Could it be that the choice of compatible PSone Classics for the PS Vita are more than just the officially announced few? Jump on in to find out.
Around midnight the version 1.80 firmware update went live for North American PlayStation Vita owners to download. The latest update implements a series of new features and fixes to the handheld’s bubble-filled operating system, including the highly-demanded availability of PSone Classics.
If memory serves me and the rest of the disappointed lot of Vita owners correct, Sony had promised this backwards capability functionally – an out-of-the-box spec of the PlayStation Portable that wasn’t in this hardware’s instance – would be coming soon enough after the portable’s launch in February. I guess “soon enough” means something entirely different for the company…
Anywho… five months or so after that point, you would think its firmware arrival would be the Vita moment of the forever? Not so with the PlayStation Blog news that only a listed nine PSone classics – Arc the Lad, Final Fantasy VII, Jet Moto, Tomb Raider, and five others – would be available from the start of firmware 1.80.
Those are some slim pickings, for sure, but as few users found out last night, that list was just a collection of PSone Classics that could be downloaded directly using your PS Vita, and in reality, by using the PlayStation 3 as a fridge, a larger portion of them could be transferred over in a roundabout method.
The workaround works as follows: download the PSone titles onto your PS3, leave them uninstalled once they’re finished, and then transfer them onto your Vita. Again though, you must re-download which games you want to play on your Vita in order for this to work, a super lame and irritating process, but to be fair Sony never officially advertised this method in the first place.
Yeah, poor excuse, I know.
Plus, further mucking up things, there’s no accredited list of which games will work and which won’t when they’re ported over. This, thankfully, is where some gracious Internet denizens from the popular gaming heaven, NeoGaf, have come in and dutifully tested which PSone Classics are readily compatible.
Below is the current list of those games so far and, in bold, the PSone Classics that you can straight up download via the PS Vita:
2 Xtreme
Alundra
Arc the Lad
Arc the Lad II
Arcade Hits: Shienryu
Arcade Hits: Sonic Wings Special
Bowling
Breath of Fire IV
Castlevania Chronicles
Castlevania: SotN
Cho Aniki
Cool Boarders
Coolboarders 2
Coolboarders 3
Cool Boarders 2
Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness
Destruction Derby
Dino Crisis
Dino Crisis 2
Final Fantasy Origins
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Front Mission 3
Gex
Gex 3
GaiaSeed
Hot Shots Golf 2
International Track and Field
Jet Moto
Jet Moto 2
Jumping Flash!
Jumping Flash! 2
The King of Fighters ’99
Klonoa
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Legend of Dragoon
MediEval
Mega Man
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 4
Metal Gear Solid
Money Idol Exchanger
Pandemonium
Parasite Eve
Parasite Eve 2
Rally Cross
Rapid Angel
Rayman
Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Resident Evil: DC
Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
Ridge Racer 4
Saiyuki: Journey West
Silent Hill
Street Fighter Alpha 1
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Suikoden
Syphon Filter
Syphon Filter 2
Syphon Filter 3
Tekken 2
Threads of Fate
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider 2
Tomb Raider 3
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Toy Story 2
Toy Story Racer
Twisted Metal 2
Unjammer Lammy
Vagrant Story
Warhawk
Wild Arms
Wild Arms 2
Wipeout
Xenogears
It’s admittedly dumb beyond belief to have to wait until Sony hand picks which PSone games will be ready for the PS Vita, especially when the catalog of approved titles in Japan and Europe are way, way, way larger, but let’s hope as the weeks continue the list gets more robust. Fingers crossed.
Speaking of robust, how about our robust selection of geeky posts on Walyou. Recently we went to town on some awesome Harry Potter paper mache and the rumored release date for the Nintendo Wii U. Check them out.
