To this day, consoles are based on high-end PC or mobile phone hardware from when they came out, that is, with third-party components instead of being developed in-house. However, there was a time when console manufacturers not only made their systems, but also designed their chips. The clearest case is SONY, especially with its first two desktop PlayStations and the PSP. That is why we have allowed ourselves to dream a little, with a potential PS2 Mini.
The PlayStation Classic Mini was a huge commercial fiasco due to poor execution and lousy game selection. Which saddens us in the fact that SONY has made a PS2 Mini that could become the best selling retro console ever, surpassing even the NES Mini. The reason? At the moment none of the Chinese systems emulate this console well and there is no option to get to play other than looking for an original second-hand PS2 or having a powerful PC running the PCSX2 emulator
Is a PS2 Mini viable today?
If we are talking about a system that uses emulation, obviously it would not be, although PS5 has enough power to do it, in this case we are talking of a low-cost retro console. The best thing is that SONY, since it has the rights to the chips, as it is the designer of the chips and the original manufacturer together with Toshiba. So you shouldn’t pay anyone to create a new chip, but made with the most advanced manufacturing nodes, but notthat is, just the Emotion Engine and the Graphics Synthetizer on a single chipas was the case with the PS2 Slim, but that it had all the complete circuitry, including the necessary RAM, in the same piece.
The reason for placing the RAM is clear, not only would it allow them to make a much more compact system, but we must assume that there is a minimum size for the manufacture of the chips and even under the most recent nodes the minimum size necessary would not be reached. . In any case, it would be necessary to mass-produce an exclusive chip for this system, but it would not be a problem due to the high demand that it would have among users.
Although the main reason SONY would end up doing this if they wanted to release a PS2 Mini at some point is the fact that at the moment there is no viable low-cost chip for such a system that would allow proper emulation of the PS2 Mini. system that does not result in performance issues.
Would it be visually faithful to the original?
Of course, we cannot forget that the console was originally designed to work at 4:3 resolutions and, therefore, the games were not intended to be used in widescreen mode, so many titles on a Full HD television should run centered at a centered resolution of 1280 x 960 pixels in order not to distort the aspect ratio of games. Thus, we would not save ourselves from the happy frame, however, said resolution is twice as high and wide as the traditional PlayStation output buffer, so it would make it easier to better display the color transitions from one “pixel” to another product. of the old CRTs.
In any case, it is difficult for it to be due to the nature of LCD and OLED screens compared to tube ones, however, for those who want to enjoy one of the best consoles in history from a Mini system it could be an option. Excellent. But please SONY, if you get to do it one day, choose the game selection well. And by the way, don’t make the mistake of others and let us buy additional titles through the PSN store.
