Happy 20th Anniversary, PlayStation!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PLAYSTATION!

20 years ago, the PlayStation first launched in North America. The unassuming, gray boxy machine, launched on the heels of a massive launch campaign by a company that was assumed to have no actual experience with the industry, and thus expected to be trounced by Nintendo and Sega’s offerings, went on to forever change the face of gaming. What PlayStation did continues to resound to this day, and the modern gaming industry is shaped by the PlayStation, and its paradigm shifting games.

THINGS PLAYSTATION DID

The PlayStation was a paradigm shifting console. Effects of everything that it did continue to reverberate through the industry to this day. It is impossible to quantify and explain just how much PlayStation actually managed to do in its extraordinarily fruitful life. Some of its biggest achievements include:

• The modern controller: Two handles, a D-pad, two analog sticks, four face buttons, four shoulder buttons. Quick, which controller am I talking about? That’s right, it could be any of them. And it all started here, with the very first PlayStation, and its DualShock design.
• Optical Media: You know how your PS4 uses Blu Rays? How your Xbox 360 used DVDs? How your Gamecube used whatever the hell those small discs are called? You know the reason for that? It can all be traced to Sony’s little box that could. Lots of CD ROM based consoles had released, and crashed and burned before the PlayStation. It took Sony’s original console to show the world just how the CD ROM format could actually benefit gaming, and lead to an expansion of the medium beyond its arcade roots.
• Media functionality: Expecting your console to do something other than just play games is second nature today, but it all started with the original PlayStation, and its support for audio CDs in addition to game discs.
• Gaming is not just for kids: The PlayStation was when gaming grew up, where it became a legitimate medium of storytelling rather than just a hobby. Games grew more sophisticated, they started to tell real stories, and they started to emotionally engage their players- which is something that anybody who spent dozens of hours trying to bring Aerith back in Final Fantasy VII will attest to.
• Third parties: The entire modern third party model owes itself to Sony- low licensing fees, a mass production friendly storage format, lax (if any) content restrictions, and promoting headlining third party games side by side with first party offerings is a concept that was pioneered by Sony and the PlayStation. Using the artist and label model of the music industry, Sony was able to inculcate and grow talent in the industry at large, beyond just the confines of their own studios.
• Some of gaming’s biggest franchises: Resident Evil. Metal Gear Solid. Grand Theft Auto. Tekken. Ridge Racer. WipEout. Persona. Gran Turismo. These are just a few among the many, many, many mainstays of modern gaming that all had their start on PlayStation- which is to say nothing of just how the modern incarnation of so many franchises, such as Final Fantasy or Castlevania, which all trace themselves back to PlayStation.
• Gaming expanded: Long before the Wii, the original PlayStation was the first system to ever expand gaming beyond just the confines of its traditional audience. With over 100 million systems sold worldwide, the PlayStation appealed to just about everybody, no matter their style or preference- a feat that its successors would continue to pull off over the coming years.

THE GAMES

It doesn’t matter how revolutionary a console is, its true legacy will always be cemented by the games on it. And PlayStation obliged greatly in this regard:

Gallery

THE MEMORIES

What are your own memories of the PlayStation? Were you there at the time, playing games? What were your favorite titles? Or did you discover the PlayStation later, via the backwards compatibility on PS2, PS3, PSP, or PS Vita?

What are your own personal thoughts on Sony’s debutant console, the little grey box that changed the world forever?

@GameSpot: happy birthday gamespot

@MethodManFTW: Playstation you mean?

I have so many fond PlayStation memories. Final Fantasy games, Crash Bandicoot, Resident Evil, they're all so awesome!

Spyro Age of the Dragon - ahh what a great adventure game, also Crash Bandicoot 3

Still one of the best adventure games ever played along with the modern Psychonauts

Tekken 3 and FF of course are on the list as well.

It was a good console, financially and critically.

Sony reported that the PlayStation sold over one hundred million consoles, worldwide as of the first quarter of 2007.

http://web.archive.org/web/20110524023857/http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdataps_e.html (unable to hyperlink this on GS)

Many games for Playstation were good quality. One of my favorites was Tekken 3. I learned how to play as every character and from that point, I was interested in continuing as a Tekken player. Tekken 2 was also a good game. Final Fantasy and other JRPGs, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, and many other games were worthwhile experiences. The Playstation was not the console that I relate to my recognition as a member of the gaming community. That was the Sega Genesis. However, it was my favorite console until I got a Playstation 2.

Happy birthday playstation! My first memories were playing twisted metal on the psone with a friend, still a game I regularly play today. My first system was a ps2 that my cousin gave to me. Best memories were with the ps3 and the vita. Thanks playstation for all those gaming moments!

i remember renting playstation back when i was a kid. 1dollar for 2 hrs. don't blame me i'm from a third world country.

@takspeed me too. my first playstation game memory is twisted metal. sweetooth, axle, flower power, that bigass tank, that police lightning guy, etc.

oh man, that sucks

Really surprised to see this thread didnt get a lot of love. Maybe there is not many old schoolers left on Gamespot. The PlayStation is the reason the PlayStation Nation exist. Its the PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5, PSP and Vitas eldest. Its the matriarch and the patriarch of PlayStation. A seed planted by the enemy of the enemy. Playstation Now, Playstation Plus, Playstation Network are all actual things that came from the creation of the PlayStation.

happy birthday coolyfett

Hard to believe it has been so many years. I still remember staying up late playing Crash and Spyro, listening to my CD collection for hours with friends after school. Personally, the console got all of my friends together and we had many hours of competitive fun. That's one aspect I remember well, everyone having a laugh while playing their favorite games.

Chrono Chross, Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Xenogears, Tekken 3, Tenchu were my most memorable games during the original PlayStation debut. It's not the same today, being always online and the constant connectivity from the mobile devices had greatly affected social interaction between people.

My first memories of the PlayStation were at my cousins house. Playing Tomb Raider 2 and Crash Bandicoot, that was good gaming. Myself, the first PlayStation console i owned was the PS4 which swiftly followed by the Vita.

Here's to twenty more years!

Happy Birthday PlayStation! Thank you for the two decades of great gaming.

@takspeed: your best memories were with PS3 and Vita?? Gosh Coolyfett feels OLD. Keep on trucking Taksspeed!