With its remarkable, varied game library, the original PlayStation stands as one of the best console platforms in gaming history. For Sony as a corporate entity, the PlayStation brand remains a key part of its lineup and one that has arguably saved the company at points during its long history. For gamers though, the original grey box represents an era of discovery and wonderful memories – a time when previously niche genres were given the chance to thrive the world over and well-worn genres were given new life in the transition to 3D.
A product like the PlayStation Classic seems like a smart move then. Package 20 great PlayStation games in a small plug and play replica of the PlayStation with two controllers and you have the recipe for a great product, a celebration of one of the most important gaming devices of all-time. Nintendo has found great success with its Classic mini line of micro-consoles so why not Sony? Unfortunately, as you may already know, this particular story doesn’t have a happy ending.
The PlayStation Classic falls short of expectations in many key areas, but while the major deficiencies of the product have already been discussed, I wanted to explain in more detail what went wrong, and why the PS Classic falls short – and it begins with the already high standard of PS1 emulation that Sony has championed in past PlayStation hardware.
Source: Eurogamer PlayStation Classic review: the games are great but the emulation is really poor