The 32/64-Bit & CD-ROM Era · 1993â1999
Sony PlayStation
PS1
Sought After?
Steadily rising â early "long box" jewel cases and complete rare RPGs like Suikoden II command hundreds of dollars.
Downsides
Disc-read errors as the internal laser lens aged were common by the console's later years; load times were slow compared to cartridge systems.
Why It Faded
A graceful, natural retirement â it was the best-selling console of its generation (over 100 million units) and simply gave way to the PS2.
Trivia
The PlayStation exists because Nintendo humiliated Sony. Sony had built a SNES CD-ROM add-on with Nintendo, then Nintendo publicly canceled the partnership and secretly signed with Philips instead, at Sony's own unveiling event. Sony took the technology it had already built and turned it into a standalone competitor.