oliverclaude
General Morden's Aide
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2013
- Posts
- 7,688
PSX to me is relevant because it was the tipping point between generations in a way that no other console had or has been since. it was able to somewhat pull off sophisticated 2D competently, and provide 3D gaming very elegantly indeed for the time.
Yet, it didn't do anything others didn't do before. The introduction and popularization of the CD format belongs to the PCE CD Rom[SUP]2[/SUP], the Neo provided the first memory card, the Saturn had roughly the same 2D/3D abilities and was released a month earlier, with Virtua Fighter being the first 3D fighting game. Nintendo was first to include analogue controls into a standard game pad. Finally, the video game as cultural phenomenon was established long before the PSX by Atari (Pong), Taito (Space Invaders) and Namco (Pac-Man).
Granted, the PSX did all of the above more elegant, but not as a pioneer, which decisively diminishes its potential of historical and general importance.
I'm split between PS2 and SFC/SNES as the other top 3. what they brought to the table was greatly important, especially since they where systems which carried the narrative as the frontrunners in their respective generations.
As a personal choice, I can fully understand your selection, those two were no doubt the most popular consoles of their generation. But other than being stellar sequels and successors of what came before, there seems to be nothing else to consider them important. Mass media hype aside, if Sony didn't enter the video game business, I'd argue that Sega and Microsoft would have been able to provide the same.