Retro games consoles from the official sources are notoriously locked down. There’s little opportunity for fans of the classics to customise their experience, and even less for them to boost the number of games on offer.
However, on the PlayStation Classic – a crushing disappointment in almost every other way – tinkering is much, much easier. The folks behind the Retro Gaming Arts YouTube channel found it’s remarkably easy to access the ‘secret’ menus and enable new settings.
All you need to do is plug a compatible USB keyboard (some Corsair and Logitech are known to work) into the requisite port and hit the Escape key from within one of the games. That takes gamers into the the open-source PCSX emulator settings, which they’d be able to access if they were using it on a PC.
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Here they can enable multiple save states, cheats, change the frame rates, add CRT-style scanlines. It might be possible to play games with an analog controller and gun controllers and, mysteriously, there’s also a menu encouraging gamers to “load CD image.”
The tinkerers warn Classic owners not to mess with these settings unless you’re super comfortable working with menus. They borked the console and didn’t know how, so we’d leave well along until we know more about how.
Probably the most promising thing is, as the RGA folks say within the clip, the ease of accessing these hidden settings. “If there’s a way to get into the emulator that’s so simple, there’s got to be a way to get beyond that,” the narrator says. That breakthrough would give gamers much more control over the PlayStation Classic and perhaps even the ability to add more games.
In our review, published last week, we awarded the PlayStation Classic just 2 out of 5 stars. While our reviewer praised the inclusion of Tekken 3 and the ability to play with a HDMI output, we criticised the ‘terrible’ collection of games and the barebones emulation.
“PlayStation Classic would only be a half-accurate way to describe it. Re-releases of the 3D era are going to have to try better to get us onside,” Jake Tucker concluded.
Have you bought the PlayStation Classic yet? Share your initial impressions with us @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
