Sony’s distinct line of PlayStation consoles has proven to be some of the most important and massively successful video game consoles of all time, with many of them completely revolutionizing their industry in the wake of their success and influence. Between the five home consoles and two handheld consoles, PlayStation has cemented itself as one of the pillars of the video game industry that has largely continued into the modern day.
However, not every console with the PlayStation banner is created equally, as certain consoles have had an overwhelmingly larger staying power and impact on wider culture and video games as a medium. Whether it be the varying quality of the game releases or the impact of the technological improvements upon release, there are many different facets that go into the lasting legacy and strengths of each PlayStation console. Each console has its fans, as none of these consoles are truly bad; it’s just that some of them are clearly more well-regarded by gamers and the public at large.
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PlayStation Vita (2011—2019)
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The PlayStation Vita is a sad case of potential that was simply outmatched by the offerings of other handheld consoles. PlayStation’s final handheld console certainly has its strengths, with some good tech and memorable cult classic indie games, but in terms of what Sony envisioned the console to be, it severely underperformed. The hardware was too expensive, the prospects of backwards compatibility weren’t nearly explored, and so much of the console’s hopes and dreams were placed on the performance of middling, unenjoyable AAA experiences.
Especially with the increasing dominance of mobile games, the Vita’s failures proved to be enough of a reason for Sony to completely abandon creating true handheld consoles, focusing entirely on home console experiences. Still, the handheld has its dedicated fans for this game, with a comfortable controller and a digital storefront of top-notch indies giving gamers a great high-end portable gaming experience before the likes of the Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck.
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PlayStation 5 (2020—Present)
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It’s hard to get a full grasp on the legacy of the PlayStation 5, considering the fact that the console is still getting releases as the current PlayStation console. However, shifts in the gaming industry and confusing decisions by Sony have really put a damper on the staying power of the console, especially when it was already following up the massively memorable PlayStation 4. So much of the console’s difficulties trace back to the larger focus on PC gaming than ever before, as nearly all the PlayStation 5 exclusives have managed to find their way to PC after enough time.
It’s proven to largely eliminate the identity of the PS5 as its own entity, as while it may be outperforming the Xbox Series X, that only goes a long way when 90% of its best games can be played by other means. What really cements the lower placement of the PS5, however, is Sony’s recent shift away from physical discs and leaning into an all-digital strategy that has resulted in overwhelming backlash from all fronts. It isn’t without its great games — and, in fact, offers some of the best PS games of the 2020s — but it’s a far cry from the legacy that PlayStation has maintained throughout the years.
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PlayStation 3 (2006–2017)
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The PlayStation 3 is the perfect example of how the launch of a console does not paint the entire story of a console’s lifespan, as the console transformed and evolved after one of the worst console launches of all time into a genuinely respectable competitor to the Xbox 360. With a shockingly high initial price point and a lack of real system-selling experiences, early impressions were certainly lackluster, with Sony actually losing their dominance in the console market to Microsoft for the first and only time.
The PlayStation 3 soon grew to be an exceptional competitor thanks to a wide array of great first-party experiences as well as more third parties growing used to the initially difficult confines of the PS3 development hardware. Games like The Last of Us, LittleBigPlanet, and the Uncharted Trilogy helped save the reputation of the console and ushered in a new generation of PlayStation fans. Its initial hiccups prevent it from having a higher place, but the console still has a special place in the hearts of many PlayStation gamers.
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Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
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Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
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🎭Ethan Hunt
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You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
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You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
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You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
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The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
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How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
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Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
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Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
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What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
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Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
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It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
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Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
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Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
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Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
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John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
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Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
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PlayStation Portable (2004–2014)
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PlayStation’s first foray into the handheld gaming marketplace, the PlayStation Portable, proved that Nintendo wasn’t the only capable of creating a great portable gaming experience, creating a more gamer-centric handheld experience that held its own against the monolithic titan of the Nintendo DS. The PSP is defined by its surprisingly effective tech for a handheld as well as its great library of original games, with several of these games proving to be so great that they eventually got ported over to home consoles.
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The console also had a built-in interface and hardware that allowed users to not just play games on the device, but also watch movies, listen to music, and view photos to create an effective all-in-one experience, especially in an era before true smartphones. There is a great deal of nostalgia and passion for the PSP as it was truly pushing the potential of handheld consoles forward in the wake of its success, even if it never ended up being as successful as the Nintendo DS.
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PlayStation (1996–2006)
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PlayStation as a brand simply wouldn’t exist without the console that started it all, as the strengths and dynamic features of the console took the world by storm and made for a true competitor to the pre-existing titans of the industry. With dynamic 3D 32-bit graphics and a catalog of some of the absolute greatest video games of the ’90s, a massive chunk of PlayStation’s legacy stems back to just how well they captured the hearts of gamers on their first console outing. Many fan-favorite PlayStation franchises saw their first entries on this console, while many highly celebrated third-party franchises reached new heights of quality on the console as well.
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The console still has an undeniable legacy all these years later, not just because it’s the first PlayStation, but because of just how timeless and exceptional so many of the gaming experiences on the console were and still are today. Any console would be considered one of the greatest of all time when it features games like Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, and Crash Bandicoot. It speaks volumes that despite being their first console, the original PlayStation still managed to be the best-selling console of the 5th generation of consoles, with its focus on young adults instead of children paying dividends to the PlayStation brand as a whole.
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PlayStation 4 (2013—2024)
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With Microsoft arguably winning the previous console generation, Sony had a lot to prove with the PlayStation 4 to prove that they were still one of the masters of home console gaming. What resulted is one of the most shining and impactful eras in PlayStation history, pushing the brand and reputation of the console to new heights and with a glorious upgrade in graphical fidelity. For many modern gamers, the PlayStation 4 is the defining PlayStation console, as it featured many of Sony’s most celebrated gaming experiences and overwhelmingly dominated the eighth generation of consoles.
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The console did an exceptional job of appealing to exactly what gamers were wanting out of the industry at the time, with an embracing of third-party and indie games while also supplying its own array of top-notch first-party experiences. It’s an absolute classic console that was the premier way to experience many of the best games of the 2010s. It easily deserves a placement ranking among the greatest consoles of all time, although it only comes just short of the peak of what PlayStation is capable of as a dominating force in home console gaming.
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PlayStation 2 (2000–2013)
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It’s impossible to understate just how much of a cultural powerhouse the PlayStation 2 was, being so effective as a home console that it almost single-handedly reshaped the industry in the wake of its success. With so many great games, massive leaps in technological capabilities, and the versatility of having a built-in DVD player, it’s no wonder the console became the best-selling video game console of all time. Even after the PlayStation 3 had been released, many gamers continued enjoying playing on the PS2 and utilizing it, as it really did have everything one would want out of a PlayStation experience.
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PlayStation’s legacy and reputation as a titan of the industry may not have started with the PS2, but it was absolutely cemented in the wake of its success, proving that they were far from a one-time fluke but a continuous, dominating force in the industry. From system-selling exclusives like God of War and Ratchet and Clank to amazing third-party games like Resident Evil 4 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the quality on PS2 was simply unmatched.
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