This blog began 20 years ago and I've reviewed PlayStation hardware across generations. So it's only right I share my memories on the 30th anniversary of Sony's game-changing console.
I wouldn't own Sony's upstart console with a bundled copy of Tomb Raider from EB Games until 1996. However, I first played a friend's Japanese import PlayStation and then a university housemate's for a daily dose of Destruction Derby, Ridge Racer and WipEout (when I should have been writing my third-year dissertation).
In the mid-to-late nineties, saying you owned a PlayStation during work water cooler conversations was fashionably cool. The console was featured on newsstands everywhere, from Edge to FHM, nudging Nintendo and Sega off the top spots forever.
Without the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), there would be no PlayStation.
Sony's 32-bit console began life as an aborted SNES CD-ROM add-on in 1988. However, Nintendo shunned Sony at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and partnered with Philips in 1991. The rest is gaming history.
Sony brings back the original PlayStation boot screen to celebrate this milestone with the PlayStation 5 (PS5) anniversary update! No matter which generation of PlayStation you grew up on, that old-school PS1 boot screen hits differently! I will turn my PS5 on and off throughout the holidays to remember what it felt like to play Tomb Raider for the first time!
What are your PlayStation memories? Let me know in the comments below.
Answering the question, that friend with the Japanese PS1 was me!
ReplyDeleteI bought my Japanese PS1 the week it was released in the Far East and had a copy of Ridge Racer with it. This has to be my first memory of Playstation and was in awe to how awesome Namco's home conversion of Ridge Racer was to the arcade original.
In previous months we had played the original arcade game in the seaside towns of Paignton and Torquay (UK) so having a home version blew my mind!
I loved the cool look of the PS1, the amazing controller and that start up tune makes me smile every time I hear it...just takes me back to that memory of booting up my PS1 for the very first time. I used to marvelled at its wonder compared to other consoles around like the SNES, SEGA Megadrive and even up against the mighty SEGA Saturn!
It was such a jump up in hardware with maybe the SEGA Saturn, SNK Neo Geo and Atari Jaguar being close rivals but there was just something different with the PS1, hard to say in words...maybe the perfect gaming package at that time in 1994...
I loved my PS1 and had friends over all the time to play Ridge Racer constantly, with time trial contests around Ridge State and handing the controller back and forth between us all!
Later, I grew my PS1 game collection with other games like Jumping Flash!, Battle Arena Toshinden and later on classics like Tekken and Wipeout.
I've been a Sony Fanboy since owning the cool PS1 and just love that Sony have released these 30th Anniversary themes....can you guess what theme i've installed on my PS5?
Thank you Sony for the Playstation family! I've owned every console Sony has ever released in the UK from PS1, all the handhelds right up to my current Sony console the PS5.
Now when is that PS6 out? :)
Good times, my friend! I remember we took turns on Battle Arena Toshinden and I beat the final boss on my first attempt!
DeleteI got my Playstation on Christmas Eve of 1998. It was a Christmas gift from my grandmother when I was in 9th grade. I'd always had Nintendo consoles and has an N64, which I loved, but I was really getting into horror games and the N64 just lagged behind Sony. I had played Resident Evil at a cousin's house over the summer of that year and when some other family members came to visit and brought their PSX along I rented Resident Evil 2 while they were in town.
ReplyDeleteOn Christmas eve of 1998 I got my Playstation and stayed up playing games off the demo disc and Medievil. On Christmas Day I ended up with Resident Evil, Parasite Eve, and Metal gear Solid. Definitely a Christmas to remember.
Thanks for sharing such a fun anecdote!
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