Many fans wonder how to keep playing the game in present-day. Game companies generally don’t reprint old titles physically, and discs can become tougher and tougher to find as copies start to break down. Here are some options, each with their own pros and cons.

Important! If you have a physical copy of the game, it is strongly recommended that you make a legal backup of your game discs. Unless they are kept in a sealed case and never played, they will eventually stop working due to wear/use. See this guide on how to preserve your legal copy in digital form.

Option 1: Severed Chains (Recommended)

Severed Chains is a reverse-engineered port for PC and SteamDeck. It’s built to go far beyond what’s possible with emulation. This includes restored asset quality, fast load times, and countless bugfixes. It also supports native 4K+ resolution, 60FPS (except battle for now), and true widescreen in battle. On top of this, SC doubles as an expanded modding platform. The sky is the limit: from a simple difficulty change, to a randomizer, to a mod in the style of DDR and Guitar Hero. Requires a legal copy of LoD provided by the user.

Option 2: Emulation

Although the legal requirements are a bit tricky, emulation has many benefits that cannot be boasted by any physical hardware. These benefits include: correcting hardware errors, improved visual fidelity, save states, and modding support. The main caveat is that a necessary bios file can only be legally procured by extracting it from your physical PS1 – this is the main barrier of entry for most people. For help with that, see this guide. Emulators can run both physical discs and digital disc images. Stay tuned for an on-site Emulation guide.

Option 3: PS4 & PS5 Digital Store

As of February 2023, Legend of Dragoon is now listed on newer Playstation consoles via their digital store. You can buy the Japanese, North American, or European releases on their respective regional storefronts. This release is the same as the PS3/PSP release, but it also includes some soft enhancements as with other PS1 Classic titles. These features include a few basic video filters (i.e. scanlines for retro feel), six Save State slots, Rewind, and partial improvements to graphic fidelity (important note: missing PGXP correction available in emulators like Beetle and Duckstation).

Option 4: Legacy Digital Stores (PS3/PSP)

Although Sony has started limiting its legacy storefronts, it should still be possible to purchase a digital copy of the game. Availability will vary by region. In the USA, the game can be bought on PS3 and PSP. In Europe, the game was not digitally released so far as we know.

Option 5: Original PS1 Hardware

The most straightforward choice is to buy a used PS1 and game discs through a resale website. eBay has the most listings and most stable pricing in general. With a physical PS1, game discs, and necessary cables/controllers you can try to play the game on a standard television or through a capture card on your computer. Note that capture cards usually have input delay, so completing additions may not be feasible.

Option 6: Physical Discs On PS2 & PS3

PS1 games should play perfectly on every model of the Playstation 2 and Playstation 3 game consoles.