PlayStation Classic

[SpikeSlania]

Alien Resurrection would be a great choice for a FPS given how they standardize controls for console shooters, but the lack of analogue thumbsticks Maybe Alien Trilogy if Fox says yes, or wait Disney now owns Fox? But I'm semi willing to beat Medieval will make the list. And they might cave and Legend of Dragoon since that's what I keep hearing people want

[isiolia]

I suspect that licenses for games will prevent them from being included, so the Alien ones are less likely. Same sort of reason I'd assume they're including Ridge Racer and its made up cars and not something like Gran Turismo 2. The primary exceptions for PSOne Classics seem to be Disney, so maybe they'd have one, or perhaps a Star Wars title. Dark Forces was released as a PSOne classic and wouldn't be a bad choice... though FPS-wise, Medal of Honor would be the most likely inclusion in my mind.

[Jagosaurus]

perhaps one of the Dragon Quest games may occur.

I think the only DQ to come out on PS1 was DQVII. 6 was FamiCom and 8 was PS2.

I think they'll limit the RPGs in the US to 3 max. We already know 2. 3rd (if they go over 2) is a wildcard. L.o. Dragoon as mentioned isn't a bad choice.

Alien Resurrection would be a great choice for a FPS given how they standardize controls for console shooters, but the lack of analogue thumbsticks Maybe Alien Trilogy if Fox says yes, or wait Disney now owns Fox? But I'm semi willing to beat Medieval will make the list. And they might cave and Legend of Dragoon since that's what I keep hearing people want

Alien Trilogy > Alien Resurrection Alien Trilogy also came out on Saturn though.

Medieval would be a cool sleeper add. I didn't play it until PSP.

Star Wars title. Dark Forces was released as a PSOne classic and wouldn't be a bad choice... though FPS-wise, Medal of Honor would be the most likely inclusion in my mind.

Yeah, Medal of Honor would be a solid FPS choice. I remember that being fairly popular at the time. I didn't even know Dark Forces was on PSX until years later. Maybe I'm a minority there though.

[samsonlonghair]

I was taking a look at the list of top-selling PlayStation games to speculate as to what games might be included. link There’s no doubt that licensing would be a major pain.

Gran Tourismo Was the #1 best-selling PlayStation game, and Gran Tourismo 2 was the #3 best selling game (behind only FFVII). Now imagine the trouble of licensing ALL those cars all over again, especially years after the fact. For instance, it made sense for Subaru to license the Alcyone SVX to a PlayStation game in 1995; it’s basically free advertising for them. Why would Subaru renew that license twenty years after they stopped selling the Alcyone? There’s no incentive for Subaru to license that car. That’s just one example for one car out of 175 cars that would each need to be licensed by their respective owners. That could keep the lawyers busy for a year or more just sorting out the licensing rights to all 175 cars in Gran Tourismo.

The Crash Bandicoot trilogy all made the top ten. I’d love to see Crash Bandicoot games included here, but I’m thinking that Naughty Dog JUST remastered those games earlier this year. I’d bet that they’re still trying to maximize sales of the remastered trilogy. This one is going to come down to marketing analytics. Does the marketing data indicate that re-releasing the original games on the PS1 classic would potentially bolster sales of the remaster or inhibit sales of the remaster? My instinct tells me that they would bolster sales based on renewed nostalgia, but I don’t have the numbers to back that up.

The Spyro trilogy is farther down the list with the exact same issue. They’ve remastering the Spyro trilogy now. Remastering costs more than simply porting the game, so bean counters are obliged to recoup those costs as best they can no matter what we may think. My best guess (based on business-class centrism) is that they will decide to take the safest bet as a middle course. I’m guessing Sony will include one Spyro game and one Crash Bandicoot game (plus maybe CTR) in the PlayStation classic, but Sony probably won’t include the entire trilogy. This means that the consumer will get the nostalgia boost from the PlayStation classic, but the consumer will still need to shell out more money to get the whole trilogy.

Metal Gear Solid seems like a must-have inclusion here too. I know a lot of us Racketeers (including me) want Konami to license Castlevania Symphony of the Night, but let’s get real here for a moment. Metal Gear Solid was Konami’s best-selling PlayStation title. MGS sold more than six million copies. Symphony of the night doesn’t even come close in sales figures. Don’t get me wrong; I’d like Konami to license BOTH games, but when Sony and Konami look at the numbers, Metal Gear Solid will be the focus of licensing discussion, and Symphony of the Night will be an afterthought.

WWF games also sold really well on PlayStation. Licensing would be major pain again here. I played a bunch of these back when I was a wrestling fan. I loved them to bits, but the likelihood of including any of these in the PlayStation classic is slim to none. For one thing, the World Wildlife Fund won the rights to the name WWF in court years ago. For another thing, most of the wrestlers in these games are no longer under contract from the modern-day WWE. Some of the wrestlers have had very public falling outs with Vince McMahon. At last one or two of these wrestlers have died, which means their likeness rights belongs to their next of kin.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater is do-able, but the major licensing concern here is the music. When Sega re-releases Crazy Taxi, they have to replace the original music. I speculate SONY will pull a similar move with Tony Hawk Pro Skater.

Blood Omen, and especially its sequel Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver would be good fits for the PlayStation classic. They should be cheap to license; they give that nostalgic feel. They also feel “mature” while being rated T for teen.

Tomb Raider II would make a great inclusion on the PlayStation classic. Really, any of the Tomb Raider games would fit, except that the Original Tomb Raider was a multiplatform title. Tomb Raider II was solid PlayStation. Also, you don’t need dual shock controllers at all for Tomb Raider II. It was designed for the original controller.

One that I would really like to see included is Nuclear Strike. That’s the paramount of the Strikeforce games, and it was an early release on PlayStation. It controls perfectly with the standard controller. No need for Dual shocks here. Aside from the game itself, there’s not much else to license. You don’t have to pay the Air Force for using an Apache helicopter after all, so licensing should be simple.

[Jagosaurus]

I also thought about Blood Omen. That could act as an action RPG slot holder instead of say, Alundra.

Hmmm... FF Tactics? FFT and SoTN both have huge followings now, even if the original sales numbers aren't as high as others we're discussing.

[Tanooki]

I know there was only one main line DQ game, but there was also some of those mystery dungeon games like the one with Torneko's Quest.

I do think that idea of Metal of Honor would be almost an obvious choice if it wasn't held up over license shenanigans.

Looking inwardly to what they can and do control I think stuff like Omega Boost would work from Sony Polyphonic since the GT games would be licensing problems.

[marurun]

I think there probably has to be a Twisted Metal game on the system. The first game was rated Teen.

[samsonlonghair]

I also thought about Blood Omen. That could act as an action RPG slot holder instead of say, Alundra.

Hmmm... FF Tactics? FFT and SoTN both have huge followings now, even if the original sales numbers aren't as high as others we're discussing.

Final Fantasy Tactics actually did respectably well in sales. I’m thinking it was somewhere around 1.6 million copies sold. You know how protective Squeenix can be with its IPs. They’ve already agreed to license FFVII on the PlayStation Classic. I don’t know if they’ll agree to license all their golden geese at once.

Looking inwardly to what they can and do control I think stuff like Omega Boost would work from Sony Polyphonic since the GT games would be licensing problems.

Come to think of it... Sony produced Legend of Dragoon entirely in house. Sony owns that game lock stock and barrel. They don’t have to pay a penny to license that one.

I think there probably has to be a Twisted Metal game on the system. The first game was rated Teen.

Twisted Metal sounds good. I bet that one would be well received by American audiences. I recall seeing Sweet Tooth featured on a lot of advertising for the PlayStation back in the day.

[Tanooki]

Have to agree with both of you on the T level Twisted Metal being a solid choice but also Legend of Dragoon would be the most safe option for an RPG or RPG style game to add since Sony owns that entirely so they'd have no pay out issues.

I have to admit I didn't get into PS1 due to Sony antics until I was working in the industry in 2001, but ever since I've really learned to like the PSOne+LCD combo which is why I sought one out again and have a small slow growing library for it. Because of that I know some games, quite a few really, but a lot due to the volume there i do not, and I really am not up on who owns what or why. That's why I wrote that last post open ended as I did as I really don't know what would fit. Had they had analog I would have easily concluded Ape Escape but that's out. Ridge Racers are all out because R4 is in. I do believe it's very possible that Tomba and Klonoa could make the cut, but also likely Mega Man Legends due to it being MM's 30th anniversary this year and them blowing stuff out with MM11. I'd like to think Castlevania SOTN but 50/50 on that due to that PS4 package, but if not that, Castlevania Chronicles perhaps? Konami has some solid options to pick from, even MGS if they wanted.

Ideally and I know it won't happen, but it would be sweet if they happened to get Diablo on there, just because it comes out about the time that Definitive Edition appears on Nintendo Switch, so Diablo is coincidentally very fresh now. Warcraft II the dark saga would be a harder sell even if WoW is still very played by lots of people, it's less commonly talked about now.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I picked up a copy of G Police the other day and remembered Psygnosis. I suspect we’ll see a lot of its games on the system, such as G Police, WipeOut, Deatruction Derby, Rollcage, and Colony Wars. (It would be hilarious, however, if the system were packed with a bunch of Amiga and Mega Drive games with Roger Dean cover art. Dare to dream!!!)

Also, Warhawk. I think there is a 100% chance that game is on the system.