PlayStation Plus PS1/PS2/PSP Classic Games Emulators Tested – And They're Not Good Enough

PlayStation Plus PS1/PS2/PSP Classic Games Emulators Tested – And They're Not Good Enough

Part of PlayStation Plus’ revamp is the inclusion of PS1, PS2 and PSP titles running under emulation on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. So how good are the emulators, what extra features do you get, and what is the score with the inclusion of compromised 50Hz PAL versions? We gained access to the Asian PSN where the service has now fully launched – and John Linneman has this report.

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50 Comments

  1. Valen Rn on June 20, 2022 at 9:41 pm

    Too bad the emulator didn’t use Variable Refresh Rate (VRR).



  2. Nick Hanif on June 20, 2022 at 9:41 pm

    Will you guys test the PS3 games that are available on PlayStation Plus such as Red Dead Redemption or the God of War HD games?



  3. Jon Doe on June 20, 2022 at 9:42 pm

    Ill just stick to my emulator and not pay for this service if its gonna be like this.



  4. Benjamin Young on June 20, 2022 at 9:44 pm

    Ps3 emulation was real bad to



  5. eMPlay's Modetro on June 20, 2022 at 9:45 pm

    Will you be doing a video on the Japanese versions that were released a few days ago?



  6. Kevythekevlar on June 20, 2022 at 9:46 pm

    Craziness. PS1, PS2, and psp games legitimately run significantly better on even the Xbox series S compared to PS5. How did this even happen?



  7. Vesper F on June 20, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    This reminds me why I will always use a crt and original hardware



  8. Cr Day on June 20, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    Wow….This dude looks like he got a negative amount of women during high school/college.



  9. THEUKARCADEGAMER on June 20, 2022 at 9:48 pm

    So glad I don’t bother or like playstation whatsoever



  10. MarioGaming69 on June 20, 2022 at 9:48 pm

    Oh boy piracy time!



  11. A R O on June 20, 2022 at 9:48 pm

    Just get a PS3 …..jailbreak it then you’re good to go



  12. Gonzo on June 20, 2022 at 9:51 pm

    inclusion of pal versions in pal zones is a mystery



  13. PlasmaPower on June 20, 2022 at 9:52 pm

    Also I swear that the PS3 version of Jak and Daxter looks and runs better than the PS4/5 version.



  14. Christian Eulinberg on June 20, 2022 at 9:53 pm

    Sony being lazy again?….Shocking



  15. JammyTJ on June 20, 2022 at 9:54 pm

    How do you actually find out how whether your game is the ntsc or pal version of it?



  16. kieron fleming on June 20, 2022 at 9:55 pm

    who’s paying for this garbage just download a playstation 1 emulator on your phone it does a better job and upscales better what a joke Sony is



  17. EVPointMaster on June 20, 2022 at 9:55 pm

    I’m starting to wonder, is there actually any good official emulator?
    It seems like the only way to get proper emulation is by using fan made emulators that bascially exclusive to PC.



  18. Dirt on June 20, 2022 at 9:57 pm

    Extremely disappointing and Microsoft continues to stays miles ahead of everyone else when it comes to emulation and backwards compatibility. It comes across as if Sony doesn’t give a shit about it and only did this to check the box and say they’ve done it.

    They’re sitting on two of the best gaming libraries (PS1 and PS2) and doing nothing with them, it’s honestly more sad than anything. Sony just doesn’t value backwards compatibility anymore it seems. The fan made emulators are miles ahead of this, it’s no where near good enough from Sony.



  19. TheHOOfan1 on June 20, 2022 at 10:01 pm

    Sony isn’t abandoning PS4 any time soon, because they are selling more games on PS4 than on PS5.



  20. Jorge Júnior on June 20, 2022 at 10:05 pm

    Kkkkkkk



  21. Sarvesh on June 20, 2022 at 10:06 pm

    Still no frickin PS3??????



  22. Alan F on June 20, 2022 at 10:06 pm

    Non-nerdshit opinion: The games look better than they did, they can be rewound, they can save and load at anytime, I’m happy with the service.



  23. sebastianali on June 20, 2022 at 10:07 pm

    The only reason why i think they putted both Worms is that World Party has more content but Armageddon is one of the very few PS1 games with actual native widescreen support… i honestly dont think thats the reason, giving the actual quality of the emulation probably they didnt even tried the games itself.



  24. Anatra forte on June 20, 2022 at 10:09 pm

    These games runs better on Xbox series S… 😂 lol



  25. Albert Zinger on June 20, 2022 at 10:09 pm

    Emulation team: working for decades to make emulators as accurate, good-looking and accessible as possible for free.
    Multi-billion corporation Sony, creator of the original hardware and many games, making and emulator for a commercial use: Ah, fuck it, good enough.



  26. HUGG BEES on June 20, 2022 at 10:11 pm

    Well hopefully they can gett it working well enough to play this on the ps4, I don’t have a ps5 and I doubt I’ll get one anytime soon.



  27. MrDmoney156 on June 20, 2022 at 10:12 pm

    oh god, i’d imagine very likely Sony is gonna use the PAL version of the first Silent Hill game if they gonna upload that to their Classics catalog…



  28. sebastianali on June 20, 2022 at 10:23 pm

    I also dont like how 16:9 has black bars instead of a true widescreen mode. At least reemplace that black bars with a decoration, or i dont know, something!
    The price also dont justify all this, there’s not even trophy support for PS1!!! I guess i would still stick with Duckstation.



  29. dubster on June 20, 2022 at 10:25 pm

    Playstation don’t care about emulation or backwards compatibility but the fact they charge so much for their service is shocking tbh. All the do is hurt themselves. There’s generations of gamers that will be trying these games for the first time and with poor emulation they won’t want to continue and they will wonder why they’re paying too.



  30. Cyber Gaming Studios on June 20, 2022 at 10:25 pm

    sony gonna push out the shitty games first and release a few good games before they abandon the entire service lol



  31. PlasmaPower on June 20, 2022 at 10:26 pm

    Even if these are the PAL versions of these games, I have seen some patches online for some games that convert PAL games to 60hz NTSC. Maybe they could do that for games that are different between PAL and NTSC, like with Ape Escape which had totally different localization choices compared to the US version.



  32. RetroFoxhound98 on June 20, 2022 at 10:29 pm

    make you wonder was it even worth it by wasting time and money of getting classic games in the ps4/ps5



  33. SimonFoxcoon on June 20, 2022 at 10:29 pm

    something i’ve noticed about the PAL language support was how in Super Mario 3D All Stars, is that they had used a script to toggle languages, and applied patches to a japanese rom (sm64), so you could benefit from using a different language while maintaining 30/60 depending on the game.
    i get they do not want to go the extra mile but i’d rather have it done like that, or give us the same games across all stores, with the regional variants.
    i speak english, but this sucks for non english speakers.



  34. Kennosuke 88 on June 20, 2022 at 10:30 pm

    Sony rushing devs to make a running emulator. Of course I want to back them up but how can I back them when the fans make & dedicate themselves by making a much better emulator.
    Look at the steam deck using open source emulators! It’s amazing & yes it’s buggy maybe at times but updates happen all the time. Sony won’t go out there way to roll out updates constantly they just want the cash in their pockets!



  35. em nawong em nawong on June 20, 2022 at 10:30 pm

    Just download on your phone. problem solved.



  36. Ebrahim Kakhi on June 20, 2022 at 10:31 pm

    i dont know what happening in the devoloping industry, but it seems we are suffering from a lazy devolper syndrome. where everyone just uses the most autmoated tools and gets the job done



  37. Dfactor Longplays on June 20, 2022 at 10:31 pm

    Square Pixel mode makes no sense for PS1 to begin with. Most games use arbitrary resolutions in both progressive and interlaced modes that are then stretched to 4:3. Looking at those resolutions unstretched will produce incorrect, squeezed images, as seen by the emulator outputs and since games often switch resolution, the degree of image squeezing would change. It’s a novelty option for most displays at best, as the output has always been intended to be anamorphic, if that’s the right term here.

    Another pet peeve, but DuckStation did not coin PGXP. It was first introduced in PCSX-PGXP, then Beetle HW PSX core of RetroArch and only then in DuckStation.



  38. WolkerSam on June 20, 2022 at 10:32 pm

    It doesn’t even have PGXP…



  39. Shazman Bound on June 20, 2022 at 10:32 pm

    Just play the classics on the real hardware. If you can’t afford it then get a better job or save up.



  40. MrScratchproof on June 20, 2022 at 10:33 pm

    The rest of the world can finally feel the pain of Europe playing PAL games as kids! 😝



  41. Arnaud C. on June 20, 2022 at 10:33 pm

    Great video from John as usual 🙂



  42. ACStriker on June 20, 2022 at 10:34 pm

    2:40 I have no idea if this is supposed to be a joke at some Spanish speakers pronouncing Ape Escape like that (because they simply pronounce it with Spanish syllabes instead of pronouncing it like english words due to them not knowing; happens a lot with many game names, like Halo, which would sound like "Hey-low" being pronounced as "Hah-lo" if you simply read it with Spanish syllabes) or if someone that speaks english actually said it like that for some reason lol



  43. punchabunchabuttons on June 20, 2022 at 10:35 pm

    Love the love for Soldier Blade 😉



  44. Ché Plays on June 20, 2022 at 10:36 pm

    It’s asinine that Sony would do something as stupid as opting for the PAL versions only for language support. As an international game company that had to make 50/60 Hz variants in the 90s in the first place, they should know better than to not give you a choice.



  45. p0k314COM on June 20, 2022 at 10:37 pm

    Again, Microsoft is miles ahead to Sony. Sony looks like some indie startup.



  46. BIGwill on June 20, 2022 at 10:37 pm

    At least Sony is trying to do something but I would rather use emulators that’s on PC, Play PSX games on PS2, play PSX/PS2 games on PS3 and play PSX/PSP games on PS Vita.



  47. Birch Mahogany on June 20, 2022 at 10:37 pm

    13:15, lol.



  48. PhoenixDowner on June 20, 2022 at 10:38 pm

    The PSP 3000 has scan lines somehow. I actually like the 3000 the most for that reason. Good analysis though. 🙂



  49. Adam S on June 20, 2022 at 10:38 pm

    So, as I predicted 2 weeks ago, the USA release of the new service uses the NTSC versions of PS1 games. People freaking out after the release of the Asian version needed to relax. That includes you, Digital Foundry.



  50. Zenn22 on June 20, 2022 at 10:39 pm

    No name chinese companies can make these run better on $40 handhelds 🤣