Sony PlayStation (1995)

Until the mid-1990s, the Japanese electronics giant Sony had no plans to launch its own gaming console, even though by the mid-1980s it was already clear that video game consoles had a bright future. Instead, the company only produced certain hardware components for Sega and Nintendo — for example, the sound chip for the SNES and the CD-ROM device for one of Sega’s console series, the Sega Mega CD.

The story of the PlayStation begins with the emergence of the CD as a medium and the first consoles that used it. In 1991, Sega released the previously mentioned Mega CD, which achieved notable success right from the start. Around the same time, the PC Engine CD was launched — unlike Sega’s model, it was a standalone console. Because of this, the biggest player at the time, Nintendo, decided to join the race as well. They wanted to create an add-on for their SNES, similar to what Sega had done with the Mega Drive 2 system.

After initial negotiations with Philips fell through, Nintendo reached an agreement with Sony — which was terminated just a few months later due to major disagreements about what their joint project should be: a new console or merely an upgrade of the existing one. As a result, Nintendo once again turned to Philips, while Sony continued developing its own console, which it named PlayStation.

On December 3, 1994, the console was launched in Japan, and on September 9, 1995, it arrived in North America. By the end of that year, sales had begun in other parts of the world as well. The competition was fiercer than ever — the 16-bit SNES, Sega Mega Drive 2, and Sega Mega CD were all still on the market, along with a whole lineup of new consoles such as the Sega 32X, 3DO, Philips CD-i, Saturn, Atari Jaguar, and Atari Jaguar CD.

Initially, PlayStation sales (then referred to as PSX) were not particularly strong, likely due to consumer skepticism toward a new player in the console market. For the first year, Sega’s Saturn dominated the scene. The major turning point came when Sony signed deals with top gaming companies such as Capcom, Konami, Taito, and EA, and began an aggressive marketing campaign.

By 1996, the market landscape had changed dramatically — many consoles had disappeared, while others were nearing the end of their lifespans, such as the Sega Mega Drive 2 and the SNES. Essentially, only two competitors remained: the PlayStation and the Saturn. Instead of the evenly matched battle everyone expected, the PlayStation quickly began to dominate the entire market. The key reason was the superior quality of games, which was now undeniably in Sony’s favor — even franchises that had begun on both platforms (like Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and Duke Nukem) became exclusive to the PlayStation.

As a result, by 1998, the Saturn was selling at just one-third the volume of the PlayStation, which led Sega to discontinue it and focus instead on developing the Katana, later known as the Dreamcast.

In the meantime, Nintendo also introduced its new console, called the Nintendo Ultra 64. Despite having superior technical specifications, it remained largely overshadowed by Sony’s powerhouse — partly due to several poor decisions (most notably the choice to use cartridges instead of CDs as the storage medium), and partly because of a significantly weaker selection of games.

Disappointed with the new Nintendo console’s limitations, the Japanese company Square — creator of many top-selling titles for the NES and SNES — decided to release all its future games exclusively for the PlayStation. Thanks to this, the PSX grew even stronger, and Square’s new RPGs were met with universal acclaim from both critics and players. Many of these titles are now considered some of the greatest games in the console’s history.

Just like Sega, Nintendo eventually had to admit defeat and, by 1999, began developing a new console under the codename Dolphin.

In 1998, Sega released its 128-bit Dreamcast, which, unlike the Saturn, was a seriously well-designed console — one that was finally expected to push the now-aging PlayStation off the stage. However, these predictions turned out to be far from accurate. Software support for the PSX remained exceptionally strong, and an army of tens of millions of users ensured Sony enormous profits it was unwilling to give up.

The system’s decline in popularity didn’t come until 2000, when Sony released its final first-party game for the platform — the excellent RPG The Legend of Dragoon — while simultaneously announcing the upcoming arrival of its next project, the PlayStation 2, eagerly anticipated by gamers worldwide.

Soon after, other companies that had long supported the PSX released their final big-budget titles for the system in preparation for the next generation. Around the same time, a redesigned version of the console appeared — the PSOne — which, thanks to its low price, sold extremely well, even outperforming both the Dreamcast and the PlayStation 2 for a time!

Nearly a decade after its debut, the PlayStation remained a relevant console, though by then it was mainly receiving children’s titles and sports game sequels that shared little in common with their counterparts on newer consoles or PCs.

With over 100 million units sold worldwide, the PlayStation is undoubtedly one of the best-selling and most popular consoles of all time and, in our opinion, stands alongside the NES and Sega Mega Drive 2 as one of the most significant consoles in gaming history.

PS One

Just before the launch of the PlayStation 2, Sony introduced a new, redesigned version of the original PlayStation, named the PlayStation One, or PSOne for short. Compared to the standard gray PSX it replaced, the PSOne was visually more appealing and much smaller in size — comparable to a double-thick DVD case — making it far more convenient to carry.

Due to the lack of an active cooling system, the PSOne heats up more than the older model but features a much quieter, almost silent disc-reading mechanism. Alongside the PSOne, Sony optionally offered a 4-inch LCD screen, though this did not make the console battery-powered; it still required a standard power supply.

In terms of software, the system remained almost identical, except for a redesigned BIOS. Naturally, compatibility with older games is 100%.