Another PSIO prototype test, and this time we’re giving Crash Team Racing a go. I’ve never actually played this one before, but from what I’ve seen it looks rather like Mario Kart with crates instead of those spinning boxes that give you power-ups. Sounds like my sort of game!

I’ve loaded the game through the PSIO Systems Console, and away we go. Once the game is running, the USB cable isn’t needed until I want to select something else, which is a handy little feature of this prototype arrangement.

Before long I’m racing around, trying to work out where the power-ups are and which button does what. There’s a bit of drifting, some interesting ramps and plenty of opportunities to make a complete mess of the course. I’m sure this would be even more entertaining with a few other people playing.

I actually managed to win a race, which was a pleasant surprise! Apparently I’m not completely hopeless at this one. I even had another go afterwards, because it was rather good fun.

The important thing is that Crash Team Racing seems to be working well on the PSIO hardware in this test. I haven’t established whether every part of the game behaves perfectly, but what I’ve played so far looks promising.

Please remember that this is early prototype hardware and the results don’t necessarily reflect later PSIO versions or the finished device. You can find more information at ps-io.com, since I’m only the tester and not one of the people making the magic happen!

Prototype test conditions

  • PSIO hardware: 1.1
  • PSIO software: 1.1, revision 1.2
  • PlayStation: PAL SCPH-5502

Sources