Ah the PlayStation, a serious
shot of nostalgia for so many people across the world including myself. There
were so many titles that swallowed much of my childhood, and the option of
2-player was a saviour with some games needing the second slot to even complete
the game, we all hate to love you Metal Gear Solid!
Harsh I know, but it summarised what the PlayStation was to me, a mature
console capable of spanning all age ranges from the likes of Spyro to Grand Theft Auto, and it
captured their hearts without the need for super speed servers and online
co-op. Anyway, you’re here to find out 5 amazing facts about the PS1, I’ll try
to not disappoint!
The PlayStation wasn’t all
Sony’s idea!
The original PlayStation wasn’t
actually Sony’s sole brainchild. It was initially a partnership with Nintendo,
the then leading gaming console frontrunner. The console named Play Station
(emphasis on the space) or Super Disc would be a CD add-on to the Super
Nintendo. The whole concept was shaken when Nintendo started to question Sony and setup a
partnership with Philips, a very poor decision. Following this act of
treachery, Sony went on to make the PlayStation and secured the top spot in the
console war. The PlayStation, throughout its life, had many names; PS-X, PS1,
PlayStation and PSone.
The PS1’s black disc had no
purpose!
The discs had a black bottom
and were by far the strangest color on the market; the color had no purpose or
reason apart from looking very cool and for recognition. The PS1 was so popular
that games were still being made throughout even the PS2’s
lifespan until 2006, the last being the Japanese-exclusive Strider
Hiryu, and in the US, Fifa 2005 released in 2004. The number of games
released differs greatly on who you talk to but most say it was around 3000
titles worldwide and reached sales of almost 962 million. The discs were
ground-breaking for the time, most other game storage were 12MB but the PS1’s
were 650MB which allowed for the immense 3D graphics and music the PS1 brought
to the table but did mean we had the downfall of seriously slow loading time.
Sony sold 102 million consoles!
Sony sold 102 million consoles
and numerous versions of the PS1 before ceasing production in 2004. It had a
variety of colors including; grey, black, white, green and blue, and limited
editions including; the midnight blue with only 100 consoles being released and
the Men In Black unit. There have been numerous
versions released all with tweaks to the connectors and other such things but
there are too many to even list here without boring myself and you! The PS1
came in 2 major sizes, the original rectangular box shaped unit and the
smaller, compact and slightly curvier PSone, the latter released in 2000. There
were other significant versions like the Net Yaroze which came with tools and
instructions that let a normal person program PlayStation games without a full
developer suite, and the Combo Pack; a PSone with a 5″ screen and an adapter
which needed plugging into the mains or to a car as the device had no battery.
The PS1s top seller, Gran
Turismo, took 5 years to develop!
Gran Turismo is the best-selling game for the PS1 with
10.85 million. It took 5 years to make with a team of 7 people, its inventor
Kazunori Yamauchi said: “In
those five years, we could not see the end. I would wake up at work, go to
sleep at work. It was getting cold, so I knew it must be winter. I estimate I
was home only four days a year.” It was a highly praised game
however, winning many awards across the board and in 2000 gaining the title of
the “21st best game of
all time” due to its ‘complete package’ of graphics and realistic gameplay.
The PS1 controller is supposed
to represent the console’s 3D graphics.
In the pre-PlayStation era,
most consoles came with flat joypads. Teiyu Goto, the creator of the iconic
PlayStation controller however, felt that the controller’s 3D design matched
the 3D graphics of the games. Many of Sony’s higher ups hated the concept, but
Goto had the Sony president Norio Ohga, on side who coincidently was a pilot
and in turn liked the device because it reminded him of an aeroplane’s controls.
Goto said of the iconic symbols; “The O, Δ, X & □ all have a meaning, the Δ
refers to viewpoint, one’s head or direction and made it green. □ refers to a
piece of paper representing menus or documents and made it pink. The O and X
represent ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision-making and I made them red and blue. People
thought the colors were mixed up, and I had to reinforce to management that
that’s what I wanted.”
So
remember, if you have a PlayStation, it could be worth something, treasure it!
I’d like to point out that this is not by any means all the amazing facts about
the PS1 and the games in particular, there is so much more to read and learn
about the platform such as Final Fantasy VII originally being designed as a
detective game in which you played as ‘Hot Detective Joe’, or that the iconic Crash Bandicoot was initially called Willy
the Wombat! Whether you’re still a PlayStation fan or not, you have
to admire and appreciate the success, technology and vast array of games
available on the platform. The PS1 dawned a new era of gaming; it brought so
many new concepts to the table that we still use today.
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