Are people less nostalgic for the PS1?

[mbd39]

Some of the most iconic PS1 games were not on the mini such as Crash Bandicoot series and Gran Turismo (understandable for licensing reasons but they could have changed the soundtrack). That hurt it along with all the other issues that have been discussed.

 

The PS1 is several years shy of being 30 years old, more than old enough for people to be nostalgic.

 

 

[Atariboy]

Gran Turismo has a ton more licenses than just the soundtrack. 140 real-life vehicles, sponsors, upgrade parts for the vehicles, etc.

Edited September 15, 2021 by Atariboy

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

Yeah it's not just the soundtrack that causes the licensing issues in racing games.    It's why so many racing games get pulled off the digital stores and why I try to make sure to buy physical, although that's pretty much irrelevant these days.

[Rick Dangerous]

I have basically not touched mine (PS1 classic) what i would want to fix to actually use the system:

 

-Mod it to include all the good PS1 games (i know this is possible, haven't got around to it yet because:)

 

-Someone to create a mod so you can use gamepads with the analog sticks, and an adaptor or mod for said pads so the system recognizes them.

 

Really it's not a system that's enjoyable (for me) with D-pad only controls so this one factor is extremely limiting for me in the enjoyment of the system.  

[Video]

PlayStation has a lot of nostalgia, despite many of its shortcomings (such as Sony actively discouraging 2d style games, resulting in massive amounts of clunky, chunky, fugly polygonal 3d games) but due to sheer quantity of games there's still literal hundreds of great games for most genres.

 

 The prob with the mini is literally the games. Most people were genuinely excited about the system, until the announced game list, then it dropped more into the "erm" range. It was to expensive, keep in mind, you could by a brand new console while they were still in production for $70 at the end of its life. And unlike certain other consoles and games, like nintendo, the original hardware and games are largely still available for reasonable prices, plus your not locked into a midiocre selection of games. Add to this, the market is absolutely flooded with "me too" pnp systems, and the PlayStation mini just really didn't have a chance. Release it for more on the $50 range, or have a much better selection of games, and it would have still struggled, though probably done better.

[Lord Mushroom]

On 9/14/2021 at 2:56 PM, Tanooki said:

I don’t buy that Sony was going to get with high fees for games. As popular as they are Nintendo is even more so

You are probably right. The high price was probably due to higher spec hardware.

[Nestea341]

I think Playstation 2 got the best of both worlds. It has the most games in the pool compared to the rest of Playstation generations. Many of those games are exclusive to Playstation 2 only. The standard graphics in Playstation 2 games is still pretty decent even today. At least, player can see clearly of what is going on in the game unlike many games in Playstation 1 are pixelated. Playstation 2 games generally have the features of a classic game. For example, in many survival horror games like Rules of Rose, Haunting Ground and The X-Files - Resist or Serve, they retain the tank-control gameplay that was introduced by Resident Evil series from Playstation 1 rather than changing over to over-the-should view like in many modern third-person games. Playstation 2 can be seen as a retro-gaming with quality graphics, where as in most cases, other retro-gamings do not have quality graphics.

[Mikebloke]

I got my ps2 out again the other day, actually it was to play Wipeout Fusion as its the first game in the series with zone mode that I really enjoy, and I have played it a bit but what I've done now is finally tested out my mcboot memory card. Of course having a brick pal ps2 nothing is ever simple so I have ended up just external hard driving some game mods of ps1 in the end (getting an ethernet to usb adapter now, but at the moment I'm running on USB 1.1 speed...). 

 

I've patched Azure Dreams with the (De-) Randomizer to add the extra features and more random elements, and I've also got the mod patch for Vagrant Story to make it harder. I've always wanted to try those kinds of alterations, but get put off of just playing it on my laptop, so being able to play it on real hardware finally gave me the get up and go to play these games again with the modded content. I'll probably have a go at some of the others too, including the FFs. Again, this is stuff that wouldn't come naturally to any official release and would have to be modded in yet again, but it means ps1 games is going to get a new lease of life for me. 

[Flojomojo]

I loved the psOne when it was new but I fully subscribe to the philosophy that old 2D pixel graphics have aged better than jaggy, juddery 3D graphics, and the most beloved franchises have been sequelized or remade. It’s still an important, iconic system though. I just bought a PlayStation Tshirt at Target with the old PS logo, takes me back to 1995 when we couldn’t always take textured polygons for granted. 

[DragonGrafx-16]

Yeah, if you want a 32bit console with a huge amount of 2D games that would be the Saturn.

[+jgkspsx]

I don’t know that it is taking over the world, but PS1-like low poly games are being made and there are some great games out there.

 

 

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

On 10/16/2021 at 6:57 PM, Mikebloke said:

I got my ps2 out again the other day, actually it was to play Wipeout Fusion as its the first game in the series with zone mode that I really enjoy, and I have played it a bit but what I've done now is finally tested out my mcboot memory card. Of course having a brick pal ps2 nothing is ever simple so I have ended up just external hard driving some game mods of ps1 in the end (getting an ethernet to usb adapter now, but at the moment I'm running on USB 1.1 speed...). 

 

I've patched Azure Dreams with the (De-) Randomizer to add the extra features and more random elements, and I've also got the mod patch for Vagrant Story to make it harder. I've always wanted to try those kinds of alterations, but get put off of just playing it on my laptop, so being able to play it on real hardware finally gave me the get up and go to play these games again with the modded content. I'll probably have a go at some of the others too, including the FFs. Again, this is stuff that wouldn't come naturally to any official release and would have to be modded in yet again, but it means ps1 games is going to get a new lease of life for me. 

Wipeout Fusion is sooo irritating in that the ship always blows up before I even finish one lap    I do love hooking it up to the CRT though on PS2 with component.  SOOOO beautiful.

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

On 10/16/2021 at 11:18 PM, Flojomojo said:

I loved the psOne when it was new but I fully subscribe to the philosophy that old 2D pixel graphics have aged better than jaggy, juddery 3D graphics, and the most beloved franchises have been sequelized or remade. It’s still an important, iconic system though. I just bought a PlayStation Tshirt at Target with the old PS logo, takes me back to 1995 when we couldn’t always take textured polygons for granted. 

I have the same shirt from target

[Ninjabba]

Right in time to announce that the PS1 is my all time favorite game console

 

Crazy good RPGs, awesome racing and fighting games

 

The 3D didn't age at all, but why would you care if you have the best looking guy on your team

 

 

 

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

I do not understand what people mean when they said the PS1 graphics didn't age well.  I don't think that's true at all.  Also video game graphics are not cheese or wine.  People say the same thing about the N64, but I just don't see it.  Both systems have gorgeous early 3D graphics.

[Ninjabba]

3 minutes ago, NeonSpaceBeagle said:

I do not understand what people mean when they said the PS1 graphics didn't age well.  I don't think that's true at all.  Also video game graphics are not cheese or wine.  People say the same thing about the N64, but I just don't see it.  Both systems have gorgeous early 3D graphics.

There's a world of difference in 3D between early PS1 games and the later ones.. later games like FF9 and Wip3Out are still great to look at imo. Only problem I have is playing it on a 4K screen, they definitely look much better on a CRT TV, but I have no space for that..

[Mikebloke]

17 minutes ago, NeonSpaceBeagle said:

I do not understand what people mean when they said the PS1 graphics didn't age well.  I don't think that's true at all.  Also video game graphics are not cheese or wine.  People say the same thing about the N64, but I just don't see it.  Both systems have gorgeous early 3D graphics.

I think problems porting ps1 games to pc has been an issue though too. When ff8 made its pc download issue (not the original disk version I still own) it was slated for altering nothing to adjust the graphics. On a crt you wouldn't notice anything other than just how well they did with what they had, playing vagrant story with its animated figures, eye blinking and mouth opening, it still looks good on a modern TV - however these games don't always get the adjustments they need when switching from a TV to a monitor. Original ff8 download just looked so wrong, and it's not that the graphics needed HDing (which is another issue of contention when it came to that re'master'!) but that it still needs displaying in the right way.

 

Having said that, and despite the huge saturn fan that I am, the ps1 handled graphics far better than both the n64 and... Reluctantly, the Saturn too.

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

Does it? I feel like the N64 has a slight edge graphics wise compared to a PS1 on a CRT. ?

[Cynicaster]

22 minutes ago, NeonSpaceBeagle said:

I do not understand what people mean when they said the PS1 graphics didn't age well.  I don't think that's true at all.  Also video game graphics are not cheese or wine.  People say the same thing about the N64, but I just don't see it.  Both systems have gorgeous early 3D graphics.

 

As somebody who agrees PS1 graphics haven't aged well, it's pretty simple to explain.  When PS1 games were current, pulling off any kind of 3D was kind of new and cool and had a strong novelty factor.  As a result, its glaring flaws were given a pass.    

 

Now that 3D is pretty standard and has advanced by leaps and bounds, those old games full of jaggy edges, tearing surfaces, blocky textures, jerky animations, etc. are hard to look at because the flaws are much more conspicuous and just leap off the screen.  

 

 

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

45 minutes ago, Cynicaster said:

 

As somebody who agrees PS1 graphics haven't aged well, it's pretty simple to explain.  When PS1 games were current, pulling off any kind of 3D was kind of new and cool and had a strong novelty factor.  As a result, its glaring flaws were given a pass.    

 

Now that 3D is pretty standard and has advanced by leaps and bounds, those old games full of jaggy edges, tearing surfaces, blocky textures, jerky animations, etc. are hard to look at because the flaws are much more conspicuous and just leap off the screen.  

 

 

I find those graphic issues easier to look at and comprehend than the uncanny look of characters in very modern games.  They are meant to look like real people, but they are so far off the mark, and they still can't seem to overcome the dead eyes.  I guess people will say current games (2021) will not age well either.    Do people give dead eyes a pass today?  

[Mikebloke]

52 minutes ago, NeonSpaceBeagle said:

Does it? I feel like the N64 has a slight edge graphics wise compared to a PS1 on a CRT. ?

Slightly biased perhaps because ps1 I always had scart rgb while n64 has poopy composite only. But yeah, I don't think of n64 when I think about expressive character models, or blended graphics (such as in ff8 when you run around escaping a military base and behind you a intercontinental rocket battery raises out of the ground and goes pew pew pew relatively seemlessly from polygonal graphics to 2d animated). 

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

1 hour ago, Cynicaster said:

 

As somebody who agrees PS1 graphics haven't aged well, it's pretty simple to explain.  When PS1 games were current, pulling off any kind of 3D was kind of new and cool and had a strong novelty factor.  As a result, its glaring flaws were given a pass.    

 

Now that 3D is pretty standard and has advanced by leaps and bounds, those old games full of jaggy edges, tearing surfaces, blocky textures, jerky animations, etc. are hard to look at because the flaws are much more conspicuous and just leap off the screen.  

 

 

The N64 racers were all like rainy foggy days.  I think I am biased perhaps because those are my favorite kinds of days.

[DragonGrafx-16]

2 hours ago, NeonSpaceBeagle said:

Wipeout Fusion is sooo irritating in that the ship always blows up before I even finish one lap    I do love hooking it up to the CRT though on PS2 with component.  SOOOO beautiful.

You're very bad lol I can complete races without even needing to use the pit.

[profholt82]

Well, it looks like the reasons have been covered pretty well here, but I'll add to the pile anyway. Ha. 

 

Game selection, first and foremost. How are you going to release a mini console without the most iconic games that everyone who had it back in the day knew and loved? It's just stupid and short-sighted. After that, I'm sure the $100 price tag turned off those borderliners who may have still bit at $80. And finally, the non-analog stick controllers. Huh? Wtf, Sony?! Those weren't even included with the console for very long before they updated to the stick controllers. 

 

So, Joe Sixpack walks into Target, sees the PS Mini, and says, "Cool! I used to love that old Playstation back in the day!" He sees the pricetag, and raises an eyebrow, but still proceeds to check out the box. Sees a bunch of games that he didn't have or care about, and the crappy original controller, and proceeds to put the box back on the shelf and go about the rest of his shopping trip. 

 

I'm telling you, $80 and loaded up with most of the top 20 selling games on the console, they would have made a killing. Forget the crappy emulation, PAL region versions, and yes, even the controller. Had they included the games, people would have bought them and just complained about the shortcomings after the fact. The crappy games coupled with the pricetag doomed those things to failure from the getgo.

[+jgkspsx]

Just recall what the 20 games were:

 

• 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

Those were mostly high-selling games and to me most of the iconic games of the system. Some of the ones that weren’t, Persona and Intelligent Qube, sell for a lot of money, I think. I think it’s a good selection myself, though it needed a Tomb Raider game and a Crash game.