The PlayStation Family Tree

The PlayStation family tree of home consoles has grown quite large in the last quarter of a century. Across the four main systems, Sony has crafted one of gaming’s most enduring and endearing brands, by offering (mostly) consumer-friendly hardware that has housed countless iconic games. With each generation of PlayStation console branching off into various revisions and redesigns, we figured now would be a good opportunity to take a quick look at each member of the family.

And, very quickly, this list will only be looking at the different versions of the four PlayStation home consoles. Sorry PSP, Vita and PlayStation VR fans.

PlayStation

 

Grey, boxy, and a big middle finger to Nintendo, the original Sony PlayStation launched in late 1994 for Japan and kicked off the family’s storied legacy. It was amongst the first wave of 32-bit consoles to be built for CDs and, combined with the PS one, became the first home console to sell over 100 million units. It was an explosive entrance to the gaming market, one that was aided by its technical innovations, effective marketing, and a competitive price tag of $299 at launch.

There were several minor revisions of the original PlayStation model throughout the late nineties. Most of these involved the gradual removal of ports from the back of the unit, while also refining the top-loading disc tray and adding more ventilation to prevent overheating. The SCPH-5000 series took away the RCU cable port, while the 7000 series said goodbye to the Parallel I/O port.

PS One

In 2000, the PlayStation went through its most drastic revision to keep the first generation relevant and affordable with the PlayStation 2 sharing the same launch year. The rebranded PS one was smaller, had smoother edges, and had clearly been taken to the dentist by Sony to achieve its new, whitened look. The “Reset” button and Serial port were both taken away to cut prices and work with the minimalist design. All of these changes paid off for Sony, as the PS one went on to be the best-selling console of 2000, despite the next generation of hardware beginning to roll in.

PlayStation 2

 

The best-selling console of all time arrived at the dawn of the millennium to keep the incredible momentum going for Sony after they owned the second half of the nineties. The PlayStation 2 was rectangular and chunky, coming in matte black with a blue “PS2” logo plastered on top. It was also possible to position the PlayStation 2 both horizontally and vertically, with the “PS” logo on the front-loading disc tray being rotatable to suit the different setups.

There were ports galore on the original model: having two for controllers, two for memory cards, USB ports, an i-LINK port for connecting multiples PS2s, and the standard slots for power and AV multi-out. There was also an expansion bay at the back for fitting in a Hard Disk Drive or an Ethernet adapter. Later models removed the i-LINK port but included an infra-red reader for accessibility with DVD remotes. So now you could watch The Lord of the Rings without having to plug in your DualShock 2.

PlayStation 2 Slimline

 

A significant reduction in size for the PS2 came in 2004, when Sony redesigned their hot-selling console to drop in price and fit in better with home setups. The disc drive was changed to top-loading, while the power supply was now external. At first, the Slimline’s top was a mix of matte and glossy plastic, however, that later received a do-over with the glossy section replaced with normal plastic. A built-in ethernet port was added in to connect the system to the internet, although, there was no longer room for an expansion bay to attach an HDD. This would have annoyed Final Fantasy XI fans back in the day.

PlayStation 3

 

Sony came down with the third console blues when it came time to enter the HD era of gaming. That’s not to say that the PlayStation 3 wasn’t an impressive console with some unbelievable games, but it launched in 2006 with a consumer-unfriendly price tag of $599 and a difficult Cell microprocessor that scared away a lot of developers.

The system itself was a thick, glossy beast that came in a variety of different SKUs depending on the HDD size. It also came with a slot-loading Blu-Ray disc drive with touch sensitive “Power” and “Eject” buttons that only served to inflate the overall price. The piano black finish certainly looked nice out of the box, but the shiny plastic attracted dust and fingerprints like the Xbox 360 did third parties.

PS3 Slim

 

Possibly the most crucial revision made in PlayStation’s long history, the PS3 Slim arrived when Sony was beginning to make amends for the rocky first few years of the generation. Its redesigned look trimmed away a lot of the fat while opting for a less flashy, but more practical, matte finish. Disappointingly, the PS3 Slim also lost the backwards compatibility with PS2 games that had been one the systems strongest selling points. However, there’s no denying that the PlayStation brand began to win back some of the public’s goodwill with this console and helped the PS3 match pace with the highly successful Xbox 360 and Wii.

PS3 Super Slim

 

The name really says it all here. Released towards the end of the PS3 lifecycle, the Super Slim was created to win over any remaining gamers with its budgeted price. It was roughly a quarter smaller and lighter than the original Slim, which in turn was already roughly a third smaller and lighter than the original PS3. It’s corrugated plastic top and sliding disc cover meant that the Super Slim wasn’t super pretty, but it was an effective end to the generation that pushed the overall PS3 sales to over 87 million units.

PlayStation 4

 

You should all be aware of this one by now. The first iteration of the PlayStation 4 came out with the public’s faith back in Sony, as their superior messaging targeted gamers and third parties away from Microsoft. The system had a sleek, angular design with glossy and matte plastic sharing the top of the console. Originally released with 500GB HDD, later SKUs eventually upgraded to 1TB and even 2TB. The system sold huge, with now over 100 million units sold and counting.

PlayStation 4 Slim

 

This revision replaced the standard PS4 with a 40% smaller body and matte finish. It lost the optical audio port but came with upgraded USB ports and Bluetooth. Not much else to say here.

PlayStation 4 Pro

 

That same year, Sony released one of their most ambitious mid-generation revisions to date: the PlayStation 4 Pro. The idea behind the Pro was to keep the PlayStation brand at pace with the exciting new 4K technology. This resulted in a PS4 with an upgraded 4.2 teraflops GPU (as opposed to the original’s 1.84 teraflops) that allowed the Pro to render games in 4K. Of course, this would only be beneficial to those who already owned a 4K television, but the Pro could also enhance performance for games and for PlayStation VR.

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And, after 25 years, that’s where the PlayStation family tree currently stands. With the PlayStation 5 slated to come out some time in 2020, there can be no doubt that this iconic line of consoles will only continue to expand into the future. Just please don’t make us get a second job for it, Sony.