Celebrate the 30th anniversary of the US release of the Sony PlayStation

Agent X

Agent X

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Sony introduced their groundbreaking PlayStation video game system to the United States on September 9, 1995. Ten games and a range of accessories accompanied the console at its US launch. PlayStation quickly caught on with the American audience, and established itself as a pillar of the industry for many years.

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Whether you were there for the PlayStation launch, or jumped on board some time later, take a few moments to reminisce about the system and some of your favorite games.
 
Launched with ESPN Extreme Games as the only first-party title available, yikes. I would take Crime Crackers over it.
Europe actually had the best PS1 launch in terms of first-party releases; Jumping Flash!, Novastorm, Rapid Reload and Wipeout.
 
My first console was a PS One, I remember playing Gran Turismo 1, Die Hard Trilogy 2 and others from a bunch of pirate discs that I got alongside the console.
 
I still have a PS1.

First game I ever played was Darkstalkers. Second was Resident Evil. So many great memories. The one that stands out the most was playing Resident Evil late at night, made it to Yawn and got eaten trying to get the last crest I needed. I didn't have a memory card and it took me a bit to get there cuz I never bought any walkthrough books, I just wanted to figure things out as I went along. Just a dropped jaw. Good times.
 
PS1 was my first break-away from a Sega system. Totally had a "why not both?" moment with a PS a few months after it came out. I loved my Saturn, but gotdayum the PS took me by storm and never let up. Absolutely blown away by the games that came out for it. Some of my best gaming memories.
 
That console's a powerful reminder of all the great features PlayStation has lost over the years.
Memory Cards and PlayStation's Visual Save system
Wired Controller Plug Ports
Booting directly into games
 
So many good memories. I'm so happy I grew up during this time. Wouldn't trade it for anything.

Edit.
FF 7 and 8
Metal Gear Solid
Xenogears
Vagrant Story
FF Tactics
Ace combat
Gran Turismo
So many good games I can't even list them all.
 
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I'll never forget walking past a playstation as I walked past the window of the video game store that had Resident Evil playing. It was at that moment that I knew I had to have playstation. But it was also at that moment that series would become my favourite series ever. My jaw dropped when I first seen it.
 
I remember being able to rent a Playstation a few weeks after it launched in 9/9/95, the first few games that I ever played for the machine were Wipeout, Rayman and Total Eclipse (I forget what version it was)... Total Eclipse was not great, unfortunately. But Wipeout blew my mind back then, and Rayman looked incredible for a 32bit 2D game, but it was hard as balls. The machine did impress me, even though I ended up with a Sega Saturn.

I liked the Saturn too... but it really did get screwed over at retail here in Canada, and it was hard to find games and peripherals for the machine.

My sister had a Playstation, and I would borrow that all the time back in the day.

Fact. I use to have this fold-out poster on my wall, about a month before the Playstation 1 even launched... I think it came from an issue of Game Fan magazine.. but I am unsure. I was 14 in 1995.

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Icymanipulator said:
So many good memories. I'm so happy I grew up during this time. Wouldn't trade it for anything.
Click to expand...
That excitement's the direct result of PS1 game development costs being low enough for studios to take risks that would be impossible on the PS2/3/4/5.
The excitement ramped up to a peak with the PS2 and it effectively died on the PS3 along with a host of studios.
Sony could easily bring back both platforms and inject a massive amount of risk back into modern game development.
 
OG Ps1 will always be memorable to be. So many great games like Ff7, mgs1, RE, xenogears, brave fencer, tomb raider, syphon filter, spyro, colony wars, twisted metal, Granturismo, etc. Ps1 really made gaming a bigger industry.
 
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Collection of pre-launch PS1 commercials, featuring Battle Arena Toshinden, which Sony advertised hard as their 'Virtua Fighter killer' for the system. Plus they also show off Ridge Racer, which was the poster child for the PS1 hardware, Mortal Kombat 3, which Sony paid Midway $12 million for a six month exclusive on 'next gen' hardware. The PS1 is the only 32bit era system to have vanilla Mortal Kombat 3. Destruction Derby, which was a PS1 showcase. Wipeout, another PS1 showcase. Warhawk, NFL Gameday and a few others.

Sony's launch advertising campaign really went after the Sega Saturn.

 
Skipped it at launch. Didn't get one until FFVII which I hated. If I hadn't borrowed one to play to play Persona 1 I probably wouldn't have kept it. Although now it's probably my favorite of the Playstation consoles.
 
The PS1 is IMO, my personal favorite PlayStation system. The other PS consoles that came after are all great in their own right, but there's just something about the PS1 that most of the successors couldn't quite capture.
 
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Resident Evil 1 and the following Directors Cut were my very first experiences with this system. Next was MGS and RE2&3. Best fucking time ever.
 
awwr999999 said:
That excitement's the direct result of PS1 game development costs being low enough for studios to take risks that would be impossible on the PS2/3/4/5.
The excitement ramped up to a peak with the PS2 and it effectively died on the PS3 along with a host of studios.
Sony could easily bring back both platforms and inject a massive amount of risk back into modern game development.
Click to expand...
Ya but PS2 was also pretty good, but yes after that we entered the "HD" era and costs started to sky rocket. It was, and likely will never be the same.
 
Icymanipulator said:
Ya but PS2 was also pretty good, but yes after that we entered the "HD" era and costs started to sky rocket. It was, and likely will never be the same.
Click to expand...

The gen 6 consoles were really the sweet spot for 640i/640p gaming. The Dreamcast included with that with its VGA connection. I feel like there was a mad rush to jump to HD console gaming with the 360 and PS3, which was riddled with a lot of screen tearing, low framerates and phony HD resolutions. Nintendo was honestly the last hold-out though, with the Wii sill being primarily 640i and 640p. Kinda amazing how Nintendo skirted around HD resolutions until the Wii-U.
 
The only thing I'm grateful to Sony for is introducing me to Doom. It was incredible on the PS1 so I promptly saved my pennies, bought a PC with Doom and fucked my Playstation aside.

Thanks Sony.
 
My first experience with the PS1 was the demo disc that came with it and NHL FACEOFF 99.

Few years later everyone and their mother had a chipped PS1 and we had all the games.
 
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PS1 games that I replay from time to time:

1. Suikoden I
2. Suikoden II
3. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
4. Silent Hill
5. Parasite Eve
6. Resident Evil 2
7. Wild ARMs
8. Alundra
9. Star Ocean: The Second Story
10. Chrono Trigger
11. SaGa Frontier
12. Final Fantasy VII
 
I remember renting one from Blockbuster right after release…it just felt so high tech and different. I knew it was something special, but never would have guessed it would get as big as PlayStation is now.
 
Moving from SNES to games like Battle Arena Toshinden and Tekken was mind boggling at the time. Those of us with PS1s were hosting arcade parties, because it felt like we had arcade quality visuals in the living room for the first time.
 
Only some of us know what it's like to be alive around that time and experience life as it was at that point. Not only did you have a simpler time that things actually merited some anticipation but you also had an amazing time for gaming that continue to introduce new titles and franchises that exist up until this day.

From magazines to events to press conferences to the whole vibe of the gaming industry and just the shopping experience of the consumer. Today's gamers don't even have a clue of how good it was.
 
nial said:
Launched with ESPN Extreme Games as the only first-party title available, yikes. I would take Crime Crackers over it.
Europe actually had the best PS1 launch in terms of first-party releases; Jumping Flash!, Novastorm, Rapid Reload and Wipeout.
Click to expand...

It was good enough for me to get 2Xtreme lol
 
PS1 was the first console I ever asked for. Before that my dad had bought a NES and let me play, and I was gifted a Sega Genesis while I was young. I played a PS1 at my uncle's house and had to have it - so many awesome games to love. Crash and Spyro, Square's RPGs, Legend of Dragoon, Jet Moto, Twisted Metal, etc. Truly excellent library and worthy competitor to the N64.
 
I need to play more of its catalogue through Adrenaline on the Vita.

But I have some really great memories of the original Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid on it.
 
I remember the first time I saw a FFVII commercial on tv, it instantly sold me on Playstation.

But probably the most memorable thing about PS1 was having to place my modded PS1 'upside down' in order for it to read discs. Lol
 
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