There’s a lot to love about PlayStation Plus. While it’s debatable whether we should be charged to access basic online multiplayer features for the games we (don’t technically) own, Sony’s tiered subscription service doles out an impressive list of games each and every month that can either be downloaded directly to your console or instantly accessed via cloud streaming.
However, there’s one corner of this expansive library that has been consistently underserved despite offering an incredible way to experience a whole bevy of retro titles. Those who fork out £119.99 a year for PlayStation Plus Premium will unlock the “Classics Catalogue” – a selection of titles that originally launched on the PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP, all made playable on PS5. Smart emulation features make these versions of beloved and obscure PlayStation classics more palatable for a modern audience, particularly the ability to quicksave at any point, rewind, and adjust the screen ratio to suit your preferences.
The implementation of PlayStation trophies is another highlight, though this is where the Classics Catalogue shows one of its biggest weaknesses. Not every retro game in this library has trophies enabled – an issue that seems to impact titles from third party publishers such as Namco and Capcom. Sure, not everyone engages with trophies, but those who do likely make up a significant portion of those paying for the highest tier of PlayStation Plus every month.
The fact that trophies can be retroactively added to games in the Classics library is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it could mean that titles like Dino Crisis and Tekken 3 may get a trophy update at some point in the future, but this also gives trophy hunting players a good reason to hold off playing them until they are added. Again, given the amount of money power users are paying for PlayStation Plus Premium, it’s not a big ask for those overseeing the emulation of retro PS games to roll out trophy support consistently across the whole library.
Sony’s sluggish rollout of games is also something worth mentioning, with just one or maybe two titles being added to the Classics lineup each month on average. Considering the sheer volume of games that could be potentially added, it’s a disappointing drip feed that somehow fails to capitalise on Sony’s own first party lineup.
On a whim, I recently replayed Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy via emulation on my PlayStation Portal, only to beat the game and realise that none of its sequels were available in the Classics Catalogue. Similarly, Sony plans to add another one of its beloved platformers, Ratchet & Clank, though there’s no confirmation as to whether 2 and 3 will soon follow.
As for the long list of PlayStation 3 games, that’s another story. There is still no way to download any of the PS3 hits from the Classics Catalogue and play them under emulation, with cloud streaming being your only option. Even with cloud streaming, there’s a key limitation in that it is only available when playing on PS4 or PS5, excluding the PlayStation Portal for which it would be a perfect fit.
Bonafide PS3 emulation has been a tricky beast to crack given the CPU architecture of the old console, but the open source RPCS3 has made great strides over the years and now offers a fairly simple and intuitive way for gamers to access an exhaustive library of games. Surely Sony would be able to offer something similar for PS5, if they wanted to?
It’s been speculated that Sony is waiting to pull the lever on this, allowing PS3 games to be downloaded on newer hardware with features similar to that we’ve seen for the PS1, PS2, and PSP libraries. Exactly why the company hasn’t done this already is unclear – are there technical issues the company is struggling to overcome, is it simply waiting for an opportune moment to add PS3 emulation, maybe it’s going to be a sweetener for PlayStation 6?
