One of the advantages that Microsoft and Xbox have always had over Sony and the PS4 is in backward compatibility support. They offer an extensive library of Xbox 360 and Xbox games. Sony introduced the PlayStation Now or PS Now service for the PS4 and PC back in 2015. However, PS2 games were nowhere to be seen in its library. After three years, that’s finally changing.
In a post on PlayStation Blog, PS Now Senior Marketing Manager Brian Dunn announced that the first batch of classic PS2 games will be available in the service as part of its May 2018 lineup. A total of nine new games ware joining the extensive PS Now library, four of which are games which were originally released on the PS2.
The new additions include:
- Ape Escape 2
- Dark Cloud 2
- Hot Shots Tennis
- Limbo
- Metal Slug 3
- Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics
- Sine Mora EX
- Siren
- The Last Blade 2
The newly-added PS2 games are Ape Escape 2, Dark Cloud 2, Hot Shots Tennis and Siren. Highlights include Ape Escape 2, which is a charming platformer, and Dark Cloud 2, which is a great JRPG made by Ni No Kuni 2 developers Level-5. Siren is also a gem of a horror game from the days of the PS2 era.
additionally, Blazblue Chrono Phantasma Extend is this month’s only addition of a PS3 to PS4 upgraded game. Sony also revealed the most popular games in April, which consisted of games like Red Dead Redemption and the God of War collection. Speaking of the former, we covered the most recent trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2, which just dropped earlier today.
The PS Now service is slowly improving but it has a long way to go before it can beat the Xbox One Backward Compatibility catalog. Last month, Microsoft added several iconic games to its catalog, including Psychonauts, Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic and many others. Those games even run better now on the Xbox One than they did on the original hardware.