Is it me or do I see many retrospects claiming the original Playstation became this staple in 1994/1995.

I remember clearly the PS1 became the standard for gaming in 1997, and being an unknown or unheard of prior, other than the hardcore gaming community.

It was the period between late 1996-early 1998, with releases of Tomb Raider, Crash, Gran Turismo, Jet Moto, Parappa da Rappa etc that this system got huge and I was forced to get one.

People were still playing 16 bit era games well into 1996, and while the PS1 had some games that would later in the decade become household names from that year(Twisted Metal, Rayman), Genesis & SNES more specifically still dominated charts until 1997 when 5th gen fully took over.

Anyways I'm watching videos detailing the history of the PS1 and they really mostly detail the launch years of 1995 & 1996.

When I think of when the PS1 was the standard, that is 1997-2001.

This same thing has happened with the PS2, people claiming that the PS2 kicked off in 2000 when there weren't really any good games, and many people didn't have one until holiday 2001, when in reality up until holiday 01-spring 02, PS2's were mostly either used as DVD players or to play PS1 games, as the PS1 was still the current gen until the PS2 finally got real gen games in the fall of 01.

I think what happens is that the launch of a console is mixed up with the success of the console.

The PS1 for example is a console built in the early 90's, completed in 1993/1994 but it didn't get big and really known to masses until the late 90's in 1997/1998. It was to the point that none of my peers knew of the original PS1 long box covers, only knowing about the CD case jewel covers, thinking the long ones were special editions or bootlegs whenever we'd see them in stores during the late 90's/early 2000's

The PS2 and 6th gen is another example, PS2 launched in 2000, but most didn't get it until Fall 01-spring 02 as that when it started really getting games.

Is it me or do I see many retrospects claiming the original Playstation became this staple in 1994/1995.

I remember clearly the PS1 became the standard for gaming in 1997, and being an unknown or unheard of prior, other than the hardcore gaming community.

It was the period between late 1996-early 1998, with releases of Tomb Raider, Crash, Gran Turismo, Jet Moto, Parappa da Rappa etc that this system got huge and I was forced to get one.

People were still playing 16 bit era games well into 1996, and while the PS1 had some games that would later in the decade become household names from that year(Twisted Metal, Rayman), Genesis & SNES more specifically still dominated charts until 1997 when 5th gen fully took over.

Anyways I'm watching videos detailing the history of the PS1 and they really mostly detail the launch years of 1995 & 1996.

When I think of when the PS1 was the standard, that is 1997-2001.

This same thing has happened with the PS2, people claiming that the PS2 kicked off in 2000 when there weren't really any good games, and many people didn't have one until holiday 2001, when in reality up until holiday 01-spring 02, PS2's were mostly either used as DVD players or to play PS1 games, as the PS1 was still the current gen until the PS2 finally got real gen games in the fall of 01.

I think what happens is that the launch of a console is mixed up with the success of the console.

The PS1 for example is a console built in the early 90's, completed in 1993/1994 but it didn't get big and really known to masses until the late 90's in 1997/1998. It was to the point that none of my peers knew of the original PS1 long box covers, only knowing about the CD case jewel covers, thinking the long ones were special editions or bootlegs whenever we'd see them in stores during the late 90's/early 2000's

The PS2 and 6th gen is another example, PS2 launched in 2000, but most didn't get it until Fall 01-spring 02 as that when it started really getting games.

What about The PS3?

What about The PS3?


PS3 had a bunch of hype, but ultimately too expensive, took even longer than PS1 and PS2 to become standard, they had to do an entire redesign and marketing overhaul around 2009ish.

PS4 and PS5 are the only Playstation console that got huge right away, those marketing campaigns were no joke. Less on PS5 though for lack of availability.

With each console it took less time to become standard.

PS1 came out during the 16 bit era and was brand new, hence why it took them until the late 90's to become the face of gaming.

The Playstation really did take us into the 3D era, yeah we had 3D gimmicks before, but this was 3D for real.

People have a bad habit of looking at something like a release date and assuming the thing immediately became ubiquitous.

True, same revisonist history happened with NES & PS2.

Sure NES came out in 1985 and PS2 in 2000, but those consoles didn't become standard until years later, 1987 for NES and 2002 for PS2.

In 1994, Sega Genesis sold more consoles than any in North America.
In 1995, SNES outsold Genesis, PS1 & Saturn
In 1996, PS1 outsold all other competitors. 2,044,000 were sold in the US in '96 to N64's 1,736,000. Genesis sold 1,316,000, SNES sold 1,126,000 (All US figures)

32/64-bit consoles didn't overtake 16 bit console sales in NA until 1996.

In 1994, Sega Genesis sold more consoles than any in North America.
In 1995, SNES outsold Genesis, PS1 & Saturn
In 1996, PS1 outsold all other competitors. 2,044,000 were sold in the US in '96 to N64's 1,736,000. Genesis sold 1,316,000, SNES sold 1,126,000 (All US figures)

32/64-bit consoles didn't overtake 16 bit console sales in NA until 1996.


Exactly, the reason I even made this thread is because some dude who was a baby back then was claiming the PS1 took off in 1995 and that the internet was big...

Lol what?

The internet was still seen as a limited, unproven long term asset in 1998-2000, the internet only started popping up on News in 1995-1996 and virtually no one had it.

I was still using MS-DOS until late 2000.

There were actually two other 5th generation consoles released prior to the original PlayStation, and unfortunately, their LACK of popularity was what really doomed them, and helped to pave the way for the PS1 to really thrive while not having the flaws. Atari led things with the Jaguar in 1993, but despite its superior graphics and sound, still paled into comparison to the SNES and Sega 16-bit consoles, which were not only enjoying their peak popularity at that time, but there was still a decent residual market for the NES at the time. Many failed consoles not just aren't noticed well upon release, but they never become profitable like what PS1, PS2, and so on achieved. One last player of course was the Sega Saturn, which basically had the entire summer of 1995 to itself in North America prior to the launch of the original PlayStation and had a pretty aggressive marketing campaign, but the lack of a tentpole Sonic the Hedgehog title and a relative lack of 3rd party support meant that most were still holding on to their Genesis, or worse yet, moving increasingly to the SNES. Had Sega and/or Atari had most of the features that made the PS1 good at a reasonable price with their Saturn/Jaguar, then the PlayStation could have struggled if third party support hopped on with them. But I first played on the PS1 in the summer of 1996 at a cousin's house, and first got one for Christmas 1996, and this was around the point that the console started to be the industry leader with the Saturn fading quickly and Nintendo moving on to the N64 with a limited amount of launch titles.

The Atari 2600 (VCS) is an interesting example with a similar presence. It was released in late 1977 during the height of Pong' (and Breakout's) popularity, but it wasn't until after the popularity of Pac-Man in arcades in 1980-81 that it really started to become a household name, since handheld electronic games like Simon were still very popular in 1978-80. Then there's that video game crash of 1983, and some people assume that everyone with a 2600 got ET for Christmas in 1982, felt down, and decided to put their Atari away and move on to PCs like Commodore 64 and Apple II, or even just go back to the arcade or watch MTV. Ataris were still very popular at homes throughout the mid-80s prior to the launch of the NES, especially since the price of many games dropped immensely, even if not quite to its 1982 peak.