Sony recently announced that the online storefronts for the PS3 and PS Vita will be shutting down over the course of the next year. As a result, PlayStation users will be losing digital access to a variety of classic PS1 games that are very expensive to purchase physically. In anticipation of this shutdown, there are around 20 games that are worth picking up now to avoid having to pay ludicrous prices for an original PlayStation copy.
The shutdown of the PS3 and PS Vita stores will begin in August 2026 in Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua, while additional Latin America and Middle Eastern countries will see the storefronts shut down in late 2026 before closing worldwide in July 2027. Players wanting to purchase any of these titles should do so sooner rather than later, before all the storefronts are shut down for good next year.
This list includes games that aren’t available for purchase on other platforms aside from the PS3 and PS Vita stores or their original PS1 disc format.
PlayStation Hit With Brutal Community Note
PlayStation’s social media post detailing its plan to kill physical game copies come 2028 is met with a highly embarrassing community note.
Rare and Expensive PlayStation 1 Games on the PS3 and PS Vita Digital Stores
- Alundra
- Arc the Lad
- Arc the Lad 2
- Arc the Lad 3
- Arc Arena: Monster Tournament
- Bloody Roar
- Castlevania Chronicles
- Echo Night
- Mega Man Legends 2
- Parasite Eve
- Parasite Eve 2
- Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
- Saiyuki: Journey West
- Shadow Tower
- The Misadventures of Tron Bonne
- Threads of Fate
- Um Jammer Lammy
- Vagrant Story
- Vanguard Bandits
- Xenogears
Alundra
- Physical game price — $69.99
Alundra is a top-down action-adventure game in the same vein as the classic Legend of Zelda games. As the PlayStation 1’s answer to Nintendo’s popular action-adventure franchise, Alundra features a mix of puzzle-solving, real-time combat, and some platforming. The main gameplay gimmick of Alundra is its dreamwalking mechanic, allowing players to enter the dreams of NPCs and explore them like dungeons.
What’s That Weapon?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Arc the Lad Series
- Physical game price — $82.75 (Arc the Lad Collection)
Arc the Lad is a tactical RPG series similar to games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem. The series was originally exclusive to Japan, but saw an Arc the Lad Collection release outside of Japan in 2002. However, the franchise never attained the same level of popularity among Western audiences as it did in Japan.
Bloody Roar
- Physical game price — $30.39
3D fighting games like Tekken were a staple of the PlayStation 1, but Bloody Roar is an entry in the genre that is often overlooked. In addition to 3D fighting mechanics, Bloody Roar allowed players to shapeshift into animals through a transformation mechanic. Despite its solid fighting game framework, Bloody Roar was criticized for its limited roster size.
Castlevania Chronicles
- Physical game price — $108.79
Despite dozens of Castlevania games being re-released via collections like the Castlevania Dominus Collection, Castlevania Advance Collection, and Castlevania Anniversary Collection, Castlevania Chronicles remains a hard game to find outside the PSN. The game is essentially a remake of the original Castlevania game, with two modes offered: Original Mode, which is a port of the 1993 Castlevania remake Akumajo Dracula, and Arrange Mode, which includes enhanced features and new cutscenes.
Echo Night
- Physical game price — $79.99
A classic FromSoftware game that often gets overlooked in favor of series like King’s Field and Armored Core is Echo Night. Unlike FromSoftware’s most popular games, Echo Night is a first-person narrative adventure game that requires players to look for clues and solve puzzles to progress the story. FromSoftware’s Hidetaka Miyazaki has cited Echo Night as part of the inspiration behind the PSVR game Deracine.
Mega Man Legends 2
- Physical game price — $73.64
Mega Man Legends 2 is the sequel to the 3D action-adventure game Mega Man Legends. Breaking from Mega Man‘s traditional 2D side-scrolling platformer roots, the Mega Man Legends games put players in the shoes of Mega Man Vollnut as he explores ancient ruins for Quantum Reactors. While Mega Man Legends 2 features a surprisingly complex story, it infamously ends on a cliffhanger that is never resolved, as the series never received a third game.
Parasite Eve Games
- Physical game price — $59.99 (Paradise Eve)
Two classic games of the horror and JRPG genres are Parasite Eve and its sequel. Parasite Eve is another legendary JRPG from SquareSoft, developer of the Final Fantasy franchise, but never received the same mainstream popularity as that series. However, this Resident Evil meets Final Fantasy series has attained cult classic status in recent years, leading to Parasite Eve-inspired successors to fill the void the series has left since it ended.
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
- Physical game price — $259.99
While Persona has boomed in popularity over the past decade, as evidenced by the hype surrounding Persona 6‘s official announcement, the older Persona games are often overlooked, especially by developer Atlus. Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment are a duology in the franchise that represent the end of the classic Shin Megami Tensei-style of gameplay that the series is built on before Persona 3 transitioned the series into the one most fans are familiar with today. Although there have been rumors of a Persona 2 remake in development, nothing official has been confirmed by Sega.
Saiyuki: Journey West
- Physical game price — $42.00
As its name implies, Saiyuki: Journey West is a video game inspired by the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, which also served as inspiration for Black Myth: Wukong‘s story. Unlike Black Myth: Wukong, Saiyuki: Journey West is a turn-based tactical RPG and stars protagonist Sanzo as he travels from China to India.
Shadow Tower
- Physical game price — $187.59
Another PS1 FromSoftware title, Shadow Tower shares many similarities with the King’s Field series. Shadow Tower is a first-person dungeon crawler with a unique leveling system that forgoes traditional XP for fixed stat increases that correspond to static enemy encounters. The game was developed concurrently with Echo Night.
The Misadventures of Tron Bonne
- Physical game price — $272.50
As a prequel and spin-off of the Mega Man Legends series, The Misadventures of Tron Bonne follows the titular antagonist of Mega Man Legends in a unique blend of three distinct gameplay styles. The game includes Action, Puzzle, and RPG stages, in addition to a Casino mini-game. The original physical release also included a demo of Mega Man Legends 2 on the disc.
Threads of Fate
- Physical game price — $52.38
Threads of Fate is another Action RPG from SquareSoft that follows two protagonists, Rue and Mint, as they search for an ancient relic said to grant any wish. Gameplay is largely focused on action combat, along with elements of dungeon crawling. Threads of Fates was helmed by director Koji Sugimoto as a more light-hearted game to contrast the dark nature of Xenogears, which he had previously worked on.
Um Jammer Lammy
- Physical game price — $49.99
Um Jammer Lammy is a spin-off of the popular PlayStation rhythm franchise PaRappa the Rapper that stars a guitar-playing lamb named Lammy. The gameplay of Um Jammer Lammy is similar to that of PaRappa the Rapper, simply trading PaRappa’s rapping for Lammy’s guitar playing.
Vagrant Story
- Physical game price — $46.95
Vagrant Story is often considered one of SquareSoft’s forgotten classics. It was developed by the same team that created Final Fantasy Tactics and is even set in the same world of Ivalice. Compared to other RPGs, Vagrant Story is unique in that it doesn’t feature any shops or NPC interactions, instead focusing on puzzles and pausable real-time combat along with its unique weapon crafting system.
Vanguard Bandits
- Physical game price —$90.01
Another entry in the PS1’s tactical RPG library is Vanguard Bandits, where players enter a medieval fantasy world where mecha technology exists. Combat in Vanguard Bandits is viewed from an isometric perspective, and players control knights piloting these giant mecha known as ATACs.
Xenogears
- Physical game price —$103.21
The debut entry in the “Xeno” franchise, Xenogears is a sci-fi RPG with an active-time battle system similar to games like Final Fantasy 7. Xenogears creator Tetsuya Takahashi would go on to found development studio Monolith Soft and develop the Xenosaga and Xenoblade Chronicles games as spiritual successors to Xenogears.
