Previously teased early this year, the first three PS1-era Armored Core games will be available on PS4 and PS5 next week via PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe’s Classics Catalog.
The next batch of new games coming to PS Plus Game Catalog and Classics Catalog will go live on March 18. For those with access to the Classics Catalog, the new emulated classics to be added are three different Armored Core games, collectively referred in the AC community as the first generation of Armored Core games, originally released exclusively for the PS1. Namely that’s Armored Core, Armored Core: Project Phantasma and Armored Core: Master Of Arena.
The original Armored Core is a PS1 launch title, showcasing the power of 3D games with a fully customisable mecha. Players are a Raven, mercenary pilots of the mechs called Armored Core and will be undertaking mission contracts in a war-torn world.
Armored Core: Project Phantasma is a direct follow-up with a new story, new weapons and parts and an arena mode. Also, players can import their original AC1 save to Project Phantasma. It’s a pseudo-expansion pack where it basically the same game with more content but unlike expansion packs available for PC games back in the day (before the modern-day practice of DLCs became the norm), this doesn’t require the purchase of a base game. An expandalone, if you will, to use current parlance.
Armored Core: Master Of Arena is also a similar expandalone, focusing on the Arena mode that focuses on AC VS AC action. It also features the first appearance of the AC Nineball, a recurring mecha that appears across all the mainline AC games outside of the latest Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon.
The original Armored Core games prior to Armored Core: Nexus has an unconventional, but understandable at the time, control system. There’s no right stick controls, so strafing is done via shoulder buttons, and other quirks.
If you’re a new fan of Armored Core that never tried the classics, expect this to be a rough ride, but it should make you more appreciative as ever seeing developer FromSoftware’s gradual 30 years of growth.
It’s not certain yet whether the games will be offered as a standalone purchase, some games released for the PS Plus Classics Catalog took a while before it was made available for non-subscribers to buy them.
Given this is a PS1 game release on PS4 and PS5, expect this new release to feature emulation features like save states.
Armored Core, Armored Core: Project Phantasma and Armored Core: Master Of Arena will be available on PS4 and PS5 on March 18 as a PS1 emulation title.