Backwards compatibility is always a big deal when console versions are on the horizon: the functionality itself dates back to the Atari 7800. The ability to play your old games on the next generation of hardware is a factor that many consider choose what: if so – new console to buy. Recently, while Microsoft has been busy extending backward compatibility on Xbox One and Series X, Sony has been a little more careful about what backward compatibility really means for PlayStation 5. But this confusing message about backward compatibility. The previous versions are nothing new if we go back to the history of the company, as it popularized the term for the general public with PlayStation 2.
Ultimately, the decision to include backward compatibility is up to the hardware architecture of a given system. "The (SEGA) Genesis had all the parts to play Master System games," Frank Cifalidi, director of the Video Game History Foundation, told Heaven32. "PlayStation followed the same rules. I always used parts of PlayStation 1 to play PlayStation 2 games."
PS2 popularizes backward compatibility
In the early years, backward compatibility of the console generally required adapters or other peripherals. Even Genesis needed the Power Base Converter plugin to read titles from the 8-bit master system. At launch, PS2 was the most uncompromising vision of hardware backward compatibility seen so far on a main console. It was such an important feature of the console that it played a vital role in its marketing – no adapters, no extension packages or extensions, just to put a PlayStation disc and the damn thing would play it.
"With PlayStation 2, this was the first time (backward compatibility) that it was a great selling point in the market," said Jeremy Parish, media curator at Limited Run Games, regarding the game plan. denomination. It wasn't the "Super PlayStation" and didn't take on a completely new name like Dreamcast. "They knew PlayStation was a huge name and they deliberately called it PlayStation 2."
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PlayStation 2 could play all of the original PlayStation games at launch, although some games, like Metal Gear Solid, suffered from compatibility issues. To prevent Tomba! for example, players had to watch the entire introductory sequence each time they launched the game.
And for the first time, it is not only games that have passed to the new generation. Allowing players to use their original PlayStation memory cards and DualShock controllers to play their old games was crucial to qualifying the console as a successor to the PlayStation. It was the first console that was an upgrade, not a clean whiteboard. In this sense, Sony was years ahead of the curve.
Historically, backward compatibility has been primarily a console launch function, which, as the native console library grows, becomes less relevant as the generation progresses.
By the time the next generation arrived, the PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 / Wii, the two Sony competitors had implemented backward compatibility in their console designs, although it had super limited capacity, some original Xbox discs could be read on Xbox 360. Despite the Wii's focus on movement, it is fully compatible with Gamecube games, even with the Gamecube controller ports. The Wii was as physically designed as the PlayStation 2 dedicated to playing games from the previous hardware cycle, allowing players to transfer their recorded data and continue to use its reliable WaveBird.
PS3 creates backward compatibility issues
At launch, the PlayStation 3, like the previous generation from Sony, was also backward compatible. The PS3 was supposed to be an awesome system, capable of playing any PlayStation game, from 1995 to 2006 and beyond, it was the best PlayStation.
"The coolest system was the PS3 test kit, as it played one, two and three PS games from any region, whether the disc was original or burned," said Cifaldi. The original plan for the PS3 was to play all of these games, but the console's cellular processor, the unit that gave the PS3 the advantage, made the future much more difficult for Sony.
This unique processor makes third-party games more beautiful than its competitors thanks to a non-standard architecture, which means that many third-party ports are often less efficient than on the Xbox 360. But even since its launch, the exclusive technology was expensive: the market I just weren't ready
for a $ 600 console in 2006. Less than a year after its substantially unprofitable launch in 2006, the hardware backward compatibility of the PS3 has been replaced by the emulation of the PlayStation 1 and 2 based on the software, the ramifications of which Sony is still grappling with this problem.
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Not only did that mean players had to start buying digital versions of the games they already had on disk, but because of the PS3's proprietary processor and the decision to make the PS4 a more user-friendly console for developers, the PlayStation 4 It also does not have the ability to play PS3 discs. While Sony has used this generation to look to the future, developing impressive console exclusives and even releasing (relatively) affordable VR headsets, the Xbox One team has focused on more and more backwards compatible Xbox and 360 games are being created. , even improving many of these titles, to get started.
Compatibility with previous versions of the latest generation
Now, as Sony has promised backward compatibility on PlayStation 5, for discs and digital copies of PS4 games, this PS3 cellular processor seems to be the biggest faux pas in creating a larger game ecosystem. Sony initially announced what looked like less than 100 PS4 games playable on PS5 before specifying that "the vast majority of the more than 4000 PS4 titles will be playable on PS5", but only the 100 most popular PS4 games will have graphics. and important performance updates in legacy mode. But the company can still remake, remaster, and repackage fan favorites, taking advantage of the nostalgia (not to mention ease of access) for returning players while introducing classic franchises to a new generation. But what about the 90% of other PS3 games that aren't considered worthy of review?
Sony's inconsistent track record is a testament to the game industry’s lack of preservation concern. It often seems that game companies have treated backward compatibility like a chip to sell consoles at launch, to convince players that they will have games to play while they wait for the new version to arrive in the first or second year. . As a result, games are constantly lost over time, no longer backwards compatible or just not popular enough to start. It is only recently that developers and publishers have started relaunching games on modern platforms, a process that requires them to have access to the original source code.
"In 2012, when 2K games wanted to rebroadcast Bioshock, they didn't have it," says Alex Handy, director of the Museum of Digital Art and Entertainment, an organization that is committed to archiving media that, historically didn't care about their own story "They had to run, from computer to computer, asking" did this guy have Bioshock? "It was one of the biggest games of the 2000s and they couldn't find the source code."
Microsoft's changes show that backward compatibility can gain confidence by giving players access to decades-old titles, as well as the promise that each new game will also be backward compatible. Sony, however, has historically given priority to the future, choosing to resell, redo and remaster its classics rather than choosing a long-term solution for backward compatibility, covering enough hits to satisfy vocal majority . As Sony progresses, it looks like it will try to add improvements to the best PlayStation games, with new, larger versions in the works.
Ultimately, although backward compatibility is used to sell new consoles, its value extends well beyond the first year of a system's life cycle. This allows loyal fans to continue to expand and access their unified game library, but it doesn't just help the players. It keeps games alive and available, ensuring that older games, even those that are almost forgotten, can be experienced by a new generation.
Bryn Gelbart is a freelance writer who has written for Business Insider, Indiewire, Game Rant and others. You can find his thoughts on emo revival games and groups On Twitter.
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