[13] Nine games use the PAL release (favored in most European countries) regardless of the console's release platform, which means they run at a slower framerate of 50 Hz as opposed to the NTSC standard of 60 Hz (favored in North American, Japan, and additional Asian countries), and may respond slower than players from NTSC regions would expect.

[14][15] The North American version of the dedicated console received a M for Mature rating from the ESRB due to the inclusion of Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil: Director's Cut.

[16] The PlayStation Classic received generally negative reviews from critics overall, with criticism being directed at the game line up, lack of popular titles, the use of PAL versions for certain titles, the use of the original controller, which lacked analog sticks and vibration, and the $100 price tag, although its design received praise.

Most reviewers criticized the exclusion of many popular PlayStation titles, such as Wipeout, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Tomb Raider, PaRappa the Rapper, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, Gran Turismo, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, The Legend of Dragoon, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, MediEvil, and Silent Hill.

Tristan Ogilive of IGN criticised the console's lack of popular titles, the basic user-interface and pointing out that "almost half of the games included in the PlayStation Classic's library are the PAL versions" which caused consistency problems in NTSC regions.

John Linneman of Eurogamer's Digital Foundry also gave it a similarly negative review, noting the console's subpar emulation, poor image quality, lack of enhancements and use of PAL game releases on North American units, though he did praise the user interface.

[20] Chris Carter of Destructoid shares a similar opinion, citing that the emulation on the classic console is at times, "worse than the original", but praised the instant-state recovery and the size of the internal storage.

[27] Another price drop to US$29.99, €29.99 and £26.99 in all U.S., European and U.K. retailers respectively followed in June 2019, as part of PlayStation's "Days of Play" sale events.