The History of PSX

Playstation

The Playstation (or PSX) was released in 1994 in Japan. It all started in 1990, when the SNES was released. The console came with Sony's SPC-700 sound chip, starting a partnership between the two companies. In 1992, the companies planned to release the Super Nintendo CD, which would have CD-ROM support fitted to the bottom of the console, but this project did not go ahead. After that, they planned to release an entirely new console with CD support called the Play Station (separate names), but Sony wanted the rights to the games and Nintendo did not agree, causing the partnership to be dissolved. Despite this, Sony went ahead with the project and released the console, but ended up being notified by Nintendo to change its name because it also owned the brand.

Play Station and Super Nintendo CD (Prototypes)

It was at this time that the name PSX began to be used, and it was soon changed to Playstation (all together), and it managed to return to its original name. Something similar happened to Nintendo in 1996 with the launch of the Ultra 64 (future Nintendo 64), when Konami, a partner of Sony, prohibited Nintendo from using the name Ultra, as it was a brand created by the company in the 1980s. We do not know if this interpellation had any participation from Sony. Another reason made Sony want to work on a new console with 3D graphics, the launches of Sega Rally, Daytona USA, Virtua Fighter and other games for Sega's Model 1 for arcade.

PSX Hardware

The PSX hardware consists of a 32-bit Sony R3000 CPU, clocked at 33.86 MHz, with a GTE coprocessor embedded in the CPU for mathematical instructions for 3D graphics. It also has a system control coprocessor and a 32-bit Sony SCPH-9000 GPU designed by Toshiba with 1 MB of video RAM and 16.7 million colors, with 153 thousand simultaneous on-screen. For audio, it has a 16-bit Sony SPU with 24 sound channels, with 512 KB of RAM, PCM audio source, MIDI support and 44.1 KHz sound. And finally, a 2x speed optical CD-ROM drive.

GameShark and Memory Card

The PSX's biggest competitor was the Sega Saturn, which was released a month before Sony's console. The PSX's initial partners were Capcom and Konami, but over time it gained more producers, and soon after, the biggest game companies were releasing games for its hardware. Piracy also ended up helping the console's fame, which became popular in other regions, such as Brazil and China, for example. Other features of the console were the unprecedented launch of the Game Shark to cheat in games and the popularization of game progress recording, with the Memory Card. It also had a controller inspired by the SNES joypad, with analog sticks inspired by arcade controls and the unprecedented experience of vibration mode, which reflected impacts in games on the controller.

PSX Games

Among the famous games released for the console, we have successful franchises, such as racing games like Need for Speed, Grand Turismo, Nascar, Drive, Destruction Derby, San Francisco Rush, Twisted Metal, Moto Racer and many others. Its fighting games were undoubtedly the console's greatest fame, bringing franchises like Tekken, Street Fighter Alpha and EX Plus, Mortal Kombat, Bloody Roar, Rival School, Fatal Fury, and the famous versus games, such as Capcom vs. SNK, Marvel vs. Capcom, SF vs. X-Men and Marvel vs. SF. It was also a console for sports games, such as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, 2Xtreme, FIFA, NBA, International Supersoccer, Winning Eleven, NFL, EFootball and World Cup. First and third person action games were also another famous game on the console, such as Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, Parasite Eve, Silent Hill, Dino Crisis, Tomb Raider and Syphon Filter. As for platform games, we had Crash Bandicoot, Castlevania, Megaman, Strider, Rayman and Gex. In RPGs, we had Final Fantasy, Grandia, Chrono Cross, Lunar, Breath of Fire, Valkyrie Profile, Tales of Destiny and Dragon Quest. In anime, we had Inuyasha, Dragon Ball, Yu Gi Oh, Saber Marionette J, Sakura Card Captor, Digimon, Shaman King and others. In beat'em ups, we had Fighting Force, Captain Commando, Gekido, Nekketsu Oyako, Panzer Bandit and Hokuto no Ken. And finally, in terms of games from well-known brands, we had Marvel games, such as Iron Man, Spider Man, X-Men, Hulk and Fantastic Four. From Disney, such as Bug's Life, Lilo and Stitch, Donald Duck, Hercules, Toy Story, 101 Dalmatians, Mogli, Mickey, Winnie the Poof, and Peter Pan. And from Warner, such as Flintstones, Dexter, Powerpuff Girls, Tom and Jerry, Tine Toons, Bugs Bunny and Animaniacs. The console had almost 8 thousand games released and 102 million consoles sold.

PSOne

The PSX had another console released, the miniature or baby PSX called PSOne in 2000. The console was imported to Brazil in 1996, but became popular through piracy from 1997 onwards. The PSOne officially arrived in the country in 2002. The console was discontinued by Sony in 2006, when its successor, the PS2, was already popular.