The Best Video Game Franchises That Started on PS1

The Sony PlayStation was an unexpected entrant into the ongoing console wars as the 4th generation quickly gave way to the 5th. But as luck would have it, Sony's decision to utilize the CD-ROM format, coupled with an aggressive push to appeal to third-party developers, would end up making Sony the undisputed king of the 5th generation against its two primary competitors: the Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn. A large part of the PS1's success rests on the successful franchises that came to define the console, many of which had their first entries on the PS1 as launch titles (or at least launch window titles) before eventually going on to become flagship series under the PlayStation brand on future consoles.

• Developer — Namco
• Publisher — Namco
• Genre — Driving/Racing
• Debut Game — Ridge Racer, released December 3, 1994
• Most Recent Game — Ridge Racer Unbounded, released March 27, 2012

One of the PS1's "must-have" launch titles, both for its Japanese debut and its North American one, was Namco's Ridge Racer. A major hit in the arcades at the time of its release, Ridge Racer's seamless transition into players' living rooms made the PlayStation feel like a true "next generation" console that could potentially be capable of just about anything. The Ridge Racer franchise also kind of died out after the PS1 era, with none of the subsequent entries on the PS2 and PS3 (as well as some handheld and mobile entries) capable of capturing the thrill of the first 4 games in the series that called the original PlayStation home.

• Developer — SingleTrac
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Vehicular Combat
• Debut Game — Twisted Metal, released November 5, 1995
• Most Recent Game — Twisted Metal, released February 14, 2012

Many of the franchises that made their debut on the PS1 were responsible for not just establishing a future series spanning multiple generations of consoles, but also for creating their own genre. Twisted Metal is one such game, which almost single-handedly created the vehicular combat genre and went on to become a series synonymous with the PlayStation brand. Other car combat games came and went in Twisted Metal's wake, but none of them (except for maybe Vigilante 8) could match the atmosphere, varied rosters, and satisfying arcade-style driving and shooting of SingleTrac's Twisted Metal and Twisted Metal 2.

• Developer — Psygnosis
• Publisher — Psygnosis, Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Driving/Racing
• Debut Game — Wipeout, released September 29, 1995
• Most Recent Game — Wipeout Merge, released January 18, 2022

One of the most impressive launch titles for the PlayStation's North American debut was none other than Psygnosis' Wipeout. Psygnosis would actually release two excellent launch games for the PS1 in 1995, with the other being the great Destruction Derby, but it would only be Wipeout that would come to get its own franchise spanning multiple iterations of PlayStation hardware. After three games on the PS1, the Wipeout series would continue on the PS2, PS3, and PS4, but it's the original trilogy of titles that most fans familiar with the Wipeout franchise most fondly remember.

• Developer — Japan Studio
• Publisher — Sony Interactive Entertainment
• Genre — Stealth, Platforming
• Debut Game — Ape Escape, released June 22, 1999
• Most Recent Game — PlayStation Move Ape Escape, released July 5, 2011

Stealth action isn't just for gritty super soldiers stuck on an Alaskan archipelago, as Ape Escape definitively proves. Part 3D platformer and part stealth game not too far removed from Metal Gear Solid, there's really nothing quite like Ape Escape, and its compelling and incredibly fun genre blend would go on to spawn an entire franchise of games. That said, the first Ape Escape established a formula that the series never really deviated much from, making it both the series' definitive game and an important title in the history of the PS1.

• Developer — Naughty Dog
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Platforming
• Debut Game — Crash Bandicoot, released September 9, 1996
• Most Recent Game — Crash Team Rumble, released June 20, 2023

At the time of Crash Bandicoot's release, it was the only 3D platformer to even come close to holding a candle to Super Mario 64, which made its protagonist the perfect candidate for being the PS1's mascot. Of course, developer Naughty Dog crafted an absolute gem of a game that would ultimately help it become a first-party PlayStation studio, meaning we have Crash Bandicoot to thank not just for the other games in the Crash series, but for Jak and Daxter, Uncharted, The Last of Us, and every other Naughty Dog franchise.

• Developer — Rockstar North (Formerly DMA Design)
• Publisher — Rockstar Games
• Genre — Action
• Debut Game — Grand Theft Auto, released November 28, 1997
• Most Recent Game — Grand Theft Auto VI, releasing May 26, 2026

DMA Designs' Grand Theft Auto would make its initial debut on PC, but its home console port on the PS1 was responsible for introducing a whole generation of gamers to the property who would go on to make Grand Theft Auto III the groundbreaking success it was. Looking back on that original GTA game shows just how far the series has come, and it's not a stretch to imagine that the title's console port success helped pave the way for the first three 3D Grand Theft Auto games to be exclusive to the PS2 — something that helped it become the best-selling console of all-time until the Nintendo Switch.

• Developer — Namco
• Publisher — Namco
• Genre — Fighting
• Debut Game — Tekken, released December 9, 1994
• Most Recent Game — Tekken 8, released January 26, 2024

Namco's Tekken is a now-legendary fighting series that is one of the most popular franchises among both casual fighting game fans and hardcore competitors. But the first game in the Tekken series was a PS1 exclusive that was meant to compete with the game that inspired it: Sega's Virtua Fighter. While the original Virtua Fighter and its Sega Saturn port are higely important in the history of fighting games, the leap between Virtua Fighter and Tekken is massive, with the latter proving to be the better and more accessible fighting game capable of drawing players to buy a PS1 versus a Sega Saturn.

• Developer — Polyphony Digital
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Driving/Racing, Simulation
• Debut Game — Gran Turismo, released December 23, 1997
• Most Recent Game — My First Gran Turismo, released December 6, 2024

The Gran Turismo franchise is one of the few series to have its origins on the PS1 and remain a PlayStation exclusive throughout the entirety of its existence. It also happens to be the absolute best driving simulator available on consoles, with most of its competitors not having anywhere near the staying power that Polyphony Digital's long-running driving sim has had. Not only is Gran Turismo a definitive classic in the PS1 library, it also continues to be one of the best-selling games on every single generation of PlayStation hardware, proving that players simply can't get enough of its ultra-realistic driving and impressive visual fidelity.

• Developer — Konami Computer Entertainment Japan
• Publisher — Konami
• Genre — Stealth Action
• Debut Game — Metal Gear Solid, released September 3, 1998
• Most Recent Game — Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, releasing August 28, 2025

The Metal Gear franchise began long before the launch of the PS1, but the Metal Gear Solid franchise is a different story. Despite every game in the Metal Gear franchise being connected to the same timeline, the release of Metal Gear Solid in 1998 marked a pivotal turn for the franchise as it transitioned to being a 3D title and utilized the benefits of the current technology to tell an impressively cinematic tale. Games have literally never been the same since the tectonic shift of Metal Gear Solid, and in many ways, the series is still living up to the legacy of the first entry on PS1.

• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Survival Horror
• Debut Game — Resident Evil, released March 22, 1996
• Most Recent Game — Resident Evil 4 (Remake), released March 24, 2023

In terms of franchises that have their origins on the PS1 and have gone on to spawn multi-billion dollar multimedia empires, there's only one: Resident Evil. The launch of the first Resident Evil in 1996 ultimately helped pave the way for the franchise to have a trilogy of successful mainline entries and a spin-off on the PS1 before it eventually went multiplatform, and there's no separating the legacy of the first Resident Evil from the PlayStation, even though the title released on both PC and the Sega Saturn. And like Twisted Metal, Resident Evil would help coin its own genre by inventing the term "Survival Horror".