Pocketstation

[CosmicMonkey]

I'm interested in getting a Pocketstation, as it's quite an obscure and cool memory card to have. However, I'm wondering if it is actually worth it.

I pinched the folowing list of PSone compatible games from Wikipedia:

* Arc the Lad III
* Crash Bandicoot: Warped (Japanese version)
* Dance Dance Revolution (Japanese 3rd Mix, 4th Mix and 5th Mix)
* Final Fantasy VIII
* Grandia (Japanese Version)
* JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Japanese version)
* Legend of Mana
* Metal Gear Solid: Integral
* PaQa
* Pi to Mail
* Pocket Jiman
* Pocket Muumuu
* Racing Lagoon
* Ridge Racer Type 4 (Japanese version)
* Rockman Complete Works 1-6
* SaGa Frontier 2
* Spyro the Dragon (Japanese version)
* Saru! Gettchu! (Ape Escape Japanese Version)
* Street Fighter Zero 3 (Japanese version)
* Tokimeki Memorial 2
* Tron Ni Kobun (The Misadventures of Tron Bonne)

Does anyone know of any games missing from this list?

And my main question, what are the actual PS games? What do you get from MGS:Integral or Rockman? And how do the games compare to DC VMU games? Also, as the PS was a Japanese release, are PS games in english?

[InsaneDavid]

RayCrisis: Series Termination

[kentuckyfried]

In the NA FF8 manual, there is a section telling you how to use the pocket station and play the chocobo minigame, if I remember, you played the mini-game gaining items that you could port to your actual FF8 save. Very cool sounding.

[smork]

Considering they run under $20 I think it's a worthwhile thing to get.....

[Daria]

Harvest Moon: Back to Nature supposedly supports one.

[neonesmaster]

when i was in college i went to school with an exchange student from japan and he had his mom send me two brand new pocket stations. i paid about 40 dollars then like 8 years ago or so and i lost them some how.

i say go for it. i never got to enjoy thier awesomness but i think they are cool looking and girls like them because they a "cute and small"

[roushimsx]

I bought it when it came out because I thought that it'd be the neato killer thing to have...but really it's just an overpriced memory card. The minigames for it are mostly crap and it really does seem like a knee-jerk reaction to the Dreamcast VMU rather than a well thought out accessory.

If you can find one new w/ the box, keep that sucker in a little display case and show it off when people come by, but don't actually go through the trouble of opening it up and putting it in your PS1/PS2, because it's just a memory card with a nice case and cute white box. :(

(yea, I was mad about that Jumping Flash "game")

[c0ldb33r]

(yea, I was mad about that Jumping Flash "game")

I don't get it.

[chrisbid]

i bought one when FFVIII came out, and got some use out of the chocobo mini game, but other than that its just a fancy memory card

what i loved the most was the instructions. there is a cartoon of a kid walking crossing the street playing pocket station and a speeding car is about to hit him... there is a giant X through the illustration

[Amy Rose]

It's only compatable with certain games? Every PAL game I've played with it (around 30) has saved perfectly. Weird.

I've got one of the see-through ones. One of the best things I've ever found in a second hand store. It's so cute and funky looking.

[InsaneDavid]

It's only compatable with certain games? Every PAL game I've played with it (around 30) has saved perfectly. Weird.

It'll work like a normal memory card, what we mean by PocketStation support is extra features / minigames / special modes.

[CosmicMonkey]

Indeed. But what I'm wondering is if the PS support was ripped out of the US/UK versions of the games. I was thinking about getting Harvst Moon anyway, but I'm not gonna get the completely incomprehensible Japanese language version just for PS support. So would it still be left in the US(UK?) release of the game, even if it has to be unlocked via cheat code?

TBH there's less info on the PS minigames than there is on VMU minigames. Shocking.

[Daria]

Indeed. But what I'm wondering is if the PS support was ripped out of the US/UK versions of the games. I was thinking about getting Harvst Moon anyway, but I'm not gonna get the completely incomprehensible Japanese language version just for PS support. So would it still be left in the US(UK?) release of the game, even if it has to be unlocked via cheat code?

TBH there's less info on the PS minigames than there is on VMU minigames. Shocking.

When I mentioned Harvest Moon, I ment the US version. In fact I think that most games that supported the card in Japan, still support it in the US, there's not really any reason for anyone to have purposely removed functionality.

[Blackjax]

Many companies ripped out the PocketStation support from the games. Take Street Fighter Alpha 3 for example. It's still *there* but you need to use a gameshark to access it, and since you can't upload earned experience points back to the game (probably a shortcoming of the code) its kind of pointless.

Grandia's were ripped out, Crash Bandicoot's were ripped out, etc - much like many companies ripped HDD support out of the US versions of their PS2 games.

I don't get it myself. O_O

[ProgrammingAce]

Many companies ripped out the PocketStation support from the games. Take Street Fighter Alpha 3 for example. It's still *there* but you need to use a gameshark to access it, and since you can't upload earned experience points back to the game (probably a shortcoming of the code) its kind of pointless.

Grandia's were ripped out, Crash Bandicoot's were ripped out, etc - much like many companies ripped HDD support out of the US versions of their PS2 games.

I don't get it myself. O_O

It wasn't really up to the game developers. After sony officially "canceled" the pocketstation in the US, sony refused to approve any game that still had pocketstation support. Granted, they wern't exactly fanatical about it so some games may have slipped through if it was an unadvertised feature.

[scorch56]

It's only compatable with certain games? Every PAL game I've played with it (around 30) has saved perfectly. Weird.

It'll work like a normal memory card, what we mean by PocketStation support is extra features / minigames / special modes.

Well.. even if you're talking about games that have Pocketstation supported content.. I think even the list at the top is too many. I have a Pocketstation and over 100 PSX games (all domestic) and the ONLY game I've ever found that even mentions it in it's manual.. is FF VIII. I don't know of any way to use a PS in Secret of Mana except for game saves.. of course.

There used to be a Pocketstation FAQ over at GameFAQs.. it doesn't list anywhere this number of games.. as I recall. One cool thing I've noticed.. when I put my Pocketstation into my PS2.. it recognizes it as such.. and even shows a picture of a PS in the "browse memory" menu.

[InsaneDavid]

There used to be a Pocketstation FAQ over at GameFAQs.. it doesn't list anywhere this number of games.. as I recall. One cool thing I've noticed.. when I put my Pocketstation into my PS2.. it recognizes it as such.. and even shows a picture of a PS in the "browse memory" menu.

What's funny is I have one of the old cheapy MadCatz PS1 memory cards that the PS2 reads as a PocketStation. LOL More proof of how many crappy board revisions those POS memory cards had. Only one of the many I've piled up over the years does that.