PlayStation Classic's full game list announced

[FinalBaton]

Alpha 3 is good on the machine(I still play it as it has nostalgic value for me) but it could stand to be a bit more responsive with the controls... the ruleset is not quite right either and there are a decent enough amount of missing animation frames. Saturn one is better for sure

(PS2 SF Alpha Anthology is amazing and the one to get... now if only that fuckin thing outputted 240p instead of 480i Oh well... at least it outputs 480p, and with the Extron Interface "double strike" trick you can get a quite good looking "240p" picture on crt, from the defult 480i mode)

[quash]

https://youtu.be/tpK2BX5V3mU

This thing is a better Playstation Classic than the Playstation Classic.

Who would've thought that Soulja Boy would be the hero gaming needed but didn't deserve?

[Skykid]

Do not understand why you wouldn't just buy an RPi.

[BryanM]

Who would've thought that Soulja Boy would be the hero gaming needed but didn't deserve?

Oi.

We had hardware like the GP2X back in 2005, that could run all these same emulators, but it was also portable. It even set off a trend. (That Pandora console was notable for being a kickblasted product before kickblasting was a thing we really did much of.)

It's pretty bleak these things are barely comparable to what was possible back then.

It's understandable that a system on a chip can't handle PSX2, PSX3, or 3DS emulation. (That frozen in time aspect of them is the biggest big red mark against them, honestly) But it's completely unforgivable this day and age that a pirate corporation would omit PSP emulation. That's not a great move when you're swimming in the wild rapids of the free market.

Soulja gets 1/5 icycalms for not being any better than The Wiz.

[mvsfan]

Amazon just recently dropped the price on these significantly. its now just 69.95.

i guess thats a sign the playstation classic isnt selling.

[Steamflogger Boss]

For a brief time it was $75 plus you got a $25 gift card back. Whenever I am in a store that carries them the display is full. Seems like a struggle.

[bigbadboaz]

Imagine if it eventually drops all the way to $19.95.

I dunno if it will get that far, but I'd pull the trigger on that just for the two controllers.

Whatever rock bottom turns out to be, I'm pleasantly surprised it bombed this hard. Didn't see it coming no matter how bad the prerelease buzz got. But it's nice to see Sony get a real message for turning out such a half-assed copy job.

[cave hermit]

I was at a Best Buy the other day, and there was a whole bottom shelf filled with them selling for $60 a unit; they weren't even behind a glass case like with the Nintendo classics.

Sony can suck a fat one with all their bullshit lately, getting a lotta schadenfreude out of seeing this one unfold.

[bigbadboaz]

for sure. It's been really disappointing to see them revert right back to their early-PS3 behavior as soon as they got back on top.

It bodes badly for the industry as a whole, as well, with them entering a new generation with a near monopoly.

[BryanM]

Do any of you guys think there was any way this could have sold near as well as the Nintendo Classic did?

I just can't picture it. Even if it was the most outrageously impossible pro-consumer fantasy product ever. Even if it had literally every PS1 game ever made on it, to include even translations of games we never got in the region. Even if the MSRP was 60 buckeroos. The console just isn't synonymous with videogames that Super Mario Brothers 1 is.

And I think that's a crucial difference to the plug n' play normie crowd. There's a ton of Nintendo Classic boxes that went to someone's kid or into the hands of a very light gamer. I don't think the playstation brand penetrated much into those markets, has it?

[bigbadboaz]

Probably not. I've said in another thread that I believe only Nintendo carries that very special kind of nostalgic cachet.

It could have sold a hell of a lot better, though, and really should have. The PS brand is huge regardless and they released during the holidays. 1) No more expensive than the SNES, 2) better selection of games, 3) better job on the software inside, and 4) release before Black Friday, not after. All of these are fairly obvious, and would likely have led to a reasonably expected amount of sales.

I'm surprised it bombed this hard, though, between the strength of the brand and the holiday window. You don't typically see companies get this sharp of a comeuppance. It is deserved and gratifying, though, with as obvious of a cynical rush-job this was.

[BrianC]

There was an Atari NOAC plug and play joystick that sold very well, despite having paddle games on it and the ports not being 100% accurate.

[Ed Oscuro]

5) Put decent hardware inside. From what I've seen, the software is actually decent; it's just garbage hardware and they've fiddled with the framerate to try and compromise on frame pacing. It's just that their method is like hitting a piece of wood with a stone and calling it fine carpentry work. Did you guys know that you can access the emulator's settings - including the 50-60Hz setting - by plugging in some regular USB keyboards and hitting Escape?

re: Branding, I think that's basically right, although the timing didn't help it either. It is maybe interesting to wonder how it would have fared if they had branded it as "the Final Fantasy box" or something. It is obvious the "PlayStation brand" just means "place you go to play today's games when you're a console peasant," and once a console is "old" it is considered obsolete and ignored by most users. There's apparently no expectation that there are going to be any timeless, sure-fire classics to play. For sure, the OG PS is one of those generations that's going to age badly if you're trying to sell most of its games on the strength of their 3D.

If anything it is astonishing that it has sold as well as it has, given its flaws. I'd think that there are many disappointed buyers given how bad the performance is.

The Atari unit (not a NOAC, that's a NES-specific term for what's usually just a glob chip) probably did well due to hitting an even more aggressive price point and having the "classic" halo. Most Atari games look easy to pick up and play, and at $20-$30 that's an easier impulse buy.

[BrianC]

NOAC refers to NES clone hardware, which the Atari 10 in 1 and Atari Flashback 1 both use (AFAIK for the former, but it's definitely not original 2600 hardware or emulation). That's why the menu is generic and the sound effects often sound more like nes than 2600. Oddly enough, one of the reissues of the Atari 2600 joystick replaces some games with the FB1 7800 ports and replaces realsports volleyball with a port of an intellivision volleyball game from one of those NES based plug and plays with intellivision ports.

Edit: I was mistaken with the original Jakks 10 in 1. I heard on Atari Age that it may use 65C816-compatible Winbond microcontroller. Recent re-release from Basic Fun, which ironically has a fancier menu, is definitely NOAC, though.

[bigbadboaz]

The hardware is actually fine. The hacking community has long had PSX running on the SNES Classic better than it runs on the PSC - on the same emulator. They did shitty, lazy work on the software side and it's a perfect example of how Sony operates when they're feeling cocky.

[Ed Oscuro]

Thanks for the corrections. Eurogamer's review also makes clear that the SoC for the PSC should be plenty powerful:

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digi ... i-teardown

Redditors have been busy, looks like they've gotten a better-performance core loaded on the PSC, plus your choice of frontends, as well as Retroarch cores for other systems: https://www.reddit.com/r/PlaystationClassic/ Thus far, I haven't seen any direct comparisons of the PSC framerates stock-vs-hacked but people are claiming improvements all the same.

[BryanM]

With 16 GB storage, they could store up to ~25 PS1 game discs! Maybe! That's enough for Frogger AND Frogger 2!!!

But forget Frogger 3D. People'll have to join the PC master race if they want that.

[gameoverDude]

Down to $59.80 on Amazon now. Like I give a damn. Sony should have taken the Playstation VitaTV & dressed it in a PS1 shell rather than throwing out some generic PCSX box. VitaTV is decent hardware. There's plenty of PS1 (also, PSP/Vita) games to pick up off of PSN.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Image

Mod Edit: Huge Image

[bigbadboaz]

I love shots like that. $19.99 clearance has to be incoming.

[cave hermit]

Honestly if it does hit $20 I'll bite; that's about how much I would say it's really worth.

[Steamflogger Boss]

For the hardware involved and given that it is easily hacked, it's definitely very interesting at $10-20.

[bigbadboaz]

I've said before, I just want the controllers. And $20 + a bonus chunk of hardware is definitely fair for them.

[BryanM]

20 bux retail liquidation won't happen. They'll send them into landfills before they'd do that.

[bigbadboaz]

Have you seen the shelves at your local store lately? At some point the retailers are going to want out from under this. It doesn't matter what Sony thinks.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Regarding the library of titles, I would like to see anyone's list that everyone* finds appropriate.

CTR: Crash Team Racing would combine the mascot character's presence and a piece of Naughty Dog's history with - I believe - a bit of genuine respect from those who want a game they like to stay around rather than expect it to get succeeded.

*) Including the supposed target audience - dads longing for a piece of hardware sized and shaped like a PSX hooked up their TV set.

[BryanM]

Regarding the library of titles, I would like to see anyone's list that everyone* finds appropriate.

Here's an obvious trick: Go to Gamefaqs, and look at what games are at the top of the forum and accessed FAQ list. This thing is supposed to be meant for people who care about the Playstation 1. These are the people who still care about the Playstation 1.

And like usual, it's mostly RPG's that survive the passage of time. Ed's Final Fantasy Box isn't entirely off.

As defensive as I am about Toshinden being representative of the start of that era, no one really gives a shit about it at the end of the day. It is the Balloon Fight of play stations.

Oh, here's another game that I think would have been good for this: Harvest Moon: Back to Nature.

The SNES classic not having its version of this series was shameful.

Growing turnips, brushing cows and bribing girls into marrying you with some mushrooms you found on the ground is the future of video gaming, I tells you.

Have you seen the shelves at your local store lately? At some point the retailers are going to want out from under this. It doesn't matter what Sony thinks.

There are tons of plastic toys and clothes in shops that never get sold. What happens to them? Do they slash the price to the bone until they sell? Do they donate them to a charity?

Nah. They go into a garbage bin. Or gather dust on the shelf. Maybe they even have a sellback deal with their vender to recover their cash. (Often this involves throwing it into the garbage after extracting some piece of it to prove that it's been destroyed.)

Surplus production gets treated like surplus product. We might feel like this kind of thing is special, but it's no different from any other product. Just another number in a spreadsheet.

[Steamflogger Boss]

$25 at some Walmarts. Guess that isn't $20 though.

[bigbadboaz]

Close enough for me, but doesn't seem to apply here.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Close enough for me, but doesn't seem to apply here.

Apparently it's pretty random/ymmv.