PS1 PS5 PS4 PlayStation
Image: Damien McFerran / Push Square

It’s been a few days since the new tiers of PS Plus launched in parts of Asia, and that means gamers have already got their hands on some of the retro titles included within the list of All PS Plus Games. Sony is selling its PS Plus Premium tier on the strength of its classic games catalogue – although it does offer a selection of other perks, including cloud streaming and game trials.

How are the retro games looking, then? Well, firstly, there’s been some confusion over the PS2 games it seems. These are not strictly “new” releases, but are instead games that were already ported to the PS4 a few years ago. Sony added Trophies to these titles, but the well quickly dried of new releases. As far as we can tell, these haven’t been touched.

The new additions, then, are PS1 and PSP games. In the case of the former, the titles run at a downscaled 1080p on PS4 and 1440p on PS5. They definitely look a lot crisper than on original hardware, although some fans may be disappointed they don’t go all the way up to 4K on Sony’s new-gen console. We can’t really think of a reason why they don’t, to be honest.

One of the big problems, as previously reported, is that a number of the games use PAL 50Hz ROMs, which means that they’re capped at 25 frames-per-second or 50fps, as opposed to 30fps or 60fps. This means they run slower and a little more sluggish compared to what you may be used to, especially in the US.

Performance appears to be very much in line with original hardware otherwise, so don’t expect any sudden doubled framerates. There is a moment in the video where Toy Story 2 is on the screen and shows a wildly fluctuating framerate, but to our eye it’s running at a relatively steady 30fps, so don’t let that deceive you.

PSP titles, by the way, appear to be upgraded to 1080p and look much improved compared to the original console. Again, we’re not sure why Sony hasn’t gone up to 4K on the PS5, but this is the current output the company’s offering. It’s not the end of the world, of course, but it obviously could all be better.

That’s our overall takeaway based on this comparison. The results are fine – we actually think the PS1 games look very sharp – but the use of PAL 50Hz ROMs and the lack of native 4K support on the PS5 is disappointing. Obviously it would have been great if Sony was also able to unlock the framerates, potentially offering 60fps in games that were originally 30fps, but it looks like it’s aiming for authenticity here.