Obscure PlayStation Consoles

I want to talk about some more obscure PlayStation consoles that never made it to shelves in North America.

The first console I’d like to talk about is the PSX. The PSX, not to be confused with PS1, was a Japan exclusive ps2 system with expanded functionality. Released in 2003, it’s essentially a PS2 with DVR functionality. There were two SKUs, 160GB and 250GB, selling for 79,800 and 99,800 yen, respectively. Which converts to about $740 and $920 USDs at the time of release. It actually doesn't have any PlayStation branding other than the PSX logo in a PS2-like font and was released by Sony Corp proper instead of Sony computer entertainment. In addition, it was also the first Sony device to use the XMB interface that we all came to know and love on the likes of the PSP and PS3. The device was discontinued in 2005, probably to make way for the PS3. However you can easily still get them on eBay for a couple hundred bucks since they seem to have sold amazingly well at the time, Sony reportedly sold over 100K units in the first week alone.

Next is PSP Street, which was a PAL region exclusive iteration of the PSP released in 2011, just weeks before the Vita, and about 2 years after the PSP Go. It was actually shown off, side by side with the Vita at the Gamescom 2011 sony conference for 99 euros, with the vita at 250. It was a very budget friendly last hurrah for the PSP, with less physical buttons, no wifi, and one speaker. It goes for a bit above the original MSRP these days but it’s also pretty widely acknowledged to be one of the less desirable PSP models because of its limited feature set.

The last obscure PS console I want to touch on is the pocketstation. It's a cute little device that slots into the memory card port on PS1 units. It was exclusively launched in Japan in 1999 with two color options, and is reported to have sold almost 5 million units despite never hitting NA or European shelves. It really reminds me of a tamagotchi in form factor and its features, like using infrared for multiplayer games. In fact, the best selling game for the pocketstation was a virtual pet style game that could be played on the Playstation or the Pocketstation. This game was also the debut of the Japanese PS mascot Toro, who’s still a pretty obscure character in the west. I only recall knowing him in PS All Stars. Another crazy thing is that pocketstation games were later brought back in official emulation form on the Vita in 2013, though that was also a Japan exclusive feature. These are pretty easy to find for under $50 online.

Overall I think these consoles really highlight the difference in taste and general unpredictability between Japanese and Western markets. For the pocketstation it's reported that it was never released in the west because it was so popular in Japan and Sony couldn’t keep up with the demand! That’s insane and really makes you wonder how these sorts of systems would have fared stateside had Sony been able to release them simultaneously.