PlayStation Classic

 

This is a nifty little emulating tribute to the first generation for Sony's video gaming, although it is flawed.

Released in last December, the PlayStation Classic is yet another dedicated return to nostalgia, although it's one of the biggest releases arguably next to Nintendo's NES and SNES classics, as the brand is that recognizable.

It comes preloaded with 20 games of various genres, it has 2 identical replica's of the PlayStation Controllers without the analog sticks, there is a small save state feature, and it virtualizes switching between CD-ROMS's, which was a thing back in the 90's.

Unfortunately, it is a commercial and critical failure, and personally even worse, I bought it at retail price. Now you can get this mini console for a mere 30 euro's. For several reasons it has disappointed hardcore gamers.

First, the user interface. This comes of as amateurism, bland and unappealing, unlike Nintendo's happy tunes for instance playing on the menu's. Second, bizarrely, Sony decided to include PAL and NTSC versions of the games for both regions, instead of tweaking and optimizing them for 2018 standards.

Finally, and definitely the biggest reason is that objectively, the game line up is a mess. Speculated because of the license and copyright concerns, some of the definite PlayStation classics are missing, and others like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro are argued to be missing because of their recent remastered collections being available.

Also, some of the games featured aren't the best incarnation of the best representation of the library or the franchise, and some genres are featured more. The lineup isn't as balanced as people though it would be.

Luckily, I myself did not experience or grew up with the PlayStation 1 or PSX back in the day. So most of these games featured are new for me to play. Also, I am planning to modify it so that I will be able to adjust the lineup and the versions involved to my wishes.

In overall, the PlayStation Classic is objectively disappointing, but subjectively,  it interests me enough. Whenever I am feeling retro or old school, there are countless ways to go back, but a mini console like this with HDMI output is tempting.