Countdown to PS4!!! - 2. A love letter to the PS1

As of today, there is exactly one month (31 days) remaining until the Playstation 4 releases. My excitement is tangible almost. I'm trying to remain calm but Sony is doing a very good job of building hype - I can't really escape the advertising on the various media outlets I use.

That said, here is my love letter to the console that started it all for me - the Playstation.

The PS1 is probably my favorite console. I had a NES and a PC for years before the PS1, but those were hand-me-downs I got as surprises. The Playstation is the first console I was old enough to request by name. Up until that particular Christmas, I had always gotten very awesome gifts, but never anything I specifically picked out and wanted. I wanted the Playstation so much. I can remember lusting over the ads on TV and in different magazines. I really didn't think I'd get it, and I was very excited when I did (see the picture a few posts below this).

It was Spyro the Dragon that sold me. Specifically, THIS commercial. Watching it now, I don't really know why that specific one did it for me, but it did. I thought I got my Playstation when I was 7 years old, but it looks like Spyro didn't release until 1998. That would have made me 8 years old. It would also have coincided with the release of the Dual Shock PS1 bundle, which was the bundle I had.

I'll never forget playing my first game on the Playstation. The graphics blew my 8 year old mind into outer space. The gems in Spyro, specifically, I remember being a huge deal to me. The environments in Spyro also remain a pretty vivid memory for me. These games also had a good deal of secrets which were (and are) my favorite part of gaming. This was a time predating household internet for the most part, so finding secrets in a game was much more difficult and mysterious than it is today. Many secrets were exchanged via word of mouth - and a lot of the time they weren't even true. but that was the fun of gaming back then. You had to find out.

I played my first RPG on the Playstation. It was a sub-standard and poorly translated game called Guardians Crusade. I've been trying to add it to my collection for quite some time now, but I'm waiting to find it for a good price. I'm interested to see how it is, because I remember enjoying it quite a bit when I was younger.

My first PS1 game -  Spyro the Dragon
My Top 5 PS1 games - Spyro Year of the Dragon, Tomba!, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Crash Bandicoot 2, Ape Escape (it was VERY hard to just pick 5)