Japanese Gamers Just Picked The 30 Best PlayStation Games Of All Time

Surprised not to see Persona 5 in there, also hope this helps convince Square Enix to bring back Xenogears.

Seems about right for the japanese market. Surprised that no Vita game made it to the list given that it was somewhat popular in Japan.

Do also like the original RE1 a tiny bit more than the original RE2 and RE3. It's usually always the original RE2 coming out on top out of the 90s trilogy, so it's nice to see the first original coming out top this time

great list. i agree with many of them, especially xenogears being near the top. that said, it's a bit wild that only 3 western developed games made the cut!

Final Fantasy X in third?
It's a pretty gripping movie, but I don't think its gameplay stacks up. (which isn't surprising since that was the same year of the Square Pictures disaster)

Not surprising given the market, still better than IGN's list though.

Thinking about it, I can't think of a single PS5 only game that I'd put in the top 30 Playstation games but from those on that list, I'd put Resident Evil 2 over the original, the 1st is iconic and still a good game but RE2 is much better in every way. FFVIII is my own personal favourite of that PS1 trilogy and I much preferred Metal Gear Solid 2 over 3. I'd also have Ridge Racer V or Type 4 over the original and for Gran Turismo, I'd be choosing GT3

Not much of a surprising list, although the lack of Persona 5 is noticeable. Then again this is a relatively short list (I get that its limited to thirty games only because its the 30th anniversary but still), I can imagine the game is somewhere within the top 31-50 atleast.

At first I didn't expect the list to be of the entire Playstation brand as opposed to the PS1. That's fine, though I wonder how lists by system would go. Perhaps They've already done that. Interesting to see how much PS1 is represented toward the top of the list. I wasn't sure how much of a retro preference the Japanese audience has. Aside from that, it's also a factor that the PS1, PS2, and PSP are more Japanese targeted, with top developers often being Japanese developers catering to Japanese tastes. A lot of the popular stuff on PS1 and PS2 either didn't land for me or I've yet to try, but they're good platforms and I found games that I like that aren't on the list, for example the Tenchu games and Katamari Damacy.

I don't think the lack or absence of PS4 or PS5 games is surprising since PS pretty much died in Japan with those generations, especially 5. I'm actually far more surprised to see TLoU up there.

Good to see Suikoden II riding high, although I'm surprised to see the first game just a few places below it.

Great article, cheers for this

Boy that's definitely a list there...

They have better taste than we do.

Also arc the lad 2 was really, really good. And that’s about all I remember about it.

@Matroska yeah I was thinking they had better taste than that. 😂 said as someone who did enjoy it

@KingMike it’s got the best battle system in the whole series babe

Seeing Xenogears in the top 3 is kind of bittersweet.. Love the game and it's the stepping stone for what ultimately lead to my favorite game of all time, Xenoblade 3, but square just don't seem to want to do much with it. I hope someone eventually decides to give it a second chance, even without Monolith Soft.

Also... I wonder if they didn't count Rise and Sunbreak as "Playstation games" because they didn't get that one until a year or so later. I can understand 1 and DOS nto being here but SB is peak monster hunter /hella popular.

No medieval
No colony wars
This list is invalid.
;⁠)

It’s a great list. I must say I’m surprised FFXI made it given the required extra hardware needed. I wasn’t aware it was such a success in Japan. Then again I do remember it ran for a long time (but so has FFXIV)

Their list largely matches my own mostly, apart from VR not featuring. The likes of Astro Bot and Resi4 in VR would be near the top of my list. Oh, and I’d have Yakuza 5 (in fact most Yakuza games). Also the original Wipeout and Tomb Raider, but I guess that’s more a western thing. Also Ridge Racer Type 4.

Xenogears surprises me. It's an amazing game but I felt it dragged on for a bit in the later part.

Wild Arms is surprising too. Amazing intro, but the game itself is very mehh to me.

Seeing Suikoden up high fills me with joy. Can't wait for the remasters. My most important game of all time, together with FF6.

Good list! Happy to see xenogears, mgs and final fantasy X specifically ranking so well, even better than dragon quest which surprised me, but agree with.
Only shocked about the last of us over ghost of Tsushima... no way on earth!

@jesse_dylan
Ours would be filled with variations of the same games over and over.

Some games on here puzzle me though
Ridge racer 1 ? really ?
It's damn near unplayable nowadays.
Type 4 is the superior game.
Same goes for Dynasty Warriors ( 2)
It's own sequels are way better.

Really says something when the majority of the list is PS1 and PS2 lol

While I agree with most of it, I think a lot of classics are still missing, and I personally think Xenogears and FF10 are ranked way too high.

@Daniel36 I never saw the appeal of Xenogears. I played through it for the first time recently, and It has probably the worst pacing I've experienced in a game.

The story itself was nothing compelling to me, it just felt like a first year philosophy student trying to be deep. The combat was at least kinda fun.

@poyo_pie
Modern gaming is *****?
Yeh.

Most of my gaming these days is retro.
Or semi retro.

@KitsuneNight with the exception of some Nintendo, i don't really play anything after the seventh gen

I'm always surprised to see people make these long lists, personally I could probably make a top 3 but beyond that I have trouble ordering 30 or more games in any consistent manner.

@poyo_pie
Thats a good generation to call it quits though.
Before all the "conveniences" of modern gaming.

No Devil May Cry 3 or Shadow of the Colossus surprises me. Not to mention Symphony of the Night!

@KitsuneNight ridge racer 1 was a big deal ps1 launch title! Very nostalgic. not for me tho. I rented it and was like ick

@poyo_pie Well, there you have it. I agree with you on both accounts, pacing and the faux philosophy thing.

You probably reached about the same part where I gave up. I loved the art, the music was sublime, and the combat was cool, but I couldn't take much more of the story.

So it surprises me how high up it is. Mayhaps it is the marriage between traditional RPG and Mecha combat that really resonates with the Japanese audience.

@Daniel36 I forced myself to finish it because I thought I was just missing something. There were several times where I wanted to give up, even going as far as taking a week off from playing.

I think the fact its also kind of a rip off of Neon Genesis Evangelion helped its popularity a lot.

@jesse_dylan I'm still surprised RR1 was not available on the PSN store (at least not in the PS3/PSP era). You'd think the Kaz Hirai meme would've pushed it further.

@KingMike FFX is often considered the "last true" Final Fantasy and is loved for Blitzball and its battle and evolution systems, both considered some of the bests in the JRPG, to the point they are often copied... If you don't know what you're talking about, just shush.

@Astropez BUT IT HAS NO WORLD MAP ETC!! Man I loved FFX dearly. It's my fave combat system, even though it differs from classic 4-9. It's odd how much X actually innovates. I suppose Sakaguchi didn't realize it would be his last.

@KingMike It would be interesting to know the thought process behind many decisions like that. I'd guess there is less thought behind them than we ever speculate.

And then we have other decisions, where we know exactly what was going on, such as Bernie Stolar (Playstation USA) refusing the localization of games that had no 3D, which prevented many I was interested in from ever being playable by me. One of my teachers had a daughter who worked "for Playstation," and I erroneously held her partially responsible.

Struggling to believe Shadow of the Colossus doesn't make the list.

The only big shock is that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night isn't on the list. Aside from that, Japan does have exceptional taste as mentioned in another comment.

Those of us in the US and Europe would probably have included one of the WipeOut games, MedEvil, Shadow of the Colossus, and a couple of fighting games like Street Fighter Alpha 3, Tekken 3 and Mortal Kombat 3 instead of Doko Demo Issho or Dynasty Warrior for example.

Dynasty Warriors is not PS2 though.
Maybe they meant 2 which is the first SHIN Sangoku Musou there.

Edit: Just looked at the release date, it's Dynasty Warriors 3.

Nice to see Shadow Hearts on the list! Also a little shocked that the Dragon Quest games aren't higher on the list.

What a great list. The western list will be COD, Fifa and Last of Us multiple times.