PlayStation

This article is about the first video game console released by Sony. You may be looking for the digital video recorder with the same name as the console's codename, the PSX.

PlayStation

Never Underestimate the Power of PlayStation.

Developer:	Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date:	Original Model: JP: December 3, 1994 NA: September 9, 1995 EU: September 29, 1995 AU: November 15, 1995 PS One JP: July 7, 2000 NA: September 19, 2000 EU: September 29, 2000
Successor:	PlayStation 2
Competitors:	Atari Jaguar Sega 32X Sega Saturn Nintendo 64 Sega Dreamcast
Generation:	Fifth generation

The PlayStation (or PSX (not to be confused with a digital video recorder with the same name), later given the name PS1) was Sony's first video game console and competed against the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn and was released in 1994. It was succeeded by the PlayStation 2 in 2000 and was discontinued in 2006.

Origins

Nintendo and Sony had a partnership to work on a CD add-on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but disputes ended the partnership. Nintendo went on to work with Philips on the concept and that produced the CD-i.

Sony, on the other hand, kept the technology they had developed and after being turned down by Sega of Japan, they decided to release the add-on as a standalone console, which would become the PlayStation.

Why It Rocks

Over 7,000 titles were released for the system!
It can play audio CDs. Many audiophiles claim a specific model (the SCPH-100x) is one of the best CD players ever made.
Helped in the major shift of 2D gaming to 3D gaming, along with the Nintendo 64.
While it was not the first game console to use CDs, it was the first to do so successfully and made CD use popular. Discs are now the standard game format for home consoles.
While the Nintendo 64 introduced analog sticks, the PlayStation DualShock controller was the one who set the standard for future consoles' analog stick usage with the use of two separate analog sticks on the controller rather than one.
A huge number of role-playing games and platformer titles.
It was very easy to develop for, thus gaining very strong third-party support, and later a smaller Homebrew support too.
A smaller model called the PSOne was also released, which is a great option if you don't have much space.
Many well known game characters such as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon came from this console.
A large number of very good games including:
- Final Fantasy VII up to, & IX
- The beginning of various game franchises, namely Resident Evil and the following...
- The Legend of Dragoon
- Parasite Eve
- Gran Turismo 1 & 2
- Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, and its sequel, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus.
- Metal Gear Solid
- Crash Bandicoot, Cortex Strikes Back, and Warped
- Spyro the Dragon, Ripto's Rage, and Year of the Dragon
Many of its games are also available to download for relatively cheap on PlayStation Network on the PlayStation 3 (which is backwards compatible), PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation Vita.
A DualShock 2 controller can work on this console.
It was powerful for it's time.
The PS One model had a screen add-on, which adds more portability and saves you from having to buy a TV.
Unlike the other controllers, which had their buttons called either by numbers (1, 2, 3, 4,) or letters (A, B, C, D, X, Y & Z), the PlayStation's Dualshock controller uses geometric shapes (Δ, O, X, & ロ), a format that'd be unique and exclusive to the PlayStation consoles.
PS1 games used black CD-ROMs, which was a good and easy way to tell if a PS1 disc was real or pirated.
Due to PS1 discs being CDs, you can insert the disc in any CD player and listen to the soundtrack normally.

Bad Qualities

Games that predate the DualShock must be played entirely with the D-Pad or controllers that has no analog sticks in the first place.
There are only two controller ports despite many games supporting four players. You need a Multitap to be able to plug four controllers in.
Memory Cards only hold 15 slots for save files, and some games even take up two (or more) slots.
The lens can get damaged easily over time and it's very difficult to find a replacement nowadays.
Dust can easily get into the disc tray.
If you insert any other CD-ROM other than a PS1 game or an audio CD, a normal console will display an error message. However, if you do this on a mod-chipped console, either Fearful Harmony, Personified Fear or Forbidden Image will occur. Which those three sounds are creepy.

Reception

With more than 100 million units sold worldwide, the PlayStation was the most popular and successful console of the fifth generation of gaming. It is also considered the console that made CD based gaming popular which is the norm now, despite not being the first console to use CDs, but it was the first to do so successfully.

YouTuber AlphaOmegaSin owns nearly every RPG on the system and claims he became a fan of the genre because of the PlayStation. Caddicarus focuses almost exclusively on this system as it was his first console growing up.

Trivia

A picture of Sony's 1970's prototype console.

Sony, the creator of the console, originally had plans to release an older game console back in the 1970's (Yes, the same decade the Atari 2600 came out!). Although it was displayed at Tokyo around 2004 or 2005, there is little knowledge about this unnamed prototype. It would use cards to play games and has no controller ports. It's spectulated that instead of using controllers, the console instead has buttons on itself, the red ones being for answers (こたえ/Kotae) and the blue one for proceeding (すすめ/Susume). There is also a wheel on the side of the console that would be used for scrolling vertically. So this supposedly would've been a console designed for quiz games. The console would use motion graphics for the games.^[1]

References

↑ https://www.neogaf.com/threads/sonys-1970s-unreleased-gaming-console-couldve-been-the-first-console-ever.1573195/

Comments

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JaguarByte Productions

19 months ago

Score 2

My friend got a fully working PS1 for only 2$.