WipEout 2097 was my first WipEout. Its soundtrack is etched in my memory and is, for me, the greatest videogame soundtrack ever. It defined my tastes in music, even when I strayed away from electronic towards metal. But my absolute favorite memories were on Wip3out, especially the Special Edition.
Everything about this game is perfect. It’s incredibly beautiful, fluid and fast for a PS1 game. The classical physics are refined to perfection. The Designer’s Republic have done their best job ever at designing the identity of this game. The soundtrack is great. The tracks are varied and a breath of fresh air after the industrial-design-fest of 2097.
It has the most content of any classic WipEout. 8 new tracks, 8 tracks remade from WipEout and WipEout 2097, 6 prototype tracks including two with a mysterious proto-“Zone” ship, all the classic teams and new ones for varied gameplay…
I fell in love again. I hadn’t touched this game in almost 25 years and I love it as much, if not even more than before. I’ve been a lifelong WipEout fan, I’ve since done and enjoyed them all (except Fusion. Fuck you you ugly-ass bastard), I’ve spent hours on BallisticNG just to scratch that itch. But WipEout 3 Special Edition is and forever will be my love.
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RIP Psygnosis; you were the Gods of the PS1 era and were totally done dirty by Sony shortly thereafter.
My student gave me a few of her old PS1 games because she knows I like retro gaming. What’s the best way to play these games next to buying a used PS1 console? Is there an emulator on a PC that will let me run these discs?
If buying an old PlayStation is doable for you I’d absolutely recommend it! It’s the best way to really get a feel of the games and the era, rather than the games feeling simply like a retro-style game on your new computer.
Do keep in mind you need VGA or AV plugs to connect it to the TV, not HDMI or DP
I remember ePSXe had that option, though it’s been a long while since I used it - and I’m not sure if it’s still maintained/recommended as a PS1 emulator.
I know that EmuDeck and RetroDeck include DuckStation as the PS1 emulator - but for obvious reasons (Steam Deck lacks an ODD), I’ve only ever loaded images off it.
As a kid in the 90s, I was instructed not to tell everyone that my house had two screens, two Playstations, two copies of Wipeout and a link cable. It’s kinda bizarre how we never actually got that good at it, although the fact that killing each other was more fun than racing probably had a lot to do with it.
“Oh, honey, he’s teasing you. Nobody has two television sets.”
I loved the hell out of Wipeout HD/Fury from PS3. One of the games they gave away after the huge PSN outage
This post reminded me I gotta play Wipeout: Omega that I got for PS4/5
Man I love Wipeout.
Gotta admit though, PS1 era graphics are too dated for me. I tend to stick to PS2 onwards. I do play a lot of Wipeout Pure and Wipeout Pulse for the PSP and those have been great.
Wip3out looks modern enough on the Steam Deck. 3x upscale + MSAA + texture filtering + no filtering on sprites to keep the menus and HUD crisp. It looks barely older than Pure.
Have you tried upscaling with Duckstation?
I thought I did. I’ll fire it up again sometime and double check. Wipeout on the PS1 gets praised enough for me to give it another shot.
PS1 and N64 were so early in the days of 3D gaming. I play older games but I’m usually looking for pixel graphics or 2D games. PS2 was the console of my childhood and my mind is anchored in looking for at least that sort of 3D quality.
Wipeout 3 was a perfect expression of the series’ formula on 32-bit consoles. Everything felt so much more fluid, sharp visuals, a nice variety of tracks and vehicles. Now I want to go back and play it…
WipEout 3 is my favourite game of all time. I love this game so much. Mega Mall flying Assegai with Sashas Xpander track playing. perfect. I can play that for hours on end.
For me it’s P-Mar Project with AG-Systems, Control by MKL.
I’m still so very sad that Special Edition never made its way to North America. What a banger.
I have very fond memories of this game also. And your post made me realise this is another title that I’m missing from my collection… damn
I take your post now as the motivation to finally give it a try 😊
The only reason I was ever mad I never owned a PS.
I loved that game so much. And yeah the soundtrack defined me tastes as well.
