One Console to Rule them All

[Glitch42]

The PS3 is backwards compatible with the PS2 and PSX, but also has great classic collections on it like Sonic's Ultimate Genesis connection, all wrapped into a fairly nice wireless controller with HDMI. There is also SNES9x available for the PS3 which is really nice, too!

The PS3 is NOT backwards compatible with the PS2 and PS1 (with only a few exceptions), only the PS2 is backwards compatible with the PS1!

[darsparx]

@Glitch actually all ps3 consoles are backwards compatible with psx titles(albeit minus your memory card unless you can find a device to hook it up to it). While ps2 are compatible but only with the first couple of iterations of the ps3. Kinda stinks but I can understand cutting costs to make it more cost efficient...

[KalessinDB]

Yeah they never really made a big deal out of it, but all PS3s are absolutely backwards compatible. The standard handful of games may not work (there was a handful that didn't work on a PS2 either), but 99%+ will work without incident. They even come with a filter to try to make the games look a little nicer.

[Snatch1414]

Not gonna cop out and say the Retron 5, but I will sort of cop out in a different way and pick the ones I would be happy with if I was "stuck" with just one of them:

NES, Genesis (barely), Super NES, PS1, PS2, PS3, X360. If I had to choose I'd probably say PS3 with backwards compatibility, but if we're choosing based on library only I think PS2. Ironic since the only one I've ever owned is the slim I bought at a yard sale 2-3 years ago, and I've probably turned it on five times.

[MrNash]

A MAME machine would be my first choice, but I don't think it counts in this case.

If I had to choose from existing consoles, I'd probably go with the PS2 since it had a ton of really good games in its library, was backward compatible with the PS1 and had a bunch of classic compilations for it and the PS1. It's tempting to list the early PS3 that still had backward compatibility instead, but that didn't last long before Sony ditched the feature, so I'm going with the PS2 instead.

[Xeogred]

I wonder how it feels to be in 2016 and finally realize ALL PS3 models do indeed play PS1 games. You can also find cheap memory card adaptors out there to transfer everything to the HDD and then make infinite virtual memory cards when necessary basically. Also, the PS3 smoothing option is better than the PS2's. And PS2's have a lot of trouble with one of the final bosses in Xenogears and freeze up a lot. Random FYI.

The PS3 is the ultimate PS1.

[Sarge]

I always figured the PS2s were rock-solid with PSX games. Any issues are usually ironed out by disabling the fast loading and texture smoothing. Of course, I never actually went to the end of Xenogears on a PS2.

Fun story with that game, though. It was one of my first online purchases, and I made it when GameStop got a reprint (the game was going for silly amounts of money). I ordered it while I was in Bristol, England on a lab computer and had it sent to my house. I thought that was pretty darn cool at the time!

[Xeogred]

Was that late 90's or something? lol

Yeah the fast loading has issues with a handful of games. So nothing of value lost with that being cut from the PS3. Overall I prefer the PS3 for PS1 gaming thesedays because of the internal virtual memory cards. And with that adapter I got I was able to salvage basically everything from my childhood from my 10 or so memory cards haha. But one of the third party ones that was one of those two in one with a button, both the PS2 and PS3 adapter couldn't read. I don't own a PS1 so I have no idea what's on there.

[puke_face]

SNES no question.

This right here. Best console EVAR.

[ElkinFencer10]

SNES no question.

This right here. Best console EVAR.

Mattel Hyperscan master race