Born out of a botched deal with Nintendo, Sony's first foray into console gaming was a big risk that many didn't think would pay off. In what may be Sega of Japan's biggest blunder in hindsight, they shot down their American division's pitch to team up with the company due to their inexperience in the industry. Nowadays, the PlayStation brand is still going strong.
The original PlayStation was a benchmark in console gaming, and there are still many titles on the old 32-bit platform that absolutely warrant a playthrough. However, it's important not to let those rose-tinted glasses cloud expectations when going back to these old titles.
10 Many First-Person Shooters On The System Are Hard To Go Back To
By now, the standard controls for First-Person Shooters are using the left stick for movement and strafing while the right stick is for looking. However, only one shooter on the PlaySyation allows this setup — Alien Resurrection. Other FPS titles are hard to go back to on this system because the controls are somewhat esoteric, and certain PCs ports had to make some concessions.
The PlayStation version of Doom may have featured fewer levels and some frame rate issues when compared to the original PC release, but it compensated with levels and enemies from Doom II and by utilizing the systems' dynamic lighting.
9 Many Titles Were Held Back By The System's Limitations
There are several classic titles on the original PlayStation that are held back by the console's specs. Oddworld Abe's Odyssey is a brutally difficult game — especially for players who try to go for the good ending that requires Abe to save at least 50 Mudokon slaves. Abe can't take more than one hit, so if he bites the dust, all the slaves the players rescued must be saved again.
Creator Lorne Lanning attributed this frustrating design choice to the limitations of the PlayStation. Games like Resident Evil and Final Fantasy VII also had to use pre-rendered backgrounds because of the console's 3D limitations.
8 The Lack Of Analog Support Hinders Many Titles
Both the Sega Saturn and the Nintendo 64 beat Sony's console in the race towards analog controllers. The N64 had analog by default, Saturn owners had to purchase a special '3D Controller,' and Sony would take about a year to introduce its first analog-based controller — often erroneously referred to as 'the flight stick.'
Shortly after, the pre-rumble dual analog stick was released before making way for the standard DualShock controller in 1997. In all those years, plenty of titles were released that could've benefited from analog support. Fortunately, some games like Crash and Resident Evil designed their games with a d-pad in mind.
7 Players Have To Be Careful That They Get The Right Controllers
While many original PlayStation titles have seen a release on subsequent consoles, players might be more inclined to play these games on their original hardware. Should they go this route, they'd better be careful about getting the proper controllers for the games they wish to play.
As previously mentioned, there were many controllers released on the PlayStation, and some games are only compatible with certain controllers. Ape Escape's control scheme is entirely dependent on the dual analog sticks, so players who only have the first controller will be out of luck.
6 Players Need A Multitap For Four Players
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While Nintendo 64 owners were racing, shooting, and partying it up with four simultaneous players, vanilla PlayStation owners had to contend with just two players. If they wanted to play 4-player mode in games like Crash Team Racing or Hot Shots Golf, they needed to buy a multitap.
Even once gamers managed to get ahold of one of these peripherals, not every multiplayer game was compatible with it. Players who wanted to blast cars to smithereens in the first two Twisted Metal titles or rough up some bad guys in Fighting Force with three of their buddies were out of luck.
5 Gamers Needed A Memory Card To Save Data
Nowadays, most consoles have hard drives and cloud saves where players can store their game data, but it wasn't that simple before the HD generation changed everything. During the 8-bit and 16-bit days, game carts that sported a saving feature had to have a battery backup that would eventually degrade over time.
With the advent of CD-based gaming, memory cards were introduced. If players weren't willing to fork over the money needed to purchase one of these, they'd pretty much be forced to beat the entire game in one sitting. Some early PlayStation games tried to alleviate this problem with passwords, but this was eventually phased out.
4 Many PC And Arcade Ports Suffered
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Being one of the first successful CD-based consoles on the market, the PlayStation saw a glut of arcade and PC ports. Some games made a smooth transition to consoles, while others weren't so lucky. Capcom's X-Men Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes are well renowned among fighting game enthusiasts and comic book lovers alike.
However, both would do well to steer clear of their butchered PlayStation ports which suffered from severe slowdown and missing frames of animation. Additionally, the PlayStation ports of PC titles such as Hexen and Shadow Man are so bad that they have to be seen to be believed.
3 Many Classics Don't Hold Up
Sadly, many beloved Playstation games are rough to go back to. While the Crash N-Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited reminded players why these platforming giants became household names, Sir Daniel Fortesque's resurrection was considerably less triumphant. MediEvil's humor and story are still just as entertaining as ever, but the combat, design, and platforming are much less palatable even with the enhancements made by Other Ocean Interactive.
Likewise, Parappa the Rapper is still an endearing character, and his songs remain as melodic as ever, but there's no denying that the game lacks much content and is a bit undercooked compared to modern rhythm titles.
2 Loading Times Can Put The Brakes On Certain Games
The quick loading times of the PlayStation 5 make it so much harder to go back to the PlayStation. While loading times were just a fact of life in CD-based games, they really messed with the flow in certain titles.
The Super Nintendo versions of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger feature no loading times whatsoever. However, the enhanced PlayStation ports constantly have the brakes put on when battles are initiated or even when players try to open the menu. Legacy of Kain Blood Omen got hit with this pretty bad as changing weapons, transforming, and even pausing the game necessitated a loading screen.
1 Ploygon Count Was Considerably Lower
The PlayStation was one of the first successful consoles to feature games with full polygonal 3D graphics. However, the technology was still in its infancy, and the visuals of these landmark titles have aged like milk.
While certain classics such as Metal Gear Solid managed to accommodate their low polygon count with a distinct art style, many other games that attempted realism do not hold up to scrutiny. The major exceptions to this rule were the games that either eschewed 3D altogether or just used it sparsely, such as the gorgeous 2D title Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.