What was the launch of the PS1 like?

[Starfalcon]

FFIII (US version) was $80 bucks, I seem to recall. Worth it, and now my complete-in-box could be sold for $150 maybe.

I had a copy of Xenogears, probably bought in 2010 used for $20 bucks. Sold it kinda recently for $100 along with the PS1, had no idea it was worth much more... (not selling games after that mistake)

Yeah I got a factory sealed copy of Xenogears back in 2002 for $30, I am sure that is worth alot more than I paid for it back then.

 

[Armenius]

FFIII (US version) was $80 bucks, I seem to recall. Worth it, and now my complete-in-box could be sold for $150 maybe.

I had a copy of Xenogears, probably bought in 2010 used for $20 bucks. Sold it kinda recently for $100 along with the PS1, had no idea it was worth much more... (not selling games after that mistake)

FF3 was a SNES game, though.

 

[Nobu]

FF3 was a SNES game, though.

Was released on playstation in japan, then later in the US...maybe much later.

 

[Armenius]

Was released on playstation in japan, then later in the US...maybe much later.

FF6 on PlayStation was included in Final Fantasy Anthology in the US, and I bought a copy when it came out for USD $40. It was never released as a separate title in the US like it was in Japan. Used CIB copies go for around $20.

 

[Mchart]

Honestly, most people I knew with a PS1 were just pirating games. Couldn't really do that on the N64, because flashcarts back then were super expensive.

 

[Armenius]

Honestly, most people I knew with a PS1 were just pirating games. Couldn't really do that on the N64, because flashcarts back then were super expensive.

That didn't stop timely ROM images from popping up online. The first image I recall seeing for Ocarina of Time was less than two weeks after it came out in the US. Just a month before UltraHLE came out.

 

[Mchart]

That didn't stop timely ROM images from popping up online. The first image I recall seeing for Ocarina of Time was less than two weeks after it came out in the US. Just a month before UltraHLE came out.

ROMS we’re available but no one I knew had any way to play them. Old school flash carts were super expensive, if you could even get one.

 

[Armenius]

ROMS we’re available but no one I knew had any way to play them. Old school flash carts were super expensive, if you could even get one.

Which is why I mentioned UltraHLE. It was a big deal when it came out and opened the floodgates for more emulators that could play commercial games.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

FFIII (US version) was $80 bucks, I seem to recall. Worth it, and now my complete-in-box could be sold for $150 maybe.

I had a copy of Xenogears, probably bought in 2010 used for $20 bucks. Sold it kinda recently for $100 along with the PS1, had no idea it was worth much more... (not selling games after that mistake)

Some of the rarer PS1 games hold value as collectors items. The SNES FFIII dumped at 80 because the cart was beefier than most.

 

[Nytegard]

As for the actual launch, honestly, I don't remember. That would of come out during high school for me, but I don't remember a single person who actually had a PlayStation. I bought mine when I entered college, and the only RPGs I remember that were available at the time were Beyond the Beyond and a little later Suikoden. I thought Beyond the Beyond had the most random battles of any JRPG I've ever played. But I loved Suikoden.

That said, I'll admit I did get it modded. Pretty much everyone did. And people like my dormmates and me are partly why returns are horrible now. Every weekend, there would be a group of us who would go to the mall and buy every new PSX game. We'd go back to our dorms, copy the games, and then return the games for our cash back, and repeat the process the next week.

That said, eventually I did buy most of the games I pirated. My PSX JRPG collection is a few hundred deep. It's probably the console I have the most games with. (My PC collection though eclipses everything). But my PSX doesn't really work anymore. The laser eventually gave out. My only real regret with it, is that I had one of those multi save card things, which I was using with Final Fantasy Tactics, and almost beat the game before the save card pretty much reset, and I lost the game, and have never played Final Fantasy Tactics since.

Now, as far as college, this was where I it opened my eyes to how the N64 was a failure. Objectively it was, but a lot of younger people remember how great of a console that was. But in college, I only knew 2 people with an N64, whereas I knew 5 with a Saturn. And almost everyone I knew had a PSX. But until 1997/1998, there really wasn't much going on for the PlayStation in my opinion.

 

[KazeoHin]

Someone on another site told me that people and publishers "immediately flocked" to the PS1. Anyone who was old enough to be there, what was the hype for the PS1 like? How would you rate the launch lineup?

I was in my pre-teens when the ps1 (we called it the psx) launched. I have no memory of the actual transition, just one day it's Sega and Nintendo discussions, then the next the playstation was in conversations and metal gear solid, final fantasy, twisted metal etc were all common talking points.

This is different to the N64, which had a fanfare, news stories, shortages, kids speculating on it, rumours etc. We KNEW when the N64 was launching and we were asking our parents for one (fun fact, I had no interest in Goldeneye 007 when I read about it, but when I played it at a friend's house, it was an absolutey life changing event).

 

[Raven1221]

The thing I remember is I wanted this console a lot. I was sure it was real good. CD I think.