Getting Back Into PS1 and PS2 Games – Emulation and Audio by maxhunter at 10:10 PM EDT on September 10, 2026
Hi everyone,
I’ve recently been getting back into PS1 and PS2 games, and one thing I really appreciate about older games is how much character their soundtracks and audio have. HCS64 is especially interesting because there is so much discussion here about game audio formats, ripping, and preservation.
For anyone getting into PS1 emulation, I’ve also been collecting some basic information about BIOS files and the setup side of things. I put some of that information here:
I’m curious what everyone here thinks about PS1/PS2 audio compared with newer games. Are there any PS1 or PS2 games whose soundtrack or sound design you think still holds up particularly well?
I also love PS1 and 2 audio. Often times its really high quality audio bordering almost transparent lossless sound which in later generations for some reason was downgraded with low quality attrac codecs and what not.
Also some games use the PSF format which often times is also sample based like midi and just sounds great no matter what. Silent Hill is a great example.
I personally prefer the times when music was sample based and not just pre-rendered audio. Via various psf tools by nisto you can also split these samples and instruments and render them into individual channel to redo the mixing and arrangements and all these kinda shenanigans. Great fun!