PS1 PlayStation PSone 1
Image: Damien McFerran / Push Square

There was unexpected excitement during this desperately dull April earlier today when a bunch of classic Syphon Filter games were rated for release on the PlayStation 5 and PS4 in South Korea. The releases – expanding to pretty much every entry in the series, aside from its PS2 outing Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain and the third game in the series – confirms that we could be on the cusp of a renaissance for retro PlayStation releases, courtesy of the upcoming PS Plus Premium.

However, Sony is yet to disclose the full details, beyond the fact that PS1, PS2, and PSP games will be playable natively, while PS3 will be restricted to cloud streaming only. PlayStation bigwig Jim Ryan has promised that they look “great” but has failed to elaborate the finer points, which begs the question: what do you actually expect? Nintendo, for all the criticism it’s received, has done a decent job expanding its Switch Online catalogue and adding some quality-of-life features, like save states and even rewindable gameplay with its NES, SNES, and SEGA Genesis emulators.

These are, in our opinion, the bare minimum – especially when it comes to running PS1 games on the PS5. Most modern PC emulators come with a bunch of features that breathe new life into classic games, whether it’s adding filters to the visuals or allowing you to park your progress wherever you are. There are plenty of compilations on the PS4, in fact, that offer similar functionality – the SEGA Genesis Classics collection immediately springs to mind.

PS2 PlayStation 2
Image: Damien McFerran / Push Square

Looking at the comments on our aforementioned Syphon Filter article, some are expecting Trophies as well. While Sony has submitted various patents over the years, this was considered a bottleneck during the company’s short-lived PS2 Classics program, with one engineer stating it could take up to three months to add Trophies to old games. Conversely, there are websites like RetroAchievements which function alongside programs like RetroArch to support achievements in old games – and, amusingly, the entire Syphon Filter series is supported.

There’s also a question of whether PlayStation will repeat a cardinal sin of offering the 50Hz versions of games when 60Hz editions exist. This is an oversight it inexplicably made with the PS Classic, killing any interest core gamers had in that product, and one that surely can’t be repeated again. With PS Plus Premium launching as early as 23rd May in parts of Asia, we should expect some kind of official confirmation soon. In the meantime, we’re curious what features you think Sony’s retro emulation will offer.

As always, let us know what you’re expecting in the poll and comments section below. Do you think this is going to be straight emulation with no bells-and-whistles, or are you expecting Sony to put in a bit more work to offer quality-of-life improvements like save states, rewind, and potentially even Trophies?

Which of the following do you expect from PS Classics with PS Plus Premium?

(You may select up to 7 answers)