Overshadowed by the end of PlayStation game discs, Sony rubbed it in by simultaneously announcing the closure of digital storefronts for the PS3 and PS Vita. In one year’s time, you will no longer be able to make new purchases on either platform, locking out some of Sony’s earliest digital downloads. It only further illustrates how precarious game ownership has become. So let’s get our kicks in while we can.
The PlayStation 3 was a transitional console between the experimental high strangeness of their first two generations and the more commercial, remake-friendly era we’re accustomed to. Once these gates are closed, some of PlayStation’s last idiosyncratic oddballs will be sealed away forever. Some gems have thankfully been ported elsewhere, such as Sound Shapes and PixelJunk Eden. Sadly a few others, such as Noby Noby Boy and Hard Peace, have already been delisted. Here’s a selection of must-plays that are difficult or impossible to find elsewhere, remnants from an era on its way to its extinction.
Tales from Space: About a Blob
The first game from Guacamelee makers Drinkbox Studios, this gooey debut is a puzzle platformer about a mean little space booger. Navigating the Earth, you will grow in gelatinous size and pick up new powers. It’s dynamic, colorful and you can really make a mess of your environment. It’s like a Saturday morning Carrion. It spawned a sequel, Mutant Blobs Attack, that was thankfully circulated to more systems.
Thexder Neo
A cult PC-Engine game from the ‘80s, originally localized by Sierra of all people, it was Square Enix who remade the space adventure in 2009. Alternating between a space jet and a giant mech, you navigate strange, hostile stations and caves. The HD refurbishing still looks pretty sharp, doing the retro classic justice.
Siren: Blood Curse
Any attempt to explain Siren feels like a lecture but I’ll keep it short. Silent Hill creator Keiichirō Toyama made a first-party survival horror for PlayStation 2, but the jagged, multi-narrative structure caught fans off guard. Years later, Toyama looped back again with Blood Curse, streamlining it with some lessons from the sequel. Not an outright remake, and maybe too many concessions to the global audience, many consider Blood Curse its own thing. A physical version was released, but the rarity leaves you much better off grabbing it off PSN while you can.
The Last Guy
Ahh, here we go. Classic out of pocket PlayStation nonsense. An arcadey apocalypse, The Last Guy sees you rescuing survivors, forming a long stampeding conga line of people. Scampering, screaming around cities, avoiding mutant creatures and making your way to evacuation points. It made use of then impressive, brand-new Google Map satellite imagery to turn real cities into monster playgrounds.
Puppeteer
Lost in the shuffle between Tearaway and Little Big Planet games, this bombastic and sarcastic platformer has become a cult classic in its obscurity. Presented as the lead in a stage play, you are Kutaro, a puppet with his head lopped off. Using giant, mall-opening-sized scissors, you shred through other automatons, collect new heads and use them to alter the performance. Like Blood Curse, it did see a physical release but copies are notoriously hard to come across.
Vib-Ribbon
Masaya Matsuura’s follow-up to PaRappa the Rapper is as charming as it is challenging. While the pack-in music is amazing in its own right, Vib-Ribbon allows you to swap in your own collection of CDs to turn any track into a rhythm platformer. Originally released for the first PlayStation in Japan, it was graciously released worldwide on PSN in 2014. I enjoyed it so much it prompted me to buy a stack of used CDs (Peter Gabriel’s So, YMO’s Solid State Survivor, Boards of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children and Prince’s 1999) just to see what other levels I could conjure up. An essential PlayStation game and an ongoing tribute to having a disc drive.
Tokyo Jungle
Cannot stress this enough: If there is only one game you can rescue from the PlayStation 3 library, make it this one. Tokyo Jungle is an inventive, unusual and addictive survival RPG set in a post-apocalyptic Japan. Tokyo has been overtaken by wild animals. Giraffes. Lions. Velociraptors. You, as these animals, must hunt, eat, breed and survive as a pack, passing down through your descendants and evolving as you go. You kick things off as a family of pomeranians, and while you’ll unlock much mightier beasts don’t underestimate those little fuzzball’s ability to tack down a gang of hyenas.