Sony PlayStation Console

Back in the early 90's, most of the time when you'd hear about Sony, you'd think TVs, stereos, etc. Back when the SNES reigned supreme, near the end of its domination because of aging graphics and technical stuff, Sony and Nintendo were striking a deal to create a CD based add-on to the SNES. However Nintendo didn?t like the idea of games on disks, so Sony broke the deal with Nintendo and went on to create the popular Playstation, while us Nintendo fans were stuck with the cartridge games on the N64.

Anyway, the Playstation went on to better things, and eventually was a basic household product. I bet if you asked ten people whether or not they have a Playstation, nine out of ten would probably say yes. I got my Playstation in 1999 or early 2000 I think it was, along with my still favorite game for the system, Final Fantasy VII. Most of my friends had one, and some even traded in their N64s for a Playstation, so i thought ?What the hay,? and traded in my Game Gear with all my games to get Sony?s little wonder.

System:
The Playstation, which is usually referred to as PSONE or PSX, is a flat system that is only about 2 or so inches tall, and is maybe 10-12 inches in width. here weren?t any cool colors like the N64, but instead was a gray color. Kind of boring yes, but the color went with just about any home entertainment color combination you may have. There are only two controller slots on the face of the console, and a memory card slot above each controller port. Another negative about the Playstation is the fact that it had a weak amount of multi-player games, and even if the game did have multi-player, it most likely wasn?t worth it. For people who wanted to play with 4 people, they had to buy a multi-tap, which is an extra 20-30 bucks on its own.

On the top of the console is two buttons that are probably about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, the power button and the ?open? button. In the middle of the Playstation is the disc, cover, which pops open so you can put the disc in, like the Gamecube, only much better. Although the Nintendo 64 was a 64-bit machine and the Playstation was only 32-Bit, the N64 cartridges limited what could be done in a game, so a lot of times the Playstation showed greater graphics capabilities and also bigger games because of the disc format games. The problem with games being on discs though were the horrendous load times, and so N64 had Playstation beat in that area as there were no loading times in the games.

Controller:
When the Playstation first released, the controller was just a plain old Saturn look alike, only smaller and more molded to fit any size hands. The controller was simple and had a D-Pad, start, select, and buttons that formed a diamond; the ?Triangle?, ?Square?, ?X?, and ?O? buttons, which were the main buttons you?d be using in the games. On top of the controller is the L-1 and L-2 buttons on the left side, and R-1 and R-2 buttons on the right side.

Then, Sony kind of ?upped? their controller one notch, and released the dual shock controller which is the same as a regular controller, however double analog sticks have been added to the controller in the open space just beneath the start and select buttons. I think the controller kind of revolutionized the controller market, even though the N64 controller already had an analog stick unit before Sony?s controller did.

Although I?ve grown somewhat accustom to the GC controller, the Playstation/2 controller is probably my favorite because it?s basically flawless. The length of the controller and is really long, so you don?t have to sit right in front of the TV to see anymore.

Games:
The Playstation would NOT be where it is today if it weren?t for the games, but the developers took care of that so that Sony had nothing to worry about. The reason why the N64 bombed so bad was because third party support was almost non-existent. So where did they all go? I?ll tell you where they were, a lot of the third-parties jumped ship and started to develop and publish publicly on the Playstation, basically leaving the N64 in the dust. One of the more familiar developers to jump ship and start an exclusive deal with Sony is Squaresoft, which creates some of the best RPGs you?ll ever play.

Either way, Sony was well taken care of when it came to games. There weren?t many games that were developed by Sony that I liked on the Playstation, but the third-party support was tremendous and is probably the only reason that keeps the Playstation(and PS2) as such a good console. I don?t think there?d be any way that Sony could have survived without third-party support, because there?s just no way their first-party games could keep the Playstation alive. The only company that can keep themselves alive no matter what is Nintendo and their first-party expertise(in fact, aside from a couple hit third-party games, first-party games are what kept the N64 ALIVE), in my opinion anyway. The graphics in the games on the Playstation are WAY outdated, but to say the least, games are STILL coming out for the Playstation, even though it?s bigger brother PS2 has got a stronghold on the console war right now.

Moving on, the Playstation has a HUGE line-up of games, some good, some not so good. If you compared the Playstation games to the N64 games in a ratio, the N64 would actually beat the Playstation because of the crap to good games ratio on the Playstation as the not so frequent releases on the N64 led to a good to bad games ratio. Anyhow, enough blabber, how about them games eh? Here are a few of the more popular titles.

Resident Evil series
Final Fantasy series(7-9, Anthology, Chronicles, Tactics)
Xenogears(widely popular anime based mech RPG)
Tony Hawk?s Pro Skater series(1,2, and a dummied down version of the 3rd game)
Madden series
Medal of Honor series

If you haven?t noticed by now, most of the major games on the system were in a series of games. However there are lots and lots of different games that range from Sesame Street to Fear Effect. One of the more popular games that I didn?t really expect to do all that well is based on the new Japanese anime called Yu-gi-oh!, which actually covers the Wizards of the Coast card game(sort of like the Pokemon Trading Card game on Gameboy Color).

MY TOP TEN PLAYSTATION GAMES:

10. Resident Evil 2
I didn?t get to play Resident Evil 2 on the Playstation until AFTER I had gotten my life sucked away from me while playing the REmake on the Gamecube. I didn?t quite enjoy RE2 as well as I did the others, but for those who love the series as much as I do, you probably have already or are soon going to play RE2 no matter what, maybe to just see how the story continues even.

9. Final Fantasy Chronicles
I admit, I am a young?n, but that wasn?t going to stop me from playing one of the most famed RPGs ever, which was Chrono Trigger, and what some say is the best Final Fantasy ever, Final Fantasy IV. I?m not really sure why the game was called Final Fantasy Chronicles, when it only had one Final Fantasy game and another non-Final Fantasy game. Maybe it should have been called Final Chrono Chronicles or something? Either way, FFC is a good compilation of a couple of old classics.

8. Final Fantasy IX
After the disappointing FF8, Square had to redeem themselves somehow before moving onto the next generation Playstation 2, and so a year or so after FF8 made enough people cry, FFIX was released and had returned back to the classic FF gameplay, which included a medieval type setting. Great game to own with lots of gameplay, which should keep you playing for hours.

7. Xenogears
I didn?t get to play this much, but from the 20 or so minutes that I played it at a friends house, I liked what I saw and played, so I told myself I would have to get it sometime(if I could ever find it). Great game, but if you don?t already have it, good luck finding a copy because this is a rare game to find. I guarantee that you won?t find this layin? on a shelf somewhere or in the bargain bin at your local Blockbuster.

6. Tony Hawk?s Pro Skater
I got a demo from Pizza Hut sometime ago before THPS was even released, and played the one single two-minute level that was in the demo longer than I did games that I had the full copies of(like Zelda: MM for example). It was just so addicting, and so when it released around that Christmas time, I asked for it for Christmas and guess what I got? Hell yea, THPS, my friends were calling me to see if I was ok after about a week.

5. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
Out of all the Resident Evils released on the Playstation, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis has to be my favorite. Is it because there?s a big mutated freak on the loose that has one thing on his mind, which is to kill you? Or is it because there?s a ton of weapons and ammo to have some zombie shootin? fun? If you are wise(or you know me better than others do), then you should have picked the second choice. I absolutely LOVED RE3:Nemesis because of all the weapons that you had, and basically unlimited ammo which didn?t make you be so tight about when you shoot and actually let you have fun with the game.

4. Medal of Honor
I never bought this, but I rented it one night while at a friends house, and we stayed up all night playing, it was just so addicting that you didn?t want to put the controller down. The graphics are probably pretty much outdated, as a new Medal of Honor has been released on the PS2 about 5 months ago, but this original one is still a great game to give at least one try.

3. Mega Man series
There?s just too many to list, but the ones in the main X# series are really fun to play.

2. Silent Hill
I almost forgot about playing this one, but I did rent it sometime before playing the sequel on the PS2. Anyway, Silent Hill was Konami?s answer to Capcom?s Resident Evil series, which was kind of ruling the horror genre a bit. However Silent Hill scared you in a different way, which wasn?t really all that much ACTION, but some pretty eerie and creepy stuff.

AND THE WINNER IS...

1. Final Fantasy VII(7)
I don?t care what people think, or whether they thought FF8 was better, FF7 is/was/and always will be my favorite Final Fantasy to grace a console. I don?t know whether it was the fact that it was the only game I had when I bought my Playstation for about 6 or 7 months, or the fact that the story was so involving and the time period that it took place in was wonderful.

Rock?s Thoughts:
The Playstation is 6 years old, almost 7, and it?s still going strong with even more games STILL being released on the little thing, although they?re very dummied down when you go from playing a PS2, GC, or X-Box game and then playing your Playstation. Right now, the Playstation is probably the cheapest system you can get, along with 10 or 15 games as most of them are like 5 or 10 bucks. So if you?ve already got all three next generation consoles and have a little extra cash to spend(after making sure to pre-order GTA: Vice City, Zelda, Mario Party 4, Tony Hawk?s Pro Skater 4, etc.), then go get yourself a Playstation. Of course, if you?ve got all the next generation consoles, then that means you?ve got a PS2, which plays PSONE games...so everything I just said has been crossed out. D?oh!

~ Happy Gaming ~