PS1 Hardware Strengths and Weaknesses?

[CRTGAMER]

Perhaps a mention of history leading to the Playsation; the failed merger of Nintendo and Sony add on disc reader?

I think that's pretty standard knowledge by now, especially if you are into gaming enough to be landing on this website.

Besides that is more of a PS1 101 content -- I'm using this thread for a spin off post to give additional info purely on technical strengths and weaknesses

Makes sense, the history aspect ties in with the 101 introductory article.

Still, perhaps the CD Reader might be mentioned briefly as an advantage? That is one of the strengths of the Playstation console; a time when all other consoles were cart based. Even when some consoles added a CD Reader as an accessory, a limited library. All PS1 games in the era of cart games had the option advantage of the increased memory, video and audio tracks on the disc.

[alienjesus]

That is one of the strengths of the Playstation console; a time when all other consoles were cart based.

[CRTGAMER]

<3DO>

Okay, there were a couple others, but most consoles were cart based or had a separate add on disc player. Sony had the marketing clout to push their very first console as the disc based console to own in the era of mostly cart console systems.

[marurun]

I think your argument would be more significant if the Playstation were the first CD-only console, but it really wasn't. I mean, for the PC Engine the CD-ROM might have been an add-on, but in the later years of the system's life almost every release was CD-only. The PC Engine transitioned from being a cartridge-based system to a CD-based system, unlike the Sega CD. And then there was the Neo Geo CD, which was really a separate system. It could not play the cartridge-based games at all and was not an add-on to the base Neo Geo, making it its own thing. In fact, the following dedicated CD systems predated the Playstation:

CD-I
3DO
Neo Geo CD
Saturn

And Sony wasn't even the first mainstream CD system. The PC Engine CD was that. It sold quite well in Japan. Even my host family I stayed with in high school had one.

I don't want to make it sound like it's unimportant that the Playstation was CD-based, but it wasn't a pioneer in that field, nor even an early-adopter. The entire industry had already decided that CDs were the way forward, with the possible exception of Nintendo. The Playstation was merely the most popular example of an industry trend that had already been established.

[isiolia]

Amiga CD32 as well too, right? Though probably more EU centric for that.

I don't want to make it sound like it's unimportant that the Playstation was CD-based, but it wasn't a pioneer in that field, nor even an early-adopter. The entire industry had already decided that CDs were the way forward, with the possible exception of Nintendo. The Playstation was merely the most popular example of an industry trend that had already been established.

CD form factor is relevant specifically in relation to Nintendo, I think. For example, it's cited as a reason for FFVII being on the PS1 and not N64 (it's mentioned in https://www.polygon.com/a/final-fantasy-7 but I'm sure elsewhere too). I think it's kind of an extension of the point you'd already made about the ease of development on the PS1 versus the direct competition at the time. Sony had the appealing platform (and, presumably, licensing terms) that resulted in so much software support. Part of that was being in the 2/3 of major home consoles that went with CDs for 5th gen.

Arguably, it was also likely one of the few things that directly benefited consumers. As N64 games got pricier, PS1 games were releasing at lower MSRPs.

[racketboy]

Anybody that has contributed to this thread want to be shared on my Google Docs draft?
I'm almost done outlining everything. Pretty excited!

[Anapan]

Not posted and waiting for content? Yeah, let me take a boo if you haven't posted it yet, I might be able to suggest some more meat stuff... PM and I'll dig through my old scene yaroze hacking docs... Either that or I'll paraphrase some 90's zine about it's quad-mapping of 3D surfaces? I'll ask not to be credited, because although I did try to make a picture display on a PS1 through a printer port without using disc, I failed. I did make an awesome NES emulation disk that same day - great success!
I have some old demoscene Anthrox, Hitmen & Paradox low level demo and hacking utils. I don't know that it can help much vs. current wiki stuff...
It's easy to compare screenshots, and I can definitely provide emu screenshots of PS1 Vs N64 for Megaman Legends/64 etc...

[racketboy]

I've actually got a pretty good document right now that I was getting comfortable with publishing next, but if you have a Google account, I can share the doc with you.

Let me know what you think!

Thanks!