Let’s get the rebuttal out of the way first and foremost, because we can already sniff the comments from here: Trophies are a nice added extra, but no, they’re absolutely not the be all and end all. A great game with bad Trophies is still a great game.
However, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect PS5 games launching in 2026 to come with a fun set of Trophies to unlock, as it’s part of the meta-game of playing on PlayStation. We’ve probably all earned at least two or three Platinums in our time, and it’s fun, right?
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Hamster, the Japanese dev responsible for archiving a ton of arcade classics on the PS Store, has seemingly learned over the last few years that Trophies do add value to its retro re-releases.
While its line of original Arcade Archives titles launched with very few gongs, its updated Arcade Archives 2 series all include Platinums, which are relatively easy but still enjoyable to unlock. (Especially if you particularly love a game, like The Outfoxies or Ridge Racer.)
But for its new Console Archives collection, it’s seemingly gone backwards. Cool Boarders and Ninja Gaiden 2 launched this week, and they have potentially the worst Trophy lists we’ve seen on the PS Store – outside of obvious shovelware which exists just to give you free gongs.
The two games include just four Trophies apiece, and you’ll unlock them all for playing each title for ten minutes on three different days. You can obviously manipulate your system clock to get them all in one go if you want to.
This lack of effort is made all the more obvious when you consider Cool Boarders already has a PS5 Trophy list, courtesy of Sony’s PS Plus Premium emulation programme. That version includes 40 Trophies and a Platinum.
The reason for the re-release is because while the Western editions of the game were owned and published by Sony, the rights to the Japanese version were maintained by UEP Systems, and the Console Archives option is based on the latter build of the game.
This is all a bit disappointing, then: we’re still glad Console Archives exists, and we reckon it’s going to result in some great classic games making their way to the PS Store.
But we really hope Hamster reconsiders the Trophy lists here. We understand it’s trying to find a way in which it can easily implement the gongs, and that’s fine – but more thoughtful lists would be appreciated moving forwards.