Koby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGrV...youtu.be&t=280

RichC2

The only thing that will help it now is the modding community. It runs pscsx rearmed a little better than my Pi so that's interesting, but the fact it's using poor versions of games with open source emulation makes it more pathetic.

Oddly tho, I'm happy with mine. But I know I overpaid.

slop101

Good. These companies can get complacent and high off their own farts, and need to learn to actually put some work into a product (especially at this price point). Pretty sure they shit-canned whoever decided to cheap out on this thing, unless the decision was from the very top (which I would doubt), then the blame will be spread all around.

Noonan

Agree. Like Fallout/Bethesda, this needs to be a message to Sony. They clearly thought that just the idea of the classic PS1 would have them fly off the shelf, regardless of the content they loaded. Consumers are telling them that they were wrong.

RichC2

I think content is debateable, I'm mostly happy with the line-up here -- though obviously most here aren't, what I can't get over is how poorly the content is presented.

With that said, Rainbow Six is still a huge head scratcher.

Noonan

Yeah; I guess I didn't word it well. Content meant both the games as well as the horrible emulation/PAL versions. Either way, I will forever shame them for not including Tony Hawk 2.

RichC2

Tony Hawk 2 wouldn't have made it purely because of the soundtrack. And it wouldn't be the same without it.

Of course, Sega could release it on a Dreamcast Classic and prove me wrong. In fact they should.

Mike86

I wonder if some people aren’t as nostalgic for the PS1 as Sony thought too. I mean the games just really don’t look very good mostly and playing them on an HD tv is going to really show how bad they’ve aged. The old Nintendo graphics I think fare better as it just seem like a style of the era whereas PS1 was supposed to be more cutting edge at the time but just now looks shitty.

Noonan

Time to go listen to some Public Enemy

slop101

There's a ton of reasons why this thing is a failure....

- no real nostalgia for these games
- games have not aged well (or as well as 16-bit, or even 8-bit games)
- poor selection of said games
- poor implementation of hardware/games
- price point

If it was any one or two of those thing, there wouldn't be much issue. But all of that together, and they royally fucked this thing up.

RichC2

Emulator Settings Menu:


Well thanks to the lack of effort, at least this thing will be hacked and gutted in no time. 2 USB controller ports + Mini USB on the back leaves options pretty wide open, I imagine you'll be able to plug a hdd and other USB-based controllers into it soon. I actually like that the Gamepads are USB, gives authenticity when using Mednafen.

I didn't realize the only game that required dual shock on the PSX was Ape Escape.

robin2099

Guess I'm in the minority. I saw two on the shelf at my local Best Buy and no more. I also did not see any at Wal-Mart.


Basically. When people think of the PSX, I would venture more often than not the games people typically think of are Final Fantasy 7, Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid. While it does have some headscratchers in there, so did the NES classic and to a lesser extent so did the SNES classic. At the end of the day, there was close to 800 games released for the PSX. A lot of games were going to be left out.


Tony Hawk could never be included because of licensing issues( songs, brand names etc.) which is the same reason Gran Tourismo could not be included.

There is plenty of nostalgia for it. A lot of people(myself included) have nostalgia for the PSX. Hell if you got one when you were 10, then you would be in your 30's now. So there is definitely nostalgia. And the ability to replay those games and the nostalgia of it is worth more to most people than how they look compared to today.


There is definite nostalgia for the big name games included. Yes there might not be much nostalgia for Intelligent Cube, but how many people bought an NES classic for Balloon Fight?


Have you played some of the old 16 bit games? You could make a point that maybe graphics wise they haven't aged well, but gameplay wise they have. They have aged a hell of a lot better than the 8bit and 16 bit games with ridiculous difficulty, cryptic hints/no direction and frustrating gameplay elements.

They had the big hiters of the PSX in Resident Evil, FF7, MGS, Twisted Metal, Tekken 3 and Syphon Filter. They do have head scratchers, but it seems that the mini-console was based on the idea of have the heavy hitters and then fill out some spots with stuff that is not as good.

Yeah can't defend this one. Not sure how that got screwed up.


I think the price point is just fine for what you get, but I will confess that I probably would have only had one controller instead of 2.

Mike86

I just think nostalgia only factors in so much. A lot of the games from the era just haven’t aged well. From looking poor to awkward controls to poor camera angles. The N64 is guilty of the same issues too if you ask me. I grew up when both consoles were in their primes too so I should be prime target for this. It also doesn’t help that the game selection just isn’t very great and the fact that this seems like a half-assed release. I think older games have aged well because they’re almost like classic animation. They’re just a different style of game but overall they still look good. The PS1/N64 era is the young stages of trying to be 3D and as such shows growing pains.

Decker

The remastered Spyro and Crash games are so fantastic, I couldn't possibly go back to playing the originals. The choppy frame rates make the games so much harder to play now. I'm much more nostalgic for the fantastic game and character design than the terrible textures and frame rates of the original versions. Give me the remastered versions any day of the week.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aNiIh9CALEA" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ImIyIaLccSE" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Mike86

Yeah, there are definitely good PS1 games I’m not saying there aren’t at all. The Crash and Spyro games are great but both benefit greatly from being remastered. Same with things like Super Mario 64 and the Zelda games which were re-done on 3DS.

Decker

My point (which I wasn't very good at actually making) was that while the GAMES may be great, the PS1 system is so antiquated and the old D pad controller so awkward for navigating 3D space that the games are pretty much unplayable with the old system.
We might be nostalgic for the old games but not really the PS1 versions.

My advice to anyone who was wanting to pick this up is to go buy those two remasters instead.

slop101

Couldn't disagree more.
I've actually never stopped playing 16-bit games. And the 2D sprites of those look far, FAR better than the rudimentary polygons from PS1 games. Sure, PS1's 2D games, like Symphony of the Night look great, but those were few and far in between, because Sony was pushing for 3D games at the time.
Saturn games have aged better because it had some great 2D games.
Early 3D game are very rough, especially now.

fumanstan

I'm with slop here. All the reasons mentioned previously are why I cancelled my order, and completely agree that the 8 bit and 16 bit games have aged significantly better. There's some exceptions, and some combo 2D/3D games work ok with simplified polygons (Final Fantasy VII is still very playable for me), but generally it's rough to go back to the majority of the big hits during that PS1/N64 era for me.

DVDTalker76

I don't agree with early 3D having aged badly as a rule. The N64 has aged horrifically to my eye. Good PS1 games, not at all. They have a higher polygon count, no Vaseline blur, and no "fog" hiding low-poly pop-in. They look better now for the same reasons they looked better back then.

Sony would have had perfectly healthy demand for this thing if they'd just done it right. I'd agree no one has nostalgia on their side more than Nintendo, but there's still plenty for the PS line.

Mike86

I actually think some of the N64 stuff fares slightly better to be honest. Just because there’s a lot more hit games featuring more animated/cartoony characters, whereas PlayStation went for realism more often. I mean on N64 you’ve got all the core Nintendo first party games as well as stuff like Banjo-Kazooie, Bomberman 64, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, and others. The games can still be clunky, but that cartoonish style lends itself to the games looking better. On the PlayStation there aren’t as many examples of ones that stand out to me. There’s the Crash series, the Spyro series, the Rayman series, and Ape Escape.

mattysemo247

Jesus, they really dropped the ball on this thing. Literally every other game on this list would be better than what's on this turd.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/...e-files/?amp=1

fumanstan

Yeah, although hard to say if any of these titles really had a chance to make it to the final release. I wonder if Sony had a lot of these games in early testing/development but hit road blocks when they actually went to get approval or licensing to actually add them.

andicus

Amazon Canada has made the brilliant move of making it a Prime Only purchase. Yeah, because it's in such hot demand.

On top of that, the NES classic is in stock, $50 cheaper.

Decker

I do imagine that demand for the NES Classic has fallen off a cliff since you can play those games for free if you have a Switch and their $20/yr online service.

The Questyen

Their is a small overlap of the games they have available on the Switch online service but the majority of games on the Classic are not on there.