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> Here's some background. I grew up all my life as a Nintendo bloke.

If you played Nintendo games mostly (or N64 more so) expect a different feel to the games. The standout hits have an edgy, mature appeal to them... even the colorful platformers. There are some multi-plats between the PS1 and N64, but the differences in hardware made very different libraries of games. The large disk space of PlayStation CDs and the cheap CD format itself made it more desirable for 3rd-party developers, so if you are going to collect, expect lots of varity of good quality games. That being said, don't be afraid to try out different genres of games, you are sure to find greatness anywhere. Good luck.

> First of all, as seasoned PS1 experts, do you have any recommendations on controller/memory card/wire brands? That's one thing.

For Controllers, I recommend at least one of each of the standard ones. "The Non-Analog/D-Pad Only" style is perfect for Platformers and RPGs that don't really utilize analog anyway. Even for games before 1998 that don't have analog I'd recommend playing with this controller since using an Analog Controller-type controller's d-pad feels weird being that those kind of controllers were designed for analog games.

Speaking of analog controllers, don't skip on "The Dual Analog Controller". It was the first one for PlayStation and most people don't even remember it since it was only in stores for like 8 months or something. It can be a little pricey/hard to find, but not anymore expensive than any Xbox 360 pad out there. It's a great controller and also an interesting artifact since it's design is much bigger than anything Sony's ever made. Plus, it has concave sticks, something Sony didn't do again until the Dual-Shock 4 controller. It's my favorite controller to play with, but with only downside: no rumble...

...But that's what the "Dual-Shock 1" remedies. It's something I imagine you have already played with, so nothing new here. Just the most well-rounded controller out of the whole bunch; all kinds of color designs to pick from.

If you want a Light Gun, go Namco. there isn't any official Sony Light Gun, but the Namco one is the better quality one and the most common one out there.

As for anything else (Fighting Stick, Driving Wheel, Flight-stick, etc.) I'll leave that up to you since I don't own any and don't know much about them.

For Memory Cards, there really isn't much to pick from. 1MB (or 15 blocks of memory) is all there is to pick from for size. I'd recommend getting 4 or 5 in bulk on eBay or something. Only because some games saves take up more than just 1 block out of the 15.

For Wires/Connectors, same as the cards... not much to pick from. Some extender cables for the controllers would be good if your playing from far away but as for video cables standard Composite is the best image quality your going to get... unless you can get RGB Scart or something like that to work with it. There's no Component you can get for it as the system doesn't support 480 resolution. I'd recommend hooking it up to a CRT TV instead of an HDTV if possible.

> Second of all, and the most important, what games do you recommend?

> Anyway, I like platformers. And I like open world games where you get to jump about and collect items and whatnot. Love the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

Well then Crash Bandicoot is right up your alley! Classic platformer and Sony's mascot during the PS1 era. The first game can be expensive, but the second and third games are cheaper and the third supports analog. More of the same in each iteration but some extras thrown in. Also get Rayman. It's a launch title from way back in 1995, and hard as hell. I haven't played the second, but from what I hear it's pretty solid. Spyro The Dragon is another classic Sony mascot from this time. Just like Crash, there's a second and a third game with same-y gameplay with extras. That series of games is more like an open-world game compared to Crash though.

> I also have a fond appreciation for racing games.

Well there's the flagship racing franchise for Sony: Gran Turismo. It's more like a deep racing sim that can be slow to get into, but ends up being very addicting to play. For a more standard racing experience, Ridge Racer is a good one. It's actually the oldest game on the system, launching way back 1994 in Japan. there's also 3 sequels: Revolution, Rage, and R4. Crash Team Racing is like a Mario Kart clone and a pretty good one too.

> I love Street Fighter games, but I don't really know any other great fighting series.

Besides the Alpha games that you listed, there's also the Collection 1 & 2 games. that contain near-perfect Arcade ports of a handful of Street Fighter games. Be wary, they can be hard to find/expensive. Assuming your a Street Fighter fan, I'd also assume you don't like Mortal Kombat all the much, but if you want to get a game, go with Mortal Kombat Trilogy. It's basically a mash-up of the first three games characters in the third game's style. The Tekken series is also a good classic. It's not a tight 2-D fighter with the same level of technical mastery, but a ton of fun to play. the first game comes with Galaga, and the third is loaded with content and unlockables. However I have a very personal hardcore recommendation: Bushido Blade. remember how I said you should explore different genres? this is a good start. It's a fighting game with one-hit kills and a very tight movement system with a variety of weapons to pick from. Super competitive to play with a friend, and tons of fun.

> I've looked on the standard "50 best games" lists on the net, but none of them seem to really satisfy me.

Like I said before, don't be afraid to try new things. You had put in your list Final Fantasy 7 which is a great RPG and should be played at least once, but the PS1 had tons and tons of great RPGs on it. If you have plenty of time (and money in some cases regarding the rarity of some of these games) try out some other RPGs such as Vagrant Story, Suikoden, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, and Grandia just to name a few.

Besides that I have a few more personal recommendations based on my preferences:

• Metal Gear Solid: huge fanboy here. A game you have to play at least once. classic game with a great, timeless story. the gameplay hasn't aged all that well, but the stealth works well and the boss battles are great. My personal favorite on the system; I have beat it at least a dozen times or so.
  
• Tenchu: Stealth Assassins: Just like MGS, it's a stealth game, but with much better freedom of movement and mechanics. Hiding in the shadows, and moving slowly wins over blunt force. almost as good as Thief on PC in terms of raw stealth gameplay at the time.
  
• Resident Evil: Great series of tank-control style horror games. If you get pasted the awful voice-acting and get used to the tank controls, it's a lot of fun (well, if your into inventory management).
  
• Silent Hill: An alternative to RE; much more better to control, and much more atmospheric. Genuinely terrifying.
  
• Twisted Metal: A power-trip of exploding vehicles. One of the most "raw-fun" games I've every played; go for the first and second games; avoid the third and forth (the original devs split up and a sports game studio made the last two on PS1).
  
• Final Fantasy: Anthology/Chronicles/Origins : These three game compilations contains all but one (FF3) of the classic FF games with updated 2-D graphics plus it contains Chrono Trigger.
  
• DOOM & FINAL DOOM: My username says it all... but really these are the best console ports of DOOM in my opinion. no music; just ambiance and a dark atmosphere with great lighting effects.
  
• Wipeout: Futuristic racing game series similar to F-Zero, but much harder. All the games have great licensed soundtracks of some excellent 90's EDM (Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, etc.). XL/2097 and 3 look great after all these years.
  
• Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver: Similar to MGS when it comes to voice acting (great), it's a dark and macabre action/adventure game with puzzle solving and gripping story (AKA actual cool vampires, not Twilight or Halloween Dracula)
  
• Medal Of Honor & Medal Of Honor Underground: The best FPS games on the PS1 by far (not saying much when compared to the PC and N64 FPSs at the time) Still great to play but you might have to get used to the controls a bit.
  
  I hope this wall of text helps you on your collecting endeavors. Happy Hunting!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

the ones by mad catz were pretty good, but I dunno if you can get one of them in good condition easily nowadays and they had analog sticks

there was also an ascii pad digital controller that was pretty good:

https://www.amazon.com/Agetec-ASCII-Pad/dp/B00001ZUTO

It can be very tricky to get PS1’s to recognize and boot burned discs. After a lot of trial and error, I found that getting Verbatim discs like this were working best for me:

Verbatim CDRs

I tried a few other brands with mixed success. Also the burn speed matters, the slower you can record the disc is better. I found an old CD burner on eBay and now can burn at 1x speed over USB.

So I had to invest a little bit into this combination but it’s working for me now.

You could also try slight adjusting the potentiometer on the laser to get burned CDs to read better on your PS1. Make sure to only adjust it in very small increments so that you don’t mess it up. There are some YouTube tutorials that could help.

I know it's already solved but I want to share my setup with you guys!

I use these to plug both my PS2 and PS1 on a SAMSUNG 20" Monitor Screen:

https://www.amazon.com/Tomee-S-Video-Cable-PS3-PlayStation-3/dp/B010CAZVBA

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009OMYHJU

And I use an RCA to P2 adapter to plug it on a JBL sound box.

For a supreme image, I only use the S-Video cable.

I found a bunch of extension cables from a google search:

PlayStation 2 Controller Extension Cable

Mad Catz Controller Extension Cable for PlayStation

6 ft. PS2 Controller Extension Cable

Extension Cable (PS2/PSX/PSone)

It looks like they're out there, and that what works for the PS2 will work for the PS1 and vice versa - but I'd ask the seller to make sure if it's not indicated just to be sure.

>What are you going to play first? R4 was a great game. I remem

every disk i have is hard to reading because have a lot of scratches, look it that

https://www.amazon.com/JFJ-Video-Blu-Ray-Repair-Machine/dp/B000RBE4B8

Good. So I take it you found a cable? If not, try something like this, I'm sure you could find something similar cheaper. You can use it as a IDE HDD or CD drive enclosure.

Go with something like this. Having composite and S-Video in the same cable can cause interference.

I'm not exactly sure, but think these would work as well: https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-PlayStation-2-Cordless-Action-Controller/dp/B0001VNNE8

If you are on a budget, my choice for a converter was Portta RCA to HDMI converter

Its not the best but its sufficient from my experience. Supports both NTSC and PAL, S-video, RCA and it has a button to toggle between upscaled 720p and 1080p. Input lag isnt too bad (I remember it was about on par with most TV's internal converters) and artifacts are not bad and mostly only relevant with PS2 games. Keeping the option at 720p might help out a little bit.

Minuses would be that the power cord is short and the sound conversion is only serviceable. I connect the sound jacks directly to speakers/amplifier.

This box also directly stretches to 16:9, so if that bothers you, you either want to squeeze it back on the TV side, or just ignore it.

https://www.amazon.com/ADAPTOR-SCPH-113-ADAPTER-PLAYSTATION-PSONE/dp/B001DIFV98 hope this helps man, but this should work

There are many types of RGB cable, but I'm assuming you want a SCART cable? I'd go with Retro Gaming Cables, Retro Access, or Insurrection Industries.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002ROGCPE/ref=mp_s_a_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1525664085&sr=8-11&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=3+disc+jewel+case

What country?
This is cheap, 3 british pounds, this is the one I bought the other day.

Try Amazon Around 20 bucks for a used one.

This one works, I use it with my Plextor external IDE:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UO6C5S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You should get one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Interact-DexDrive-Play-Station-One-PS1/dp/B00000K4EI/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=playstation+Dex+Drive&qid=1556885751&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spell

This --> https://www.amazon.com/Tomee-S-Video-Cable-PS3-PlayStation-3/dp/B010CAZVBA/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=ps1+to+s-video+cable&qid=1565190385&s=gateway&sr=8-2

No don't use toothpaste.... Get one of these. There cheep and easy to use and way less harsh.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027SFPIA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Note a game of this age may have disk rot and any repair might not help.

These Verbatim ones. I've heard some people say bad things about Verbatim CD-Rs, so maybe they have other, lower-quality discs out there. But I can vouch for these ones. Never have any problems.

I would have sworn that they did. I found this on ebay, but have no way to confirm that it is OEM. I know there was a car adapter though because I have one and used it on many vacations.