PlayStation Retro Discussion (inc. PS3, digital PS1 & PS2 Classics & PS Plus Premium)

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Next week should be the next reveal of the PS Premium content, but Disney has done it again by having Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace from the original PlayStation rated in Taiwan for PS4 & PS5.

Disney has a lot of games from PS1 that could make it over, which also includes the titles under LucasArts since they own their IPs as well (hence why Herc's Adventures is published as Disney for PS4 & PS5).

  • Atlantis: The Lost Empire
  • A Bug's Life
  • Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
  • Dancing Stage Disney Mix (Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix)
  • Disney's Action Game featuring Hercules
  • Disney's Aladdin in Nasira's Revenge
  • Disney's Dinosaur
  • Disney's The Little Mermaid II
  • Disney's Magical Tetris Challenge
  • Disney's Peter Pan in Return to Neverland
  • Disney's Pooh's Party Game: In Search of the Treasure
  • Disney's Tarzan
  • Donald Duck: Quack Attack (Disney's Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers)
  • The Emperor's New Groove
  • The Jungle Book Groove Party (Walt Disney's The Jungle Book: Rhythm N'Groove)
  • Lilo & Stitch: Trouble in Paradise (Disney's Lilo & Stitch)
  • Mickey's Wild Adventure
  • My Disney Kitchen [Atlus of all people did the PS1 port]
  • Pop'n Music: Disney Tunes
  • Tigger's Honey Hunt
  • Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue
  • Toy Story Racer
  • Treasure Planet
  • Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour
  • Ballblazer Champions
  • Herc's Adventures
  • Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles
  • Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
  • Star Wars: Dark Forces
  • Star Wars: Demolition
  • Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi
  • Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire

One thing that does leave me wondering, is whether Disney owns the publishing rights for the older Marvel titles. We know games like Spider-Man were under Activision, but would that have been passed onto Disney or is it now with Microsoft (as they bought Activision). Hmm...
 
Sony has revealed their PlayStation Plus Premium line-up for December 2023, and it is indeed focusing on the three Disney games that were rated by the Taiwanese board a little while ago. I'll recap what I mentioned before here.

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Disney/Pixar's Buzz Lightyear of Star Command is a 2000 Sony PlayStation game developed by Traveller's Tales and based on the animated series spin-off from the Toy Story universe. One of the few PS1 games that I do own physically and it's a pretty challenging game due to the time limit that's present in a lot of the levels. Having done some research, this game wasn't added to the PS3 so it's a brand new addition to the Classics line-up. Do not expect trophy support here as Disney games don't yet have any.

Thrillville
Developed by Frontier Developments (the folks behind Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo & Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 & 3) and published by LucasArts in 2006, this is the PSP version of the simulation strategy game released in 2007 (a year after its debut on PlayStation 2 & Xbox). So this is another one of those that Sony has opted for the portable version than the console version (if you do want to play the console version, the Xbox console release was made backwards compatible for Series X/S).

Thrillville: Off the Rails
From the same team brings the second game in the series released a year later (though the same year for PSP owners!). Both games are expected to not include any trophy support.
 
I was so occupied by work that I had completely forgotten about Sony's latest batch of PS Plus Premium classics.

We do have some remasters joining the service which are Capcom's Street Fighter: 30th Anniversary Collection (PS4) as well as Square Enix's Legend of Mana (PS4) and the Secret of Mana remake (PS4).

Rally Cross
Another racing game released on the original PlayStation in 1997 by developers 989 Studios aka the folks behind Jet Moto, Twisted Metal and Warhawk. I recall there were a fair amount of rally-related racing games released on the platform so I'm happy to check this one out as well. As Sony is the publisher, expect trophy support to be included here and should be available as a free download if you own the PS3 store version.

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Leaked in a similar way to Buzz Lightyear, we have another Star Wars game entering the line-up courtesy of Disney. Developed by Big Ape Productions in 1999, this game was received well by fans and critics with the camera angles being the odd one of the bunch. Don't expect any trophies here but should be a good time if you want more classic Star Wars fun.
 
Time for another new batch that's now available on PlayStation Plus.

We do have some remasters joining the service which are Bandai Namco's Tales of Symphonia Remastered (PS4) and Tales of Vesperia Remastered (PS4).

Jet Rider 2 (Jet Moto 2)
A few months ago we received the first Jet Moto game by the developers of Twisted Metal and WarHawk; SingleTrac. Now we have the second game which is the more preferred one from what I read. Released in 1997 in North America and 1998 in Europe, Jet Rider 2 is like before, a hover bike racing game with some interesting gameplay. From what I also read, there's a different version of Jet Moto 2 which increased the framerate and had added tracks, so I'm curious to see if Sony will do anything about that. This game will be free to download if you bought the PS3 store version, and the PS4/PS5 release does feature trophy support.

Resistance Retribution
Joining the PlayStation Portable classics range is another Bend Studio title which was rated many months ago. Released in 2009, Resistance Retribution takes place between the first two PS3 games in the franchise and is a third-person shooter. I heard it's a really good one (compared to the Vita instalment) and once again there's trophy support. I expect Bend Studios will tweak the controls to allow analog support like what they did with Syphon Filter so stay tuned.
 
Three more classics are now available to play in this month's PlayStation Plus Premium batch.

We do have some remasters joining the service which are Bandai Namco's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R (PS5) and Capcom's Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (PS4).

Cool Boarders
Released in 1996 for the PlayStation, the classic snowboarding game by Japanese developers UEP Systems is now available on the modern platforms. The game was also released on the PlayStation 3 via the PS One Classics line-up so if you own that version you should be able to download the PS4/PS5 version for free. The game does include trophy support.

GODS EATER BURST
Released in 2010 in Japan and 2011 for Europe & United States, this is an updated version of the original GOD EATER by developer Shift and Bandai Namco for the PlayStation Portable. Some of you will be familiar with this franchise already as we also saw a remaster in the form of GOD EATER Resurrection for PS4 & Vita which I have played and had a good time. I do think the remaster is the better approach but you can now check out this version once again. While there's no trophy support, you are able to purchase the game for £7.99 which is new given that Bandai Namco tend to keep their Premium entries subscription exclusive (or at least timed exclusive).

Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier
Released in 2009 by developers High Impact Games, this is the unofficial Jak 4/5 of sorts for the fans of the franchise. Also released on PlayStation 2, Sony has provided the PSP version since their PS2 emulator isn't fit for purpose currently. I have heard this is the weakest in the franchise but it does given room to see the Daxter game turn up at some point. The game does include trophy support.
 
Another four classics now available for April's PlayStation Plus batch, three of them are PlayStation 1 games and one is a PlayStation Portable game exclusive to Japan.

Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare [£7.99 to purchase]
Released in 2001 across multiple platforms (PS1, PS2, Dreamcast, Windows & even the Game Boy Color), this instalment in the Alone in the Dark I believe is considered to be one of the best in the franchise. That said, here we have the PlayStation 1 version which was leaked by PS Blog earlier in the year (implied to have been planned to be released alongside the Alone in the Dark 2024 game). Regardless it's nice to see another third-party publisher (THQ Nordic in particular) release a game for the service and it's also a survival horror one. The game was also released on the PlayStation 3 via the PS One Classics line-up so if you own that version you should be able to download the PS4/PS5 version for free.

MediEvil [£7.99 to purchase]
Released in 1998 and developed by SCE Studio Cambridge (now known as Guerrilla Cambridge, the devs behind Killzone Mercenary), the classic action adventure game is now back once again with another version - the original... again! What you mean you haven't played the MediEvil remake, or the PSP remake MediEvil Resurrection or the original MediEvil already included in the MediEvil remake? Jokes aside, it's great to see options available for those who want the original on its own or another version like what they did with Ape Escape. This release should also pave the way for MediEvil 2 to make an appearance at some point. The game was also released on the PlayStation 3 via the PS One Classics line-up so if you own that version you should be able to download the PS4/PS5 version for free. The game does include trophy support.

Ore no Shikabane o Koete Yuke (俺の屍を越えてゆけ) [¥1,100 to purchase]
Released in 2011 is the PSP remake of the cult classic 1999 PlayStation game only released in Japan developed by Alfa System (Linda³), MARS Corporation and Contrail (Legend of Legaia). For those who have no idea what this game is - it's also known in the west as Oreshika and is the first game in the series. The second game Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines was localised and released in the west by Sony for the PlayStation Vita. Like Coded Soul, this game is only available on the Japanese PlayStation store but can be bought to play on your own accounts (as long as your Japanese account is on the same console). The game does include trophy support.

Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire [£3.99 to purchase]
Released in 1995 for DOS before receiving a PlayStation release in 1996 by Lucasarts, this is another Star Wars game brought to the platform by Disney because why not. Interestingly this is an on-rails shooter with FMVs so I'm intrigued to see how this plays on the emulator. On the plus side, this is another game that was not released on the PS Classics line-up back in the day.
 
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The main thing I remember about New Nightmare was its party trick of having a flashlight that could light up the 2D backgrounds. Aside from that it was just an okay game. I still have it on Dreamcast, which looked a lot better than this version, as you would expect.

It's weird that they've gone for the PS1 version. I guess that's more evidence of Sony's PS2 emulator not being very good.
 
New Nightmare used lighting very well. But I haven't played it in ages, I do remember enjoying it but that's all I can say. Original AoD is still the best game but oh lord the controls are terrible, I have actually played that one somewhat recently so it's still freash.

The newest game is a flawed gem. Haven't finished it yet but unless something drastically changes my mind I can safely say it's definitely the third good Alone in the Dark game. Don't bother with any of the other games though.
 
Dai said:
It's weird that they've gone for the PS1 version. I guess that's more evidence of Sony's PS2 emulator not being very good.
Click to expand...
I think its down to two factors - one being the emulator isn't optimised or designed for PS5 currently (and I reckon if they did redo the emulator it would be PS5 exclusive), and the other because apparently the PS2 version was never released in North America so US owners would probably complain about technical issues in that sense.

I do wonder what else could be brought to the platform under THQ Nordic. They did support the PS2 on PS4 line-up a fair bit.
 
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