The PlayStation (formally abbreviated PSX and less commonly PS1) was a video game console manufactured by Sony.
Overview[]
Initially developed with Nintendo under the name "Play Station eXperimental", the PlayStation began life as a possible CD-based add-on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and part of an effort to compete with rival Sega's Sega CD (Mega CD) sidecar unit for the Genesis (Mega Drive) console. However, a contractual dispute in early development of the "SNES CD" resulted in Nintendo and Sony parting ways, leaving the latter to develop a console of its own. The PlayStation, as it became known, launched in 1994, reaching worldwide throughout the mid-to-late 1990s. Nintendo, meanwhile, was developing a new cartridge-based console that would become the Nintendo 64.
Square Enix (at the time Squaresoft) had considered developing the next games in its flagship series for Nintendo, but cartridges had their limits where discs of the era did not; and thus did Square enter into a multi-year exclusive publishing deal with Sony. Final Fantasy VII was among the first fruits of this endeavor. Enix's Star Ocean: The Second Story would also be published by Sony upon its release.
Still, the PSX was wildly popular on its own merits, reaching a circulation of over 100 million units in its lifetime. It would later be eclipsed by its successor, the PlayStation 2, as the fastest-selling console of its era.
A smaller, more refined variant, the PSone, was released through the early 2000s and had an optional LCD screen attachment.
Star Ocean titles for PlayStation[]
