8 Best PS1 Game That Shipped on Multiple Discs

During the early days of CD-based video games, it wasn't uncommon for a title to ship with multiple discs. Games were getting a lot bigger, and a lot more ambitious, which would often require more than one disc in order to achieve the ever-increasing scope of video games.

I've always identified multi-disc games with the original PlayStation, which has a lot to do with the fact that it was the first console I owned that used discs. Many games before that had used multiple CDs, but the practice feels so intrinsically tied to the PlayStation.

Some of the most iconic video games of the 1990s were multi-disc PS1 games. Looking back, those multi-disc games are the ones that I think most people remember more than any other. There was just something so incredibly special about bringing home a game that had more than one disc, and the feelings they created are still worth remembering.

8 The X-Files

The Truth is On Multiple Discs

Growing up in the 1990s with a father who loved crazy, weird sci-fi and paranormal stuff meant that I became a fan of a pretty wide range of content. If you were a child of the 90s, chances are that you too became absolutely, utterly obsessed with the adventures of FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in The X-Files.

Several games based on the TV show have emerged over the years, but one that doesn't really get as much attention is the appropriately named The X-Files. Upon closer inspection, The X-Files Game is much more interactive movie than I think the franchise really needed for a video game, but it's still tremendously fun if you love the show.

Comprised of a whopping four discs, The X-Files is a real treat if you love this show. With a story written by members of the writing staff, overseen by Chris Carter and featuring the return of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, it's one of those games that just speaks to me on a very deep, personal level.

7 Chrono Cross

One of Many Multi-Disc JRPGs

JRPGs on multiple discs were staggeringly common in the 1990s. It almost made the rare single-disc JRPG feel like something was off, as the multiple CDs gave each game a sense of importance that no other game could ever come close to.

I have a lot of love for Chrono Trigger, but I firmly believe that Chrono Cross is just as good, if not better in some ways. The story, writing, music and presentation in Chrono Cross are just phenomenal in every single way.

I love the battle system in Chrono Cross, as well. The pace feels uniquely fast for the era, too, while a lot of games from this time may feel a bit slower when played today. It makes great use of both discs, packing them with richly detailed CG scenes and gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds.

6 Fear Effect

An Innovative Behemoth on Four Discs

I don't think there's any game on the PS1 that's as underrated as Fear Effect. It always felt like one of those games that only I remembered, as no one ever seemed to talk about it.

These days, Fear Effect is starting to finally be given its flowers. It was recently re-released on some modern platforms, but clearly without the magic of the multiple discs.

Playing Fear Effect back in the day felt like you were experiencing the future of video games. It was four total discs, and each one takes up every bit of the standard 700 MB limit for PS1 CDs. It was sleek, stylish and remains one of the most innovative games of its era.

5 Syphon Filter 2

I've Got a Fever For More Discs

The original Syphon Filter came out on a single disc. It wasn't abnormal, as most games on the PS1 were single-disc titles. It didn't feel like less than, but the sequel that released just one year later upped the ante by presenting itself as a two-disc adventure.

Syphon Filter 2 was everything a sequel promises to be. It was bigger, bolder, had more expansive action scenes and included a new playable hero in the form of Lian. I love the original Syphon Filter, but the sequel is a PS1 masterpiece.

It feels a lot better to play, as the shooting has been refined in a way that makes it feel immediately more satisfying, as well as more fun to engage with. There's a ton of cool new weapons, and the scope of the game is genuinely incredible for a PS1 game. The bridge level alone shows how adept this team was at combining stealth, action and high-stakes CG cutscenes.

4 Resident Evil 2

The Power of Two

It seemed like a rite of passage for a PS1 game to get a sequel that expanded the disc count. While the first Resident Evil game restricted its zombie survival adventure to one disc, the sequel made good on the number two. It wasn't just a title.

Resident Evil 2 features two playable protagonists, two unique campaigns and, of course, two discs. One disc includes Leon S. Kennedy on his first day as a rookie cop in Raccoon City, while the other features Claire Redfield on the hunt to find her missing brother Chris.

What's really cool about RE2 is the zapping system. A choice you make on one disc can affect the hero on the second, where taking items and weapons will make them unavailable to you in the other character's adventure. It was a brilliantly unique system, made more tangible by the game's use of two discs.

3 Parasite Eve

A Compelling Mash-Up Requiring Two Discs

Survival horror JRPGs never quite took off the way they truly deserved. Parasite Eve is remembered as a great game, but the mash-up of Final Fantasy and Resident Evil hasn't become as ubiquitous as other genre combinations of this era would later.

Looking back, no matter how many times I replay Parasite Eve, I'm continuously stunned by its brilliance. It's so utterly fantastic in ways that I don't think anyone has fully realized yet, as its combat and systems are all wonderfully designed.

Its themes of motherhood and fate are stupendously done. The way it weaves those themes in and out of each chapter is genuinely fabulous, and it was able to cram quite a bit of content into two PlayStation discs.

Insert DISC 2

It's hard to imagine a game that represents the PS1 era's ties to multi-disc games more than Metal Gear Solid. Whenever I think of a PS1 game with multiple discs, it's always Metal Gear Solid.

It helps that the opening of the game feels like a playable action movie, complete with opening credits and a cinematic mood that's tough to beat. MGS1 genuinely feels like you have been dropped into the middle of a spy movie, pitting you against an army of enemy soldiers armed with nuclear weapons.

The multiple discs are so important to the game's legacy, that the Master Collection version of MGS1 emulates this by having you insert a digital second disc when you begin your descent into the underground base. It was one of those era-defining moments back in 1998, and it's a part of the original game's core identity in so many ways.

1 Final Fantasy 7

Square's Biggest Adventure Yet

Following their very public, and rather nasty, split with Nintendo, Square would team up with Sony to produce Final Fantasy 7 for the PS1. Its use of three total discs felt enormous back then, because while it wasn't the first PS1 game to use multiple discs, it was the first time a JRPG needed three.

The memories attached to that are a part of what makes this game as special to me as it is, and I suspect with others, as well. Final Fantasy 7 felt like it was more than just a JRPG. The multiple discs made it feel more important than any other game in the world. In a way, that was quite true back then.

The cutting-edge CG cutscenes, which were animated and produced with the same technology used to create big-budget Hollywood films of the day, are still just so much fun to look at. Between that and the incredibly detailed pre-rendered backgrounds, it's impossible to deny just how important and monumental FF7's three distinct discs were.