The PlayStation (also known as the PSX, the PS1, or the PSone throughout its lifespan) is a console that needs little introduction. It steam-rolled through the 90s, destroying everything in its path, and would become one of the most popular consoles every released. The birth of the PlayStation stems back long before the console was released, with a tentative deal between Sony and Nintendo to release a SNES CD add-on. When the then Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi secretly cancelled the project, Sony went their own way. In 1994 and 1995, the PlayStation was released worldwide, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Sony was a company that already had a huge amount of “cool” credibility, with years of experience in the entertainment industry, and they knew how to target their products to a relevant, interested audience in a way that Sega and Nintendo did not. The PlayStation trampled the competition (the Saturn and N64) in the sales department, and the console stayed on the shelves for almost 10 years after its release, before it was finally discontinued. Many classic titles appeared exclusively (at least for a time) on the PlayStation, including Final Fantasy VII, Wipeout, and Resident Evil.
Interestingly enough, the PlayStation itself never have a true mascot character to support it, like Sega or Nintendo did, although Crash Bandicoot has often been cited as an unofficial mascot for the console.
