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I love LEGO sets based on retro game consoles. They combine two of my favorite things: video games (for obvious reasons) and LEGO sets, with impossibly clever construction mechanics and plenty of Easter eggs.
The latest retro system to become a buildable set is LEGO PlayStation, a near 1:1 scale model of Sony’s original hardware. Now, it may seem like a foregone conclusion today, but the success of the PlayStation was no sure thing when it launched in 1994 in Japan and in 1995 in the US. Many electronics companies had dabbled in the world of video games and failed quickly, with nothing to show for it.
But young me? I was a believer in PlayStation from the start. I remember buying the little gray machine at launch and pouring hundreds of hours into games like Jumping Flash, Battle Arena Toshinden, Street Fighter: The Movie (the game), Twisted Metal, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Doom, Resident Evil 2, Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey, Medal of Honor, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII through IX (remember when three mainline Final Fantasies could come out in a single generation?) and on and on. Man, what an incredible library.
The PS1 provided all the gaming I needed through the latter half of the ’90s. I didn’t buy another console until the PlayStation 2 came out after the turn of the millennium.
LEGO PlayStation comes with 1,911 bricks divided into 14 paper bags and takes around six hours to build. Despite the mostly gray exterior, it’s a fun, surprisingly colorful construction from start to finish. It uses a number of clever building techniques along the way, and includes a few delightful Easter eggs.
Even the box for this set is an Easter egg of sorts. It calls back to the box of the original PlayStation.
The process of the build is about what you’d expect: you start by completing the base of the console, and then build your way to the top. But inside of the machine, you first lay down the red, yellow, and blue PS logo, and then build and insert all sorts of colorful little chips and electronic components — many of which you immediately cover up. Unlike the real console, however, you can see some of these “electronics” when you lift the lid.
Also hidden inside the console are two dioramas that slide out on smooth tracks. These are like secret drawers that feature colorful micro-scale worlds for Ape Escape and Gran Turismo, two popular games from the platform. While I didn’t play either of those games back in the day and would have preferred nods to, say, Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid, they’re still a fun inclusion and I’m sure many fans will appreciate them more than I do.
The set includes one small sheet of stickers. I’ve complained about stickers in LEGO sets before (particularly in LEGO Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler and LEGO Winnie the Pooh), but they’re more of a minor irritant here. All of the stickers go on the dioramas, which are hidden by default.
All of the most important and visible images on this set — the PlayStation and Sony logos, and the <a href="https://comicvibe.com/gamesir-expands-global-lineup-with-g7-pro-8k-phantom-blade-zero-controller/” title=”GameSir expands global lineup with G7 Pro 8K Phantom Blade Zero controller”>controller’s face button shapes — are pre-printed on the pieces. This is a huge relief for me personally, as I can’t line up a sticker on a LEGO piece perfectly to save my life.
The finished product looks remarkably like a 1:1 representation of the original hardware. If you view it from a distance, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was an actual PS1. I dug up my original PlayStation to compare the two devices (I could only find my DualShock controller, not the original). The LEGO set looks incredibly similar to the real thing from almost every angle. The main difference is the LEGO set lacks the RCA ports in the back, which isn’t a big deal (see the slideshow below for more comparison pics).
Even the Power and Open buttons on the finished set “work.” Pressing Power lifts a little green translucent rod into view, right where the green power light is on the original hardware. Pressing the Open button releases a latch that, thanks to a spring-loaded mechanism, raises the disc lid, just like it does on the original.
I have a few minor complaints about LEGO PlayStation. My Open button sticks when I press it all the way in, so the lid won’t close unless I fiddle with the button to make it pop back out. The controller also looks a little janky, but I understand it’s hard or impossible to make an exact replica LEGO version of something so curvy.
If you’re a gamer of a certain age and have fond memories of playing then-newfangled CD-based games on an original PlayStation, I can wholeheartedly recommend this set. It would also make a fine gift, if someone you know falls into that category.
LEGO PlayStation is available for $179.99 at theLEGO StoreandPlayStation Direct.
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The Verdict
LEGO is a classic toy, collectible, and creativity kit. LEGO bricks were first released in 1949, and use the LEGO System-in-Play concept (founded on the literal building blocks of LEGO bricks,) to allow LEGO builders of all ages to build and rebuild anything they can imagine. The LEGO Group was founded in Billund, Denmark in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, its name derived from the two Danish words LEg GOdt, which mean “Play Well”.
