15 years ago yesterday, Sony’s original little videogame console that could, the PlayStation, was launched in Japan, delivering what most would consider the biggest shake-up the console industry (and the games industry in general) had received in quite some time.

In an era of Nintendo and SEGA dominance in the hardware market, Sony’s PlayStation ended up throttling its competitors, the Nintendo 64 and SEGA Saturn, in most ways that matter, such as developer support, quality high-profile games, and console sales, becoming the new dominator and paving the way for the PlayStation 2’s unmitigated success years later.

The tally of original PlayStation units sold stands at an incredible 125 million, selling well past the date it was discontinued (March 23rd 2006), after the console’s re-release in the form of the PSOne in 2000 refreshed market performance.

One could even postulate that, had it not been for the PlayStation, classic titles such as Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil may not have even existed, or at the very least, taken much longer to appear or perhaps even have been released in wildly different forms.

Thanks PlayStation, and happy birthday!