Tips for buying a Playstation 1

Jimmy Bottlehead

Hey all.

I'm finally caving in and have decided to buy a Playstation 1 console to relive the good old days.

Basically, I'm not entirely sure what to look out for, what to avoid and so forth. Although I like the look of the original model (it's the one I had), I'm guessing the PSone would be a safer bet as they apparently sorted out some issues from the older models? And they're likely to be used less as they're newer?

Also, would people recommend Amazon.co.uk, eBay, or Adverts? And if it goes tits up, are they easily repaired, or are there any places in Ireland that repair them?

Really appreciate any help lads, cheers!

Gooch2k4

Jimmy Bottlehead wrote: »

Hey all.

I'm finally caving in and have decided to buy a Playstation 1 console to relive the good old days.

Basically, I'm not entirely sure what to look out for, what to avoid and so forth. Although I like the look of the original model (it's the one I had), I'm guessing the PSone would be a safer bet as they apparently sorted out some issues from the older models? And they're likely to be used less as they're newer?

Also, would people recommend Amazon.co.uk, eBay, or Adverts? And if it goes tits up, are they easily repaired, or are there any places in Ireland that repair them?

Really appreciate any help lads, cheers!

TBH with you your as well getting a PS2 youll still be able to play all the PS1 games and theres very little difference in the price

Jimmy Bottlehead

Have a PS2 but it doesn't read PS1 discs any more

Myrddin

I got a PSone on ebay for 9.99 delivered, they're very affordable.

o1s1n

You should be able to pick up a ps1 for less than a tenner. They're seriously cheap as chips. Nobody wants them. I have between 6-9 stored away in my parents attic due to them being either taken by me or thrown on the trash heap.

Their attic is a bit of a black hole though. Going to try and locate them soon if I can.

CiDeRmAn

Get the PSone, a lovely little machine, more robust than the older models.
That said, if you want a more interesting one, get the PAL launch model, before they started removing the various ports.
But be prepared to replace parts, they are a bugger as the drive seems to go to crap after a couple of years of use and, while you can do various tricks to get it continue to work like turning the whole thing upside down, you will need an asian supplier online to sell you the parts.

o1s1n

Speaking of which, Enternow - would the ps1 modchips you were talking about in that other thread work in a PSone?

Retr0gamer

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

But be prepared to replace parts, they are a bugger as the drive seems to go to crap after a couple of years of use and, while you can do various tricks to get it continue to work like turning the whole thing upside down, you will need an asian supplier online to sell you the parts.

After a couple of years? Try a couple of weeks! I'd say there's not one PS1 launch model left. For the first 6 months they made them with plastic CD drives. After about a wekk you'll be finding plastic shavings in the CD tray and then the thing just wouldn't work after a month or two. The next few models weren't much better but at least they would work for about a year before you had to turn them on their side or upside down.

amacachi

Retr0gamer wrote: »

After a couple of years? Try a couple of weeks! I'd say there's not one PS1 launch model left. For the first 6 months they made them with plastic CD drives. After about a wekk you'll be finding plastic shavings in the CD tray and then the thing just wouldn't work after a month or two. The next few models weren't much better but at least they would work for about a year before you had to turn them on their side or upside down.

If only it hadn't sold so well, maybe the consoles released in the last 5 years would've been built properly. :pac:

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

Speaking of which, Enternow - would the ps1 modchips you were talking about in that other thread work in a PSone?

According to the site it will indeed, though like everything mod-chip related, I'll believe it when I see it. I actually want one for my 9.99 PSone as my other fatty one is already chipped. I kinda want to pick up a launch model though at some point, purely for the bios screen. The boot screen in my newer one with all the goodies removed is horrific, as is the user interface.

The lasers in all Playstations are disasterous unfortunately, though they are quite easy to replace if you get a good quality replacement, & not one that works for a week (cheap clones online). The hard bit is getting a proper replacement, fitting it is straight forward.

o1s1n

What's the story with the bios screen in the original one?

I have a minty fully boxed early model with all the fancy outputs..in two minds whether to keep it nice and boxed away or mod the thing!

Jimmy Bottlehead

Seems I've sourced one on good old Adverts! €10 for a PS1 with leads and controller. Once I see her working properly this weekend, I'll buy it. I can pick up a PSone in time as it'll be more likely to last and can take the screen, but this should do 'til then if all goes well

Thanks for the help guys, especially o1s1n. Really appreciate it!

o1s1n

Yay! glad you sorted one out.

Now, your next challange is to pick up a copy of Castlevania Symphony of the Night

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

What's the story with the bios screen in the original one?

I have a minty fully boxed early model with all the fancy outputs..in two minds whether to keep it nice and boxed away or mod the thing!

The boot animation & sounds were far better (cooler) on the first release. User interface was grown up & mature. All that was replaced with a pink/purple interface & no cool boot sequence

pdbhp

o1s1n wrote: »

Now, your next challange is to pick up a copy of Castlevania Symphony of the Night

This and get Metal Gear Solid it's a gem

TrustedApple

At home we have one of the 1st ones 1996 is when we got it

its still going strong (touch wood)

to play ff8 you have to hold it on its side to play it

i was 4 when we got it in our house

CiDeRmAn

4!
That's quite a coincidence as I was only.... 24
Feck this place makes me feel old sometimes!

And at the risk if a certain someone posting a massive list,
Pick up Wipeout 2097, G Police, Parrappa the Rappa, Magic Carpet and Tekken3.

Can't believe a great machine like the ps1 is so unloved, sad.

o1s1n

I think I was about, what, 13 or 14 when I got my ps1? Just about the right age for the release of Tomb Raider.

I would say it was probably my most played console. Played the hell out of my Megadrive, but during those days cart based games really were damn expensive. Only time I ever got a new game for that was for a birthday/christmas or if I traded one in.

With the ps1 came demo discs and cheap second hand games. Not to mention much longer games too.

Jimmy Bottlehead

I still have all the demo discs at home from the Official Playstation mags, along with the mags, so they'll get pulled out this weekend too!

Can't wait to start pulling together some of my faces... Already have FF7 and Res Evil 1, among others, gotta get MGS, Silent Hill, Vib Ribbon, Soul Reaver, Shadowman (ugly but great plot and atoms)... Happy days!

CiDeRmAn

I'm fairly happy I have all the PS Pal games I've ever wanted, so now I have a collection of 100 or so.
Some are rare, Kurushi, Kula World, Castlevania SOTN, some are common but awesome Wipeout 2097, Ridge Racer/Revolution, Rage Racer etc.
The console really had something for everyone.
The PS2 continued this trend, after a rocky start, producing so many games, lots of trash but plenty of must haves, not to mention your PS back catalogue works as well.

The PS3 doesn't feel like it will attain anything like the, well, essentialness the other two consoles had, that certain something that meant you really have to have one.
Pretty much everything worth playing is also on the 360 or PC for a start.
None of the must have franchises on the PS, MGS, GT, have really performed or have in fact gone multiplatform, not to mention the fact that the games have all equal or better equivalents on other machines, Forza 3, PGR4 etc.

Pity, maybe the PS3 can shine as MS distract themselves with the Kinect and the launch of new hardware in the next 2 years, not to mention the imminent announcement of the Wii follow-up this year.

Jack burton

Well I think the PS3 will eventually turn up trumps in ten years when we look back, as a piece of hardware i think its better than the 360. Just in general I prefer it, but one thing I'm so suprised it doesnt have is cross game chat, very annoying as thats one of the things i use the 360 for most

Its all about software though, and the 360 is a lot more appealing but the PS3 does have GOW 3 and Heavy Rain and such but i dunno it just doesnt have the x factor. They need a proper sequal to shinobi 3 on the megadrive and lego inception the game and it'll fly

Myrddin

The problem with the PS3 is that is so complicated to programe for, most dev houses just decide to use the 360's platform instead. Sony made an error with the type of architecture used in the PS3, sure it's very powerful as consoles go, but it's not 3rd party friendly.

Fingers crossed they abondon the 'PS32X' idea, & produce a fully fledged console as it's replacement. I've a PS3 here, and to be honest, it hasn't been powered on in weeks. The 360 just 'feels' more gamer-friendly.

Jack burton

yeah i remember hearing is very difficult to work with, sure look what happened to bayonetta

whats this about a PS332X? they making an ad on for it?

Jimmy Bottlehead

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I'm fairly happy I have all the PS Pal games I've ever wanted, so now I have a collection of 100 or so.
Some are rare, Kurushi, Kula World, Castlevania SOTN, some are common but awesome Wipeout 2097, Ridge Racer/Revolution, Rage Racer etc.
The console really had something for everyone.
The PS2 continued this trend, after a rocky start, producing so many games, lots of trash but plenty of must haves, not to mention your PS back catalogue works as well.

The PS3 doesn't feel like it will attain anything like the, well, essentialness the other two consoles had, that certain something that meant you really have to have one.
Pretty much everything worth playing is also on the 360 or PC for a start.
None of the must have franchises on the PS, MGS, GT, have really performed or have in fact gone multiplatform, not to mention the fact that the games have all equal or better equivalents on other machines, Forza 3, PGR4 etc.

Pity, maybe the PS3 can shine as MS distract themselves with the Kinect and the launch of new hardware in the next 2 years, not to mention the imminent announcement of the Wii follow-up this year.

I agree, Playstation just doesn't feel 'must-have' anymore. I can't put my finger on it, but I think developers are too focussed on graphics and sound instead of the fun factor with modern games; they're more concerned with rag-doll physics than making gameplay memorable.

On the plus side, I got my sister to dig out my old PS1 games collection which stands at the following:

Theme Park World
Music 2000
Wip3out
Warzone 2100
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Shadowman
Time Crisis (with gun apparently)
Ridge Racer 4
Fade to Black
Worms Armageddon
Sheep Dog 'n Wolf
Final Fantasy VII
Resident Evil
Team Buddies
Quake II
NFL Blitz 2000

Along with a ****load of Official Playstation Magazine demo's from about 1998-2001 or something.

o1s1n

I love the way every developer seems to think that although every console add on ever created has been doomed to failure, THEIR one will succeed.

Makes me laugh

I just hope they follow suit as with the Megadrive and come out two add ons - on that attaches to the blueray drive like a tumour and another behamoth that sits under it/to the side like the Mega CD 2. Imagine how big it would be!

amacachi

What's this about an add-on for the PS3? How would that help in any way?

o1s1n

Same thing Sega wanted to do with the 32x, prolong the console's life by making it capable of more.

I haven't heard anything about it myself. Thought it was just a rumour.

amacachi

Just in terms of more power? I was under the impression the PS3 has all the power in the world in its CPU but there's a bottleneck somewhere between it and the GFX card or RAM. Couldn't understand when the new consoles came out why they only had half a GB of RAM.

Myrddin

Well nothings confirmed, but they have indeed patented a device which allows the PS3 to use an external processor - Link.

I hope to god it's not intended to extend the lifespan of the console

Retr0gamer

Yeah the PS3 bottleneck is the GFX card. It has more features than the 360's GFX card but the 360's one is much faster and uses RAM a lot more effectively. The CPU in the PS3 is faster but not by much. However some developers are using the some of the SPU's in the PS3 to carry out functions that the GPU would normally do. Still RAM and VRAM is a big problem. With good art design you can make something as good looking as Uncharted 2 but if you look closely you can see the texture quality in that game is terrible but detail is added with good use of shaders. It's a very clever method that works well to the strengths of the PS3 because it's much better at shaders than the 360.

That external processor thing seems like a bad idea. If they added ram it would work a lot better. However it's going to be another 32X for sure.

amacachi

EnterNow wrote: »

Well nothings confirmed, but they have indeed patented a device which allows the PS3 to use an external processor - Link.

I hope to god it's not intended to extend the lifespan of the console

They have to get to the 10 years they promised. :pac: I loved how saying it would have a 10 year life-cycle was touted by Sony as a reason to look past the high price on release when their other consoles got close to that anyway.
An add-on would be the stupidest thing they could possibly do though, as much as I've bitched about Sony in the past even I hope they don't do it. :pac:

o1s1n

Cheers for the link.
From that it sounds like that's exactly what they intend on doing, expanding the life cycle. Seems they've invested so much in that hardware they're not close to letting it go yet.

Here's hoping it has a cartridge slot

Retr0gamer

10 year life cycle is a good estimation, the PS1 and PS2 had 10 year life cycles.

amacachi

I don't get why they want to do it though. The difference in graphics in most games isn't that noticeable and the developers should be able to iron out most of the major issues that arise in cross-platform games, so what's the point? How long the console will last depends almost entirely on when the new ones come out.
Good ol' Sony. :pac:

amacachi

Retr0gamer wrote: »

10 year life cycle is a good estimation, the PS1 and PS2 had 10 year life cycles.

Aye, it's like I said, they touted it as a major selling point and something special when in fact it should be pretty much expected based on the other consoles. It's out about 4 years now so even if they have a new console ready to go in 3 years they'll get the kind of lifespan they promised and that would be expected, so I just can't see any logic in an add-on.

jimmynokia

i still have my slimline ps2 never use it anymore the only reason i kept was of the streetfighter games have them alll they wer the best
dont like the new street fighter4

o1s1n

I'm just trying to think is there any other sort of perhiperal that would require a new processor? 3D/VR maybe?

Oh god how I'd love a return to the VR hype of the 90s but with the technology of today.

amacachi

They could combine it with the Virtual Boy, I think Sony and Nintendo were working together during it's development, Sony could use that bit of inside knowledge. :pac:

CiDeRmAn

Hmm, a connnector cable to hook up my Virtual Boy to the PS3, could be a winner!

But isn't the Kinect a lesson in how to make an add on for a console that has a shot at success?
A massive seller over Christmas it may well extend the lifespan of the hoary old 360, and will certainly be a part of any next gen console that MS have up their sleeve.

And it's rubbish to suggest that every add on is a failure, the CD Rom additions to the PC Engine were very successful in Japan were they not?

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

Here's hoping it has a cartridge slot

That all you want? I've my fingers crossed for another psu & video hookup cable bundled with it :rolleyes::p

Sony are making the mistake Sega made in the 90's. The only thing is, Sega never recovered I WANT A NEW SEGA CONSOLE! There, I said it :pac:

amacachi

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Hmm, a connnector cable to hook up my Virtual Boy to the PS3, could be a winner!

But isn't the Kinect a lesson in how to make an add on for a console that has a shot at success?
A massive seller over Christmas it may well extend the lifespan of the hoary old 360, and will certainly be a part of any next gen console that MS have up their sleeve.

And it's rubbish to suggest that every add on is a failure, the CD Rom additions to the PC Engine were very successful in Japan were they not?

I think one thing in MS's favour is their size and capacity to absorb losses. I don't see the kinect as a gaming thing really. I've said it elsewhere but I see it as being part of a sitting room/TV/home entertainment set up. I haven't the imagination for applications but even something like pausing a game if the phone or doorbell rings or pausing a video if you stand up to do something. There's a lot more applications I'd never think of. :pac:

o1s1n

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

And it's rubbish to suggest that every add on is a failure, the CD Rom additions to the PC Engine were very successful in Japan were they not?

So one add on in one region worked. What about all the rest? Yeah, thought so :P

I would say percentage wise, 90% (or more) of console life extending add ons have performed either extremely poorly or down right failed. It's a dangerous market to get involved in.

As for the Kinect - it's early days yet. I still don't
own one. Either do any of my 360 owning friends.

And just to add to that, I looked down and I'm even wearing a Kinect lanyard around my neck with my work access badge! Still no compulsion to buy one.

pdbhp

o1s1n wrote: »

So one add on in one region worked. What about all the rest? Yeah, thought so :P

I would say percentage wise, 90% (or more) of console life extending add ons have performed either extremely poorly or down right failed. It's a dangerous market to get involved in.

As for the Kinekt - it's early days yet. I still don't own one. Either do any of my 360 owning friends.

I know 2 of my mates who have kinect and they both say it's great which suprises me cos I'd say it's garbage. the main problem they have with it is its size and it doesn't fit on top of a slim TV

o1s1n

To me the issue isn't if it's any good or not - it's that it wasn't implimented into the consoles original design.

If it was there from the start then it would have been fine.

People just aren't bothered buying extra bits.

I think I said this before, but to buy a standard xbox 360 game I have to do this -

Buy an Xbox > buy a game

To play a Kinect game I have to do this -

Buy an xbox > buy a kinect > buy a game

That extra step makes a world of difference to sales as you're slimming your potential market down to people who own a specific piece of hardware.

I'll give you an even more extreme example -

Sega Mega CD32X games.

To play one you have to do this -

Buy a Megadrive > buy a Mega CD > buy a 32X > buy game

Good luck to Microsoft (obviously I want to see my employer do well!)
But as a long time observer of the videogame market I don't see it bing the massive hit they want it to be.

pdbhp

Even worse is you buy the Xbox then the kinect then a crap game with little or no replay value = sadness and not buying anymore games for said console

amacachi

It isn't just about video games now though, it's about all the other stuff that goes with it. It's cheap compared to how dear 32X which I think will make a massive difference.
Whether it applies to most of us or not is debatable but the overall "experience" of using a console seems important now, and that's where Kinect can do well. Also the fact that it's going to be ported to PCs and that I imagine it'll be on MS's next console leads me to believe it could succeed because it won't be tied to one thing.
I'll never buy it for gaming anyway.

o1s1n

I've been reading things about it being used to automatically log you into your profile via face recognition and I think that's amazing. But it should have been there from the start. I'm not going out and buying something just for that.

How many of you own Wiimotion Plus controls? I don't.

amacachi

o1s1n wrote: »

I've been reading things about it being used to automatically log you into your profile via face recognition and I think that's amazing. But it should have been there from the start. I'm not going out and buying something just for that.

How many of you own Wiimotion Plus controls? I don't.

It's called progress. :pac:

The move to Motion Plus and the advance to Kinect are very different.

pdbhp

I don't really care for Kinect and I won't ever buy it unless they can make the transition from stupid jump up and down party games to real games.
Though the tech is exciting I just don't see how they can implement good motion controls to use on hardcore titles

CiDeRmAn

My PSone chip is in the mail!
Soon Einhander, soon Um Jammer Lammy you will all be mine, MWA HA HA HA!

o1s1n

They're not so different though. To me they're both designs which should have been included in the consoles from the very start.