Back in September, Sony jumped on the nostalgia bandwagon when they announced their very own version of the “Classic Consoles” with the PlayStation Classic. At the time, only handful of games were revealed for the system, but as of today, all twenty classic PlayStation games were unveiled to the public. The lineup consists of some of the greatest games to grace the original console back in the 1990s. However, just like the NES and Super Nintendo Classic, some expected games were left out of the lineup.
Here is the full list of games for the PlayStation Classic lineup:
- Battle Arena Toshinden
- Cool Boarders 2
- Destruction Derby
- Final Fantasy VII
- Grand Theft Auto
- Intelligent Qube
- Jumping Flash
- Metal Gear Solid
- Mr Driller
- Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
- Rayman
- Resident Evil Director’s Cut
- Revelations: Persona
- Ridge Racer Type 4
- Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
- Syphon Filter
- Tekken 3
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
- Twisted Metal
- Wild Arms
Stalwarts such as Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, Tekken 3, and Wild Arms are obvious inclusions. Then there are games like Mr. Driller, Jumping Flash, Super Puzzle Fighter II: Turbo, and Battle Arena Toshinden that are also included. Now don’t get me wrong, these games are excellent in their own right, but they are not nearly as recognizable as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2, which were left out. As for the sports games, it’s Cool Boarders 2, and that’s it. Fan favorites Gran Turismo, WipEout, and Jet Moto are noticeably absent on this list. Yes, we did get the obligatory Final Fantasy game, but Square Enix currently owns the rights to another all-time classic PlayStation series, Tomb Raider, and the original trilogy that was a huge success on the PS1 is not in the lineup for the classic.
Interestingly, the PlayStation Classic that’s being released in Japan will have a bit of a different lineup, with more of a focus on RPGs and Side-Scrolling shooters. Both of the Arc The Lad titles will be on that version, as well as the original Armored Core, SaGa Frontier, Parasite Eve, and Gradius. It makes sense, as those types of genres were always more popular in Japan during the 1990s. Regardless of the exclusions and differences, the games in the lineup are some of the greatest video games of their generation. We just wish there were more than twenty.
The PlayStation Classic will launch on Decmeber 3, the 24th Anniversary of the PlayStation’s original release, and will cost $99.99. You can check out the game lineup reveal trailer here: