Random: Turns Out the PS1's Boot Up Logo Is a 3D Model

Wait, people didn't know?

Maybe I'm just really good at paying attention to details, but I thought that it was common sense that the OG PlayStation's logo was 3D.

Oh well, still really awesome to see the full 3D model for the first time.

Nothing sounded better back in the day than the boot up sound playing through a sound system.

The whole room felt like an outer body experience, for me at least.

Goosebumps.

@HotGoomba I was about to say the same thing... It essentially makes sense since PlayStation had instantly became a showcase for 3D graphics back in the day, so it would weird that their logo didn't show that off as well.

@HotGoomba Could still have been a pre-rendered image of a 3D model, you wouldn't know the difference!

Everyone can see it's a 3D model, but that doesn't mean it had to be rendered in 3D every time you boot up the system. Since there's no alternate viewing angles, it makes just as much sense for it to be a pre-rendered image.

@Quintumply I heard You Have The PS1 Boot Up As Your Alarm

Playstation just oozed 90's cool. I'm pretty sure I broke something in my brain playing countless hours of wipeout as my old CRT TV flickered into my eyeballs shifting and molding my developing mind.

@Kidfried I mean, I grew up with the PS, but I didn't know it was a 3D model, you can't even tell the difference unless you hack your system like the video above

I loved those times, when games were creative expressions of programmers, not copy/paste money machine of nowadays...

#freebritney

Lol... who didn't? 🤣

I heard a rumour that Sony snuck one of its sound engineers into haven to record a angel farting to get the boot startup track.

Man, I could play some Croc

The fact that it didn't show off that it was 3D made me think it wasn't 3D.

If I was going to create a 2D logo, I wouldn't use a 3D model.

In other news... grass is green!

@Wiggo
You’re not alone there my friend - otherworldly is how I always describe it.

Whenever I hear that boot up sequence it gives me a big smack of nostalgia - never gets old listening to it.

I always assumed it was just a flat 2d graphic. But now I know better. Thanks internet.

Aw man, the feels from this iconic start up. Also had a insane bass to it aswell. Still my most favourite start up ever.

I always “known”, at least always thought so and then knew for sure the first time I saw it rendered at night res on a PS1 emulator.

The sound reminds me of the theme music for the first Deus Ex game. Very cyberpunky.
(Actually, after hearing the two themes now, I noticed they are very similar!)

Who didn’t know this?
It literally looks like unshaded polygons.

I always assumed it was a polygonal model; the hard edges around the curvature of the lettering is a dead giveaway

It was obvious

I would've assumed that this became known once people started running PS1 emulators at increased resolutions. Q pre rendered image would still look the same when viewed at 1080p, but the logo looks sharper instead, indicating it's a real time render.

I never noticed tbh! I was too awestruck by the awesome sound that played. It went perfectly after the Sony SCE logo jingle, too. The boom followed by sparkles and that semi tone change, just fantastic synth. Sound makes a lot of difference as ps3 had a more orchestral sound but eh, it's really nothing memorable, especially newer firmware. Ps2 was also quite mystical and wonder filled, too, though. Psp and ps4 more remind me of Nintendo's main screen sounds.

Man, seeing that brings back memories. I don't necessarily regret our consoles now being designed to idle in rest mode when we're not using them, but PS1 just had the most awesome boot screen ever, didn't it? Along with that iconic... sound it made when doing so.

I always thought people knew this

I used to love Croc: Legend of the Gobbos! Lost the disc a while back, though. ;(

PS1 boot sound was awesome. PS2 boot sound was flat out terrifying. It sounds like you just made something bad happen every time you boot it. PS4, PS5 are ok. PS3 is the best though. That orchestra warmup sound just puts you in the mood for magic to happen.

I never knew it was 3D. Coming in at the same time as Donkey Kong Country, and on the PS games like FFVII, etc, just got us used to static pre-rendered 3D backgrounds. Just kind of assumed this was one of them.

@Ralizah WiiU almost had that same feeling except it too an hour and a half to boot. Ironically progress goes backward, due to "quick resume", my XSX I now keep in the power off mode. Have to admit....the boot splash is pretty awesome. So was X1X, but it was sooo slooow versus the retro feeling of "it flashes and a few seconds later you're in the game" It's a kind of soothing retro experience. PS5 I just keep in Rest though. I need Boi standing where I left him when I turn it on. Reloading at check points makes me irritable.

More irritable than usual, I mean.

I never like the original PS One boot up logo. It always looked cheap with loads of rough edges. My favourite boot up screen was PS3 slim/super slim. It was classy and had the new PS3 font.

@NEStalgia Yeah, I also like the splash screen on the new Xbox consoles. You really feel the lack of something in that vein when you see a PS5 boot up. The screen when you first get your Switch is really adorable, but unfortunately you never see it again, so no props to Nintendo.

Never liked how the Wii U opened on an army of Miis infesting your dashboard. And yeah, it slowed that console to a crawl.

PS2 was too minimalistic.

PS1 and GameCube will always take the cake for me. Both really memorable boot screens.

@Ralizah Yeah, Switch at least has the red Nintendo logo and the "click" sound on a true reboot though (it's always in rest the rest of the time.) so it's something. PS5 is also usually in rest, but when it's not, it's uneventful. Black screen, legal disclaimers, logo text, then the soothing serene "heeey, maaaaan....wanna like play like gaaaames and stuuuf?" sound. XSXS has that classic quick and engaging bombast of the old days. PS3 still remains the "my body is ready" startup though Dim the lights, get comfy, stay a while, and listen.

The Mii army was fun. Esepcially since it had Iwata, Reggie, and Miyamoto randomly in there, dressed for whatever promo event thing was happening (year of Luigi etc.) But it was super slow.

It's apparent when playing an emulator with upscaling (like Duckstation) that the logo is 3d, otherwise it would be blurry like the textures that don't upscale

I get those goosebumps every time, yeah, when I hear the PS boot sound, yeah

That is odd. I thought it was a bitmap.

Ah yes, I remember about the disc authentication, I didn’t know about the 3D render though.

Much like others have pointed out - the whole point of it was that it was a 3D logo. I guess those of us of the age to be day one owners after owning previous consoles would have known it was 3d.

I have the PSX(yes, I still call it PSX, dammit)boot up sound as notification for my PlayStation invites. Still gives me chills, even after all these years.

I pressed play on the above video of the debugged PS1 logo and have listened to it 100+ times reading the comments.

@HotGoomba everyone knows it was a 3D image, I'd wager a vast majority, including myself, didn't stop to think it was actually rendered in real-time.