The Story of the Playstation (Complete Series) [feat. Drunk Metroid]

it was the summer 1991 consumer electronics show and the stage was being set for the next big player in the video game arena literally as event employees prepared the los angeles convention center sony executives finalized their statements for the upcoming show for the past few years sony had been working closely with nintendo the market leader in video games to develop a new console sony an ever expanding company was looking to dip their toes into the growing video game market behind the doors of these two companies a joint venture was made that incorporated sony's cd technology with nintendo's video game know how to create the ultimate gaming system of its era the playstation on june 2nd sony announced their partnership to the world it was a huge step for the company into the wild wild west of gaming but with nintendo by their side it seemed like an easy investment for the electronics giant the following day sony executives found their seats within the audience at ces as nintendo came on stage for their own presentation unlike sony's announcement the day before however nintendo didn't tell the world they were working with sony instead they announced a partnership with sony's rival phillips sending shockwaves across the gaming world for any other company the public embarrassment handed down by nintendo would be enough to dissuade them from ever entering the gaming market but for sony and the playstation this was only the beginning everything has a story this is the story of the playstation in this series we'll be taking a deep dive into the creation of the playstation console starting with sony's origins following them through to the end of the original playstation's lifespan in the early 21st century we'll be detailing the various people who helped create the playstation and those who helped make it a household name we'll also be looking at the various games interesting innovations and legacy of sony's first home console when you think of sony as a brand you probably imagine crisp televisions high-end cameras and of course video games but the company's origins come from much humbler beginnings in 1947 masura ibuka founded tokyo sushin kogyo or ttk the small electronics company was built during the post-war recovery period of japan when the united states military still maintained rule over the japanese islands ibuka grew the company during these rebuilding years and in 1955 ttk released their first transistor radio for commercial purchases the radio became a huge hit and helped establish ttk as a global brand by 1958 ttk changed their name from tokyo sushin kogyo to sony to help appeal to a wider global market throughout the 1960s and 1970s sony continued to innovate in the field of electronics with radios televisions and more all bearing the sony name in 1979 sony released one of their most recognizable pieces of technology the walkman the sleek tape player became a must-have for music enthusiasts and made sony one of the most recognizable brands in electronics for the coming decade two years after the walkman the world's first cd player the sony cdp-101 made its way to the market the cd created in partnership between sony and their european rival phillips revolutionized the entertainment and electronics world and made sony one of the wealthiest companies in all of japan by the end of the 1980s sony was reinvesting their profits with new acquisitions and entertainment sony purchased cbs records in 1987 for two million dollars giving the company its own record label two years later in 1989 sony purchased 49 of columbia pitchers after it was spun off as an independent company just a few years earlier sony purchased the remaining shares of the studio a few months later making the company the majority stakeholders of the film studio these weren't just fleeting purchases to burn money sony was truly investing in the entertainment market and made it apparent in 1991 that year cbs records and columbia pictures would be renamed to sony music entertainment incorporated and sony pictures incorporated respectively sony's work in video games came during this time and it was largely by accident it was ken kutaraki an engineer at sony that made the first move within the company kuduragi and his team developed a sound chip known as the spc 700 for nintendo's upcoming super famicom system helping give the system its superior sound qualities over rival game consoles it wasn't unusual for sony to develop different parts for other manufacturers electronics what was unusual was kudaragi's efforts to keep the project a secret from his bosses at sony for the past few years kudaragi had watched his daughter play video games on nintendo's popular famicom and saw great potential in the medium kuragi however was unsuccessful in convincing his superiors at sony of the potential video games offered news of kudaragi's work with nintendo without permission was more than enough for many executives to justify terminating him thankfully kuduragi and the super nintendo sound chip would be spared norio oga then president of sony saw potential in both kudoraki and his work in the video game market oga kept the project afloat and allowed kudaragi and his team to finish the sound chip in time for the launch of the super famicom putting a piece of sony tech in every single new nintendo home console before the launch of the super famicom however nintendo and sony were already looking to the future of video games in 1988 the two companies started another partnership but it would be more than just a single sound chip rather sony and nintendo were teaming up to create a brand new game console the details of this partnership would eventually spell doom for the deal nintendo's upcoming super famicom system would release with a single cartridge slot on the top of the system but work on a cd-based add-on using sony's super disk format continued behind the scenes after launch additionally a hybrid version of the system that could play super famicom and super disk games was in development and was given the code name playstation this hybrid console was the same one shown off by sony at ces 1991 the contract however became more and more unfavorable for nintendo as development progressed under the original contract sony retained all licensing rights of the super disk format and had complete control over the manufacturing of disk the new system would bear nintendo's name but sony reaped most of the rewards and controlled more of the process than nintendo liked nintendo president hiroshi yamauchi already unhappy with sony over disagreements regarding super famicom sound chips decided enough was enough yamauchi dispatched minora arakawa and howard lincoln of nintendo of america to begin negotiations with sony's chief rival phillips in hopes of securing a better deal for a cd-based console at ces 1991 these back room deals came to the limelight during nintendo's press event to many within sony nintendo's betrayal had gone too far not only had they gone behind sony's back to work with phillips but nintendo had publicly humiliated sony amongst the japanese business community talks with nintendo however were ongoing many people at both companies held out hope that they could salvage the relationship work on the system continued and many games were in development for the upcoming cd add-on most of these would later be cancelled or shifted development to other systems sony even continued to create prototypes of the hybrid nintendo playstation with these prototypes becoming high value collectors items in the year since sony also reached out to other companies during this time to try and strike a new deal regarding a game system the most notable of these was sega who was already at battle against nintendo with their sega genesis console sony's proposals never made it past sega's board of directors who shut down the offer opting to keep their hardware development within sega's own r d teams for sony three options were debated within the company they could work with nintendo or another console manufacturer again although for many this was unacceptable another option was just giving up on video games entirely many of the more senior and conservative executives within sony didn't want anything to do with video games seeing them as children play things and uncivilized nintendo's public embrace of phillips and sega's aggressive marketing merely proved this point to many the final option was the riskiest rather than work with an already established company sony would go it alone and make the playstation its own system as opposed to a cd add-on by may of 1992 nearly a year after sony unveiled their prototype playstation the decision within the company had been made sony ended all negotiations with various game partners like so many other companies in the mid-90s sony wanted their own piece of the gaming market sony now had its sights set firmly on releasing a game console all on their own just a month after sony cut off negotiations with nintendo king kudaragi and his team were waiting to present their vision for sony's first game console unlike past versions of the playstation that featured a cartridge slot for super famicom games this new model would be completely cd based and utilize sony's own cd based technology kudaragi in the hopes of differentiating his new version of the console from previous models dubbed the system the psx or playstation x sony was going full steam ahead with video games but opposition still remained within the company to alleviate the pressure of office politics kudaragi and a small team were transferred to sony music a subsidiary within sony thanks to sony music's experience developing and manufacturing cds kuduragi and his team felt right at home developing the playstation sony's r d teams had plenty to work with when crafting the playstation but unlike other console manufacturers like sega and nintendo sony didn't have any teams dedicated to video game software development instead of starting completely from scratch sony invested into the games industry to secure new titles for their upcoming console in 1992 sony purchased lemmings creator psygnosis for 48 million dollars sony further invested into the uk-based studio helping the developer grow to over 500 employees within a few years sony also reached out to various third-party developers to design and port games to the playstation starting in mid-1993 over 250 developers pledged to support the system before it was even released notably major arcade cabinet producers like namco came on board for the playstation at the time namco and sega were locked into their own rivalry in the arcade scene namco's support of the playstation served as an early blow to sega's upcoming saturn system as 1993 came to a close sony wanted to make it clear to all the other major companies of the gaming world that they meant business on october 27 1993 sony officially announced the playstation x the x would ultimately be dropped from the final name of the system although some marketing materials still use the title the playstation was planned to launch next year and sony was eager to showcase their dedication to gaming less than a month after announcing their new system sony created a new subsidiary called sony computer entertainment or sce this new subsidiary was formed from various parts of sony and sony music to consolidate all of their work in video games under a single division sony executive olaf olefson a longtime champion of gaming within the company became the first president and ceo of sce part of sony's original sales pitch to push game developers into developing for the playstation was the ease and freedom that developing for the system would offer the downside is that the playstation used a very expensive development kit based on sony's line of news computer workstations this came to an end at ces 1994. developers from flagnosis asked sn systems a uk-based development studio to design a simple and more cost-effective workstation essence systems developed a pc based development kit for the playstation and one over sony executives during a presentation at the event sony abandoned their own internal development kits in favor of sn systems and ordered over 600 development kits at ces alone sn systems and sony continued to work together on future consoles like the playstation 2. partnership proved so successful that sony purchased sn systems in 2005 and they continue to develop software for the playstation line of consoles lines wrap around japanese stores on the chilly morning of december 3rd 1994 after years of delays broken business promises and internal company strife gamers across japan were finally able to get their hands on the new playstation console the new system was priced at 39 800 yen in the region and launched alongside eight different games the most notable of these releases was a near perfect port of namco's arcade hit ridge racer the hype surrounding sony's entry into the console market was quickly proven right as over a hundred thousand playstations were sold on day one of release by the end of the month japanese retailers had sold over 300 000 consoles the playstation's launch in japan was successful but it didn't make sony the market leader overnight in fact the playstation's successful launch fell on the shadow of sega's own new console the sega saturn the saturn launched just a few weeks before the playstation in the region on november 22 a near perfect arcade port of sega's virtua fighter made the system a must-have during the six weeks following the saturn's launch sega stated that they sold over a half a million sega saturn's in the region giving them an early lead in the fifth generation of consoles still sony was doing well in their home country despite being the new kid on the block as 1994 came to a close sony shifted their gaze across the pacific to the golden goose of the gaming market north america but they weren't alone sega had already announced plans to release the saturn in north america sometime in 1995 and nintendo was teasing a new system one more powerful than sony's 32-bit playstation if sony wanted to stand any chance against sega's saturn or any of the other major systems about to be released they would have to give it their all [Music] the first e3 was a history defining event for years video games were showcased at the consumer electronics show it's at ces where nintendo and sega duked it out in the early 1990s and where plenty of other major players came to announce the latest in video games by 1995 however video games had grown to encompass more and more of ces every year and it was time for gaming to get its own convention from may 11th to may 13th 1995 more than 50 000 people descended upon the los angeles convention center for the first electronic entertainment expo the event featured 15 different publishers showcasing new titles for the 1995 and 1996 calendar year but the most notable were the big three console manufacturers at the time sega nintendo and sony nintendo showcase was surprisingly limited at the event while sony and sega already had their new systems out in japan nintendo was still working on their next console then dubbed the nintendo ultra 64. in its place was the underwhelming virtual boy that launched only a few months after the event sony was focused on making a big splash with the playstation and brought out many of its top american executives to the event sony started their press conference with a look at the various products the company had created over the years including the walkman and the cd the trailer lasted only a few minutes and ended with a look at the playstation it was sony's way of telling the gaming world that they were ready to innovate in gaming as much as they had in other business sectors most of the event for sony was presented by olaf olasen president and ceo of sony computer entertainment olafson's presentation would be unrecognizable by modern standards as the icelantic businessman detailed sony's business strategy for creating and marketing the playstation system the presentation lasted less than 30 minutes with most of the time discussing the monetary value for sony getting into the video game market olefson also made sure to point out sony's other entertainment assets and boldly stated that while sony wasn't abandoning their roots of consumer electronics the company as a whole was now focused on providing one thing entertainment as the presentation came to a close olafson rattled off more details about the playstation notably its superior hardware when compared to the 16-bit super nintendo in sega genesis for the finale of sony's presentation olafson welcomed steve race to the stage race was a veteran of the games industry having worked for atari and sega before joining sony as president of the playstation group in 1993. race had four remarks prepared in advance of the presentation but these would be discarded as he made his way up to the stage race walked up to the microphone and uttered the famous words that cemented the playstation as a market leader for a generation in the weeks before e3 sega had announced that the north american version of the sega saturn would retail for 399 dollars with a planned launch for september 1995. not only had sony beat them on pricing but the playstation was set to launch in north america just one week later sony was no longer interested in playing with its video game competitors they were ready to redefine the industry the best news for the playstation however came the day after sony's press conference sega went into e3 1995 with a bit of a chip on their shoulder at the time sega of america was under the direction of tom kleczynski kleczinski joined sega in 1990 and helped steer the fledgling genesis into the most popular video game console in north america kleczynski was still beholden to sega's board of directors in japan and in the run-up to e3 they had come to a bizarre decision during sega's e3 press conference kolinsky announced that the sega saturn set to launch in only four months was available at select retailers that very day it was an unprecedented move by sega the early launch was meant to give sega a leg up on sony much like they had done with nintendo only a few years earlier a four-month head start might have helped sega if they hadn't been so secretive with their plans the sega saturn launched that day for 399 dollars alongside six titles unfortunately the stock was short and retailers left out of sega's scheme were upset that they never received the latest sega console for many this was the beginning of sega's long fall from grace as one of gaming's biggest players the rest of e3 was a hit for sony their boost on the show floor attracted plenty of eager gamers who were ready to check out the latest in gaming in one final twist of the knife sony invited pop superstar michael jackson to their booth where the king of pop was seen checking out the playstation it was another blow to seiko who beforehand had worked with michael jackson on a moonwalker game for the genesis and on the music for sonic the hedgehog 3. the next four months flew by the saturn floundered in the summer sun during this time as stock shortages and a lack of software continued to plague the system with most third-party publishers sticking to their original release schedule for the saturn a four month head start would have been great but only if you could actually keep up sony backed the playstation with a massive 40 million dollar ad campaign in the lead up to its september launch thanks to the growing popularity of video games tv commercials have become more and more common and sony was fully embracing them a series of commercials with the tagline you are not red e and enos or ready 9th of september littered commercial breaks in advance of the system's release these early commercials were primarily targeted as teenagers as sony hoped to steal one of sega's key demographics for north america the long wait for the playstation finally came to an end on september 9 1995. the playstation launched for 299 dollars and came with a playstation console a single controller and all of the necessary hookups for the system like many other cd based consoles of the day the playstation could also be used as a cd player a feature sony boasted about when showcasing the playstation as a multimedia platform as opposed to just a game console unlike other console manufacturers of the day however sony opted not to include a game with the playstation in part to keep costs down a total of 10 titles were released for the playstation on day one namco's ridge racer was just as popular in north america as it was in japan new releases like ubisoft's 2d platformer rayman and a port of midway's mortal kombat 3 added variety to the lineup in north america playstation games were released in tall plastic cases almost exactly like the ones that sega used for the sega cd and sega saturn in north america this was in contrast to these smaller jewel cases used by both sony and sega in japan these oversized boxes wouldn't last for long and in less than a year would be phased out entirely in favor of dual cases the playstation also launched with a handful of accessories including standalone controllers memory cards for saving data and a system link cable for multiplayer titles sony's north american launch was a major success with the playstation outselling the saturn within two days in the region less than three weeks after launch in north america the playstation was released in european markets on september 29th 1995. the european launch didn't feature as many titles as the north american launch but the playstation's killer app ridge racer was available alongside wipeout a futuristic racing game developed by sony owns psygnosis for many europeans wipeout would define the launch of the playstation much like ridge racer had in other regions the launch across europe was a major success especially in the united kingdom where psygnosis was located in the uk alone sony dedicated a total of 20 million pounds to marketing the playstation the marketing campaign paid off in spades as the playstation outsold the sega saturn three to one in the country during the holiday 1995 shopping season the last three months of 1995 were dominated by new releases on the playstation thanks to sony's diligence plenty of developers were lining up to release their games on the system alongside ridge racer namco published air combat the first game in the popular ace combat series namco followed up their racing and aerial combat games with a port of their 1994 fighting game tekken in november the 3d fighter was an immediate success on the system with many drawing comparisons to sega's own virtual fighter series sony computer entertainment was also publishing some early hits on the console twisted metal and jumping flash both made their north american debut in november with other regions receiving the game at different times twisted metal became a smash hit for sony and the playstation with multiple sequels appearing on the system and its successor the playstation 2. jumping flash a first person platformer co-developed by ultra and exact was one of the earliest 3d platformers and came out over a year before the industry changing super mario 64. other bull notable games to come out during these months were warhawk a military shooter published by sony and a port of micro pose's xcom ufo defense the final region to receive the playstation did so on november 15th 1995 when it was released in australia with the land down under finally getting their hands on sony's great console the roll out of the playstation was complete in less than a year the playstation made its way onto store shelves in almost every major region in the world but the year ahead wouldn't be a cakewalk as sony's former business partner nintendo prepared the world for their next system going into 1996 gaming was transitioning from 2d to 3d games and the biggest name in gaming nintendo was about to throw their hat in the ring the playstation however was only getting more and more popular in march of 1996 the first killer app for the playstation hit store shelves resident evil developed by capcom and directed by shinji mikami resident evil offered a drastically different form of gameplay compared to its contemporaries rather than focusing on killing enemies or achieving high scores resident evil focused on survival combined with horror elements like zombies mutants and a spooky mansion resident evil helped pioneer the survival horror genre of the mid-1990s alongside titles like alone in the dark and later playstation releases like silent hill resident evil quickly became the best-selling game on the playstation alongside various re-releases on the system resetting evil sold more than 5 million copies worldwide and established the new horror series as a juggernaut in gaming e3 1996 followed in may of that year sony's focus was on their software lineup with the company showcasing multiple new titles aimed for release on the playstation by the end of the year the most notable announcement for the playstation during the show regarded the ongoing price wars with sega on the first day of e3 1996 sega announced that the saturn would see a price cut and received a new msrp of 199 sega had already cut the price of the saturn down to 300 in october of 1995 but in their desperate attempt to salvage the system sega was taking an even bigger loss on their hardware sony responded by lowering the price of the playstation to 199 dollars as well although sony lost less on each playstation than sega did for each saturn they manufactured due to lower manufacturing cost like sega and sony nintendo announced that the nintendo 64 once suggested to sell for 250 would launch at the same price as its competitors 199 us dollars the second half of 1996 was highlighted by multiple notable games psygnosis became one of playstation's premiere developers during this time with seven different games hitting the playstation in 1996. among these releases was a 3d version of psygnosis popular lemmings game called lemmings 3d and a sequel to wipeout called wipeout 2097. sequels to popular games like tekken and twisted metal quickly made their way onto the playstation tekken 2 was released in august and was more popular than the original release selling over 5 million copies on the system twisted metal 2 was directed by david jaffe who would later go on to create the god of war series and became the best selling game in the series with over 1.5 million copies sold in november north america received the first in atlas's persona series revelations persona not all games released for the playstation during this time were good however one of the most infamous playstation releases of late 1996 was the critically panned bubsy 3d published by accolade the game is cited by many as one of the worst video games ever released in november of 1996 the playstation received a new game called tomb raider and its popularity would quickly eclipse the other titles on sony's platform developed by core design and published by idos interactive tomb raider didn't make a huge impression on the gaming community until demos of the game were showcased at e3 1996. the game's stunning graphics and fun gameplay were enough to get people interested but it was tomb raider's leading lady that caught most players eyes at the time female protagonist in video games were few and far between outside of helmeted heroes like metroid samus ran or the pinkbow sporting palette swap called miss pacman the biggest female characters in gaming were your typical damsels in distress with tomb raider players weren't just playing as an androgynous suit of armor or 7 8 of a yellow circle they were playing as laura croft a fully developed female character whose own presentation sported a feminine and adventurous look in the coming years laura croft would become one of gaming's biggest names and helped push the first tomb raider title to be the ninth best-selling game on the playstation with over 7 million copies sold worldwide one game however would come to define the playstation in 1996. it was one of sony's own titles developed by a little-known game studio in santa monica california founded as jm software in 1984 naughty dog spent the past decade primarily developing games for personal computers after changing their name in 1991 naughty dog released their first console game rings of power in 1992. in 1994 naughty dog released way of the warrior for the 3do and it was published by universal interactive studios alongside publishing the game universal also agreed to a three-game contract with the developer and gave them space on their studio lot to expand naughty dog co-founders andy gavin and jason rubin moved the small developer across the country to los angeles along the way the two of them began creating concepts for what they would call sonic's asking based on the idea that a 3d camera in a platformer would always be directed towards the characters behind the concept came about as the two discussed the shifting of genres from 2d sprite based gameplay to polygonal 3d gameplay the two continued to redefine the concepts for their game as they traveled across the country when they were settled into their new offices they presented the idea to mark cerney then vice president of universal interactive cerney liked the idea of the title and gave the go-ahead for naughty dog to begin development dissatisfied with the higher end consoles on the market naughty dog looked to sony's upcoming playstation console to develop their platformer 4. by the end of 1994 naughty dog had signed on to create games for the playstation and they purchased a development kit from sony to begin their work the development team for the new title grew over 1995 the team looked to sonic the hedgehog as inspiration as they used a cartoonish marsupial as the new game's mascot naughty dog even created a demo reel of the game and presented it to sony who agreed to help publish the title the project was given its final name in the lead up of e3 1996 when the team finally landed on crash bandicoot internally fights between universal and naughty dog almost caused the game to be pulled from the show but it still made its premiere at e3 1996. crash bandicoot was featured heavily during both sony's press conference and on the showroom floor when walking into sony's section of the showroom e3 attendees were greeted with a massive replica of the game's protagonist and demos of the game running on playstation hardware crash bandicoot launched just a few months later on september 9th 1996 one year after the playstation's launch in north america the title was met with strong critical and commercial success players loved the crisp graphics fun gameplay and wacky characters the game offered up like jumping flash before it crash bandicoot helped pioneer the early 3d platformer genre but more importantly it gave sony an icon crash bandicoot would never reach the same heights of popularity as nintendo's mario or sega sonic but he was the closest thing sony had to a mascot for north american audiences the title would go on to be the 10th best-selling game on the playstation platform with almost 7 million copies sold as 1996 came to a close sony was doing well a handful of major hits throughout the year had helped establish sony and the playstation as legitimate players in the game industry but that momentum would be stalled in the latter half of the year on september 19 1996 the sleeping giant of the games industry released one of the most powerful game consoles today the nintendo 64. the holiday 1996 season was an all-out battle between sony and nintendo as the two console manufacturers struggled to lay claim to the north american video game market like sega before them sony was able to hold up against nintendo with the playstation and nintendo 64 selling roughly the same amount of units during the holiday shopping season but for sony they were just getting started in the coming years sony wouldn't just establish itself as a major player in gaming they would come to lead the pack [Music] the launch of the nintendo 64 in the second half of 1996 quickly leveled the playing field in the console arms race with the system launching between 12 and 18 months after the playstation in various regions the playstation had already begun to amass a killer library of titles nintendo's sparse lineup of two launch games in north america should have killed the system on arrival nintendo 64 games were still designed for cartridges in an era where almost every major aspect of entertainment switched to cds not only did this inflate the cost of manufacturing increasing the retail pricing in return but cartridges also held less memory than the cheaper cds the only upside to using cartridges were their faster load times for anyone else this would have been the end the console would have hit the shelves and immediately been outdone in the highly volatile video game market where hundreds upon hundreds of games greet you on the shelves of your local game stores it would have been suicidal had it not been for one of the launch games super mario 64. super mario 64 was unlike anything seen at the time in gaming 3d platformers weren't uncommon in fact there have been several mentioned in earlier parts but all of these platformers became old news with the release of super mario 64. fixed cameras like those seen in crash bandicoot just weren't as impressive as the free range camera showcasing the wide explorable worlds nintendo had crafted just as super mario bros had done before it on the nes super mario 64 made nintendo's new console a must-have the struggle between sony and nintendo was bitter in the winter following the n64's launch nintendo tried to maintain their family-friendly image by showcasing super mario 64 and the wild reactions that players had when playing it sony meanwhile went on the offensive using their new pseudo-mascot of crash bandicoot to openly taunt nintendo of america in anticipation of his first outing the results spoke for themselves as quarterly and yearly earning calls from sony and nintendo detailed the steadily increasing number of consoles hitting the market for nintendo they were off to a strong start in less than a year nearly 6 million nintendo 64s made their way into gamer's hands the playstation however was already on a completely different level during that same time period sony sold nearly 20 million playstation systems adding to the over 10 million units already on the market before the year began nintendo had a long way to go if they wanted to beat sony but by this point the reality was surely setting in in just a few years the playstation had already sold more than half of the nes lifetime sales which at the time was nintendo's most successful home console it was clear that just like sega before them sony was a completely different beast 1997 started off strong for the playstation in north america in january soulblade a 3d fighting game based around weapons was released for the playstation in north america it was developed by namco and released in japan as soul edge whenever it hit arcades in 1995. it saw a japanese release on the playstation a year later in december of 1996. the game was a critical hit with some gaming publications adding the title to their list of best playstation titles there were other big fighting games hitting the system at the time as well street fighter and mortal kombat received new titles on the playstation a new fighting game developed by square called bushidoblade hit the playstation in september of 1997. it offered a unique take on the 3d fighting game genre where one or two strikes marked the end of a round of combat the biggest game from sony in the first half of the year was wild arms a japanese role-playing game developed by wild arms spawned many sequels over the years but the most notable achievement for the game came from simply being brought to international audiences before the release of wild arms sony had steered clear of publishing any rpgs outside of japan due to the genre's lack of popularity outside of the region with wild arms opening the way countless other rpgs would call the playstation home and make the genre a worldwide hit the playstation was also home to many quality ports of games originally released for personal computers the most impressive of these ports came from the real-time strategy genre it's rare to see titles of this genre on consoles today and for good reason the layouts of controllers could be considered far too simple for the massive amount of hotkeys needed for complex titles still many developers managed to pull it off in february command and conquer from westwood studios hit the playstation although it wasn't the first console port of the title a few months earlier a sega saturn version was released on the north american market bullfrog games syndicate wars however was a true playstation console exclusive the playstation port was released in north america and europe in july of 1997 less than a year after the original dos release finally warcraft 2 tides of darkness was released on the playstation on august 31st 1997 alongside a sega saturn version of the game 1997 brought with it many things but for the playstation the most important announcement had nothing to do with video game hardware or software in april sony announced that ken kuduragi father of the playstation would become president of sony computer entertainment of america the north american branch of sony's game development studios the previous president olaf olefson had resigned earlier due to conflicts with sony's higher-ups kuduragi was the fifth president of the subsidiary in under two years and he had a lot to prove the summer of 1997 played host to e3 once again with this year's conference taking place in june at the georgia dome in atlanta georgia several iconic playstation games made their appearance at the show arguably the biggest title on the show floor was idos's tomb raider 2 the hotly anticipated sequel to the 1996 runaway hit not only did idos feature a large booth with sizzle reels and demos of their upcoming release but they even hired a lara croft look alike to chat with convention attendees and to snap pictures with them the sequel didn't exactly hit the same heights as the original but the hype surrounding the game helped lead it to selling almost 7 million copies worldwide and being one of the best selling games of 1997. there were other major playstation games like metal gear solid that made a splash at the show sony didn't have any major announcements like they had in years past but they did reveal a remodel of the playstation controller known as the dual analog controller sony's new controller didn't look radically different from the original controller with the exception of one thing or rather two nintendo's tri-prong nintendo 64 controller featured a single analog stick and made games like super mario 64 revolutionary the dual analog packed two of these bad boys and established the layout of playstation controllers for years to come several new video game franchises got their start on playstation during this time following e3 1997 many of these new series began coming to the console in september the highly anticipated oddworld abe's odyssey was released oddworld was praised upon release for its attention to detail well animated fmvs and the game's sense of personality the series only grew in popularity over the years as new entries were released including a sequel on the playstation called oddworld abe's exodus that came out the following year dynasty warriors also got its start at this time released at the end of june in north america the series iconic hack and slash gameplay had yet to be developed and its place was a 3d fighting game not unlike the previously mentioned sawblade namco's air combat also saw a sequel in late july with the revised name of ace combat 2. the light gun shooter time crisis was released on the playstation in october bringing another namco arcade hit exclusively to the playstation from software's armored core series also started at this time with the first entry being released in north america in october outside of japan sony published the title all of these series saw continued sequels on the playstation playstation 2 and other consoles with some franchises still receiving new installments the fall was home to many notable games on the playstation but a handful stood out from the rest in november parappa the rapper an early game in the rhythm game genre hit the playstation the title was published by sony and given plenty of marketing support after the company saw similar success with properties like crash bandicoot speaking of crash a sequel to the original game came out at the end of october a little over 13 months after the first game's release titled crash bandicoot 2 cortez strikes back crash was more popular in his second outing than his first critical praise a major marketing campaign and word of mouth quickly made crash 2 the must-have playstation game in holiday 1997. the title sold an impressive 7.5 million copies making it the 7th best-selling game on the playstation and bringing an end to sony's impressive year when nintendo first entered north america with the nes in 1985 they did so with strong barriers in place to both control and protect the fledgling north american video game market caps on the number of games published strict guidelines regarding religious and adult content and exclusivity contracts made nintendo's publishing rules only become more difficult to deal with as the market grew sega had managed to chip away at nintendo's ironclad lineup of software with major publishers putting their games on the genesis and super nintendo without fear of retribution from the big n however some companies and franchises remained loyal to nintendo and kept many of their exclusives on nintendo platforms by 1997 even these once stalwart supporters couldn't escape the allure of the playstation capcom was one of the first to bite opting to move their successful mega man franchise to the playstation after several entries across the nes super nintendo and game boy mega man wasn't always a nintendo exclusive but the playstation became the new home for the mainline series of games after a late release in japan at the end of 1996 mega man 8 was released in north america and power regions in early 1997. even the mega man x series at this point exclusive to the super nintendo saw its fourth entry released exclusively on the playstation mega man wouldn't see a nintendo 64 outing until four years later with mega man 64 a port of the playstation title mega man legends another major japanese series to make the jump to the playstation was castlevania although it wasn't quite the same as past entries early games in the series had focused on linear levels in and around the legendary count dracula's castle the first entry on the playstation subtitled symphony of the night opted to open up its level design taking design elements from nintendo's legend of zelda series to make a castlevania title games that followed this style of play as symphony of the night were later dubbed metroidvanias and the castlevania sub series saw multiple releases throughout the 2000s on nintendo's handhelds one company held out for nintendo until the better end starting with the release of final fantasy on the nes squaresoft was nintendo's biggest ally when it came to supporting the console's library the developer had grown considerably during the super nintendo years producing major hits for nintendo's 16-bit console at first it looked like square was going to stick with nintendo once again early showcases of the nintendo 64's graphical capabilities were made by square and featured look-alikes to characters from the recently released final fantasy vi internally square was even working on a version of final fantasy vii for the super nintendo at one point but none of these titles would ever see a proper release nintendo's decision to stick to cartridges on the nintendo 64 was the death of the system before it even launched and the technical limitations offered by cartridges were too much for a company on the cutting edge to deal with it was clear to square that to continue making their games as they deemed fit they needed a new ally to work with and sony saw the perfect opportunity final fantasy and square as a whole were about to come one of the best assets sony could ever ask for on january 31st 1997 final fantasy vii was released exclusively on the playstation in japan a north american version came in september of that year with europe getting the game in november outside of japan final fantasy vii title was met with some confusion in japan six titles had already been released in the region but north america only received three titles in the series the first fourth and sixth in europe this title was even more confusing as it was the first game in the series to make its way into european game consoles this change in naming was adopted worldwide and previously japanese exclusive titles were released internationally in the coming years the first of which would come to the playstation final fantasy 7 was an absolute phenomenon at the time of release outside of japan sony handled publishing duties for the title and began a massive marketing campaign following the game's release the generous publishing deal between sony and square made it irresistible for square to say no to sony's offer which earned square a pretty hefty payday in return the lead up to the game's launch was marked by a massive advertising blitz with over 20 million dollars being spent to promote the game in north america alone commercials for the title even appeared during breaks on prime time and late night television with sonia marketing the title directly to adults a rarity within the games industry during the time this massive marketing campaign not only helped final fantasy become a household name for gamers but it made japanese role-playing games a major genre outside of their home country in the end it all paid off almost overnight final fantasy 7 wasn't just the latest killer app for the playstation it was the killer app for the system the journey spanned three discs recounting the tales of cloud heiress and the villainous sephiroth and set a new standard for video game storytelling final fantasy vii went on to sell more than 10 million copies on the original playstation becoming the second best-selling game on the platform its success launched the playstation into an entirely different level of popularity and made final fantasy one of the biggest names in gaming to this day 1997 proved to be a monumental year for the playstation with more great games than ever before the rise of the playstation across the world marked a new era for sony and with it an into the air primarily focused on consumer electronics going forward sony was a company devoted to entertainment and symbolically this all came to a head at the end of the year on december 19 1997 masura ibuka the founder of sony passed away at the age of 89. what was once a simple japanese electronics company grew to become one of the biggest companies in both entertainment and consumer electronics positions sony still holds to this day in the span of 50 years ibuko watched his company grow to be one of the largest in japan and his legacy will be forever ingrained with that of sony's 1998 got off to a strong start for the playstation within a few weeks of celebrating the new year at the end of january two major titles hit the playstation the first was final fantasy tactics by square square published the title in japan themselves but enlisted sony to publish the game in north america following the success of final fantasy vii tactics was the first of four titles released in the srpg spin-off series with follow-ups coming to the gameboy advance and nintendo ds a full remake of the title known as final fantasy tactics war of the lions was released for the psp in 2007. the second big title for january it was a follow-up to capcom's 1996 hit resident evil simply titled resident evil 2. for the sequel shinji mikami stepped down as director taking on the role of producer instead replacing him was hideki kimiya known today for directing titles like okami and bayonetta as well as his penchant for blocking people on twitter development started within a month following the original game's release but a complete restart was made around two-thirds of the way through development to give the game a more cinematic tone in the end the changes were well worth it resident evil 2 was a critical success and outperformed the original in sales by nearly a million units capcom's next big release for the playstation came in april when breath of fire 3 was released for the system at the end of the month previous entries in the series were released exclusively on the super nintendo marking yet another series to abandon nintendo in favor of sony's cd-based console on the same day in north america hot shots golf was released developed by camelot software and published by sony camelot best known today for their work on the mario tennis and golf games only developed the first title in the series before handing it off to claphams a second party developer for sony outside of north america the game and series are known as everybody's golf later releases in the series use this name globally the biggest release for the playstation in april was the third entry in namco's arcade fighter tekken tekken 3 was the final entry of the fighting game series to be released on the playstation but it left its mark strong critical reception and word of mouth helped the game climb the sales charts over 8 million copies of the game were sold on the playstation landing at number 5 on the list of best-selling playstation titles may was another major month for the playstation despite there being only one major release after hitting japanese store shelves at the end of 1997 gran turismo raced its way onto the playstation in europe and north america developed by the recently formed paulus entertainment gran turismo took over five years to develop for the playstation polly's at the time an internal studio within sony previously released motor tuned grand prix 2 on the playstation in 1996 and built much of gran turismo's foundation off of that title gran turismo was a major success on the playstation the combination of slick graphics fun gameplay the near universal appeal of racing cars and the recent release of the dual analog controller helped push gran turismo past final fantasy vii to become the best-selling game on the playstation with over 10 million copies sold worldwide as june rolled around the fourth annual e3 was held once again in atlanta georgia sony had a major presence at the conference spending big bucks to market the recently released gran turismo sony even brought on the popular rock band the foo fighters to perform at the party held on the final night of the event sony was big news and they were making sure everyone knew but a little console poking his head up among the crowd what offered playstation the threat it needed to continue investing in the future of gaming like so many times before the next generation of gaming was right around the corner and sega was chomping at the bit to have their new console snuff out any hope sony had at keeping its place as the top console maker the rest of summer for the playstation was highlighted by new releases and ports of popular pc titles in june grand theft auto hit the playstation in north america setting the series up for its explosion in popularity just a few years later the end of august saw two other notable releases for the playstation mega man legends the first 3d game in the series antenchu stealth assassins a first person stealth title made their way to north america and europe japan received both of these titles in 1997 and march 1998 respectively just a few days later on september 9th the playstation celebrated the third anniversary of its north american launch and with it two major game releases parasite eve a horror-inspired action rpg developed and published by square was the first option for many gamers parasite eve was notable for being square's first m-rated game and helped the company establish a brand beyond typical fantasy rpgs that the company had become known for in the nes and super nintendo eras spyro the dragon was released on the same day to massive critical and commercial success first revealed at e3 1998 spyro was another joint venture between sony and universal media after the two companies found great success with naughty dogs crash bandicoot 1 and 2. the title was marketed towards younger gamers in part to help sony combat nintendo's lineup of titles spyro like crash before him was loved by playstation fans the game sold nearly 5 million copies on the playstation and began the successful spyro franchise of video games october was a month filled to the brim with iconic releases on october 20th square's xeno gears was released the rpg epic wasn't a big seller but its spiritual successor xenosaga and xenoblade chronicles found greater success the next day sony released medieval a 3d action game developed by sony computer entertainment cambridge sony funded further efforts to turn medieval into a series like spyro and crash but these efforts failed to produce similar results the latest game in the series for the playstation 4 is a remake of the original title and it came out in 2019 on the same day as medieval the biggest playstation game of 1998 was released published by konami with famed video game developer hideo kojima in the director's chair meadow gear solid became an overnight success on the playstation the cinematic storytelling impressive visuals and simple yet refined gameplay helped the game sell over 7 million copies on the system the game's protagonist solid snake became an instant playstation icon and the series became an integral part of the playstation branding it wasn't until the 2014 release of metal gear solid 5 ground zeroes that a metal gear game would launch on another platform other than playstation on that day it was released on the xbox 360 and xbox one as well as the playstation 3 and playstation 4. it was only 10 days later before another triover releases lit up sore shelves on october 31st twisted metal 3 crash bandicoot 3 warped and brave fencer musashi a new property developed and published by square hit the playstation less than a month later lara croft made her annual appearance on the playstation with the release of tomb raider 3 on november 20th the holiday season was fast approaching but sony still had one last release for the playstation on november 27th the dualshock controller was released like the dual analog controller before it the dual shock featured the standard playstation button layout and two analog sticks however hidden underneath the iconic design of the dual shock laid one of the best rumble features seen in gaming today the dualshock's release was only further enhanced when ape escape was released the following month the game featured impressive rumble features and required a dual analog controller to play offering up a new and unique experience at the time that could only be played on playstation as the year came to a close sony was still riding high thanks to the large library of new releases hitting the system 1998 featured a ton of heavy hitting games on rival platforms including pokemon red and blue and the legend of zelda ocarina of time from nintendo and half-life from valve alongside several other big pc games while the system held its own footing 1999 would be a different beast the playstation was entering its fifth year on the market and new more powerful hardware was just around the corner the beginning of 1999 was uncharacteristically slow for playstation releases february provided two new games for north americans to get their hands on the first was siphon filter a third person stealth shooter developed by edick better known today as sony bin studio syphon filter was a bigger success than edick's previous efforts on the playstation buzzy 3d the game was published by sony and became its own series with two sequels being released on the playstation and several titles released on the playstation 2 and psp just a few days later horror fans were treated to another new release from konami silent hill development on the game began in the months following resident evil success as konami was trying to broaden the appeal of their games for western audiences silent hill was another horror game success story with more than 2 million copies of the game being sold a trio of sequels were developed for the playstation 2 with additional games and spin-offs being made throughout the 2000s turning silent hill into one of konami's most beloved franchises in the spring sony released their results from the physical year 1998 and revealed a startling number in the past 12 or so months sony sold more than 20 million playstations putting the system's lifetime sales at over 50 million they were in reach of stealing nintendo's crown as the most popular home console of all time the fall of 1999 was another major season for the playstation the legacy of kane soul reaver developed by crystal dynamics marked an end to the summer gaming drought when it was released on august 17th a follow-up to blood omen developed by silicon knights soul reaver was made by crystal dynamics who would steer the series going forward on the same day um jammer lamy was released the game was a spin-off of the popular parappa the rapper title and focused on rhythm guitar playing as opposed to rapping at the end of the month capcom's dyno crisis hit the system and was another hit for the japanese publisher the title was developed primarily by the same team who made the original resident evil with shinji makami serving as both director and producer for the game although comparisons to capcom's resident evil ran rampant the game still sold more than 2 million copies becoming one of the best-selling horror games on the platform september 9th had slowly grown into a significant day for the playstation in north america after launching the system on that day in 1995 and releasing major playstation hits in 1996 and 1998 was crash and spyro for september 9th 1999 however arguably the most anticipated playstation game yet was released final fantasy viii the follow-up to the 1997 international hit was a massive success upon launch critical reception for the sequel wasn't as strong with many pointing out flaws in the game's story and complicated card combat system but hungry playstation fans couldn't get enough final fantasy 8 sold more than 8.5 million copies worldwide becoming the fourth best-selling playstation game in history later that month tony hawk's pro skater was released to the playstation albeit not exclusively the game rode the skateboarding hype of the late 90s and early 2000s to sell more than 3.5 million copies on the playstation alone tony hawk's skating titles became a mainstay on playstation consoles for the next few years before the series was ultimately shelved by publisher activision in october three titles featuring racing landed on the playstation for the fourth year in a row naughty dog released a new crash bandicoot title although this entry was a kart racing spin-off as opposed to crash's first three platforming adventures the title also fulfilled naughty dog's contract with universal who over the years naughty dog had grown to dislike in the coming years naughty dog continued developing playstation games with the developer being purchased by sony in 2001 and made into a full first party studio grand theft auto 2 splashed onto the playstation just a few days later offering up more criminally inspired chaos for playstation fans on october 31st one year after the last entry in the series twisted metal four was released on the playstation the most talked about release of fall 1999 however didn't feature vehicular combat spooky settings or a skateboard instead players picked up an m1 garand and traveled to western europe nearly 60 years in the past medal of honor stormed onto the playstation on halloween day and became a big hit developed by dreamworks interactive and published by electronic arts medal of honor was one of the first games to tell the tale of world war ii through the still young first person shooter genre the title sold more than 1 million copies on the playstation and laid the groundwork for the explosion of popular world war ii games released in the early 2000s november offered up big sequels to already established playstation classics spyro 2 ripto's rage was released on november 2nd in north america with no european launch coming in a few days the third entry in the resident evil series known as resident evil 3 nemesis was released on november 11th and the fourth entry of the tomb raider series known as tomb raider the last revelation was released on november 22nd although by this point gamers and critics were starting to grow tired of the archaeologist's yearly roms the year was capped off with the release of gran turismo 2. the sequence of the playstation's best-selling title improved upon the original in almost every way possible new cars tracks and more impressive graphics made gran turismo 2 almost as big a hit as the original game bugs and glitches present in the original release ultimately held the game back with sony replacing some copies of the game after launch with an updated version still gran turismo 2 sold over 9 million copies on the playstation making it the third best-selling game on the system for the playstation the end was rapidly approaching december marked the 5th anniversary of the playstation's release in japan and the 32-bit system was passed its prime at e3 the playstation's lack of power was seen all over the conference sega was touting their new dreamcast console which was coming out on september 9 1999 in north america bringing with it the start of a new generation of systems nintendo is already getting the ball rolling as well when they announced they were developing a new console under the code named dauphin even pc software giant microsoft was looking to jump into the game's industry potentially rivaling sony's buying power for playstation fans it might have seemed like the end of a blissful ride as a new generation of consoles reared its head but tucked within sony's e3 booth was something that left hope it wasn't exactly the announcement of a new system instead shoney was simply showcasing emulated software of what their next console could produce with an intended release date of october 2000 in north america the days of the original playstation were numbered like so many systems before it the playstation would soon be replaced by a new more powerful system and new titles for the system would dry up as developers moved to new hardware it was the beginning of the end for sony's first console i wanted to share a nostalgic story regarding the playstation like i've done in so many videos before however i didn't grow up with the playstation and i have few memories associated with it instead i asked my friend drunk metroid to share his thoughts on the playstation enjoy the playstation 1 is the first real next-gen experience that i can remember having i spent my early childhood mostly playing old snes games and mostly nintendo titles at that mario zelda metroid these were the only kinds of games there were and that i needed as far as i was concerned but the ps1 is where most of my strongest childhood gaming memories lie the almost overwhelming sound of the ps1 boot up screen followed by the trailing ps1 logo was immediately seared into the minds of an entire generation of players it was a console of many firsts for me such as experiencing my first 3d games my first exposure to more mature games and the introduction to so many new series and so much more it's responsible for conjuring my love of rpgs with titles like the iconic final fantasy vii and the cult classic legend of dragoon final fantasy vii's presentation blew me away the fmvs battle visuals and music were unlike anything i could have imagined coming off a snes parasite eve's impressive graphics and grotesque fmvs like the rat transformation sequence to left a permanent impression on my mind of a more grown up side of video games that i didn't know was there demo discs are another thing that i remember fondly when reflecting on the ps1 the unbelievably greater exposure i had to games through demo discs and was invaluable in expanding my idea of just how different and how many kinds of games there were medieval tony hawk's pro skater tomb raider and metal gear solid were all classic games i first discovered through demo discs the aforementioned legend of dragoon i also found out about through a demo disc and had no choice afterwards but to worry my parents until i got a copy it went on to become and still remains one of my favorite games today and cemented jrpgs as a core area of my taste in games while i did play and enjoy the nintendo 64 as well and had tons of good times with it sorry sega fans no saturn for me the ps1 just signals such a widening in my overall gaming perspective with a perfect storm of technical advancement greater exposure and improved accessibility all before the internet age and that's what makes it sit at the top is one of my favorite platforms and to me one of the most important weird texture wobbling and broken z-axis and all the dawn of a new millennium shine bright in the early months of 2000 the playstation was by and far the current leader in the console race with the console still selling tens of millions of units each year the end of the 1990s showed that sony couldn't rest on their laurels however sega after failing to find the same level of success with the saturn that their previous systems attained opted to discontinue the console in 1998. this made room for sega's new console the dreamcast which came to japanese markets in the second half of 1998. at the time the dreamcast was the most powerful gaming console on the market and the difference between playstation and dreamcast games was apparent a successor to the playstation launched in 2000 simply called the playstation 2. the system launched in march of 2000 in japan the playstation a project developers at sony had been working on for over a decade was coming to an end not only did the playstation 2 have better hardware allowing for new experiences in video games but the system was also backwards compatible with all playstation titles this came as both a blessing and a curse for the original playstation on the one hand new software for the console still trickled out especially in areas outside of japan that wouldn't get the playstation 2 until the fall on the other hand the playstation was now firmly seen as a budget console all of the features that made the playstation the premiere gaming and multimedia device of the 1990s were simply incorporated into the playstation 2. additionally the playstation 2 served as a trojan horse for sony's other big foray into entertainment at the time every playstation 2 was made with a built-in dvd player giving consumers a single affordable system to play all of their movies music and playstation games the playstation 2's launch in japan didn't slow down the steady releases coming to the playstation in february fear effect released on the playstation although pal customers didn't see the game until august this beefy adventure game came on four discs and was one of the first uses of cell shading in video games the title was a modest success for publisher idos and a follow-up called fear effect 2 retro helix hit the playstation roughly a year later marge was dominated by sequels to already established playstation hits ace combat 3 electrosphere siphon filter 2 hot shots golf 2 and armored core master of the arena were all released in north america front mission 3 a tactical role-playing game from square was also released in north america following its launch in japan the year before despite the 3 in the name however it was the first game in the front mission series to see release outside of japan june marked another e3 but unlike every e3 sony had attended in the past the playstation wasn't front and center the playstation 2 was on full display at the event with demo lines stretching far and wide to play the upcoming releases for sony's second system metal gear solid 2 a full sequel to the playstation original was the talk of the show with konami showing off a demo of the game's opening level on repeat at the front of their booth the level of detail showcased in the game's trailer wowed gamers across the board the next generation was truly here sega was also showing off its biggest titles for the dreamcast and struggling to maintain relevance microsoft came to the show as well showcasing their chrome-plated xbox for the world to see in a little over a year sega would leave the console market and microsoft would enter it setting up the sixth generation of consoles to be a three-way bout between sony nintendo and microsoft the rest of the summer was fairly quiet for the playstation just a few days after e3 the legend of dragoon was released on the playstation developed by japan studio and published by sony it served as sony's attempt to cash in on the growing market of japanese role-playing games unfortunately the title was only a mild success for sony and it failed to be turned into a series on future playstation consoles in july capcom ported strider 2 to the playstation following its release in arcades in late 1999 the biggest release of the summer was a revised model of the playstation dubbed the ps1 this remodel hit japanese store shelves on july 7 2000 it wasn't the first time sony had redesigned the playstation as new models of the console began rolling out in 1996 that removed certain ports on the back of the console the ps1 however was more akin to a slim model it featured a smaller size and came bundled with a single dual shock controller a small 5 inch lcd screen was released for the system and special adapters to power the system through a car's cigarette lighter were also released the ps1 was released in north america and europe in september and helped propel the playstation to further popularity in the later years of its life the ps1 alone sold nearly 30 million units or over 25 percent of all playstation 1 consoles august signaled the end of the summer gaming drought and brought with it a host of unique titles for players to play square released yet another jrpg with chrono cross a follow-up to their super nintendo masterpiece while being released in japan a year earlier those in europe and pal territories got the worst of it the game would never be released on the original playstation at the end of the month capcom released resident evil survivor for the playstation a spin-off for the franchise survivor was developed by tozei and ditched the survival horror elements of previous titles in favor of first person shooting using a light gun survivor kept up the trend of annual releases for the series but it wasn't met with glowing reviews the biggest failure of the title came from the game's lack of compatibility with light guns in the north american version of the game september and october were somewhat lighter on releases this was due in part to the playstation 2 launching in north america on october 26th with pal territories getting the system a month later in november september's biggest game release was dino crisis 2 a sequel to capcom's dinosaur horror title medal of honor underground hit the playstation in october following up the previous year's surprise hit october also featured the third and final entry of the spyro series on the playstation with spyro year of the dragon much like naughty dog before them insomniac games completed their contract with universal games following year of the dragon and the developers shifted its focus to a new franchise on the playstation 2. thankfully for playstation fans november looked like any other holiday for the system despite the newer ps2 being available crash bash a party game spin-off featuring sony's pseudo mascot hit the system but was met with harsh reviews laura croft made her annual appearance with the fifth entry of the tomb raider series called tomb raider chronicles this entry however marked a stark change from the last three a week after coming out on the playstation lara croft's latest adventure was also released on the dreamcast neither game compared to the biggest release of the month and arguably the biggest playstation release of the year on november 13th final fantasy 9 came out on the playstation and was a smash hit while sales for the third main line entry on the playstation were lower than the previous two final fantasy 9 was a blockbuster release selling over 5 million copies and receiving strong reviews from critics the last notable release in north america came on december 11th with persona 2 eternal punishment the title sold poorly in part to being the second part of a two-part sequel the first part persona 2 innocent sin was only released in japan and wouldn't make its way over to the states until the remake on the psp eternal punishment served as the final entry of the series for the playstation and a follow-up persona 3 wouldn't come out until 2006. by 2001 new releases on the playstation were few and far between with many of the biggest releases being multi-platform titles with superior versions on new generations of consoles the first half of the year was largely barren with the most notable release in north america being mega man x5 in january the fall was slightly kinder to the console at the end of october the biggest playstation game in japan finally made its way west dragon quest 7 was released on the playstation over a year ago in the far east and sold incredibly well following the series brief hiatus spurred by the popularity of japanese role-playing games in north america enix released dragon quest 7 as dragon warrior 7 in the region past entries in the series had failed to see the same level of success in north america as they had in their home country and 7 was no different despite selling nearly 4 million copies in japan the north american release only managed to push around 200 000 units future releases in the series would drop the dragon warrior name entirely opting to use dragon quest worldwide beginning with the 8th entry of the series on the playstation 2. twisted metal small brawl a spin-off developed by incognito entertainment was released in november the title didn't receive as much attention unfortunately due to the playstation 2 entry of the series twisted metal black coming out months before it another sony published title was psyphon filter 3 the final entry of the series to be released on the playstation when it came out on november 30th in early december mega man x6 was released marking an end to the blue bombers run on the original playstation the most popular game of 2001 however didn't feature stealth shooting fantasy battles or futuristic cityscapes to explore it took place at a small school called hogwarts and featured the witches and wizards of the year's biggest film harry potter and the sorcerer's stone or philosopher's stone for those outside of america was a massive hit in theaters and the playstation game based on the movie was just as big developed by argonite games best known for their work on the first star fox game in the croc series of platformers sorcerer's stone was met with mixed reviews praise was given to the game's direction and recreation of the iconic hogwarts campus but most reviews pointed out one major flaw the game was just too outdated to be a modern hit the popularity of the harry potter franchise however was still more than enough to make it a commercial hit despite being released so late during the playstation's life it sold 8 million copies on the console alone making it the sixth best selling game on the playstation after 2001 new releases for the original playstation dried up to only feature the basics licensed games annual sports titles imports of pc and other console games dotted their release charts the biggest release of 2002 for the system was tony hawk's pro skater 4 the final entry of the skateboard series to appear on the playstation 2003 was even more scanned the only notable release in north america at this time was final fantasy origins a compilation pack of final fantasy one and two based on the wonder swan remakes the compilation was released in japan the year before and hit european and american store shelves in the spring the compilation was notable for being the first release of final fantasy 2 in north america and the first time either final fantasy game was released in europe despite the popularity of the final fantasy brand however origins just couldn't compete with the large range of new games on newer platforms but if you're interested in owning your own copy of the game you can still purchase new versions directly from the square enix store at the time of this video's recording you can purchase both it and a greatest hits copy of final fantasy 9 for only 15 by 2004 the playstation was barely even a blip on the release calendar only eight playstation games were released that year the last of these titles fifa 2005 was released on october 12th it was the final playstation game released in north america across the seas playstation lasted a little longer the final european game was more hoon x a german shoot em up based on a popular freeware pc game it was released on july 20th 2005. japan lasted the longest as consoles tend to do in the region the last game released in the region was strider hero a port of the original arcade strider for the playstation however this release was simply a standalone version of the game that was originally included as a bonus of the playstation port of strider 2. it was released on october 24th 2006 nearly 12 years after the playstation launched in japan a few months earlier on march 23 2006 sony announced that production of both software and hardware of the original playstation would cease bringing into the console less than a year from the launch of the playstation 2 successor the playstation 3. across all regions the playstation boasted one of the largest libraries of any console at the time it was discontinued almost 8 000 unique games were released for the system with total software sales nearing 1 billion units in comparison the disc based sega saturn saw a little over 1 000 unique releases and the nintendo 64 hampered by its use of cartridges saw less than 400 a total of nearly 103 million playstation consoles were sold between 1994 and 2006. at the time the playstation was the first home console to cross the 100 million units sold mark achieving the distinction in 2004 a year later it was joined and then surpassed by the playstation 2. for sony and several other game companies who invested in the playstation it was a unilateral success story the playstation games wouldn't stay out of the limelight for long following the system's discontinuation in november of 2006 sony released the playstation 3 in japan and north america the playstation 3 was originally backwards compatible with both playstation and playstation 2 games but later revisions removed the system's capabilities of playing ps2 titles by contrast every model of the ps3 remains backwards compatible with the original playstation games if you didn't have your original playstation games on disc the ps3 also had you covered within weeks of launching sony began selling titles on the playstation store called ps1 classics these digital releases proved to be incredibly popular new ps1 classics were released in north america until 2016 with japan seeing their final release all the way in 2019 for many including myself this became their introduction to all the playstation classics ps1 classics weren't just limited to the playstation 3 however both the playstation portable and later the playstation vita were also compatible with these titles in 2018 sony attempted to capitalize on the growing market of mini consoles with the release of the playstation classic following in nintendo's footsteps sony released a miniature version of the playstation with 20 games pre-installed on the system the playstation classic featured some major hits like metal gear solid and final fantasy 7 but missed many others upon release the mini console was met with a mixed reception criticisms were lobbied at the unit for a number of reasons the high price point and underwhelming game selection turned away many casual consumers while the playstation classic use of pal versions of the game that run at a lower frame rate and the inclusion of the original playstation controller as opposed to the improved dual shock kept hardcore gamers and collectors away from the system it was swiftly discounted and discontinued by retailers in 2021 it looked like the playstation story was finally going to come to an end in a statement to gamers sony announced that the playstation store would no longer be compatible with the playstation 3 psp or playstation vita later that year ending one of the only ways to legally purchase copies of playstation games industry and fan outcry over the discontinuation of the service prompted sony to reverse course the playstation store on both the playstation 3 and playstation vita are still intact as of now offering up a bountiful library of classics for anyone to purchase download and play the psp on the other hand saw its playstation store use discontinued in july of 2021 and the sad truth is that this service won't last forever and soon hundreds of ps1 classics will only be playable to those who already have them downloaded to their systems for some it might be hard to imagine a time before sony dominated the world of video games outside of a brief period during the late 2000s playstation consoles have been the most popular options for gamers across the globe whether you're playing games on your ps4 or you were lucky enough to get a ps5 you owe a lot to the little grey console the playstation revolutionized the gaming industry and brought it out of the shadow of nintendo sony's tactics for the playstation were a winning success and the company continued its reign with the even more popular playstation 2. for every classic released on the saturn or nintendo 64 it seemed like there were at least a dozen quality playstation games there were so many notable releases for the system that i couldn't even cover them all in this series its massive library propelled the playstation brand become one of sony's crowning achievements and a centerpiece to their business strategy in the 21st century the playstation is also the birthplace to so many classic games and franchises crash bandicoot spyro tomb raider metal gear solid silent hill resident evil the list goes on and on simply asking someone to name their favorite playstation game can be difficult due to the sheer quantity of quality titles on the system the only real star from sony to come out of the playstation era was ken kuduragi who is now known as the father of the playstation kudoragi continued his work at sony helping develop the playstation 2. in 2003 kudaragi accepted a promotion becoming ceo and vice chairman of sony he retired from the company in 2007 but stayed on as honorary chairman other key figures of the playstation's early success left sony during the early days of the system which opened up new opportunities for new generations of leaders in the gaming world but the biggest thing the playstation did was open up the world of video games just so many more people the tens of millions of playstation consoles sitting in entertainment centers on carpeted floors created a new generation of gamers one that has grown up to create their own games across modern platforms it was a system like no other before it and it will be finally remembered by gaming enthusiasts for years to come thanks for watching i hope you enjoyed the story of the playstation if you enjoyed the video be sure to leave a like and share this video on your favorite social media sites in the comments let me know your thoughts on the original playstation did you have one back in the day and what were your favorite games for the system be sure to subscribe to catch the next video as soon as it releases and as always thank you so much for watching [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Double Dog

Views: 2,974,593

Keywords: playstation, sony, ken kutaragi, crash bandicoot, final fantasy, nintendo, metal gear solid, tomb raider, phillips, super nintendo, olaf olafsson, ridge racer, video game history, playstation history, documentary, retrospective, retro gaming, E3, 1995, 1996, steve race, 1997, 1998, 1999, dreamcast, spyro, 2000, Playstation 2, ps one

Id: 53yK3giVO1Y

Length: 82min 25sec (4945 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 10 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Olivero]

Yes and no.

Like that, but not like that.

A different shape. Now without those.

In some ways very good.

In some other ways very..

[u/Olivero]

Difficult to say.

[u/Olivero]

The local has an advert about local budgets..

Something like 20,000,000 this year.