The original PlayStation is home to over 3,000 video games, with over 70 being considered Role-Playing Games. From uniquely written masterminds to twisted madmen, this classic era has had various types of generation-defining villains.
This list aims to celebrate 10 of the best villains that originated on PS1, meaning antagonists from enhanced ports of games that originally released on older consoles are not eligible.
Beware! The description of multiple characters on this list may contain major spoilers for their respective games!
10/10 Professor Hojo (Final Fantasy 7)
This mad scientist sees no sanctity in life. Hojo crafted many biological super weapons out of an alien named Jenovah, and has done many questionable experiments on test subjects, including party members like Vincent and Red XIII.
His most evil operation, however, was to experiment on his own son, resulting in the creation of Sephiroth. If not for his twisted definition of science, a large majority of the events that happened in Final Fantasy 7 would not have occurred.
9/10 Orgodemir (Dragon Quest 7: Fragments Of The Forgotten Past)
Despite having basic writing, this demon lord is a very effective main antagonist. He accomplishes his mission of defeating Dragon Quest 7’s benevolent creator god before the game even begins. After nearly 80 hours of time traveling to restore islands that were destroyed by Orgodemir’s underlings, the party finally reaches what appears to be the final fight with the fiend, but that is a mere deception.
Thanks to a sneaky disguise, he manages to trick the party into bringing himself back to life when they return to the present. With most NPCs fooled by his appearance, the party must escape prosecution, while searching for a way to overcome an even stronger incarnation of evil. While Hojo is important to the story of his own game, he is often pushed to the sidelines, while Orgodemir is actually a main antagonist.
8/10 Kuja (Final Fantasy 9)
Kuja has a more depth than Hojo and Orgodemir. He was created to help recycle souls from one planet to another but was deemed a failure by his creator. Players may feel a sense of sympathize with Kuja near the end of the game when he discovers he is incapable of fulfilling the purpose of his own existence.
Kuja also appears at a very consistent pace throughout the story. He feels like a threat that could show up at any moment, rather than only near the very beginning or ends like Hojo and Orgodemir.
7/10 Lynx (Chrono Cross)
Before being taken control of by a supercomputer, Lynx was the father of the protagonist, Serge. The computer forced him to drown his own 7-year-old son in Another World, a parallel dimension. His intimidation factor rises drastically once he reveals that he is capable of switching bodies.
In a surprise scene in the middle of the game, Lynx swaps body with Serge, stabs Kid, and leaves them both for dead. This results in a segment of the game involving the played running around in Lynx’s body. The idea that he could be anyone anywhere is much scarier than anything previously mentioned villains offer.
6/10 Sephiroth (Final Fantasy 7)
Fighting Sephiroth feels a lot more personal than fighting previously mentioned antagonists because it feels like almost every major plot line in Final Fantasy 7 was building up to him. Kuja and Lynx did have connections to a few characters within their games, but Sephiroth has a lot more.
Sephiroth is the son of Hojo and the women Vincent loved, the strongest SOLDIER in Shinra, the person who burned Cloud’s hometown, and Aerith’s murderer. The final fight with him is also one of the most intense final bosses on the system, as his solar system destroying Supernova attack has a nearly 2-minute-long animation.
5/10 Joker (Persona 2: Innocent Sin And Eternal Punishment)
Joker is a cult leader inspired by school ghost rumors. Those that summon him can either get their wishes fulfilled if they have a strong desire or be attacked by him if their heart is weak. Much like Kuja, Joker is considered a failure by his father figure.
While Sephiroth makes few appearances early on and fails at destroying humanity, Joker appears throughout the entire game consistently, and although he does eventually switch sides, his actions as a villain in Innocent Sin eventually lead to the deaths of almost the entirety of humankind.
4/10 Grahf (Xenogears)
Grahf’s body was originally that of the Fei’s previous life, Lacan. After touching the Zohar, he was transformed into a separate entity with the desire to kill the planet’s progenitor god. While his original body died, Grahf’s mind traveled from body to body for hundreds of years until eventually taking control of Fei’s father.
His body-switching powers and parental status is similar to Lynx, but the amount of detail in his backstory is much greater. While Sephiroth mostly uses his mysterious presence and massive sword to intimidate the party, Grahf does so with his intense dialogue and bare hands. His physical strength outclasses that of colossal mechs.
3/10 Luca Blight (Suikoden 2)
Luca backstory may not be as complex as most others on this list, as it mostly boils down to wanting revenge on his father for abandoning his mother, but he excellently proves that deep narrative isn’t necessary for a villain to be incredible. This warmongering general with a twisted sense of humor commits numerous crimes that can strike fear into the hearts of players.
The most popular scene involving Luca includes him ruthlessly committing mass genocide, telling the last survivor he’ll spare her if she acts like a pig, and then killing her even after she does so. Like Grahf, he is a very tanky and intense opponent. It takes an army of heroes fighting Luca all at once to finally defeat him.
2/10 Miang Hawwa (Xenogears)
Miang was one of the first life forms created on the planet seen in Xenogears. Every woman born after her contains a gene that allows Miang to transfer her own soul and memories into their bodies if her current one dies. This makes her an incredibly scary foe, as there’s no practical way of getting rid of her for good. She will always come back in a new body, even potentially having the chance to take over a party member.
Her powers may be similar to Lynx and Grahf, but the details make her exceedingly more dangerous and harder to deal with. She also commits many twisted acts that compare to what Hojo and Luca have done, such as torturing children with psyche-breaking experiments. Additionally, Miang manages to stay relevant until the very end of her game.
1/10 Id (Xenogears)
Sometimes your greatest opponent is yourself. Despite giving dozens of hints, the first half of Xenogears very excellently hides Id’s identity. He is seemingly a juggernaut with secret connections to other villains, but at the halfway point he is revealed to be an alternative personality of the protagonist Fei, or rather they are both alternate personalities created by a boy who suffered a lot of abuse at the hands of Miang.
He is by far the most psychologically focused villain with that storyline alone, yet that is a mere fraction of the depth of his character. Id and Fei’s shared Contact and multiple reincarnation storylines make the backstories of many other characters such as Grahf, a mere fraction of their own lore. There is more complexity and emotion in Id’s storyline than any other villain from this era.