Sony's adding PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility to the PS4

LethalThreat74 Fri Nov 20, 2015 10:17 am

Sony's adding PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility to the ps4

Sony and Electronic Arts have a Star Wars: Battlefront PlayStation 4 bundle available right now and with it comes a quartet of games from a long time ago and a galaxy far, far away (or at least as far as the PlayStation 2 era). Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter, Star Wars Racer: Revenge and Super Star Wars come with the bundle via a single download code, and all bar one appear to be the original PS2 games running in emulation. The discovery comes via the tech-minded folks over at Digital Foundry who spotted a number of clues suggesting backwards compatibility had finally arrived. The evidence is in the details. As DF noted, the sophomore console's select and start buttons have been mapped to either side of the DualShock 4's touchpad, something only Sony, rather than Lucasarts Interactive can do.

Oh, and there's an even bigger giveaway: a PS2 logo appears when you launch each game. Need more proof? "All in-game button prompts" are relative to the DualShock 2 which means these aren't remastered versions of the games. So, local emulation of classic games so long as you download them, and there's no monthly subscription fee. Sounds familiar, right? We're expecting a Star Wars-themed package in the mail from EA tomorrow so perhaps this is what that is. We've reached out to Sony for more information about the backwards compatibility and will update this post should the company respond.

Update: And just like that, Sony has confirmed backwards compatibility is coming, telling Wired: "We are working on utilizing PS2 emulation technology to bring PS2 games forward to the current generation ... We have nothing further to comment at this point in time."

SOURCE: Eurogamer

**KENT HAMMER** Fri Nov 20, 2015 5:25 pm

Ok, this is good news.

But to be great news they need to add trophies to PS2 games.

I would fucking love to play riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge racer and Dynasty warriors 3, 4 & 5 for trophies

Ba5sett Sat Nov 21, 2015 9:11 am

Apparently it includes trophy support but this isn't backward compatibility in the same way as the 360 and the Xbox one it will be the same as the ps2 functionality in the PS3 where Sony will be using the tech to make ps2 games available for purchase and download on the ps4 via psn

Colne Crusader Sat Nov 21, 2015 10:29 am

Ba5sett wrote:Apparently it includes trophy support but this isn't backward compatibility in the same way as the 360 and the Xbox one it will be the same as the ps2 functionality in the PS3 where Sony will be using the tech to make ps2 games available for purchase and download on the ps4 via psn

I did wonder if that was the case. Thanks for clarifying that Bassett. Not too bothered coz I've still got my PS2 and all my games but it would be have been nice to have something to fall back on should my hardware fail I guess. I do worry about my ps2 dying as it's immaculate. Could do with getting a couple of backup consoles really.