PlayStation is 25 Years Old, PS2 is 20!

[Moonface]

So today marks the 25th anniversary of the launch of the original PlayStation in Japan.

While we wait to see what Sony decide to do to celebrate the occasion, what (if any) are your fondest memories and experiences with PlayStation?

I remember getting the original PlayStation as a Christmas gift from my parents with Rayman and Street Racer bundled in with it. Then my grandfather got me a PS2 very soon after it launched (and paid far too much money for it and the insurance coverage on it) with Midnight Club and Silent Scope. I got a PS3 on launch day in the UK with Motorstorm and Resistance: Fall of Man. PS4 I got with Shira during a Black Friday sale with the Uncharted collection bundled in it, and I forget if we got any other games at the time. XD

Considering PS1 games aren't on the PS4 Store, I'm doubting many sales will really be happening since it'll be limited to just PS4 games, and that doesn't celebrate the entire PlayStation run. Ideally this will be when Sony decide to tease backwards compatibility in the PS5 by saying you can play everything they ever did on one system as the ultimate celebration of the brand, but I accept that's very wishful thinking.

[Mr EliteL]

Don't remember when we got the PS1, but the console was a gift for us, my brother, sister and me. Brother probably mainly used it at first, since we got possibly in '97 since TOCA Touring Car Championship and FIFA '98 both came out then. Although could've been '96 as Tekken 3 was also out in '97 and I can't remember that already being out when we got into Tekken and then Tekken 2. Original Tekken, coming in a special black case/box, was one of the first games we had along with Road Rash and one or two others. Yes, Formula 1 PS1 game was definitely one, probably the main reason we got the PS1, as my brother was and still is a big fan and wanted to play that.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was the main reason we also got the PS2 as a gift for us. Also don't remember when or on a specific day (birthday or Christmas) exactly, but in 2001. Us three and even my dad played that a lot together. A good few years later my sister would get her own system, while I had my GameCube.

PS3 either my bro bought it or was again a present? The first fat one anyway. Might've been on launch or soon after. We all shared but had our own games until Tekken 6. Know I had Resistance: Fall Of Man at least, but I didn't play that a lot. So I was probably preoccupied with Nintendo stuff, or there was game we or I had that I've forgotten about. Both my sister and I get our own PS3's later.

PS4 I got both mine and my brother's. Let my bro have my first one so I can have the PS4 Pro. Neither were on release, did take me a fair while before I was bothered to get one. Bought Uncharted 4 before I got the console.

Really was great playing with family in the PS1-PS2 period. Friends here and there (local and online), solo throughout and mainly PS3-PS4 eras.

Would like to see something more, and may have already happened, or will happen soon?

[Moonface]

There's mostly been celebratory type stuff today. Game Informer revealed this beautiful cover art for their celebration issue: https://www.gameinformer.com/cover-revea...t-25-years

The PlayStation EU Twitter page put out this image of some cool cakes themed around each PlayStation home console: https://twitter.com/PlayStationEU/status...9541449728

[Mr EliteL]

Don't like the liquid portraying the 25 on the Game Informer cover, but everything else is cool. Cakes in shape of the main consoles, and I take the characters too? Ha ha.

[Moonface]

Yeah, I didn't really pay attention at first but the 25 on the back doesn't do it for me.

[Dragon Lord]

My first experience with the PS brand was the original PlayStation (well, the slim model). My parents finally broke down and bought me one because they got tired of my sister whining to them about me using her PS2 to play Final Fantasy VII. I had played FFVII while visiting a friend (who lived where I'm living now, actually, 5.5 hours away from where I was living at the time of this visit), and immediately fell in love with it and... I don't remember how I got it myself. If I bugged my parents into buying it for me or if I used allowance money to go out and buy it. I just remember that I got it without having a PlayStation of my own and had to use my sister's PS2 to play it. I started out with just FFVII, but obtained FFVIII, FFIX, FF Tactics, Legend of Dragoon, the Spyro Games and... a few other games I've forgotten. Due to not having income myself at the time and my family not being exactly wealthy, my library for the PS1 was extremely limited. Oh, I do remember one game though. After I moved down here, one of the friends I made in school and I were obsessed with Chrono Cross and I ended up getting it for my birthday the first year we were down here. Definitely one of the best PS1 games to pick up and made for a great memory.

Then I got my PS2... I don't remember what year exactly. 2003 or 2004 probably. Right after my family moved down to this area. I think I got it for my birthday... anyways. My first games for it where Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts. I think I also had another game that I didn't really play at all, but I don't remember the name of it. Again, like with the PS1, I had no income of my own and my family's restricted budget meant that my PS2 library never grew all that much. But games I ended up collecting and absolutely loving included Dark Cloud 2, La Pucelle Tactics, Soul Calibur 2, Star Wars Battlefront 2, Kingdom Hearts II, Shining Force EXA, and finally the big one -- Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. I also remember playing one of the Full Metal Alchemist and InuYasha games on the PS2 and having a good time with both of them.

After that came the PSP. I remember wanting a PSP solely because they made a port of the original Final Fantasy Tactics for it, and I absolutely had to have it. I also ended up getting Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep for it, and I absolutely hated it my first time playing it and never touched the game again until KH2.5 released. In the end my PSP library never really went any where. In addition to the two games I already listed, I only picked up Dissidia Final Fantasy (hated it), Final Fantasy I, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy IV The Complete Collection, Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core, Star Ocean First Departure, Star Ocean: Second Evolution, and Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. I eventually added The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, Persona 3 Portable and Summon Night 5 to the collection, but these all came way, way later (and P3P was on my Vita, actually...)

Even though my PSP collection didn't grow that much, the Final Fantasy I, II and IV ports (still my favorite ports of these games), FFT, SO1 (still haven't gotten around to playing SO2 yet), and Tactics Ogre definitely made getting my PSP worth it. I even ended up buying a second many years after my first one broke just because I wanted to have a PSP around in case the urge to ever play it came around. I might have to as well, seeing as Square Enix hasn't given any sign that they're going to bring that PS4 port of SO2 over here (even though they just released a PS4 port of SO).

Okay, moving on. After my PSP, I actually didn't get another Sony system for quite a long time. I was a fool and decided that the Xbox 360 is where I wanted to be. Thankfully in 2013 (I think, maybe 2014) I decided to impulse buy a PS3 so I could play Demon's Souls after obsessively no-lifing Dark Souls for over a year. I decided to do so at a great time as well, because it just two months prior to the release of Tales of Xillia and Kingdom Hearts 1.5 was releasing that winter. After that, I realized the horrible error of my ways and I went back home where I belonged, and my PS3 collection began to steadily grow.

And then a few months after I bought my PS3, I bought the Sony system that I would use more than any other -- my Vita. I actually bought my Vita before any games I even wanted for it were out, just because I wanted one and I knew eventually there'd be games I wanted for it. Although I probably never thought I'd have over 100 games for it... but hey, like I said, I knew eventually there'd be a game or two I wanted on it. Ys: Memories of Celceta was the first Vita release I picked up.

And of course my PS4 eventually came next (when Bloodborne released), and it's now surpassed my Vita in amount of games I own on it and probably has eclipsed it in overall use as well. I actually haven't used my Vita much the last year. Thanks, Azur Lane.

Anyways, that's a bit about my history with PlayStation (tried to keep the focus of the history on the older systems). I've owned every system they've released so far, and I'll likely buy the PS5 as well, though it'll probably be a good 2-3 years before I even consider it. Just like with the PS4, I'll let the library grow a bit and wait until there's a handful of games scheduled to release on it that I want.

[Moonface]

May as well ride on the back of this since we were sharing PlayStation memories as a whole; yesterday the PS2 turned 20 years old! Since I know a lot of us shared memories of the system already, one thing I did see that became a talking point which wasn't covered are the icons you had for games on memory cards. I forgot the PS2 had really good icons for saves because no other system bothered to do them. I really liked the ones that reacted if you brought up the prompt to delete the save. I know that Daxter (the icon for Precursor Legacy) would start running if you highlighted the delete option.

[Karo]

For me my experience with Playstation basically went like this my brothers had a playstation 1 and they let me play it I frankly just played Crash Bandicoot on it and that was basically my main experience with Playstation 1 when PS2 came out both of my brothers got their own Playstation 2 and it wasn't really my platform of choice either like...I'd play Grand Theft auto, but beside that I don't think I really played much PS2 beside Harvest Moon and other random games I rented from my old local video store that sadly no longer in business. They were fun. Moving onto the PS3 I really got to enjoy playing Uncharted, LBP, and the likes with Moony and EL they were really enjoyable experience.

Happy Birthday playstation and may you have many more birthdays!

PS: If your curious my PS4 experience basically been, I really like Persona 5.