Sony PS One at 25 – we remember Sony's first portable console
Ah, the PS1 – I loved that thing. The moment when gaming finally became cool!
We're not talking about the original PlayStation, which wasn't even called the PS1 back then (well, that would have been wildly presumptuous). This is the PS One – and it was no mere name change. Sony's sleeker, curvier console – half the footprint, a third of the weight – was aimed at a younger, wider audience less obsessed with mean, angular hardware. And you could buy a screw-on 5in screen that arguably made it Sony's first portable console.
A portable PlayStation? Were they expecting you to play serious games on the bus?
Sort of. Slap on that screen and, boom, instant self-contained portable gaming. Now, obviously you couldn't play it anywhere – unless you had the world's longest extension lead. But it freed the console from the family telly and gave us our first hint of AAA gaming on the go, years before the Steam Deck was a glint in Valve's eye. Plus the car adapter could keep kids quiet in the back, blazing around virtual race circuits while parents – ironically – sat there grumbling in a traffic jam.
So did anyone really buy this thing, or was it just for weird 2000s retro heads?
People loved it. The PS One crushed the competition in 2000, outselling everything from Sony's own supply-constrained PS2 to Sega's beleaguered Dreamcast. Even with the screen it was a bargain, giving budget-conscious gamers access to a quality machine with a huge library of titles – enough to keep it going until 2006, just before the PS3 arrived. It wasn't flash. It wasn't 'next gen'. But smart decisions ensured it was a stellar success. There's a moral for the games industry in there…
Sony PlayStation side quests (hardware edition)
The PS One wasn't the only time Sony decided to remix a hit console. Here are four other efforts that found the company wandering off the main PlayStation path.
The PS2 Slim: so sharp it could slice cheese. Probably.
PS2 Slim (2004): Realising not everyone wanted a console the size of a fridge, Sony slimmed down the PS2, even improving a few bits (beyond reduced heft) while doing so. It was a hit to the degree Sony repeated the trick for subsequent generations. The PS3 even got a 'Super Slim' edition.
PlayStation TV (2013): Handheld console games on the big screen? That'll never catch on. Cough. But it was Sony that got there first, with a Vita minus a screen that lived under your telly. Alas, early compatibility issues and general bafflement made this one a rare misfire. Shame.
PS4 Pro (2016): If the very thought of 1080p disgusted you after upgrading to a 4K TV, Sony was ready to dangle a PS4 Pro in front of your face. Updated games shone. Older ones pretended to shine due to upscaling. And 4K Blu-rays… weren't supported. Erm. Well, you can't have everything.
PlayStation Classic (2018): This dinky plug-and-play retro box went right back to the start, cramming in 20 PS1 classics – but not the ones you wanted, obvs. Sony also cunningly made the controller cables approx. 1cm long. Still, the gamepads could be swapped for something better – as could the games if you risked Sony's ire and modded the unit.
Now read: The 25 best PlayStation games of all time
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Stuff.tv
11-07-2025
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The greatest skateboarding games of all time, ranked by someone who has played them all
A little over 25 years ago, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater landed on the original PlayStation. It wasn't the first skateboarding game; that accolade appears to belong to Atari's 720, a late 1980s arcade machine. But with full respect to that game, THPS was the big one, kicking off several decades of fascination with the sport from both players and developers. Why do skateboarding and video games make such a natural pairing? Maybe it's something to do with how games let people live their extreme sports fantasies without risking a painful/embarrassing trip to A&E. It's also a lot easier to look cool on a screen than when you pitch up at your local skatepark and roll nervously towards deep concrete bowl or perilous half-pipe. Skateboarding games are also just stupidly good fun. With Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4, a ground-up remake of the third and fourth entries in the beloved series having just landed, it feels like a good time to look back at the many ways the sport has been tackled in games – both big and small. Here are the greatest skateboarding games of all time. 10. The Ramp (2021) Play The Ramp is barely a game. It was made by just one person, who describes it as a 'digital toy for skateboarding-loving people.' A Tech Deck inside a screen, if you will. But while The Ramp is no Tony Hawk's in terms of content, it does a remarkable job of recreating the flow state that all skateboarders are constantly chasing. There are just a handful of levels, from a traditional half-pipe to an empty swimming pool bowl, and there's no score system or traditional progression. It's just you, the ramp, and a smart implementation of the 'pumping' technique that skateboarders use to build up speed. The Ramp might be small, but it does its thing so elegantly that it deserves a place on this list. 9. Session: Skate Sim (2022) Play The first time I played Session: Skate Sim, I spent over an hour in the tutorial section, which tells you everything you need to know. An heir to EA's Skate series (more on that in a bit), but far more hardcore in its approach to simulating real-life skateboarding, Session is far less interested in empowering you to pull off four-minute Tony Hawk's-esque combos than it is in showing you how challenging it is to simply ollie up a curb. The game revolves around a dual stick control system that maps each foot to a stick, so even getting the board off the ground is something you have to think about. There's no scoring system, so instead you're asked to think like a real skater and use the in-game video editor to create videos that prove you're not lying about that cool trick you did. It's pretty lightweight and unpolished compared to some of its rivals, but the commitment to ultra-realism is impressive. 8. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (2023) Play I should say right at the top that Bomb Rush Cyberfunk isn't exclusively a skateboarding game, but it is one of the coolest games you will ever play with skateboarding in it. Heavily inspired by cult SEGA favourite Jet Set Radio, this ludicrously stylish indie gem sees you play as a kid in a youth gang who sets out to retrieve his recently decapitated head (it's a whole thing) by challenging rival gangs, doing graffiti and ultimately taking control of the fictional city of New Amsterdam. While Bomb Rush Cyberfunk's cel-shaded graphics and affection for early 2000s street culture make it feel like a spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio, that was an inline skating-only game. Here the traversal options extend to BMXing and skateboarding too, and while the actual skating isn't that deep, with a relatively limited tricks-set at your disposal, it's all so much fun to look at that you won't mind. 7. Skate City: New York (2025) Play Indie developer Snowman has cultivated a well-earned reputation of being the master of 2D board sports games for mobile. It's probably best known for the brilliant Alto's series of snowboarding side-scrollers, but its two Skate City games are arguably even better. Clearly inspired by the likes of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and the Skate games, Skate City puts an impressively wide variety of tricks quite literally at your fingertips, thanks to intuitive touch controls that are easy to grasp but satisfyingly tough to master. Both games are worth a download, but the sequel adds more abilities and real-world skate spots in New York to cruise through. Whether you're going for big-score combos or just vibing out in the leisurely Free Skate mode, this is as slick as virtual skateboarding on your phone gets. 6. Tony Hawk's Underground (2003) Play For some, the Tony Hawk's series lost its way the moment it dropped the Pro Skater bit from the name, but if you were more sympathetic to the nonsense plots and creeping Jackass-ification of later entries, then they may well be your favourites. Tony Hawk's Underground was the first in this new era for the series, so its new story mode, which involved you creating your own skater and travelling around North America and beyond in an attempt to earn the respect of the various real-life pros who appeared in the campaign, felt quite novel at the time. THUG also enabled you to get off your board and climb for the first time, and it even had driving missions. While all this extra stuff undoubtedly meant the focus of the earlier games was lost, it was a fun evolution of the series at a time when the industry was becoming obsessed with GTA-style sandboxes. 5. Skate (2007) Play Tony Hawk's Pro Skater will always be the household name of skateboarding games, so when EA's Skate series first rolled onto the scene in 2007 it was less interested in snatching that title from the Birdman and co than it was in being the skateboarding game for skateboarders. Unlike your average THPS, in which combining three different grinds on the propeller of a helicopter before a landing in a nose manual is just another day at the office, Skate wanted to make it feel good just to successfully land a kickflip. Moving the emphasis away from Tony Hawk's face button controls and onto the analogue made it feel a lot closer a simulation of the real thing, which when combined with a deep understanding of authentic skate culture resulted in something totally fresh. 4. OlliOlli World (2022) Play When I reviewed OlliOlli World back in 2022 I called it one of the best platformers I'd played in years, and that still stands in 2025. This endlessly playable 2D skateboarding game was (tragically no longer in existence) developer Roll7's magnum opus, combining the ingenious analogue stick-focused control scheme it had been perfecting since the original BAFTA-winning OlliOlli, with an irresistible Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic. OlliOlli World's Radlandia setting might looking something that's been ripped straight out of Nickelodeon, but make no mistake: while it might be more accessible than its predecessors, there's a hardcore skateboarding game hiding under those pastel hues, and it would be a crying shame if it marked the end of the series. 3. Skate 2 (2009) Play After firmly establishing itself as the skateboarding connoisseur's alternative to Tony Hawk's in the groundbreaking first entry, Skate 2 was the classic sequel that built on everything that made its predecessor great (presumably learning from longtime Tony Hawk's developer Neversoft that changing things up too much risks the wrath of fans). The fantastic 'Flickit' control scheme was left largely untouched, with the only significant addition being that you could now get off your board and move objects around in the world to set up tricks. The fictional open world city of San Vanelona was once again the setting in Skate 2, but EA ensured it was bigger and more interesting to explore. It was never going to feel as exciting as the first game, but Skate 2's beefed up campaign and series' best physics systems means it was a superior one in pretty much every way. 2. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 (2020) Play It's easy to be cynical about remakes in the modern era of video games, but when executed as flawlessly as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 it's very hard not to fall head over heels in love. The first two THPS games established a gameplay loop that feels as good today as it did in the early 2000s, blending real skateboarding tricks with an unashamedly video game-y disregard for the laws of physics. Vicarious Visions didn't mess with any of that old-school arcade goodness, but smartly retrofitted mechanics like spine transfers and reverts from later entries to both games, while bringing what were two pre-HD classics into the modern era with a ground-up visual overhaul that gave levels like Venice Beach, School II and the iconic Warehouse from the first game a new lease of life. Probably the ultimate Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game. Well, almost. 1. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (2001) Play Your pick for the best classic Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game will probably come down to which one you recall playing the most of after school or in your university halls, and for me the debate always comes back to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. It had some all-timer levels in the likes of Airport and Cruise Ship, a great soundtrack, and at the time was a real graphical showcase. THPS3 is also a hugely significant entry in the series for what it added to gameplay, introducing reverts for the first time, which allowed you to link combos with manuals by tapping a button the moment you land a trick on a ramp. At this point we were about as far away from what is actually feasible in real skateboarding as you can get, but it further cemented the Pro Skater skater games as competitive multiplayer classics. Oh, and you could unlock Darth Maul and Wolverine as playable characters, so there was also that.
Stuff.tv
10-07-2025
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Sony PS One at 25 – we remember Sony's first portable console
Sony may be a console giant today, but back in 2000 the company was still figuring out how to take over the world. A major step on that ruthless march to dominance was the release of the PS One. Ah, the PS1 – I loved that thing. The moment when gaming finally became cool! We're not talking about the original PlayStation, which wasn't even called the PS1 back then (well, that would have been wildly presumptuous). This is the PS One – and it was no mere name change. Sony's sleeker, curvier console – half the footprint, a third of the weight – was aimed at a younger, wider audience less obsessed with mean, angular hardware. And you could buy a screw-on 5in screen that arguably made it Sony's first portable console. A portable PlayStation? Were they expecting you to play serious games on the bus? Sort of. Slap on that screen and, boom, instant self-contained portable gaming. Now, obviously you couldn't play it anywhere – unless you had the world's longest extension lead. But it freed the console from the family telly and gave us our first hint of AAA gaming on the go, years before the Steam Deck was a glint in Valve's eye. Plus the car adapter could keep kids quiet in the back, blazing around virtual race circuits while parents – ironically – sat there grumbling in a traffic jam. So did anyone really buy this thing, or was it just for weird 2000s retro heads? People loved it. The PS One crushed the competition in 2000, outselling everything from Sony's own supply-constrained PS2 to Sega's beleaguered Dreamcast. Even with the screen it was a bargain, giving budget-conscious gamers access to a quality machine with a huge library of titles – enough to keep it going until 2006, just before the PS3 arrived. It wasn't flash. It wasn't 'next gen'. But smart decisions ensured it was a stellar success. There's a moral for the games industry in there… Sony PlayStation side quests (hardware edition) The PS One wasn't the only time Sony decided to remix a hit console. Here are four other efforts that found the company wandering off the main PlayStation path. The PS2 Slim: so sharp it could slice cheese. Probably. PS2 Slim (2004): Realising not everyone wanted a console the size of a fridge, Sony slimmed down the PS2, even improving a few bits (beyond reduced heft) while doing so. It was a hit to the degree Sony repeated the trick for subsequent generations. The PS3 even got a 'Super Slim' edition. PlayStation TV (2013): Handheld console games on the big screen? That'll never catch on. Cough. But it was Sony that got there first, with a Vita minus a screen that lived under your telly. Alas, early compatibility issues and general bafflement made this one a rare misfire. Shame. PS4 Pro (2016): If the very thought of 1080p disgusted you after upgrading to a 4K TV, Sony was ready to dangle a PS4 Pro in front of your face. Updated games shone. Older ones pretended to shine due to upscaling. And 4K Blu-rays… weren't supported. Erm. Well, you can't have everything. PlayStation Classic (2018): This dinky plug-and-play retro box went right back to the start, cramming in 20 PS1 classics – but not the ones you wanted, obvs. Sony also cunningly made the controller cables approx. 1cm long. Still, the gamepads could be swapped for something better – as could the games if you risked Sony's ire and modded the unit. Now read: The 25 best PlayStation games of all time
Stuff.tv
08-07-2025
- Stuff.tv
The 10 best tennis video games ever to play during Wimbledon
8) Mario Tennis: Power Tour (2005, Game Boy Advance) Play Presumably concerned Game Boy Color owners would throw their consoles out of the window if the company had the audacity to release a normal tennis game on the system, Nintendo crafted Mario Tennis to be closer to a quirky RPG that just happened to have tennis mechanics in place of a battle system. For this Game Boy Advance sequel, the mash-up was particularly glorious, twinning amusing Zelda-like chats and exploration with high-octane ball-thwacking that was the best on the system. Add in furiously addictive madcap mini-games and you've a title that might not be tennis as you know it, but it does make everything else on this list seem a little dull by comparison. 9) Wii Sports (2006, Nintendo Wii) Play As the Wii arrived, the games industry was roused by a million voices crying out in pain that Nintendo had – shock! – dumbed-down console gaming. Take the tennis bit of Wii Sports: players moved automatically, and you merely swung your controller a bit like a racket, only occasionally accidentally letting go and smashing your TV screen. The thing is, it was fantastic (apart from the TV-smashing bit). Everyone could get in on the action, rather than having to first master the 'gamepad claw'; yet there was enough nuance for dedicated players to pull off some fantastic moves – even if the little Mii characters looked ridiculous while doing so. 10) Top Spin 4 (2011, PS3/Wii/Xbox 360) Play It's probably sacrilege to say it, but some time in the 2000s, Sega lost its tennis-game crown; Virtua Tennis 3 was an impressive if predictable update, but its sequel was finally eclipsed by the lurking Top Spin series. In Top Spin 4, the deep coaching system hugely added to the extensive career mode, and the character customisation went so far as to enable you to select different types of grunts and victory celebrations. It was perhaps all a little clinical (besides the bizarre uncanny valley player faces), but fluid player movement, balanced gameplay and detailed, responsive controls combined to make for a rewarding experience for those who persevered. New balls, please Play If you're thinking, 'Hang on. You've just recommended the game equivalents of Martina Navratilova, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer', that's because there are few newer titles capable of walloping an ace towards your console. Still, if you need something contemporary, there are two solid options. Top Spin 2K25 (PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows) follows up on the last entry in the above list with an iterative effort that nets you a slew of licensed venues and players that look at least 34% less like zombies than they did in the Virtua Tennis days. Tweaked mechanics make for exciting risk vs reward moments during rallies. But you'll grumble at the grind progression system and absurdist virtual currency, which leaves Wimbledon winners with barely enough extra virtual cash for a pair of virtual socks. Tsk. Unsurprisingly, Nintendo Switch owners get something a mite more bonkers and colourful in the shape of Mario Tennis Aces. This builds on previous Nintendo efforts by fusing arcade gameplay and adventuring, while occasionally acknowledging that, yes, there's a tennis game in there somewhere. Boss battles with tennis rackets can be entertainingly daft, although the single-player mode runs out of steam faster than the average Brit at Wimbledon. The game's chaotic nature is fun while it lasts though.
