Sony has announced their Playstation Classic, releasing December third of this year. This system is obviously Sonys attempt to cash in on the lucrative Classic line that Nintendo brought out with both the NES and SNES Classic, and they are releasing during a prime sales period. Sony has made a very smart decision on the timing of the release, and so far, the five announced games show that they have put some thought into the mini console. The first five announced games are Final Fantasy VII (a game many claim is the absolute best in turn based RPGs), Tekken 3 (a fantastic fighting title that many thought wouldn't see re-release due to legal woes surrounding a secret character), Ridge Racer R4 (a strong racing game, likely included instead of Gran Turismo due to licensing issues), Jumping Flash (a platformer I am unfamiliar with, but received good reviews and got sequels made) and Wild Arms (another strong RPG from the era). The console will be slightly limited by the fact that it uses the original Playstation controller design instead of the significantly better Dual Shock, but this decision was likely made both to save money and to give it more of a classic feel. This decision will limit possible games on the system, as obviously games designed around analog sticks will likely not be on this system.

Beginning speculation on the other 15 games, I don't see this system being released without a few seminal titles released on the original console. Metal Gear Solid strongly influenced the next generation of gaming, and is a must have in a system like this. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is often considered the best Castlevania game of all time, and created the "Metroidvania" genre. Twisted Metal 2 perfected the vehicular combat game style that was hugely popular during this era. Resident Evil did amazing things for horror games, and was a system seller. Parappa the Rapper was a very unique game that also featured a unique graphical style and was very popular in the PS1 early days. I would be shocked if these five games are not included.

The final ten games are a trickier matter to guess. The first ten are light on 2D platformers, so I can see one or two other slots filled in this role. Mega Man X4, X5, or 7 are all good candidates to be brought over, as Nintendos Classic line all featured a Mega Man game, although we may get a curve ball and see something like Tomba, or something that is 2.5D like Brave Fencer Musashi. 3D platformers are close to nonexistent in the core 10, but it's hard to imagine a PS Classic without one. Spyro and Crash Bandicoot are my first choices, but they may not be featured due to recent remakes of both games. Croc is another well made 3D platform game that has seen little attention in a long time, and is a possible candidate. Another racer is likely, with the front runners being Wipeout and Jet Moto 2. Gran Turismo would be preferable, but as previously mentioned will not likely see life on the new console due to licensing issues. I think it is likely we will see one more RPG on the list. Chrono Cross has received little attention for quite some time, and I think it would be a front runner as the other RPG on the system. However, there is a chance we could see something from another company, such as Lunar Silver Star Story. I also fully expect a shmup game to be included, with the three big possibilities being Einhander, R-Type Delta, or Darius Gaiden.

I don't see Nintendo just letting Sony release this without some competition down the line. I fully expect a new Nintendo Classic edition being announced inside a six month window. The one many of us are hoping for are an N64 mini, which I discussed in a previous blog article. That being said, Nintendo could easily simply update the firmware of the NES or SNES mini (or both) and come out with a "version two" that has different games on it than the originals, or perhaps even make minis that resemble the second versions of the NES or SNES hardware that were released towards the end of each consoles respective life cycle, this time with different games on each. There has been speculation on a Game Boy classic, however, I feel that if that happens it needs to be at a lower price point of maybe 50 dollars, and also the game selection has to be very carefully done, especially if they stick with monochromatic Game Boy titles.

Regardless of Nintendos next move, it's very obvious that the retro game scene is more alive than ever, with two of the three hardware console makers now making mini classic versions, and the third (Microsoft and their X-Box One) making their current console backwards compatible with a huge chunk of its back library from the previous generation, and also including some of their first generation era. We are also seeing many IP holders of hardware makers long gone getting in the game with a C64 mini, Sega Genesis mini, and previously the Atari and Intellivision Flashback lines.