"You can love someone very much. But you can never love anyone as much as you can miss them
"
, The Katherine Theorem, John Green
Although the intros had been involved in video games since the beginning, in the 5th Generation something happened.
Yes, on the PC we had been able to enjoy them for a long time, but on consoles it was something else, since they
had to be more limited due to their power and space in cartridges.
There are still magic ones, but with
SEGA's Mega-CD and its optimal CD-ROM storage capacity
we were able to get a first look at those more elaborate intros - not so much the charming backfire of the FMV as the Bram Stocker's Dracula-like currents or all the merriment of the Snatcher Kojimesco.
A 'Beta' version for those that we would see later in the generation in which the video game became a teenager:
The PlayStation, SEGA Saturn and Nintendo 64.
CGI Intros
Whoever has lived it, remembers it, has it well grasped in the subconscious: you
put the game disc, lowered the lid, pressed the huge Power button
and ... That pure 90s in-crescendo sound effect sounded, that sound like science fiction , adorned with a sort of digitized 'tubular bells'.
Then it would fade and suddenly rise again.
This is how the intro of the first PlayStation sounded as soon as it was turned on: First the Sony Computer Entertainment logo, and then the P and S for PlayStation.
Then the game itself started, but that initial sound of the console was already a preamble that, like Pavlov's dogs, prepared us in a conditioned way for what was going to come out.
It was the 5th Gen, it was the time of the first polygonal games, of the intros in CGI that allowed authentic visual spectacles.
It was the time to discover the next evolutionary stage in Video Game History.
And the cover of the game and the screens on the back of the box were a first look, the intro was the first contact without a doubt.
And in the first PS they were honed to some of the most remembered and acclaimed introductions in the 40+ years of gaming we've been around.
The best, mythical and funniest intros of PSOne
Here at Meri, we want to remember those intros, but summarizing them all in one story is impossible and unfair.
That is why we are going to focus on systems and generations, giving space to all.
We start with the
PSone with a very large list, a system that has a library made up of 4,106 games no less.
Obviously it is impossible to put them all, so you have to screen, but with one condition: we are not going to just put 'the very best', but more.
Because there are titles that have funny, spectacular intros even though the game itself is a ****.
We are going to put a little of everything, and the ones that are missing is not because they do not deserve to be there, but because we want to make you participate and that we put together a good list among all.
Put them on the forum, on the networks, and let us all remember why those videos, now with ridiculous resolutions and archaic animations, make us smile when we remember them.
So let's start strong,
"can you feel the heat?"
* Note: this report is divided into 3 parts:
Go to Part 2
Go to Part 3
Ridge Racer Type 4 - 1998
A good intro should be able to place you in the universe of the game.
And Namco - without the 'Bandai' yet - was a master at that.
Because the intros in car games have always been complicated, but Namco created for his Ridge Make Type 4 a micro-story starring his virtual model Reiko Nagase -which we would later see in Ridge Make 5. The plot is impossible, the intro is perfect, Reiko's smile charming, the music seems composed yesterday.
This intro is one of those that figure in a historical Top for some reason, so enjoy it remastered at 4K and 60fps:
Tekken 2 - 1996
The Tekken 1 intro is one of those early iconic moments in PlayStation history, because that Kazuya Mishima blowing out a candle with one punch used to star in many console promo 'reels' on its debut.
But we have chosen Tekken 2, because the intro was already beginning to show the authentic family drama that the history of the Tekken saga was beginning to be: From Heihachi Mishima climbing a cliff to King recovering his mask, Paul Phoenix as a biker (again), Lei Wulong in the movie plan of Jackie Chan, Nina Williams moving her hair (the hair was crazy a quarter of a century ago) or Jun Kazama in a Shibuya-type crossing.
And what a great song, although beware that the intro of Tekken 3 was already the finishing touch in CG quality and textures.
Chrono Cross - 1999
Made the absolute queen of J-RPGs at the time, everything Squaresoft touched was pure gold.
But in 1998 and 1999 he did us Europeans one of the greatest injustices, because we could not taste Parasite Eve or Chrono Cross in the PAL zone, the latter a masterpiece in role-playing games, set in the Chrono Trigger universe and with a combat system that evolved the classic turn-based Final Fantasy, making it more dynamic and even putting combos.
The intro to Chrono Cross was not only jaw-dropping, but it could rub shoulders with the one from Final Fantasy VIII, which were already VERY older words.
It is a work of art, with dreamy CGIs, and a musical theme, Scars of Time, with a Celtic tone that will continue to sound just as good for decades to come.
And the fucking intro keeps giving you chills, damn it.
Chrono Trigger - 1999
For many the best J-RPG of the 16-Bit era and for other SNES Top 3 without a doubt, Chrono Trigger is a marvel that continues to amaze more than 25 years later, and just 4 years later it had a port for PSOne just before the premiere of Chrono Cross.
The highlight was certainly the gift they gave us with the intro and cutscenes, as we had the pleasure of seeing Akira Toriyama's original character designs animated by none other than Toei Animation.
And seeing those artworks coming to life already deserved to get hold of that jewel without a doubt.
Attention to the degree of detail, animation and of course the eternal Toriyama touch.
Chase the Express - 2000
Right at the gates of the generational changeover in the actioners - the 24-year-old Jack Bauer and Jason Bourne changed the rules of the game - Sony drew in Chase the Express an a priori impossible hybrid between the playable scheme of Resident Evil within a video game version of High Alert 2 by Steven Seagal.
Here we have a tale of Russian terrorists, kidnapped French ambassadors and the Yankees saving the day that is impossible to resist.
The graphics were great, its control was much better -that camera that left us sold many times-, the Castilian dubbing of the Russian baddie was a laugh, the OST imitating the Jerry Goldsmith of Air Force One impeccable.
And his intro was amazing.
Tenchu 2 - 2000
The holy trinity of 1998 was called Metal Gear Solid, Thief and Tenchu, the three titles that practically conceived the Stealth genre as we know it.
Of the three, the one we miss the most is Tenchu, because we haven't had one since the 7th Generation.
In 2000, From Software - yes, that From Software - did something that was rarely done: a prequel.
Contaminated by the spirit of The Phantom Menace, she told us about the origin of the three Tenchu ninjas when they were 'padawans'.
The game, in which only the camera was a bit ugly, had tight controls, measured and open gameplay, many options - level editor, hey - and it made you feel like a real ninja.
And his intro is basically one of the top 5 in PSone history.
Why?
See it and tell us, because that synergy is perfect and the soundtrack is beautiful until saying enough.
From Software, please, BRING TENCHU BACK NOW, or at least take out a couple of remakes of 1 and 2.
Fear Effect - 1999
Although it is very forgotten - it only has 2 installments, a third canceled and a late sequel 3 years ago in Sedna effective and entertaining but neither brilliant nor memorable, Fear Effect is one of those games that has earned the category of 'Cult Title '.
Kronos Digital had something interesting to tell, and Eidos made it possible in Fear Effect, a game that can boast of being unlike any other in the Sony catalog.
With environments made not with pre-rendered graphics but with streaming or looping videos, Fear Effect never separated the video scene from the playable part, a mix of action, stealth, puzzles and shooting.
And its plot is another strong point: adult, visceral and surprising.
The intro already recorded, with a musical theme song, a look at the graphics - the same as the game - and a creepy scene - remember, it was the 2000s - of ritual murder.
Metal Gear Solid - 1998
"Du, du du, dududú" ... We'll be brief: Hideo Kojima + Metal Gear Solid + Alfonso Vallès ... And that's it, there's nothing more to say when it comes to Kojima and intros.
MGS is the history of the video game, its intro as iconic in our sector as the "I am your father" from Star Wars in the world of cinema.
And what came next was even better.
Here we leave you the original, but a blessed remade it in 4K and current graphics, and when we see it we only want the whole game to be remade the same, but without touching more than that: the visual part.
Silent Hill - 1999
"The Fear of Blood tends to create Fear for the Flesh ..."
: A single sentence, the first that opens this text.
And a single piece of music, which begins with an exotic as well as jarring and surprising mandolin.
That's all it takes to remind us how wrong we were more than 20 years ago when we thought Silent Hill was going to be yet another Resident Evil imitation.
Founder of a new kind of horror, evolutionary leap in the genre, and bloody masterpiece, Silent Hill is Akira Yamaoka, and Yamaoka is Silent Hill.
When an intro suddenly awakens memories, terror, the knowledge that you did survive Alessa and the chill of the first time you stepped on the silent hill, it is that it is a 5-star like a **** cathedral.
Dino Crisis 2 - 2000
One very interesting thing about Dino Crisis 2 is that now we can see it as a Capcom testing ground, because if in 2005 Resident Evil 4 mutated its playable DNA to action rather than survival, Dino Crisis did it before.
Its sequel kept the visual style of fixed cameras, but instead of survival horror in which to count the bullets, it surprised us with a commitment to action - like Alien and Aliens.
To this day it is still tremendously fun, and screams for a remake -Capcom, announces the Dino Crisis under the new RE Engine, we want Regina back.
Its intro sounds like a JJ Abrams series, an impeccably orchestrated little piece of Jurassic, militaristic, and Sci-fi action.
And a curiosity: Look at how in a single year the modeling of characters evolved from the intro of Dino Crisis 1 to its sequel:
Vagrant Story - 2000
There are sagas that have a lot of sequels, remasters, remakes ... And there are IPs that come, drop a bomb and go back, without more installments, with nothing more than that single title.
Vagrant Story is one of the latter, a title that, like Fear Effect, is unique in its entirety.
It brought its own combat system that other J-RPGs of the time did not have -although it is reminiscent of Parasite Eve-;
an artistic design that mixed oriental, European, Japanese elements, all at the same time;
some graphics that went through the lining the polygonal limitation of the console.
In short, a work of art, master and cult, all at the same time, which also boasts of being the only PSone title with the perfect 40/40 of Famitsu.
We have been begging Square for 21 years to make a sequel, remaster, remake, ANYTHING, but nothing ... So let's enjoy that intro one more time, short but great with the montage of the dancer - pay attention to the fluidity of the movements - and crafting.
The Legend of Dragoon - 1999
In PSone's time, the J-RPG was one of the dominant genres.
And if you wanted to do something that would attract attention, you had to drink from Final Fantasy school.
Sony tried to stand up to Squaresoft on their turf with their own FF: The Legend of Dragoon, a much better role-playing title than previously claimed, undervalued in its day that over the years has acquired cult status - and whose copies are paid for at the price of gold on eBay.
It's a shame that with all the lore they created for that universe they stayed in a single installment, because things like their hilarious turn-based and active combat system, with that touch of Saint Seiya and that QTE system of combos, deserved more deliveries.
His intro was surprising for its quality, its music and something else that Squaresoft never did at that time: actors' voices.
Resident Evil - 1996
The use of Full Motion Video as soon as the CD-roms became part of the consoles became fashionable with the Mega-CD, and PlayStation used that 'live action' touch in several games.
With Resident Evil, Capcom wanted to enhance the cinematic concept of its game, pulling out of its sleeve a horror movie intro that in its first moments distressed and was effective in those crazy 90s, but that has aged horrible and now looks like a fanmovie made in a field with friends and a weekend of Cosplay.
The performances are pure cringe, the dogs sound like dinosaurs, and in RE2 and RE3 Capcom went straight to CGI.
Everything you want, but move to 1996, and surely you will see it with different eyes.
By the way, do any of you also think about that “NOOOO !!
DONT GO !! "
Every time you see a helicopter take off, or is it just me?
Gran Turismo - 1998
Absolute standard of the genre in its (several) eras, Gran Turismo was another of the pillars on which PlayStation was based not only to dominate, but to demonstrate what it could do at the exclusive level.
Kazunori Yamauchi's GT brought us a car game in which if you tried to drive into the arcade, you wouldn't go past last place.
He put simulation, cards, realistic physics, constant challenge ... And all with an intro to the rhythm of Chemical Brothers and a record that no one can take away: it is the best-selling game in the entire PSOne catalog.
And watch out for the intro of Gran Turismo 2, a mix of CG scenes with real historical moments to the rhythm of My Favorite Game by The Cardigans.
Don't you miss that GT era?
Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes - 2000
He has been lost for 2 generations, but dare to tell Duke Nukem that he is not an absolute icon of the video game.
The resurrection of Duke Nukem Forever was pure history of the sector, and on PlayStation it had a couple of spin-offs that, although playable were very improvable -not to say that at times they were insufferable-, they had their grace in terms of the nature of the character.
Land of the Babes has a quintessentially IP intro - and the endgame I'm not telling you - with Duke in a strip club, violence, 'Double Ds' bra sizes all over the place, and a bloody Static hit. -X (your Push it).
It's pure and wonderful political incorrectness today, but what about what's cool?
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - 1999
In 1999, with the console near its generational replacement, Activision and Neversoft created a need for us that we did not know we had, and from which we did not know how to live without: Tony Hawk games.
Pro Skater was like Batman Arkham: it doesn't matter if you weren't a fan of skateboarding or you hadn't picked up a board in your life, this game vitiated bad things, it had magic, mastery, everything.
And Neversoft's more gore and hooligan studio logo with impaled eye.
Although the most mythical intro of the series is that of Tony Hawk 4 and AC / DC's TNT, the one of the first game with the Dead Kennedys Police Truck will always be the original
Koudelka - 2000
We have already said that the RPGs of the time were dominated by the FF school - just as the survival horrors drank from Resident Evil.
And Koudelka, the first title from a studio made up precisely of ex-Square members, dared to mix both: In the exploration part it was a Survival horror, in the combat part an S-RPG with its touches of strategy.
With a fully adult story of gothic horror and Victorian imagery, its absolutely hypnotic intro and homage to The Name of the Rose, is one of the buried ones in the history of PlayStation, with an aria almost a cappella that makes the hair stand on end.
Bruce Willis's Apocalypse - 1998
The game was not exactly revolutionary - although its control system was - nor was it long.
And his intro is not the best.
Why do we cite it?
Two words: BRUCE WILLIS.
After seeing some of his films adapted to games -Die Hard Trilogy, Fifth Element- but without having the actor's license, Bruce Willis lent his image and voice to a very intense shooter created by Neversoft.
This is pure adrenaline, and hearing John McClane giggle and fool the enemies a joy, which starts from its first phase from the intro.
Dragon Ball: Final Bout - 1998
Although the intro of Battle 22 was very cool, the epicity unleashed that is the intro of Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout is absolute.
The classic video that you never skipped to go to the initial menu but left it playing, its only sin was that it foreshadowed that the game was going to be equally epic.
And boy it was, epically a ****.
Final Bout has its defenders, it has its detractors, it has people who hate it to death, but if the game is the tare that had to be endured for having that intro, we accept the punishment willingly.
Omega Boost - 1999
Like Resident Evil, other intros used FMV and live action scenes.
Omega Boost did the same thing as Krazy Ivan, real actors with part real scenes - part digitized, but unlike the Soviet joke of the previous one, Omega Boost is still very cool with that great song.
In fact, he is the predecessor and bastard son of Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim and Hideo Kojima's Zone of the Enders.
And signed by Polyphony Digital, yes, the ones from Gran Turismo.
Alundra - 1997
Not all RPGs were only Final Fantasy style, and among them Alundra was a great mix of A-RPG and adventure, with its platforms, exploration, combat, Indiana Jones moments ... An explosive isometric mix with a certainly dark backstory that they made up one of those critically successful and best-selling games - the sequel is radically different in every way, by the way.
The intro is an anime piece that intersperses in-game moments thanks to a dominant guitar rhythm, and one of those that the rock fondly remembers.
Click here to go to Part 2
