3 Greatest PS1 RPGs Nobody Ever Talks About

Published Sep 12, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT Tom Wilson is a Gaming Features Writer at Screen Rant. Over the past five years, Tom has worked as the Editor-in-Chief at The Game Crater, as a Staff Writer for GamingIntel, a List Writer at TheGamer, and, of course, as a Senior Writer at ScreenRant. Tom has experience writing reviews, guides, news, and features, and has been responsible for teams of writers, training them and editing their work. Tom graduated with a Masters in Multimedia Journalism, and has since gone on to build up his portfolio of games journalism work. The original PlayStation played host to numerous phenomenal RPGs, many of which have gone on to be influential classics that defined the entire genre. It was the era of Squaresoft, the birth of the 3D JRPG as we know it today, and saw the likes of Xenogears, Final Fantasy 7, The Legend of Dragoon, Breath of Fire 3, and so many more garner critical acclaim and become fan favorites that many still recommend to this very day. However, buried beneath the likes of Final Fantasy and Xenogears were a few lesser-known RPGs, titles that didn't quite reach the same level of commercial success or get as many eyes on them. This was an era in which everything was thrown at the wall, games were being produced en masse for a fraction of the budget they get today, and so a lot could fall under the radar. With so many forgotten PlayStation RPGs, it's hard to recommend them all, but these absolutely deserve a second shot at the spotlight and your undivided attention. 3 Guardian's Crusade I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone discuss Guardian's Crusade. It certainly has its fans, of that I'm sure, but it is so infrequently talked about that one can't be faulted for assuming it's a fictional game that resides only within the realms of my mind. Blending the classic JRPGs of the time with the likes of Pokémon, Guardian's Crusade was a fairly lighthearted, colorful, and whimsical RPG that put players in the role of Knight who is accompanied by Baby, a strange pink creature that grows with you as you play. Guardian's Crusade was fairly revolutionary for the time, sporting relatively seamless transitions between the world you explored, the towns you ventured into, and the battles you partook in. It also ditched random encounters and replaced them with enemies that appeared on the overworld, something that has become increasingly common today. Finally, it also featured Living Toys, which would fight alongside you and act as your spells, akin to the aforementioned Pokémon. What likely hampered Guardian's Crusade from reaching meteoric levels of success was its more childlike aesthetic. That isn't to say that Guardian's Crusade is a game for children, as that couldn't be further from the truth. Rather, it launched in an era of mature JRPGs, with the philosophical debates held in Xenogears or the tear-jerking moments of anguish in Final Fantasy 7 being the norm. Its colorful world, lighthearted narrative, and whimsical elements simply didn't belong in the PS1's grittier era of dark JRPGs. 2 Vanguard Bandits It surprises me that Vanguard Bandits isn't a particularly popular game. Much like Guardian's Crusade, there are dogmatic devotees of Vanguard Bandits, myself included, but few discuss it as fervently as they do the aforementioned well-known PS1 titles. That's a shame, as Vanguard Bandits is not only one of the greatest PS1 games ever made, but also a game that feels as if it were made in this era, a title comparable in many ways to the likes of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Sporting multiple story routes, each with their own endings and characters, a medieval fantasy setting packed with mechs, an incredible soundtrack, phenomenal writing, and tactical turn-based RPG combat, Vanguard Bandits feels like the precursor to many of Fire Emblem's best games, Three Houses included. It was a truly revolutionary game for the time and remains a must-play today, a title with so many wonderful ideas you wonder why no one has replicated them since. 1 Threads Of Fate Threads of Fate is the kind of PlayStation 1 RPG you find an obscure YouTube video essay on and suddenly decide it's the very thing you want to build your entire personality around. It's a wonderful game, one with memorable protagonists, each of whom offers a distinct narrative that works perfectly in tandem with one another, phenomenal writing, a great score, and delightfully cozy visuals which feel like the pinnacle of the era. It's colorful, cheerful, somber when it needs to be, and, best of all, a lot of fun to play. It also happened to be released around the same time as Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy 7, The Legend of Dragoon, Vagrant Story, and Front Mission 3, all of which performed far better commercially than it. Threads of Fate was buried by the competition and, as such, never got the chance to shine. It, sadly, now joins the many unplayable PlayStation 1 games, as getting your hands on a physical copy is nearly impossible unless you have $200 to spare. One can hope that Threads of Fate is eventually added to the PlayStation Plus Classics Catalog, or even given a dedicated port to modern consoles, as it truly is a remarkable JRPG that I sincerely believe a lot more people would adore were they to give it a chance. If you can get your hands on it, or legally emulate it, then I implore you to do so, as, like the other underrated PlayStation 1 RPGs no one talks about, Threads of Fate is a one-of-a-kind hidden gem, the likes of which they truly do not make anymore. Brand Sony Original Release Date September 9, 1995 Original MSRP (USD) $299.99 HDR Support No Weight 3.2lb (1.5kg)