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Celebrate PlayStation’s 20th U.S. Anniversary with a Chiptune Album

September 9, 2015 | | 2 Comments Share thison Facebook Celebrate PlayStation’s 20th U.S. Anniversary with a Chiptune Albumon Twitter

The original PlayStation may have celebrated its 20th anniversary last December in Japan, but for me — an American teenager at the time — it’s September 9th, 1995 that I remember most fondly. Even before the console was out it was turning me on to new music. The “Hear it Now, Play it Later” demo disc I got for pre-ordering the console introduced me to the likes of Korn, Mother May I and Dag and even included uncredited tracks from Tommy Tallarico. After the launch it was a constant stream of new favorites with soundtracks in every style represented.

But just like Sony’s push to bypass 2D games and focus on the PlayStation’s polygonal power, there wasn’t a lot of classic 16-bit style music to be heard. Some developers did choose to render their music with the PlayStation sound hardware but the cool factor of “CD Quality Sound” was hard to ignore. It wasn’t exclusive to PlayStation — CD-based consoles had been around for nearly a decade in 1995 — but almost unanimously the sound was more like “real music” than the proverbial “bleeps and bloops” of the games that came before them. That was a powerful moment for gaming’s mainstream acceptance with graphics and music that leapt farther towards reality.

With that in mind it’s a little ironic to hear flagship PlayStation themes done in a chiptune style but it makes for an equally striking testament to how far things have come. That’s what Shiryu has done to commemorate the PlayStation’s 20th anniversary with the album PSXX. It’s a great listen that’s sure to touch at least one PlayStation classic you’ll recognize. I also found myself impressed with renditions of the atmospheric music from Tenchu, Resident Evil and Tomb Raider.

It’s an unexpectedly fitting way to remember the PlayStation on this anniversary of its North American debut and a great remix collection for any other day. PSXX is available now for €4 on Shiryu’s Bandcamp page. If you’d like to reminisce about the days of the PlayStation or just dream up other games you’d love to hear chiptuned, let us know in the comments.

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