Best Sony PlayStation Consoles, Ranked

Summary

PS2 was a game-changing success with 3D graphics and the ability to play DVDs, solidifying its spot as iconic and influential in gaming.
PS3 Slim is a middle-child compromise with enhanced features like noise reduction and thermal reliability for longevity and RPG gameplay.
PS5 Standard offers impressive hardware, but lacks a standout “killer app” game, making physical media for preservation crucial.

For nearly three decades, Sony’s PlayStation consoles have shaped gaming history through cutting-edge technology and exclusive, genre-defining megahits, but not all systems achieved equal success. Each console on the following list has been placed based on its processing power, durability, special features, looks, and catalog of exclusives.

Every Nintendo Console Ranked By Their Launch Prices

Video game consoles are often prohibitively expensive, but Nintendo, for the most part, has done a good job of perfecting their hardware price points.

Although each console will not be solely judged by its library, its games will be a weighting factor. After all, the better the console’s hardware, the more likely talented developers will make it their primary platform. While most generations come with multiple editions, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, a “best edition” will be chosen as its representative.

7

PlayStation Vita

The Right Handheld For The Wrong Moment

The Vita has plenty going for it: comfortable sticks, powerful quad-core processing, a pristine OLED screen (before the later Slim edition switched to LCD), and roomy memory space. Its lack of prestige arguably came down to a lack of first-party support, as even Sony itself seemed unable to find a niche for their underrated and overlooked handheld.

Unfortunately, while there were a few standout exclusives on the Vita, the main appeal was its ability to port games from the PSP, the mighty PS4, and even the tricky PS3, although backward compatibility is limited to store-bought downloads.

6

PlayStation 3 (Slim)

The Slim Middle Child Makes The Best Compromise On Spotty Hardware

Technically ambitious but commercially a disaster at launch, the PS3 remains one of gaming’s most fascinating paradoxes. The third PlayStation iteration churned out classics like The Last of Us, Demon’s Souls, and Metal Gear Solid 4. While its games achieved a definitive “next-gen” look with advanced lighting and physics, the system was notoriously difficult to make games on. Debate still rages about which version has superior hardware.

The original chunky “phat” model remains an iconic object of gaming history, with the advantage of having full PS2 backward compatibility. However, the Slim typically holds a reputation for being the best in terms of noise reduction, thermal reliability, power efficiency, and life expectancy, as many feel that the Super Slim compromised too much in its build integrity. Considering how many great RPGs are stranded on the PS3, a longer life expectancy might be the Slim’s greatest asset.

5

PlayStation 5 (Standard)

The Super-Powered But Underutilized Paragon4

The PlayStation 5 comes packed with impressive hardware. Blazing-fast SSD speeds, instant loading, and advanced haptics make it a technical marvel. However, despite being an objective upgrade from its predecessor, this powerful console has yet to find its “killer app” despite having debuted back in 2020. Most exclusives feel like polished PS4 games rather than true generational leaps, with many PS5 games being remasters, remakes, or upgraded ports.

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The Best-Looking PS5 Games, Ranked

The best-looking games on the PlayStation 5 feature remarkable visuals and are a must-play for players who appreciate games with stunning graphics.

Although there are many advantages to digital games, The ability to play physical media is important for preservation and a sense of ownership. Physical games ensure that players aren’t locked into Sony’s pricing or left stranded when the PlayStation Store shuts down, which makes the standard disc-drive model the best choice over the digital or slim editions, especially since the detachable drive for the later bizarrely require players to be connected to the internet.

4

PlayStation Portable (PSP)

Pushing The Limits Of Handheld Play

Packed into a sleek portable design, the PlayStation Portable (PSP) delivered impressive 3D graphics that rivaled early PS2 games, with a vibrant widescreen display, comfortable controls, and a then-impressive (for a portable device) web browser. While it never dethroned Nintendo’s DS, the PSP carved out its own space with the help of recognizable names, including Metal Gear Solid and Grand Theft Auto.

Although the Go and Street models have their own advantages, the 3000 model is generally considered the best of the bunch, scanline issues aside. Its anti-reflective screen finally made outdoor play viable and the improved color range fixed earlier models’ ghosting issues. Like its younger sibling, the PSP’s unfortunate downfall came due to a lack of support from Sony.

3

PlayStation 4 (Pro)

An Elegant Return To Form

The PlayStation 4 was Sony’s return to form. Its simple but elegant design houses hardware that developers were much happier to work with than the PS3, and still are, even long into the PS5 era. As well as a nice design, the PS4 delivered one of the best handheld controllers in the market.

While the PS5 boasts flashier specs, the PS4 delivers perfectly playable versions of nearly every current release at a fraction of the price. The Pro model improves over the original model with boosted clock speeds enabling checkerboard 4K rendering, or something pretty close enough to 4K that it doesn’t make that much of a difference.

2

PS One (Combo Package)

The Game-Changing Cartrage Killer

The original PlayStation, with its then-groundbreaking 3D capabilities and CD-ROM storage, was a revolution. Its hardware caught the eye of studios like Naughty Dog, who showed the world what it could do early on with Crash Bandicoot, a technical showcase that exceeded even Sony’s expectations. The PlayStation spawned too many legendary video games to count: Final Fantasy 7, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, and so many more.

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8 Best Platform Games Still Stuck On The PS1, Ranked

When anybody mentions platform games for the original PlayStation, there are popular classics, but what about these games still stuck on the PS1?

The industrial design of the original PlayStation is inarguably a style all of its own, but the release of the PSOne in 2000 brought the hardware to new heights. Besides the lid mechanism, the PSOne looked smoother and was built with more durability. Best of all, it could be played with its own LCD screen which made it the most powerful portable of its time.

1

PlayStation 2 (Phat)

The Console That Could Do No Wrong

The original PlayStation may have revolutionized gaming with 3D graphics, but the PlayStation 2 perfected the formula. Sony knocked it out of the park with their sequel to the first CD-based console, and the recent boom of DVDs put the PS2 into an upward spiral as families bought it as their first DVD player. Not only was it the place to watch movies but developers were keen to get on board from the get-go, creating a vast library of stellar games as a result.

The PS2 saw the rise of games that rewrote the rules of the medium like Grand Theft Auto 3, Shadow of the Colossus, and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Plus, who could forget that dreamlike, futuristic startup sequence? As a cherry on top, it had backward compatibility with the PS1. While later slim models trimmed the fat, the original SCPH-39001 remains the gold standard, thanks to a superior build quality that outlasted later revisions.