Last month, Sony announced they were going to get in on the classic console craze by releasing the PlayStation Classic. At the time, they only announced five of the twenty games that would be available for the system, but the miniature console carried a steep $100 price tag, $20 more than the Super Nintendo Classic Edition. But I decided to withhold judgment until the full lineup was announced. Today, we have that full lineup and it’s disappointing:
- Battle Arena Toshinden
- Cool Boarders 2
- Destruction Derby
- Final Fantasy VII
- Grand Theft Auto
- Intelligent Qube
- Jumping Flash
- Metal Gear Solid
- Mr Driller
- Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
- Rayman
- Resident Evil Director’s Cut
- Revelations: Persona
- Ridge Racer Type 4
- Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
- Syphon Filter
- Tekken 3
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
- Twisted Metal
- Wild Arms
Yes, there are some bona fide classics on there like Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, and Tekken 3. But where’s Tomb Raider? Where’s PaRappa the Rapper? Where’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? Where’s Crash Bandicoot, who was literally Sony’s mascot for the PlayStation at the time?
I get that there are licensing issues and things of that nature, but it looks like Sony kind of dropped the ball here (seriously, how do you not have Castlevania: Symphony of the Night). At $100, you should arguably be trying to move the classic console forward rather than just emulating Nintendo’s emulators. If Sony had come out with a console that had some pre-installed game and then a way to add other PS1 classics, I’d say they had merited the $100. Obviously, some industrious gamers will hack the system to do just that, but for the casual consumer—the kind of person this kind of product is geared towards—Sony has fallen short. I could maybe see picking this thing up for $60 or maybe $70, but at $100 and with some serious omissions, it’s hard to see how this is worth recommending.
If you're still interested in the PlayStation Classic, it will be on sale on December 3rd.
