Great PlayStation Exclusive Games You Cannot Buy Anymore

The long line of PlayStation consoles and their portable siblings has given rise to some of the best titles on the market today, many of which (for better or worse) are exclusive to the PlayStation family of consoles.

It can be a bit of a double-edged sword with these more obscure exclusive titles, or even some cult classic titles that simply never got revived, as the fast-digitizing world of gaming media has left these physical copies to malinger away. PlayStation’s considerable backlog of exclusive games have left many titles off the shelves for good — and a few of these titles were, frustratingly, some incredibly high quality games.

5 Crimson Sea 2

A Celebrated Sequel In An Interesting Setting

• Systems: PlayStation 2
• Publisher: Koei
• Developer: Koei
• Release Date: 2004

Crimson Sea as a series has made a rather interesting, if somewhat convoluted, jump. The title exclusive to Xbox for its first installment, and then became exclusive to the PlayStation 2 for its sequel. Many things remain from the original title, such as the ability to play as Sho, the dedicated detective and soldier from the first title. Joining Sho is a new female playable character, Feanay, who trades out the slow and heavy hits of Sho for a more agile playstyle.

This is a fast-paced action shooter with a lot of fascinating ways to change attack styles and use new techniques to mow down hordes of alien enemies. There isn’t much follow up from the first game besides the protagonist and setting, which means anyone lucky enough to stumble onto a physical copy of this will be set to get right into the game. This title actually has a lot of nuance and subtext for what is a flashy game with explosions in space, and while the action will pull players in, like a lot of good sci-fi games, the story will keep them there.

4 Silent Hill

This Monolithic Title Set A New Standard For Horror

This still-unsettling title redefined what it meant to be a horror game for an entire generation of players. There are so many moving parts to Silent Hill, and what made it work on a fundamental level as an exploration and horror title — which is ironic considering the uneasy, static nature of the town Silent Hill — is also part of what makes the game so compelling. Harry Mason is a likable, relatable, rational protagonist with the goal of finding his daughter, something that players can get behind.

There is a frequent discussion over the pros and cons of the Silent Hill 2 remake coming down the line, but the first game, while definitely not forgotten by players, does seem content to remain a cultural artifact, with no real way to play it as it’s long been off the shelves. Whether or not players can agree on how the sequels surpassed (or failed to surpass) this original title, no one can argue just how influential Silent Hill has been to the genre.

3 7th Dragon 2020-2

A Hard-Hitting JRPG With Addictive Gameplay And Difficulty

• Systems: PlayStation Portable
• Publisher: Sega
• Developer: Imageepoch
• Release Date: 2013

7th Dragon, as a series, finds itself in a long line of JRPGs that won’t hold the player’s hand. Completing the title to 100% — or at all — is a difficult task. Similar to Crimson Sea 2, this successor title is a sequel to a different console exclusive, but 7th Dragon 2020-2 allows players to jump right in to a party builder JRPG with a lot of fascinating mechanics, similar to JRPGs like Etrian Odyssey but with a distinct neo-modern, cyberpunk-ish style.

The game has some incredible graphics considering its running on the PSP. Its gameplay revolves around slaying monstrous, stylized dragons, and the in-depth combat system really meshes well with the party building. 7th Dragon: Code VFD on the 3DS was a worthy successor to this title, but it doesn’t help the disappointment that this game can’t be bought today. Also, Miku Hatsune shows up at one point, so… there’s that.

2 P.T.

An Infamous Sneak Peek At What Could Have Been

For a while, P.T. took the internet by storm, with every YouTuber and their mother rushing out to play what was supposed to be a ‘playable teaser’ for a new Silent Hill title. What players got was easily one of the most unsettling and disturbing video games to come out of 2014; and all for free, to boot. The game bent the player’s sense of familiarity into something gruesome and awful, with a quaint, suburbian house becoming filled with more and more gruesome displays, underlying a troubling story of abuse.

P.T. was delisted after Hideo Kojima and Konami had some fairly significant (and fairly public) disagreements, leading to Kojima parting ways with the company. Konami further disappointed fans by delisting P.T. and scrapping any plans for the Silent Hill game Kojima had in the works, although without the legendary game director there to give it life, perhaps it’s best Konami left P.T. to drift away like an ominous shadow in a dark hallway. P.T. spiritually lives on through unofficial remakes and Kojima’s vision, but players won’t be able to get their hands on the original title anymore.

1 Bushido Blade

No Health Bars, Only Battle

Bushido Blade was an incredibly unique title at launch, and nearly 30 years later, there are some aspects of it that remain entirely novel. This fighting game doesn’t feature any health bars, instead holding the threat of a single lethal blow above both the player and their opponent’s heads. Featuring a variety of weapons that are each welded differently, playable characters with different stats, and alternate stances to hold each weapon in, this was a high-lethality fighting game with an emphasis on customization.

Not many games have that same level of dedication to realistically-lethal combat packaged in an action-packed story and built around such unique fighting mechanics. This game and its sequel can not be purchased nowadays, which is a shame considering how well some of these innovations would hold up on modern systems.