Pull out your party poppers, put on a paper hat, and pick out your best retro game tee – the PSone turns 20 today. Yes, we know that your attention just turned to a certain The Smiths song, but we're confident that this neverending anniversary is finally coming to a close. All the way back on 29th September, 1995, the original PlayStation launched on European shores. It's since become one of the most iconic brands on the continent – with hundreds of thousands of systems shipped, and millions upon millions of games sold. Pour one out for the little grey fella that started it all.
Back in 1995, this author was at Primary School, reviewers Simon Fitzgerald and Sam Brooke weren't even born, and editorial director Damien McFerran – well, he was probably writing freelance articles for the first issue of Official PlayStation Magazine. But even though many of Push Square's contributors were at different stages of their lives when the appliance arrived, one thing that we all share in common is a passion for the PlayStation brand. Throughout the day we'll be publishing a handful of articles celebrating the PSone, and what that little piece of yellowing plastic means to us.
In the meantime, though, we just wanted to send a message to everyone at PlayStation UK and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. We may not always agree with everything that the firm gets up to – but 20 years of cutting edge entertainment is something that's worth acknowledging all the same. From everyone here at Push Square: Happy 20th Birthday, PlayStation!
Comments 20
That commercial, man. The greatest ever.
Happy birthday!
Man seems like so long ago lol time sure flies. I just started my senior year in high school so I really didn't have time for video games at the time so I actually didn't get mine till FF VII came out in 97. My friend had one so I play it on occasion when I went over to his place.
It's amazing how far Sony with the Playstation to become so dominant in the video game industry.
The PlayStation blew me away. I was 14 and I got it in 96. My first games were Destruction Derby 2 and Tomb Raider. I was amazed. Tomb raider even got my dad into gaming. Happy birthday PlayStation!
Just started middle school the year the PSone came out. Time does fly. I always go back to that summer day in 1995 in a KB Toys when a PlayStation demo unit with Twisted Metal 1 running in it changed the way I viewed games forever.
The start of a great series of consoles; the greatest, in fact.
I was only 4 months old when the first PlayStation touched down in the US, which was 20 days earlier than Europe. I got one when I was five and I'm still loving PlayStation to this day. I remember being amazed by Crash, and here we are now looking forward to games like Uncharted and Horizon.
I didn't have one straight away as I was a big Nintendo fan so my parents got me the N64. My first experience of it was going to my friends house and playing Tekken and Resident Evil, the latter blew me away how they looked like real people which is kinda funny looking back at it. I can still remember the first time I heard that bit of music as the console starts up. What really converted me was probably Destruction Derby 2, we used to have all day sessions on that and especially a track called Pikes peak I think which had a huge jump in it. We seemed to spend an unhealthy amount of time trying to fill the track where you landed with as many wrecked cars as possible.
Got a ps one on day one with a free ps one branded courier type bag, couldn't afford a game though so only had the demo disc for a couple of weeks, wipeout was the first game i bought
lol am I youngest one here I wasn't even born when it came out
20 years, shocking! God memories playing Die Hard and Destructon Derby at my friends before getting my own Christmas 96 thanks for an ace two decades!
heh..didn't know me and PSOne share the same birthday..happy days :]
Got mine at launch the games I loved best were ones I shared the experience with brothers and friends, soul blade, rage racer, worms, time crisis, micro machines(8 player pad share),wipeout, crash team racing . I'd just turned 18 as a raver in the 90's it was the chill out item of choice for those long come downs in what seed like a great consequence free youth..... It wasn't but hey I grew up got married and had kids.
@carlos82 yes Destruction Derby 2 was awesome! I think it should get a remake.
And we can celebrate the 20th birthday with the 3.00 update being released tomorrow. From the old to the new.
But I don`t have a Sony related shirt.
Time to celebrate Europe!
@Apczak My birthday is actually the same day the NES was released in North America.
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I bought my first PlayStation on May 10 1996 at 1:34pm from a high school buddy working at Walden Software in Fishkill NY for $299.99 with Sony memory card for $24.99. Yeah I still have the receipt. No games on the receipt though?
I was but a little over one year old when the PS1 came out in the US. Dad bought it when I was around three years old, I think, with a copy of Crash Bandicoot, Metal Gear Solid, and (as far as I know) Spyro 2. Obviously didn't play MGS back when I was that age (ha ha), but Spyro 2 and Crash literally changed my life by introducing me to gaming. Don't know how different my life would be if it weren't for PlayStation, but it's awesome to say I actually grew up alongside it over all these years!
Happy 20th Birthday PlayStation, hopefully you are still going strong in 2026, and that I am still an active gamer then.
@Comrade44 Indeed, I am a veteran of a number of things at the age of almost 39 and still going strong. And thank you for the kind words on the photo.
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