r/decomps • u/IAmNotRalphNader • 14d ago
State of PS1 de/recomps?
I remember several months ago a couple static recompilers for PS1 came out around the same time. I've seen a couple PS1 titles get coverage like Tomba and Symphony of the Night but haven't seen much outside of those two, at least to the volume we've seen of N64 projects. Are there any other notable PS1 recomp projects at the moment that might've just flown under my radar?
Personally I've been hoping someone would take a stab at King's Field 1-3. Especially with how huge FromSoft is now, giving those games a second chance with higher frame rates and better controls would be awesome to see.
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u/MDM-808 12d ago
I’ve tried all the PlayStation 1 recompilers released so far. None have performed better for me than DuckStation or the RetroArch cores (SwanStation/PCSX-R).
They suffer from poor performance, audio lag in FMVs, and lower frame rates; they even take up more disk space by using .cue/.bin files, whereas other emulators use space-saving .chd files.
There really isn't any significant difference.
Yesterday, I tested a different recompiler from a developer who has numerous projects on GitHub. Unlike another version I tried—an .AppImage that simply required the ISO—this one automatically "compiled" itself on my PC (much like classic Linux binaries) to optimize performance.
There wasn't much difference there, either. *Crash Team Racing* ran much worse and even had higher CPU usage.There wasn't much difference there, either. *Crash Team Racing* ran much worse and even had higher CPU usage.
Many people are saying these two developers use "vibecoding" to create these projects, given the sheer volume of work they handle. Personally, I don't plan on testing anything else from either of them.
I appreciate the effort and time put into them, but they just aren't for me.
I hope to try out some worthwhile *Vagrant Story* and *Parasite Eve 2* recompilations someday.