They are remaking it...
and yea, Rainbow Six is an absolute waste. May as well be 19 games on the list.
I can see lapsed gamers being more enticed by being able to play classics they loved (Crash, Spyro, Medieval) again at a relative impulse purchase cost, and that convincing them to splurge on a PS4 in order to continue the series in remade format, than them going straight to B in this case.
Also I'd say the second biggest issue here is that they blew the chance to make it feel like the natural successor/continuation/sequel to the SNES Classic.
Legend of Mana and
Megaman X4 would be obvious successors to their predecessors.
Alundra to Zelda: ALttP,
Castlevania: SotN to both Super Metroid and previous Castlevanias,
Crash Team Racing to Super Mario Kart.
FFVII is already included as counterpart to VI.
That would already be 6 out of 20 taken care of, each of them being a good argument in favor of a purchase to fans of the latest classic console to hit the market. From there on you're left with 14 titles to strictly define the PSX identity:
- Crash (arguably as Mario analogue)
- Spyro
- Medievil
- Metal Gear Solid (obviously)
- Ridge Racer Type 4 (good choice)
- Tekken 3 (unmissable really)
- Oddworld: Abe's Odyssey (contemporary classic)
- Any Wipeout (arguably sort of an F-Zero analogue)
- Tomba (contemporary cult hit)
- Driver (GTA before GTA3 was a thing)
- Resident Evil (nuff said)
- A Medal of Honor
- A Tony Hawk if possible / Keep Cool Boarders 2 otherwise
For the last spot I'd say choose one out of Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story and Chrono Cross. I'd argue the latter two because at least Tactics got modern releases that are more easily available, so the other two would make the device more appealing. Vagrant Story would probably hold up best graphically. Blood Omen also isn't available elsewhere. Maybe Xenogears in an attempt to ride the Xenosaga and current Xenoblade hype waves?
I'd say that's a solid list with some of the most agreed upon must haves and vital series represented. Some mature games, some family friendly ones. Mostly 3D (as it should be) but still with some decent amount of 2D/sprite based classics. Nothing too unaccessible to the casuals or mainstream, while still having a good share of big names that command respect from the "hardcore".
I guess a potential alternative title could be Bust a Move 4, and I want to say Harvest Moon: Back to Nature but I'm unsure if that holds up.