PlayStation Celebrates 15th Anniversary and Dreamcast Its 11th

On this day, 15 years ago, the gaming world was forever changed when a company best known for their stereos stepped into the wild fray that is the video game console business. On 9/9/95. Sony released the PlayStation, or PS1, as we all know it now. Many people, myself included, didn’t give it much of a chance, but eventually, with a ton of stellar titles, namely Final Fantasy VII, they managed to overtake Nintendo and change the course of gaming history. They also killed Sega, but that was going to happen anyway.

Personally, the Final Fantasy games, namely Tactics and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night were my highlights. I missed out on a lot of other big games, but I have since corrected that oversight.

Also, speaking of Sega, today is the 11th anniversary of the Dreamcast, Sega’s swan song. This console was pretty much the harbinger of things to come, but it harbinged (New word, tell your friends) far too early and gamers weren’t ready for its particular brand of goodness until Microsoft refined it with the Xbox 360.

So what are your fondest memories of the PS1 or Dreamcast? Any games you still want to play or wish you had played?

Written by

Age: 34 PSN ID: Starkiller81. I've played games since before I can remember, starting with my dad's Atari and I haven't stopped yet. Keep them coming and I will keep playing them.

4 thoughts on “PlayStation Celebrates 15th Anniversary and Dreamcast Its 11th”

  1. Wow, it’s been 15 years! Makes me feel old. I also remember thinking that the PS1 wouldn’t last either (btw, I remember calling it the PSX all the time). Luckily Sony got FFVII. Imagine if Sega ending up with FFVII…what would have happened? I remember playing FFVII so much that the disc looked like they were warping. I did the same with FFVII & FFIX. Then there was Metal Gear Solid, which was just awesome… as well as Resident Evil 1 – 3. Silent Hill was pretty cool too. King’s Field 2….so many hours leveling up a sword, just for it to return to level 1 later on in the story. I remember having to turn the console upside down to read disc as it was turning the 4 year old mark. Being frustrated that the memory cards couldn’t hold enough save data for all the games I had, and that my parents were to cheap to buy more of those.
    I actually have bought the Final Fantasy games (VII, VIII, IX & Tactics) on PSN and have played them quite a bit. Also got a couple other ‘free’ PS1 classics due to being a Playstation Plus member.

  2. @Kjseath

    Wow, it’s funny to think that back then, we didn’t call it the PS1. I mean, that’s common sense, but it’s been the PS1 in my mind ever since the PS2 came out, which is about 10 years ago (I think that anniversary is in October).

    The Playstation still holds some of my fondest gaming memories. As mentioned, FF7, FF9 and FF Tactics were some incredible experiences for me, and Metal Gear Solid was simply astonishing. I think of the PSX as the system that really redefined games for me, and gave us the first glimpse of what the future could actually hold. Also, I spent countless hours with Tekken, Twisted Metal and Gran Turismo.

    Man, what a great system. I salute you, PSX.

    http://nerdiest-kids.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/big-boss-salute.JPG1-300×189.jpg

  3. I actually have my CD wallet of what Playstation games I have left right beside me, let me tell you what it contains:

    Syphon Filter
    Syphon Filter II
    Tenchu 2
    Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
    Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
    Metal Gear Solid (the 2 disc original)
    Quake II
    Grind Session (Always liked it better than Tony Hawks)

    What I’m missing as my best memories would be Twisted Metal 2 and Driver, which my brother owned. Definitely some of my best gaming memories ever. Wow, just flipping through that brings a little tear to me eye!

  4. I actually didn’t buy a ps1 until quite late in it’s life cycle; summer of 1999, when the price on the “dual shock” package (remember, those analog sticks weren’t featured on the original controller, as per the picture above) dropped under $100. It was a pretty fantastic system and Final Fantasy VII and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night were about the coolest games ever at that point.

    BUT…

    Being a longtime Sega fanboy, I have much fonder memories of the Dreamcast. What an amazing system. It’s too bad that Sega’s self inflicted wounds from the Saturn era prevented the DC from being a success. Had they not alienated so many consumers and developers by releasing poorly supported, overpriced hardware (Sega cd, 32x, Saturn), maybe more people would have given the system a chance and more games would have really pushed the technical limits of the system. As it was, the DC didn’t really survive long enough for us to see what it could do. The best games for a console typically don’t come out until 2-3 years into it’s lifespan, but the Dreamcast was effectively dead by 2001.

    It deserved so much better…

Comments are closed.