Playstation (1) was the single most important console in gaming history

Ooooh.
Hablen entre ustedes.

Agreed.

These days it seems like most people just obsess over the NES/SNES, but to me the PS1 is king. Sure the early 3D polygon shit is retarded. Yes, Resident Evil tank controls are obnoxious, but that was all we had.

I heart you, PS1.

What was so important about it? Most of the games sucked, horrible load times, & i had to flip it over to play the damn thing. I would put the Saturn & PS2 over the psx but the cartridge base consoles before that were tops.

It is a grim reminder to Nintendo that they fucked up.

goombakid said:

It is a grim reminder to Nintendo that they fucked up.

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Exactly, I bet Nintendo never thought Sony would take the Snes-Cd concept and design a new console around it, then use that console to become a huge rival to Nintendo.
If they had stuck with the Snes-cd with Sony I wonder if they would still be making consoles together now, Sega would still most likely be out of the hardware business and Xbox might not have come along at all or not had the impact is currently has.

Personally i think the original Playstation was an amazing console that introduced 3D gaming to a whole generation and some fantastic games were produced.

Resident Evil
Crash Bandicoot
Metal Gear Solid

PlayStation made gaming grown up, which makes it very important. Nintendo then and now only care about the kids market, Sega side stepped in the 32 bit era by launching too early and with too high a price tag. The PlayStaion came in and made gaming cool for kids and adults. Without it, we might have seen another gaming crash.

But surely the most important games console of all time should go to the NES? It sold and created the industry when the rest of the market had crumbled and died. I'd argue without the NES games could be very different today.

HDRchampion said:

I would put the Saturn & PS2 over the psx but the cartridge base consoles before that were tops.

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98% of PS2 games are interlaced. The PS1 was pure 240p and the real N64, since SONY originally developed the SNES successor. It embraced 2D gaming (SotN, Harmful Park, Gradius Gaiden) and destroyed it at the same time (FFVII, MGS & RE). The Saturn should've stayed the king of 2D, then I'd put it above the PS1, too. As it stands, it was just another missed opportunity for SEGA, while the PS1 took it all.

madmanjock said:

PlayStation made gaming grown up, which makes it very important. Nintendo then and now only care about the kids market, Sega side stepped in the 32 bit era by launching too early and with too high a price tag. The PlayStaion came in and made gaming cool for kids and adults. Without it, we might have seen another gaming crash.

But surely the most important games console of all time should go to the NES? It sold and created the industry when the rest of the market had crumbled and died. I'd argue without the NES games could be very different today.

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This is a good point. Also the Atari 2600 certainly is up there vying for the top spot as most significant.
But if we look at the console timeline I would say the PS1 is the Renaissance or early Renaissance equivalent in the world of gaming. It is a turning point, a prism in a sense too, drawing in what had passed and displaying what was to come. It was a revolutionary system that in my opinion is equivalent to the sony walkman in how emblematic it was. I would agree that the NES has much of this too, but the PlayStation reinvented gaming in various senses. It not only brought in a great deal more audience to the hobby but it also saw many gaming companies reinvent themselves around the image-centric console. It was the paradigm of cool and went went beyond it being a console. It was in my opinion, just as much a tech device as much as a gaming platform. It was a lifestyle object.
I am not worshipping the thing by any means, but I think it single handedly ushered in a new era on various levels.

madmanjock said:

PlayStation made gaming grown up, which makes it very important. Nintendo then and now only care about the kids market, Sega side stepped in the 32 bit era by launching too early and with too high a price tag. The PlayStaion came in and made gaming cool for kids and adults. Without it, we might have seen another gaming crash.

But surely the most important games console of all time should go to the NES? It sold and created the industry when the rest of the market had crumbled and died. I'd argue without the NES games could be very different today.

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yes the NES certainly revitalized the gaming industry back in 1983 (i think!) and pretty much set a new standard for how games were marketed and created, Nintendo took an industry that was on its kness and built it back up into a huge cash cow, everything else after that point (Snes, N64, GC) sold fairly well and made Nintendo a lot of money, then the Wii came out and that made them even more money, followed by the Wii U which (IMO) is a huge missed opportunity, I love the system: New Super Mario Bros Wii U, Super Mario Maker, Yoshi's Wooly World are absolutely amazing examples of games, really top notch but sadly 3rd party support is lacking

Back to the PSX, some more games I forgot about:

Dino Crisis 1 & 2
Bishi Bashi
Devil Dice
Driver
Clock Tower
Syphon Filter
Tekken
Twisted Metal
Wipeout

ah memories!

The PS1 was the console of choice for drug addicts and degenerates. Couldn't tell you how many would come into the store to try to trade them in and they were covered in some crap or dirt or looked like they've been kicked around a cement floor.

FilthyRear said:

The PS1 was the console of choice for drug addicts and degenerates. Couldn't tell you how many would come into the store to try to trade them in and they were covered in some crap or dirt or looked like they've been kicked around a cement floor.

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You can say that about any mainstream tech item though - crackheads go and buy on phoney credit the best gadgets they can get, then the rent or child support payment comes in and they have to sell it for a pittance. That's why you will see ipads, ps4's, macbooks and 4k tv's in pawnshops like our dear Rot runs.

Although not many bums will have bought a Neo Geo. It's like the Royals Royce of games consoles. Best to keep to Neo if you don't want peasants to have touched your second hand buys.

We're not talking favorite, just important. Then it doesn't make top 5 even

1. NES - The gaming industry was at it's lowest. Nintendo had to market itself as a toy (see Robbie the Robot) just to get it's foot in the door. The NES saved the gaming market.

2. Atari 2600 - Hate it all you want, but without it nobody knows what a home console is.

3. Gameboy - Handhelds were crappy toys before this came out. It has strangled the handheld market it's entire lifespan until Nintendo came out with the Advance (which had to have backwards compatability)

4. PS2 - Putting a DVD player in a game system made it something that was okay to be in a grown ups room. It made gaming okay to be played by people of all ages.

5. OG Xbox - After 2003 Microsoft made the majority of the games coming out online playable and started to make a niche fanbase because of it. Cementing the idea that online was the future of gaming.

The PlayStation had all those violent adult games my parents didn't want me to play. So of course it made it even more interesting. The funny thing is that they never complained before everything went 3D.

What hasn't been mentioned yet:

Silent Hill
Einhander
Bushido Blade
Medal of Honor

Mr Bakaboy said:

We're not talking favorite, just important. Then it doesn't make top 5 even

1. NES - The gaming industry was at it's lowest. Nintendo had to market itself as a toy (see Robbie the Robot) just to get it's foot in the door. The NES saved the gaming market.

2. Atari 2600 - Hate it all you want, but without it nobody knows what a home console is.

3. Gameboy - Handhelds were crappy toys before this came out. It has strangled the handheld market it's entire lifespan until Nintendo came out with the Advance (which had to have backwards compatability)

4. PS2 - Putting a DVD player in a game system made it something that was okay to be in a grown ups room. It made gaming okay to be played by people of all ages.

5. OG Xbox - After 2003 Microsoft made the majority of the games coming out online playable and started to make a niche fanbase because of it. Cementing the idea that online was the future of gaming.

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You got the right idea about what I ment with the term important and I agree particular with regards to GB as a standout gadget that defined gaming back in it's day and since. Whilst some of your picks are debatable, others are a stretch.
In the end I think the PS1 as a prototypical system for a new era in entertainment quality and flexibility cannot be undermined. Nor can PS2 as a machine that not only found success through the incorporation of a DVD player but also as a Trojan horse in a sense, a platform which helped push DVD as the new standard in home media.
But I would argue that the PS1 was a lot more important. It took what the 16bit Nintendo had done in spirit and blew it up. Gaming had not been fashionabke maybe since it's inception as it was now amongst the mainstream. It was hip in a way unseen since before the NES. Caught people's imagination, as I say, transcended gaming. That's why I think it is the most important gaming machine in history. It went very far in meeting expectations of what entertainment technology could provide, it was on par with much of what was on offer at the arcades and on home computers, and was a 90s techno thing.

DevilRedeemed said:

But I would argue that the PS1 was a lot more important.

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Agreed. Gaming lost its childish innocence since.

madmanjock said:

PlayStation made gaming grown up, which makes it very important. Nintendo then and now only care about the kids market, Sega side stepped in the 32 bit era by launching too early and with too high a price tag. The PlayStaion came in and made gaming cool for kids and adults. Without it, we might have seen another gaming crash.

But surely the most important games console of all time should go to the NES? It sold and created the industry when the rest of the market had crumbled and died. I'd argue without the NES games could be very different today.

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100% correct. Starting at the DOA US gaming market of the mid 80's, there were steps needed to get games back into the home.

Nintendo fired the market back up with the NES, it got into US homes and into kids hands.

With the SNES and Genesis, Nintendo and Sega both tried to crack into the next market, which was adult gamers. Both pretty much failed. Sega got close, but only managed to grab kids in the late teens.

Sony was successful in the adult market, it made it socially "ok" for adults to game. This was the next big step.

It wasn't until the Wii that the final step, non-gamers of any age, was breached. While the Wii did manage to get non gamers playing games...that market is fickle and has already faded. (th XBox kind of did the same thing with drawing in PC gamers...but again, most of them return to PC gaming).


So long story short, the Playstation is equally as important to the US home gaming market as the NES was. Which is pretty damn important.

I consider it a time where 2D was in its prime, while devs were experimenting fresh and creative new ideas with 3D graphics. It offered an interesting variety of genres and gameplay styles.

Once companies realized what worked for them money-wise (with 3D), they stuck to it and stopped bothering trying new things.

DevilRedeemed said:

You got the right idea about what I ment with the term important and I agree particular with regards to GB as a standout gadget that defined gaming back in it's day and since. Whilst some of your picks are debatable, others are a stretch.
In the end I think the PS1 as a prototypical system for a new era in entertainment quality and flexibility cannot be undermined. Nor can PS2 as a machine that not only found success through the incorporation of a DVD player but also as a Trojan horse in a sense, a platform which helped push DVD as the new standard in home media.
But I would argue that the PS1 was a lot more important. It took what the 16bit Nintendo had done in spirit and blew it up. Gaming had not been fashionabke maybe since it's inception as it was now amongst the mainstream. It was hip in a way unseen since before the NES. Caught people's imagination, as I say, transcended gaming. That's why I think it is the most important gaming machine in history. It went very far in meeting expectations of what entertainment technology could provide, it was on par with much of what was on offer at the arcades and on home computers, and was a 90s techno thing.

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I don't consider what the PSX did as trivial. My thought process on it was if they didn't Sega with their Saturn was poised to pick up the slack instead. Sony just won out.

3d gaming wise for a racing game like Ridge Racer I would bring up Sega Rally or Daytona USA. For a Horror Survival game like Silent Hill or Clock Tower (would put Resident Evil but it was on both systems) you have D or Deep Fear. For 3d fighters like Tekken you have Virtua Fighter.

Sony IMO had more money to get exclusives and marketed a little better. However if they were not there Sega proved with the Genesis they liked being the more mature system, and if the companies were truly tired of the Nintendo ruling thumb the Sega Saturn would have been a viable alternative to go to along with Sega having roughly the same amount of time on the market that Sony had over Nintendo's new console.

PS1 ruined gaming, so yeah it was pretty significant.

Mr Bakaboy said:

I don't consider what the PSX did as trivial. My thought process on it was if they didn't Sega with their Saturn was poised to pick up the slack instead. Sony just won out.

3d gaming wise for a racing game like Ridge Racer I would bring up Sega Rally or Daytona USA. For a Horror Survival game like Silent Hill or Clock Tower (would put Resident Evil but it was on both systems) you have D or Deep Fear. For 3d fighters like Tekken you have Virtua Fighter.

Sony IMO had more money to get exclusives and marketed a little better. However if they were not there Sega proved with the Genesis they liked being the more mature system, and if the companies were truly tired of the Nintendo ruling thumb the Sega Saturn would have been a viable alternative to go to along with Sega having roughly the same amount of time on the market that Sony had over Nintendo's new console.

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LOL...the Sega faithful, ever drinking the kool aid.

You honestly think that the Saturn would have been as successful as the PS1 had the PS1 not existed?

Sure.

If the genesis couldn't accomplish it, how would the Saturn?

It took Sony, and their brand recognition as a top tier "adult" electronics maker to force adults to reconsider gaming. Neither Nintendo or Sega could have done that.

I'm not saying that the PS1 was some magical gaming machine, I'm saying that public perception is everything and Sony had that in spades back in the 90's.

I've been playing a bit of PS1 lately.

It's a great system, and yes the 3D graphics don't look great by today's standards. But they do have their charm, and if you can get past it, many of the games are still quite solid at their core. The overall library catalog is phenomenal as there is literally something for everyone. It really hammers home how shitty the PS3/360 and on era has been. We are literally never going to get a lot of the quirkier titles, or fresh ideas ever again due to development costs being what they are. Everyone's favorite company to hate, Electronic Arts, was still the EA most of us fondly remember in the PS1 era.

We're never going to get anything remotely close to that again with the current consoles. The 360 came closest in terms of variety, but the PS4/XB1 will never get there. The PS2 continued the PS1's trend of a diverse library of titles. The NES, SNES, Genesis, PS1, and PS2 were the best consoles for diversity in the game catalog.

smokehouse said:

LOL...the Sega faithful, ever drinking the kool aid.

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The same could be said about all you Nintendo fanboys.

DangerousK said:

I've been playing a bit of PS1 lately.

It's a great system, and yes the 3D graphics don't look great by today's standards. But they do have their charm, and if you can get past it, many of the games are still quite solid at their core. The overall library catalog is phenomenal as there is literally something for everyone. It really hammers home how shitty the PS3/360 and on era has been. We are literally never going to get a lot of the quirkier titles, or fresh ideas ever again due to development costs being what they are. Everyone's favorite company to hate, Electronic Arts, was still the EA most of us fondly remember in the PS1 era.

We're never going to get anything remotely close to that again with the current consoles. The 360 came closest in terms of variety, but the PS4/XB1 will never get there. The PS2 continued the PS1's trend of a diverse library of titles. The NES, SNES, Genesis, PS1, and PS2 were the best consoles for diversity in the game catalog.

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I really miss those odd-ball PS1 titles. Late 90's, I was out on my own and had a ton of free time and little $$. I used to rent the hell out of PS1 games back then.

Now it seems much of the quirky game development has gone to mobile devices....and fuck mobile gaming.

It currently seems the future of gaming is either:
-Huge budget games that are over promised, under-delivered, and buggy as hell requiring never ending updates.
-Micro transaction, "freemium", pay-to-win mobile shit fest titles

Its sad.

Case in point; I want to play Fallout 4...and some day I will. Before that however, I will wait for the bugs to slowly get worked out by those hacks at Bethesda. I'll pick up a discount PS4 "lite" (or whatever they'll call it) and a copy of the FO4 collection for $30 that includes all the DLC bullshit for free.

FilthyRear said:

The same could be said about all you Nintendo fanboys.

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One key difference is that I'm not so deluded as to think the N64 would have penetrated the adult gaming market...

smokehouse said:

I really miss those odd-ball PS1 titles. Late 90's, I was out on my own and had a ton of free time and little $$. I used to rent the hell out of PS1 games back then.

Now it seems much of the quirky game development has gone to mobile devices....and fuck mobile gaming.

It currently seems the future of gaming is either:
-Huge budget games that are over promised, under-delivered, and buggy as hell requiring never ending updates.
-Micro transaction, "freemium", pay-to-win mobile shit fest titles

Its sad.

Case in point; I want to play Fallout 4...and some day I will. Before that however, I will wait for the bugs to slowly get worked out by those hacks at Bethesda. I'll pick up a discount PS4 "lite" (or whatever they'll call it) and a copy of the FO4 collection for $30 that includes all the DLC bullshit for free.




One key difference is that I'm not so deluded as to think the N64 would have penetrated the adult gaming market...

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Gaming has turned into an off-shoot of Hollywood where risk-taking on new titles is becoming more and more infrequent. Fresh IP's have become an endangered species because there is the fear of sinking money into something that doesn't do well. You have all these dumbass kickstarter campaigns that seem to be total frauds or can't deliver on the promise; MIGHTY NO. 9. The indie developers I don't care about mostly because they aren't doing genres that I would like to genuinely see them do. Shovel Knight though was the best title I have ever seen from that segment because it perfectly emulated the 8-bit style.

All of the big upcoming releases are just sequels or more of the same. I don't care about it in the case of racing titles personally, because that is the one genre that benefited from the increase in console power more than any other, so I want to see those continually improving.

Fuck mobile gaming.

If these companies wanted to recreate mobile gaming type shit for consoles, Sega in particular should just start doing true sequels to their 16-bit titles in the same style with the requisite video filters. Give us Streets of Rage 4. Not that fan bullshit that was supposed to be released years ago, but a legit SoR4. It's been 22 years since SoR3 came out. Charge $30 for a brand new SoR game, I will buy it day 1. It'd be cheaper to develop 16-bit games than to waste millions on the latest piece of shit 3D Sonic game that is a bust.

ps1 is one of my favourite consoles of all time. final fantasy 7, silent hill, kula world/roll away, rival schools, suikoden 2, tenchu and ridge racer type 4 are some of my favourite games of all time. even some of the arcade ports of 2d fighters were highly playable for the system. but at the end of the day, i would say that the ps1 is just a 32bit super nintendo. it did everything the snes did from concentrating on delivering highly impressive visuals to being genre friendly and bringing the best of everything to all gamers. but one thing the snes has over the ps1 is that the snes has beat the test of time with its great library of games which are highly playable even today. where as the ps1 has games that were highly praised at the time, but is just a chore to play and look at now because of terrible controls and bad visuals with bad camera angles. but even that's a nitpick. the ps1 will remain as one of the greatest.