PSOneClassics

1. Portability

If you have a PSP, you now have a portable playstation 1. The emulator does an excellent job with most titles meaning you can be sobbing over Final Fantasy 7’s story while taking the bus. Just make sure you have a decent sized memory stick and a packet of tissues…

2. Graphics

PS1 games are getting a little long in the tooth so the graphics aren’t as pretty as they once were. Luckily with the PS3 in your corner PS1 games are smoothed over to look extra pretty. The PSP is no slouch either; because of the smaller screen PSone classics look great and can keep you immersed longer than those same graphics thrown up onto a big screen. That’s why it’s best to play them on your PSP system.

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3. Control

PSP controls are customizable which can turn an awkward game from back in the day into a thrilling experience. Plus Dualshock 3s are much better than any wireless controller that was ever released for the PSone.

4. Durability

Digital downloads have this as a huge advantage, your download will never get scratched, your save games won’t get lost or broken due to ancient memory cards, and if the game ever does get corrupted you can just download it again from the Playstation Network. Also remember you can save your game on both the PSP and the PS3 and switch between them,  so you don’t need to leave your saves when you leave your house.

5. Price

This is by far the greatest reason why PSone classics are better than the real disks.

New copies on Ebay can be $500 or more of this classic, a mere $9.99 on PSN Image via Wikipedia

The pricing for classic games have one thing that jacks the price up more than anything, and that’s the nostalgia factor. Game sellers prey on that feeling that we’ve had when we see a game from our childhood. But those of us who never played the original games are never going to purchase a 10+ year game for the same price of a new release, no matter how revered it is. Classics and cult favorites are even priced higher (some at hundreds of dollars!). And worse, these games could be scratched, be missing the case, instruction manual and then you have to store them. Even if you do pay the hundreds of dollars for these games none of it goes to the developers who worked hard on it.

Price, durability, control, graphics and portability, these are the reasons that perhaps someday if you want to play a classic of gaming you won’t have to pay as much as a first edition novel from a half forgotten novelist that your high school English teacher was so in love with. Digital downloads, and PSOne Classics, are the gaming version of a paperback.  And networks like PSN will become the libraries of our medium.

Now if only they’d release more of them….