PS One/PS2 compatibility and availability with PS Vita.

Hey there duders, I require your advice once again. So I'm considering getting a Vita, specifically to play PS1/PS2 games on the go. I'd only just discovered such a thing was possible and excitedly dusted off my PS3 to view the PS1/PS2 cataloge. In the 7 months or so since I last powered it up however, it seems they have re-designed the entire playstation store layout. Apparently removing the "PS One" and "PS2" catagories completely. It still seems to be possible to find games if you search for them individually, but still, what gives?

Are they removing/pushing aside that functionality in order to further pimp playstation now? And if I WERE to download these titles, would they still be downloadable to a Vita? I already own a few PS One titles but was actually hoping I'd be able to play Vice City.

I live in Australia, so I would assume the version of the PS Store I see would be comparable to the EU version? Does anybody know what gives? Thanks in advance, duders. As always, love ya'll.

I just checked the browser version of the Australian PSN store, and there still is a section for PS1 and PS2 games, they've just lumped them all together under "Classics". I imagine the PS3 version of the store wouldn't be majorly different, although I'm not really sure since I haven't used it in a while (doing it on the computer is so much faster).

Although I don't own a Vita, I've heard that the PS1 classics support has been spotty at best. With a smaller selection of the games being labelled as compatible (still a decent amount), although some that aren't will apparently work if you copy them from your PS3.

As for PS2 classics, the Vita can't play any of them. I don't know if that will (or can) change in the future, but as of now, it just won't work.

@tonylope: Oh wow. I guess I just sort of assumed that was a no brainer. Well, damn. Thanks for the info, duder.

Except for the handful of PS2 titles that have been ported to the Vita (Person 4 Golden, Final Fantasy X) and the handful of PS2 titles that were also available on the PSP (Disgaea 1 and 2, Persona 3 Portable, Grand Theft Auto LIberty/Vice City Stories), you can't just play PS2 games on the Vita. There are some PS2 classics on the PS3, yes, but you can't play those on the Vita.

You also can't play all PS1 games on the Vita, though it seems like you can play most of them.

I'm looking at my Vita and the ability to browse through a list of PS1 games is, indeed, gone (that fucking sucks). However, the search function did let me see the Final Fantasy PS1 games that are available. It seems like I could buy them if I wanted to as well. You can also transfer PS1 games from the PS3 to the PS Vita if you need to (and have a PS3).

EDIT: Oh. When you first open up the PS Store, there a bunch of icons at the top. Scroll it to the left or right and you'll eventually see a "now available: PSOne" icon that takes you to where you can browse for PSOne Classics available on the Vita.

@believer258: Thanks Duder. I'm not sure why I assumed PS2 games would be compatible, it just seemed too obvious to even consider, but alas. Still on the fence about the Vita, it's first party line up doesn't really blow minds, but all those indy games on the go would be nice, also, PS1 games, assuming I can find them!

Vita has some PS1 classics

Vita has no ps2 classics. The only PS2 games you can play are ports like Persona 4 Golden. Sony really fucked up here, but the primary reason is likely that the Vita is weaker then a PS2.

@mcfart said:

That's nonsense. The Vita is capable of showing far more detailed graphics than a PS2, and uses a higher display resolution. The issue is that the emulation itself takes a lot of processing power in addition to running the actual game, especially for a complex device like the PS2. It was actually quite widely believed that software emulation of PS2 titles was beyond even the capabilities of the PS3, until Sony finally managed to get some titles working a while back.

If you are curious here is the list of PSone games that download directly, from a PS3, and the ones that don't transfer at all to the Vita. And if you have had PS+ since it came out like i have the free games where worth it, and i do enjoy playing indie games on it more then i do my consoles or PC.

PS2 classics can't be played on the Vita, unfortunately.

I'd love to play Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne on my Vita. I'm still working on finishing it.

I'm fairly certain that's not the case, especially considering that some games that have direct ports from the PS2 to the Vita look better than they did on the PS2. Emulation on the software side is just really, really difficult to optimise. I still remember reading that some emulator group got really excited when they finally got frames into the double digits on a computer system that far outclassed the original PS2 in terms of power. It's one of the reasons why the original PS3s were so expensive compared to the PS3s now; to have the backwards compatibility with the PS2 they just decided to do emulation on the hardware side, meaning more manufacturing costs, meaning it's more expensive to produce units.

The PS2/PS1 games you buy on the PSN store are emulated, and the limited selection is because right now they can only tweak each game for acceptable performance individually. If Sony could find a way to make a 'one-size-fits-all' emulator so that a PS3 or PS4 could just accept PS2/PS1 discs and play them, I bet they would just throw it in with a firmware update. With the current lack of PS2/PS1 titles on PSNow, I am quietly hoping that means that that is something they are looking at doing eventually.