All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again. After the success of Nintendo's miniature NES Classic and SNES Classic consoles, Sony is looking to get in on the nostalgia. In a blog post, the company revealed the brand-new PlayStation Classic, which it will hit store shelves December 3 for $100—23 years after the original system was released in Japan.
Much like Nintendo's mini consoles, the PS Classic is about half the size of the original. It's small enough to hold with one hand and barely wider than its own controller (this Lilliputian console includes two original-style gamepads). The system will connect to a TV via HDMI and sips power over a standard Micro USB cable. The system will not come with an AC adapter, but you may need one if your TV doesn't have USB ports.
The disc tray is decorative, not functional, since the system is far too small to play your dusty old PS1 games. The system will come preloaded with 20 games, which may vary by region. Sony says they will be "fan favorites," including Final Fantasy VII, Tekken 3, Wild Arms, Ridge Racer Type 4, and Jumping Flash. The exact lineup for the US market isn't yet known.
[#video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/nl2h8LDq_oI(100%)
According to a translation of Sony's Japanese blog post, it appears that players won't be able to download additional games online. This makes some sense given the large multi-disc size of some PlayStation games, and it's par for the course—Nintendo did the same thing with its special edition consoles.
Those memory card slots are also just for show. Games will save with "virtual" memory cards and you'll be able to suspend, or freeze, your progress with the system's Reset button. The Open button will switch games.
Sony has already put the PlayStation Classic up for pre-order. So far, it's not sold out, though it might go quickly if it's anything like the NES Classic and SNES Classic. We don't know what issues the hardware may have, but if you want to be one of the first gamers to own one, the details are below.
Where You Can Order (So Far):
Updated Sept. 20 with more stores.
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