Yesterday the full 20 games that will be featured on the PlayStation Classic were announced to a mixed reception. Some love the games presented, some are questioning what Sony is thinking, and others are stuck in the middle, slightly conflicted about the games list. Consider me in that middle group.
Before I continue, let’s actually list the games, so we know what we’re dealing with here (in the United States, anyway):
- Battle Arena Toshinden
- Final Fantasy VII
- Intelligent Qube
- Metal Gear Solid
- Tekken 3
- Jumping Flash!
- Mr. Driller
- R4: Ridge Racer Type 4
- Resident Evil: Director’s Cut
- Revelations: Persona
- Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
- Wild Arms
- Cool Boarders 2
- Destruction Derby
- Grand Theft Auto
- Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
- Rayman
- Syphon Filter
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
- Twisted Metal
Right, I’m not going to go over every game. I’m just not. There’s a bit too much here to go over – too many variables with the games in question. What you have to remember is that this was an odd time in gaming – a period where games really began to diversify as 3D really took off. Some titles, like Final Fantasy VII, are so ubiquitous, even being an RPG which is normally a niche class of game, that they are forever associated with the success of the PlayStation. By comparison, a game like Jumping Flash, while being a good enough launch title and really showing off the 3D capabilities of the system never really stuck with most players.
You have relatively odd titles like Persona – a damn fine RPG, don’t get me wrong, but one that’s even more niche than Final Fantasy VII could ever be, mixed in with a game everyone seems to like, such as Twisted Metal mixed in with something most people have never heard of, like Intelligent Qube. Sure, Intelligent Qube is a fun little puzzle game, but how many people actually played it back in the day? How many will regard it as a major part of their time with the PlayStation? Not many, I’d think.
The original Grand Theft Auto as well will probably disappoint many who get this console who don’t know what it’s like – almost a completely different world from even what Grant Theft Auto III was on the PlayStation 2, let alone what the games are like today. It’s a great game, sure, but many people may well gripe about it if they don’t know what they are in for.
Then there’s an absolute classic like Metal Gear Solid – honestly a bit of a late title to have on a system of this design if you ask me, but one of those games I absolutely adore and welcome on such a system. This too, however, might rub some people the wrong way given how relatively different it is to modern entries. Of course, someone buying such a console for classic games should expect, well, classic games, but the gaming populace these days isn’t always the brightest.
Probably the biggest odd-man-out in this list is Rainbow Six. Why? Just why? Is it because the series is pretty popular now with games like Rainbow Six Seige? Same as above, you’re going to have quite a few people turned off by the archaic gameplay. By comparison, another shooter on this list, Syphon Filter, holds up fine today – dated, sure, but completely serviceable and enjoyable.
Of course, this is all incredibly subjective, but that’s just it – the console has some good titles on it, and some that may appeal to certain people, but where are the ones we know most everyone would love? Spyro and Crash, for example? I could think of a few reasons for these two series, in particular, to be missing, but I won’t go into that here.
What I remember the Playstation for isn’t what you may remember it for – the games I’d want certainly may not be the same you would want, and considering the massive library the system had, well, you have to wonder what games out of 20 really could make most everyone happy.
I’m just surprised on the relative lacking in 3rd party hits – you have Metal Gear, but why no Castlevania? No Street Fighter Alpha 3, but Puzzle Fighter? I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
I don’t know what to say here, really – this whole list is just. well, what it is. To be fair, the $100 cost of the console is FAR less than buying all these games for the actual PlayStation console – Persona alone breaks $100, so that’s debatably worth the purchase price itself if you are after that title – but still, for what it is and the games on it it may, in the long run, not be worth it for everyone.
I’ll leave that decision up to you, of course. As I said, I can’t even decide really what I think on this – the whole list is just, well, random to me. Nothing on here is really terrible, I think, but there also isn’t that much that truly stands out beyond some possible nostalgia. Quite a bit of middle of the road content, really. Of course, Japan got a slightly different list which I think is a little better and I could go over in detail, but I think I’ve said what I need to already, at this stage – to me it’s all just kind of “meh.”
More to come, as always.
https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/playstation-classic/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Classic