The long-awaited release of God of War Ragnarok has finally arrived, but a PlayStation 1 demake of the mythological epic makes it look significantly less awesome. The highly anticipated sequel continues Kratos and Atreus' journey through Norse mythology and brings the duo into conflict with beings like Thor and Odin. God of War Ragnarok performs impressively on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, but the game sadly pales when ported onto the original PlayStation console.
Talented YouTuber retro PS1 demake trailer for God of War Ragnarok. The video reimagines the title's iconic 2022 story trailer using the infamously blocky old-school graphics of Sony's very first gaming console. Backgrounds are purposely bare and animations are hilariously rigid, successfully reflecting the technical limitations of 1990s hardware. Kratos awkwardly flails his limbs while swinging across a gap, and Freya looks like a statue when she lunges into battle. The original trailer's crisp audio remains unchanged, however, and this juxtaposition may actually be the funniest part of Jackarte's amazing God of War Ragnarok PS1 demake.
God of War Ragnarok Gets Blasted Back To The 90s
Jackarte expertly transformed God of War Ragnarok into a retro PlayStation title, and it isn't the YouTuber's first demake project. In fact, the content creator recently shared a Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom N64 demake which turns the sequel into an old-school Nintendo game. The reimagined Nintendo 64 version of the game's trailer resembles classic games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, though it does use an original art style with a notably lanky Link. Like Jackarte's God of War Ragnarok demake the project is a shot-for-shot recreation of the Tears of the Kingdom trailer, with the original audio playing over hilariously dated animations and models.
Retro demakes have recently become quite popular, since they combine popular modern games with the nostalgic appeal of old-school game design. Most of these projects take the form of videos, like Jackarte's God of War Ragnarok demake, but one talented developer famously managed to create a playable PS1 demake of Bloodborne. The gothic horror soulslike is transformed into a dated adventure, complete with blocky graphics and crunchy audio. The Bloodborne demake is actually playable, however, and the action RPG's aggressive melee combat remains basically unchanged despite the title being rebuilt from the ground up.
God of War Ragnarok can be enjoyed on both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, but thanks to Jackarte it can now also be experienced on the original PlayStation. Clunky animations and lackluster models make the demake significantly less epic than the actual game, but the project does demonstrate how far gaming hardware has come. God of War Ragnarok could never realistically exist as an original PlayStation title, but it's fun to imagine the possibility.
Source: Jackarte/YouTube