Playstation Classic Mini System

Clyde

It's down to 49,99€ in Germany at some online stores.

ruckage

@AndersHP said in Playstation Classic Mini System:

Being a "first generation" console of its era, I really think the Playstation 1 have aged poorly, considering that it's newer than, say, the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.

Even though these consoles are older, and run fewer bits, because they were the last in their generation of consoles, I really think they've aged so much better and games are really playable today.

Just my humble opinion, I had a PSX emulator running on my build for 1 day, before my eyes bled so terribly from the pixelation and bad 3d, that I decided to stop at 16 bits :)

Still, it's cool to have Sony on board the retrogaming rocket.

I actually felt the same until I started playing some PS1 games again recently and realised I was really enjoying the games. And there are actually quite a few really good 2D titles on the system if you wanted to completely avoid 3D games.

Here are some titles I still enjoy and think hold up well on the PS1 :

2D Games
Bishi Bashi Special
Harmful Park
Megaman X4, X5, and X6
Castlevania symphony of the night
Castlevania Chronicles
Harmful Park
Alundra
Blood Omen Legacy of Kain
Bust a move 3 and 4
Pop 'n Pop
Puchi Carat
Rayman
Adventures of Lomax
Bubble Bobble featuring Rainbow Islands
Sexy Parodius
Panzer Bandit
Rapid Reload/Gunners Heaven

3D games
Jumping Flash 1, 2, and 3
N2O
Ape escape
Crash team racing
Speed Punks
Nanotek Warrior
Gamera 2000 (I hadn't heard of this until recently but it's a really fun Starfox style game)
Karushi/Inteligent qube
Donald Duck - Qoin Quackers
Tempest X3
Tiny Tank
Raystorm
Raycrisis
Rival Schools
Street Fighter EX2 Plus alpha
Omega Boost
Ray Tracers (spiritual sequel to Chase HQ)

There are loads more but these are a good start I think.

ClassicGMR

In the US Amazon.com has them for $44.88 with free shipping. They're just getting lower. :)

The system itself is fabulous. I love BleemSync 1.0.0 and the ability to add games to the carousel in alphabetical order. This "side" of the system is perfect. :)

The RetroArch system is still very buggy. It plays well but - just testing today - I crashed the system 19 times out of 20 tests. Different games and emulators. I select CLOSE CONTENT and the system goes black and hangs. Only once it exited correctly. Hopefully they will be working on this in future revs.

Overall I really love this little system and with a sub-$50 USD price tag it's worth it.

A Former User

Down to £49 here in the UK - Amazon UK. Not as low as other Countries.
Even at £49, I still don't see what this has to offer over a Pi.

Silent

@John_RM_70 said in Playstation Classic Mini System:

Down to £49 here in the UK - Amazon UK. Not as low as other Countries.
Even at £49, I still don't see what this has to offer over a Pi.

Two good controllers you can use with it and with PC
Great looking case
20 legimate games.

Despite the system being bad, at this price buying it just for those starts making sense.

A Former User

@Silent said in Playstation Classic Mini System:

Two good controllers you can use with it and with PC

You can use the much superior PS3 and PS4 controllers on a Pi.

Great looking case

Can't argue there. It does look good.

20 legimate games.

I own many hundred originals, collected since the 90s. These are just as legitimate.
For £50, though, I just can't see what it can offer that a Pi already can't offer. Infact, a Pi, case, SDcard, is about the same cost, yet does so much more. If this drops even further, say to £40 or less, then it looks more attractive, but still limited.

Clyde

@John_RM_70 said in Playstation Classic Mini System:

For £50, though, I just can't see what it can offer that a Pi already can't offer.

Out of the box PSX gaming.

Infact, a Pi, case, SDcard, is about the same cost, yet does so much more.

Does it? Put a PSXCM next to just a Pi in a case with an SD card and switch both of them on. What will each of them do?

Systems like the PSXCM are meant for a completely different audience than the Pi, so I think you can't really compare them fairly without including the intended application(s) and the additional time, effort, hardware, and software that the Pi requires.

A Former User

@Clyde said in Playstation Classic Mini System:

Does it?

Yes. Why would you think otherwise ?
Can it do MAME ? SNES ? NES ? Megadrive ? Amiga ?

Barcrest

Has anyone done any speed tests compared to the Pie 3B+, is the PS Classic any faster. I did a google search but couldn't really find anything.

BobHarris

@John_RM_70 I agree that for people like us with our shared hobby, the PSCM doesn't bring much new to the table. For me it's more a personal thing; The Playstation 1 is my favorite console and the mini looks great in my Playstation themed gaming cabinet. This is also why I waited for it to drop in price to 40.
I don't think it will ever outperform my Pi in any way. But I would invest some time in it to make it the ultimate ps1 package with all my favorite games on there.

dankcushions

the thing that puts me off is the PAL versions of games, and bad emulation. if it was a perfect, no thrills PSX emulator, then i would be on board. as it is, it's a worse PSX emulator than a pi, unless you hack it (at which point, just get a pi!).

the nes/snes classics are so much better at what they do.

thelostsoul

I am also not very happy about the current state of Playstation Mini Classic. Now the price is cheaper, the story changes a little. When I buy this, I would only for the two gamepads and the case building a dedicated Pi3B+RetroPie system. This is how I see the parts would cost individually, when I break it down:

50 € in Germany:
First Gamepad = 18 €
Second Gamepad = 18 €
Playstation Case = 14 €

Thats not too bad. I compare the gamepads in quality and feeling (never touched them yet, but that is what I get from reports) to the SNES gamepads by Buffalo, which costed me 18 € each when I got them (they are higher in price now). The case looks quite good and the most quality cases for Pi3 are way more expensive.

ruckage

@thelostsoul
I was planning the same but for me the cost isn't quite low enough yet as the controllers though nice aren't something I really need as I have plenty of PS3 controllers which have the added benefit of analog sticks and bluetooth connectivity. So for me I only really want it as a case and £50 is a bit too much for that alone - I do agree though that it's not a bad deal if you do need the whole setup.

Clyde

@John_RM_70 said in Playstation Classic Mini System:

@Clyde said in Playstation Classic Mini System:

Does it?

Yes. Why would you think otherwise ?
Can it do MAME ? SNES ? NES ? Megadrive ? Amiga ?

It may, once it is hacked, which seems very probable.

But can the Pi do those systems out of the box? Does it come pre-installed with 20 proper licensed games like the PSXCM?

I don't think it's conductive or fair to compare a stock Pi which can't play any games to a ready-to-play product like the PSXCM.

thelostsoul

@Clyde Yes, many people forget the Pi3 need a lot of work, time, tweaking, nerves and knowledge, maybe bandwith, some criminial activities :p (don't take this too serious!!!) to get it to work.

A Former User

@Clyde said in Playstation Classic Mini System:

It may, once it is hacked, which seems very probable.

Does it ? Look at the hardware. It doesn't look like it would even do SNES without choking.

But can the Pi do those systems out of the box? Does it come pre-installed with 20 proper licensed games like the PSXCM?

Irrelevant. My PS4 can't do anything "Out of the box", so that makes it worse than the Classic ? Silly argument.

I don't think it's conductive or fair to compare a stock Pi which can't play any games to a ready-to-play product like the PSXCM.

I think you are arguing, just for the sake of arguing . Both are now in similar price points, both can emulate the original Playstation. But the Pi does it much better because right from the off, the Pi is only restricted by it's hardware. The Classic, without hacking it, is restricted by both hardware AND software. You only have to watch the many videos to see this, and I genuinely can't see why you continue to defend it.

ruckage

@John_RM_70 said in Playstation Classic Mini System:

I think you are arguing, just for the sake of arguing . Both are now in similar price points, both can emulate the original Playstation. But the Pi does it much better because right from the off, the Pi is only restricted by it's hardware. The Classic, without hacking it, is restricted by both hardware AND software. You only have to watch the many videos to see this, and I genuinely can't see why you continue to defend it.

I think you're missing the point and @Clyde opinion is perfectly valid. For people like us who tinker the Pi is the better option but for the average joe who wants a system that's ready to use off the shelf the playstation classic is a better option as you can just plug it in and start playing - not everyone is interested in hacking.

And hardware wise the Playstation classic isn't bad at all for those who do want to hack it - it's at least comparable to a raspberry pi 3. Where it will falter though is with the support it receives, the raspberry pi has a large user base so we get constant updates but I doubt the playstation classic will enjoy anywhere near the same level of support.

ClassicGMR

@Barcrest I found the specs listed on https://www.tweaktown.com/news/64015/playstation-classic-specs-revealed/index.html :

MediaTek MT8167A SoC processor
Quad-Core ARM Cortex A35 CPU @1.5GHz
PowerVR GE8300 GPU
1GB DDR3 RAM (1866MHz)
Samsung 16GB eMMC NAND memory

@Clyde said in Playstation Classic Mini System:

@John_RM_70 said in Playstation Classic Mini System:

Can it do MAME ? SNES ? NES ? Megadrive ? Amiga ?

It may, once it is hacked, which seems very probable.

Plays all the classic systems just fine. My only issue is there's a bug when "closing content" in RetroArch. Playing the games full speed is a non-issue. (I haven't tested N64 because I've never been a fan of N64 emulation on ANY platform). Everything I have tried feels just fine.

Dipkid

@ruckage So, this theme, did you ever finish it / could one try it out..? It looks great.