In the year 1995, the console war between Sega and Nintendo was winding down, with Nintendo the clear and undisputed winner in Japan and North America, but with Sega the winner in Europe and Brazil. The Sega CD and the 32X proved to be fantastic flops, causing Nintendo to abandon their idea of a CD add-on for the SNES. This proved to be a big mistake; it meant they'd break their contract with Sony. To save face, Sony decided to enter the console market, and as they say, the rest is history...
Although the Playstation would go on to win the Fifth Generation's Console War, it would not be until the year 1997 that it became crystal clear that this would be the case. That was the year Sony's Playstation began seeing the release of its classics, such as the long awaited Final Fantasy 7, which in turn would kick off an RPG craze in America (to the benefit of the Playstation, which soon became THE console for RPG's)
The year 1998 was the true turning point for the PS1, however, with the release of what is probably the best PS1 game ever, and the game that defined the console: Metal Gear Solid. Hideo Kojima's Magnum Opus, the Metal Gear Solid franchise would go on to define the Playstation line as being the series that truly tested the limits of their home consoles.
And of course let's not forget the best selling game on the console: Gran Turismo, with a whopping 10 MILLION copies sold. Considered one of (if not THE) best racing game ever made, Gran Turismo's success speaks for itself. Beautiful graphics, high car variety (one hundred forty models, yo!) eleven tracks plus reversed versions, this game was a racing fan's dream.
Of course we can't forget about probably the Playstation's earliest success: Crash Bandicoot. Though not the first platformer on the system, it did go on to become the PS1's unofficial mascot, as well as one of the most iconic franchises of the Playstation 1 era. What helped separate Crash from Mario and Sonic was the manic presentation: Crash himself was a funny character with wildly exaggerated features, giving him a distinct look. This, combined with the amazing level details and memorable music, helped solidify Crash as one of gaming's greats for the rest of the 90's.
But enough about that; what made the PS1 so great that it managed to beat Nintendo, the previous undisputed King of Games? The answer: the games.
Sony didn't have an internal game development department, so they couldn't make any first party games like Sega or Nintendo. If Sony wanted to sell the Playstation, they NEEDED other companies to make games for it. So what Sony did was make the technology for the Playstation easy to use and easy to code for. Because the PS1 was CD-ROM based instead of cartridge based, it meant games could be longer, have better sound and voice acting, and even be in 3D. The last was THE big thing in gaming during the 90's, with the success of Star Fox for the SNES being at least in part to it being in semi-3D.
It was this superior technology that attracted game developers onto the Playstation. With 3D graphics, enhanced sound, and CD-ROM technology for more data, the Playstation would be the single most powerful system on the market. It was this reality that attracted Squaresoft and Konami, causing them to pretty much abandon Nintendo, where they had previous success.
Playstation's success can equally be attributed to Nintendo's foolish decision to keep cartridge based technology for their N64. Although the N64 was a powerful system, you can't hold as much data in a cartridge as you could on a CD. This means that you could do LESS with the N64 in comparison to the Playstation, even if an N64 game ran more smoothly.
Because of this, Konami and Squaresoft left for the Playstation, whose technology could allow them to create the games they wanted to sell. This turned out for the best, as both companies had gone on to develop fantastic games for the system, with most (if not all) becoming instant classics.
If you were to take a good look at the top 10 best selling PS1 games, you'd see that only half of them were published by Sony, and NONE were developed in house. In contrast, nine out of the ten N64 best selling titles were published by Nintendo, and each was developed either by Nintendo themselves, or Rare. Also, quite tellingly, most of the best selling N64 games were also pre-packaged with the system, while only Gran Turismo was packaged with Playstation models. That means the Playstation sold itself more than the N64. Something to think about...
The Playstation proved that the games define the console, and you don't NEED to be a first party developer to create a best selling console. Sony merely provided the technology for developers to play with; at best, they'd also help publish the game. Sony's laissez-faire approach to console development revolutionized console development, for the better.
Sorry this entry was so sloppy, real life has been hectic.
Next week: The PS2, the most successful game console of all time.
Best selling games: Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy 7, Gran Turismo 2, Tekken 3, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
Games that defined the console: Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy 7, Crash Bandicoot, Twisted Metal, Tomb Raider 2, Metal Gear Solid
Best Franchises: Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Twisted Metal
My top 5: Final Fantasy 7, Spyro the Dragon, Suikoden 2, Metal Gear Solid, Brave Fencer Musashi.
No comments:
Post a Comment