Lots of people say that they bought every PlayStation ever, but no one has
ever actually done it. And for good reason. See, there are way more
PlayStations than most people realize, and many of them are darn near
impossible to get your hands on. So, I asked the team to take a shot at buying
one of every PlayStation ever for me to
play on. And this is going to be a lot of fun cuz as a lifelong PC gamer, there
are machines here that I straight up didn't even know existed. But we'll get
to those later because first up is the OG, the daddy,
the PlayStation. Now, we already did a succinct and, if I
do say so myself, adorable rendition of the story of how Sony entered the gaming
world in our console tier list video. So, today we're going to focus on the
hardware and on the games. The original PlayStation came out December 3rd, 1994.
And thanks to its franchisee definfining exclusives, innovative hardware, not to
mention aggressive price, it quickly took the gaming world by storm, becoming
the bestselling home console ever. But there were a lot of different
PlayStations that contributed to that number. In fact, there are over 10 FAT
models, 20 plus if you consider a region lock a model. But don't worry if your
collection is missing a few of them. The differences between many of them are
very hard to spot. So, bottom line, if you're on the market, we would recommend
one of the later models that fixes some major issues with the earlier ones, but
still remains fairly moddable, 7500 is
the best. Or, hear me out, if compatibility with mods, PSIO, or a Game
Shark doesn't matter to you, there's always the PS1. Not that PS1, this PS1.
This smaller, lighter version of the original PlayStation cost just $200,
which made it a great entry point into Sony's ecosystem. An ecosystem that got
some pretty cool accessories, like check out this little LCD screen attachment.
With this, you can play even when you're away from your station.
>> Okay, but this was probably the bigger deal. While the Dual Shock is pedestrian
looking at best by today's standards, it was the firstish controller with two
analog sticks, which kicked off a controller design paradigm that outside
of small refinements has remained largely unchanged to this day. Just like
I'll never change the way I segue to our sponsor, UG Green. Their NAS 480T has
four M.2 NVMe slots, dual Thunderbolt 4
ports, Wi-Fi 6, and a 10 gig network port. They're so easy to set up, you'll
be uploading, downloading, or streaming media in no time. Pick one up using our
links in the description.
Our third specimen is one of this generation's biggest collector's items,
the Net Euros. Not only had I never heard of this thing, I'd never heard of
the concept of it. It's a dev kit, see,
but it's targeted at hobbyists rather than at professional developers. And the
aim was to spark interest in game development. It was only available via
mail order and costs about $750,
which that sounds like an awful lot for a matte black pallet swap and a couple
of matching controllers. But here's the kicker. It also had no region lock and
came with everything you needed to run unsigned software directly from a PC.
It's hard to imagine modern Sony doing anything that cool. But back in those
days, Sony had a very try anything twice
mindset, which was reflected in the games as well. Now we just got to pick
one to play. We could go with an obvious choice like Final Fantasy 7 or Tekken or
Crash Bandicoot, but that would be too predictable. We chose Parappa the
rapper, >> which I've never actually played. >> Oh, prepare yourself.
>> Okay, man. What shape did they think people's hands were? Oh, no. I figured
it out. Games are for kids. >> Yes. >> So, the curvature is so tight for an
adult hand, >> which didn't bother me back then
>> because we were kids. >> Now, you have a lot of fond childhood memories of this particular game.
>> Ah, it's one of my favorites of all time. Sony, bring her back. I'll pay anything. I'll fund it myself. We are 30
seconds into this game and I've seen multiple like white American stereotypes
that make me amazed that this console
ever sold overseas. I'm impressed it has voice acting.
>> Yeah. Well, that was the power of the CD. You could finally fit voice actors
into your game. >> Oh, hold on. Okay. Oh god. I don't know.
I don't know Sony buttons. So, this is going to be really hard.
>> Oh god. >> Wow. You lost. That's the fastest I've seen anyone lose at this game. Even when
I was a baby, I can do better than that. >> That was the tutorial. What's the spot?
What spot? Where in the Which star am I trying to hit it on?
>> What do you mean? Where the thing is? >> But there's three stars.
>> But the stars have nothing to do with it. We'll get where that thing is. That's all you have to hit.
>> What? I have to hit it that early. >> Yeah. >> Oh. Oh, I get it.
>> Yeah, you're getting it. I thought as the one went across the thing, I didn't
notice that the the icon is the character who's supposed to do it.
>> It's a small screen. >> It's a really small screen. >> Okay, I can do this. I can do this.
>> I think one thing that's brilliant about this game is that it's a great tutorial
for learning where the buttons are on a PlayStation controller. >> That's actually genius. Uh-oh. What is
that square? Right. The the thing. No,
>> this is probably enough of this. That's probably enough. >> For all of its first generation
jankiness, though, the PlayStation really was a revolution in the game
industry. Get it? Cuz spinning discs,
not cartridges. You thought you missed Lime Day? Wrong.
We found some more cuts to make. Save $20 on a mystery screwdriver and get one
of five exclusive Lime Day colorways. Save $15 on our iconic double wall
vacuuminssulated water bottles. Try out our magnetic cable management and get
our starter solution for just $10 US on
our US site or $13.99 Canadian on our
global site. This is the best price you'll ever get on it. Killer deals,
right? And best of all, you get free shipping on every order over $175
if you're on the US site and every order over $250 Canadian if you're shopping
from anywhere else. So hurry, visit LMG.gg/lime.
The clock's ticking. Of course, all good things must end. And the PS2 made the
PS1 completely obsolete, doing everything its predecessor did, but
better. Not only did it have very complete backwards compatibility with
both PS1 games and controllers, thanks to what was essentially a built-in PS1
CPU, but an even bigger selling point for the mainstream buyers was that the
PS2 was also one of the cheapest DVD
players on the market at just $299.
And all of that ignores the technological jump that this sixth
generation beast offered for nextgen games. Its powerful custom hardware, not
to mention much larger game discs, meant not only better graphics, but also more
ambitious game worlds, mechanics, and stories. This time in an attractive
black shell that, especially in its vertical stance, exudes monolithic
power. That is unless you opt for the slim PS2. Though it is worth noting that
thanks to the expansion slot on the back, the original FAT is still the most
desirable PS2 model for many gamers with the 3900 range being the sweet spot
thanks to its improved laser reliability, out of the box hard drive
support, not to mention its ability to use free McBoot to load private tiered
games. With that said, if you aren't planning on sailing the 7C's and you
don't care about these 20 or so PS1 games, most versions of the Slim are
also pretty great choices these days. What's a poor choice these days, unless
you're a hardcore collector, is the PSX.
This Japan-only white behemoth was a
harbinger of Sony's next generation ambitions and included alongside a full
fat PS2 a ton of extra features, most of
which are basically useless today. I'm talking media functionality like video,
audio, and image editing. Not to mention a digital video recorder to pause and
play back live TV on the built-in encrypted hard drive, which sadly has
yet to be cracked and takes out the entire console when it dies. Perhaps
most importantly, though, the PSX introduced the cross media bar before it
became the iconic UI of the PSP and the PS3, which we will get to in a moment.
But first, there's another PS2 that only the true afficionados will know. The
Bravia KDL 22PX300.
This is a truly unremarkable 720p class
LCD TV. But it has a PlayStation 2 built
into the stand. Man, you would think this thing would have made some serious
headlines. And who knows, maybe it would have, except that it was released 4
years after the PlayStation 3 came out.
But still, we've got to use this for our PS2 gaming. >> Oh yeah, baby.
>> Oh, yeah. But first, there's one more novel variant of the PS2 that we dropped
from our procurement list, but feel should get an honorable mention anyway.
The Audioox VOD10 PS2. It's an
all-in-one PS2 gaming system that's meant for incar integration, which
sounded so cool, and I wanted it so bad
until we looked a little closer and realized it's really just a retail PS2
Slim that slots into a folding display. That makes it more of an accessory than
a console, so it didn't meet our criteria for inclusion.
Now, all we got to do is pick a game. Not easy on a console with over 4,000 of
them. Many of them on the all-time greatest lists. I'm going to choose the
incredible Medal of Honor European Assault cuz that's the European game
that we do have. And this is a PAL TV.
Great.
Wow, that looks so bad. Holy crap. I forgot
how bad early LCDs were. This is
shocking. Like, yes, PS2 games don't look great, but everything moving in the
distance is just like Yeah, slow motion. How smeary it is.
>> The smearing is horrible.
>> Wow. It's not helping matters that it's running at 30 FPS.
>> How could you possibly hope to beat this game like this? Still, even on this
trash TV, you can see what a massive improvement in fidelity the PS2 offered
over the PS1. Not right out of the gate necessarily. The first PS2 games
famously did not really look much better than the last PS1 games as developers
really unlocked the full potential of that first generation console. But by
the time it was well into its life, it makes Parappa the Rapper look like a
early concept of what 3D gaming might look like. >> Hey, there's Parappa 2 on the PS2.
>> I bet it looks a lot better. It does look slightly better. Yes.
>> Making my aiming issues worse is the fact that these analog sticks appear to
have about 20% of their movement as a
dead zone. >> Yeah, that's just the way things were. But there were some improvements like uh
analog face buttons. So in like Gran Turismo, that's how you would accelerate
is you'd press harder on the X button to go faster. Okay, that's pretty cool. I
prefer the triggers we have today. Me too. I also prefer the displays we have
today where I'm not seeing six ghost images of this tower. This is truly
awful. While this is probably a worst case scenario, the PS2 overall existed
during that awkward transition period between CRT, where the games definitely
looked better, and flat panels that were
sexier, not to mention more expensive, but really did have crap image quality
and input latency. Of course, flat panels wouldn't stay crappy forever. And
with the rise of highdefinition TVs, Sony's next move would be to raise the
bar for home consoles once again, delivering a leap in visual fidelity
that blew away our 2006 eyes, not to
mention our 2006 wallets.
That's right. Despite its impressive cell architecture, or maybe because of
it, the big bad glossy Blu-ray machine,
oh, it's heavy, landed on the market with a resounding
out of the gate. Its cost made it unattractive to gamers. And its
complexity made it unattractive to developers who really struggled, I mean,
even compared to last gen to differentiate their early PS3 games from
the best looking PS2 titles. Of course,
by once again including last generation hardware in the early PS3s, Sony made
sure that you could at least still play those older games. But here's the thing,
the PS2 is still the bestselling console
ever. So, if you really wanted to play older games, you could just, you know,
pick one of those up on Craigslist for next to nothing. Now, the final ace up
Sony sleeve was supposed to be support for highdefinition Blu-ray movie
playback. And for that, it did offer a
compelling value. But that was only for the handful of folks who cared. Slow
adoption of highdefinition TVs, not to mention the much higher prices of
Blu-ray discs, meant that DVD would continue to be the dominant format for
years to come. In spite of all of this, though, Sony stuck it out, and the PS3's
appeal steadily grew over the course of its lifetime, bolstered by a growing
library of phenomenal exclusives. With the real breakthrough moment coming with
the introduction of this, the less glossy and perhaps more importantly less
expensive PS3 Slim at $299. I don't
know. Seems like the price of a game console might be important. Nintendo or
not? Who knows? This external shrinkage was made possible by Sony's slowly
eliminating feature blows like extra I/IO and backwards compatibility along
with some major transistor size shrinkage on both the CPU and GPUs. And
thank goodness for that because those early model PS3s produced much more heat
than their woefully inadequate cooling solutions could move away which
contributed to a plague of yellow light deaths. That's a big reason why we would
actually recommend targeting an early Slim for your collection. Yes, yes, both
the Ca and E can play PS2 games
natively, which is pretty cool. But in
our mind, that's really not enough to overcome the price difference, which is
so big that you could buy a PS3 Slim and a PS2 and a good retrocaler, all for
less money. Not to mention that it would deliver a noticeably less laggy PS2
gaming experience. That recommendation though assumes that you might be
interested in modding. If all you care about is playing legal discs, late model
slims or even the super slim can be a great reliable option. See, instead of a
front disc loader, we have a back to basics toploading disc drive that kind
of reminds me of Buckley's cough syrup. It's ugly, but it works. Immediately I
have a bunch of thoughts, but I'm not sure if you'll be able to hear them over
this freaking console. Is that normal? >> They get louder with age as there's more
and more dust, but there was always a very loud console.
>> Jibus. >> Yeah. >> To it credit though. This is the first
game that I've looked at and gone, "Yeah, I could just sit down and enjoy
this with no distraction. >> Looks like a Switch One game.
>> Looks good enough." Well, I shouldn't say no distraction. I have this cable
pulling on my controller, which I shouldn't because the Six Axis was the
first wireless controller that was ever packed in with a Sony console. It had no
rumble out of the gate due to ongoing litigation with the DualShock 3 coming
about a year later. But hold on a second then. How's the cable Sony's fault,
Linus? Well, because Sony integrates
batteries into their controllers, which always die because batteries die. You
can buy replacements from places like AliExpress, but most people aren't going
through that. So, if you're buying used PS3 controllers, just expect it to be
dead. >> This is why I always liked the Xbox approach. Yes, the controllers are
heavier because of the AA batteries, but I never have to deal with this.
>> Certainly, for longevity, it's way better. >> Ooh, we didn't mention the analog
triggers yet. >> I really don't like the shape of it. It feels off compared to modern ones.
>> No, it's a terrible analog trigger, but having an analog trigger definitely
better than not having an analog trigger. This is also one of my least favorite controllers of all
PlayStations. I don't like the wireless latency. I think that it was time for an
improvement. I My dream project is rebuilding the Boomerang controller, the
banana that they uh they released when they announced the console, but they
never released. There was too many people making fun of it. Apparently, it's like the most comfortable
controller of the time. You can boost as long as they're not going to blow your
car up. >> Keep juggling you down the road. It's crazy that through this entire era of
gaming, performance was barely even like a issue on our mind. This is like
running at a solid 30 FPS, but racing games now, that's almost unacceptable.
>> Oh, almost. >> That's unacceptable. >> Another thing we've stopped accepting
these days is the brown filter over everything. Even this game feels like it
has like a gritty brown filter over all the vegetation.
>> Yeah, everything is just a little gray and brown.
>> I get it. It was HD. They were trying to make it look realistic.
>> Yeah, movies were going through a similar thing at the same time. >> Yeah, realism in my games not always
what I'm after. All right, it's time to move on to the next generation.
>> No, it's not. >> No, it's not. You may not know this, but
Sony released another little tiny home
console right around the launch of the PS4, the PlayStation TV. This little
$100 box was marketed primarily as a remote play device in Sony's big push
into the game remote streaming world. Stupidly, what they should have done is
focus on its best feature, the fact that inside this box is basically a PS Vita,
just without the screen. I mean, it wasn't officially that, of course, but
once you hacked it and added compatibility back for most games, you
could enjoy a surprisingly excellent big screen experience. Or so I'm told. I
never had a Vita. What am I going to be playing? >> Uh, you're gonna be playing Batman Arkham Origins because it's a game that
shows off some of the technical capacity of this. >> This looks surprisingly good on the big
screen. >> Yeah, the scaling is not ideal on it. You can only do 720p or 1080i and we
currently have 720p. Uh, so it's really good on like an HD CRT, but who's got
one of those these days? >> Dang, dude. The Vita is so good. We
should do another one of these videos just about the Vita. >> Like the textures are obviously a little
lowfi, but like it looks not bad. not that far off from PS3.
>> It also was the only way to play Persona 4 Golden on a big screen for a long
time, but now they've sold that on every marketplace, but for 5 years, it was
basically this neat, but more of a side
exploration. Now, for a storyline quest,
Sony's PS4 Parallelogram got off to a very strong start, in large part by just
keeping it simple. While Microsoft was hanging a connect-shaped albatross over
its confusingly named doit all Xbox One,
Sony was laser focused on creating a gaming machine for gamers. Released in
late 2013 at 399, the PS4 was Sony's
first ever console to contain an AMD x86
APU, meaning that architecturally it was
more like a gaming PC than any generation that came before it. That
meant that it was that much easier to develop and port games for. And boy, did
we ever get some games. In fact, it was such a strong lineup of exclusives that
it would be hard for Sony to evolve beyond it. The PS4 would be followed up
by the Dierunk Slim and then eventually the Pro, which was touted as the first
true 4K console machine. But, uh,
our tests determined that that was a lie. As it turned out, the Pro was
basically a moderate GPU upgrade with nearly everything else remaining the
same. Probably because Intel was too cool to make console chips and AMD
couldn't build a decent CPU to save their lives back then. No, the true 4K
console. >> It's still not true 4K. The PS5 would arrive in 2020, priced at
$3.99 with a unique design that made it
a little hard not to worry about Sony. And a best-in-class storage solution
promised that long loading screens would be a thing of the past. But aside from
that, Sony's fifth generation lacked the unique accessories and gameplay
innovations that helped previous generations stand out. Oh, wait. This
you you have got to be kidding me. With all that said, being kind of bland but
better isn't necessarily a terrible thing, and the PS5 fully embraces the
trend of consoles becoming more PC-ike, which made multiplatform ports much
easier and higher quality than ever, while also providing important creature
comforts, not to mention an attractive price toerformance ratio that made it a
solid choice for gamers. This has led to an environment where there are fewer
true exclusives than ever before. But
the trade-off is that the PS5 can play thousands of games and is often the best
place to play them, other than a high-end PC, of course. And that's true
whether you're playing on a fat PS5 or the newer slim PS5, which sadly is the
first big size reduction that we've seen that didn't have a significant jump in
efficiency. But hey, at least it fits nicely in our commuter backpack.
ltstore.com. Now for our biggest, baddest PlayStation
yet, the true 4K console,
>> still not native, >> the PS5 Pro. We got another GPU focused
upgrade here with improved RAW performance, improved ray tracing, and a
new fangled PlayStation specific upscaling technique that to Sony and
AMD's credit can look pretty close to native, even if it still isn't. And even
if it's about to be replaced by FSR4, the only question in my mind is, are we
being too hard on the PS5? I mean, we called this thing a moderate performance
bump. And sure, compared to like the PS2
to the PS1, kind of is, but I kind of
remember those PS4 games looking kind of sh Can we compare these two? Already I'm
having the PS4 experience. >> Yeah, let's do a new game. Three, two,
one, go. Hey, there we go. >> There we go. I could have skipped a long
time ago. >> Yikes.
>> Okay, that is a lot sharper. >> Yeah, lot smoother.
>> I got to say, for its age though, PS4 looks not bad in this game.
>> The cut scenes look really good on PS4. Once we get to gameplay, it'll be a
little more clear. To be clear, the one on the left looks like it has Vaseline
over the screen. >> I could finish this game in the time it's taking you to load in
>> and you'd have a much more enjoyable experience. Another big difference going
from the PS4 to the PS5 was unlocking
120 FPS performance modes. >> Yes, the visual fidelity does go down,
but particularly in more competitive titles, it can be a major advantage.
Even the addition of VRR on PlayStation consoles was a huge deal where uh now
games can have a little bit of stuttering, but it doesn't matter nearly as much. And I've really liked the
addition of the 40 Hz modes that are somewhere in between balanced uh 60 Hz
modes and 30 FPS, but they look great and they're, you know, just 33%
smoother, >> a little bit more playable. Okay, not
bad. But then I pan the camera
and I got to say, look, I never played Forbidden West, but I did play Zero Dawn
and that was a freaking hard game sometimes when you have to like use a
particular kind of arrow to snipe the eye of a particular bird flying around
and doing that with this level of blur and at this level of input latency.
Okay, I shouldn't say I don't know if I could beat it because I beat it on a Steam Deck. Um,
>> but it would be harder. >> Yeah, >> to their credit, both of these
generations support HDR, but even the modest performance impact is definitely
going to be less felt on the PS5. >> To be fair, I think the PS5 Pro is a
little overkill. Like, it's so sharp and so >> Oh, you're on the Pro.
>> Yeah, we're showing how much We've shown how much uh from the beginning of this
super generation to the end of the super generation, how how much improvement
there is. >> Is that how you would describe the PS4, PS5? the super generation 100%.
>> Yeah, I think that's fair. >> Yeah, like we've had so much improvement
that it probably totals more than a generation, but it's still like you're
playing PS4 games on your PS5. Like there's very few just PS5 games. Oh, hi.
>> Oh, got him again.
With that said, there's more to this half generation than just performance.
That controller is the first PlayStation controller that has ever tempted me. I
do not love the ergonomics of any previous DualShock controller, but the
Dual Sense with its better haptics, including these like sick triggers that
make your bow really feel like drawing a bow. Of course, you'll pay the price for
all of that. The PS5 Pro is in raw dollars the most expensive console we've
ever seen from Sony. And even adjusting for inflation, only the launch PS3
exceeds it, which was notoriously
>> not very successful. >> And even within the same parts, we've seen price increases across the globe.
And they've kind of discreetly in the US raised the price of the Slim by 50 bucks
over the launch. Even as lifelong PC gamers, I think we can both agree that
there's never been a better time to enjoy the tens of thousands of
PlayStation games, both present and in the past, especially if you're not shy
about privateeering them. For those of you watching, if you want to get an idea
of which PlayStation you should buy in each generation, we're going to put up
our chart with recommended models. Now,
we're also going to segue to our sponsor.
Now, that was so cheesy. Vessie, as summer
continues to blaze along, you might be thinking about your next vacation. Well,
Vessie's new Pacific sneakers are so versatile, they can be the only pair of
shoes you bring, and you'll still be prepared for just about any occasion. It
features their patented Datax technology designed to let your feet breathe in
warm weather and to keep moisture from seeping in because even the sunniest of
days can take a turn for the worse. They've also got grippy outs soles for
more rugged terrain, removable insoles so you can slide in your own orthotics.
And here's something unique, padded heel locks to keep your feet from moving
around. What are you doing in there? Plus, they're super easy to slip on or
take off. Pick one up today along with a pair of their comfy socks and get a
one-year warranty along with 30 days of worry-free returns or exchanges. Visit
vessie.com/lt or scan the QR code on screen to get 15%
off your first purchase. If you like this kind of looking back at the history
of gaming, why don't you check out the time we had several young people try
some of my favorite childhood games, video games. Have they really changed
for the better? Yes. But also, in some ways, no. We
should do another episode of that. I have more childhood games. >> Sure. I'd be super down.
>> Maybe we could let them play for longer this time. >> Yes, please. Less people, more