Why I’m a Sony PlayStation fan but not a fanboy – Reader’s Feature

metro.co.uk:

A reader recalls his life in gaming, from the NES to the PlayStation 2, and why he’s stuck with Sony but never to the point of obsession.

Console wars and loyalty to brands are never ideal but I don’t think it’s that simple. If you look at all aspects of life, people are aligned to something. People show loyalty in politics, sports teams, subscriptions, supermarkets, and general products they buy – so why should consoles be any different?

I was brought up on Nintendo, with the NES, and I liked games such as Ninja Garden, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Blaster Master. I then had a Game Gear and enjoyed the Sonic games, which led me to the Mega Drive and introduced me to a whole new world of games such as Sonic The Hedgehog, Mortal Kombat, Gunstar Heroes, and Street Fighter 2. This was my childhood and it gives me fine memories. I never got a SNES but come the mid090s I was still on the Mega Drive but had knowledge of the Sega Saturn, but at the time I remember it was known as being super expensive.

At this point my interest in games was fading. The 16-bit era had little left to offer in creativity.

PlayStation came out but I was totally oblivious to it. Randomly, my dad bought it but also somehow he got a chipped one, so not sure how he knew that side of gaming. This meant I’d get to buy all PlayStation games for just £5. I remember looking forward to Sundays when I had pocket money and going to my local market where they’d sell copied PS1 games. To me this was a fond memory flicking through games and selecting games based on review scores from magazines.

Magazines were a big deal then. From this point PlayStation became my console of choice. I ignored N64 and Dreamcast and got the PlayStation 2. I acknowledge N64 and Dreamcast had