PlayStation Retrospective Extravaganza | Ashens

CeX Website: webuy.com, YT / cex
Do YOU remember the Sony Playstation? Well I don't care, I'm talking about it anyway. You can reminisce or learn things depending on your personal situation!
We take a look back at the hardware, accessories and games of Sony's game-changer. Yes, we look at that glove controller and yes, it is awful. (Viewer advisory warning: This video contains footage of Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi.)
Oh, and Pingu appears too. Good for him!
Big thanks also to Jon Firth-Clark who played all the games while I operated the footage recording gubbins. (Setup for those interested: PSOne to Retrotink 5X via RGB SCART cable, then into an Elgato HD60 S.)
Splendid image by cookie_studio on Freepik:
www.freepik.com/free-photo/po...
Also thanks fly out to @DidYouKnowGamin for lending me the Glove controller, and obviously CeX for not only sponsoring the video but lending me bits & bobs.

[@grfrjiglstan]

Finally, the Ashens Cex tape we’ve all been asking for.

[@paulharries9558]

He's got Cex on the brain.

[@GreatBeardofWisdom]

Take it on holiday and have Cex on the beach.

[@jennistyf8939]

​@@GreatBeardofWisdom coincidentally, I can only have cex on holiday or maybe online

[@That2J]

Dammit 😂

[@samholdsworth420]

Gay

[@cheapnoiseinthehouse5578]

I can't believe that Ashens had a copyright strike for using the ps1 intro sound. That's madness!

[@NewPremium-pw9jg]

The state of the Internet is a joke

[@bladepanthera]

Yeah! I literally went "what?!" when that part came up. Bonkers!

[@craigmcgougan]

and by someone who doesnt even own it, youtube needs to clamp down on misuse of the copyright strikes.

[@LosDelMango]

The CID recognition system is in there due to demands from the big music labels - but they're not the only ones who can upload to it. Smaller music distributors who upload music from anyone (like, literally anyone can submit audio to them, pay a small fee, and get it on stores/services) put music on the CID database, and while they screen the content they upload for copright issues, they don't have the resources of either big labels or of the stores/services they're uploading stuff to, and inevitably some stuff makes its way onto KZbin CID that shouldn't be there - e.g., a track using a sample of the PS startup sound. If you get a BS claim from them they're usually pretty good about seeing to it if you contact them directly. In this case, that audio's going to cause a whole bunch of claims on a whole bunch of videos. There's a pretty good chance that track's going to come down - at least from KZbin CID - before too long. You absolutely do get scammers abusing the CID system, but it's worth noting that in most cases - especially when the claiming video is music - it's probably accidental. People who use these independent distributors often don't really know anything about CID themselves, have used some sort of non-exclusive content (so sample pack content, a bit of a speech sample, or in this case the PS startup sound) 'cos they think it sounded cool, have selected 'KZbin CID' as a store option 'cos they selected everything, and the distributor has missed it and allowed it through. Again, it's a mess of a system, but usually the person who uploaded the content that's made the claim, the distributor who uploaded it, and even KZbin who implemented the system, are trying their best. The fact that it's a thing in the first place is wholly down to big media companies throwing their weight around, and bullshit like this is just collateral that they don't care about, and that KZbin can't _afford_ to care about vs. keeping the big boys happy.

[@n0isyturtle]

How the hell can someone who didn't even create the sound effect, nor do they own the rights to it, make a claim for it? They just steal it and say 'This is mine now' ?

[@stefanrabicano2327]

Id totally watch a 50 minute retrospective on all the weird accessories / paraphernalia of the Ps1/PS2 - keep em coming Stuart, your videos always make me smile - can't believe I've been watching you for over half the PS1s life!

[@Zikar]

33:40 Fun fact, FromSoftware actually own the Tenchu license and Sekiro started life as a Tenchu game, before they decided to take it more in its own direction.

[@zephyr8072]

And thus made it shit.

[@jean-lucpicard5510]

Tenchu Wrath of heaven?

[@immortalslayer90]

Ashens: "This console is nearly 30 years old". Me: *Rapidly ages to dust*

[@SiGhast]

When Ashens posts his 20th anniversary special in 3 years we'll turn to dust anew.

[@Xelger]

Oh that is complete BS that someone could copyright the startup sequence sound when it's not even theirs to copyright and you have fair use on your side. Well done, KZbin. Well done.

[@ChaseMC215]

Yeah, if Sony wanted the video down because it was using the start up sound, they would, but if KZbin actually did their work, they would have seen that You're not supposed to claim work on the sample you used for the song you made. And since one jerk-off thought they were allowed to do so, they would use this crap to pray on channels. Talk about fraud.

[@anonony9081]

KZbin is broken

[@RemoWilliams1227]

​@@ChaseMC215 yeah whoever it is is a jerk clearly.

[@ChaseMC215]

@@anonony9081 It had always been broken since after the Viacom lawsuit, and even before and after Susan's resignation from the CEO position.

[@Thatsmashguy27]

Someone did the same thing to the old nbc sports theme from the 1980s Now every upload of that song is claimed

[@quicksilver2140]

Got the Playstation in the best way. My Grandmother won one in her bowling clubs raffle, she called up our place late afternoon one Saturday in December 1995 asking if we knew what a Playstation was and asking if we wanted it. It became the bane of our parents as all we did was play it.

[@gavxps1]

There was the "analoge" controller in between the original and the dual shock. It has concave sticks as I recall, with no rumble.

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

Can confirm

[@CJJC]

And was pleasingly big.

[@RWL2012]

Dual Analog controller. Has two analogue stick modes too, red LED is normal Analog mode and green LED is some flight stick emulation mode or something.

[@velvetpilot2008]

It goes for bonkers money now too cause nobody bought it

[@CJJC]

@@velvetpilot2008 I shall ask my friend if she still has hers.

[@oneofmanyjames-es1643]

Don't do this to me Ashens. You're making me feel like I'm ageing faster than that guy in Indiana Jones who drank from the wrong grail.

[@AtheistOrphan]

You chose............poorly. 💀

[@alastairward2774]

Ashens has been around for long enough to have used Google Video, he's as old as us.

[@milktwosugars6848]

​@@AtheistOrphan 😂😂feeling for you

[@LambsyLamb]

Was his name Greyly?

[@ThePandaAgenda]

I mean, we can start calling the PS3 retro at this point, it’s almost 20 years old… imagine how I felt when I came to that realization

[@terribleterrier1685]

It's tragic you had to mute that iconic startup sound. It's pure audio nostalgia for me.

[@IvanovIvanAKrutoi]

To be fair, it's not like a lot of people heard that startup sound over a million times. Still, it kinda sucks that it was muted.

[@HopUpOutDaBed]

it still played in my head when I saw the screen

[@Chaos89P]

​@@HopUpOutDaBed And it still kicked ass, didn't it?

[@rfents]

It's in a Frank Ocean song

[@alwaysamongdragons7354]

How can someone copyright claim something that they sampled? I don't care if it is part of your song now, _you sampled it._

[@no1DdC]

The Negcon controller is extremely relevant to emulation today: You can use it to get analog throttle and brakes with a modern controller in Gran Turismo 2 (and a small handful of other games, I believe). I had an absolute blast with it thanks to this obscure controller hidden in the settings of DuckStation.

[@joevictor53]

I remember getting my PSone in 2001. It was my first console and kids made fun of me for getting it so late when the PS2 was already available. I didn't really care though. This was what my parents could afford at the time and I loved it

[@ElizabethHamlet]

I got a second hand Sega Saturn around the same time. Might have been 2002 as my first console. I loved it

[@RemoWilliams1227]

​@@ElizabethHamlet that's sweet, Saturn is a great console it turned out, wish I would've had one.

[@zzoinks]

​@@RemoWilliams1227 well in Brazil they made the Sega Genesis under license for many many years past its popularity elsewhere and even released new games for it! (You may have heard of this before)

[@RemoWilliams1227]

@@zzoinks I have but it's still super cool

[@Relyx]

I was in the exact same boat, except my first console was a MegaDrive that I got for Christmas 2000 (I actually made my mom cry because I opened it up, and being only 6 at the time, I shouted "WOW A PLAYSTATION!"). We were poor as hell, so there was no way I was getting a brand new console. I eventually got a chipped PSOne and a bunch of pirated copies of games in summer 2001, as a family member just didn't want it anymore.

[@brfcjack]

50 minutes of ashens! Today is a good day.

[@NewPremium-pw9jg]

Yea but you have to listen to him shill a shite company

[@beethimbles8801]

A great day!

[@milktwosugars6848]

Amen ♥️💕

[@roryb1703]

He mentioned how the black cd made it hard to copy the games but apparently that’s entirely a marketing gimmick, and there were some other clever tricks the console did to prevent piracy. KZbin channel Technology Connections talks about this in detail on his episode about the PlayStation

[@willpemberton6823]

Black discs didn’t do anything to stop copying, you could even buy black CD-R discs and copy a PlayStation game to them.

[@chamoo232]

If I remember correctly. The copy protection was hidden in the first data of the disc but in the way the data was written. Some kind of wave or the spaces. Something a regular cd drive would not pay attention to or be able to replicate. Modchips were basically sending that data into the PS1 directly instead of reading it from the disc.

[@sierra991]

was searching for this comment

[@Atolm4]

Yeah, any cd drive can rip a playstation disc image that can run in an emulator. Not that anyone would have had a pc powerfull enough to emulate a playstation when the console was at its peak.

[@Okurka.]

@@Atolm4 Modchips were cheap as chips when the console was at its peak.

[@finegentlemanincrocs]

Caddicarus did one of these recently, but Ashens’ one doesn’t leave you out of breath and halfway through a panic attack

[@Gatorade69]

HELLO ! IM SPONS !

[@chickentoast2655]

not gonna lie, i find Caddicarus so extremely unfunny now. he both tries way to hard to be funny, and utilises a style of comedy that died about 10 years ago, plus it’s so overdone that it gives me a headache

[@finegentlemanincrocs]

@@chickentoast2655 agree with you there pal

[@BlueflagAlpha]

@@chickentoast2655 agree, he said he just want to make people laugh with his video which i find most of his jokes to be cringy where i never laugh at all. I really hate when he said he dont like his older videos which were better in my opinion

[@JADEN0__0HESS]

​@Gatorade69 Jesus loves you all ❤️ his the only why to heaven❤

[@SvenSvenApfel]

Moorhuhn? That unlocks memories. It was so popular because everyone could play it. Every parent was playing it. What kept people playing were the many secrets you could unlock by shooting things in a certain order. It was basically just like the Pokemon rumors for Moorhuhn.

[@starlightwitch12]

Ashens doing video games again, finally.

[@chupathingy5862]

Yeah but some of them are good games. This still doesn't feel right.

[@mayathepsychiic]

first time i've tuned in in a while, not that i have anything against his usual content but i REALLY hope he does more retrospectives like this :)

[@rphilipsgeekery4589]

​@@chupathingy5862 subjective opinion, really doesn't matter, unless you care

[@jonmahashintina]

finally? werent they the entire focus of his twitch channel?

[@ceejayszee]

@@jonmahashintina twitch is so fucking boring

[@HouseOldSkoolRaver]

The best thing about this growing up was we got it chipped/flashed and used to buy games of this guy for £5 each at the time. great times.

[@HollowRick]

Same haha it's how I got to play the RPGs from Square that never got a European release hell we got the sequel to parasite Eve but not the first one 🤦‍♂️

[@sgtsnokeem1139]

Aussie here. In the late 90's and early 2000's we STILL had the odd PS1 or 2 set up at raves or night clubs playing RR or Wipeout. Listening to Faithless (I can't get no sleep) while playing Wipeout while .... inebriated.... was a fun experience while taking a break from dancing. Ahhh memories.

[@shortcake1025]

Him: "Memories of this noise: ...". Every deaf person who has played PS1: "Ah, yes. Memories."

[@OldManTheseDays]

There was a place in Japantown in San Francisco that had a PlayStation very soon after it was released in Japan. You could pay $5 and play it for 20 minutes. It was glorious.

[@MultiVogon]

I worked on dev software for those back in the day. We had hardware units sent over from Japan so we could get our hands on them early. I have nightmares about writing SCSI drivers for a CD emulation system 😀

[@milktwosugars6848]

Thank you dude ❤

[@vabu94]

You sir are an unsung hero to all of us gamers! 🫡

[@PostingCringeOnMain]

Thank you for all your hard work.

[@malegirlboss]

thank you, good sir ☺

[@merseyviking]

I was a gamedev at the tail end of PS1, and the dev machines were just a 16 bit ISA card, so we needed fairly old PCs to plug them in to, and if there was the slightest hint of a bug in the debugger, the whole machine locked up. That said, the debugger software itself was really good but temperamental. I don't blame you, I just think the dev hardware was incredibly sensitive.

[@Ben42]

This might be one of about 7 videos on youtube where the sponsorship isn't jarring, it flows well with the video, and is actually somewhat convincing and makes sense Good job Ashens!

[@judgeje184]

4 months late, but in a previous sponsored video (God, I can't recall which video it was) where he was sponsored by some app, and he explained he doesn't take sponsorship deals unless he would use the thing himself or something like that. Lots of people could learn a thing or two I believe 😹

[@professorpenne9962]

I still remember being blown away by monster rancher. being able to take a random cd you had and have it summon a monster was amazing for the time.

[@Gatorade69]

I remember scouring the entire house and trying every CD I could. I remember Nirvana Nevermind and Monster by REM gave you a unique monster. I also want to say Matchbox 20 too but not 100% on that one. Edit : Yes, Matchbox 20 gives you a unique monster. Also a Greatful Dead album gives you a Bear named Teddy, lol.

[@mystic839]

i actually left slips of paper in all of the cds in the house that told you what monsters it would give you in both MR and MR2!

[@LonelySpaceDetective]

PSA that there's a remaster of Monster Rancher 1 and 2 out there for the Switch, PC and mobile devices with a built-in CD database for summoning monsters.

[@PedroBenolielBonito]

4:50 that's OK, Stuart. We can all hear it in our heads.

[@gullyfoyle2615]

Bishi bashi special is the greatest multiplayer ever. Uncle throwing, wedding bride pie throw and who can forget Afro growing Disco dance!

[@Atolm4]

It is sofa king good. Love that game.

[@ultrixsoma2736]

And has a 10/10 waifu.

[@abbycrouchable]

Can't believe he got a copyright strike.. but I think a lot of us heard it just from seeing it 😁 I feel old now, but it was worth it for all the memories this brought back! I'm sure I still have mine knocking around somewhere.

[@ChaseMC215]

It isn't a strike, it's a claim. If it was a this video wouldn't have been on here.

[@sickranchez4742]

Cex, the store that sounds sexual but the minute you walk in you get a whiff of sweat, regret and virginity.

[@carlpotter1926]

To be fair, I get that in any room I've previously been in

[@Alscfs]

add monster energy drinks to that list

[@thecianinator]

"CEX. Sweat? Regret? You bet!"

[@IvanovIvanAKrutoi]

It sounds like one of those things you'd see on Top Gear when Jeremy Clarkson says "I went on the Internet, and I found THIS!".

[@lovetrain2455]

The fact people to this day people keep finding and translating games that never saw much attention is proof this console had a little of something for everyone

[@Gatorade69]

Good. I hate the fact we were robbed of so many cool and interesting games just cause someone somewhere thought "Oh, they wouldn't like this." So many stupid decisions like "Oh rental games are a thing, let's make this release harder so they don't beat it in a night or two" and "Hey, this cover art is awesome but looks a little anime-ish, let's redo it and make sure it has no style."

[@ZekeDidNothingWrong]

The difference between Ashens talking about the PS1 multi-tap and Caddicarus talking about the same add-on is amusing. Ashens properly explains it, Caddy does as well but also dresses up as an Australian and uses it as a boomerang. Completely different energy. This is why I love KZbin.

[@caifabe8050]

"the PS1 Multi-tap or if you'd prefer the PS1 Multi-BRANCHEMENT"

[@jersmont1309]

Caddy explained it really well between throwing it as a boomerang and pretending to eat a baby in the dingo costume though

[@Jayfive276]

Not different "energy" - things and people having different sorts of "energy" is not a real thing. Stop using the language of pseudo-science snake oil peddlers. Nothing stopped you saying they just "took a different approach" or something in the past. So go back to that.

[@Blacknight8850]

Yeah, I love Caddy but I do wish he wouldn't smash or burn or otherwise destroy so much rare old stuff!

[@caifabe8050]

@@Blacknight8850 nah that's the best part about him. as far as im aware he's never destroyed anything that was so expensive there were only dobule digits of them left on earth like say, some horrible companies like *cough* DKOldies *cough*

[@aremel42]

Ashens left out the PlayStation single-handed controller. Think, a PSOne controller, cut one side off, and stick all the buttons on it. Fantastic for RPGs. I spent a memorable winter in my parents' basement playing Final Fantasy Tactics: WOTL on a PSOne, with an attached LCD screen and single-hand controller, perched on the arm of an over-stuffed chair while binge-watching a Buffy marathon.

[@birdbrain4445]

17:12 the PS1 was before my time so a lot of these peripherals are new to me. This one though - it looked so weird and when you demonstrated how it worked, my jaw dropped. It *sounds* silly but having played many a racing game... that is a very intuitive and ergonomic way of controlling them, I could tell immediately. Never seen anything like that, what a neat thing. Also Vib-Ribbon! I've never seen that before but I love it already. What a creative concept for a game; love the art style and that you can use your own audio - what I could hear of its own music sounded cool too.

[@gestaposantaclaus]

PS1 era 3D graphics have also made a comeback and are quite popular with indie devs.

[@Komodo1312]

There is something special about the shimmering ps1 3D graphics

[@steel5897]

I don't they look right outside of a CRT or a very good CRT shader though. I didn't really get that feeling of "yep, this is how it used to look like" with PS1 games until I tried playing them on Retroarch with the crt royale shader and downscaling to 240p, on a high resolution OLED. I wish I could afford the space for a real CRT because that's the endgame. Unfortunately these PS1 looking indie games with their aliasing and warbling textures do not do it for me, it's not like the real thing at all.

[@dystheria]

I'm only commenting because I want to say the following to whomever copyright claimed the Playstation startup: may your future be strewn with barefoot walks on upturned plugs and lego bricks.

[@futureskeletons66669]

One of your best vids, Stu. Been playing a few PS1 games on Retroarch recently - Gradius Gaiden, R-Type Delta, Einhander, Thunder Force V, Harmful Park and Castlevania Chronicles.

[@Gatorade69]

Sounds like you are on a shoot em up binge. Check out G Darius, I believe that's what its called but not 100% sure. I was never really a shmup fan but I really liked Einhander and G Darius. G Darius had a a weird capture system where you could capture enemy ships. Edit : Yes, I was right about the name. G-Darius. Also looking it up it reviewed really well. Lot's of 8s and higher. So if you like shmups you will most likely enjoy it. I know I did and I wasn't much of a shoot em up fan. They even made a HD version in 2021 that I didn't know about it.

[@futureskeletons66669]

Been playing stuff I can't get elsewhere. Got G-Darius HD on PS5

[@MissMTurner]

Loading up WipEOut for the first time was literally mind-blowing. I remember thinking graphics would never be better than that. Oh, to be a senior in high school in the mid-90s again. 😅

[@RichoRosai]

Literally mind-blowing, huh? How exactly does that work, given that the mind doesn't really have a corporeal form? I suppose a part of your skull might have been missing and strong wind or a bomb could have blown your brain in a sense, but I assume that's not what you mean because, well, first of all it doesn't sound like a very pleasant memory. Although it might explain your apparent trouble with what words mean...

[@joshuaDstarks]

I usually just have to see my own face in the mirror to know I’m ancient, so it’s a great change of pace seeing something that brought me a lot of joy as well.

[@milktwosugars6848]

You're not as old as you feel you are x

[@Gatorade69]

It's why I don't bother looking in the mirror.

[@Gatorade69]

@@milktwosugars6848 Well I feel ancient. Ever since that damn tick bite...

[@notmyrealname1526]

There's also been a Dual Analog controller that was the predecessor to the Dual Shock controller. Slightly longer handles and no vibration. Interesting thing is that it has a flight stick mode that the Dual Shock doesn't have.

[@TatsuChi]

glad someone-else mentioned this, also the the dual analog had concaved sticks as opposed to the dual-shocks convex ones

[@kevboard]

the Dual Analog controller had rumble in Japan... no idea why they cheaped out on it in the west. but it was only on the market for a few months anway. also fun fact, Sony didn't add a second stick because they actually had some revolutionary gameplay ideas for it. the reason the dual Analog controller originally came out is as a cheap and less clunky alternative to Sony's own flight stick, which had 2 analog joysticks.

[@notmyrealname1526]

@@kevboard Apparently the vibration motors led to hardware failure, and rather than fixing the issue Sony simply cut them for international releases. The pads are still there, so technically you could just add some.

[@ThePokeproject]

Started to introduce my little brother to the PS1 and PS2 in recent years, he now has both and he loves them!

[@NeuronicPlague]

Something cool I realized while replaying Final Fantasy 7 recently is that the mounted combat in Elden Ring seems to be directly inspired by the motorcycle minigame in FF7. You use the shoulder buttons to direct attacks to the left and right, and it feels quite similar!

[@ryanmg92]

Right in the nostalgia with the light guns. Remember playing the die hard trilogy game with my dad back in the day

[@OnlySlightlySad03]

I wasn't expecting to see Ashens whip out a Walther PPK lol. What a cool idea for a light gun!

[@TatsuChi]

they did the scorpion 2 as well which was a P99 (the gun bond upgraded to in golden eye)

[@comrade_commissar3794]

I'm pretty sure it's a Makarov, not a PPK

[@cookieface80]

@@TatsuChi It was actually Tomorrow Never Dies. He had a PPK in Goldeneye.

[@TatsuChi]

@@cookieface80 I thought it got swapped midway through golden eye and then he had it for all the Brosnan era films? but if im wrong fair enough

[@cookieface80]

@@TatsuChi As I recall, he gets the P99 in TND from Lin's safehouse in Shanghai.

[@gravecactus]

Vagrant Story is one of those underrated games that folks don't seem to understand. Grind? Wrong. Rush? Yes. It's hard to explain. But it's fantastic and I wish it were on Steam.

[@JomasterTheSecond]

Fun fact, the NegCon has the G pronounced in it so it's more like Ne-Jee-Con. It's called that because Nejiru is the word for twisting in Japanese, and the controller is something you twist.

[@unicornpuffy8656]

Ahhhh, memories 😂 does anyone remember the demo discs you used to get in the PlayStation magazine 😍💗 x

[@oysterpudding2405]

I remember getting the PS1 for my 8th birthday. Such good memories!

[@milktwosugars6848]

Fantastic memories ❤

[@Dessan01]

I got one when I was about 12 so Ashens has made me feel even older 😂

[@CricketEngland]

If you thinking of getting a PS1 today DON’T The machine you want is the first U.K. edition (the fat boy one) of the PS3 as this was the only PlayStation that was backward compatible to be able not only to play PS3 games but PS2 and PS1 games

[@Dessan01]

@@CricketEngland to be honest I already have several machines (have a region free ps1 to play ntsc and jap games too) and quite a big games collection. I tend to use the mister to play these days though.

[@alexwood7678]

​@@CricketEngland or download some decent emulators

[@Lathland]

I hit 30 recently, the PS1 is nearly 30. ...Yeah, feeling that age creeping in alright.

[@hypethekomodo6495]

I remember having a third party memory card that allowed you to swap between a dozen 'cards', each holding the same amount of slots as one memory card. Made it EXTREMELY convenient to actually save data. So many good memories with the PS1. Armored Core, Valkyrie Profile, FF9, Castlevania SotN, Monster Rancher 2...I could go on and on with all the games that came out that I flat out adore to this day.

[@chamoo232]

I think I had that same memory card. The Performance Mega memory card. Had a little screen with 3 rows ABC and 8 slots wide. It was 24 memory cards in 1. The only thing that sucked was trying to find a specific save file that you had not played in a while.

[@Highlander77]

I had a really interesting device for my PS1 that was meant to alleviate the memory card storage issue. Essentially it was an external 3.5" floppy disk drive that plugged into the memory card slot of the PS1 and allowed you to use floppy disks as memory cards (or maybe it allowed you to back the memory cards up to floppy disks... can't quite remember exactly how it functioned since it was roughly 172 years ago, but you get the idea). I do remember it being quite slow, but other than that it was pretty cool.

[@milktwosugars6848]

172 years ago 😂😂 love it

[@SIPEROTH]

Haha. Well that problem was solved a little later with third party 128MB memory cards etc. I think i even have a 256MB one with a switch on it.

[@chupathingy5862]

I found something called a V-Mem virtual memory card that plugs into the parallel port. Interestingly enough I think it's one of the only parallel devices that wasn't purpose built for cheating or piracy.

[@michaelkitchin9665]

I didn't get into expanded storage until the PS2 when they started putting out MaxDrives for them. Annoyingly, my old PS1 memory cards don't seem to read now.

[@KopperNeoman]

@SIPEROTH I think they were Mb, not MB. A megabit is an eighth of a megabyte. Nowadays though, there are microSD adapters for the PS1 and 2.

[@RinIsArty]

I had a PS1 back as a kid, and for years I had no memory card. Got very used to playing the first two levels of games. But when I got a memory card, ohh boy, Re-Volt took away years of my life.

[@blobbem]

Ha, I also had Re-Volt for the PS1 and I loved it. Boy was I in for a shock when I found out later in life that the PS1 port was like the worst version of the game. The PC version was vastly superior in every way. Luckily, Re-Volt still has a dedicated community and some folks even made a port of the game to OpenGL (RVGL is the name of it), not to mention the insane amount of custom cars and tracks that people have made for the PC version.

[@milktwosugars6848]

Playing silent hill 1 demo, I left my ps1 on pause all night 🤣 until I had the courage to carry on playing 🤣🤣 haha, I feel the pain

[@Gatorade69]

Similar, I feel you. I had a memory card for my PS1 at my mom's but at my dad's house he got a Dreamcast but never got a VMU. So there was many nights of me leaving the Dreamcast on trying to beat Sonic Adventure. I liked the Dreamcast but it really sucked having to start from the beginning every damn time in every game.

[@ObsessiveGeek]

Why only two levels?

[@ObsessiveGeek]

@@Gatorade69 You got a VMU with the Dreamcast. Also you actually needed to save Sonic Adventure? It’s a fun game but not hard whatsoever.

[@Mayernator87]

You may have had a silly "copyright claim" with that boot sequence, but I still heard it loud and clear! Such amazing memories of Saturday mornings huddled in front of the lounge CRT telly. 🤓🎮

[@Lawls]

After all these years, still releasing top notch content

[@gigteevee6118]

This is beyond excellent ❤ a total PS1 celebration! I found my receipt from 1995 this week for my PS1 at launch time and it was £300

[@PlayingGilly]

Fun fact, the PlayStation mouse was compatible with Quake 2 and if you had 2 multitaps, 4 mice and 4 controllers you could play 4 player split screen which is just beautifully ludicrous when you think about it.

[@RemoWilliams1227]

Awesome sauce

[@LonelySpaceDetective]

Alien Resurrection also supports the mouse! Both it and Quake 2 can basically be played with a WASD layout in emulators, thanks to their mouse support.

[@PlayingGilly]

I had no idea, that is so fucking cool. @@LonelySpaceDetective

[@TaikoNoTetsujin]

I got a copy of vibribbon when I was living in Japan, and I loved that game. Especially the rabbit singing the instructions in Japanese, as well as the little celebratory ditties and her reading your score. I actually downloaded it for my PS Vita (yeah I was one of the 7 people who owned one of those) and it was still fun...although there was no way to stick your own CDs in there...

[@punkxblaze]

It's very weird that this is one of the first KZbin channels I ever subscribed to back when you were making all I want for Christmas is a psp parodies, and now I'm fairly certain I'm an older man now than you were then. Then you put this out and make me feel even older. The March of time is merciless!

[@geocider22]

Remember the demo discs? Good times. Simpler times. Better times. I was a child and didn't yet know the true horror of human existence. Ah, the memories.

[@marttull5979]

Still own all my demo disc's good times

[@kawrght]

Same. Kept a bunch Including a few rare ones like station 8 and number 42(yarzoe hall of fame). Worth it just for the trippiness!!

[@marttull5979]

@@kawrght mgs1 full demo disc was my go to as well as Abe's odyssey

[@Gatorade69]

I loved them, especially the PlayStation Underground discs. I think they were like 5$ but had so much stuff crammed into them including cheats, interviews and usually always included a demo of a Japanese titles we probably would never get (We did get Tails Concerto but I remember playing it first on one of these discs). I'm glad demos are starting to come back.

[@chamoo232]

@@Gatorade69 I had the Playstation Jampack with the Tail Concerto demo. I played it so many times. Those discs also had save import stuff. I had another Jampack cd that would put a completed Gran Turismo save file on your memory card. Every license unlocked, every car in your garage and a ton of money.

[@TheHoldenmcgroin]

10 seconds... 10 BLOODY seconds and I feel REALLY old as I was 20 when it came out... The Corporation nightclub in Sheffield had around 10 PlayStation to play on with varying games. Was a great time to be alive! Playing Colin McRae and Tekken whilst massively drunk, listening to Motley Crue and Slayer... Mmmmmmm.

[@Gatorade69]

I can leave the Crue but Beer, Slayer and Tekken with the mates sound like a great time. The question is what Tekken ? The first one is kind of forgettable but 2 and 3 rock.

[@TheHoldenmcgroin]

@@Gatorade69 IIRC, it was Tekken 3. There were a few other games there too all a bit of a blur tbh, the place had 2 large room with different music, one was the heavy stuff, the other the "glam" rock room. lol. Each room had about 8 PS1s in.

[@Fally2508]

Even though the startup was muted I still 100% heard it in my brain thing!

[@Sativasoldier666v2]

A little surprised that you didn't mention the massive modding scene for the PlayStation Classic which made it far less mediocre, still a great video though, thanks Dr.Ashens!

[@TheSektorz]

man this channel's been around for so long I wouldn't be shocked if someone said the playstation 1 came out when ashens first uplaoded a pop station video

[@DrewDawkins]

I heard his PopStation videos inspired the creation of the original Playstation.

[@drunkenhobo8020]

By an absolutely astonishing coincidence, the PlayStation was discontinued on 23th of March 2006, and Ashens's first POP Station video on KZbin was posted on the 28th of March 2006. It was basically just a long weekend between them.

[@SavorySoySauce]

I wish all of documented history was recorded in Ashen's Pop Station video releases.

[@handlesarefeckinstupid]

When Gran Turismo came out it blew me away. First game I got after soldering my chip in. WipeOut2097 was the game that made me buy the console., Link cable and 2 TVs and a load of booze made for a great night.

[@MattTester]

Great memories of being terrible at Crash Bandicoot 2 and being scared of the Casper game to the point where my mum hid it. The PlayStation version of Worms is still my favourite, I've never tried it with the mouse.

[@Gatorade69]

Why were you afraid of Casper ? It wasn't that scary, especially if you had seen the movie. Ok, now imagine this. You get your uncle to buy you Resident Evil 2 because obviously you are way too young to buy it. You return home late, do your homework and jump on the game for an hour Before you have to go to sleep. You end up having a nightmare about zombies and waking up to a crash. The winds are crazy and you can hear it whirling through the old Windows in the old ads creaky house. You get up and go into the living room, the lights are on but nobody is home so you go upstairs and notice the door is wide open (yes, there was a staircase outside leading upstairs). You walk around the house and you can't find anybody all the while the winds are crazy scary and then the wind literally blows a window open and you scream and almost piss yourself. True story. I was so damn scared. I guess my parents went to a party after I had gone to bed. The house was literally built in 1850s so yeah, it was old and the Windows and doors were easily blown open by the crazy wind storm. I think I grabbed a baseball bat and jumped under the covers in terror.

[@filipnaruniec8127]

Too many comments to check if it hasn't been already mentioned but the design was unfortunately changed. The first lot had the laser in a different place, too close to the power brick and due to heating could damage the reading lens so it was moved from 3 to 10PM

[@mutalix]

Very interesting, I've been playing PlayStation since 1996 and have had several units and generations of them and never realized the different models laser configurations.

[@fmhummel]

The port on the back was also very useful fur virtual memory cards. Cheat devices often came with that function and gave you ten times the storage space of one card.

[@ChaseMC215]

There was also a add on that lets you play GameBoy games. Yeah, I said that. There is a device for the PS1 called the Super GB Booster that plugs into the back port of the PS1 and lets you play GameBoy games on it.

[@ChrisIngenuous]

Stuart, if I may call you that, please never change. I've only been watching your videos for around a year, and it still amazes me how much I love them. I'm Canadian, so a lot of what you do will have zero impact on my particular consumerism, yet I still click on pretty well every ashens video I see. Truly a KZbin legend. ❤

[@Jonboy969]

So glad the brown sofa lives on and still love listening to you waffle (knowledgeably) for hours on end… all these years on. Been a great decade+, thanks man!

[@Mikatiini]

Teräs käsi is steel hand in Finnish 😂

[@boswellox]

Bishi Bashi is incredible! I was so happy you mentioned it!

[@jebdunkins6796]

My very First Video Gaming experience was with a PS1. I can distinctly remember getting my dad to help me with the first jump on Tarzan when i was about 3/4. That was the last time he has ever helped me with a piece of technology

[@Gatorade69]

You probably don't remember cause you were young but was that Tarzan game any good ? I remember renting it at a sleep over with a friend. We were glued to it trying to beat it. I wanna say it was good but I can't remember as I was like 8 or 9.

[@ryanfillingham3345]

Classic PlayStation so many good memories 😢😊

[@PostingCringeOnMain]

When Ashens pulled out the Namco GunCon I immediately thought to myself "I always wanted one of those, but I couldn't afford it and had to get the..." then before I know it, he's whipped out the scorpion that I think all of us here had in the UK if we couldn't afford the GunCon... no mention of Die Hard Trilogy as a light gun game, though :(

[@MrMegaManFan]

I wish I was nearly 30 years old, but I had one of these in college, so you know I'm even OLDER.

[@thumbtak123]

The PS mouse was for Linux that was officially supported. This was to allow it to be sold in countries where game systems were illegal. It was marketed as a computer, with the Linux disc.

[@z-buffer1273]

im pretty sure you're thinking of the ps2, rather than the ps1.

[@ChaseMC215]

Linux was never on the PS1, it was for the PS2. And besides, the PS2 Linux has a bundle that comes with a USB keyboard and mouse. The PS1 mouse is for games that can support it, like Alien Resurrection.

[@CrythornMadness]

I remember playing dj creation software on the PS1, I was addicted into making simple music on it.

[@ThatSoddingGamer]

Don't forget about the music visualizer! I had some fun with that, and was disappointed that the PS2 didn't do something like that (but better, because new generation hardware), even though the PS2 had cool looking visuals in its menu system. The X-Box 360 had a visualizer though; that was nice. Not sure about the original X-Box, never had one of those. I remember hearing about the PSX console (which at the time in NA, PSX was just used to refer to the PS1 for some reason). It was a PS2 + DVR + HDD combo system, Japan exclusive.

[@nathaniela.5053]

I honestly forgot about you Mr ashens. As a kid I much enjoyed your content, and now as 20 year old I still find it entertaining and intruiging

[@OwlTowel]

First ever console I owned was the PSOne. So many good (and bad) memories from that beautiful little thing.

[@samholdsworth420]

The psone was awesome. I was like 18 years old at the time when it came out and also a security guard. I would bring a little mini CRT TV with me in my van to work and play my psone my entire shift 🤣

[@AsheCraftingCorner]

Every now and then..I go back to the Nintendo Extravaganza, and watch it

[@jjjjjaaaacccoob]

now you can do the same with the Playstation Extravaganza 🙈

[@Olhado256]

Man, I'm down with a bad cold and I've watched all three of these CEX videos over the course of the weekend. Words cannot express how much comfort they brought me just when I needed it. Just commenting for the almighty algorithm.

[@adamlacey81]

Christmas 1996, my friend next door unveiled a new PlayStation, we played Tomb Raider and my tiny mind was blown.

[@Thornius]

If you're a fan of Tenchu, check out Aragami 2! Sadly the studio that made it went under this year, but it's a really fun stealth action game that does have a Tenchu vibe going on. Also, "Teräs Käsi" is directly taken from Finnish and just means "Steel Hand".

[@Gatorade69]

Ahh, so Finnish is alien. Good to know. What species of Star Wars species do you think speak Finnish ?

[@Yzozer]

Tekken also means "Iron Fist" right? So developers went like "call it like Tekken, but in different language!"

[@TheTooBig]

@@Gatorade69 Haha, maybe some kind of blonde wookie-like creatures from Thott or whatever the planet was called from the second movie

[@jubuttib]

@@Yzozer Probably not? Teräs Käsi was first mentioned in an Expanded Universe book (Shadows of the Empire) that came out before the game was announced, and despite the long development times of games almost all sources I've seen credit the name and concept of the fighting style to the writer of the novel, Steve Perry, who AFAIK had not have anything to do with the game project.

[@jubuttib]

@@TheTooBig Heh, in this day and age "Thott" really has a different ring than "Hoth". =)

[@acidhelm]

TFW a console that you played the heck out of appears in a nostalgic retrospective video.

[@quentonlyles619]

The playstation sound bit sent me to GOD

[@Nytephyre]

One of my fondest memories is learning how to play imports on the PS. Many hours of DBZ Final Bout brought much joy. Thanks for the walk down memory lane .

[@ozmond]

This is exactly the type of video I want to see. Thank you Ashens

[@NeverStopRolling]

I feel like there wasn't enough respect given to the cases, they're actually the MOST beautiful on a shelf, as Caddy said they have great design with the black and white colour scheme and the uniformity in the titles and fonts is pretty much unmatched by any other system.

[@BrokenCircus]

However, they do fall apart the moment you look at them, so swings and roundabouts.

[@lilhanhan]

​@@BrokenCircusNah, they last a hell of a lot longer than the European Dreamcast cases; now they're the cases which disintegrate upon looking at them!

[@NeverStopRolling]

@@BrokenCircus nah sorry the broken circus is right, those hinges were NOT up to the task asked of them. But on a shelf 👌

[@foreverhungry84]

the sega megadrive cases are the pinnacle of case design.

[@RecycleFinn]

@@BrokenCircus I never had the cases break unless i dropped them so yeah... But those small plastic pieces that hold the CDs in place always broke.

[@BocalokaTV]

Fantastic video, talk about going above and beyond the retrospective threshold 😍

[@SlowMotionAtomicBomb]

My favourite bit was when he said the PlayStation was nearly 30 years old, and I knew he was wrong because I was 10 when it was official realised and... oh FUCK, I'm nearly 40?! I could have sworn I was still barely 30?!

[@SuicideNeil]

Oh, the memories of trying to get hold of one of these. We went into every damn shop and put a deposit down in Dixons since they were all sold out, by chance we tried one last time in a Comet store that was a bit of a trek to get to; they had some in stock, with a discount on a copy of WipeOut 2097 using a newspaper voucher. Bought it instantly, got the deposit back from Dixons, and a good time was had by all...

[@milktwosugars6848]

Go you! I got my first one, second hand from a friend in '98 😂

[@heynosjosh]

For people only able to use one hand, the ASCII Grip is a much better option. love to see you look at it. I broke my hand a few years back, and that thing, along with a "PSX to USB" adapteri got at a thrift store allowed me to not go crazy while recovering from surgery, so I can confirm its utility. It reminds me of something like a prototype wiimote/nunchuck combination. great for strategy games, and platformers.

[@Gatorade69]

It's also great to use when playing anime style waifu games. Two kinds of grip.

[@heynosjosh]

@@Gatorade69 not anymore, how do you think I broke that hand in the first place?

[@lrochfort]

It's a great piece of industrial design. Right up there with the Spectrum + in my opinion

[@manpotion]

I remember the Gameshark plugging into the parallel port. This was before consoles had any kind of internet connectivity, so you were entering all the codes for your cheats manually. Good times.

[@Gatorade69]

Yeah, there was one that plugged in the port and there was a later version that was a memory card and it also required a Gameshark CD (I can't remember if you needed the CD for the Parallel port one).

[@kayleigh1991]

50 minutes of Ashens? Good night for me

[@NewPremium-pw9jg]

If you like a cex shill I suppose. Shame he can't afford to buy some grubby tat from them by himself and then he wouldn't have to be their whore

[@milktwosugars6848]

Yessssssss 😂

[@mistermatt9143]

I remember having a cheat cartridge that circumvented copyright too. Had to use a spring to keep the lid open oddly. It let me play Toy Story 2 in black and white though!

[@lmcgregoruk]

I remember the Dreamcast playing games in Black and White if you had a TV if you tried using 60HZ mode on certain TV's(tv's that only supported 50hz?) It's possible that a PAL region PlayStation played NTSC games in Black and White too.

[@CorneliusTalmadge]

@@lmcgregoruk the PlayStation didn't do any kind of adjustment between PAL and NTSC. It would just output the game in its native format rather than using a video format on the console itself. That's why on a PAL TV, NTSC games would either be unplayable because the video would jump or it would be in black and white without a scart cable.

[@TheOGRalph]

I do enjoy seeing little known rare consoles like this.😮

[@dmabbers]

A crying shame that you had to mute the startup sound. But this was still a cracking video that brought up many nostalgic memories. Would you also make a similar video for the PS2 as well??

[@IvanovIvanAKrutoi]

If possible, he should probably reupload this video with the unmuted PS1 startup sound if he solves the copyright issue.

[@ChaseMC215]

​@@IvanovIvanAKrutoi It never happened, because KZbin is apparently siding with Franke Ocean, despite the fact that the PlayStation start up is NOT his property, it belongs to Sony.

[@asbjo]

Negcon looks absolutely perfect! I cant beleive it didnt become more standard.

[@io3204]

Me too. It's the best for full analog and still being able to sit or lie any way anywhere you want unlike with a wheel and paddles. The precision and make of it is also very good. You can use it on PC with an adapter, configure it and play modern games.

[@reichtangle7734]

I loved the PlayStation, one of the best consoles to ever exist!

[@Boogie_the_cat]

yeah, i loved the pixelated graphics, and textures and character models that jiggled around every time the camera moved so it looked like all the characters were having seizures. it really helped immerse me in the cutscenes when it seemed like every human on the screen was having a seizure, it made me emotionally involved. and before anyone says: "hey it was the beginning of 3d graphics, it looked amazing at the time". no. i played pc games with a 3dfx voodoo accelerator. it had an actual z-buffer and anti-aliasing, even in 1995. i never owned a ps1. it looked terrible. sorry to ruin your childhood

[@WarlockX4]

​@@Boogie_the_cat you must be fun at parties. You are the living embodiment of the "Well ackchyually..." meme. Congratulations.

[@happy_pikmin5540]

@@WarlockX4 I second this

[@unexpecteditem7919]

@@Boogie_the_cat The PlayStation was designed pretty much entirely by one person, even down to the geometry co-processor, and specifically to be as cheap as possible and easy to create 3D worlds on the television. You categorically could not get better hardware for £299 in 1995. It was absolutely groundbreaking.

[@ventisette.]

@@Boogie_the_cat not everyone was as rich as you and I…hardware was quite good for the price.

[@pdughi]

Hints from the Tenchu: Stealth Assassin's load screen: Beware of deranged cultists. Important info you might not have come up with on your own. That game was so awesome though. I remember playing every level 'till I got perfect, never spotted, all undetected kills 'cept the boss. Super fun.

[@john_michael97]

All ps3s are backwards compatible with PS1 games (the original Fat Ones are compatible with ps2 games as well) so that’s always an option for playing older games 🤷‍♂️

[@pdughi]

@@john_michael97 Good to know; though I do have my original ps1, ps2, plus modded versions of both, I don't have them hooked up. Only the ps3 & ps4. (No ps5 yet ... ) Maybe I'll crack tenchu 1&2 out... or just go play Thief Gold on pc for the 100'th time.

[@energy-turtle]

This was my favourite video you made in a while! Good work Stuart 🎉