I bought every Playstation Ever.

I've just bought every single PlayStation brand new. We've got a TV from the time of each one's release, and even the same game on all of them. So let's find out how much the gaming experience has evolved over time. It might sound strange now, but the original PlayStation was actually a massive risk for Sony. Because put simply, Sony was a nobody. In 1994, the entire gaming market was just two companies. Nintendo, who hit a home run with the creation of Mario and had about 40% market share, and Sega, who having created Sonic, their equivalent to Mario, had taken the market by storm to achieve a share of 55%. Both of these titans were fighting tooth and nail to try and make their mascot the greatest 2D platformer of all time. But Sony realised something, that now is the perfect time for 3D. Yeah, this is a real sealed PlayStation 1, straight from 1994. And inside we've got the video adapter, in case your TV didn't have the right connectors, the AC adapter to plug into the mains, the controller, which was of course wired, and the console. Hopefully it turns on. This is ancient equipment. That sound! That's basically the sound of a cathode ray gun shooting electrons at the display panel. That's actually why they're called CRT TVs. Power on the original PlayStation. Buttons! I don't want to experience opening the disk drive. It's actually making me kind of sad that modern technology has no moving parts. Listen to this. No! The controller is so light, it kind of feels like it's not even there. And also, look at this, no analogue sticks. There's one thing Sony smashed, it's buttons. This is so nice. Now, with only two megabytes of RAM, a maximum resolution of 480p, and no internal storage, the PS1's stats might sound pitiful by modern standards. I literally had to Amazon a 128kb storage card for it, which is a very weird thing to do in 2022. But at the time when it was released, at today's equivalent of $570, this was the most powerful console money could buy. So this is Gran Turismo running on the PS1, and if you compare it to Nintendo or Sega's supposed 3D offerings, you'll quickly notice that Sony is the only one capable of rendering real 3D models with real reflections on the cars. It looks insane in comparison, but wait till you see what the next PlayStation can do. Sony also realised that they couldn't just be more powerful, their brand also had to be different to Nintendo and Sega's. And their way of doing that was swapping the controller letters for shapes. And it wasn't because Sony loved geometry, the shapes have significance. For example, the blue cross and the red circle, they represent yes and no, which even now to this day is still what they're used for in games. Sony did also follow up the original PlayStation with what's referred to as the PlayStation Slim, but if I'm being really honest, we will be here forever if we start on the variations of each console. So long story short, this company saw an opportunity and they absolutely smashed it with the first PlayStation. They completely wiped out Sega for good and practically pulled Nintendo's pants down. Coming out of nowhere with the PS1 becoming the first console ever to pass 100 million units sold. So how did Sony top that? Well, only by releasing the best selling console in the history of consoles. Sony's approach to the PlayStation 2, released in 2000 at about $485 in today's money, so significantly cheaper than the PS1, can be summed up with one phrase, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The PS2 is evolution, not revolution. And the unboxing experience also mirrors that philosophy. You get an upgraded controller, as well as a similar AC cable and TV adapter to last time. Oh, this brings back so many memories. Almost everything about the PS2 is a direct, no frills improvement over its predecessor. It comes with about 12 times the amount of raw processing power, depending on how you measure it, 16 times the amount of RAM, and no less than 63 times the amount of storage on the default memory card. This had 8 megabytes. Remember, back in the day, consoles didn't used to have these enormous hard drives inside of them to be able to install games onto. The entire game would be fit onto the game disc itself. And so the only extra storage you needed was just a memory card for your save files, which you could then take out and carry your saves to your friend's house with. So if we turn the PS2 on, this is my childhood. So there's an eject button up here. That sounds amazing. You can barely read the actual text of what these things are. That difference is crazy. The difference versus the PS1 is absolutely night and day. The processing power allows it to render many times the amount of polygons on screen, which reduces the blocky look of the PS1 era. And the extra RAM allows for background textures to just have way more going on in them. Like even the finish line banner, it now blows about in the wind. And the master stroke with the PS2 was how Sony managed to, through the design of the console, make it extremely clear that this was a next-gen bidder kit. There's been a few consoles in the past, like Nintendo's Wii U, that look so similar to their last-gen counterparts that people thought they were just add-ons. Not here. The PS2's design is far more bulky and angular, with this grill that was really meant to evoke the feeling of an engine, something capable of real power. That, combined with some of the best games of the generation, led the PlayStation 2 to break every record ever set, selling 158 million units. You had Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's original Xbox also around at this time, but they didn't even sell a fifth as much as the PS2 did. And to keep up with the increasing complexity of the games, Sony also upgraded the controller with something they called DualShock, which is a combination of dual analog sticks and built-in rumble technology. So you can really feel the texture of the grass, and if you're not a good driver like me, the texture of the wall. Sony wasn't kidding with the word rumble. The PS2 was also technically the first time you could play your games online, but you had to rely on the individual game developers to create their own servers, as Sony didn't develop their own infrastructure for online connectivity. Until the PlayStation 3. Arguably the first Sony console to properly herald in the digital age. This time around, internet was a focus. Hence he included ethernet cable, as well as the TV output cables, and a USB mini cable to charge the further upgraded, now wireless controller. I probably don't need to tell you, but the PS3 was also the boldest console Sony had ever made. Look at this beefcake. Plus, do you recognize that text? Yeah, that's the Spider-Man font. Because Sony owns the Spider-Man IP, and they thought it would help them to sell more consoles. It did not. The good news is that the PS3 took some notes from the PS2 in the ramp everything up department. The bad news is that this time that also included the price. To try and make the PS3 feel like a completely new era in gaming, Sony had a special custom cell processor designed just for it. But this was really expensive. Pushing the launch price of this console all the way up to $869 in today's money. Supremely pricey. Especially given the console's creaky plastic exterior. But oh boy was this thing powerful. As a matter of fact, as an overall system, it was about 35 times more powerful than the PS2. Making it 384 times more powerful than the PS1. These are ridiculous numbers. In fact, the PS3 was so advanced that it was actually used to build supercomputers. Including a truly genius move by Stanford University researchers who developed an app called Folding at Home. Which allowed PS3 users to dedicate a portion of their supercomputing power to aid with complex protein folding calculations. Used to learn more about how to prevent diseases like Alzheimer's. It was also pretty good at games. So I never actually owned a PS3 at launch. But I remember how I felt when my friend got one for the first time. It really felt like a machine from the future. Like I remember being just giddy with excitement that something of this power actually existed. You also notice they've actually started putting attention into how the disks look at this point. And the disk loading mechanism, that's all inside the console now. There's no tray that comes in and out. This console is not quiet or cool for that matter. It's like an oven back here. And it's only on the home screen. You can kind of see that this is the point where the console became much more than just a place to play video games. It's the first time there's a proper home screen that you would actually want to spend time in. This literally used to be one of the coolest things in the world to me. The fact that you could change your home screen color. Oh yeah, the friends tab. I spent a lot of time there. You think at that point that you can't make the same generational leap again. But this is it. And also you can actually feel the mechanics of the game becoming more sophisticated as well. There's more physics involved. One problem that PS3 owners did used to have though was that because the on off button was capacitive, their pets would often turn their consoles off. Don't get any ideas. So now we have the PS3 Gran Turismo next to the PS2 next to the PS1. I can't wait to complete this line. But already the leap is phenomenal. The first key difference being resolution. While the PS1 is outputting the game at 512 by 240, the PS2 is pushing over three times more pixels at 852 by 480. And the PS3 was running at two times that at 1280 by 720. Or in other words, for the very first time, true high definition gaming. This is basically the difference between you going into the settings on this video and swapping between 240p, 480p and 720p. Massive. But it's not just more pixels. It's also much more complex game effects. One of the most impressive things about the PlayStation 3 was its ability to also handle almost lifelike lighting, shadows and reflections. Not to mention vast sprawling backgrounds. Something else I'm noticing is how much nicer the controller is. It's wireless, it's weightier because it's now got an inbuilt battery, and also has motion sensors built into it. And also compared to the PS2's controller, the triggers just have much more travel. They call this the six axis controller because as well as all the buttons, it could also pick up how you move the controller itself and translate that into the game. Even though it was the home to god tier games like Grand Theft Auto 5 and The Last of Us, even though it was where Sony launched their free online PlayStation Network service, even though it also doubled as a media machine with full Blu-ray disc compatibility, Sony really screwed up that pricing. It ended up selling 84 million units, barely half of the PS2, and was slightly outsold by Microsoft's Xbox 360. Sony was on the back foot again. They needed to do something special. Thankfully, Microsoft did their job for them. When the PlayStation 4 launched up against the Xbox One in 2013, Microsoft screwed up their marketing so badly that Sony could have re-released the PlayStation 3 and probably still won. The fact that Microsoft forced users to also buy the Kinect camera with the console, forced users to be always online, and focused almost completely on how the next gen Xbox would work as a TV box rather than a games console, it made it almost too easy for Team Blue. Sony even took to the stage to rip apart the Xbox One's deliberate inability to play borrowed games. This is how you share your games on PS4. Thanks. And it was pretty much game over at that point. Now, when you add to this that the PS4 was also insanely well designed, it starts to make sense why it completely popped off. Like, check out the new DualShock 4 controller. It incorporates the DualShock tech from the PS2 controller and the 6-axis motion sensing from the PS3 controller, and it makes both aspects much more refined. The analog sticks are now also further apart, and they're concave for better grip. There's a new share button, which reflects the shift to social gaming. Plus, we've now also got an RGB LED light on the front as an identifier for which player you are, a speaker in the controller itself for a directional sound experience, and even a 2-inch touchpad in the middle for menu navigation. I remember the moment that I got to hold one of these for the first time, and I was just sat there like an idiot, like, turning it over and over in my hands for 10 minutes straight, thinking, holy cow, this is real. The PS4 is about 10 times more powerful than the PS3, making it, the numbers are getting kind of out of hand at this point, about 3,800 times as powerful as the PS1. It had 8 gigabytes of RAM, which is 32 times the PS3, and 4,096 times the original PlayStation. Not to mention that because the PS4 is based off a less custom, more standard PC-like architecture, it was way easier for developers to work with it and fully extract that power. You know, this kind of reminds me of the really, really early days of this channel. I remember when the PS4 launched, we had about 10,000 subscribers. I know that because we used to cover tons of gaming content at the time, but I would stick to handhelds because I would never dream of spending this much on one console. I know this section is all about the PS4, but all I can hear is this PS3. So this is actually quite exciting. This is the first time you can turn the console on with the controller. So this is very much a refined version of the PS3's home screen, much more blocky in style. Oh my god, listen to it! It's louder than the PS3! There was me thinking this was going to be a nice, sleek, quiet machine. I only half blame Sony. This room that we're in is basically a sauna right now. Let's boot up the game. You can also tell the text is way sharper and more readable now. You can actually now pick the exact time of day of your race, and it will affect the weather conditions accordingly. You can feel such a visceral difference. The density of the crowd, the light coming directly from the sun. Right, so I've actually filled up a bag with ice just to cool it down. Because this is getting ridiculous. I'm going to lay it on top of the ice pack. In my mind, this is what a modern racing game looks like. The game almost has like an atmosphere that the other ones lack. Excuse my driving. I can actually also notice a bit of realistic damage on my car. So upgraded physics too. What do you do with this much power then? Well, I mean, just for starters, a further doubling of the resolution to now 1080p or full HD. The PS4 could happily fill a 40-inch TV and not look like it was being stretched. And it also just gave developers the headroom to be creative. To build not just detailed backgrounds, but fully open worlds to execute their visions in their entirety. Plus, they could now add pretty much any visual effect they could think of. Dirt particles, motion blur, realistic fog. And it's in these details where you really feel the difference versus the PS3. So when you combine all of this with the fact that the PlayStation 4 also launched at a much friendlier $500 in today's money, it's not surprising that it went on to sell 120 million units. More than doubling Microsoft's competing Xbox One. Kind of hard to imagine how this masterpiece can actually now be seen as a relic of the past. But the PS5 firmly pushes it aside. Cementing itself as the wildest, most futuristic PlayStation to ever exist. And Sony has really run with this idea of futurism. Everything from the controller, to the console, to the headset they launched alongside it. It all shares this two-tone, ultra-minimalistic space-age design philosophy. And I freaking love it. The moment I saw the PS5 get announced, I shrieked. Like, what gamer doesn't want a console that looks like a literal alien starship? And I mean, it makes the Xbox Series X that it's competing against look like a prude by comparison. There is also this strangely shaped stand, which actually very cleverly can support the console either horizontally or vertically. But do the internals keep up? Absolutely. The PlayStation 5 dunks on its predecessor. It has two times the RAM at 16 gigabytes, and its core graphics processing unit is about eight times more powerful. And that's not even factoring in its solid state storage that's at least 50 times faster than the PlayStation 4's hard drive. And this is the fun part about compounding multiples. When compared to the original PS1, the PS5 is approximately 30,000 times more powerful. You could make a bridge of PlayStation 1s spanning an entire city, and it still wouldn't be able to outperform a single PS5. Let's see how the PS5 compares. Love these LEDs on the inside. Such a classy touch. This is such a fun video as well. Hey, if you want to see me make a comparison of every Nintendo console ever, then the sub to the channel would be historic. Oh my god, I'm blinded. Adjust HDR. Oh, that is actually one of the new features here. Just like insane levels of contrast. I know we're only on the homepage right now, but this screen... The one thing you really notice about the PS5's UI is everything is very visual and full screen. Wow. The amount of buildings. You can see individual settlements over here in the background. Okay, just look at the difference in color between this screen and this screen. A lot of that is just the new high dynamic range. I can hear applause coming through the speaker in the controller. You can even see the clouds in the sky reflected on the body of my car and moving in real time. Oh my god, it's so rumbly. Okay, this is a huge upgrade, even from the PS4. Not only is the resolution now full 4K, four times higher than 1080p, but the PS5 is also capable of real-time ray tracing. Meaning that instead of pre-baking the light reflections into a scene, like most video games have done till now, this console can simulate the real physical behavior of light in real time and how it affects every single pixel on screen. And I can also feel not just the general rumble from my engine, thanks to DualShock, but also the physical sensation of putting pressure on the pedal thanks to the new adaptive triggers in this controller that can adjust the attention on the fly. Every PlayStation console together in one frame. What a sight. Imagine what the PS6 is gonna look like. Now as slick as the PS5 does look, there is one way to make it even slicker. These are dark plates. And not only do they make your console matte black, but they add vents to allow more air to pass through. They reduce the temperature on the inside of the console and they also trim the corners to make it more compact. Much needed with the size of this thing. But it's not just a customization for the size of the console. You can also pick up a middle skin to cover up those unavoidable scuffs on the glossy piano black plastic. I've gone for matte black all the way around, but you can also get retro gray, which is color matched to the original PlayStation 1, or just classic white. And if that's still not enough customization, dark plates have one more trick. Light strips. These are basically light filters that you put on top of the existing lights that your PS5 has to change the color of them to whatever you want it to be. Link below to check out dark plates. To see me buy the weirdest tech on the entire internet, click here. Catch you there.