Let’s salute Sony’s super-successful systems in the best way the internet knows how: with some of the best PlayStation memes around. Strap yourselves in, it’s going to be a snarky ride.

If you’ve ever dabbled in Doctor Who, you’ll know that the long-running show has had a whole range of actors playing the lead role. The Doctor is a member of an alien race, the Time Lords, who have the power of regeneration: changing every cell in their bodies and ‘becoming’ somebody else to survive. Seasoned fans will have their own favorite Doctors, and the first person they saw in the role (be it Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant or beyond, or all the way back to the classic era of William Hartnell) is likely to be up there among them. Nostalgia is a powerful, powerful force.

The same is often true of gamers. Personally, the first dedicated gaming system I ever owned was an original super-chunky Game Boy, which I was given at the age of ten. Shortly after, I got my first home console, a PS1, for my birthday.

Today, I game on all three current gen systems, PC and all kinds of classic consoles besides. I don’t play favorites at all, but those first gaming memories with PlayStation persist. But who can forget their first (beloved) PlayStation console — not the fans who made these hilarious memes. That's for sure!

25 When The Revolutionary Dual Shock 4 Arrives On The Scene

As with just about every other aspect of consoles, fans of one camp or the other have always debated the controller issue. Whose is more comfortable? Whose has better sticks? Better shoulder buttons? Whose is better suited to FPS games? None of these questions are ever really going to be answered satisfactorily. It’s all about personal preference.

Take something like the GameCube controller. For some gamers, this is the most perfect pad ever devised. It’s the be all and end all, and there was rejoicing in the streets when Nintendo revealed that GameCube controller adapter for the Wii U Super Smash Bros. That dang adaptor was as rare as unicorn droppings in some places.

For others, the thing is totally overrated. Maybe it’s too small, too clicky, or whatever the complaint happens to be. So what’s the popular opinion regarding the Dual Shock 4? Many fans see it as the pinnacle of PlayStation controller evolution, but there are still some oddities about it. Myself, I never quite saw the need for that central ‘pad.’ It’s a neat little thing, but it seems to be there more for the sake of it than because it’s practical.

Still, I’m no tech designer, so what do I know?

24 When Your 'Guest Controller' Is Primed And Ready To Go

Back in the day, my friends and I reserved Saturday afternoons for gaming over at my mom and dad’s.

After a long, not-so-hard-in-hindsight week at school, there was nothing quite like unwinding with some four-player Timesplitters 2 matches.

We’d each choose one of those dang monkeys (the smaller hitbox was where it was at), before engaging in the kind of viciously hilarious local co-op that you just don’t see enough of anymore.

Man, was that a great game. The trouble with this plan was that it was a Bring Your Own Controller sort of party, and there was always at least one person who forgot theirs. I had a couple of spares, but the analog stick would dart around wildly on one of them, and the other… well, the other was a third-party hunk of crapola that I got free with something. I forget.

This controller was called The Chunky, and it’s still spoken of in hushed, fearful tones today. Like a lot of third-party pads, it didn’t come close to the comfort and playability of the official ones, and straws were always drawn to determine who had to use it.

As such, yes. I can completely and 100% empathize with this meme.

23 When PS1 Hagrid Has The Saddest Face You Ever Saw

So, we’ve successfully established that the PS1 was my first home console ever. I’m grateful to the slate grey slab for all of the fond gaming memories, and also to PSN for offering up a selection of original PlayStation titles for download. Having them on Vita in particular just tickles my nostalgia glands in all the right ways.

The first time I ever played Final Fantasy IX portable? That was almost too exciting, friends.

Even with all of that said, though, there’s a difference between playing some of these games for the first time and replaying them today. The mechanics are a little outdated, they’re just not up to snuff with today’s blockbusters. Most importantly, they look hilarious.

Mid-to-late 90s 3D just makes me want to punch my own eyeballs in the face. Sure, we can’t judge games that are over two decades old on their visuals, but still. This is a fascinating case study in just how far the industry, and technology itself, has come.

Lately, the characters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone PS1 have been thrust into the spotlight again, thanks to snarky meme-makers.

Do you remember that scene in the movie where Hagrid’s dang face melts? I sure don’t, but I can only assume that’s what this screenshot is depicting. Maybe it’s a deleted scene, where that baby dragon of his breathes fire onto his beard and he can’t get the flames out in time.

22 When The Analog Button Is Still A Mystery To This Day

I’ve got to say, it took me far too long to realize what this was all about too. But then, I came to the system quite early, so what chance did I have?

One of my favorite PS1 titles is Ape Escape. It was released in 1999, mid-way through the console’s overall lifespan, and it totally changed the game through one feature alone: it was the first game to be playable only with the dual analog sticks of the redesigned controller.

Early adopters will remember that the original controller didn’t feature these now-iconic sticks, and felt oddly light and awkward as a result. Ape Escape was the poster boy for the new controller, and was completely designed around dual analog.

The crux of the thing was some madness involving time-traveling monkeys, and a boy heading out through time to retrieve them and bring them home.

To help in this endeavor, a wise old professor lent him various gadgets he’d invented. These used the sticks in brilliant ways, such as an RC car which you controlled simultaneously with the hero Spike (one stick for him, the other with the car).

Sure, the game sold me on the new control system, but I didn’t understand that button for a long time either.

21 When A PS1 Is BASICALLY The Same As A PS4

You see this? This was part of the Wii U’s whole problem, right here. For the casual observer, it was too difficult to distinguish one system from another.

This was the constant refrain, in game stores across the world: “What do you mean, Wii U? Isn’t that just a Wii? What does the U stand for? You’re not having one, Timothy, I don’t trust it.”

However hard children tried to convince their parents that the Wii U wasn’t a SkyNet conspiracy to plant more identical machines in our homes, it ust didn’t catch on. That’s definitely exactly what went wrong here.

There was similar confusion with Xbox’s numbering system. In what Bizarro World land of non-logic is it possible to jump from Xbox 360 to Xbox One? How is that possibly a thing? I’m not having it. I’m not having any of it.

Thankfully, Sony are here to restore some kind of sense to proceedings. What came after the original PlayStation? The PlayStation 2. What came after that? PlayStation 3. Now, that, I can get on board with. As can any video game-challenged parents out there. It’s simple, it’s sensible, it’s clearly an upgrade.

Sadly, some people still didn’t get that memo, and were forced to improvise to try and get that next-generation experience.

20 When You're (Not) About To Play Some PS4

Right, here it is. I’m going to get into the whole girl gamer thing, because I’ve just cleaned this floor and I don’t want worms pouring out of the can all over it. In my eyes, there’s really no need to define yourself as such. Or define yourself at all, really.

Gamer is a difficult enough term itself. What does it mean? Really? Do we have to get into the casual and hardcore debate as well?

Is a pensioner playing Su Doku on their DS XL gaming, or are they not? These are the big questions that humanity is still grappling with. And probably always will be.

Much of the time, it’s really not a big deal. For me, the problems start to arise when we start using these terms for evil. Girl gamer has all kinds of connotations, mostly involving the attention they receive. If there’s one thing people on the internet seem to like, it’s attention. As such, it wasn’t long before people learned to connect the two.

And so this happened. Maybe it was simply a typo. A mistake. Maybe she totally knew what she was doing. It’s tough to say, though, because of the way that this one comes off.

19 When You Just Can't Keep Up With All Of These Dang New Consoles

Man, is technology moving quickly these days. I may sound like a cynical old dinosaur, but really. There’s no need for it. You buy a new TV, and by the time you’ve got it home, the model’s been superceded twice. We live in an age where people are modding their toasters and refrigerators to play Doom, and I for one will not stand for any of that sort of nonsense.

What’s all the dang hurry? Over here in the video game industry, we fare a little better. We understand that consoles need to be allowed to run their course, complete their lifecycle, before the next system drops. Well, kind of; it depends how you define system. Look how many different takes on the DS and 3DS Nintendo have squeezed out from between their cheeks.

Generally, if you’re not interested in all of these slim, XL, Pro models of consoles, you can expect a good few years from your investment. It is quite an investment for some of us mere mortals, though, which is important to keep in mind. A lot of hype surrounds the launch of a new console, after all, and it’s easy to get sucked into DEFINITELY NEEDING IT RIGHT AWAY.

Next time you start getting that feeling, consider this thrifty solution.

18 When You Get Totally Roasted By The Bard's Tale's Disk

Well, dang. As Austin Powers said back in the 90s when he was last relevant, ouch, baby.

Come on now, The Bard’s Tale. I mean, I understand, I really do. You’re a snarky spoof of the po-faced fantasy RPGs that have always been so popular. You’re all about parody, not taking yourself too seriously, all of that good stuff. Nevertheless, there’s a line. A line that you just do not cross. There you are, doing the Monster Mash straight over that line without a care in the world. You savages, you.

The bottom line is this is a brilliant example of PS2-era cheeky fourth wall breaking, and that’s something we all need a little more of in our lives.

This one’s just a classic burn. It’s got that timeless schoolyard charm about it, because you don’t need to be witty to be cruel. Do you remember those days when I know you are, but what am I or why don’t you look in the mirror were perfect, catch-all answers to absolutely any insult? It was a simpler time. Now, we’ve actually got to be fast, to be clever, and sometimes that’s just too much pressure. Never mind all of that, though.

17 When Your Fancy New Controller’s Camo Is So Effective, You Can’t Find It

So, which console controller do you favor? The retro, angular style of the NES, SNES or Sega Genesis? The compact GameCube design? The new Dual Shock? The older Dual Shock, for that matter? Maybe the great beastly original Xbox controller, which was about the size of the average studio apartment?

In the end, it’s all down to personal preference, and putting in a little time to acclimatize yourself to something new. The first time I tried a Dreamcast controller, a wonderfully quirky device with that odd little Tamagotchi-like device in the center, I didn’t know what the heck was happening. I grew to love it eventually, though.

There are more factors than just button layout and ergonomics here, however. Sometimes, you want a bit of extra pizzazz with your controllers. Luckily, first-party and third-party designers are always on hand to release fancy takes on official controllers. Xbox One and PS4, in particular, have created some neat-looking limited edition controllers, with everything from Minecraft designs to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-branded ones.

So, the question is: what do you get the PS4 gamer who has everything? This rather spiffy-looking camo one, that’s what. The trouble is, its camo is a little too effective, but I assure you that there is one in there somewhere.

16 When PS2 Games Came With That Sweet, Sweet Pizza Roll Holder

Now, see, this is more like it. This is the sort of consideration from publishers that we just don’t get any more. Gamers like to snack, as we all know, so how best to facilitate that? Give them a super-convenient little pizza roll holder right inside the game case there.

Snark aside, yes, that is a slot for some ancient artifacts known as memory cards. If you’re as decrepit a gamer as I am, you probably remember them. There were no catch-all SD cards in those days. It was a PS Vita type situation, in that you had to go the official route (for reliability’s sake if nothing else), usually ending up paying over the odds in the process.

Now that we’ve solved the question of the mysterious little flap inside the box, I guess we all have to admit to ourselves that it really doesn’t matter too much anymore. Regular retail games are often eschewed these days in favor of digital. When was the last time we saw a good old-fashioned instruction manual? Far too long ago, that’s when. The Nintendo Switch edition of The Binding Of Isaac included a retro-style manual and a sheet of stickers, as a throwback to this beautiful bygone age.

15 When It's Just You And Your PS3, Sitting In A Tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G

As I’m sure we all know, maintaining a relationship is not a dang easy task. It takes trust, respect, compromise, and two people who genuinely want to make this last and actively work to ensure that it does. I don’t mean to go all Dr. Phil on you, but that’s the truth of it. That’s just the way things are.

Sure, we all make mistakes along the way. Maybe we didn’t notice her new hair, or we tried to get him to do… anything at all while the game was on. Nobody’s perfect, but as long as we’re willing to learn from our mistakes and bounce back stronger, that’s what really counts.

You’ve still got to take care, though. The fact is, some mistakes are understandable, forgivable, and some are not. Did you accidentally toss a red sock in with the white wash, resulting in a watery pink wash? I mean, sure, that’s bad, but it was an oversight. In the grand scheme of things, let’s forgive and forget.

If you’re overlooking your partner and just feeding your gaming habit, on the other hand, that is a bit more of an issue. While I’m channeling the spirit of Dr. Phil, I have to ask: how’s that workin’ out for you?

14 When Super Smash Bros. PlayStation Edition Is A Go

Business always thrives on competition. Whether we’re talking about the gaming industry, snack retailers or anything in between, it’s always the same way. Somebody has a neat, creative idea, and before you can blink, everyone else is bringing out their own take on it.

Take something like Super Mario Kart. When it hit the SNES in 1992, everybody else quickly saw the potential of this new sub-genre. Everyone from Crash Bandicoot to the Crazy freaking Frog had their own kart racer. Crash Team Racing was a pretty dang magnificent one, too, in my humble opinion.

In a lot of these cases, you can see exactly how the old ‘accept no imitations’ rule came about. These pretenders have such a difficult job to begin with, simply because everyone already knows they’re rip-offs, so they’re not inclined to be impressed.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale was Sony’s attempt at bringing the world a rival to Super Smash Bros.

While the game was definitely solid enough, it failed to set the gaming world alight. One key reason for this is that Sony just doesn’t have the huge, varied character roster. Nintendo are renowned for the strength of their first-party franchises, which is exactly what makes Super Smash Bros. tick.

That’s a tough line-up to compete with, and it definitely shows when other companies try.

13 When Ronnie Has ‘Permishon’ To Bring His PSP To Class ‘All The Time He Wants To’

Come on now, Ronnie. What are you trying to pull here? You can’t just sign the note ‘Ronnie’s Mom.’ I know unscrupulous students have forged a thousand different notes to get out of homework/gym class and so forth, but this could well be one of the worst.

The fact is, Ronnie’s Mom, it really doesn’t matter what you have to say about this. There are certain rules you can overturn with a simple ‘because my mom said so,’ but this isn’t one of them. I don’t know about you, but in my old school, toys and games were reserved for the last days of term. In those days, of course, we were talking ancient things like board games and dominos rather than PSPs, but it’s the same concept really.

Stay strong, Mrs. Clifton. Don’t be strong-armed into making math class PSP class instead, just because Ronnie’s Mom said you should. You’ve got a teacherly code to uphold, after all.

Still, there’s some tenacity here, and that’s something I can appreciate. A student who isn’t afraid to stand up for what he believes in, and who strives hard to make it happen. The right to play your PSP in class isn’t the most noble cause around, but it’s a cause.

12 When Nintendo See You're About To Drop The PlayStation Switch

Ah, Nintendo. They’re often celebrated as the great innovators of the industry, and in a lot of ways, that’s a reasonable thing to say. Touchscreen shenanigans and two screens with the DS, motion controls with the Wii, the hybrid handheld that is the Switch… then there are their unique takes on genres. Who else but Nintendo could have created the unique shooter Splatoon, or the equally unconventional fighting game ARMS?

They just have an approach that’s completely unlike anybody else’s. This isn’t always a good thing, though. When they get it wrong, they get it really, really wrong, as all the unsold Virtual Boys still languishing in a landfill site somewhere will testify. Their approaches to things like online play are seen as way off base too, simply because they’re so unwilling to go along with their competitors.

As we’ve seen, though, sometimes they hit on something great, and the competition follows suit. The Wii had its naysayers when it was first revealed, but look what happened with that. Everybody wanted to hop on the motion control bandwagon after it. Just how far might the Switch go, and how far will others go to follow in its footsteps? Hopefully, this far, because that’s hilarious.

11 When Those Scratched Disks Come Back To Haunt You

As I say, then, I’m an enthusiastic retro gamer. I’m also one that isn’t too persnickety about what the term actually means. Is the PS2 era ‘retro’ yet, or is it only PS1? Do we have to go further still? As far as I’m concerned, it really doesn’t matter. We’re just talking about the classic games of our childhoods, and that’s good enough for me.

If I’m a retro gamer, I’m also a hoarder. Sure, the two tend to go hand in hand, but I really have never thrown any of my old gaming paraphernalia away.

Not even when it richly deserves it (is there any reasonable excuse for owning a copy of ET The Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari?).

The trouble with that is, I was quite careless with my disks and carts as a child. This isn’t as much of an issue with N64 carts, say, as those things are sturdy enough to withstand a direct hit from a ballistic missile. Disks, though? You’ve got to take care with those things. There are cleaning services and tools you can use yourself at home, but I’ve had varying degrees of success with those. A lot of the time, I resort to the old boot-it-up-and-hope technique.

10 When Great Grandfather PS1 Meets His PS4 Great Grandchild

Here’s an adorable little anecdote for you. On my mom and dad’s refrigerator, they keep a fridge magnet from everywhere they’ve been. My sister and I contribute to their collection too, whenever we travel with our partners, and they’ve got quite an impressive little array there. It’s like those old-fashioned suitcases, that people used to cover in stickers denoting where they’d been.

Why am I telling you this? Because it goes some way to explaining why I’m such a collector. I can never quite find it in me to throw anything away. Not because I actually want it or will ever use it, but because I might in the future. There’s something sentimental about it, I guess.

It’s the exact same thing here. I have a Ye Olde PlayStation right next to my PS2, which is right next to my PS3, which is… you dang well guessed it, right next to my PS4. Dear old PS1 isn’t looking his best these days, with those faded yellow stains all over his disk tray (the residue of old stickers), but he’s not letting it bring him down.

Am I getting teary-eyed over a snarky meme featuring a couple of games consoles? Of course, I’m not. You are.

9 When There's No Savagery Like PS1 Draco Malfoy Savagery

I know, we’re back on familiar territory here. The thing about PS1 era Harry Potter games, though, is that you can never get enough of them. They’re just a goldmine of snarky opportunities.

Franchise fans will know that our old buddy Draco isn’t really a villain. Not really. He’s the dark, brooding anti-hero — albeit one who once briefly transformed into a ferret and dove down his friend’s pants. Yep, that was a thing. His trouble was that he was so conflicted, so unwilling to really commit to either side.

His other trouble was that, in the movie, Voldemort gave him the most awkward hug anyone has ever had with anybody. Ever. That was just painful to witness. You can forgive the guy, for being just a little bit touchy then.

What can you not forgive? This, that’s what. I know Malfoy’s got that whole malevolent school bully vibe, but this? Whoa, guy. There’s a line. We’ve still got morals, some kind of sense of human decency. Burns this ferocious never heal, they just leave you an awful scarred husk forever. That was totally uncalled for. Man, Malfoy never held anything back in the PS1 days.

The best part is that someone newly wrote this for the game, and was probably super proud of themselves for doing so.

8 When You Reveal The PS4, But You Forget To... Reveal The PS4

As any console gamer will tell you, there are few reveals more dramatic than the new system reveal. By the time this moment arrives, there’s sure to have been a fair period of online rumor-spouting and speculation. Possible specs, price, launch dates, accompanying games and all of those things will have been discussed to the nth degree.

After a suitable amount of hype-building time has passed, the event finally dawns on us. There’s so much pressure on Sony/Nintendo/Microsoft to deliver. The tension in the air is so palpable, you could spread it on a cracker. After all, a lot of the community have already decided that they’re going to hate what they see, and their fingers are already poised over their keyboards, prime to snark away. This had better be really good.

It’s quite understandable, then, that the pressure can get to company execs. They’re people too, after all. As a lifelong follower of England’s soccer team, I’m very well versed in how pressure can transform you into a quivering jelly of human failure. Remember the PS4 reveal, when Sony forgot to actually show the dang PS4? I guess that was intended to build the interest and mystique (the same way horror films like to hold back on fully revealing their monster until the opportune moment), but fans were not impressed.

7 When PS4 Officially Has 'No Gaemz'

Now, this is hardly an uncommon complaint these days.

This generation of consoles, in particular, didn’t exactly wow us with stellar launch lineups, did they?

As I say, financially, the new consoles were quite a commitment when they first arrived on shelves. There’ll always be early adopters who enthusiastically hop straight on board, like a lion on a gazelle in a David Attenborough show, but some of us just aren’t quite down with that. Whether it’s the cost, the fact that a lot of tech seems to have ‘issues’ at first, we weren’t all Futurama Frys throwing our cash at the screen.

PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch all struggled in the exclusives department at first. They each developed their big draws as the months went by, like Super Mario Odyssey, Gears of War 4 and Bloodborne, but each were considered a tough sell by some. A couple of years on, PS4’s reputation as a ‘Bloodborne machine’ lives on, and that’s really not what you want from a new console offering unparalleled gaming experiences.

As talk of a potential PS5 starts to be bandied about, these are the sorts of things that Sony are going to have to keep in mind going forward.

6 When The PlayStation Life Is The Only Life For You

Now, I was around ten years old when I saw the light, gaming-wise. This was about the age when I decided that video games would be a big dang part of my life. I’m in the last couple of months of my twenties now (and considering dyeing my hair jet black and buying a Harley at the very thought of turning thirty), and that resolution hasn’t wavered an inch.

There are many gamers more experienced and dedicated than myself, of course, but I like to think that I’m quite committed to the cause. I‘m not one to pick sides, owning and enjoying every current gen console on the market as I say. At the great gaming buffet table, I like to fill my plate with a little of everything, and I’m not really sure that I have a preferred genre to speak of.

I’m one of those irritating people who can’t give you a straight answer when you ask what kind of games/movies/etcetera they like. I’m fine with that, too, because it makes the experience so much richer.

Others like to pick a genre/system and specialize in it, which is totally fine too. This guy, I’d have to say, is the kind of savvy PlayStation enthusiast many of us can aspire to be.