PlayStation Classic mini plug-&-play console announced

We have been seeing Atari 2600 plug & plays for decades, which means they were selling. At the time that was the only popular nostalgic console, but now we are in the age when multiple popular consoles are nostalgic, so it makes sense to see many. For the most part people mostly care for the Nintendo ones, but I guess other companies would want at least something. It also means there is a chance this may last decades just like the 2600 clones. I honestly have nothing against it. I'm glad people have more ways to do classic gaming.

I'm guessing no one, huh? There is quite a bit of hate on the internet towards this thing. I wonder if all the people who have claimed to have cancelled their orders actually did so.

I'm waiting to see how easy is to hack it before I decide to get it. The hacking will make it worth it for me.

I've seen it for $75. It's OK. It is just not as cool as the NES or SNES, but the library has many decent titles than can be added to it.

I just got an email from Game Stop, and their new price is $59.99. If I had per-ordered this, I would be pissed!

Not only that, but Sony, for some reason, has chosen the PAL versions of some games, which means they run at the wrong speed (50Hz instead of 60Hz, so those games are either slower or run at a more choppy framerate).

This Digital Foundry video does a pretty good analysis:

stratogustav - Yep, the library is another problem. These mini consoles are supposed to be a kind of "Best Hits album": their appeal is bringing together in a small package the most important/famous games in a platform. In the 90s, I clearly remember the following series and games being the "killer apps" of the PS1, the games that everyone talked about: Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Metal Gear, Symphony of the Night and Tekken. There are others (like some of the ones you listed), but those were the essential ones and cover different genres - even if they are not my favourites (I would also go with stuff like Mega Man X4), I think they are what sums up the PS1 to me.

From those, they only included Metal Gear, Tekken 3, FF 7 and the first Resident Evil (while I think RE 2 was when the series turned into a really big hit and would be a much better choice). Tomb Raider especially was a huge deal and a very strange absence, as with Silent Hill. Now, the fact that these games are missing can be for any number of causes, but that doesn't excuse them relying on stuff like Rainbow Six - which was a terrible port of a pc game, not something that one would identify the PS1 with. The same goes for Oddworld and the first GTA (didn't even remember they had a PS1 port) or Cool Boarders 2, which just don't have any reason to be chosen.

Not that their list is terrible, but some of their picks are just strange. Super Puzzle Fighter is great, but I don't really identify it with the PS1, as with Mr. Driller. Then they pick two different car combat games plus a racing one but no shmups (Einhänder or any Ray game would be great!). And from all the RPGs they could pick, why choose Revelations: Persona (a very obscure and mostly forgotten entry in the Megami Tensei series) over stuff like Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story, FF Tactics, Parasite Eve, Xenogears, Legend of Dragoon or any others? Why are there three different puzzle games in a console that is not remembered by this genre?

I have no idea what was the process behind their picks, but it seems they were chosen by someone who had zero understanding of the PS1 library.

But really, even with their shoddy selection of games, it wouldn't be a complete disaster if they hadn't picked the wrong (PAL) versions of the games and used a free emulator without making the necessary adjustments for it to run properly.