The Best Retro Games You Can Play on Your PS5

Last Updated on March 1, 2024

The PS5 might be one of the most innovative and impressive games consoles out today, but sometimes you just want to sit back and enjoy some retro classics.

Before you go scouring the city for CRT TVs, Scart cables, and of course, retro consoles, you might want to consider taking a look at some of the retro games available and even remastered for your modern TV on your PS5.

The PS5 is known for its incredible story-driven exclusives, immersive accessories, such as the PSVR2, and incredible graphics. It also features an impressive collection of retro games, meaning you can enjoy timeless classics without needing to splash out on a second-hand retro console.

1. Zool Redimensioned
2. PAC-MAN Museum
3. DOOM
4. Galaga
5. Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection
7. Gauntlet: Slayer Edition
8. Castlevania Anniversary Collection

Originally released back in 1992 by developers The Warp Factory and publishers Gremlin Graphics for the Amiga, Zool was created to be a rival to the popular Sonic the Hedgehog series.

While Zool never managed to reach the same heights that Sonic did, it still managed to maintain something of a cult following, making it a popular choice for a retro remake on PS5.

Although the original Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension was a great game back in its day, Zool Redimensioned features a few tweaks to the game that make Zool feel much more responsive and frankly much more fun to play, including a much-needed double jump.

Even with some minor tweaks, including retro and modern display modes, Zool Redimensioned manages to capture the magic that made the original game so fun, without changing too much and taking away from what made Zool a great game in the first place.

If you’re a fan of the 1980 original PAC-MAN, PAC-MAN Museum + is the perfect retro game for your PS5. Not only does it come with the original PAC-MAN, but it also includes an impressive 14 PAC-MAN titles:

• PAC-MAN
• SUPER PAC-MAN
• PAC & PAL
• PAC-LAND
• PAC-MANIA
• PAC-ATTACK
• PAC-IN-TIME
• PAC-MAN ARRANGEMENT Arcade Version
• PAC-MAN ARRANGEMENT CS Version
• PAC-MAN CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION
• PAC Motos
• PAC’N ROLL REMIX
• PAC-MAN BATTLE ROYALE
• PAC-MAN 256

With the instructions displayed on each side of the screen, it often feels like you’ve been teleported back to your arcade days, gobbling pills and dodging ghosts.

Not only does PAC-MAN Musem feature all the original classics, but it also has five multiplayer titles, as well as the newer, and surprisingly addictive PAC-MAN 256, created by Hipster Whale, the team behind Crossy Roads.

Back in 1993, a seven-year-old me found himself addicted to DOOM on his Atari Jaguar. As I brutally murdered hordes of demons in increasingly violent ways, I quickly found a new love for FPS games, which I hadn’t experienced before.

As you can imagine, when I saw the original DOOM is now available on the PS5, two thoughts crossed my mind, how can I not enjoy that beautiful slice of nostalgia, and why on earth did my parents let a seven-year-old play this brutal game?

If you find yourself wanting even more DOOM, you can also pick up DOOM 64 on the PlayStation store, giving you even more retro carnage to enjoy on your PS5.

Namco’s Galaga was a smash hit back in 1981, or so I’m told by my parents. While it wasn’t a game I played before it was considered retro, I have recently downloaded it on my PS5 and can see what all the fuss was about.

If you missed the opportunity to enjoy Galaga back in its heyday, it’s a vibrant and addictive game that manages to capture the very essence of arcade gaming. Players simply control spaceships at the bottom of the screen, while shooting down wave after wave of alien hordes.

Much like most games back in the 80’s, Galaga has a knack of quickly going from difficult, to rage-inducingly difficult, yet it somehow keeps you coming back for more.

The Street Fighter series was a smash hit back in the 80s and 90s and was my go-to game in any arcade that we would visit.

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is available on PS5, bundled with 12 Street Fighter titles that will take you back to the good ol’ days. Play through the online Arcade Mode or with friends, and enjoy visuals that aren’t actually too bad considering its age.

The Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection can also be bought on the Nintendo Store, which is perfect for those looking for some retro gaming beat-em action while on the go.

Following the release of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game back in 1989 on the NES, the Turtles games quickly became an arcade classic, eventually spanning 13 offline titles and 5 online titles, ranging from side scrollers to a surprisingly fun Mortal Kombat style fighter.

The collection contains the following offline titles:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of The Foot Clan
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From The Sewers
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue

As well as the following online titles:

• TMNT (Arcade)
• TMNT Turtles in Time (Arcade)
• TMNT The Hyperstone Heist
• TMNT Tournament Fighters
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time

While the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection might stay true to the original releases, it also adds a few quality-of-life features, such as local couch co-op gameplay, the ability to save your and even rewind your progress, and button mapping.

Gauntlet: Slayer Edition is a reboot of the 1985 game, Gauntlet. However, if you’re looking for retro graphics and to relive an exact replica of the original Gauntlet, you might want to consider using an emulator or buying a Gauntlet arcade machine.

Just like the original Gauntlet game, Gauntlet: Slayer Edition is designed to be enjoyed with up to four friends. And with the DLC you can enjoy Gauntlet with the brand-new Necromancer class, who uses dark magic to raise the dead and summon skeletons to fight by her side.

Gauntlet: Slayer Edition might not be the same retro classic you remember, but it masterfully captures the magic that made the original game a must-play retro classic that is even better with friends.

While the Castlevania Anniversary Collection hasn’t been remastered or refined, the games still play, look, and sound as good as they should be. You get a range of 8-bit and 16-bit classics, but the original Castlevania is really what we’re here for.

Think 1980s heavy metal, NES game design, and huge bosses that give you a run for your money. If you didn’t play the original when it was first released in 1986, then you need to play this retro classic on the PS5.

The Castlevania Anniversary Collection includes the following titles:

• Castlevania
• Castlevania II Simon’s Quest
• Castlevania III Dracula’s Curse
• Super Castlevania IV
• Castlevania The Adventure
• Castlevania II Belmont’s Revenge
• Castlevania Bloodlines
• Kid Dracula (never released in English before)
• History of Castlevania – Book of the Crescent Moon

Unlike most other retro games on the PS5, the Castlevania Anniversary Collection has been left completely untouched, with no new features, no new quality of life changes, and no graphical updates, just the Castlevania games we all know and love, as they were meant to be played, warts and all.