2020/8/5: Playstation: Grand Slam, Pepsiman (Japan)

[VideoGameCritic]

Let's hear your thoughts on my latest PS1 reviews.

[MSR1701]

I first heard about Pepsiman back in the 90s in a gaming mag, and wasn't too impressed by it at the time. Nowadays, the hilariously cheesy acting and voice work is a hoot, and the game is enjoyable to me in bursts.

It's amusing how many licensed games saw releases only in certain markets; Coke had a Game Gear game with it's Japanese mascot at the time, there are any number of odd 2600 licensed games, and certainly more that I cannot recall offhand...

Nice info on Grand Slam; hadn't tried this one before, sounds like it would be worth taking a swing with. Aside from the odd Ken Griffey game on the SNES, haven't tried many fun baseball games that I come back to often.

[Retro STrife]

I'm intrigued by everything about Pepsiman (except the price tag of course). These offbeat unique games are always up my alley. What's the easiest way these days to play import PS1 games? I'd prefer not to mess around with modding a PS1 if I can help it.

[VideoGameCritic]

I'm intrigued by everything about Pepsiman (except the price tag of course). These offbeat unique games are always up my alley. What's the easiest way these days to play import PS1 games? I'd prefer not to mess around with modding a PS1 if I can help it.

I actually purchased a modded PS1 a few years ago. I think it was only around $50. It's come in handy over the years.

[MSR1701]

I'm intrigued by everything about Pepsiman (except the price tag of course). These offbeat unique games are always up my alley. What's the easiest way these days to play import PS1 games? I'd prefer not to mess around with modding a PS1 if I can help it.

I actually purchased a modded PS1 a few years ago. I think it was only around $50. It's come in handy over the years.

Is a PS3 region locked on its PS1 playback capabilities? Never tried to run an import disc when I had a PS3.

[VideoGameCritic]

I don't think I ever attempted to play a PS1 (or PS2) game on my PS3. I had the impression the backward compatibility was spotty.

[MSR1701]

I don't think I ever attempted to play a PS1 (or PS2) game on my PS3. I had the impression the backward compatibility was spotty.

PS2 is miss more than hit on PS3, only Original models from 2006-7 have the built-in hardware, with later models requiring the emulator patch from the PSN store (which was pulled around 2009 or so).

PS3s are hard built to run PS1 games (a sample of the Cell Processors power, from what I recall), and run quite well. Aside from peripheral limitatons, I never had issues running PS1 on my PS3, and was able to have fun with Blazong Dragons, Ridge Racer and Mega Man Legends 2. The loads are slightly faster, though there are no options that I recall to clean the textures like the PS2.

[Retro STrife]

I don't think I ever attempted to play a PS1 (or PS2) game on my PS3. I had the impression the backward compatibility was spotty.

I actually use my PS3 as my main system for playing PS1 games. My PS3 is always hooked up, so it saves me the hassle of pulling out the PS1. (My PS3 isn't backwards compatible with PS2 though.)

Personally I've never had any problems with PS1 games on the PS3. I don't know if there's any performance benefits either. Really the biggest difference in practical terms is that you save to the hard drive on the PS3, rather than a memory card. Obviously there's good and bad to that arrangement. I like not dealing with memory cards now, but I'll kick myself when my PS3 hard drive dies.

Also, I can say from personal experience that if you have a badly-scratched PS1 disc, you are more likely to get it working on a PS2 or PS3.

As for whether Japanese PS1 games are region-locked on PS3 - I've never tried, but from a quick google search it sounds like they are locked. Yet PS3 games are not region-locked on the system.

[Tron]

Nice review of Grand Slam, except it reads like one or two other baseball games you’ve reviewed in the past. Can’t say what ones, but the points made seem familiar. Anyway does this game have a season mode or create-a-player?

[Retro STrife]

I don't think I ever attempted to play a PS1 (or PS2) game on my PS3. I had the impression the backward compatibility was spotty.

I actually use my PS3 as my main system for playing PS1 games. ... Personally I've never had any problems with PS1 games on the PS3.

Well, let me stand corrected. I had never experienced a problem with PS1 games on PS3, until this week. Apparently there is a small list of compatibility issues with PS1 games on PS3.. and one of the most notable culprits is Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider II.

This past weekend, I tried playing Tomb Raider... it boots up fine, but when you select "New Game" you just get a black screen every time. My disc was scratched to crap, so I figured that was the problem and I bought a new copy on ebay. Arrived yesterday. That copy is in great shape, but same exact problem. Then I realized that it was a compatibility issue, which I confirmed by googling about it.

Apparently, it depends on your PS3 (I have the Slim). And the Greatest Hits version of TR might be less likely to work. Some people report that TR plays fine, while many experience the same problem as me. To a lesser extent, people also complain that TR2 has issues. My copy of TR2 played fine on my PS3, so I can't confirm that one.