yasunori Mitsuda has performed nice work within the business, however “Time’s Scar” is his opus. It gave Chrono Cross an iconic opening that stands the take a look at of time.
Dragon Ball GT Remaining Bout
As soon as upon a time this was probably the most accessible Dragon Ball recreation within the west. Fortunately these darkish days are lengthy gone and this dreadful factor has been consigned to the scrap heap of historical past. However to be honest, it wasn’t all horrible. I promise, this isn’t misty eyed nostalgia. The sport is fairly poor, nevertheless it had a badass intro that provided westerners a glimpse of Dragon Ball’s future.
Cell, Buu, grownup Gohan and Goku’s candy new outfit. This epic intro had so many thoughts blowing moments for western Dragon Ball followers. It was an perception into issues to come back, and a portent of the poor high quality of Dragon Ball GT. It even had a rocking music from Hironobu Kageyama, the identical man who sang DBZ’s “Cha-La-Head-Cha-La.” It’s an actual disgrace that this nice intro is caught in such a lame recreation.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
This spot might simply go to Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. A brilliantly gothic intro in its personal proper; it depicts the homicide and resurrection of the eponymous Kain. Now a vampire, Kain swears vengeance on his killers. It’s a nice intro, however by some means the follow-up is even higher. The FMV was a factor of magnificence in 1999 and even now it nonetheless appears fairly rattling good. It’s astounding that it was produced on PS1 {hardware}.
Soul Reaver’s FMV confirms the darkish ending of Blood Omen is canon. Having succeeded in his quest for vengeance, Kain selected to deprave the pillars of Nosgoth. Now he guidelines the land as a vampire overlord. Within the years since, Kain has advanced right into a extra demonic type and sired a brood of vampire followers. Amongst them is Raziel, the protagonist of Soul Reaver and Kain’s favourite servant. As Kain evolves, his servants observe go well with till in the future Raziel evolves earlier than his grasp. A livid Kain activates Raziel for rising wings, one thing he himself had but to attain. The vampire chief casts Raziel into an acidic void, which burns away his flesh and leaves him a vengeful revenant.
Voice appearing was all the time a powerful level of the sequence and this intro isn’t any exception. Raziel himself is our narrator and tells the story of his betrayal as we watch the horror unfold. This brief intro achieves a lot in only a few minutes. It concurrently introduces a brand new protagonist while casting the previous hero because the dastardly villain. It supplies Raziel with a compelling arc and turns us towards Kain in a single fell swoop. It’s one hell of an achievement.
If in case you have by no means performed Soul Reaver, verify the intro out. Even if in case you have no real interest in the sport itself, the FMV is price watching. It’s that good.
Tekken 2
Is Tekken 2 the very best PS1 entry within the sequence? No, its instant successor holds that honor. However does Tekken 2 have the very best opening sequence? Hell sure it does!
There are many cool issues to see on this intro. Lei Wulong’s badass debut, Nina Williams’ pointless hotness, and King stumbling into some bins. Ah the recollections! Critically although, the largest factor of all bookends, the intro – Heihachi Mishima’s comeback. Heihachi’s climb ought to herald the return of Tekken’s large dangerous, as a substitute, it’s Satan Kazuya who should be defeated.
In his ending within the authentic, Kazuya Mishima flung his defeated father from the highest of a mountain. The sequel’s FMV picks up straight from this second and reveals Heihachi climbing again up the mountainside and vowing revenge. It’s onerous to really feel sympathy for Heihachi, he positively obtained what was coming to him. That’s the catch although. Someway, Heihachi is the great man in Tekken 2. I imply, he’s nonetheless tremendous evil. But it surely seems our erstwhile hero is much more of a miscreant than his spiky haired daddy. Satan was a secret character within the authentic recreation, a purple demonic palette swap for Kazuya. This secret units the stage for the plot of the sequel.
We solely glimpse Kazuya briefly, however what a glimpse it’s. The martial arts outfit from the unique is gone. As a substitute is an iconic Kazuya match – the purple go well with. Purple eyes full the brand new look and tells us that one thing is unsuitable with the King of the Iron Fist. However that’s not all; regardless of the demonic possession, an angel lurks behind Kazuya. A battle for his soul awaits. So, is there hope for Kazuya? In a phrase, no. He’s going to die, return to life and, if something, get even worse. But it surely makes for a compelling picture and with it one hell of an intro.
Resident Evil
Oh you already know this one needed to make it.
This reside motion monstrosity very a lot falls into the realm of “so dangerous it’s good.” We see the STARS crew, together with Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, method the Spencer mansion. However earlier than they’ll enter they’re attacked by monsters! Chaos, loss of life and dangerous appearing ensue because the crew run towards the obvious security of the mansion. Solely three members make it to the constructing: Chris, Jill and the in no way suspicious Albert Wesker. From there we take management of both Chris or Jill and the survival horror begins.
It’s a difficult proposition to have fun ‘dangerous’ issues, however in a approach it sums up what RE is about. It’s goofy, it’s humorous and sure, to an extent, it’s fairly dangerous. However that inherent goofiness is a part of the appeal. Tacky cutscenes are a staple of the sequence, significantly given the campy villains that we might encounter via the years. Ramon Salazar, the Code Veronica twins, even Wesker himself, RE is stuffed with cornballs and has been from day one.
Sure, this opening is affordable and stuffed with dangerous appearing, however is it actually so completely different from what comes later? It’s the excellent illustration of what RE grew to become; a horror story that is aware of to not take itself too significantly.
Damaged Sword: Shadow of the Templar’s
A member of the PC grasp race within the ’90s could have already been acquainted with this journey gem. For the remainder of us although, it was the PS1 port that first launched George Stobbart. An animated intro, narrated by George himself, welcomes us to a small cafe on the streets of Paris. George’s peaceable Parisian retreat is interrupted by a sinister wanting clown who quickly blows the cafe to smithereens!
Fortunately George survives and units about attending to the underside of the clownish thriller. We’ll transfer removed from the streets of Paris as George is drawn into an insidious plot spanning the globe. Nevertheless, every part we see has its root within the intro. The clown’s bomb, his scheme and his mission, will ship George on his globetrotting mission. Damaged Sword is a humorous romp of an journey and this oddball intro is the proper starting. There will likely be intrigue, hazard and rather more homicide, however the enjoyable won’t ever cease.
Soul Blade/Edge
Now we flip to Namco’s different nice fighter. The primary recreation within the sequence, this maiden enterprise doesn’t shine as vibrant as its successors. It’s on no account a nasty recreation however it’s a little tough across the edges. However what does shine is that absolute banger of an intro. Fittingly, the very first thing we hear is the voice of a narrator, an absolute staple of the sequence.
“Transcending historical past and the world, a story of souls and swords, eternally retold.”
That’s the line he utters, after which the actual motion begins. Soul Blade’s medieval setting actually helped the sport stand out among the many jam packed fighter crowd. When the intro kicks in we see that it is a recreation that’s distinct from its Namco stablemate Tekken. Overlook concerning the cyborgs, bears and devils, there is no such thing as a room for them right here. As a substitute we now have a world of samurai, knights and pirates. Cervantes’ burning cranium on the climax is the intro’s iconic picture, however there are lots to select from. Every character is given a second to face out and they’re splendidly distinct.
“The Fringe of Soul” by Suzi Kim is arguably probably the most iconic online game music of all. That’s a daring declare, however my god does it get the blood pumping. The music is endlessly linked to our first introduction to Soul Blade’s implausible solid. Voldo, Mitsuragi, Siegfried and Sophitia amongst others. Most of us met these characters on this intro and Suzi’s monitor thrust them into our hearts and minds endlessly.
Pandemonium
Does anyone bear in mind Pandemonium? I definitely do and that is the explanation why. Launched in ’96, this FMV was brief, nevertheless it confirmed precisely what the PS1 was able to. The totally voiced cutscene introduces Fargus and Nikki, a jester and sorceress respectively. The troublesome twosome are goofing off with a spellbook when Nikki unintentionally summons a monster that swallows their city entire.
It’s a disarmingly humorous scene for a recreation that revels in goofiness. Honestly, what follows is a reasonably mundane platformer, however the intro makes Pandemonium extra memorable than it could in any other case be. Pandemonium is misplaced to time, however this cutscene shouldn’t be. The craft of the scene, the voice work and the graphics had been issues that had been inconceivable in a previous era.
Steel Gear Stable
The Steel Gear Stable intro is a curious factor to look again on — it actually shouldn’t work. A direct sequel to 2 video games that most individuals had not performed, the intro is nearly all exposition. Stable Snake, clad in scuba gear, is headed for Shadow Moses as Colonel Campbell offers the lowdown on his mission. Inside seconds Campbell references Massive Boss, Snake’s nemesis within the earlier two video games. This was a personality that the majority of us didn’t know. It was a narrative most of us had not seen. But it surely didn’t matter as a result of consideration quickly shifts to the present iteration of FOXHOUND. That is the group led by Liquid Snake and it’s what instructions the participant’s consideration.
Along with Steel Gear 1 and 2, Hideo Kojima had made two graphic journey video games. With Snatcher and Policenauts he honed a cinematic model that he dropped at his signature sequence in Steel Gear Stable. The intro is riddled with exposition and is missing motion however by some means it’s extremely watchable. That’s Kojima’s reward, to make mundane expository scenes riveting. Subsequent MGS intros upped the thrill issue, however this was Kojima at his middle-point. His first try to mix graphic journey with tactical motion resulted in magnificent simplicity: Snake, Campbell and a submarine. The remaining was wonderful historical past.
What are your favourite PS1 intros? Tell us under or on the discussion board!
