Anyone that lived through the 16-Bit to 32-Bit transition period knows just how much advertising there was for the original PlayStation. I was a huge wrestling fan and remember seeing tons of gaming ads on wrestling programming back then, granted a large portion was 16-Bit era but as 32-Bit grew a foothold, pixels were replaced by polygons. Sony was on a media blitz making sure their PlayStation was in front of gamers and non-gamers alike. Almost anything Sony was involved with at any level featured advertising for the PlayStation console. Particularly magazines such as Gamepro, Gamefan, EGM, and more. Do you remember the red “E” in their early advertising? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OjBIhFOtgY
Varied Launch Titles
Sega messed themselves over with launching their Saturn console around six months early, Sony was perfectly fine holding steady with their release date of September 9th, 1995. While Sega was fighting with retailers that felt short, Sony was building those partnerships with bigger and badder Sony PlayStation setups in store.
The Sony PlayStation launch came with 9 games of varied genres with fighting games leading the charge. Both 3D and 2D fighters were available with varying degrees of quality.
I do not remember seeing all of the launch games at one store myself. I remember having to visit at least two stores if you were interested in seeing all the games. For instance, I do not remember seeing Power Serve 3D Tennis at all. While Kileak was apparently a launch title, I only remember seeing it in store about 6 months later, and that memory card usage was a big negative for me. Even though I wanted that game, I could not afford a memory card just for it.
The nine games that North American gamers could potentially choose from were -
Air Combat Battle Arena Toshinden ESPN Espn2 Extreme Games Kileak the DNA Imperative NBA Jam Tournament Edition Power Serve 3D Tennis Street Fighter The Movie The Raiden Project Total Eclipse Turbo
Out of those titles, my sights were squarely on Kileak, Raiden Project and Street Fighter The Movie. Not having anyone to play with limited my interest in NBA Jam Tournament Edition, Toshinden, and Power Serve 3D Tennis, had I been able to even find it. The other games were not interesting to me, or as in the case of Total Eclipse Turbo, I had played on the 3DO and had at home already – a speed boost and slightly better graphics was not enough for me to drop $50 on.
The Start of a Revolution
No one knew back then that the PlayStation was going to take off like it did. I remember many game journalists that put their careers behind Sega kicking butt till Nintendo launched their next gen entry then it would be history repeating itself.
Nintendo vs Sega.
Boy were they wrong. While Sony did not trounce the competition early on, it was a hard sell, the cryptic advertising didn’t help. Sony was fortunate that Nintendo’s entry was at least year off, time they were able to figure out their problems and fix them since Sega had pretty much shot themselves in the foot before the race started.
Even at $100 more, Sega’s Saturn was still hard to get that first year or so. This surely hurt Sega during a critical time where Sony was EXTREMELY vulnerable with the PSOne console because once Sony figured things out, it was over for Sega.
Sony started off by being the company of little words with this announcement - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClvEzZoYb1Y
They would not stay quiet spoken long though. They would eventually take the fight to Nintendo's headquarters in North America - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTi5EaocGaY
While Sega were sexualizing bald Smurf looking actors in their advertising, Sony was busy signing the exclusives gamers wanted. Sony was positioning PlayStation on the key teenage entertainment of the period from extreme sports to wrestling and more.
Sony started the fight facing the wrong direction but once they realized their mistakes, it was over for the competition. When Nintendo announced the price of their cartridges for the Nintendo 64, Sony countered with statements that no Sony published title on the PSOne will be more than $49.99 ($15+ cheaper than anything Nintendo could do early on).
Sony was coming for blood, and it was clear they were thirsty.
My History with the Original PlayStation
I remember getting my Saturn in late 1997 by chance. Someone traded it in at a local EB and they were done pushing Saturn at that point, so they priced it surprisingly low. I believe I got it and my choice of 10 games for about $200.
I had already had a PlayStation since late 1996 when I came home with the console, copies of Twisted Metal 2 and Warhawk and a memory card. I had pre-ordered, paid in full, for TM2 before I even had the console.
Later on I would of course pick up Final Fantasy VII, I was addicted to Wild Arms, I was scared out of my pants a few times with Resident Evil, and I learned I had a love for turn based strategy games thanks to Suikoden, Tactics Ogre, and Vandal Hearts.
My first experience with Doom was on a PlayStation console.
The type of gamer I am today is because I experienced the original PlayStation. Its impact on gaming is impossible to ignore, even today.
What were your memories of the PlayStation console? What games did you rock?