Ladies and gentlemen of the gaming community, PlayStation has just turned 30 today. That's right. It has been 30 years since PlayStation was first established in 1994. It has been an insane road for the beloved brand. They have great games they have been made for 30 years from the polygon model to the realistic model by games played in 4K. 30 years in the making.
The PS5 got a free update that gives us the option to switch between the PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 themes under PlayStation 30th Anniversary in Settings and when you boot the PS5, you'll re experience the PS1 startup screen every time. It only lasts during the celebration. If I want to choose between the themes, it's gonna be the PS1 and PS2 themes.
All developers that worked with PlayStation are also a part of this, except one developer, Firewalk Studios. They were developers of the flopped short lived FPS game called Concord. They will not make it because the studio was shut down after the developers couldn't explore options to better reach more players. That means Concord will always be forgotten because of it. It went under that Firewalk is gonna miss the celebration because their game flopped by having its bland cast of characters and maps, the $40 pricing on a hero shooter game and slow-paced gameplay. However, it will remain on Secret Level despite that.
These first and third party games have become gems of PlayStation that they are cherishable. We love these games and been holding them to our hearts for so long. If you have been losing track, the first PlayStation has great games. Then the PS2 followed suit and it is backwards compatible to every PS1 game. When the PS3 came out, some models can play PS1 games while some others can play PS2 games. Its storefront has a lot of PS1 games, but has a small library of PS2 games.
The one thing on how the classic titles were fizzled out after the release of the PS4 is due to the shift to the modern era. That's why Sony came up with a service, PlayStation Now. That service was terrible because of its limited selection of PS2 games and the lack of PS1 games. It's worth noting that the PS3's architecture is hard to work on, which is why the PS4 lacked backwards compatibility while the PS5 is only backwards compatible to both current and future PS4 games.
That's how PlayStation's previous anniversaries in the 20s didn't turn out to be exciting, and playing remasters of games originally released on the classic trio of consoles is just bullcrap that it is not nearly enough to make the previous milestone celebrations even more exciting since they work on modern consoles. But Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is an exception because the game and its sequel are faithful to their charming environment despite them remastered. You have to understand that.
But PlayStation 30th Anniversary will be even more exciting because of one thing that revived retro gaming in 2022. That is PlayStation Plus Premium. Before I explain how, I like to tell you one thing.
There was supposed to be a patch that brings the PS Now version of PS2 games the PS Plus Premium treatment to have emulation features, but apparently, the PS Now version of PS2 games are gonna remain available while the PS Plus Premium version of them are present. But it's fine. I am deleting the PS Now versions of them and replacing them with the PS Plus Premium version so that I can take advantage of the handy rewind feature to rewind back to the point where I made that mistake and watch logos over and over again and switch between the NTSC and PAL versions.
Let's not forget that the PS Plus Premium version of PS2 games are faithful to the PS Now version of PS2 games, but have emulation features. There is a tell that hovering over a PS2 game displays the PS4 logo to represent that it's the PS Now version while hovering over a PS2 game displays the PS5 and PS4 logo to represent that it's the PS Plus Premium version.
With that out of the way, let's explain how PS Plus Premium is gonna make the milestone celebration even more exciting. Besides a bigger selection of classic games and adding new classics monthly, there are three reasons.
First reason is straight up an early look at the lineup for this month's retro games coming later this month. It was revealed to be Sly 2: Band of Thieves, Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves and Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. The lineup has sequels to Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus in the original Sly PS2 trilogy and the PS Plus Premium version of the next existing PS2 game. These are the games that I rented from Hollywood Video and they are on my wish list.
Second reason, a padding that we had this year with Sony is that they like to announce a lineup of new classics on each special event. This year's Days of Play announced Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Tomb Raider: Legends. The recent State of Play announced Dino Crisis and Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. And PlayStation 30th Anniversary announced sequels in the original Sly trilogy and the PS Plus Premium release of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. To my knowledge, there haven't been a new PS2 game so long since the launch of the new PS Plus, so they had to release a lot more PS2 games, including the lineup of three PS2 games coming this month to make things up.
After all, the PS2 is my most favorite PlayStation console because of games that have their charming environment, like Jak and Daxter, which will be the next existing PS2 game to get the PS Plus Premium release to have emulation features and Crash and Spyro games, the characters' smooth and thinned out look, the Dolby and THX logos, Radical's two Simpsons games, video game companies that were established and got defunct during the 6th era and the way copyright screens and logos flow.
Also, the catalog of PS1, PS2 and PSP games is continuing to grow because of the special events, so they have divided it into three separate catalogs. One for PS1 games, one for PS2 games and one for PSP games in time for the brand's 30th year milestone. However, there are some flaws in them. They have remakes and remasters and games that require the Extra tier on there and they seem a bit off. I feel like that they need to be updated to have latest classics and remove games that are part of PS Plus Extra, remakes and remasters for clarity because having remakes and remasters on the Classics Catalog makes it confusing and they work on more powerful consoles and so is having PS Plus Extra-eligible games on it.
Thirdly, playing PSP games on the big screen for the first time marked history, and it's largely applied to playing GB and GBA games on the big screen on with Nintendo Switch Online. Now, if I am correct, Sony is working a new PS5 portable console that is gonna compete with Nintendo's upcoming Switch 2 and Valve's Steam Deck. This is the first time Sony is finally returning to the handheld market since the PSVita launched in Japan back in 2011 until it was discontinued back in early 2019 in Japan before the PS5 was released, but remains available in North America. This means the PSP games will be played on the new handheld.
Reasons above, PlayStation Plus Premium is how PlayStation 30th Anniversary is gonna be even more exciting. Just so you know, if PS Now still existed in any way, shape or form, the celebration of the brand's 30th year milestone would never be even more hype. But that will never be the case because since PS Plus Premium is in order, it will continue to receive more classic games, meaning if and when the brand's next Anniversaries come, we will see new classics get announced on them.
And I know you are asking what about the sequels in the Jak and Daxter trilogy and its racing game. Well, they exist, but they are the PS Now versions of them. Since the PS Plus Premium version of the first game is coming, the sequels and the racing game will follow up.
One last thing to point out. We fans of PlayStation have enjoyed the tradition we all adore. It has been a wonderful product for 30 years. What I'm trying to say is that PlayStation will change you. You could be a part of this massive community. Let's look at the brighter future and not let go of the past together as friends and family.
