PlayStation Will Always Have A Special Place In My Heart
Christmas ‘91, my Sister and I acquired a Sega Mega Drive II from Santa. It was a toss-up between that and a SNES, but Nintendo didn’t have Sonic, so of course the cute hedgehog triumphed over the fat plumber, as it would do with any 4 year old girl. Thus began my love affair with gaming; getting up an hour earlier than needed so I could steal some time on California Games before school, being determined to see Donald Duck through to the end in World of Illusion (great game, no?).
7 years later I finally managed to persuade my Mum to upgrade my console to a Playstation for my birthday. I was in my first year of high school now, and two dimension no longer cut it. Plus, the boy in my class I had my heart set on (unrequited love, let’s not mention him again) talked a lot about the PlayStation, meaning the Nintendo 64 was never a viable alternative for me. Shallow, maybe, but it turned out to be a great decision.
It wasn’t until this weekend I realised how fond my memory of the original PlayStation is. My friend was demonstrating how well Final Fantasy VII has aged, and as I held what now feels like a controller with a severe eating disorder in my hands (now I’m a Xbox gamer, that is), the warmest feeling of nostalgia swept over me. It was at that point I realised, however bold a statement it is to make, that the PlayStation has been my favourite console I’ve owned to date, and will no doubt always hold that crown.
Just to recap, my console collection has so far consisted of:
- Sega Mega Drive II
- PlayStation
- GameCube (that was a bad way to spend £100)
- Xbox 360
- Nintendo DS
What was so great about the PlayStation, for me and many others no doubt, was how big a jump it was from the previous generation of consoles. It felt like a huge step up! For example, the quality in graphics was significantly increased, games were shipped on discs instead of cartridges, and PlayStation Memory Cards meant you could save your progress. There hasn’t been a bigger jump from current generation to next generation with consoles than that of the era of Sega to PlayStation, in my opinion.
But I was, of course, too young to really appreciate the technicality behind it all. I just wanted to play games - as many as I possibly could; full games, playable demos, anything I could get my hands on.
It’s pretty funny now to think back to my gaming habits as a kid, and how much they differ to my gaming habits now. Maybe that accounts for why I loved gaming on the PlayStation so much? I’m sure I’ve mentioned elsewhere I’m a ‘play one game ’till I’ve completed it’ kind of girl, where as back then I was swapping discs on an hourly basis. I got a taster of so many different genres, and being so young I was unable to differentiate between a bad or flawed game and a masterpiece, so I pretty much enjoyed everything I sat down to play (ignorance is bliss, as they say!). A far cry from now where I’m critical of the AI, the gameplay, the graphics… everything.
I know that in 10 years time I could pick up a 360 pad, and while I’d no doubt enjoy a tumble on one of the many games I’ve so far loved on the 360, it will never ignite that warm nostalgia the PlayStation did over the weekend. As for the GameCube, well that will forever be the console that was only ever used for one purpose - Mario Kart. 
Power to the PlayStation!
Hmm. Uhh. Yeah. Skyrim. It’s massive. The quests are never-ending. My character has a mohawk. My class is Breton. Don’t
Andy