Sony has announced the 20 games coming with PlayStation Classic

It’s been a month since Sony first announced that they were tapping into people’s nostalgia and joining the mini-consoles market with the PlayStation Classic. Now they’ve announced the 20 pre-loaded games that are due to come as part of the package. The full list is as follows:

• Battle Arena Toshinden
• Cool Boarders 2
• Destruction Derby
• Final Fantasy VII
• Grand Theft Auto
• Intelligent Qube
• Jumping Flash
• Metal Gear Solid
• Driller
• Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
• Rayman
• Resident Evil Director’s Cut
• Revelations: Persona
• Ridge Racer Type 4
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
• Syphon Filter
• Tekken 3
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
• Twisted Metal
• Wild Arms

It’s definitely not a bad list, with something for everyone on there – fighters, racers, RPGs, action games and platformers. I personally loooove the inclusion of Rayman, because 10-year-old me was positively obsessed with that game. And many definitely live up to the ‘classic’ tag – I can’t imagine anyone disagreeing with the inclusion of the crazy-influential Metal Gear Solid, Tekken 3 or Final Fantasy VII.

But what’s more interesting is what isn’t included. Very notably but understandably missing are the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro  games. Given their respective remasters on the PS4, their absence makes sense (I’m also excusing the omission of the amazing Medievil  and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for the same reason).

But what about Gran Turismo? Tomb Raider? Tony Hawk? Surely the Wipeout  series is more iconic and more fondly remembered than Intelligent Qube? Does the inclusion of Resident Evil mean there was no room for Silent Hill? There’s probably licencing issues that help explain some of these omissions, and of course there was always going to be disagreement over which games would or should make the cut. That doesn’t mean we still can’t be a little disappointed and left wanting, just a bit.

The PlayStation Classic and its 20-preloaded games will be available from December 3, 2018.