Sony confirms that the next title for the PS2-on-PS4 service will arrive on May 31. Despite mixed reviews, the title is a hit with fans of the occult.
When Sony confirmed that PS2 emulation was finally coming to the PS4 back in December 2015, fans were elated to hear the news. Though Sony hasn't been able to fully compete in the backward compatibility arms race against Microsoft, many phenomenal titles did find their way to the PS4: The Grand Theft Auto 3 trilogy, the Dark Cloud series, and cult hits like Manhunt and Max Payne have all arrived for the PS2-on-PS4 service since the initial announcement.
Now, another noteworthy PS2 title will be included in the service's catalog as of tomorrow. The game is none other than Primal, an occult-laden adventure title which originally came out in 2003. It's currently available on the PS3, and should do the PS2-on-PS4 platform proud when it releases tomorrow. Gamers with good memories will recall a title based on a woman looking for her boyfriend, traveling through a series of demonic realms to do so.
Primal becomes the 26th PS2 on PS4 title, though it sits amidst some tough competition.
For those interested in seeing the full catalog of PS2 games that the PlayStation 4 has accumulated so far, here's an alphabetized rundown of the each available title:
- Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
- Bully
- Dark Cloud
- Dark Cloud 2
- Fantavision
- Grand Theft Auto III
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
- GTA: The Trilogy
- Kinetica
- The King of Fighters 2000
- Max Payne
- Manhunt
- Okage: Shadow King
- PaRappa the Rapper 2
- Primal
- Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
- Rise of the Kasai
- Rogue Galaxy
- Star Wars Bounty Hunter
- Star Wars Jedi Starfighter
- Star Wars Racer Revenge
- The Mark of Kiri
- Twisted Metal Black
- War of the Monsters
- Wild Arms 3
While there's still plenty of titles from our wishlist that haven't found their way onto the service yet, it's certainly a good sign that Sony has recognized the importance of legacy support. While the modern focus on gaming acquisitions is much more heavily based on digital downloads, disc-based purchases of older titles require quite a process to port over to newer architecture. PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida explained that this wasn't a cheap process, so games on the PS2-to-PS4 list had to be priced at between $10-$15, so that Sony could recuperate money that the company invested into porting these titles over in the first place.
It's no secret that nostalgia is big business in the gaming world, though it's a lengthy and arduous process for developers to achieve. It was only two weeks ago that Microsoft engineers finally cracked the multi-disc game dilemma, allowing Microsoft's backward compatible library to expand even more. With an increasingly dwarfed library, it looks like Sony's work is far from over in the context of current generation consoles.
Primal will arrive on the PS2 on PS4 service on May 31, 2016.
Source: PlayStation Blog