Last month, Sony Corp confirmed that it has been working on bringing full PlayStation 2 emulation support to the PlayStation 4, and now that Japanese game company has announced that it will be digitally releasing eight classic PS2 games on PS4 as part of the celebration for PlayStation’s twentieth anniversary.

“PlayStation 2 holds a special place in the hearts of many gamers who have fond memories of playing some of the biggest franchises in gaming,” Sony said in a blog post. “PS2 remains the best-selling console of all time. Above and beyond the technical innovations that made PS2 stand apart is the caliber of amazing and much-loved games, such as Dark Cloud, Twisted Metal Black, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas just to name a few.”

The eight games releasing on PS2 include (via PlayStation.com):

• Dark Cloud (SCE Worldwide Studios)
• Grand Theft Auto 3 (Rockstar Games)
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar Games)
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rockstar Games)
• Rogue Galaxy (SCE Worldwide Studios)
• The Mark of Kri (SCE Worldwide Studios)
• War of the Monsters (SCE Worldwide Studios)
• Twisted Metal: Black (SCE Worldwide Studios)

All of these games have been up-rendered so that they display in full 1080p resolution, and Sony said that it has added trophy support for each.

Sony also said that it “will be working tirelessly to bring you your favorite PS2 games with new releases on a regular basis,” so we will likely see the re-release of several more games in the near future.

Unfortunately, the emulation support for these games does not mean that fans can dust off their old PS2 discs and pop them into their PS4.

It also does not mean that they can expect to have any of these games unlocked if they had already purchased them through the PlayStation Network on PS3, so even if you already bought Grand Theft Auto 3 on PSN, you will have to buy it again if you want to play it on PS4.

Photo by Deni Williams