Playstation Mini Line up Announced. Thoughts?

Well, here it is:

• 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

Not entirely weak, but missing some essentials. Personally, really stoked about the inclusion of I.Q. and Abe's Odyssey.

How about you?

I don't get why people are getting outraged that their own personal favourites aren't on there. It's as broad as possible. The only noteworthy thing is the totally expected absence of certain games because of licensing and/or recent/coming soon remakes...

Surprised to see the original Persona in there myself. Also totally called Crash getting ripped out because of the remasters! Sad that Symphony of the Night suffered the same fate though.

Just like the NES and SNES Classic, I already have the games from here that I would wanna play thanks to digital stores on other consoles, so it's a no go for me.

What's the significance of Rainbow Six? Was that a big game on PSX? Or is it just because Siege is popular now? I never played it on PSX, just N64. That version was okay I guess.

Symphony of the Night and maybe Alundra would have been great, as 2D games were amazing on the platform, but it's a solid lineup.

Fucking ridge racer 4 is a veeeeeeeerry good choice. I have a snes classic but I don't think I'll get this. It's so easy to emulate ps games and use a ps controller at the same time. I know you can say the same thing about snes though so I'm not really sure how to explain it.

It's a solid list. It's impossible to cram every PS classic on there, there are just too many.
That said I have personally no interest in these gimmicky mini consoles. I also still have my original PS1 which is hardmodded.

Pretty solid list, but it has none of the titles I'm nostalgic about. Maybe GTA, but I played that on the pc.

Kinda surprised there isn't a single flight game on there, for me stuff like Ace Combat, G-Police and Warhawk kinda defined the PS1. Not even Soviet Strike or Nuclear Strike!

Genuine question: were the pre-GTA3 entries in that series actually considered memorable or even good for their era? Why is original Grand Theft Auto even being included?

I only ever played one of them, several years after release. It was the London one, I think I played it in the early 2000s, and even then I found it SUPER clunky to play. I wasn't reading many game reviews in the PS1/N64 era, but prior to GTA3, literally no one had ever recommended GTA to me nor do I think I knew a single Playstation owner who had the game. As far as I was concerned, it was a game I saw on store shelves that I had heard literally zero word of mouth (good or bad) about. A quick skim of Wikipedia suggests the game was getting a 6-7 from most outlets.

Final Fantasy, MGS, Rayman, Resident Evil, Ridge Racer, Syphon Filter, Tekken, Twisted Metal, these were all games I was aware of being widely played and varying degrees of popular. Some of the other games on this Playstation Classic list: less widely popular but good little gems so I can understand including them. But GTA is the only game I could pick off that list that in my opinion is kinda bad, or at the very least in no way holds up as a fun experience today nor is it one of the unforgettable games of the PS1 era. I honestly wonder if people actually have nostalgia for it, or if it's some weird business deal where Sony had to include it to appease Take-Two or something, or maybe they just included it because suckers will see "Grand Theft Auto" in the list of games and not realize how primitive the PS1 GTAs are compared to the PS2 and onward titles.

I could go on about how PS1 was the heyday for JRPGs and they've included a staggeringly low number of them, but I get it, current popularity of that genre isn't what it used to be and at least they got the biggest one that came out on the PS1.

@bisonhero: GTA1 is not super great, especially the PS1 version has framerate issues, but GTA2 is definitely considered to be a great PS1 title and still holds up. 2 would've been the better choice to include.

EDIT: Maybe great is an overstatement? I'm looking at the ratings and it seemed to have gotten mixed reception. I remember it being pretty huge, I dunno.

Totally agree. But still feel it should be on there as a precursor to one of, if not THE, most iconic videogame franchises. Recent or planned releases should have been completely ignored. This should've been an historic time capsule art curio that included all major icons from the era. Though, still, quite a few are there, plus some more obscure gems which is nice. Not sure if I'll bother with this. If it had all the iconic titles, I couldn't conceive not buying it. Especially as someone who grew up during this era and considers himself a gamer.

@dryker: I agree that GTA3 should 1000% be an inclusion on a PS2 Classic and it's overall an iconic franchise, but for all intents and purposes public memory of the series begins with GTA3. GTA1 may as well be Street Fighter 1 for how poorly it compares to its MUCH more popular and beloved sequel. Including it just because it's a precursor to an actually really good game seems like a weird choice.

I’m a little disappointed, but not surprised to not see Tony Hawk or Gran Turismo games on the list because of licensing. I might play some THPS2 when I go home this holiday. There are also a few of them where I think another entry in the series would be better(mostly RE, because of rereleases).

The first two GTA games were well regarded at the time, but definitely did not have the impact of GTA3. They are top down crime action games, I think there is a lot of shared DNA between the PS1 games and GTA3 specifically (not VC or SA). The third person perspective just does so much for you, it gives you so much gameplay freedom in GTA3 and beyond.

@bisonhero:

GTA 2 was seen as a fantastic game back when i played it. The top-down driving part was sort of hard, but that also made it pretty satisfying to get good at it. Being able to create these huge chain explosions was amazing. And while the graphics are sort of simple, i always liked how the police cars drenched the screen in red / blue tints. And it was just a very snappy game that gave you a lot of different things to do. Do you want to do the rampage missions? do you want to follow the story? Do you want to crush a bunch of cars? do you want to get the army to show up? That made it a perfect dick around game to play with a buddy. Original GTA was a bit more underground i feel.

GTA 3 brought all that stuff to 3d which made it make sense for a larger audience, but a lot of the trappings of that game were already present in the earlier games.

Would've liked to see Future Cop LAPD, G-Police, THPS2 , Tomba & Vagrant Story on here, but overall this seems like an alright list. But again, when you have only 20 games to choose from , there are some strange choices here. Oh well, Pretty happy they put Rayman on here, which is a pretty awesome game.

To me Persona and Rainbow Six seem like choices influenced by today rather than what was popular at the height of the PS1 - otherwise a solid list for a version 1.

Weird choice to do Twisted Metal 1 instead of 2. UNLESS they include the cut FMV endings...which they certainly won't.

Great list, all told. Seems a little adherent to the idea of what came first (Twisted Metal, GTA, Persona) rather than what might have been the better game, but this is a very good representation of the system.

That's a pretty poor list; although I think the main issue there is quantity.

Man this is a pretty weak list that still is too good for the likes of Persona 1.

What a blatant "this is popular now, right?" addition.

No Silent Hill 1 is insane to me. Otherwise it seems decent.

I feel like this list lacks a looooot of classic games also Persona 1? I mean, not only is the sequel what I'd call a much better game (especially Eternal Punishment a game we didn't even get in Europe at all) but the original Persona 1 on PSX had an awful translation and none of the quality of life features and added content that re-release had. So it feels like a waste of space on top of just being generally a crappy game.

Was hoping for Star Ocean: The Second Story to make it. I know it was a long shot, but I love that game. I wouldn't be surprised if they did a "sequel" to the classic. A lot of great PS1 games like Twisted Metal 2/FF8/Resident Evil 2 would be a great collection.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Silent Hill, and none of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater games are some pretty glaring omissions. Resident Evil 2 should have been the RE pick over Resident Evil 1, don't get me wrong I still love the original/DC version of 1, but it's been re-released the most out of the PS1 RE games along side REmake being on everything now, and 2 would have made more sense both from a popularity standpoint and from relevance given that REmake 2 is out in a couple of months. The most baffling choice is Rainbow Six, the Tom Clancy games don't really have any strong connections to any particular console and it seems like one of the worst versions.

If i keep my pre-order i feel like it will only be to finally play through MGS1, play through RE1 again, and mess around with Jumping Flash, Syhpon Filter, and Twisted Metal for a bit. No Silent Hill 1 is the one that stings the most, I really wish Konami would do better about re-releasing their own stuff but...well, Konami.

Intelligent Qube IS the PS1, so it is the right choice.

@panfoot: SOTN on this thing was a pipe dream as soon as the SOTN/Rondo re-release popped up on the Korean ratings board (which I think was on the same day as the Classic was announced). Tony Hawk was also never going to happen due to licencing issues with the music.

Silent Hill? I dunno. Konami, go figure :D

The inclusion of Persona 1 on both US(and EU?) and Japan versions is interesting, considering the big differences in the original versions of that game. Are we gonna get the kneecapped, badly localized version in the west?

Other than that, there are plenty games I would have like to have seen on this; Bushido Blade, Vagrant Story, FF Tactics, the list is long.

If it weren't for licencing issues I bet the inclusion of WipeOut and Gran Turismo would be hits in EU territories.

@hakunin: MGS ended up on this thing though

@onemanarmyy: Again, Konami being Konami.

Also MGS didn't just come out as a new re-release/remake. And it doesn't seem like Konami cares about the Silent Hill IP.

I'm pretty underwhelmed, but I can admit that my tastes were pretty limited when it came to games on the Playstation. That was back when I lived almost exclusively for RPGs and fighting games. So, yeah, not seeing more Squaresoft titles (Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve, SaGa Frontier, Xenogears, or any Final Fantasy other than VII) or Suikoden II, or some of the more obscure titles, is definitely disappointing.

Stuff like Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Bushido Blade, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Silent Hill, Spyro, and Tony Hawk feel like glaring omissions. And not a single Crash Bandicoot? He was practically the mascot for the Playstation.

Also, if they couldn't include all three, I might've gone with Resident Evil 2 or 3 over the original. And I definitely would've preferred Twisted Metal 2 over any of the other games in that franchise on the PS1.

Of course, it doesn't help that they're putting only a mere 20 games on the thing. Double that number and it'd be a more robust catalog and a more compelling purchase. As it stands, I'm probably going to pass.

@hakunin: I just feel like there's a difference between not deeming Silent Hill worthwhile to continue as a franchise & the willingness to put the old game on here. Between all versions of the NES / SNES classics there are still 8 konami games to be found, so it's not like they're not open to the idea at all.

I LOVE Ranbow Six, and I already own most of these games physically anyway. Really, these consoles are for people who don't own these consoles already, but still want to experience the old games without the clutter. To me, this looks like a great list of classics, so more power to 'em!

Some classics, some meh ones, and some, “huhs?” With how many big games and classics there were for The PS1 I wish Sony would’ve released mini playstations with lineups based on year. Like one for the first year, a while later another one for year two, etc.

@shorap said:

There is (completely baseless) speculation that Sony may eventually release one more PlayStation Classic, this time with Dual Analog Controllers/DualShock Controllers and a different lineup of games. The theory being that the followup could include Final Fantasy VIII or IX, Resident Evil 2, Twisted Metal 2, various games that had support for analog sticks, etc. While it does seem they picked a lot of "first game in the series" sort of games, the counterpoint is that they also included Tekken 3 and Ridge Racer 4 which are both the last entries of their series to come out on the console.

So obviously Activision was not on board with this so no Crash or Spyro. And I don't know exactly what the licenses for Tony Hawk were back in the day. Does a rerelease like this fit under the original contract? I guess only the execs at Activision know that and I doubt they would be willing to admit they chose not to include games on this.
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Beyond Activision I feel like there are some other obvious omissions almost all of which currently fall under the Square Enix brand. Tomb Raider and Legacy of Kain from Eidos. Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story from Squaresoft, Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile from Enix. Just to name a few.

The only other major missing publisher is Konami. Yea there is MGS but no Symphony of the Night and no Silent Hill?

And then there are some odd first party omissions. Gran Turismo might fall under the same licensing issues as Tony Hawk, but where are Parappa, Warhawk, Medievil, or Wipeout? Those seem like games worth including.

Overall a solid list that I feel would be a lot better with entire series included. Why not all 3 Resident Evil games? Or at least all of the first party titles. Give us all the Syphon Filters. All the Cool Borders, and so on. Not really impressed.

The different games that the Japanese version has.

https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2018/10/29/playstation-classic-japan-games-list/#/slide/1

• Arc the Lad
• Arc the Lad 2
• Armored Core
• Gradius Gaiden
• XI [sai]
• SaGa Frontier
• G Darius
• Parasite Eve

Filler games in a 20 game list is crazy, and including R6 and Persona (which are both bad) because the modern iterations are popular is just crazy.

No Tomb Raider, Gran Turismo, Wipeout, RE2, Tony Hawks, Crash, Spyro, Castlevania all glaring omissions. I know there's recent remakes but Crash & Spyro were literally platform mascots

@bisonhero: No, they were not memorable, and the PS1 versions were worst than the PC ones.

If anything, I think they are included as a mix of brand recognition (like Persona), and it was the best they could negotiate... they are probably expecting people to see the box and think "Grand Theft Auto, I loved that game", without realizing their earlier memories are of 3.

I'm one of those people who thought Driver was a way better game than GTA on the PS1, and more in line with the PS2 era GTA games.

I'm glad Gabe Logan got some rep but i'm not shelling out around £90 to play these.

Don't give much of a damn, but I am curious to see what hackers do with this thing.

Pretty good. Twisted Metal 2 would've been my clear pick but the original was a pretty big deal. Type 4 is my favorite Ridge Racer by far, Tekken 3 is still one of my favorite Tekkens to play, Syphon Filter was great, MGS is an obvious classic, and there are at least 10 more games that are worth playing.

Vagrant Story would've been nice but it's not like I could bring my save file with 20 completions over, anyway.

Not surprised in the slightest that nobody (I don't think) has mentioned Wild Arms, but, fuck yeah! Wild Arms! One of my fave series, up to and including 3.

They definitely hit some must haves to put on this system (FF7, Tekken 3, Ridge Racer Type 4, MGS, a RE though not 2, Oddworld) and a game like Intelligent Qube is awesome to have because that's an incredibly rare game to find these days and has a strong cult following. However, they really dropped the ball by either having the first game of many franchises that have better sequels to put on here (Destruction Derby 1 over 2 and Twisted Metal 1 over 2 is insane) and by putting a bunch of filler games that don't necessary define the PS library. Mr. Driller is suppose to be a good puzzle game, but I don't think of that as a defining PSX game. In fact, that came out on other systems like the Dreamcast and the Game Boy Color right? Also sure they must of had a deal with Ubisoft to get 2 games and Rayman is a solid get for early PS1 titles, but Rainbow 6 being on there shows how much Sony didn't care because the PS1 version is often considered to be a terrible port of that game. The only reason I can of that being on there is because Sony wants to capitalize on what's popular today and wanted to provide people who still play Siege a taste of what the first Rainbow 6 was like. Same can be said about Grand Theft Auto and the first Persona.

There are honestly so many other games they could have put on here to make this list better. Crash Team Racing could have worked to being the Crash Game and it never got remastered. Spyro sure is about to get remastered, but its still weird not having one of those games in here. Tomb Raider also Had to of been on this thing, but Square Enix was maybe stingy about letting Sony use too many of their games in the West? Speaking of Square Enix, FF Tactics, Bushido Blade and another JRPG like Chrono Cross or Vagrant Story would have gotten people more excited than including Rainbow 6, Cool Boarders 2 and Battle Arena Toshinden. Gran Turismo I can understand why it didn't make it in due to licensing all those cars, but you'd hope Sony could have made the effort because Gran Turismo 1 and 2 are within the top 3 best selling PS1 titles ever!

Its not an entirely bad list as there are a few games on that collection I'd like to play (MGS, Tekken 3, Oddworld and Intelligent Qube seem the most interesting), but this library doesn't feel like a proper representation of what defined the Playstation at the time.

I don't know if it's a licensing issue, but yeah i thought the PS1 has a great catalogue of games most off these, choices are questionable, at least TEKKEN3 is on this thing. Also where's Medival, Gex, and Croc how can you forget Croc! :D Like Miyamoto stole the idea of 3d platformers after seeing Croc.

Where's Bubsy at!

I was surprised they were comfortable going M rated but whenever I said that out loud I was told that was a silly thing to be concerned about. Also, I thought Syphon Filter came out post Dualshock so I am wondering how it controls without sticks? I never played it, I just wrote it off being in this thing because I saw it came out in 1999.

Why no Bushido Blade?? There shouldn't be any licensing issues that I know of and I feel that it is iconic, or at least still gets mentioned.

IDK, it isn't like I was going to buy the thing even if my choice of game was included. I have a working PSOne and a clean disc, and that is WAY cooler than this mini nostalgia play.

Metal Gear Solid machine. Everything else is either readily available in upgraded versions, soon to be so, or not really something I’m interested in.

I'm hopeful that it's as easy to add games to as the other small consoles, there are a great many weird games I'd love to put on here and mess with, as well as many RPGS I'd like to play.

Without the super Nintendo classic, I'd never have made time for Metal Max or Super Robot Wars.

I preordered the moment it became available thinking they'd nail the list.

I knew it would be limited because of a lack of Dual Shock but I didn't think the list would be THIS miserable. I'm just really hoping it's as easy to mod as the S/NES Mini was because there are plenty of quality games I'd rather put on it.

No Chrono Cross, no Final Fantasy Tactics, no Symphony of the Night, no Tony Hawk, no Spyro, no Crash... that leaves only MGS, FFVII, and IQ as the only ones I have even the slightest interest in. And I don't really need to re-play those. It's almost like if Nintendo released the SNES classic without a single Mario anything.

The Good (my opinion)

• Battle Arena Toshinden
• Cool Boarders 2
• Metal Gear Solid
• Mr Driller
• Rayman
• Resident Evil Director’s Cut
• Revelations: Persona
• Ridge Racer Type 4
• Tekken 3

What I could do without...my opinion

• Grand Theft Auto
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six

What I would have liked to have seen instead...

• Ace Combat 2
• Armored Core
• Colony Wars