I am very hyped to play and revisit PS2 games. I'll tell you why right now. Sony has a brand new and better PS2 emulator to allow PS2 games to run smoothly. This means PS2 emulation is coming to PS Plus Premium and this can definetely light the way for more PS2 games to be added to the catalog. Let's jump right in.
We have some good news regarding playing PS2 games on the PS4 and PS5 through emulation. Sony is having a brand new PS2 emulator that allows PS2 games to run smoothly, courtesy of Implicit Conversions, the company behind emulation. This is where you'll facepalm and argue that it's bullcrap that there are already PS2 games on the catalog. Sure, it's true that there are already PS2 games on the catalog and I have some of them currently, but the ones we have now are in the PlayStation Now era where PS2 games have only up-rendering.
PS2 games have been a recurring demand since the revamp of PS Plus and now that Sony has a brand new PS2 emulator, PS2 emulation and new PS2 games are coming to PS Plus Premium on both PS5 and PS4, finally. Gematsu shared their post on X saying that the first new PS2 game Sony is adding is Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This is coming in June with rewinds, save states, video filters and up-rendering on both PS4 and PS5. Hearing PS2 emulation finally coming to PS Plus Premium made me hyped to revisit favorites from back in the day. All I'm hearing in my head is "I can't wait to revisit The Simpsons: Hit & Run. This has been my favorite nostalgic game since I was younger," "NFSU2 is gonna be awesome to play on my PS5.", "The Wrath of Cortex, here I come!", "Looking forward to revisit 3D era MK games," and so on.
In honor of that, I have made a separate wish list for PS2 games that will be updated as I think of one. I went to CoolROM to look at a list of PS1 and PS2 games to help me think of what to add to my classic game wish lists. Here's the link to my wish list of PS2 games.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XmFK2Y8tle13iNoRycy1cA2o2DLOk9JlpP-EDAohRdU/edit
And here's the link to my wish list of PS1 games.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jgCNlVyvoUP8NyDiB0j2jbZdScHmvWTGi6GTzBVg2oo/edit
Are you wondering why am I making separate wish lists? Well, my original wish list has all systems. It has more PS2 games than others and I listed it to have PS3 games. Where it stands now, I am making separate wish lists of classics I want by system and some of them have an asterisk by the original titles' name to represent that it includes sequels to original games. I might make a separate wish list for PSP games I want. If I do, I won't be putting the ones that are also available on the PS2 on there since we're playing PSP games on the big screen. A separate wish list of PS3 games however will probably not be made due to them being only available to stream. That's why they are no longer that important to me. As such, PS1, PS2 and PSP are the three consoles that are easy to emulate while the PS3 isn't.
Now, I have games on my wish list that got remastered like the games in the original Crash and Spyro trilogies on the PS1 section, but I didn't include the ones on the PS2 section like Ty the Tasmanian Tiger and its sequels. After the original MediEvil gotten released on the catalog, there is always a chance that the original games that got remade or remastered can be released on the catalog one day.
And when PS Now was launched, no more PS2 games were added. Even though PS Plus is revamped, Sony was still struggling to add more PS2 games and they paused adding more of them until they got a brand new PS2 emulator to run PS2 games smoothly to pave the way for releasing more PS2 games on PS Plus Premium, starting with Star Wars: The Clone Wars, set to be added June 11.
After Star Wars: The Clone Wars, more PS2 games will be added as they can run through their new brand new PS2 emulator and this is something we can expect. I'll finally be able to re-embrace Coral Canyon's charming environment and re-listen to the theme of Gold Rush in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, which had the most sales under the Crash department, re-experience the goodness of Springfield in The Simpsons: Hit & Run, re-experience tag team racing and combat action in Crash Tag Team Racing and more.
The flows video game logos are common of all generations, but the 6th generation era ones are more charming. In fact, there is one game that has a good flow of logos and is not an indie title, and that is Scarface: The World is Yours. This is when the combo of Radical Entertainment, Sierra, Dolby Pro Logic II and THX Certified Game come in. That is the prime example of charming that a game having a four logo flow is excellent.
Broken Saw has a lot of videos that showcase logos taken from works on YouTube. Go check them out. I watched them to revisit the moment. One of my personal favorites is the one that is capped from the Simpsons: Hit and Run. It became the only game in the 6th generation to have the Gracie Films logo, but tied for first place with the one from Scarface, until the best one that came in first place; the one capped from Soul Calibur III on the PS2. What makes it so is the one part when the fighter from Galaga uses its part as the conductor's stick to conduct the enemy fighters to play the iconic Deep Note SFX and summon the THX Certified Game logo.
This is the only logo that appears in games released in 6th generation consoles along with the Dolby logos. If I recall correctly, there is one PS2 game available in the catalog that has the THX Certified Game and the Dolby logos, and that is Jak X: Combat Racing. Since PS2 emulation is coming, we might see more of them integrated with the mentioned sound formats released. I plan to make my dream logo combos on my PS5 below.
EA Games (2002) -> Sierra -> Krome Studios (2002)
Krome Studios (2002) -> Sierra -> Dolby Pro Logic II -> THX Certified Game
LucasArts -> Activision -> Pandemic Studios -> Rainbow Studios -> Dolby Pro Logic II
SEGA -> THQ -> JAKKS Pacific - SUMO Digital -> YUKE'S -> Dolby Pro Logic II -> Sofdec -> ADX
Of course, dream logo combos would also include logos of existing video game companies like Activision, the company that Toys for Bob has spun off from. When making those dream logo combos, they are made for fun and creative purposes only. Not to infringe on their copyright. A good combo would have at least three logos. An excellent combo would have five or more combos.
The process of adding more PS1 and PSP games turned out smoothly so far and starting in June, the process of adding more PS2 games will come out smoothly, unlike PS Now. Once June comes, I hope older PS2 games on the PS Now era shift to the PS Plus Premium era to have up-rendering, rewinds, quick saves and video filters both PS4 and PS5 and the list of downloadable PS2 games on Wikipedia should be restructured to match the algorithm of downloadable PS1 games.
On the previous post, I told you about Crash and Spyro games on the PS1. They became the source of fueling the charm on the PS1 era. I want them in the catalog to fuel the charm and PS Now never had a single one. And now that PS2 emulation is coming to PS Plus Premium to reopen the gates of PS2 software, our possibility of revisiting Crash and Spyro games in the PS2 era is happening. I can see how making a Bianca palette out of Annie from Skullgirls would really have its perks to support the never ending launch party. But it is irrelevant from the part when I experienced the THX Certified Game logo when I turned on Jak X: Combat Racing in like over 20 years.
If they plan to pick up the pace in releasing new retro titles on the catalog monthly, they need to release nine retro titles monthly -- three PS1 games, three PS2 games and three PSP games. This pace is excellent and it's something that they need to do, along with separating the Classics Catalog into three sections -- one for PS1 games, one for PS2 games and one for PSP games and removing remasters from it. It's to follow Nintendo's footsteps. So forget Super Mario: The Wrath of Bowser and Sonic: Enter the Omens. The real crap starts in June. Let's freaking go.
But that will not stop here. I potentially have one more future post regarding revisiting PlayStation classics. I just want to express my feelings on this post on how excited I am to revisit more PS2 games since PS2 emulation is coming in June 11 when Star Wars: The Clone Wars makes its debut and hopefully older PS2 games get updated to PS Plus Premium standards.
That being said, the first PlayStation Rewind livestream series will be coming to you soon, so stay tuned to find out what will be the first throwback game I'll be livestreaming.
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