PSone Classics Version Disappointment

[Hairless Mammoth]

So, a month ago, I bought a 32GB SD micro card and MS Pro Duo adapter[footnote]I'll take my chances with this knock off adapter because Sony's prices even on its non PS Vita cards have always been outrageous. No wounder their electronics division is hurting. Their execs are dead set on forcing people to buy into their format when everything else is using SD. Sorry, ranting.[/footnote] for my old PSP. I already have some PSone Classics I got a few years ago (Twisted Metal 2, Jet Moto, Symphony of the Night), but bought FF9 (definitely not a disappointment since it runs better than my poor, scratched discs) and Spyro 3 after getting the feelies in the mail. I just wanted to get some games from the good old days while being able to load more music onto my PSP. (It worked great as an MP3 player back when I sat at a PC for my job.)

Now Spyro 3 is good, except for the lack of analog on the PSP. Although, after reading about Spyro 3 on wikis I found out Insomniac rushed it to get it out for the Year of the Dragon. It doesn't have any game breaking bugs from the tight schedule, but they didn't finish original music for some of the later levels and used place holder tracks from earlier levels. They later put the finished music tracks into their respective levels for the Greatest hits re-release. The PSone classic version is the original version with the cut corners. Listening to the BGM in certain levels after knowing this makes the already out of place sound music seem even worse. (The Ancient Egypt level really feels odd without the typical Egyptian/"deserty" music that trope is know for.)

And after watching some Crash 2 LPs, I've learned that since Crash 2 came out before the Dual Shock came out so it didn't support analog. Later versions added analog support. Guess which one is on the North American PSN Store? Yep, even using a PS3 you can't play Crash 2 with analog despite improved versions being out there.

Neither of these are really big deals. Spyro's is just music and the 3 Crash games control really good for 3D games with a D-pad.(At least, analog was out in time for Crash 3's vehicle levels.) It just bothers me that Sony didn't offer the slightly better versions, especially considering I'm paying for games I already have discs for.

Does anyone know of any more examples from any service, not just PSN? These are just the two examples I can think of off the top of my head. What are your feelings on this matter? And does anyone else know of a version that had a major improvement, like several game breaking glitches being fixed, that wasn't chosen in place of its crappy counterpart for a digital re-release?

 

[Foolery]

The North American PSN is missing classic PSP titles. Which blows if you only have a Vita. The 20th Anniversary versions of Final Fantasy I&II (Origins is on there, but it's kind of terrible in comparison), Breath of Fire 3, Metal Gear Acid 1&2, and so on.

 

[William Fleming]

The PS One classics are kind of weird honestly... On the European PSN store, the Spyro games were up at one point if I recall correctly and then were taken down. A few years later, they were put up again (with a bundle deal as well) but they were classed as American ISOs (despite the fact they were released here as well). Thing is, if you aren't using a HD TV here, then there is a good chance that they are run going to be playable since US TVs use 60 Hz while 50 Hz was the standard in UK until HD came around.

It just seems weird... why use American ISOs when on the UK PSN store when the Spyro games were released here. Also, despite the fact that Square released the Final Fantasy games in bundles (one with Chrono Trigger as well), you are forced to buy each game separately on the store.

 

[michael87cn]

I bought a PSP 3000 specifically to play Breath of Fire 3 on UMD with. I live in NA, and imported BoF3 from europe for like $13 off amazon, brand new. Totally worth it.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

The North American PSN is missing classic PSP titles. Which blows if you only have a Vita. The 20th Anniversary versions of Final Fantasy I&II (Origins is on there, but it's kind of terrible in comparison), Breath of Fire 3, Metal Gear Acid 1&2, and so on.

I don't get why they do that, besides maybe licensing mumbo jumbo. I'm sure Sony would be more than happy to sell games that many people already own right back to them. Since I now have a huge "memory stick", I might even be willing to buy some things over again to protect the fragile UMDs I would otherwise have to carry around.

The PS One classics are kind of weird honestly... On the European PSN store, the Spyro games were up at one point if I recall correctly and then were taken down. A few years later, they were put up again (with a bundle deal as well) but they were classed as American ISOs (despite the fact they were released here as well). Thing is, if you aren't using a HD TV here, then there is a good chance that they are run going to be playable since US TVs use 60 Hz while 50 Hz was the standard in UK until HD came around.

It just seems weird... why use American ISOs when on the UK PSN store when the Spyro games were released here. Also, despite the fact that Square released the Final Fantasy games in bundles (one with Chrono Trigger as well), you are forced to buy each game separately on the store.

That is the kind of major problem that I was worried existed with some users/titles. I never knew Sony did that, but it does show me that even Sony can be lazy and uncaring to owners of old SDTVs. The only good things I can think of for that (if they did upload the NTSC copies) is the 12-hour Excalibur challenge in FFIX is easier without the PAL version's sped up clock and Crash 2 had some changes to make it slightly harder (like death routes disappearing more easily). So, at least owners of 60Hz capable sets can take advantage of those characteristics in the NTSC versions. It's still a poor decision for an international company.

I just checked and they got FFV and FFVI along with FFIV and Chrono Trigger split up over here, too. It's understandable the games would be separate ISOs since they were separate discs originally, but they want $10 each when most other games are $6?!! (You can get FF Chronicles for $12-25 NEW on Amazon! No wonder Sony spent most of the PSP's life span fighting "homebrew" software.) And, as usual, you guys are screwed for £8 each game when you should be paying half of that.

 

[Treeberry]

Ereurgh. I was really turned off when I saw how many games are NTSC instead of PAL - it just seems so half-assed and it's a bit of a slap in the face when we still don't get NTSC games that never came out over here. "Oh sure, we can give you the wrong region for games you already owned, but those you legally want to own and play? Naaaw. We're business people! We like to make stupid decisions and lose money!"

I'm not going to buy region specific PSN cards and use a fake US address to get games that I could more easily obtain from elsewhere. (again)

I'm also a bit miffed because I read on another site that a few of my favourite games were on PSN as PS1/2 classics only to find out that they meant they were on the US PSN.

I don't know about games having been improved but I've seen people complain (and understand where they're coming from) about the PSN versions of FF5,6 and Chrono Trigger. Those loading times are rather noticeable.