While the initial announcement was met with excitement, it seems that the PlayStation Classic has largely been disappointing for many gamers. The revelation that it runs inferior 50Hz PAL versions of its games and the lack of many iconic PS1 titles have rubbed fans the wrong way, but apparently the mini console's lineup could have been a lot more impressive.
As revealed by dataminers, 36 PS1 games not included in the PlayStation Classic lineup were tested for the console. There has been some indication that these 36 games still exist on the PS Classic in some capacity, though that has yet to be proven, and should be taken with a grain of salt.
In the meantime, these are the 36 games that were tested for the PS Classic but ultimately not included in its collection of pre-installed games:
- Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon
- Colin McRae Rally
- Crash Bandicoot
- Crash 2
- Toy Story 2
- Driver
- Ehrgeiz
- Fighting Force
- Gran Turismo
- GTA 2
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- Kagero
- Klonoa
- Kula World
- Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
- Medal of Honor
- MediEvil
- Mega Man Legends
- Mr. Driller G
- Paca Paca Passion
- PaRappa the Rapper
- Parasite Eve
- RayStorm
- Ridge Racer
- Silent Hill
- Spec Ops: Stealth Patrol
- Street Fighter Alpha 3
- Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha
- Suikoden
- Tomb Raider
- Tomb Raider 2
- Tomba
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
- Vagrant Story
- Wild Arms 2
- Xevious 3D/G+
There are some rather striking games on this list, including the first two Crash Bandicoot games, as well as the first two Tomb Raider releases. It seems MediEvil was also tested for the PS Classic, in addition to some other classic games, like Vagrant Story and Wild Arms. Why these titles weren't included in the final release is subject to speculation, but in the case of MediEvil, it's possibly because a remake is in development.
Some may notice that the list includes a few licensed games, including Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Toy Story 2, and even Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It's likely that these games weren't added due to Sony failing to secure licensing rights for the games, but it's also possible that none of these titles were ever seriously considered and instead just used for testing purposes.
Whatever the case may be, the fact that it's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone found in the code, as opposed to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, seems to indicate that at least some of these missing games would have been the inferior PAL-region 50Hz versions. Even so, it's safe to say that if some of the games on this list were included in the PS Classic instead of some of the less exciting titles in the final release, the mini console would have generated a bit more buzz from the gaming community.
PlayStation Classic is available now.
Source: GitHub