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[jshackles]

I’ve seen this exact claim many times, it was especially prevalent when the Playstation Classic was announced (heh) and yet I am yet to see a single reason as to why this would be so.

NES and SNES nostalgia is and has always been off the charts. PSX, not so much. How many gaming forums have thread after thread discussing PSX games? So why would it “totally smoke” the Nintendo classics?

If/when a PS2 Classic is announced, we can revisit this discussion (even then I have my doubts), but really, I feel this claim has very little basis.

I think this could have "smoked" the NES and SNES Classic systems, but only if Sony would have given people what they actually wanted. If this micro-console had pixel perfect emulation (none of this PAL 50hz crap or slowdowns due to emulator overhead) that would have been a good first step. They could have used POPs - or even replaced the guts with a PSVita TV thing and done better. They also could have included Dualshocks which a lot of people docked points from the system for - myself included. Finally - if they would have added some basic networking services to this, the ability to log in to PSN to download new games (bonus points for letting people get the PS Classics they already own) than this could have been huge. Adding basic trophy support (not as big of an undertaking as people would believe and could definitely be done without the developers being involved) would have made this a skyrocketing success story. But as I've said before in this very thread, I don't think Sony could have delivered on many or any of these goals without raising the price of this pretty significantly and people were already cautious of the $99 MRSP.

 

[El_Belmondo]

Had they included everything that made PSX a classic....it's reasonable to say it would have given the Nintendo options a run for their money.

Not to shit on the Playstation audience but... i seriously doubt it.

This may sound like bullshit, but it's not the same kind of nostalgia. There's one truth on that Sony dude's bullshittery when he critizised their own retro games. When it comes to the non harcore audience, the same the first Playstation managed to get, they have grown mostly without looking back (The ones who stood in gaming) and they usually reject the old games aside of the big ones that hasnt been topped today (Meaning, FFVII/VIII/IX, Suikoden, SotN... I have a friend who looks back fondly to DBZ Final Bout. Yes, Final Bout)

Sony does not cultivate their nostalgic audience enough. Sure, they did some efforts after taking a look to Nintendo's Virtual Console, but while Nintendo made a big deal out of their service, Sony managed to make their own releases go barely noticed ouside of some big shots.

And yes, i'm aware of Nintendo's VC mismanagement, but they still managed to make people notice the service. In consequence, the Nintendo audience is educated in the Nintendo legacy and reacts to it (And it goes back earlier than the VC services. Their arcade games ported to NES, the NES classics on GBA, the Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask ports on GameCube, the continuous references EVERYWHERE... They know the value of their legacy and embrace it)

There's also the fact that, like it or not, polygonal games do not age as good as 2D games, and Sony did nothing in the PSmini to hide that fact, not upressing, not adding filters, nothing. As much as it pains me to say this, Nintedo has made an intelligent move by not releasing an N64 mini until, i guess, the costs are low enough to guarantee a good emulation that can hide/fix the N64's defects)

Well... that was quite the writeup. I dunno, i would love to be proven wrong because back in the day i enjoyed a lot playing in my friends' PlayStation and i still emulate it from time to time, but the number of PS' nostalgics seems to be really scarce. Sony's culture in gaming is quite different from Nintendo's and Sega's, and it shows. The symptoms are everywhere, the PSmini is just a consequence.

(. . .) But as I've said before in this very thread, I don't think Sony could have delivered on many or any of these goals without raising the price of this pretty significantly and people were already cautious of the $99 MRSP.

As you yourself say, this would have skyrocketed the price and i doubt that, as i already implied, anyone outside the hardcore audience would have really cared. Nostalgia is not really a thing on the casual Playstation ecosystem.

Curiously enough, i think this could have worked for the NES and SNES classics, but the price would have limited the sales quite a bit.

 

[Ozrimandias]

I have (i think that i didnt mention on this post) a ps Vita Tv with Retroarch, and its the best retro console of them all.

If a PS Classic can achieve more emulation than my ps vita tv i would think on buying one (when the price drops of course). Sony put so little love in this device, damn the menu and user interface its so ugly.


But i have faith in other piece of sony hardware, and im begging that they not fail on this one......the PS2 Classic.

 

[hecatomb]

Not to shit on the Playstation audience but... i seriously doubt it.

This may sound like bullshit, but it's not the same kind of nostalgia. There's one truth on that Sony dude's bullshittery when he critizised their own retro games. When it comes to the non harcore audience, the same the first Playstation managed to get, they have grown mostly without looking back (The ones who stood in gaming) and they usually reject the old games aside of the big ones that hasnt been topped today (Meaning, FFVII/VIII/IX, Suikoden, SotN... I have a friend who looks back fondly to DBZ Final Bout. Yes, Final Bout)

Sony does not cultivate their nostalgic audience enough. Sure, they did some efforts after taking a look to Nintendo's Virtual Console, but while Nintendo made a big deal out of their service, Sony managed to make their own releases go barely noticed ouside of some big shots.

And yes, i'm aware of Nintendo's VC mismanagement, but they still managed to make people notice the service. In consequence, the Nintendo audience is educated in the Nintendo legacy and reacts to it (And it goes back earlier than the VC services. Their arcade games ported to NES, the NES classics on GBA, the Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask ports on GameCube, the continuous references EVERYWHERE... They know the value of their legacy and embrace it)

There's also the fact that, like it or not, polygonal games do not age as good as 2D games, and Sony did nothing in the PSmini to hide that fact, not upressing, not adding filters, nothing. As much as it pains me to say this, Nintedo has made an intelligent move by not releasing an N64 mini until, i guess, the costs are low enough to guarantee a good emulation that can hide/fix the N64's defects)

Well... that was quite the writeup. I dunno, i would love to be proven wrong because back in the day i enjoyed a lot playing in my friends' PlayStation and i still emulate it from time to time, but the number of PS' nostalgics seems to be really scarce. Sony's culture in gaming is quite different from Nintendo's and Sega's, and it shows. The symptoms are everywhere, the PSmini is just a consequence.



As you yourself say, this would have skyrocketed the price and i doubt that, as i already implied, anyone outside the hardcore audience would have really cared. Nostalgia is not really a thing on the casual Playstation ecosystem.

Curiously enough, i think this could have worked for the NES and SNES classics, but the price would have limited the sales quite a bit.

I think the PS classic would have been a lot better, if they added the games that people wanted, like parasite eve, sympathy of the night, silent hill, resident evil 2, Megaman x4, it would have been completely different.

 

[El_Belmondo]

I think the PS classic would have been a lot better, if they added the games that people wanted, like parasite eve, sympathy of the night, silent hill, resident evil 2, Megaman x4, it would have been completely different.

Yeah, i'd bet on it too, but i doubt the results would have been enough to guarantee a smashing success.

 

[hecatomb]

Yeah, i'd bet on it too, but i doubt the results would have been enough to guarantee a smashing success.

well it would have done really well, a lot of people canceled their preorders once they found out what games were on it. All the reviews and negativity on the classic is pretty much the same thing, the games are bad, and theres not enough of them. SNes mini and Nes mini sold very well, cause they both had a lot of good games. Just image if they put a bunch of LJN games on them, or crap games for the snes mini

 

[cryptoadam]

I think this could have "smoked" the NES and SNES Classic systems, but only if Sony would have given people what they actually wanted. If this micro-console had pixel perfect emulation (none of this PAL 50hz crap or slowdowns due to emulator overhead) that would have been a good first step. They could have used POPs - or even replaced the guts with a PSVita TV thing and done better. They also could have included Dualshocks which a lot of people docked points from the system for - myself included. Finally - if they would have added some basic networking services to this, the ability to log in to PSN to download new games (bonus points for letting people get the PS Classics they already own) than this could have been huge. Adding basic trophy support (not as big of an undertaking as people would believe and could definitely be done without the developers being involved) would have made this a skyrocketing success story. But as I've said before in this very thread, I don't think Sony could have delivered on many or any of these goals without raising the price of this pretty significantly and people were already cautious of the $99 MRSP.

nah all it had to do was use a decent emulator with a nice front end, add in a few options like CRT/Borders, and mulitple save states, and include DS controller.

Most important though was getting good software on there. Most of the games are crap everyone agrees. Well not crap but just not "classics". With such a large library there is 0 reason for such a disappointing game selection.

 

[Scopa]

I think this could have "smoked" the NES and SNES Classic systems, but only if Sony would have given people what they actually wanted. If this micro-console had pixel perfect emulation (none of this PAL 50hz crap or slowdowns due to emulator overhead) that would have been a good first step. They could have used POPs - or even replaced the guts with a PSVita TV thing and done better. They also could have included Dualshocks which a lot of people docked points from the system for - myself included. Finally - if they would have added some basic networking services to this, the ability to log in to PSN to download new games (bonus points for letting people get the PS Classics they already own) than this could have been huge. Adding basic trophy support (not as big of an undertaking as people would believe and could definitely be done without the developers being involved) would have made this a skyrocketing success story. But as I've said before in this very thread, I don't think Sony could have delivered on many or any of these goals without raising the price of this pretty significantly and people were already cautious of the $99 MRSP.

I understand what you are saying. But, basically it comes down to “if Sony made something completely different to the NES and SNES Classics, something above and beyond, that does many more things than them, in other words: a completely different product, it would have a chance to smoke them”.

Well, of course.

 

[jshackles]

I understand what you are saying. But, basically it comes down to “if Sony made something completely different to the NES and SNES Classics, something above and beyond, that does many more things than them, in other words: a completely different product, it would have a chance to smoke them”.

Well, of course.

I mean if you think about it, all console wars come down to this. If you make the best possible console with better features than your competition and pour a lot of love into and give consumers what they're asking for, they'll reward you with sales.

Sony thought people would buy this in droves on blind loyalty alone - they perhaps thought people were buying the NES and SNES out of pure nostalgia and didn't comprehend exactly why the systems became instantly loved. They were given an opportunity to do better than their competition, and they absolutely 100% blew it.

So don't take my above post as fanboyism or anything else, I'm just saying if they actually understood what made the other "Classic" consoles great and made a commitment to honor their legacy rather than hawking it for cash, they probably could have "smoked" the competition.

 

[El_Belmondo]

I mean if you think about it, all console wars come down to this. If you make the best possible console with better features than your competition and pour a lot of love into and give consumers what they're asking for, they'll reward you with sales.

Sony thought people would buy this in droves on blind loyalty alone - they perhaps thought people were buying the NES and SNES out of pure nostalgia and didn't comprehend exactly why the systems became instantly loved. They were given an opportunity to do better than their competition, and they absolutely 100% blew it.

So don't take my above post as fanboyism or anything else, I'm just saying if they actually understood what made the other "Classic" consoles great and made a commitment to honor their legacy rather than hawking it for cash, they probably could have "smoked" the competition.

I think you're partially right, but that's only part of it imo.

If Sony cultivated people into their Legacy it's audience would have be more willing to bite the bait. It’s so weird to see Sony going like "Take a look at our LIGUEISI" on Twitter and Facebook when they have barely tried before. They care so little that they don't even know what their Legacy is.

Nintendo isn't afraid of showing Super Mario Bros or The Legend of Zelda on the console that hosts Odissey and Breath of the Wild, even using them as a selling point for their online service, so why is Sony so afraid of showing the original Gran Turismo or God of War?

To be honest, i don't get it.

 

[Shouta]

So - another few weeks then?

That’s the plan

Turns out Target has a coupon on their app for 40% off of the reduced price bringing it down to 36 bucks before tax or so. IT'S ALREADY HERE

 

[Shouta]

Turns out Target has a coupon on their app for 40% off of the reduced price bringing it down to 36 bucks before tax or so. IT'S ALREADY HERE

I tried it and got shot down. It seems the in-store price is 100 and not 60 but you might get someone to do it at your local Target.

 

[Halo2redvsblue]

The Cartwheel isn't working for me either. 36 bucks seems like a good price to mod it.

 

[Mobile Suit Gooch]

I think you're partially right, but that's only part of it imo.

If Sony cultivated people into their Legacy it's audience would have be more willing to bite the bait. It’s so weird to see Sony going like "Take a look at our LIGUEISI" on Twitter and Facebook when they have barely tried before. They care so little that they don't even know what their Legacy is.

Nintendo isn't afraid of showing Super Mario Bros or The Legend of Zelda on the console that hosts Odissey and Breath of the Wild, even using them as a selling point for their online service, so why is Sony so afraid of showing the original Gran Turismo or God of War?

To be honest, i don't get it.

I don't get it either...

I remember their comment about B/C and then turn around selling a handful of PS2 games. It's like they wanna look to the future and not the past.

Hopefully, they focus on the classic stuff for PS5. Wishful thinking but they underestimate the "want to play old-school games" bug.

 

[urmie]

PSA: If you made an order with Best Buy, you can get a price difference refund. It is now $60 on the site. I bought it when it was $100. Just got off chat support and they refunded me the $40 on my order.

 

[Halo2redvsblue]

So I went too Target, They priced match the discount and also did the Cartwheel so I got it for 40 bucks. They weren't at first but someone else did it before me an hour ago so they allowed it.

 

[KingHenrik30]

So glad Sony is getting absolutely fucked over this stupid thing.

Playstation has been my primary platform for 4 console generations now. PS5 most likely will be as well.

But they put out a shit product, so they get a shit result.

I would be a little more forgiving if they put the same amount of PS1 love into PS4.

But they don't. No support for PS1 discs. Barely any PS1 games on PS4. I look at what MS is doing with BC, and they are really trying. They aren't looking for MAXIMUM PROFITS, but trying to honor their legacy. But Jimbo Ryan is like "Herp a derp, who wantZZZ TO PALY old GAEMS!!11"

I mean, you could AT LEAST put your first party PS1 games on PS4. You could do atleast THAT much.

But no.

Suck a fat one Sony.

Glad this failed.

Sony doesn't care as much about the PS1 classic as you seem to do

 

[crobb991]

i love the fact that i just picked one up for 30 quid

hacking it as we speak

 

[TGO]

You can’t just change a PAL game to NTSC and suddenly have this perfect 60fps game... it doesn’t work like that

Alot of people don't get the difference between Htz and Fps.

 

[Gavin Stevens]

I........

I picked one up today, for thirty beans. Hacked it, went easy enough. I just need to figure out how to get my games in widescreen stretched, and I’m set.

 

[megatronium]

I must have the worst luck. Everyone is hacking theirs it seems rather easily and I tried 4 different USB drives and none worked. How does everyone have working USB drives when it seems like the selection that works is so limited?

 

[Antoon]

yikes, yeah , a big pass from me, the reviews are not too great.

 

[Scopa]

I must have the worst luck. Everyone is hacking theirs it seems rather easily and I tried 4 different USB drives and none worked. How does everyone have working USB drives when it seems like the selection that works is so limited?

Are you using a stick or HD?

 

[megatronium]

Are you using a stick or HD?

Stick.

 

[Scopa]

Stick.

Weird. I just went to shop and bought the cheapest Sandisk 64gb stick I could find and it worked no worries.

 

[LordRaptor]

This thing being half its RRP, being fairly easily hackable and expandable via external USB and coming with 2 10-button controllers makes it a much better value proposition than Sony were originally putting forward.

I don't think Sony could have delivered on many or any of these goals without raising the price of this pretty significantly and people were already cautious of the $99 MRSP.

A bunch of retailers firesaleing this thing suggests its markup was pretty big and that they really could have done better for the pricepoint they were initially charging though

 

[KingHenrik30]

I would have gladly paid $150 for a console with 30 games, analog sticks and better emulation. Gladly.

 

[R9delta]

Picked one up for $60 yesterday. Have it loaded up with a much better selection of 30 games . Changed the clockspeed that each game is emulated at by changing pcsx.cfg's psx_clock value from 39 (that's in hex, 57 is the actual percentage) to 55 (85 percent) for games that run at 30fps or 64 (100 percent) for 60fps games. Turned off frameskip on most of them too.

Almost everything actually plays properly now and makes this a product actually worth bothering with. This was done in just a few hours of my time. Game library aside it blows my mind that Sony couldn't be bothered, they had everything they needed to make these games not play like shit.