Testing PS1 games?

[flyers156]

I picked up some PlayStation 1 games that I want to sell but they have a lot of scratches so I don't know if they work. I started out of disc one of each game and the beginning movies played fine and I played through some of the game with no problem, but have no idea if the other discs 2-3 will work as I don't have any save files.

In short, how can I verify that these games will play all the way through?

[DKTheArcadeRat]

You could pop each disc in to make sure they at least read. Or you could get them resurfaced to really make sure they will work.

[Haoie]

Resurfacing, if not done properly, can make things worse.

Make sure you have them done professionally.

[The 1 2 P]

You could pop each disc in to make sure they at least read. Or you could get them resurfaced to really make sure they will work.

For the most part, thats good advice. Some of my PS1 games have scratches too(they were bought used) but they play fine. So as long as you put them in to make sure they load and go to the main menu of each disc, you have given them the quickie test.

As for resurfacing, you can find motorized disc doctors fairly cheap at most electronic stores these days. They don't require you to do much more work than putting the disc in the spinner and pressing start. And the results are usually positive too.

[DKTheArcadeRat]

"Disc Doctors/Game Doctors" do not do anything except harm the disc. I have one that I got when I didn't know any better. I use/run a professional resurfacer and the results are top notch.

[MarioMania]

Can you scan a PS CD for bad parts on the PC

[Kitsune Sniper]

Can you scan a PS CD for bad parts on the PC

I thought you could... but I sold a disc that was scratched but 100% readable, and it didn't work on the buyer's PS2.

So I don't know.

[Cornelius]

Can you scan a PS CD for bad parts on the PC

That's what I've been doing. NERO has a surface scan that returns with % good/damaged/bad. This might be overkill, as a disc with bad sectors may still play just fine, I've just never had the time to test that out. The closest I've found is a SOTN disc with very few bad sectors that played fine, but certain soundtracks would stop in the middle and just leave silence as long as I was in that part of the game. Could have just as easily been that the bad sectors killed a whole segment of the game, rendering it unplayable.

I think the previous advice about just loading it in the PS is kind of lousy. It only has to read a couple small sections of the disc in order to load. So while it is necessary that it be able to do at least that, I don't feel it has much bearing on whether the rest of the game will play. Also, resurfacing is not some magic process that makes your games new again. I've had about a dozen resurfaced that still return bad sectors with NERO, and while they might play fine with the bad sectors, until I actually play all the way through I'm not willing to stake my reputation on it (by selling them that way).

[Cornelius]

I thought you could... but I sold a disc that was scratched but 100% readable, and it didn't work on the buyer's PS2.

So I don't know.

Same thing happened to me, but in my case the discs were clearly in superb condition. The game was FFVIII or IX, and a quick search showed that it is very common for that game to freeze when played on a PS2 instead of a PS1.

Pretty worrisome to hear that you had a problem, too. What method did you scan it with? What game?

[Jimid2]

I figure that if I can't burn the ISO image with Alcohol 120% using my computer's exellent DVD+-RW drive, then a PSX or PS2 is probably going to choke on it... However, I also consider that if the image burns successfully, then a GOOD PSX or PS2 drive SHOULD be able to read the disc, as my computer drive clearly could. Short of playing every game to 100% completion, that's the best way I've been able to come up with to test them...

[Kitsune Sniper]

Same thing happened to me, but in my case the discs were clearly in superb condition. The game was FFVIII or IX, and a quick search showed that it is very common for that game to freeze when played on a PS2 instead of a PS1.

Pretty worrisome to hear that you had a problem, too. What method did you scan it with? What game?

Isobuster and ImgBurn. Both reported no issues. The CD did have a circular scratch at the -very end- of the disc, but the game didn't really use that much data. At most it probably filled out half the disc.

The game was Panzer General - I asked the buyer if he'd tested it on several systems and he said that the game wouldn't work on anything, but something tells me he's not being 100% honest about things. I won't find out until I get the game back.

[CelticJobber]

I have a few scratched PS1 games that work fine on my PSOne console, but freeze up during FMVs on my PS3. Is this a common occurance?

[The 1 2 P]

"Disc Doctors/Game Doctors" do not do anything except harm the disc. I have one that I got when I didn't know any better. I use/run a professional resurfacer and the results are top notch.

Well that may be YOUR experience but it certainly hasn't been mine. I've had quite a few dvds that wouldn't play at all until after I cycled them thru my disc doctor. As for my games, none of them have been completely unreadable but the disc doctor still helped to clear up some of the scratches.

[DKTheArcadeRat]

In cases where there is minimal scratching, it isn't so bad. It still leaves the ugly disc doctor marks on it. IF there are a lot of scratches, fine or deep, its not the best solution. Getting discs professionally done is the way to go and leaves them looking near new. And trust me, I'm not the only one against disc doctors.

[jcalder8]

In cases where there is minimal scratching, it isn't so bad. It still leaves the ugly disc doctor marks on it. IF there are a lot of scratches, fine or deep, its not the best solution. Getting discs professionally done is the way to go and leaves them looking near new. And trust me, I'm not the only one against disc doctors.

I've used my Disc Doctor knockoff to take discs from unplayable to working perfectly. Sure you get the marks from a disc doctor but it's still prettier than the scratches.

[MarioMania]

I always take my CD's or DVD's to Gamecrazy

[Kitsune Sniper]

Well I got my game today and it's in the same shape it was when I sent it - and it worked without any problems on my PS2.

I'm going to ask the buyer what's up, but something tells me his PS2 is about to die...

[Harkunan]

1. Use a emulator to see if the game loads.

2. Use a PS2 to see if the game will load.

In most cases a game that will not load on the emulator will only load on the PS2. The worst case is you playing entirely threw. Like I have that PS2 Contra game and it has smudges so it will not play some games on the PS2.

Then I have Kingdom Hearts ( original ) and it seems to work but I have to play the ansallota out of it just to make sure since it is a original.

[Cornelius]

Well I got my game today and it's in the same shape it was when I sent it - and it worked without any problems on my PS2.

I'm going to ask the buyer what's up, but something tells me his PS2 is about to die...

or buyer's remorse. At least he didn't put scratches on it on purpose to back up his story...

[Kitsune Sniper]

or buyer's remorse. At least he didn't put scratches on it on purpose to back up his story...

I doubt that's it. The guy mentioned that he had a copy before, but it stopped working so he threw it out (?!), and he bought my copy to replace it.

Either way, I played the game and it's okay, so at least I can trade it away here. :P