The Link Cable

The link cable is a forgotten peripheral that allowed PS1 gamers to hook two PS1 systems with two copies of a game that supports it for multiplayer action. Essentially, it was an early version of Lan play that would later be made famous by the Xbox with Halo.

When I say Lan, I mean networked play that allowed you to play multiplayer with two TVs two PS1 consoles, and two copies of the game, and not networked like Xband on the Genesis/Snes, and later Saturn Netlink which allowed online play.

Though the Jaguar port of Doom supported a similar link cable for netwrok play prior, the PS1 Link cable did it better, and was more widely supported than what the Jag had. That being said, it wasn't quite supported enough. Only a handful of games ever supported it. The market at the time wasn't quite ready for console Lan play.

In the end, the Link cable is more of a curiosity for PS1 enthusiast than a must-have accessory. I'm guessing that's why so few games supported it. It was a novel idea, and was ahead of it's time in many ways, but has been long forgotten over the years. If you've got two PS1s (two old grey model systems because the PSOne systems don't have the port for the link cable), two copies of any game that supports it, a friend or two (that you can't buy with money) then hunt down a link cable for some multiplayer madness in games like Doom, and Final Doom which offer deathmatch, and even better, coop play.


Here is a list of Games that support the Link Cable according to an old FAQ submitted by Gamefaqs user NWorth:

Andretti Racing
Armored Core [C]
Armored Core: Project Phantasma [C]
Assault Rigs
Bogey Dead 6 [C]
Burning Road [S]
Bushido Blade [C]
Bushido Blade 2 [C]
Blast Radius [C]
CART World Series [S]
Command & Conquer: Red Alert [C]
Command & Conquer: Red Alert/ Retaliation [C]
Coolboarders 2 [C]
Cyberspeed
Decent
Decent: Maximum
Destruction Derby [C]
Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown [C]
Doom [C]
Final Doom [S]
Formula 1 [S]
Formula 1 '98
Formula 1: Championship Edition
Grand Tour Racing
Grand Tour Racing '98 [C]
Grid Runner [Possible Problems]
Independence Day
Krazy Ivan [S]
Micro Machines V3 [Possible Problems]
Motortoon Grand Prix [C]
Need For Speed [S]
Red Asphalt [C]
Ridge Racer Revolution [C]
R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 [C] (you'll need 2 copies of disc 1)
Return Fire II
Rogue Trip [C]
Robotron X
Test Drive 4 [C]
Test Drive: Off Road [C]
Twisted Metal 3 [C]
Toca 2
Wipeout [C]
Wipeout XL [C]
Wipeout 3 [C]
Streak Hoverboard Racing [S]
San Francisco Rush [C]
Dead In The Water [C]

The [C] and the [S] behind them means that either he or another member have personally tested the link cable on the games.

Note: Command & Conquer: Red Alert and Retaliation make using it easier, because they are two disk games to begin with, so just put one disk into each PS1 console.