30 Years of PlayStation

[Neon Ignition]

2024 will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of the original PlayStation and the emergence of a platform that would quickly disrupt the fabric of the gaming industry. Years of two rivals battling out were broken by the introduction of a third player, inspired by their failed attempt to produce a CD expansion for Nintendo's SNES. The efforts to take what they had learned and develop a standalone system had forced Sony to rely on creating third party relationships in order to gain access to the insight required to develop not only the system but to also foster the software support needed to pry titles away from the existing platforms.

This culminated in late 1994 with the Japanese launch of the PlayStation





This thread is a space to reflect on and celebrate three decades of PlayStation, taking a tour through each year of the platform and looking back on our memories of what is today one of the biggest platforms in gaming.


-- 1994 --
On 03 December 1994 Sony launched the PlayStation in Japan. Launching just a single week after the Sega Saturn, the launch saw the two systems also herald in the console markets true shift to 3D gaming following a handful of efforts on struggling prior hardware. It was a moment to impress gamers and the system saw immediate success. Despite sales being behind the Saturn initially, it took mere months for that trend to reverse. Despite its immediate appearance, the controller had been inspired by that of the SNES and the system launched beside several titles that largely catered to the Japanese market and were designed for less powerful systems making Ridge Racer the immediate title of focus not only locally but to eager importers and observers waiting in Western markets.







What were your thoughts on the PlayStation when it was revealed, before it reached Western markets?

[nonny]

Well firstly I feel old.

My first impressions of PlayStation were going to an employees only event with a school friend who's dad worked for Sony in Wales... that factory is now shutdown and makes raspberry pi...

We were allowed in to play on a few games for an hour and basically we played Wipeout for the entire session because it was mind-blowing how good it was.

And that controller... It was kind of ground breaking at the time.

[Atticus]

When they first came out in Japan they were expensive (to buy here in the UK) so I couldn't justfy buying a Saturn and a PlayStation at launch and backed the gaming heritage of Sega. As much as I loved the Saturn and endless days of 2-player Virtua Fighter I had to have the Ridge Racer machine too Just look at that screenshot above and tell me it doesn't get you revved up like a Honda 90! For a single-circuit (with variations) arcade game it delivered so much depth and play. What an exciting time in gaming. What an expensive time!

[Lebowski]

It was Tekken that made me take notice of the ps1, i wasn't even aware of it when it launched in japan, I'd just started college in Leeds, we had a Tekken and a Mortal combat arcade Machine in our canteen, Tekken dominated and at lunch times it was winner stays on and 50p could keep you going all lunch as nobody could beat my Kazuya, it was short lived as we got told off for being loud and their where complaints about the arcade area being intimidating, so the machines got removed. When I saw Tekken running in game on the PS1 I knew what I wanted that Christmas me and my older brother clubbed together and got one, with Tekken and Wipeout, and we played it so much and at such length over the years it got to the point where to get it to load you had to turn it upside down.

My best friend at the time worked at Game, and he would product loan the latest release as soon as they came in he also got a massive amount of free merch and not for resale copies of games as they didn't use the demo pods to stop people treating the store like an arcade, We got to play some really obscure stuff and bought the things we enjoyed. when you look back the Libary the ps1 had was crazy it started Resident evil, Silent HIll, Metal gear, and Gran Turismo Wipeout 2097, arcade ports of Ridge Racer revolution, Tekken 3, rpgs like Suikoden Final Fantasy 7 and classics like Castlevania SOTN.

During the PlayStation era me and my Buddy also got to do some work experience at Sony Leeds which was really eye-opening as we got to shadow all these different departments and then playtest all this great stuff. We also got to see Wipeout 3 before it came out and play a really early build of it. During our time there we also created some 3d models of missiles for the game Global Domination a sort of 3D missile command game, so I can say I've worked on a PlayStation game even if it was only creating a very minor asset :lol they sent us a copy of the game when it came out it didn't do well

[hudson]

I remember in 1994 walking into HMV with my mate and picking up a console, an extra controller and 4 games (Ridge Racer (the greatest launch game ever released), Battle Arena Toshinden, Wipeout and Jumping Flash). I had saved up the money all by myself. It felt great.

At this time, my local arcade had Ridge Racer sit down cab which was amazing. I couldn't believe I was about to have it to myself at home. The reviews were already out for the PS version and they were all glowing.

After a few days, it had emerged that Wipeout was the surprise package to me. It was amazing too. Jumping Flash as well turned out to be a banger! Excellent game. Toshinden was ultimately was what it said on the tin. Tosh!

What a great time.

[Tobal]

Local indy shop had a japanese playstation in a homemade cab about 5 months before the uk release in 95, playing Tekken or Ridge Racer whenever i went in. Remember begging my parents for it for christmas 95, very lucky to had that bought for me considering how expensive it was, didn't own many games, just Tekken and Worms till the end of 96 (got a 2nd hand SF Alpha 1, Goal Storm, Command and Conquer, Res Evil 1 that first year), 'surviving' on the Doom demo disc on a magazine i've forgotten the name of i got sometime around the launch (not OPM), the OPM demo discs and rentals.

late 96 to 98 had incredible games, ISS pro, RR Rev, w2097, Destruction Derby 2, FF7, Suikoden, Vandel Hearts, FFT, Tobal no1, Tekken 2, Res Evil 2, GranTurismo 1, Tenchu 1, Colin McRae. Had started my first part-time jobs so i could afford my own stuff, eventually got my machine chipped for copies and imports where got Fire Pro G, NJPW3:TR, FF8 (na release), Ehrgeiz (not great), SF Zero 3, and Tobal 2. I still occasionally laugh about the my multiple 2 hour round trips on the bus to Hanley (Stoke) to check every day in Fantasy World getting Fire Pro G during it's release week... why i didn't just pick the house phone, i don't know, excitement got the better of me.

[Neon Ignition]

When the PS1 launched I think the extent of my interest extended to its brief rumbles as a SNES add-on. I was still in school and still rocking the Mega Drive at that point and I had a closer eye elsewhere. 1994 was the same year that Nintendo blew the doors off with Donkey Kong Country whilst at the same time (though lost to the mists of time) the 3DO was launching in the UK so PS1 was drowned out somewhat by louder things that were available to play there and then.

[Ouenben]

with a school friend who's dad worked for Sony in Wales...

Oh my god, there was someone in school who ACTUALLY did have a relative who worked for a gaming company?!

[Hirst]

I was a Saturn loyalist and I didn’t get a PS1 until mid-1998 - the Saturn port of GTA1 being cancelled was the last straw. I did want a PS1 anyway though, was just waiting for the price to drop (which it had by then).

It was probably the first system where I properly got into imports (via a Goldfinger cart I acquired shortly after), though I had played some on the Mega Drive. I also got into what you’d assume people would have a Goldfinger cart for, yo-ho-ho, it was so rife back then. Even my old barbers were soldering modchips and running off discs between haircuts. It was a learning experience - taught me that you don’t appreciate them as much for one thing, be careful what you wish for!

Conversely, it let me play a beta version of Driver months before it was released and resulted in me buying the finished game at full price. But it also showed me just how diverse the library was beyond the PAL market and got me into importing even for my older systems as I wanted to see what I’d missed out on and then by the time the Dreamcast and PS2 were out I was probably buying more imports than PAL games.

[Colin]

Incredible system, I’ll never forget getting my Japanese launch unit with Ridge Racer and it being one of those genuine “the whole gaming landscape just changed” moments. Everyone who came to my house and saw it running couldn’t believe what they were seeing as none of them were aware of the whole import scene having only ever had domestic systems.

This is well timed actually as I just bought a PlayStation from Jamie with a PSIO. First time I’ve had a physical PS unit in many, many years, and it’s easy to forget just how cool it is. I always play a whole bunch of PS stuff on emu, but I’m really looking forward to going through more of the library again on real hardware.

Have to say that through the OSSC on my big living room TV it thankfully looks awesome, it only arrived today but squeezed in a good few Ridge Racer laps and a Harmful Park run through. Awesome.

[nonny]

Oh my god, there was someone in school who ACTUALLY did have a relative who worked for a gaming company?!

Nah he worked in the TV plant in Pencoed in South Wales where I grew up but when they were launching PlayStation they had family events in all of their factories to get brand awareness out there... His father was one of the senior managers at the plant so could invite a good 8-10 people so we all tagged along!

Just checked, looks like that place is now a Sony Technology park, it was one of the biggest manufacturing locations for their TVs in the 80s/90s: Sony Pencoed

[Finsbury Girl]

My flatmate, picked one up from Argos (I think) where he was working as a security guard () would be sometime in 97 I guess. We absolutely hammered Ace Combat and I cannot remember what else. I ended up buying it from him when he went travelling. Got me back into gaming in a big way, previously was only arcade and PC with the occasional rented mega-drive . Owned every Playstation console since except the Pro (as I had the Xbone instead). This is the only console I've bought that I don't have anymore, it got lost somehow in my various moves, though I still have some games for it I believe.

[wakka]

It was my first proper console, really - I got mine in probably '96 or '97 (I did get a Mega Drive but later, when they were going for peanuts at car boots).

Being a very small kid I didn't always have the best instincts on which games to ask for for birthdays and Christmas, and there were a lot of stinkers on the platform. Electronics Boutique's then generous returns policy (bring a game back any time within a week for an exchange up to three consecutive times) saved the day often. Film licensed games were so often the worst culprits back in those days.

Because of my age some of the games were also simply too challenging - at the time, I couldn't advance more than a few levels on Tomb Raider without cheats, and could only proceed with FF 7 by printing out reams of walkthrough material from GameFAQs!

But that wasn't true of every game. Crash Bandicoot 2, Tony Hawk's (and the Dave Mirra rip-off, which was also excellent), and Driver were massive favourites. Then there was Ridge Type 4 - just incredible - and then what to me remains probably my favourite game ever, MGS. That last one was absolutely epochal for me. I was glued to it, playing it through over and over with mates. I had never seen anything like it!

It really was an incredible platform. It's easy with hindsight to think that PlayStation would always triumph, but when you look at the quagmire of ideas about how the gaming industry would move forward that it emerged from in '94, it's absolutely remarkable how much Sony got right. Their emphasis on 'good enough' 3D at a competitive price, their purchase of Psygnosis's dev tools (relatively late in the day, near release) and subsequent distribution and support to devs, and the forward-thinking brand positioning were practically unerring.

Meanwhile competitors were vanishing down all sorts of blind alleys - in many cases emphasising FMV or more advanced 2D. And Nintendo of course simply drastically underestimated Sony.

[Neon Ignition]

-- 1995 --
The next year saw the western release of the console, emerging with a different marketing angle than the powerhouses of the industry. Instead of mascot led titles we instead saw a more mature line up of games aimed at capturing the attentions of those who clamoured for 3D arcade conversions or who had grown up on the 8 and 16 bit consoles and no longer wanted bright and colourful titles. Notable titles at launch included Battle Arena Toshinden, Ridge Racer, Air Combat and Wipeout (in Europe). The system hit the ground running, feeling like a fresh platform, and the slightly wavering momentum of the Saturn in Japan was feeding into that excitement. The system also facing a solid open run from Nintendo who were dragging behind on getting their own successor system to market.



What were your thoughts of the PS1's launch line up?

[wakka]

Thinking about the line-up in the context of the marketing is interesting, 'cos in many ways the approach Sony took was similar to the one that Sega had so successfully adopted in the US. Sega marketed their machines as tough, bad attitude gear for teenage tearaways, and brought a whole audience of younger children along with them who wanted to identify themselves as part of (or at least aligned with) that age group.

The cleverness of the PlayStation's packaging was not only that it dropped the now-dated 'tude stuff, but that it shifted the implied target age upwards to early 20s consumers. This not only helped to make videogames appear less child-oriented to that audience, but continued to attract the teenagers and children who had previously engaged with the edgy feel that Sega had gone for.

It would never have worked without the right games, though. Ridge and Wipeout not only played extraordinarily well but their vibe and aesthetic, while actually totally child-friendly and therefore appealing to the broadest possible audience, was also absolutely congruent with the feel of their marketing (Rotterdam Nation, anyone?).