The PlayStation Classic price has tumbled in the Boxing Day sales
For various reasons, the PlayStation Classic is now a far more appealing proposition
In December 1994, you probably really wanted a PlayStation for Christmas. Twenty-five years later, history has repeated itself with the PlayStation Classic – a dinky version with 20 of its most popular games built-in. If you didn’t find one under the tree yesterday, then today may be the time to strike, as ShopTo and Amazon have slashed the price of the retro console, dropping it from £89.99 to £49.99.
We were a little critical of the console when we reviewed it earlier this month, but there were a couple of reasons for this which are less of a problem than they used to be. The first is that the machine only contains 20 games, and Sony has no plans to add more. Suffice it to say that clever types have managed to modify the console to support more ROMs. The second was that some of the games bafflingly run at 50Hz – the same hack fixes that.
But even if you don’t want to tinker with the internal storage, the other stumbling block – the price – is much lower now. With £40 off, you’ve dropped from paying £4.50 per game to just £2.50.
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You may still consider £50 too much to play the games from the late 90s in 2018, and that’s fair enough – unlikes the SNES and NES Classics, the games here tend to be early 3D titles that have all been bettered in the intervening 25 years, rather than the pinnacle of 2D platformers and RPGs seen on the mini Nintendo machines.
But the fact that nearly every issue we had with the machine has been sidestepped after just a month on the shelves is a pretty promising sign. Here’s how Nathan ended his review: “With its mixed lineup, limited features and hobbled, 50Hz games, the PlayStation Classic feels more like a cobbled-together, half-baked cash grab than an essential purchase for the nostalgic gamer. Its dinky design and excellent pair of bundled controllers might be worth the price of admission for some, but its games lineup, lack of expanding library options and performance woes hold it back from greatness.”
Things are looking much better after a month. Imagine how much brighter things will be by the summer.
Buy it now from Amazon