20 years ago, as of 9/9/15, the Playstation was released in the United States.

In many ways, Sony’s Playstation changed the gaming landscape as we knew it back in the mid 90’s. During those times, CD technology was very new. Companies were looking to get aboard to abandon cartridge-based technology and also make attempts at better FMV games (I am looking at YOU Sega CD!). If gamers thought that the PS3 was a lot of money upon releasing its blu-ray /gaming hybrid just 10 years ago, had hurting pockets when the Phillips CD-i (approx. $700 ), Panasonic’s 3DO (approx $600) and Sega Saturn (approx. $400) were released.

Everyone by now has heard the story of how Nintendo was supposed to get Sony’s system as an add-on and somehow that deal fell through. Sony then went on to release this system and the rest, as they say, is history. Some of what the Playstation went on to accomplish was for one, finally bringing the arcade experience home. Games like Tekken, Ridge Racer and NBA Jam, introduced at launch  were nearly indistinguishable from their arcade counterparts. Also, because of Sony taking the lead in developing quality games for their system, we saw graphical and technological leaps as well. Sega was still trying to eek the most out of their 32X while the Saturn was failing. Nintendo did their own thing by clinging tightly to cartridge format for another generation in the Nintendo 64.

Sony also had a great partnership with 3^rd party companies which also were evident at launch with many games being available including the aforementioned Ridge Racer, Tekken, NBA Jam and a host of others from companies such as Namco, Konami, THQ, Midway, Acclaim, EA Games and more. Then of course gamers needed peripherals – mostly the memory cards. This was the biggest change to gamers in that instead of saving games to the actual games themselves, they were saved on a card, which means if you got rid of a game but wanted to buy it again later, you could still keep your progress. Also, the Playstation was the first system where gamers did not get an in-pack game or 2nd joystick.  Sure you got a demo but this was the first time when gamers were put into a position that in order to get the full experience of their system and share with friends, accessories had to be purchased separately.

One of the biggest jumps in gaming was the ability for more games to have branching storylines with one such game being Metal Gear Solid. Speaking of, MGS was one game out of many that ushered in story telling on a grand scare where gamers were given a great interactive experience. On the sports front, while gamers did not get Madden upon release, Sony created NFL Gameday that for a short time during that generation challenged the still young but growing franchise. Then of course it goes without saying that some of the biggest franchises that came out of that era had to be Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, and Gran Turismo.

Let’s now take a look at what the PS One (as it’s now called) meant to us after it released in North America on 9/9/95.

Aitch

I remember initially hitching my wagon with Sega’s Saturn earlier that year because nobody really had an idea what Sony was doing. Sure Sony made great TVs and Walkmans but a gaming system? At that time, we just couldn’t see it. Plus we all saw of Phillip’s CD gaming system crash and burn but Saturn was doing no better. They released a system that was buggy and very few games. So how was Sony going to be better than that? Upon seeing a demo at Babbage’s (before Gamestop took over) featuring a demo of Warhawk and a few other games, I was sold.  I immediately traded in my Saturn and got the Playstation. The amount of games that Sony innovated on that system! We saw many new IPs from Konami, Namco, EA and so many others in the 90s. We were finally beginning to leave pixels behind for polygons and it seemed as if the ‘future’ such as it was, was ‘now’. Eventually, some of us got saavy and started hooking up our PS Ones to surround sound systems and from there gaming went to new levels not just visually but aurally as well. Sony’s Playstation ushered in a new renaissance of gaming that in many ways is still waiting to be matched with today’s current systems.

My top 5 list of games for the PSOne would look like this:

1. Final Fantasy 7
2. Metal Gear Solid
3. Tomb Raider
4. Tekken 2
5. Legacy of Kain

Doug

My mother bought me my PS One as I was recuperating from major surgery.  Along with it, she got me Final Fantasy VII.  Since I was bedridden and unable to move, I played that game as much as I could, and beat it (with everything) in 2 months to the day.  Having been a gamer since the days of the Atari 2600, I was blown away by how amazing the graphics & gameplay looked.  I remember sinking hours of my days into playing on that system.  I would say that the PS One was the impetus to my becoming a gaming “completionist”, where I felt that I had to complete every aspect of the games that I bought.  I didn’t want to miss a single thing in what was, in my opinion, the best gaming experience at that time.

My top 5 for the PS One would probably be:

1. Final Fantasy 7
2. Mortal Kombat 3
3. Bloody Roar
4. Tekken 2
5. X-Men: Children of the Atom

Jon

I got my first PlayStation when I was 24 in late 1995 or early 1996. That thing was a revelation to me. It was the first BIG step in what grew to be my obsession with gaming.  The graphics were  nothing I had seen on home gaming before and, after playing some games on my friends’ systems, I knew I had to have one somehow. I bought my first PlayStation AKA PS1, (lightly) used off a friend of mine that needed some cash, and it came with two games:  Madden 95 and NHL 95.  I played those games with my friends and my roommates constantly. Eventually I was introduced to other games, like Resident Evil and all its awesome sequels, Tomb Raider, and others, but those are the two that stuck with me early on.  NHLPA 96 is still one of the greatest hockey video games ever made in all of its 32 bit glory. It was even immortalized in the classic 1996 film Swingers. Both of those first games were so good that they were re-released on anniversary editions of EA’s Madden and NHL games for PS3.

If I were going to name my top 5 PS1 games it would have to be:

1: Metal Gear Solid
2: Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
3: Tomb Raider II
4: Tenchu II: Birth of the Stealth Assassins
5: Madden ‘96/NHLPA 96