Sony releases Euro PS3 backwards compatibility list
By Donald Melanson 
posted Mar 20th 2007 1:21PM
posted Mar 20th 2007 1:21PM
As promised, Sony has delivered a complete list of PS1 and PS2 titles compatible with the new Euro-centric PlayStation 3, along with a guide of just how well each game will be emulated. While we suspect many will likely still want to take a wait and see approach, according to the list, there doesn't appear to be any shortage of past-gen games that'll work just fine with the new system, with loads of titles listed as having "no known issues." That includes games like God of War 1 & 2, Shadow of the Colossus, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, but not GTA: San Andreas, which apparently has "noticeable issues." Also falling into that latter category are Madden NFL 01-06, a number of FIFA titles, and Final Fantasy X and X-2, to name a few. Sadly, Katamari Damacy appears to be one of the few games that doesn't work at all, although it seems that its sequel, We Love Katamari, will run just fine.[Thanks, Vasanth S]
Seems like Sony has removed its PS2 compatibility list, which was supposed to be on http://faq.eu.playstation.com/bc
which is now a dead link.
Other links and searches on the European websites of Sony ends up here:
http://uk.playstation.com/games-media/news/articles/detail/item83402/Playable-Software-for-PLAYSTATION-3/
Instead of any compatibility list, you get a general statement about "most" PS2 games being compatible with the PS3.
The american compatibility list is still available on
http://www.us.playstation.com/Support/CompatibleStatus
however that doesn't help for europeans, as the consoles are somewhat different, as I have understood,
the european consoles have a PS2-chip less, which is emulated in software.
It's to be noted that the list refers only to european-released PAL games. The original Katamari Damancy was never released in Europe, hence not appearing on the list.
Yeah but my imported copy works brilliantly on my UK PS2 using SwapDisc :)
I'll be keeping my PS2 at hand for some wild fun on Katamari into the distant future.
Is it sad a 21 year old still obsesses over Katamari?
Ah, nice way to downplay the level of compatibility here. Quote no numbers. I will:
SEVENTY-TWO PERCENT. 72%. 1782 games.
That's a pretty fair list. And they'll be adding future compatibility. Remind me again, how many games did the 360 support with software emulation when they released it? I don't even think the XBOX *had* 1782 games.
Sorry, forgot the reference: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/774/774133p1.html ... 1782 of 2451 total titles. hth.
What? I don't understand this at all.
It states on the website that "If your game is not listed here, emulation is not yet supported on PLAYSTATION®3. Please check back when future PS3 system software updates are released. We reserve the right to modify the Status of any game or remove it from the list."
I can't see God of War or Final Fantasy anywhere? Should that not mean they don't work / aren't supported yet?
Ah nevermind. There's the "next" link..doh..
I thought the HUGE selling point of PS3 was the BUILT-IN PS2? This doesn't sound so built in to me. Emulation? isn't that what PS fanboys have been banging the XBOX360 for, for a year? I'm very confused. Can a flame war begin to enlighten me?
Nono. The 360 bashing is due to the fact that MS doesn't have the licensing sufficient to *actually* do emulation. You cannot take an XBOX game and play it unmodified on a 360.
However, much like the PS1, Sony owns everything about the PS2. Thus, instead of downloading recompiled binaries for each game, you can just pop in a disc and the emulator runs it. *How* this is accomplished is fairly irrelevant.
The PS2 emulated the PS1 mostly through software; it had some hardware assist in that the CPU for the PS1 just happened to be used as an I/O controller, but that's all. Also, this may have been removed in the PS2 Slim, but I can't verify that at this point.
Software emulation isn't a bad thing. It lets you do things the original hardware couldn't. It's easier to fix, and cheaper to make. These are good things; the fact that it may not be 100% perfect right out the door is fairly irrelevant: they can (and will) fix it.
What will be interesting to see is how (or if) the PS4 will emulate the PS3, given that the PS3 uses an nvidia chipset. Hopefully BC was written into the contract.
The good thing about using software emulation is the ease of which improvements can be made to the games. A higher resolution / better anti-aliasing / a save anywhere feature / etc... Anyone know if the current emulator can do these?
Noticeable Issues in FIFA games? In Europe? Yeesh.
One of my friends got his highest score in Katamari under the influence of alcohol and erm... yeah. He's 33.
is anyone else having the problem that when they click next the next page doesnt show up?
oGMo:
The main issue here is the price of the European PS3. The 60gb (aka the sensible one) is around £450 (£477 with a game currently) or roughly $250-300 more expensive. Yet it's a cheaper console to produce - what gives?
If I were you I’d have a look at this far more comprehensive list with integrated user rating as well:
http://www.ps3comp.com