The PSone Review
(The Console that made Sony's debut onto the video gaming market complete in the mid 1990s, the Playstation)
For those of you who were born in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, (like myself), you'll know one thing was true; video games were rapidly changing from sprite based models and cartridges to advanced 3D graphics and the CD-ROM based format, a format that allowed up to 650mb storage; something which benefited game companies for many reasons; the cheap cost, ease of use and being able to put much, much more content on games than what was previously possible ultimately lead to the demise of cartridge based home consoles in the early noughties.
(The SNES, a cartridge based console which was popular in the early 90s)
Let's back up for a second and return to the year which made CD-ROM based consoles cool to own; 1995. With that, enter Sony's Playstation. What started as a betrayal from Nintendo ended up being a system to die for at the time. Despite being newcomers to the video gaming industry; Sony knew what they had to do, beat both Nintendo and SEGA at their game and gain millions of fans in the process. They also had to make a system that was easy to use, cost effective, reliable, easy to programme games for and of course look cool in the eyes of the consumer.
(Sony Had to beat the N64...)
(... Oh and the SEGA Saturn.)
After a massively successful launch in 1994/1995 across the world, Sony dominated the 5th generation of gaming by a huge margin. In fact, 102 million Playstation consoles were sold by 2006, making it the first console to reach the 100 million mark. That's how popular the Playstation was, nothing ever came close to making it break a sweat or threaten its lead other the other gaming consoles at the time.
In this review however, i'm here to talk about Sony's first redesign of the Playstation, the PSone. In the year 2000 the 6th generation of video games was well underway and Sony's Playstation 2 looked to take over where the original Playstation left off. But, rather than let an old legend die so soon, Sony took the Playstation, shunk it, took a few ports off, made it look more modern and hey presto, a new look PSone was out. In its first year on sale it managed to actually outsell the Playstation 2 that year. Not bad for a console which was already six years old at this point.
(The size difference is immense!)
So, what do I think of the PSone? Well let's get one thing straight, this device is tiny.... No really, it's baffling how small this console really is. The original Playstation was a huge beast of a console, it was massive in size. The PSone is only half the size of the original, that's crazy just to think about a fact like that. Of course the size reduction then leads to another positive change; the weight. it's only 550g, meaning the console could be easily picked up with just one hand and, when taking the console with you, it was much easier to store away in a carrier bag.
In terms of specs, the PSone is the same as the older model Playstation, meaning nothing has changed here. So if you was expecting better graphics or faster load times, you'll have to look to emulators for that kind of experience. Also, all Playstation games will work on the PSone so, there's no worries about compatibility issues either. You might be asking me, "So why don't I just keep my older Playstation unit? It's the same thing really." You see, Sony is known for making good inventions and here is one that made me want a PSone quite so badly; the combo pack.
(This LCD screen goes onto the PSone for some basic portable gaming)
Yes the combo pack. Basically you get the PSone console along with an 5 inch LCD screen and it would include a portable car power supply so you could play the console in a vehicle, via the cigarette lighter. It would have cost around £120 here in the UK at the time, a steal for those who wanted to play their Playstation games on the go. You could actually argue that this is an early version of the PSP, a handheld console that could also play PS1 games on the go, using batteries and a 5 inch screen. Sadly the PSone requires a power source and it has to stay plugged in at all times otherwise, it will stop. There was a battery pack made for it but, it's very expensive and hard to find so good luck with that.
(This is how it will look once everything is set up)
How did the screen work then? Simple. The LCD screen was a separate add-on to the PSone. Simply take the LCD screen, match up the screws on the LCD screen with the console, tighten it up with a screwdriver and wallah! All done. Then plug in the power supply at the back, plug in a controller and you can play PSone games all day long. Does it need a separate power supply? Heck no. Unlike the SEGA Mega Drive add-ons, the SEGA Mega CD and the SEGA 32X, each of them needed their own power supplies, meaning a total of three power supplies. That's way too much for anyone these days and even back then it was a mess to get all three working at the same time. Sony's console only needs one and... That's it. A miracle eh?
(There's too many wires here!)
(Simple yet... Elegant)
Mind you, as amazing as this screen is and it's lack of needing a lot of electricity to power it, there are some issues. The screen is an LCD screen, meaning you have to look at it correctly to get the best out of it. You can't for example play from side onwards, it just will not work. The small screen size means that trying to play with another player is hard to do since one or both of you will not get a good view of what is happening on screen and the built in speakers, while they offer stereo sound and decent volume, the sound quality is not the best, it just sounds a bit tinny to me. Then again the inclusion of an 3.5mm headphone jack on the LCD add-on is the best way to go for having the best sound quality on this device. It is also very useful for blocking out parents who try to speak to you and siblings who try to disturb your peace at night time.
(The PSone reminded me of this later handheld device from Sony)
When all is said and done, the PSone is a nice redesign from Sony and that LCD screen makes gaming on the go easy and fun to do. It's no wonder this console outsold the Xbox and the Gamecube, it's a nice looking device and it did what it was supposed to do, keep the PSone alive and breathe it some new life again. If you want this console, now is the time to get one, while it's cheap and in stock. If you get one, you won't be disappointed.
(A video on the PSone screen)
A review written by
Jonathan Burden
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