Let's recommend each other old PlayStation Network games (while we still can)

As you may or may not be aware, Sony, in their infinite dickery, will disable the ability to purchase digital PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable games on July 2nd, with PlayStation Vita to follow on August 27th. For those of us who still use older consoles, and how very dare we, this is bad news, and you may or may not be thinking about what to download before those dates. So I thought we could share our recommendations on what to buy before the deadlines, because regardless of where you are on the scale of "I have no idea what to look for" to "I have an exhaustive list of games of interest," we could all use a push in the right direction. Obviously, if the game is available elsewhere, that's great, but I don't necessarily want to limit to exclusives, either, because the alternative might not be available to everyone (e.g. physical copies being prohibitively expensive, not having the other platform, etc.). What I'm saying is, as long as you can download it right now, it's fair game. With that in mind, here's some from me:

Asura's Wrath (PS3)
This was released physically, and on 360 as well, but there's something important to note: the game's true ending was only released as DLC. Putting aside whether that was in any way ethical on Capcom's part, the fact remains that if you want to see the entire story, at least on a Sony machine, you need to act quickly. The game is a ludicrous, over the top action anime that admittedly is only semi-playable, but it's an amazing roller coaster ride from start to finish that needs to be experienced.

Corpse Party: Book of Shadows (PSP)
Obviously, I would more readily recommend the original Corpse Party on PSP, however it was recently ported to PS4 and Switch (the latter of which also has a port of saga-concluding Corpse Party: Blood Drive), and given the Japanese releases are fully translated into English, it's only a matter of time before those are readily available in the West. If you want to play Book of Shadows on a console, though, this is your only avenue. Book of Shadows changes the gameplay structure from an adventure game to a strict visual novel, but it's still a worthy successor and chilling horror game. It introduces the parallel universe aspect of the series, and features a hell of a twist ending.

Derrick the Deathfin (PS3)
A papercraft platformer reminiscent of NiGHTS into dreams (which you should also buy), it's not necessarily the best game on this list, but it is one of the oddest, and this was its only console version. As mentioned, the graphical style is unique, and the story -- about a shark single-handedly taking down the world's oil companies, oh we stan -- is crazy. Perfect for speedrunners.

Dokuro (Vita)
This has since appeared on Switch, but I'm mentioning it anyway. A charming yet insidious fairy tale puzzler with a chalk drawing aesthetic, the skeleton protagonist has to help a princess escape all number of ghastly creatures and reach happily ever after.

GrimGrimoire (PS2 Classic)
Vanillaware's other, less-loved PS2 game, GrimGrimoire follows young witch Lillet Blan as she tries to break the time loop trapping her and everyone else in her magic school. Obviously, the art is incredible, and the characters are all lovable and engaging. I'm not a huge fan of the gameplay, simply because I suck at RTS games, but even then there are easy and very easy difficulties, and the good far outweighs the bad as far as I'm concerned (and if you like RTS, there's no bad to begin with).

Page Chronica (PS3)
The definition of a hidden gem, and a little-known PS3 exclusive. I've written about this game here before, and I cannot recommend it enough. If you know about it at all, you probably know that critics decidedly did not like it, but trust me: they were wrong. It can be hard, yes, but never unfair, and its wordplay conceit is really fun. Plus, if you play it, you get the mockturtle soup of approval. It's like a stamp of approval, but it's just the knowledge that I appreciate you that you think about the next time you eat soup.

Parasite Eve (PS1 Classic)
The classic Square horror action RPG that needs a remake more than Final Fantasy VII does. Fight me.

Siren: Blood Curse (PS3)
If I could only recommend one game, it'd be this one. Bizarrely only released digitally in the US, this reboot of the Siren series is one of the scariest horror games ever made. The sightjack mechanic, whereby you can see through the eyes of your enemies, makes for some tensely strategic gameplay, and the central mystery will keep you guessing through to the end. Seriously, it's just so, so good.

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (PS3)
This was among the first games I played on PS3, and I was addicted to it. Even today, it's a blast to pick up and play a few rounds of. If you're like me, getting a perfect game with no continues is difficult, but actually doing it is euphoric. Also available on 360, thankfully.

Tokyo Jungle (PS3)
Ever wanted to be a Pomeranian surviving in post-apocalyptic Japan? If not, what's wrong with you? But if Pomeranians aren't your thing, there are dozens of other animals to try your hand at survival, whether carnivore, herbivore, or doomed office worker. It's a really addicting arcade experience, but also has a surprisingly emotional story mode. This one will be gone for good come July.

This is just limiting to what I've played, and even then only the ones I think would be among the most interesting to point out, but it's a start. If anyone has any favorites they think others should grab in the near future, post and let us know!

I was thinking about doing something like this, but was too timid to create topic myself. Glad to see someone else thought it was a good idea! I’m a big fan of Vanillaware’s art. I could have picked up a physical copy of GrimGrimoire years ago but decided not to since I don’t care for RTS. I could give it another look though. The original Siren, I did not play myself, but my sister did and it royally offended her. It was the repeated scenarios. Just got too tedious for her. Is Blood Curse pretty much the same?

Based on my experience with the Siren series, Blood Curse appears to be the most accessible out of all 3, though still plagued by a number of issues such as wonky / unresponsive controls, silly voice acting and the awful framerate when using sightjack (reason for that is the same world being rendered twice at the same time, a "unique" and resourceful-heavy feature another recently released game called The Medium also emphasizes). It doesn't quite manage to recapture the atmosphere of the original (as is often the case with reboots) and doesn't really encourage the use of sightjack as much as the older entries due to overall dumbed down difficulty, but I suppose the visuals are nice and the sound design can be fittingly unsettling. It does have the perhaps best title screen + theme I've seen in a game though, so there is that, not something I'd usually point out in games. My personal recommendation would be the PS2 Classic version of the original Siren for the most authentic experience and additional trophy support.

I can second Fear Effect 1+2 as worthwhile games to play, but only if you're male.
I am not ashamed to admit I only played for the T&A and lezbo scenes.

No way I would have touched it if the games were about 2 gay dudes.

Wow, okay, casual homophobia in this thread, that's even worse than the Siren: Blood Curse slander.

Wow, okay, casual homophobia in this thread, that's even worse than the Siren: Blood Curse slander.

So to start, I realized I forgot two important ones:

Frobisher Says (Vita)
The Vita's answer to WarioWare, it makes use of every facet of the hardware while delivering irreverent mini-games of all kinds.

Rain (PS3)
It's like Ico. It's really great.

Oro, I can't believe you came into my thread and essentially countered my argument for Siren. :S How very dare you.

Churros, Fat Princess was actually delisted quite a while ago. Your best bet for buying it now is if you get a physical copy of the PSP version.

And Illusera, while I second the recommendation of Okage (I just recently played it and very much enjoyed it), I think that's only available digitally on PS4, not PS3.

Wow, okay, casual homophobia in this thread, that's even worse than the Siren: Blood Curse slander.

I apologise if I offended with my previous comment, I assure you it wasn't with intent.

I was merely alluding to the fact that Fear Effect was clearly aimed at a primarily male audience. I.e. there is a lot of fanservice in the game that is going to mainly appeal to straight guys.
I would not have been interested in the game if the girls were replaced with guys - Not because of homophobia, but simply because of the lack of fanservice.

To clarify, I am not homophobic and you shouldn't be so quick with accusations. (My favourite character from Night in the Woods was the gay yellow fox but I digress)

Granted, looking back, my choice of wording was pretty terrible. And I know ignorance isn't an excuse, but these gender issues just aren't a topic of discussion where I'm from.

GamerAim: It seems we were just on the topic of 'passionate online debates', and look.. here I am in the midst of one! I think I've learnt a valuable lesson today: avoid all topics of Politics, Religion and Gender. I speak very bluntly, and am not knowledgeable on political correctness, so better to just keep my mouth shut with sensitive topics!

Finally, in hopes we can move on from this matter, let me rephrase my previous post:
Fear Effect is a great series and will appeal to those who enjoy a serving of female nudity in between gunfights.

I apologise if I offended with my previous comment, I assure you it wasn't with intent.

I was merely alluding to the fact that Fear Effect was clearly aimed at a primarily male audience. I.e. there is a lot of fanservice in the game that is going to mainly appeal to straight guys.
I would not have been interested in the game if the girls were replaced with guys - Not because of homophobia, but simply because of the lack of fanservice.

To clarify, I am not homophobic and you shouldn't be so quick with accusations. (My favourite character from Night in the Woods was the gay yellow fox but I digress)

Granted, looking back, my choice of wording was pretty terrible. And I know ignorance isn't an excuse, but these gender issues just aren't a topic of discussion where I'm from.

GamerAim: It seems we were just on the topic of 'passionate online debates', and look.. here I am in the midst of one! I think I've learnt a valuable lesson today: avoid all topics of Politics, Religion and Gender. I speak very bluntly, and am not knowledgeable on political correctness, so better to just keep my mouth shut with sensitive topics!

Finally, in hopes we can move on from this matter, let me rephrase my previous post:
Fear Effect is a great series and will appeal to those who enjoy a serving of female nudity in between gunfights.

Well I accept your apology, thank you. That said, at risk of derailing this thread beyond its original purpose (any further, anyway), I want to unpack some things here.

Obviously, whether or not you want to engage with a piece of media because it does or does not feature gay men is your prerogative, and isn't necessarily inherently homophobic. However, when you say you wouldn't be interested in Fear Effect "if the girls were replaced with guys . . . simply because of the lack of fanservice," while also claiming that it's "a great series," the implication becomes that it would no longer be a great series if it featured gay men rather than gay women. Granted, if one is only after fan service, then fair enough, but if not, surely you can see where that would be a problem. For example, and this may just be me, but despite being a gay man, I've bought all number of games with gratuitous fan service directed at sexually repressed straight boys (Gal Gun, Criminal Girls, Monster Monpiece, please don't make me name more because I'm suddenly feeling skeezy) because I was still interested in the gameplay and overall experience.

Furthermore, even if you don't consider yourself homophobic, that doesn't mean you're immune from making homophobic statements. It's like someone saying they're not racist, but then complimenting an Asian person on how well they speak English (regardless of where they're from). Using a slur like "lezbo," and then following it up with the statement that there was "no way [you] would have touched" the games if they "were about 2 gay dudes," is the kind of juvenile "girls kissing good, boys kissing bad" homophobia that has permeated popular culture for decades. Even if you didn't mean it that way, that's how it comes across. I say this not to castigate you, but to hopefully educate on a topic of which you yourself profess to be ignorant. I also have trouble believing there aren't gay people in *checks notes* New Zealand, but whatever.

No one's saying you need to never discuss these things, or not provide your opinion if it skirts up against something sensitive, but it's good to try and be mindful of how things might be perceived by others, especially someone of a different ethnicity, sexuality, gender identity, etc.

...Anyway, it's recently come to my attention that the remake of Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse was not actually delisted on PS3 as I thought, so that's another good one to consider.

Some lovely little indie gems on PS3 that you must play:

Flower
Journey
Thomas Was Alone
Knytt Underground

The bonus of buying the first 3 is that you also get the PS4 versions too... I think.

Knytt Underground is available on several other platforms, but I first played it on PS3 where it was initially released. I love it so much.

pretty sure they're all available on PC, but I agree- they are all worth playing =)