At this rate, the priciest PS Plus subscription tier is a tough sell if you’re not into cloud gaming
PlayStation Plus offers three subscription tiers—Essential, Extra, and Premium—and out of all of them, the middle option feels like the best value. As someone who treasures retro games, especially the ability to easily play them on modern hardware, I thought I’d be a regular Premium subscriber above all. But the initial wave of PS Plus Premium classics was sparse, and the rollout since then has been as incremental as folks had feared.
Sony’s updates to its classic catalog have been disappointingly irregular, and whenever it has added old-school titles from the PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable days, they typically haven’t been the most exciting inclusions. To this day, many fan favorite games that defined these consoles remain absent from the catalog, such as the original Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon trilogies.
Right now, it seems like most of the value for Premium is tied to the streaming-only PS3 classics and cloud gaming in general. Unfortunately for players like me who never got into the PlayStation Now service, that’s not a great deal—but it could be so much more enticing if the PS1, PS2, and PSP library did more heavy lifting.
For all of the backlash, I’ve slowly but surely come around on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack thanks to the N64, Sega Genesis, and DLC inclusions. I hope PS Plus Premium can step it up too; otherwise, I’ll swap to the Extra tier when my sub runs out.
As more games join the service, I’ll update this list, including notes about any PS1 classics with trophies, or games that are exclusively playable with PS Plus Premium.
Classics included with PS Plus Premium
PS1 classics
Here are all of the PS1 classics available on PS5:
- Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare ($9.99 standalone)
- Ape Escape ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Cool Boarders ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Disney•Pixar Buzz Lightyear of Star Command ($5.99 standalone)
- Disney•Pixar Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue! ($5.99 standalone)
- Doom (1993) ($4.99 standalone)
- Doom 2 ($4.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Grandia ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Harvest Moon: Back to Nature ($5.99 standalone)
- Herc’s Adventures ($4.99 standalone)
- Hot Shots Golf ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Hot Shots Golf 2 ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- I.Q Intelligent Qube ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Jet Moto ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Jet Moto 2 ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Jumping Flash! ($9.99 standalone)
- Kurushi Final: Mental Blocks ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- MediEvil ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Mr. Driller ($9.99 standalone)
- Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus ($4.99 standalone)
- Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee ($4.99 standalone)
- R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 ($9.99 standalone)
- Rally Cross ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Resident Evil Director’s Cut (exclusive to PlayStation Plus Premium)
- Star Wars: Demolition ($4.99 standalone)
- Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace ($4.99 standalone)
- Star Wars Rebel Assault II – The Hidden Empire ($4.99 standalone)
- Syphon Filter ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Syphon Filter 2 ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Syphon Filter 3 ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Tekken 2 ($9.99 standalone)
- The Legend of Dragoon ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Twisted Metal ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Twisted Metal 2 ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Wild Arms ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Wild Arms 2 ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Worms ($9.99 standalone)
- Worms Armageddon ($9.99 standalone)
- Worms World Party ($4.99 standalone)
PS2 classics
Here are all of the PS2 classics available on PS5:
- Ape Escape 2 ($9.99 standalone)
- Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits ($14.99 standalone)
- Dark Cloud ($14.99 standalone)
- Dark Cloud 2 ($14.99 standalone)
- FantaVision ($9.99 standalone)
- Garou: Mark of the Wolves (exclusive to PlayStation Plus Premium)
- Hot Shots Tennis ($9.99 standalone)
- Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy ($14.99 standalone)
- Jak II ($14.99 standalone)
- Jak 3 ($14.99 standalone)
- Jak X: Combat Racing ($14.99 standalone)
- Kinetica ($9.99 standalone)
- Okage: Shadow King ($9.99 standalone)
- PaRappa The Rapper 2 ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Primal ($9.99 standalone)
- Red Faction ($14.99 standalone)
- Red Faction II ($14.99 standalone)
- Rise of the Kasai ($14.99 standalone)
- Rogue Galaxy ($14.99 standalone)
- Siren ($9.99 standalone)
- Star Ocean: Till the End of Time ($20.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Star Wars: Bounty Hunter ($9.99 standalone)
- Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter ($9.99 standalone)
- Star Wars: Racer Revenge ($9.99 standalone)
- The Mark of Kri ($14.99 standalone)
- War of the Monsters ($9.99 standalone)
- Wild Arms 3 ($14.99 standalone)
PSP classics
Here are all of the PSP classics available on PS5:
- Ape Academy 2 ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies)
- Ape Escape Academy ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Ape Escape: On the Loose ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Disney•Pixar Up ($5.99 standalone)
- Echochrome ($9.99 standalone)
- Echoshift ($9.99 standalone)
- Gods Eater Burst ($9.99 standalone)
- Gravity Crash Portable ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Killzone: Liberation ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Kingdom of Paradise ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- LocoRoco Midnight Carnival ($9.99 standalone)
- MediEvil Resurrection ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- No Heroes Allowed! ($9.99 standalone)
- Pinball Heroes ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Pursuit Force ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Resistance: Retribution ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Ridge Racer 2 ($9.99 standalone)
- Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny ($9.99 standalone)
- Super Stardust Portable ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow ($9.99 standalone) (*trophies*)
- Tekken 6 ($9.99 standalone)
- Thrillville ($9.99 standalone)
- Thrillville: Off the Rails ($9.99 standalone)
- Toy Story 3 ($9.99 standalone)
It’s worth noting that some beloved games are included in the separate Remasters list on PlayStation Plus Premium. Notable examples include Patapon, Patapon 2, LocoRoco, LocoRoco 2, Toukiden: Kiwami, and Gravity Rush. So while it’s a lot of various newer remasters, there are gems that fit the “classic” vibe of the PSP and Vita era.
As for PS3 games, again, they’re streaming only on PS4 and PS5. There’s way too many for me to list out and link — sorry! But Tokyo Jungle and PixelJunk Monsters sure do rule.
