PlayStation Domination- The Early Days of the Sony PlayStation

[@TheBeird]

It was a bitter pill to swallow, the Playstation's dominance. I was a SEGA fanatic at the time and I so wanted the Saturn to succeed. However, once I got over myself (I was nine years old at the time, cut me some slack), the Playstation turned out to be amazing.

[@ssppeeaarr]

ya it was kinda karma biting back on sega and nintendo for how poorly they treated sony at the time... they wanted to be partnered with sega after the big N backed out and humiliated. so it is bitter sweet seeing the underdog sony who all these major gaming companies didnt respect... be humbled by their going in alone and making their own video game console. having a successful launch and getting lots of gaming devs on their side too. especially iconic ones like square and namco. im glad playstation became a thing after the fail with nintendo. being a nintendo fanboy after the biased wore off lol ps1 had some excellent games and was wonderful an experience of the 3D era of console gaming. this kinda magic aint ever coming back to gaming... 90s days of gaming was epic!!

[@Beavernator]

I had a Sega Saturn, and Got my brother a PS1 for his 12th birthday... It was the best to have both consoles... We probably played more Decathlete, Winter Heat, and the Marvel vs. games than anything else.... We did play TONS of Tekken 2, 3, and Bust A Groove theough...

[@britneyspearsvillarosa]

I was 10 years old when the Mighty PlayStation was unleashed in 1995 and I waited until X-Mas 97 when my dad brought it home

[@admiralAlfonso9001]

⁠@@ssppeeaarrWhen they made the deal to create the Nintendo PlayStation Sony said that they would leave all the game creation to Nintendo, but they never wrote it in their contract and it took Nintendo years to realize that if the PlayStation was released Sony would have the right to make whatever games they wanted plus they would get power to profit and control all the cd software for the PlayStation. And after that Nintendo joined Philips to piss Sony off so they could pivot away from the PlayStation. Moral: Sony betrayed Nintendo first.

[@ssppeeaarr]

ya heard of the story before. but nintendo could have easily told them their concerns. im sure something both party would be happy with could have been done. instead of doing them dirty like that at the show.?! for a public humiliation... then its said after the fallout others said all sony and nintendo tried to rnegotiate the terms and make something but in the end nintendo just decided to make the n64 instead. in the end we got psx and thats great tho. but still sad wondering what the nintendo playstation console would have been like... and the partner ship had continued to this day with sony in charge of making the hardware and nintendo the games. i dont think xbox would exist... and sega and dreamcast couuld have survived!! 😟😁 oh well. respect to Sony tho. ps brand is still relevant today. @@admiralAlfonso9001

[@WhatAboutZoidberg]

Similarly I was a Nintendo kid (because thats what my parents bought us) but when the PS1 catalog started releasing, we were stunned. We traded in our N64 for a ps1 and never looked back. Such a rich library of every genre. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[@madaction9373]

Well this just made my night!

[@benvanasdale6273]

LEMME TALK TO YA! YOUR PROFILE PICTURE MADE MINE! SHOULD HAVE EVERYBODY TALKIN' ABOUT L-A-KNIGHT! YEAHHH!!

[@madaction9373]

@@benvanasdale6273 YEAHHH!!!!!!!

[@midgetsparkle]

It also made my... 4:19am (ooh, so close)

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

I bought my PS1 USED 20 YEARS AGO and it still works good. It just wont use my Import-disk boot system so I cant play Imports

[@mdhoover84]

The 32 bit console era was so much richer for having both the PS1 and Saturn with 2 very distinct libraries. The move to 3D was so exciting and the PS1 led the way in the area which helped it to dominate but it was such a great time to be a gamer. I loved my Saturn and still do - nostalgia would have this as my favourite even now - but you can see in those early titles where the PS1 was going to have the Saturn eating its polygonal dust. That transition from 16 to 32 bit was incredible, and I cannot imagine seeing the like again.

[@PutlerHuyIo]

I would include Nintendo 64 to the same era, since the games were roughly the same graphical quality as PS1.

[@aegisreflector1239]

​@@PutlerHuyIoThey are all the same generation.

[@aegisreflector1239]

Not necessarily, the Saturn didn't get enough 3D push in the West because it wasn't as successful there as it was in Japan. Games like Nights and the Panzer Dragoon series, Powerslave, Daytona USA, Virtual On, Burning Rangers proved that the Saturn was more than capable as a 3D machine.

[@thomaselers7416]

Agreed, the era of the Saturn and PS1 was what really made me love, play and collect console games to this day. (I bought the N64 as well, but the very blurry/unclear visuals ruined most games imo...) No, Saturn Vs PS1 and Dreamcast Vs PS2, are definitely the two eras that has given me the best console gaming moments ever. (After that, I guess it's PS3 and PC Engine that I've had the most fun with)

[@dwightdixon8508]

Sony’s PlayStation was the first console I ever preordered and I also got Battle Arena Toshinden & Ridge Racer. That PS1 startup is unforgettable. Finding out you could remove Ridge Racer disc once loaded up and replace the game disc with your own music CD to listen to it during the game, awesomeness!

[@dexocube]

You could do the music disc swap trick with Wipeout too

[@jpetersongaming]

whattttt??? That is really cool! I want to try that

[@Pryzm1965]

The 16/32 bit era was the best for gaming by a country mile. games for days. If you missed the Snes, Megadrive, ps1/2, Saturn, Dreamcast, Neo Geo, pc engine frankly you missed out. It's not the same going back to those days after seeing current games but if you lived those years it was a rich gaming experience.

[@copykat829]

The best years of my life was from the nes and Sega, Gameboy days,. I was 17 when ps1 came out. Love those days. They can't be compared.

[@gc3k]

The mid-to-late 1990s especially was a really innovative time period in gaming, both in technology and game design. Lots of off-the-wall ideas that actually worked (and many ideas that didn't work out). I wish I had disposable income during that time period. Starting in the 2000s everything gradually became more corporate, safe, homogenized and predictable

[@Terra019]

Yeah because games were games back then and actually creative, not pay to win or money grabs, DLC, etc

[@guardianali]

The key to the PS1 wasnt just the great hardware, but how EASY it was to develop for. The dev kit and hardware layout was super easy to understand and made it way easier to develop for than rival platforms. Which made Devs flock to it. Which in turn made gamers flock to it from the sheer number and quality of the games. The ratio of quality of game to effort put in to achieve for a dev was unmatched.

[@BurritoKingdom]

Also it was much cheaper for devs, publishers and gamers. Saturn required a $10000+ dev kit, N64 required a SGI workstation, the PS1 devkit was 2 ISA cards into a Windows 95 PC. On the publishing side Sony only charged $5 per game royalty fee and allowed publishers to print their own disc and boxes as long as it met Sony's parameters (which is why there were 3 different long boxes, some of which were Saturn Cases). SEGA and Nintendo charged $10 with Nintendo controlling the manufacturing of carts and charging publishers a huge amount for carts. This trickle down to gamers. As the PS1 standardized $50 for single disc games, $40 for Sony published games and $20 for Greatest Hits. While even though the Saturn was also CD based games were $5 to $10 more. N64 games started at $60 and went up to $80 for games like Resident Evil 2. Remember that during the 16 bit era carts were $60 to $100 depending on how many megs and what special chips were in the carts.

[@edonslow1456]

So much of Sony's success was simply down to really good business sense. Nintendo and Sega had gotten somewhat complacent, especially Sega, and Sony took advantage.

[@Clay3613]

@@edonslow1456 Plus SONY knew how to design hardware more efficiently than current VG companies.

[@DreamcastQ]

Great video brother. The first year of PS1 was a trip, it was so exciting to live through. Gaming on both PS1 and Saturn those years was like yin and yang sometimes, it was such a great era :)

[@miguelroman4294]

Yea man, crazy how fast time goes by! As a life long gamer....gosh life is short gonna be 47 next month. Very grateful to still be alive and with my beautiful family 👪

[@WWammyy]

Namco really went the extra mile when it came to it's Arcade ports by including charachter endings. This really gave me incentive to beat the game with every charachter especially since at the time the FMV endings were mind blowing. For me as a kid while I loved Segas Arcade ports I found myself playing Namcos and Capcom games a lot more because because of that.

[@roberto1519]

I agree, what SEGA barely understood back then and what Namco did right was to give home versions much mileage to their games, Tekken 3 has many extras, for instance, Square did the same with Tobal, adding adventure modes to each game, and so on. Virtua Racing on the Saturn only has that many extras because it was Warner Interactive who worked on it, and they knew console games needed more content, more depth, if it was ported by SEGA, it would probably be a barebones arcade port. Having as little as 2 circuits, such as Manx TT Superbike was OK in SEGA's vision, this is yet another reason why they started falling behind. There was nothing close to Gran Turismo's deep gameplay, like it or not, it became the best selling PS1 game for a reason. Players wanted more.

[@eponymous7910]

Tekken 2 set the benchmark in that regard with its awesome cgi intro, character endings, bonus options etc

[@SomeOrangeCat]

@@roberto1519 As SLX stated in an past video, people wanted more for their money than a 15 minute arcade game with no extras. Sega didn't seem to graps that.

[@jpetersongaming]

So true, I really loved the Time Crisis games. Having the Guncon and was what made it feel like the arcade to me!

[@gc3k]

Saving unlocked content and game progress with the additional purchase(s) of a small storage memory card was an early example of console microtransactions. Even EA games included backup memory on their 16-bit cartridges, one purchase and you're good to go

[@NiGHTS1980]

I remember my friends older brother went to japan and came back with the PS1 months before it was released here. We all went to his house and were playing Ridge Racer and Toshinden until early morning. Coming from Super Nintendo and Mega Drive it was mind boggling to witness the radical change to 3D gaming. A leap that I haven't and probably will never experience again. It was si exciting back then. Of course I had the Saturn myself but I'll always remember the competition between both and seeing game after game coming to the PS1. They really grabbed the bull by the horns back then and dominated.

[@JP47471]

Yah. Those were two good games, especially Ridge Racer.

[@JGD185]

I came from Super Nintendo too and seeing the early PS1 games (Tekken, Resident Evil) and N64 (Mario 64) was just mind blowing as a kid. That graphical leap was so huge. I did kind of feel that excitement again when I first played the Dreamcast. My brother imported a DC from Japan with Sonic and Soul Calibur. The graphics were so smooth and gorgeous for the time.

[@lordsosa9383]

dude i dont care what your friends came back with get a life bro

[@wussup12345]

Stop larping bruh he did not go to Japan and get a PS1 lol

[@bmac2814]

​@@wussup12345why is it hard for you to believe that someone back in 94 traveled from America to Japan and nabbed a Playstation while they were there 😂😂😂

[@SomeOrangeCat]

The PS1 was the NES of it's day, in that it was an unstoppable monster that nothing else stood a chance against.

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

PS2 too

[@StreetsofATL_19]

Nope! PS1 and PS2 were essentials but they were not a phenomenon like the NES! It’s like comparing the popularity of MC Hammer in his prime (88-90) and Tupac Shakur in his prime (94-96) to Michael Jackson in his prime (83-85). PS1 standardized the CD platform in gaming and PS2 standardized the DVD in gaming and killed VHS! The NES saved the video game marketplace and is the reason we still play video games till this day!!❤😊

[@geesterfunk]

Ps1 let all the other 32 bit consoles do it first, then Sony did it right, being there to see the jump from the 2d to the fully 3d was fantastic, shame all you guys get now is ps3 games coming out on ps5, nothing new, no new gameplay, just old shit rolled in glitter

[@SomeOrangeCat]

@@geesterfunk Yup! Sony took the best lesson from Nintendo's playbook, and used it against them!

[@blackmagicfan3431]

The NES was a phenomenon but it only revitalized the North American video game market. It really didn't save anything. Video games would still exist today. I hrew up with and love the NES more but the PS1/2 were world wide bangers.

[@Lord_Deimos]

Back in 95 my dad promised to get me a playstation if my grades were good enough, so I studied and got one with Twisted Metal that summer. I have owned many consoles but the playstation and the mega drive have always been the most beloved for me.

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

Twisted Metal with ICP blasting on the stereo was so fun

[@shinjiblack9460]

I remember the first time I ever played PS1, my Dad and I had rented one in November of 95 and the 2 games we got with it were Ridge Racer and Destruction Derby and I gotta say, almost 30 years later and I still remember that week very fondly.

[@jamarjohnson6077]

Respect

[@oldheadinspirit]

I completely forgot that you used to be able to rent consoles.

[@shinjiblack9460]

@@oldheadinspirit yup its something I seriously wish was still a thing (at least games although you cant really rent games anymore I guess since they all gotta be registered or whatever and you can only do that once per game)

[@RADCONDESIGN]

This is my golden age of gaming. When I first fired up Ridge Racer it blew my head off my body. I put so many hours into playing Wipeout, Warhawk, Battle Arena Toshinden, Twisted Metal and Tekken.

[@Freakinger81]

Warhawk shocked me, because of those crappy FMV's. I knew other Consoles had stuff like that already years before, but seeing it live, in my own home... felt like the Future had arrived.

[@RADCONDESIGN]

@@Freakinger81 I had to watch the the FMV again. Wow it's even worse than I remember. And by worse I mean amazing! So bad it's good.

[@Freakinger81]

@@RADCONDESIGN Really Cheesy and horrible resolution. But back then, it was nothing but amazing to me. At that time, I couldnt even understand what they said (English is not my first Language) but it didn't matter.

[@RADCONDESIGN]

@@Freakinger81 It was nothing but amazing to me too. I couldn't believe I had games that looked like the arcade with 3D graphics on my tv screen in my living room. It was incredible.

[@DesertRainReads]

Indeed, the 32-bit era was mind-blowing for it's time. It took me a couple years to stop downing the PSOne myself, I freely admit I was team Nintendo all the way, then my mom got me a Sega Saturn for my birthday in 1996 and I started looking beyond Nintendo. Built up a solid library of games for that system. A year or so later, my friend gave me his copy of King's Field II in October of '97 and welp, I finally got with the crowd and that Christmas? I owned a PSOne and four months after? Final Fantasy VII. I enjoyed my time with the PSOne as it became the de facto system to own. Not only did it have tons of games in every single genre, but it also became the system to have if you loved RPGs too. Final Fantasy VII was the start of that. Sony not only dominated the market, but for ages to come, was the de facto leader that set the gold standard for the industry up until the PS3/360/Wii era.

[@nasman7492]

Seeing this video it was mostly Mortal Kombat 3 that I remember giving PlayStation the massive head start compared to the competitors.Back in the day Mortal Kombat was beyond huge and you basically finally had a arcade port at home with the Playstation version

[@olympusgolemoflight7198]

That intro describes why I love your channel. You have a favorite, but it doesn't mean you can't appreciate what other consoles have to offer.

[@maniacsatwork]

I think Sega thought that people would buy their console automatically based on the previous generation. When Sony released the PlayStation, it felt new, fresh and exciting. I was there from day one on the US launch and imported one here to Australia. I really like the Saturn but didn't get one till '97 so for me the PlayStation will always remain my fav console from that era.

[@Globalastral5]

I was always one to save my allowance whereas my older brother would spend it immediately. I had saved $300 (at 7 years old) and bought the system from an Electronics Boutique on 86th st and Broadway in Manhattan but didn’t have enough for a game so we played the demo disk on repeat initially, especially Toshinden and Jumping Flash. I do recall staying up late playing Tekken and unlocking the secret characters which was such a crazy concept at the time. I still have my original PSX today

[@SpecialAgentEBunny]

I was a huge Sega fan after the Genesis. I wanted a Saturn so bad especially after playing Virtua Fighter and Daytona in the arcades. Christmas 1995 my sister bought my brothers and I a PlayStation. It was mind blowing.

[@say10sedso56]

Was after my grade 9 year in high school. Just turned 15. Worked all summer as a student in a factory just for the Playstation. They had an actual Sony store back then. Was so proud walking in there on my own and as a 15yo and pulling out the Cas for the ps plus a couple of games😢

[@ccharlot]

To me this was the golden age of gaming. This was the first console I followed from announcement to launch and beyond, and I was lucky enough to get a psx the first christmas it was out. We used to rent movies and games every weekend so I was eventually able to play pretty much every game that interested me. Really miss those days before i became a jaded adult

[@jonbourgoin182]

It's crazy how blown away I was by Tomb Raider and RE1 back in the day, back then many of us really thought gaming would never look better. FFVII was the game that really drew me in though. I played for like 3 hours not even having a memory card at the time but I happily did it again after I finally got one.

[@lemagreengreen]

FFVII fascinated me especially before it had a PC release, it made me buy a PS1 after seeing it and I was in that PC master race opinion even back then!

[@roberto1519]

@@lemagreengreen to think the PC got both FFVII and FFVIII still amazes today, those who wanted to play these RPGs but didn't want the console only for them were covered.

[@edskt_]

PS1 era was the best of my life, so many great games and memories, so many franchises that were born on it, Playstation is very nostalgic, I love this console.

[@r-rod8116]

You should do another Playstation video like this. 1996 should be the one you could talk about since games like Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and Crash Bandicoot got their start that year. Games like Tekken 2, NFL Gameday 97, Jet Moto, and Twisted Metal 2 got released, and those games was a huge success. Maybe talk about 1997, 98 or 99 years when PS1 keeps getting better leading to the 2000 and the release of PS2.

[@filipmartinez1162]

They’re long overdue for a Jet Moto Reboot.

[@ronneh7]

So you want a video for every year then :P

[@matthewnikitas8905]

@@ronneh7Well he did the same thing for the Saturn didn’t he?

[@balaam_7087]

The golden age of gaming. Sega, Nintendo and PlayStation cranking out endless gems with unmatched creativity. Now only two console platforms are pulling their weight while the other mooches and tries to buy their way into our hearts.

[@anglo-saxonconnor817]

So many games in just the first year alone. Unlike now where new game release is so slow and few. I was pretty outraged when PS5 launched with only one game which is a PS3 remade title and Xbox launched without a launch game at all. The gaming industry is in a very sad state right now.

[@reziture]

A new Sega Lord X vid just dropped…its gonna be a great night!

[@johnmc3862]

Resident evil 1 launched in 1996 for the PlayStation was massive also.

[@ozmond]

This is EXACTLY the type of video I’ve been wanting to see. I’ve been playing so much PS1 lately. Truly an amazing system.

[@jpetersongaming]

I rediscovered it again recently too. The amazing library of games is hard to match. Some of the 3D games look very outdated but my eyes are old so I dont care

[@jessycruz2465]

Ps1 has probably one of the best library of games during the 90s and will always have a special place in my heart. From mgs, resident evil, squaresoft games, crash, gran turismo, tekken, capcom fighting games, twisted metal... The list goes on and on.

[@TacoDiceCosas]

My favorite console of all time, for nostalgic reasons only. My excitement playing this console has never repeated ever since, truly a magical time. I loved Sega and Nintendo too, but I didn't had the money for all the consoles. But for those years, the powerful line up of games on Sony's machine where more than enough.

[@limited.timestruggle]

The first time I saw Ridge Racer in action with my own eyes, I was completely floored! I knew I needed a PlayStaton at that point

[@Absolynth]

I still recall being around 8 years old in 1995, seeing a promotional truck pull up at my local city hall, with TVs built into its sides and controllers extending from it, featuring early PS1 demos. At that time, I was young and naive enough to think that truck must be the 'Play Station', a sort of mobile arcade I surmised lol

[@hard8gamingandagslive559]

Battle Arena Toshinden was amazing in 1995 me and my friend use to stay up all night playing it

[@marccaselle8108]

I remember being amazed at the games on the original PlayStation. The games looked good and sounded good. All my friends and cousins had a original PlayStation in 1995. These days, i emulate PS1 on my retropie and its flawless. I can play the games that were rare and expensive to see what i missed out on. 🙂

[@SicketMog]

Bit of the same. Can play PS1 on the go on an Anbernic device now (though I haven't yet; busy working through some GBA games first). Had the Saturn as a kid, very happy about that now considering the prices and the state of its emulation, so now get to try the stuff I only got to try sporadically at friends or not at all. Grandia 2 is one of the VERY few RPGs I've ever finished and heard that the battle system is similar in Grandia so... Most likely either that or MGS first.

[@cwing1028]

I have the softest spot in my heart for toshinden. The graphics I still think are nice, the music is amazing, fighting wasn’t the best but it was hilarious, I remember my brother and I laughing at some of the matches. To my knowledge I think it’s the only fighting game where people can fall out of the right doing their victory pose.

[@darktetsuya]

I remember getting to skip school in high school the day we got ours! (for the record I did graduate the one missed day didn't hurt much in the long run) our first three games were ridge racer, tekken and toshinden. though the library certainly grew since then, picked up quite a few of these along the way! as far as sega's response goes, I can only imagine you must've flipped through that leaked report from a couple weeks ago late in the saturn's life? certainly helps paint a picture of things from back then.

[@asilver50]

Everyone craps on toshinden but i loved it. My friend and i had hours of fun playing it.

[@LukeDodge916]

This was the most exciting time for me personally in gaming. I had the 3DO by then and a Saturn, but they were missing something that the PS1 had in abundance. It was just a perfect machine, and with Namco's help this system was just king. Even the N64 couldnt touch it (though i love it all the same). This time (mid-'90s) is just my favorite time on Earth so far. What a great time to be alive. Im happy to play my PS1 to this day (i was playing Doom before i watched this video). I still buy PS1 games regularly.

[@sonkien3]

Bro in terms of growing up as a gamer was when Sony took over the market. I was Sega first and Nintendo 2nd ride or die. It took me a little while to accept the PlayStation.

[@maroon9273]

The first console that got me hooked more than any console in my lifestime due to its diverse gaming library especially 2D games. I wish ps1 would've utilize ram cards for arcade games.

[@MrSamPhoenix]

The original Sony PlayStation was a beast of a system when it came out. And after it’s launch developers figured out ways to push past its limits with ease. Year after year the games just looked, played, and sounded better. This was mostly due to the fact that developers learned how to leverage the GTE engine. This allowed the CPU not to work as hard… man was it a great time to be a gamer.

[@sonicmania9993]

For me, the key is mentioned toward the end of the video: Saturn had better and better-playing games for gaming enthusiasts in those early days, while PS1’s library was better for casuals and teenagers new to games. They are my 2 fave consoles, but after researching and playing 100s of games on each, PS1 game library didn’t surpass Saturn for me until late ‘97. But Sony had a better plan, knew who they were marketing to, knew how to make game journalists into PS1 acolytes by selling the 3d graphics (like with Toshibden), made the right game deals with third parties, and roped in millions of players new to gaming. The winner of the 5th gen console wars was decided by 1996 … even though Saturn still had (I think) better games at that point. Quality is not the only determinant of sales success and fan devotion. The history of all media proves this again and again. And then from late 97 on, PS1 just continued to steadily improve. Best game library of any single console, in my opinion.

[@darinherrick9224]

Better than PS2? Or PS4? Those are the two best libraries IMO.

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

I would definitely say the PS1 and PS2 together have by far the two best libraries ever. Especially when you include all the import games, it's not even close. I'll admit PS4 has a very extensive library that's for damn sure.

[@sonicmania9993]

⁠@derinherrick Saturn will always be my personal favorite, but yup, for me PS1 was best ever, for game library’s fun factor, creativity and risk taking. That was the hallmark combination of 5th gen gaming that will always make it the best home gaming generation for me. Personally, I would say PS2 is top 5 for sure (only dragged down by mid-2000s focus on okay sequels). I also like PS4 a lot- seems underrated by some people in the community… but when we look back at the fun that was to be had, PS4 dominated the mid-to-late 2010s imo.

[@sonicmania9993]

⁠@johndoe. Because of my game taste, I very slightly prefer Saturn & Dreamcast (1995-2001) - mostly because of the JP import libraries you mention - to PS1/early PS2 (1995-2001). But because of their longer console lives the PS1 and PS2 game libraries are pretty clearly the two best … if we look at the sheer amount of objective quality and creativity in multiple genres (not to mention tech improvements for their time).

[@mikeall7012]

My 7 yeat old loves my NBA jam games from various systems. I wish they would make new ones.

[@maroon9273]

And even the wrestlemania the arcade with different eras of wrestlers. Same thing with nba jam.

[@fredskull1618]

Some awesome trips down memory lane in this video! Sony's approach to balancing innovative 3D titles with robust 2D offerings was a masterstroke. It's also intriguing to think about how different the gaming landscape might look today if Sega had made different decisions in their game development strategy during the mid-90s. Great work, sir.

[@Daerana]

Great video, gives really important context for Sony’s early success and Sega’s struggles that year.

[@rufioquin2406]

I remember getting the PlayStation a few weeks after launch, along with Ridge Racer and then Destruction Derby, Warhawk, and Tekken not long after. I didn’t get a Saturn until the price drop with the 3 games. The PlayStation was my overall favorite console experience of the 90s. It had an amazing library by the end of its lifespan. I’m quite sure the PlayStation is the console I’ve owned the most games for at one time. Post 2000 however, I enjoyed collecting for the Saturn more, especially when considering Japanese Saturn games.

[@retrogames3404]

Awesome video, man. It's good to see the good times again. In 95 I had the Saturn and many of these Windows PCs too, Saturn with me until today, I had the PS1 in 98, I waited to launch the Dual Shock version with that gray box. Excellent experience at the time I will never forget.

[@Easyv1975]

I can remember going around my mate’s , seeing Tekken and being blown away by it. Sony made gaming cool again, I remember going to nightclubs and seeing Wipeout being projected on the wall. The Trex on the demo disk was jaw dropping at the time.

[@danielmclaughlin2190]

For me, loaded was always a Saturn game . Guess it just depends on where you experience it first. Great video as always!

[@medmuscle]

I recently bought it for the Saturn despite it's higher price tag. It looks much better on the Saturn.

[@Greybush46322]

Playstation really got me hooked on this hobby the way Genesis and SNES just didn't. I had the 2 big 16 bit monsters, but only played from time to time. PS1 and later (after Night Warriors released) the Saturn got completely addicted. Very fond memories of the 32 bit generation.

[@retrojoe85]

Never stopped to play my PS1 since the beginning. It still works luckily, even after several times where I honestly believed it expired its final breath. Playing the PlayStation in those days was like being part of a scene, of a specific part of history. I will never forget those moments.

[@CleetusVanDamme530]

I'll never forget that NFL Game Day opening cutscene. That music, man, that music 👌.

[@JamesJohnson-tr1gu]

I've been watching your channel for a couple of months now, and I really enjoy all your videos. You're doing great work with these! Keep it up!

[@NewLevel84]

So many memories around this time. A buddy of mine got the system the Xmas of 95. We spent a lot of time playing Tekken, Toshinden, SF The Movie. Good times.

[@jpetersongaming]

I purchased my first PS1 in 1999, 4 years after the release, and I instantly thought "why the hell did I wait so long". On the flip side, by 1999, the library was extensive and there were so many great titles to choose from. I started out with Crash Bandicoot 2 and FF7. Awesome video Lord X!

[@AltimaNEO]

NBA jam TE on the PlayStation was bad ass. So many hidden characters compared to the 16 bit versions

[@maroon9273]

PS1, Dos, saturn and jaguar are the best port to play TE

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

The absolute golden age of gaming 😭❤

[@ciredecgellar8232]

I chose the Saturn after having had the opportunity to try both before making my choice. Like everyone else, I was impressed by the technical and aesthetic side of the PS1 games, but once the controller was in hand, it was obvious to me that the Saturn games were more playable, deeper and more playful.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Deeper? Lol. Ok.

[@MoonOvIce]

Most Saturn games were arcade ports, I wouldn't call them deeper. Also, in comparison, the Saturn controller was missing buttons for the then new 3D gaming experiences, that's where Playstation won big time back then.

[@ciredecgellar8232]

@@MoonOvIce Just because early PS1 games weren't mostly arcade ports doesn't mean they had deep gameplay, Toshinden is the best example. Totally disagree about the controller, if the grip of the PS1 controller is quite good, the positioning of the buttons is not at all intuitive. Afterwards it's obviously a matter of taste but I also prefer the Saturn because of its controller actually.

[@dmann1982]

A game called Rapid Reload (Gunners Heaven) released in the EU and UK during the early days of the PS1 as well.

[@williampamblanco]

I was on the fence on the PS1 at first... until my dad rented one. We played Toshinden, Ace Combat and the Konami NBA game. Instant love and I just instantly felt it was gonna be a powerhouse, especially after having tried the 3DO and such.

[@dbrd5206]

I really liked what you said about the end about how it wasn't just what Nintendo and Sega did wrong, but also what Sony did right. Sony created the perfect machine that was cheap to develop for, cheap to release games for and cheap to buy games for. There's few properties that will have mass market appeal enough to sell a console on its own, but Sony allowing its console to have as much variety on it as possible and as easily accessible as possible, it's almost crazy how no one figured that out as well as they did at the time. If Sony had just made the best video game machine as video games existed at the time, they'd just be splitting the existing pie that Sega and Nintendo had already the generation before, but they really knew what they were doing in creating something that would be a mass market machine.

[@retroreplay1980]

I had just turned 15 and "camped out" at my local mall's Babbages to buy my PS1 on launch day. It was magical!!! By far, my favorite console of all time.

[@echoview]

I miss Babbage's. It provided a far better video game shopping experience for me than any other US chain I've been to.

[@davidt3563]

I friggin worked de-tassling corn fields to get my PlayStation. It was worth EVERY suffering second! I try to convey to my kids how much of a MASSIVE jump in graphics the PlayStation & Saturn were. I loaded up Cyberpunk on my PC and said the jump from 2D to 3D looked like this game to us back then. We saw 3d graphics, friggin FMVs that were crisp AF and don't get me started on the audio. Hearing tons of crisp AF voices and high quality music was just AMAZING. SONY made one hell of a system and most of all they didn't run their company like crap.

[@jeffb.6642]

"SONY made one hell of a system and most of all they didn't run their company like crap" That comment aged like milk

[@Zahir658]

Man. The PS1 was everyone's craze during that time.

[@bulloguin]

Back in the day, when I’ve saw Ridge Racer running for the first time on PlayStation man I was simply blown away and love the graphics and smoothness of the game. This WAS my first game on Sony’s new console along Tekken, MK3 and Rayman. But somehow that SAME awesome feeling grab me as I’ve saw Sega Rally Championship on SEGA’s SATURN. What an amazing times when I’ve owned and play like crazy Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop and Sega Rally Championship as those 4 games on my PlayStation at home.

[@BDreGaming]

Great to see this on your Channel! I have been a huge PlayStation fan the last two console Generations. My favorite PS1 game still is Symphony of the Night. Love playing it on PS5, on the Castlevania Requiem collection.

[@midwestdepressed]

I was born the year before and got my first PS1 around 2000 (my first console was the NES). So many great memories surrounding the PlayStation, and I love your channel!

[@alex64gaming]

I absolutely love Battle Arena Toshinden

[@SegaLordX]

Sorry for crapping on it so fiercely. All the love that game got back then still bothers me a bit.

[@alex64gaming]

@@SegaLordX your good dude. I'm just nostalgic for it. Definitely not the best fighter out there, but for me personally I love it.

[@PS1Fan1991]

What a great surprise for my birthday! Thanks for the fantastic video! The PS1 is one of my childhood consoles. Growing up with the Mega Drive, I would play games like Sonic II, Road Rash II, etc and I loved the console. My family bought the PlayStation 1 while I was still very young and while I still played the Mega Drive as the quality was phenomenal, the library of the PlayStation really grabbed my attention with games such as Gensou Suikoden, Mega Man: Battle & Chase, Ridge Racer Revolution, FFs VII and VIII, Guardian's Crusade, Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha, Tarzan, Hercules, Wild Arms and Legend of Legaia. The demo disc that we had was fantastic for it as well. Now with these games I can't remember what year that I played them to be exact as I was born in 1991. Ridge Racer would have been one of the earlier ones that I did play since it was a launch title.

[@SEGAGuys]

Absolutely spot on about Toshinden mate, it felt like the gaming media were infatuated with it, yet the gameplay was really, really shallow. Our PS owning friends in high school would constantly berate Virtua Fighter. The Ridge Racer vs Daytona debate is one which becomes a lot easier to see through as we get older. System 22 while decent, was no Model 2 and that’s where Daytona on Saturn was the far more ambitious port (as you say, far more going on on screen). And as much as Daytona may look rough, SEGA absolutely nailed the feel of the arcade handling - we still go back to Daytona on Saturn often to this day! Great video as always, even if the title had me going all Obi Wan at first and screaming, “You were the chosen one”! at my phone. 😂

[@motherplayer]

At the very least, if nothing else, the music still holds up really well. Amazing how it's gameboy port was better to play than the actual 3D game.

[@matthewnikitas8905]

It was impressive at the time, you have to consider it was a very early 3D fighter and the only other competition was say Sega’s Virtua Fighter and maybe Tekken. The mechanics are a little clunky and floaty but I still have fun playing it from time to time.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

"More ambitious" doesn't mean "better". Ridge Racer on the PS manages to better replicate the game it's a port of than Daytona on the Saturn did.

[@SEGAGuys]

@@SomeOrangeCat We didn’t use the word “better”; you did. You’ve taken the words “more ambitious” and applied your own context to it. That said, Daytona on Saturn is a far more fun game than Ridge Racer on PS1. That’s our opinion, you don’t have to agree with it, but you don’t need to try and start arguments in a comments section over it either. Do better.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

​@@SEGAGuys What's this "we" business? Am I talking to two kids a trench coat, an English monarch, two voices, one head?

[@lchambers56]

Seeing Mortal Kombat 3 running in a non-interactive kiosk in Sears is what sold me on the PlayStation. I wasn't a huge fan of that game, but I did play the arcade and home versions. Seeing a version so close to the arcade really wowed me and made a promise to myself to buy a PlayStation asap, and I did. The impact of the PlayStation on gaming culture cannot be overstated. It truly was a game changer. It caused video games to be seen as "grown up". Sega Lord X, if you want to do more Playstation content, I'm totally here for it and I'm sure many, many others feel the same. Awesome vid. 👍

[@heilong79]

I bought it close to launch because the Namco ports looked so good and Wipeout was a standout looking game but even then I wanted to see what the Capcom 2d fighting games where going to look like, I got a Saturn a few years later with a load of games and was blown away as I had different taste to alot of people I guess, Still was really happy to have a PS1 for those exclusives.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Cyber sled was the one that stood out to me. You had the base mode, which looked just as good as the arcade, but then you had the home exclusive mode which added texture maps to all of the polygonal assets. The arcade original didn't have that.

[@armorvil]

Me : vid lasts 30 minutes? I don't know about that, it's a bit too long. I guess I'll only watch the first few minutes. **watches everything till the last minute** Me : what? It's over already?! Awesome video and script!

[@jorgeguzman3838]

My first console

[@AllCoolThingsStoneMountain]

I think you were a bit harsh on Toh Shin Den. It looked absolutely stunning, and it was extremely 3D. I really think that even some of us that were around way back in Atari 2600 days forget that a lot of the thing things that systems and games were doing were because they were following what WE thought was impressive, and we just didn't spend as much on games, back then. (for multiple reasons)

[@emlyndewar]

Back when the early days of consoles seemed special. It’s been a long long time since anything has come out and felt like that.

[@ultimateman55]

I got a Playstation on launch day. You summed up very well why it was so successful in 1995 better than any other video I've ever seen. By the end of 1995, I was in gaming bliss, playing NBA Jam, Toshinden, Wipeout, MK3, Tekken, Doom, Rayman, WWF Wrestlemania The Arcade Game, Extreme Games, and Twisted Metal. Sony was absolutely killing it, releasing so many great games in such a short period of time. Great episode.

[@Plow1000]

Im a sega kid who turned into a playstation die hard in 97. I love when you do PS1 videos.

[@BMK_KING]

Top notch man… I had the original PlayStation with battle arena toshinden and that first demo disk. It went so hard.

[@SuperLee1219]

Jumping Flash and Warhawk were dope games....good video.....

[@diehlr]

Sega was a pioneer in 3D. That's why I can't see why they didn't see it coming.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Hubris makes you blind.

[@maroon9273]

They use yuzuki to design the saturn hardware but let sato who has no clue in 3D tech.

[@74bobby]

I remember Buying a Playstation on Release Day. My Mind was Blown on how Great the Graphics Were.

[@user-hr5di5fg8b]

Heh I worked at target in the electronic department and was able to buy the system like 4 days before it's release date. The problem was the games did get shipped until the night before the actual release date. So I only had the tech demo to mess with while awaiting for the games.

[@BlondeMcGuinn]

My mom bought me and my brother a PS1 in late November ‘95. Because Christmas was coming soon, she said we’d have to wait for games but that we could rent them in the meantime. That Christmas, my mom got us Tekken, Ridge Racer, Twisted Metal and Theme Park. God what a time to be alive. We loved all the games and played for hours each day for months. I was more excited by gaming during that time than any other period of my life. Thank you for the video!

[@Zenzuu]

What's even more amazing is the Playstation brand since it's inception dominated the console market the majority of the time to this very day. The games they bought to the throughout the generations has made a huge pivotal impact and helped me through my darkness times from rough childhood & teenage years. Will always be a gamer for life.

[@thecowboy3217]

Loaded definitely deserves a remake for today's consoles. It would actually fit in seamlessly in today's market.

[@swittersanggraini1780]

I owned an n64 with no regrets. Some of my best ever gaming experiences were on that system. But, i was jealous of some of the games the ps1 had. I remeber playing moto racer at a friends house it really showed me what the n64 was missing. Especially when it came to sound effects and music. I also loved the fighting games.

[@lowendassassin]

I remember when we got the first play station. My mom made me keep it in the living room so I had to hook it up to a tv from the late 70s early 80s. The picture would bounce while trying to play the play station. Sony said the system would have to be modified in order to work on such a old tv. Always wondered if anyone had the same problem.

[@ventura3600]

I had my PS1 in 1997, but it's curious how the lineup of games I was interested in is a continuation of that lineup that launched in 1995. 2 Xtreme, Ace Combat 2, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Twisted Metal 2, Rage Racer, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Soul Blade, Wipeout XL. In addition to these, there was the new mascot representing PlayStation, Crash Bandicoot (which is now owned by Microsoft). And DOOM that even on the verge of completing its second anniversary on PS1 I was still dying to be able to play it from start to finish. Back in 1997 there were many games that left me dreaming and wanting to buy a PlayStation. Kudos to Sony for all the strategy implemented in their entry into the games market.

[@nolahahnshouse3389]

I felt the same way about about Sony right before they launched being that my brother bought the CDI and Panasonic 3do and they were both pretty much terrible consoles so I assumed that Sony would be the same until my friend. Wayne told me that he got a Sony PlayStation a little bit after launch and I walked across the street to check it out and that day in my gaming life changed.

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

I must admit when the PlayStation came out my girlfriends brother had one whilst I was waiting to get a Saturn- i loved ridge racer and i played the hell out of that DEMO1 disc.... I felt such a traitor lmao

[@Konuvis]

Such a nostalgia trip this video!! I still remember getting my JP PSX and my first games were Gunners Heaven, Motor Toon Grand Prix. From your list I had Toshinden, Tekken, MK3, ESPN!!, Loaded, Ridge Racer, Twisted Metal, Destruction Derby. But also Alien Trilogy, Die Hard Trilogy, Road Rash and more. I have a vivid memory of catching the flu in 1995 and staying home, playing Rayman. Such good times.

[@agentmith]

Gaming will never see another transition like the jump from SNES/Genesis era to N64/PlayStation. Makes me kind of sad to think about.

[@loganford3921]

I had a PSX poster up in my bedroom that said "Don't Underestimate the Power of PlayStation" in the mid to late 90s and we didn't know how big it would.become. I was more.of a Sega Saturn player because of the Capcom fighters but mostly played the PSX for Final Fantasy, Ridge Racer, Tekken, Resident Evil, Driver, Rival Schools and many more.

[@donaldchristensen5557]

I believe it ultimately comes down to a single title that as a gamer, you didn't want to miss. One that was groundbreaking in some manner. Nintendo launched with Super Mario Brothers, Genesis with Sonic, what made me buy the playstation was just the commercials of Final Fantasy VII. I invested into the 3dx and was buying all the limited titles it had to offer, but after seeing an FFVII commercial some time before the game came out, I immediately appealed to the parents that I had to get a Playstation, I started out real slow, with maybe a couple titles and played the hell out of the demo disc, I was not prepared for just how great FFVII lived up to the hype, a story experience only the playstation could bring, later I got the same wow factor from Metal Gear Solid, these titles made the Playstation the console to buy at the time imo. N64 would come later with GoldenEye and Legend of Zelda OoT, then a playstation 2 counter with Metal Gear 2 and GTA III, Xbox coming onto the scene with Halo to round out the console wars before it turned into the relative stalemate of what it is today.

[@gc3k]

Genesis didn't launch with Sonic, but it was ready in time for Sega's actual North America competition, Super Nintendo. I think that was a grave lesson Sega learned way too late, to have a showpiece game ready for launch. Dreamcast had an all-new, next generation Sonic "adventure" ready at day one in North America

[@AndikaThe2000]

Most of PS1 launch titles between Japan, US and Europe were super duper great when i'm always love PlayStation. Stuff like from a European launch title Wipeout, US launch title like Street Fighter The Movie (I only love Street Fighter II instead, but i guess the movie still needs for me), and Japan launch title a FPS Wolfenstein style like Crime Crackers. These 3 are just my favorite, but PS1 launch title in 1994-1995 probably a great era of humble beginning.

[@Kain5th]

Thats a good point in the beginning of your video. I also saw those other consoles come and go and felt Sony would be no different. That was until i saw my brother and his friends play an amazing game called Resident Evil. I was hooked after that.

[@CaptainMauser]

I was a die hard Sega Fan back in the day and I was set to buy The Saturn but the more I read about the playstation the more I got into the system. Then came autumn 1995 and I had sold my Sega Megadrive and it was September and I could only afford one console-the cheaper one. It was a big price gap between the Playstation and Saturn. Like 3 games between in price. So I was forced to choose The Playstation but I new deep inside that the choice was right! Sonys games at release was superior to the Saturn. You had everything from Ridge Racer to Tekken and Toshinden....And then came the anouncement that Final Fantasy 7 was coming to the Playstation! That autumn was spent playing Tekkken, Toshinden and Destruction Derby and the mighty Demo CD...You knew after half a year that the console was a success cause people was turning in games and trading. The market exploded...I turned into a Sony fan and has remind that ever since....Best gaming choice I ever did! And I do not agree with your take of Toshinden! It was a really good game!

[@jamessteele9337]

Also with ridge racer you could take the disc out after loading and put in a CD . it would play random tracks while you raced 😊