PlayStation

"It's not how many 'bits' you have...it's the games."

In 1995 Sony unleashed it's beast into the video game industry. The beast's name? The Sony PlayStation.

Features:

The Sony PlayStation (PSX) was a very capable machine, it could play music CDs, which was a VERY big plus since at the time CD players were not nearly as common and inexpensive as they are today. It featured the standard 2 controller ports and 2 memory card slots directly above them. Everything about the PSX was easy to use, from disc loading, to memory card management, to playing the games.

The Games:

This is where the PSX shined. It literally had everything when I came to games. You like racing games? Fine, Gran Turismo 1 and 2, the Ridge Racer series, and the Need for Speed series were all you really needed. You want some fighters? Okay, the Tekken series, Soul Blade, and then there's the absolutely perfect Street Fighter Alpha games. The PSX is also where the Resident Evil series and the survival horror genre itself grew up. With Resident Evil 1-3, Fear Effect 1-2, Silent Hill, and Dino Crisis 1-2 in the library, survival horror became one of the biggest genres in existence. Action was also covered...with one game. Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid. With a solid cast of voice actors, a gripping story, great graphics, and phenomenal gameplay, Metal Gear Solid remains the ''Best videogame ever!'' as claimed by many. Now I'm going to rundown the PSX's greatest ally...the RPG. This system literally thrust the RPG genre into the mainstream with the help of Squaresoft. With the release of Final Fantasy VII in late 1997 Sony and Square put the RPG genre where it deserves to be, in the spotlight. That wasn't it, though. Square later released Final Fantasy VIII and IX, Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Final Fantasy Tactics, Legend of Mana, Chrono Cross, Front Mission 3, and quite a few more that I'm forgetting. Squaresoft wasn't the only company pushing RPGs into the mainstream either. Enix and Konami helped with their offerings of Suikodens 1-2 for Konami, and Star Ocean 2, Valkyrie Profile, and Dragon Quest VII. Even Capcom joined in, continuing their Breath of Fire series releasing parts 3-4 on the PSX. As you can see from the above, the PSX was an RPG machine, and that's what made it so popular and ultimately make it the best selling console ever.

Overall:

The PSX is greatest system ever; the games that were released on it were some of the best ever. Literally every single genre was covered, which says that if you have a PSX you had something to play. The PSX was literally for everybody, no matter who you were, you found something that you loved. The PSX also proved that it's not how many 'bits' you have...it's the games. ...and the PSX had 'em.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/27/01, Updated 03/24/03