Vidgame.net: Sony Playstation PSX

Sony Playstation (SCPH-[see version information below])

In December 1994 major electronics maker Sony entered the console fray amongst long-time videogame companies Nintendo and Sega. The console they released was the 32-bit RISC CD-Rom based Playstation. The console debuted with the hefty price tag of $299.99 USD in the US on September 9, 1995 (The system released 39,800 ¥ in Japan in December 1994.) Later in 1995 the Playstation was released with the Ridge Racer game bundled together for $349.99 USD. The early systems came with the system, a set of instructions, a regular controller, AV cables, a power cord and a demo disc.

The Playstation was the result of a failed partnership between Nintendo and Sony. Originally Nintendo and Sony had gotten together to create a CD drive add-on for the SNES. When Sony was pushed out of the project, they took their knowledge and started to develop the Playstation. Nintendo went on to start the project with (and eventually give it to) Philips. More can be read about that here.

Because the system was CD based, the user could not directly save their game states onto the CD and the system did not have internal memory to save games, so memory cards started to come into play. Each held 15 'blocks' of memory (128kB). The blocks were dependant on the game as each had a different requirement. They were all whole numbers, there were no requirements for 1.5 blocks. Besides reading the game CDs, the Playstation could also play music CDs. Certain early versions of the Playstation would treat the user to a visual show during the music, unfortunately I don't remember how to access it.

Versions SCPH 1000, 1001, 1002 (for the preceding three there are two internal board variations), 5500, 5501, 5502, 5552, 7000, 7001, 7002, 7003, 7501, 7502, 9001, 9003.

There were three major case modifications to the Playstation (below is shown the second one.) The first case contained and I/O port, serial port, separate A/V (red, white, and yellow) inputs plus a fourth for the special "3-Prong" RF switch, AV output, and power output. The second style case only had the I/O port, serial port, AV output, and power output. The third and final case revision had the serial port, AV output, and power output.

The serial port enabled two Playstations to hook up to two televisions and play a multiplayer game without the split screen. Both systems must each have the game disc and support the feature (Gran Turismo.) The I/O port was unofficially used by the Gameshark cheat device along with import/cheat devices like the Gameshark and Action Replay.

Using the latter two case revisions means that you needed the AV Adapter (SCPH #?record later). Using the final case revision means you cannot use V 1.0-3.0 GameShark/GameShark Pro. You must use the GameShark Pro CD or GameShark Lite.

In 1997 Sony released the Yarzoe kit that allowed users to create their own Playstation compatible software on their computers for the price tag of $749.99 USD.

Just a few months shy of it's ten year anniversary, the Playstation is still alive and kicking with games being released. They are very sporatic and most of the titles that are still coming out are $9.99 budget titles that have graphics and play value that rivals the early games of the Playstation (think of a step backwards in evolution from what they had previously obtained).