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[Shig]

Sony and other companies have done a great job of growing the PS1 Classic library over the span of the program, but looking over where the PS2 Classics stand, it's hard not to be left wanting.

For instance, on the PS1 Classics side, Capcom's got Resident Evil 1-3, Dino Crisis 1+2, Megaman Legends 1+2+Tron Bonne, Street Fighter Alpha 1-3, Darkstalkers 1+3, Strider 2, Pocket Fighter, Megaman X 5+6, Megaman 8, Breath of Fire IV... almost all their notable output, they've pursued and made available. And it's not like they dumped all this stuff right when PS1 classics first surfaced and then left it alone, they've pursued and added some of this fairly recently, so there's a sustained interest on display.

PS2-era Capcom was similarly prolific as a publisher. I'm sure they've been similarly comprehensive with making that back catalog available, right? They pursued the unlikely niche darling God Hand as one of the first titles to support the service, surely they've made a good variety of both obvious titles and lesser-known gems available since. Let's see what they've got:
Maximo 1
Capcom vs. SNK 2
Capcom Fighting Evolution
God Hand

...oh.

I can understand in the case of Devil May Cry, Okami, and RE4, which have HD conversions, but there's a lot missing here that almost certainly will never be made available otherwise at this point. Four Onimushas (five if you wanna get that Blade Warriors mess), no sign of them. No Viewtiful Joe 1 or 2. No Dragon Quarter. No Maximo 2. No Killer 7. No Megaman X7, 8, or Command Mission. Haunting Ground, Shadow of Rome, Chaos Legion, Devil Kings, Monster Hunter? Nada.

There's exceptions, some publishers have been pretty good with their effort. Tecmo Koei has surprisingly broad representation. Atlus has all their SMT/Persona games up there along with other odds & ends. Rockstar has most of their notables. Konami seemed to be on a good track with the Contras, the Castlevanias, Gradius V, and Suikoden III, but they've still got work to do, there's still more Suikodens and Silent Hill 2-4 as Classics would be preferable to their shoddy HD ports. Sony of course had broad support, though they seem to have pulled the PS3 store availability for a lot of games they've converted for PS4, which is kind of a bummer. Most everyone else seems to have just walked away or never started to begin with. Square's only contribution is Grandia III. Namco Bandai's only got the first Katamari. EA has absolutely nothing.

Support decidedly seems to have stalled, and once PS3 digital releases are dead and gone, who knows when the next opportunity will be for these to have a home? PS2 classics are a thing on PS4, of course, but with upscaling and achievement implementation, they seem to require significantly more effort. And as we get further and further from the original releases, the likelihood of publishers expending extra effort on their back catalog tends to wane. If they couldn't throw a ROM dump on the PS3 marketplace, it seems a little silly to hold out hope for them doing more for a PS4 release.

Can we make some noise to encourage a last push? I feel like there's a solid #buildthelibrary case to be made here.

 

[Marmaladefire]

Monster Rancher 3 or nothing.

 

[DoctorFish]

I'm pretty annoyed that Viewtiful Joe hasn't been ported to anything.

 

[chronic_archaic]

PS1 classics worked without tweaking where I think PS2 emulation on PS3 did have minor compatibility issues depending on the game so actual effort would be required to do it. I could be wrong on that.

 

[Creaking]

It's tragic that in this era of remasters and rereleases, I still have to plug in my PS2 to play Shadow of Rome.

 

[WarioFan63]

Just to launchpad off the examples you gave, Capcom managed to put out Maximo 2, Mega Man X8 and Breath of Fire V on the PS3 in other regions. I thought it was odd there wasnt any worldwide parity there since there tends to be when Capcom releases stuff on Virtual Console.

I wish the PS2 list was bigger too and it kinda stinks that theres a divide between whats available on PS3 and PS4. Im hoping maybe some surge in support comes some day on the PS4 side, theres tons of PS2 games Id like to play.

 

[Stallion Dan]

Not every PS2 game could be emulated well on PS3 apparently.

Just to launchpad off the examples you gave, Capcom managed to put out Maximo 2, Mega Man X8 and Breath of Fire V on the PS3 in other regions. I thought it was odd there wasnt any worldwide parity there since there tends to be when Capcom releases stuff on Virtual Console..

Bullshit, they missing shitloads from EU store.

 

[koopas]

The only thing I hated about the PS2 classics on PS3 were that the emulation had each game have their own memory cards where as the PS1 classics releases you could use the systems internal PS1 storage as memory cards (which meant you could use your old saves if you had a original memory card lying around and fhat USB adapter)

 

[Shig]

PS1 classics worked without tweaking where I think PS2 emulation on PS3 did have minor compatibility issues depending on the game so actual effort would be required to do it. I could be wrong on that.

Thing is, this stuff is fodder for strengthening the PSNow library, too, and that's being pushed on a broadening slate of streaming devices and TVs. So even if PS3 support is being sunsetted, there's still an active platform that would benefit from the pursuit of more releases.

 

[RedSwirl]

What's happened to PS2 game preservation is a tragedy because the PS2's library is arguably the most valuable one for any console. It's a veritable gold mine of legacy content for Sony to reach into. It's the one back catalog Sony shouldn't let drift into obscurity.

My original hope was that Sony would do PS2 emulation on the PS4 to the same degree PS1 emulation works on the PS3, and that maybe that emulation would even run physical PS2 games. I still feel like that's the best thing to do because there are so many good PS2 games, possibly hundreds, that may never be remastered or re-released.

It's becoming increasingly apparent that the best way to preserve PS2 games might end up being PCSX2. Each day I think about finally dipping into it.

Thing is, this stuff is fodder for strengthening the PSNow library, too, and that's being pushed on a broadening slate of streaming devices and TVs. So even if PS3 support is being sunsetted, there's still an active platform that would benefit from the pursuit of more releases.

But don't those PSNow servers still have to run the games on actual PS3s? I'm not clear on how it works in practice now, but at the server I imagine you still have to have some device that can run the PS2 game.

 

[Shig]

But don't those PSNow servers still have to run the games on actual PS3s? I'm not clear on how it works in practice now, but at the server I imagine you still have to have some device that can run the PS2 game.

Well yeah, that's what I'm saying. Because of PSNow, there's motivation to keep pursuing PS3 compatability, even if PS3 support is seen as winding down. If there's still a relevant service that's benefiting from that PS3 compatibility, keep at it.

 

[westman]

PS2 classics are a thing on PS4, of course, but with upscaling and achievement implementation, they seem to require significantly more effort. And as we get further and further from the original releases, the likelihood of publishers expending extra effort on their back catalog tends to wane. If they couldn't throw a ROM dump on the PS3 marketplace, it seems a little silly to hold out hope for them doing more for a PS4 release.

My understanding is that making a PS2 game run well on the PS3 is not a matter of "throwing a ROM dump on the marketplace" unless the game is very undemanding. The PS3 doesn't quite have the performance needed for general full-speed PS2 emulation, so it needs title-specific adaptations of the emulator (or the game) to achieve adequate performance. That is probably more challenging (and requiring more PS2 knowledge) than getting the game work in the PS4-based emulator, that has more performance headroom from the start.