A Nintendo Kid’s Journey to the Sony Playstation - A BlueNile101 Reflection
- Nathaniel Hope
- Dec 15, 2019
- 12 min read
Updated: Dec 15, 2021
On December 3rd, 1994, the first ever Sony Playstation console was released in Japan. That was over 25 years ago! Let that sink in...25 years. How crazy is that? Man, time really does fly, doesn’t it? In North America, we didn’t get it until about nine months later, on September 9th, 1995. It was around the holidays of that year when I saw the console for the first time. I was at a friend’s house and they had just gotten the system along with the game Tekken. I remember them being super stoked about it and they invited me over to check it out. It was kind of exciting as I had never heard of the game before and I had never even heard of the Playstation before. I didn’t know what to expect but I knew I was in for a treat. Now, you might be asking yourself, how was I not familiar with something as legendary as the Sony Playstation? Well, considering the fact that this was 1995, I was a ten years old kid. And boy, the world was a much different place back then.
Bill Clinton was President of the United States. The radio was playing songs like Bombastic by Shaggy, Wonderwall by Oasis, and Scream by Michael Jackson. Pierce Brosnan was introduced as the new James Bond in GoldenEye. Toy Story, the first ever wholly computer generated film was released in theaters by Disney and Pixar. Windows 95 was released by Microsoft and the world wide web was all the rage. The development of the digital versatile disc (also known as DVD) also began development that year. Chrono Trigger and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) were among some of the popular games released that year. And it was also the year that the first ever Electronics Entertainment Expo trade show was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Man, what a time to be alive.
After the Playstation was introduced, it took over the gaming industry by storm. It came out during a time where Nintendo was king.
For over ten years, Nintendo had dominated the video game market space. With consoles like the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Nintendo Gameboy, all complete with hundreds of games, it wasn’t hard to see why. I was just like a lot of kids back then, always throwing my allowance money at them every time something new came out. Seriously, when it came to gaming consoles, Nintendo was my whole world. And when I think back to what my life was like during the golden age of Nintendo, honestly, that was really all I knew. As a kid back then, you got your information from magazines, catalogs, TV commercials, walking around shopping malls, word of mouth, talking to other kids at school, hanging out at your friends house and seeing what kind of stuff they had, you name it. For me, it was a bit different than the average American kid. I moved around a lot because my parents were in the military. In the late 80s to the mid 90s I lived in Germany.
Being in a different country, our selection of goods and where we were able to get them was rather limited. We had a commissary for all of our grocery needs and we had one store on base called the PX (Post Exchange) where we would get everything else. Basically, it was our only local source for American retail merchandise, such as clothing, electronics, books and magazines, fast food, etc. So when it came to stores...That was it. Television was limited too. We had where we would get everything else. Basically, it was our only local source for American retail merchandise, such as clothing, electronics, books and magazines, fast food, etc. So when it came to stores...That was it. Television was limited too. We had one English speaking channel back then. Yes, you read that correctly. One. We had the Air Force Network (AFN). Or, depending on where you lived, it was also the Air Force Radio and Television Service (AFRTS). We lived in two different places in Germany and I remember seeing both. But you can imagine, being limited to one English speaking channel filled with television broadcasts, shows, commercials, etc., you can fit only so much in a day. The range of was I able to watch was pretty limited. We also had catalogs. We’d get these heavy, thick books, well over a hundred pages, from places like Sears and JC Penny. It was full of every type of product you can think of. I remembering it being a family event when we got one. It was fun to riffle through all the pages to see what kinds of things they had in the States that we didn’t have overseas. I’d always jump to the toys and games sections. So if you let all that sink in, basically, to paint this picture of my early days of childhood, if I didn’t see a commercial for a product on AFN, and if it wasn’t found at the PX or even in a catalog, it didn’t exist. Thinking back on all of this...man, it was such a different time back then. Talk about crazy right?
But that all changed when we finally moved back to the USA.
When I was about ten years old, we moved to Maryland and I seriously didn’t realize how much I had missed out on until I we got there. There were all sorts of stores, restaurants, malls, toys, video games, a variety of TV shows on more than one English speaking channel...It was overwhelming and very exciting. I went to a new school, made some new friends. Eventually, one of those friends invited me over to their house. The next thing I know, I’m about to be introduced to the next evolution in gaming. The Sony Playstation.
My first impressions? It was pretty intriguing, a bit mind blowing. Overall, it was different.
Like I mentioned earlier, my friend just got the Playstation and Tekken, one of the earliest 3D action fighting games. What set this game apart from traditional fighting games like Street Fighter was that it emphasized rhythm, strategy, and deception over speed. We played it for a bit and overall, I really liked what I saw. Fully animated 3D characters fighting in an animated 3D environment? Amazing. The textures, graphics, and depth? Mind blowing. How was all of this done? This was where things got even more exciting when I started looking at the Playstation as a system and its capabilities. The game was running on a compact disc (CD-ROM) instead of a cartridge. Apparently, manufacturing a CD was much cheaper then making a cartridge. A CD also had much more storage space then a typical cartridge. This allowed for more audio, video, sprites and textures to be stored in one place. All of this was a new concept for me at the time, especially on a home console. I think it was a new concept for a lot of people back then.
Like a lot of gamers during that time, I was still playing on systems using cartridges. The majority of the experiences I was having on them were mainly 2D side scrolling and overhead platforms like Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Super Metroid. However, Nintendo’s patented Super FX Chip created 3D wonders with games like Star Fox in 1993 and and Stunt Race FX in 1994. I remember when I first saw these games, the concept of 3D on a system like the SNES was pretty revolutionary. Three dimensional polygons, vibrant colors, it was pretty wild. But due to development costs to incorporate a technology like this, very few games on this system were able to take full advantage of it. It was a pretty cool concept for its time and the games that I was able to play on it were a lot of fun. But with the power of the Playstation, I had never seen anything quite like the 3D I was seeing in Tekken. With the system’s technological leaps and bounds, it was like having arcade quality games in your own home.
The future has arrived
But alas, it was not meant to be. Well, at least, not at first. What I saw in the Playstation was a glimpse into the future, of what games were becoming. As much fun as it was being introduced to this new system, seeing all its technological wonders and cool visuals, it was going to take a lot more than that to get me to want to get my own Playstation. And looking back at what games were available for the system around the time it launched, I really wasn’t familiar with any of them. I basically stuck with what I knew and that was Nintendo. I had the benefit of having a few friends with different systems like the Sega Genesis, the Atari Jaguar, and now the Sony Playstation. But Nintendo was still king and its influence was still great. And a lot of kids at my new school were still playing games on all things Nintendo, just like me. So it was easy to see why I didn’t just dive right in. Not only that, but the influence of Nintendo became even greater after I got my first subscription to Nintendo Power Magazine. I had no idea till about a few issues in that Nintendo was about to move forward with its own future in gaming. That future would eventually be the power of the Nintendo 64. It was released in North America in 1996, one year after the launch of the Sony Playstation. I got it at launch with a copy of Super Mario 64.
Looking back, I feel the same way then as I do today when it comes to new gaming consoles. The games are what get me excited for the system, not the consoles. Because I had a subscription to Nintendo Power, I knew what games were coming and that’s essentially what got me excited. Want to play the new Mario game? The new Zelda game? How about these other games like GoldenEye or Mario Kart 64? Well, then you better make sure you have a Nintendo 64. For me, it was that simple. I didn’t really have anything point me in the direction of the Playstation at the time. I could imagine that if I had a magazine back then, or something that gave me information about the Playstation, something that could get me excited about its games, it’s possible things might have been different early on. I’ll never really know. But because of my subscription to Nintendo Power, all my friends with their Nintendo systems and games, my history with all things Nintendo since the beginning of it all, nothing out there could really sway my attention otherwise.
Not until another two years later...
It was around the end of 1997, where I ended up having to move again. This time I was around 13 years old. My family and I ended up moving across the country from Maryland, all the way to Washington State. It was an adventure to say the least as it was one long drive across the whole country. When we finally made it and got settle in, it is here where I met my bestest friend in the whole wide world, Derptaku! It is also here, thanks to him, that I was re-introduced to the Playstation. But this time, it was different. This time, I was introduced to a game that would end up changing my life forever. It was around the end of 1997, where I ended up having to move again. This time I was around 13 years old. My family and I ended up moving across the country from Maryland, all the way to Washington State. It was an adventure to say the least as it was one long drive across the whole country. When we finally made it and got settle in, it is here where I met my bestest friend in the whole wide world, Derptaku! It is also here, thanks to him, that I was re-introduced to the Playstation. But this time, it was different. This time, I was introduced to a game that would end up changing my life forever. Resident Evil 2...
I’ll never forget the first time I saw Resident Evil 2 in action. Holy wow, was it incredible. I never heard of the series before and here I was, being shown what will eventually become one of the greatest games and greatest sequels ever made. Apparently, it was brand new and had just been out for a few months. I had no idea what I was about to get into. Immediately out the gate, I was completely blown away because I found out this game featured full voice acting. Not general screams, yahoo's/wahoo’s, or grunts like Mario does in Mario 64. Not a sentence at the beginning of the game like in Super Metroid. Not a couple of words/phrases like “incoming enemy” from the Arwing computer system in Star Fox. In this game, we got roughly a minute opening with full voice narration, recapping the events of the first game. That right there, was a new concept to me in gaming and it was...amazing! But what I wasn’t prepared for was what happens after the recap...a fully voice acted computer generated opening cutscene lasting longer than a minute. And apparently, there was even more cutscenes you could watch as you progress throughout the game! I didn’t know that was a thing!
This is where everything changed
It was like watching a movie in a video game! When I look back at games on the Nintendo 64 that had cutscenes and they were also very much different. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time had a handful cutscenes. But they were all in-game graphics and all the dialogue was something you had to read. The beginning and ending to Super Mario 64 had cutscenes with Peach using her voice. But it was only about a few short sentences. Overall, the Nintendo 64 had small moments of voices in its games. But not to the degree that the Playstation was doing. Having the ability to produce fully computer generated cutscenes with full voice acting for longer than a minute was huge!
In Resident Evil 2, when the opening cutscene reached its end, the semi truck had just crashed, separating Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield through the fire and flames. It was here where I was handed the controller. All of a sudden, my eyes went wide, my grip on the controller tightened, my heart started racing, and I broke into a sweat! I was playing as Leon, the flames were behind me, and hoards of zombies working their way towards me.
Do I run? Do I have enough bullets in my gun? How do I find more if I run out? Where do I go? What do I do? What the hell is going on!?
Here I am, a die hard Nintendo kid, someone who’s used to games like Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong. Just your run-of-the mill, cute, animated, happy-go-lucky gaming experiences that I’ve been used to playing for most of my life. All of a sudden, I was just put in the middle of Raccoon City in the fight for my life! I have NEVER had an experience quite like this! I was mesmerized, utterly fascinated, shocked, and on the edge-of-my-seat scared. My adrenaline was up, the palms of my hands sweating with a firm grip on the controller. I was in complete awe of this whole experience. Resident Evil 2, graphically, was a huge leap from what I saw a few years prior in Tekken. What a crazy leap forward, the technology that had come up to this point, and only in a span of just a few years! The various changing camera angles as you explore your environment made the experience extremely cinematic. The atmosphere, the sound effects, pre-rendered backgrounds, the 3D animated characters and monsters...man...to set the tone for this craziness, it all meshed and worked so well together. What stood out for me even more, the cherry on top of all of this, was the game’s soundtrack.
Haunting, suspenseful, beautiful
For the first time ever, I started to look at videos games in a whole new light. Games were becoming more mature, complex, cinematic, story telling devices. Games didn’t have to just be cute and adorable. They could actually be scary. Games could be more than just collecting a bunch of coins and shiny new items. Games can have deep, rich, thrilling stories, with complex characters, entangled in complicated situations. This experience was so impactful that it has never left me. This game changed my whole world.
As I look back at the legacy of the first Sony Playstation and its mark that it left in the world, I think back to my own memories and the journey it took for me to get here. After my experience with Resident Evil 2, needless to say, I was hooked and I wanted more...this was certainly all Derptaku’s fault. Yes, this is all his fault and I thank him for it. Because of him, I took my first step into a larger world. I eventually joined the rest of the world when I got a Sony Playstation system of my very own. From there, I would continue throughout the years, following Sony and just about every console they have ever put out. I’ve had some amazing gaming experiences on just about every one of their consoles and I have made a lot of friends and memories along the way. But I’ll never forget my journey to the first Sony Playstation and its impact it had on me. From my first steps into Tekken, to meeting my bestest friend in the whole wide world, to exploring the streets of Raccoon City, it’s been a wild ride ever since. As I look forward to what the future may hold in the next evolution in gaming, I’ll never forget where it started for me. For those of you reading this, may you never forget where it all started for you. Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
BlueNile101
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