Wednesday, October 31, 2018

One more for the Road

Yesterday the announcement was made that a new-mini console will be rearing it's head: A Mini-PlayStation will be coming out loaded with games.

I suppose this shouldn't come as a surprise as clearly people will buy things that are already easily available elsewhere Nostalgia sells. What is equally unsurprising is that Final Fantasy 7 and Metal Gear Solid are present and accounted for.
The real surprises however are a) the third of the 'Big Three', Castlevania Symphony of the Night is absent and b) there were actually enough PS1 games to fill out the rest of the console beyond the 'Big Three'.

Okay, okay, sarcasm aside, Having the PS1 re-released as mini-console shouldn't come as a surprise considering the success of the mini-SNES, Megadrive/Genesis and NES but exactly what does a new Mini-console bring to the table? Okay so not all of these games listed are available on the PSN but, lest we forget, this is a field that is advancing at a rate that is so rapid, it's alarming. Subsequently, many old games can get lost by the wayside and, unfortunately, claimed by the ravager that is time.
People lament about games you can no longer play. Games that, even not reaching enough people, presented new ideas that drew some attention. So why leave such iterations forgotten and unplayed? Why abandon such historical documents?

Of course, even as I type these words, i already know the answer: The four consoles that did get the mini-console treatment were all big sellers. Proof that, if anything, history is written by the winners.
Eventually however, the mini-consoles will run out of winners to rehash so what will happen next? Will they start focusing on the losers of the console war? Will we see rehashes of the Mega CD? Or the Saturn? Or worse?

It may not happen which is a shame: The above mentioned consoles may be mocked as failures but it does have it;s supporters that contend that both consoles had some diamonds in the rough. And I would like to see those diamonds given new light and show current gamers some noteworthy titles that they may not have been aware of.
I mean, you don't want the pirates to win, right?

No comments:

Post a Comment