The PS1 Nostalgia Thread

[FLips]

You know in hindsight it was likely WWF Smackdown that got me into wrestling too. 
I distinctly remember a day where one of the lads a few years up from me asked to see my Blastoise card and then just took it and went home. I was devastated but I went home and my Mum was decorating my bedroom so I sat in there with her and played Smackdown and now it’s not the day my Blastoise got nicked but I instead remember my Mum, the smell of paint and Big Show coming to the ring.

I never had an interest in cars but I remember asking for V-Rally 2 because they were showing the track builder mode on Big Breakfast one morning.

[Bus Surfer]

The PlayStation intro music seemed massively cutting edge at the time whilst being weirdly sinister to my 12 year old ears. 

Christmas morning in 1996 is one I'll never forget. PS1 with Tekken, Fifa '97 and Resident Evil. 

I remember being blown away with the up close camera in Fifa after years of top down viewing in ISS Deluxe. Being terrified walking down the mansion corridor of Resi as the dogs bounded through the windows and marvelling at how fucking awesome the 3D character models in Tekken were and its deeply satisfying combat system. 

Added bonus on Christmas day discovering that my new PS could play music CD's too! 

What a time to be alive. 

[air_raid]

20 minutes ago, FelatioLips said:

the smell of paint and Big Show coming to the ring

Big Show coming to the ring..... paint drying...... Christ, sometimes they write themselves.

[Carbomb]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

Let’s not forget a wonderful bit of trivia…. Sony were working on the Nintendo PlayStation, when Nintendo realized Sega were going to beat them to market with their new 32 bit disc based system (the Saturn) so decided to go full bore with the attention on getting the 64-bit cartridge system to market and really batter them in the console market. So Sony decided to use the hardware themselves. And thus did Nintendo create their own worst enemy and shoot themselves square in the wallet.

Post script - the Saturn was rushed to market several months before the PS launched, too fast for many development houses to have games ready. The PS then sold more units in its first week.

See, I always thought it was from when Sega released the MegaCD with much fanfare, which Nintendo tried to sabotage by pre-releasing info about the "SuperCD" add-on for the SNES, with the HANDS (Hyper-Active Nintendo Data System), and then, when the MegaCD flopped, they decided not to release the SuperCD, and Sony, with whom they developed it, were furious, and Nintendo gave or sold cheaply the tech to them that they then developed the PS with.

[air_raid]

7 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

See, I always thought it was from when Sega released the MegaCD with much fanfare, which Nintendo tried to sabotage by pre-releasing info about the "SuperCD" add-on for the SNES, with the HANDS (Hyper-Active Nintendo Data System), and then, when the MegaCD flopped, they decided not to release the SuperCD, and Sony, with whom they developed it, were furious, and Nintendo gave or sold cheaply the tech to them that they then developed the PS with.

I've probably got my timelines confused given the gap between the end of Nintendo/Sony relations (and Nintendo trying to court Phillips at the same time) and the 95 releases of the 32bit systems, but... well, at least you might find this interesting, as I did ;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51628836

 

[SuperBacon]

I loved my Playstation. The amount of magazines I used to get was unhealthy. Official one, PS Plus, PS Max, PS Power (might be misremembering titles) Gamesmaster, CVG etc just to read about new titles. Bloody mad.

I'll never forget the day that Sean McNallys brother chipped all our PS Ones and we no longer had to disc swap. 

I remember being so excited, then loading up my copy of MGS (bought for 50p) and it being black and white as I hadn't got a scart lead. I was devastated! 

Obviously I went to HMV the very next morning to get one.

The Playstation revolutionised everything and made gaming "cool".

Before that it really was strictly for the nerds, but Sony did well to capture that 'post pub' demographic with some very cool games and advertising.

Still think Oddworld Abes Oddysee is the best game on it. Nothing made me laugh more than when I first heard Abe fart.

[Carbomb]

7 minutes ago, air_raid said:

I've probably got my timelines confused given the gap between the end of Nintendo/Sony relations (and Nintendo trying to court Phillips at the same time) and the 95 releases of the 32bit systems, but... well, at least you might find this interesting, as I did ;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51628836

 

Ah, so it was basically a fusion of both situations! That's amazing, I never knew they even bothered making a branded prototype.

[BomberPat]

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

I remember being so excited, then loading up my copy of MGS (bought for 50p) and it being black and white

This has reminded me of my Metal Gear Solid ordeal.

In the late 90s, my Dad was working at Hull College, and they were partnered with a college in Rotterdam, so he'd either teach or lead a bunch of students on an outing over there a couple of times a year. I'd always ask him to bring me back games, because there was a huge video game shop over there that would always have more stuff than I could get at home - got some right stinkers in there over the years, mostly weird old PC RPGs. One time I went over with him, first time out of the UK, and the only thing I was particularly excited about was going to this games shop. I bought Discworld Noir for the PC, and Metal Gear Solid for PS1, because everyone was talking it up as the best game ever made.

It was a weird copy - definitely legit, but different box art to the UK release, and the text on the back was all in Dutch. I wasn't too worried; most games either had language options, or were just in English regardless of the packaging, because you only got PAL or NTSC releases, it wasn't going to be cost-effective for them to have released a separate Dutch language version of the game.

I load it up, it all works fine. I get to the point in the game where the Colonel tells you that, to find Meryl's number, to look on the back of the CD case. I faff about for God knows how long with the CD item in-game, trying to figure out how to get a number off it. Nothing. I think it was my brother who realised that maybe it means the back of the actual game box. I'm sure any of you who have played the game remember that moment, and the realisation when you see her Codec number is in one of the screenshots on the box art, and what a fun/frustrating puzzle that was. Problem - like I said, different box art. The version of the game I'd bought had different screenshots on the back, none of them showing Meryl's number. I can't remember if we went straight to just dialling every number in succession until we got it right, or asked a mate the next time we saw them how you got the number, or something like that, because at some point we obviously figured out that it was our copy that was wrong, not that we'd got the solution wrong. 

[Supremo]

Quality thread!

In December 1996, my parents, with absolutely no knowledge of video games, somehow got their hands on a Sega Saturn, which they surprised me and my brother with on Christmas morning. I suspect someone was selling a stolen one in a pub or something. We were delighted at the time, and whilst it was OK to play, we knew the score. We were missing out on what everyone else was playing. It took us over a month to pluck up the courage to ask if we could swap it for a PlayStation at our local games store. Mum said yes! Jackpot! And she knows someone who can chip them? Even better!

I genuinely think that moment changed my life. I ended up doing a degree in video games and now work for a games publisher. It was the perfect console at the perfect time. Similar to pro-wrestling in the late 90s, it felt like video games were growing up with me. 

The first games that captured my imagination were Tomb Raider 1 and 2. We were quite poor growing up, so I’d endlessly rent the first and then the second Tomb Raider games from the local video shop, trying to clock them over a weekend. We didn’t even have a memory card at the time, so I’d just leave the PlayStation switched on, day and night. There was no greater feeling than renting the game on Friday night and playing the shit out of it until it needed to go back on Monday. Who needs sleep?

I dread to think how many times I played the Venice level on Tomb Raider 2, or how many hours of my life were spent trying to get the best time on Tomb Raider 2’s obstacle course. I still know both like the back of my hand. The idea of having that amount of spare time now seems insane.

Shout out to that poor butler! Still locked in the freezer until the end of time! There’s a study into human behaviour to be had with the way everyone locked him in that freezer as soon as we figured out we could.

If the original Tomb Raider games were the gateway drug, Metal Gear Solid changed everything. Nothing blew my mind like that game. Being able to play through an action movie like that, so engaging, a proper story, amazing graphics and music, super clever and interesting. I’ve been chasing that high with gaming ever since.

It also felt like every kid in my class was playing through it at the same time, and would come into school with all these wild tales of Psycho Mantis reading memory cards and making your controller move, or you needing an official copy in order to know the Codec code for Meryl on the back of the box. I didn’t have an official copy. I didn’t know her Codec code. It wrecked my life for a long time. That was my 9/11.

I still have a vivid memory of watching Stone Cold Steve Austin save Stephanie McMahon from the Ministry of Darkness on Raw and then immediately booting up Metal Gear Solid to fight a bunch of lads wearing stealth camouflage in an elevator.

What a fucking time to be a teenager!

The other big ones were obviously Tony Hawks 1 and 2. First the demo, and then the first two games, all were copied and passed around like a sought after Class A drug. For as much money as those games reportedly made Tony Hawk, they must have made just as much money for CD-R manufacturers. But yeah; what a couple of games! Literal years of Saturdays were lost gathering at someone’s house and playing Tony Hawks together. Restarting your run if you didn’t hit that first trick, or if the song wasn’t right. I’m not going to get the high score if, “Supeman,” isn’t playing, am I? And what a couple of soundtracks! It came up recently with people being gate-keeping dickheads about kids discovering music via Stranger Things, and it’s absolutely true; we’re of an entire generation where our musical tastes come from those first Tony Hawks games. God knows what I’d be listening to now if it wasn’t for those games.

I’m sure I still have my original PS1 in the loft. I might pop up and check later!

EDIT: LOL at me and @BomberPatmentioning the same problem! I’m half tempted to play through Metal Gear Solid again just for the satisfaction of being able to Google Meryl’s code with ease!

Edited August 8, 2022 by Supremo

[Carbomb]

10 minutes ago, Supremo said:

It also felt like every kid in my class was playing through it at the same time, and would come into school with all these wild tales of Psycho Mantis reading memory cards and making your controller move

This was one of the most creative things I'd ever heard of in videogames. You could easily get around the disadvantage it might give you by switching card ports just before the scene, but it was such a cool thing, why would you want to?

[Loki]

@Carbomb You and I may be the only people to have even played Deathtrap Dungeon let alone finished it.

Similar to @Supremo I swopped onto a Playstation… from my Atari Jaguar.  Talk about backing the wrong horse!  It was Gran Turismo that made me swap but I ended up playing Wipeout 2097 more.  What a game.

I lecture a few times a year about Video Games, and I spent a lot of time talking about the PS because it really did revolutionise the industry.  The decision to go to CD meant that suddenly you could play video and audio back off the disc, at much higher resolution than the console.  And so cutscenes were born.  And music went from chip tunes to Smack My Bitch Up.

 Gaming became cool as a result - Playstations in nightclubs was a thing for a while - and therefore mainstream.

A great example of all this was Syphon Filter - great music, dialogue, cutscenes and a James bond style gameplay.  And then later Splinter Cell which imo was more influential on stealth games than Metal Gear Solid.

There’s not been a quality leap like it since - every other console was passé straight away.

 

Edit: bonus picture of me lecturing - 

Spoiler

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by Loki

[FLips]

1 hour ago, Loki said:

@Carbomb You and I may be the only people to have even played Deathtrap Dungeon let alone finished it.

The decision to go to CD meant that suddenly you could play video and audio back off the disc, at much higher resolution than the console.  And so cutscenes were born.  And music went from chip tunes to Smack My Bitch Up.

Deathtrap Dungeon is one that I almost picked to get off the beloved old chipped games list but like an idiot I went for Godzilla instead. What I got was a black and white, JAP copy of what seemed to be a Godzilla based trading card game that I could never understand or get much further than the main menu on.

Sticking the PS1 game into your CD player and going straight to Track 2 to see if there were music files is a thread all in of itself. Fond memories of turning the lights down and laying on the foldout sofa bed at my Dad’s, where I had those glow in the dark painted stars on the ceiling, listening to the Mega Man 8 credits.

[Nexus]

My dad, getting wind that my mum was planning on buying me and my brother a PlayStation, decided to get a chipped one off his dodgy mate. That didn't go down particularly well with my mother, but me and my brother appreciated it. I remember having Tomb Raider and Gran Turismo, but my fondest memory is playing Spyro 1-3 with my dad and brother - we'd take it in turns and do different things on it; I'd do the platforming and flying, my brother would do the fighting, and then my dad would do whatever we couldn't. 

 

It also led to me falling in love with Final Fantasy IX; the game I have completed most often and enjoyed the most, and I've been a Playstation boy for life - PS1 all thr way through to the PS5, along with a PSP. Never got the Vita, though. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

6 hours ago, BomberPat said:

Championship Manager

This has reminded me of the countless hours I sunk into this gem:

Even football management games were better on PlayStation. My (selected at random) Ipswich team were a force of nature.

[Fatty Facesitter]

These entries so far. All fine, thanks for submitting. But we need to talk about THIS - 

Whilst the early incarnations of GTA featured the helicopter-style camera angle - this baby was the first of it's kind for a proper 3D driving experience where you could smash into other cars, shop windows, attempt to outrun the law and climb your way up the criminal underworld (whilst being undercover!).

We did have Gran Turismo, which despite being brilliant and have a massive library of cars to choose from, was quite neatly polished and the cars didn't suffer any exterior damage. And let's face it, it was pretty user-friendly and easy to play - overall quite a pleasant, even soothing experience for the most part. 

Driver? That was for the grafters. You might think you're some sort of Bertie Big Bollocks having done a quick lap around Gran Turismo's High Speed ring in your Dodge Viper, but can you slalom round pylons and evade the law down the backstreets of Miami in a Buick Skylark? Are you tough enough to wrestle control of a Ford Fairlane when flying over the hills and evading the trams in San Fransisco? Have you got the bottle to handle a Chevrolet Nova after staging a hit in Los Angeles? 

I know he's since been ridiculed in modern GTA instalments, but Tanner was ice cold in this game. His dialogue only came through in brief intervals towards the end of the story, as he finally started to piece together that something biblical was about to go down and avoiding protestations from his colleagues to give up his cover. 

In another GTA precursor (albeit loosely) - the missions would change depending on which one's you'd previously accepted. For instance, the first mission in a new city is always the same, but after that you're given different options to choose from, which in turn will dictate which mission you'll do next. This in turn increased playability, as you'd want to run through the story again to tick off the missions you'd previously missed out on. 

Odd but fun fact - Newcastle features in the game as a secret level!