Stephen's PS1 Memories | Push Square

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For me, the original PlayStation is linked quite deeply with my immediate family. We'd always had video games in the house; I don't remember a time before we had a SEGA Mega Drive, which was a popular pastime for me, my two elder sisters, and sometimes our parents too. Video games used to sort of be a through-line for all of us, and while our levels of interest would shift over the years (mine only ever grew stronger), my fondest memories of the PS1 are times spent playing with the others.

The first time I laid eyes on the console, I didn't really understand what I was looking at. I wandered into the playroom to discover my Dad playing Actua Golf on our freshly acquired PlayStation and its legendary pack-in disc, Demo 1. I remember being somewhat baffled; the day before I'd probably been playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure on the Mega Drive, and now suddenly games could look like this? My little mind was blown.

It wasn't long after that when I fully explored Demo 1 for myself, and was instantly fascinated. While we would build up a decent collection of games over the years, something about this demo disc felt truly special, and kept me coming back. I loved playing snippets of Crash Bandicoot, WipEout 2097, Die Hard Trilogy, Tekken 2, and the T-rex tech demo, even if I didn't always understand what I was meant to be doing. It all just felt so fresh and exciting.

As mentioned, the PS1 proved a popular meeting place, particularly for me and my siblings. We played all kinds of games together — mostly single player experiences, with the age old tradition of swapping the controller when you die or finish a level. There were some multiplayer games we dabbled in, like Micro Machines V3 and Worms Armageddon, but we mainly grew up on a diet of shared solo experiences.

I remember playing Croc: Legend of the Gobbos countless times with my sisters, as well as Crash, Spyro the Dragon, Rayman, and the notoriously difficult Casper. My big