Twenty Years Of PlayStation: Wow It’s Been A Long Time!

I saw the new commerative PS4 and was like, wow that’s cool. Had a moment of “OMG WANT!” and then it subsided. It was a strange moment, thinking “Wow, the PlayStation came out twenty years ago.” Now sparing you some gushing retrospective about “Best PSone games!”

Everyone knows what was good then. Games like Siphon Filter, Metal Gear Solid, Tekken, Parappa The Rapper, Gran Turismo 2, Gex, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy 7-9, Suikoden, Battle Arena Toshinden, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Spyro, Crash Banditcoot, Oddworld just to name a few. The PS1 is with a doubt a platform with one of the most diverse libraries in the history of mass consumed media. I mean, if only VCDs took off, it could have been the media hub that Sony envisioned with the PS2.

In twenty years, the formula has evolved, you have a number of new exclusives, new platforms, new ideas how consoles are going to be used by gamer, the evolution of the PlayStation brand has been astonishing. But, it’s funny, how through out all this change the ethos of PlayStation has not changed much. The PS1 saw rapid evolution from the original SCPH-1010 PlayStation controller, to the Dualshock.

The overriding simplicity and also familiarity with the Dual Shock form factor is to me what the “soul” of the PlayStation is defined through. How it survived from 1998 to 2013 with some bells and whistles added. internally changing immensely while still remaining familiar in hand. That is to me, the beauty of the PlayStation family of devices.

The PlayStation 2, brought evolution (DVD support, progressive scan, HD output via component, online play) but even though it changed so much. It still held on to what makes a PlayStation a, well, a PlayStation, quality titles and a great controller. You went from PS1 to PS2 seamlessly. The PS3, brought Blu ray support, a crazy off the wall cell processor that eventually was supplemented with an Nvidia GPU (which added to the PS3’s insane price at launch). It was a console that while being imperfect in all of its attempted applications it laid the groundwork for Remote Play, it expanded motion controls, it was the first console to support native 1080p via HDMI (even if most games still upscaled). The middle PlayStation home consoles were and still have magnificent libraries.

Radical and sustained innovation, was the hallmark of Sonys arc through the PlayStation history. From the home console market to the handheld one. Never surpassing Nintendo in terms of raw sales but PlayStation handhelds have offered an unrivaled native user experience. The PlayStation Portable was a quantum leap forward in (handheld) video entertainment (to borrow a line from SNK). The Vita has emerged a worthy successor, with titles and capabilities that have integrated the console and handheld experience on the PS4.

The PlayStation 4, the youngest PlayStation platform (not counting the PS TV) it has large shoes to fill. With a host of features that make it unlike any other PlayStation platform before it. The tagline “Greatness Awaits” a year in has been repeated ad nauseum, there is a lot to look forward to with this one. Project Morpheus could be really interesting. It’s funny, the PS4 might not be the most powerful gaming platform out there these days but it’s the best dedicated console money can buy and is only improving.

It’s funny, for a long time the PS4 didn’t feel much like a PlayStation. Its interace was different, it’s controller was different, it had all these things that were unlike any PlayStation before. But over time it grew on me, first the Dualshock 4, then the interface itself. But today, when I downloaded the 20 years of PlayStation theme, something seemed to click with me and after hearing the PS1 start up sound, it all kind of made sense. But, I still secretly want that limited edition PS4.

 

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