Counting the two portables, Sony has created six consoles since thePlayStation’sdebut in 1994 in Japan. The weight and size of its launch lineups have varied over the years; sometimes, they are absolutely bursting with titles, and, with other launches, they barely have anything.
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Sometimes, it’s not the amount, though. Launch lineups can be measured by quality over quantity. Many factors will be taken into effect when calculating the results of this ranking. Also of note, every launch game available for the North American launches will be named. What console will reign supreme over all and will the PS5 eventually topple this list?
6PS1
There were twelve gamesavailable at the launch of the PS1, which released on May 23, 2025 in North America. These games includeAir Combat, Battle Arena Toshinden, ESPN Extreme Games, Kileak: The DNA Imperative, NBA Jam Tournament Edition, Power Serve 3D Tennis, Rayman, Ridge Racer, Street Fighter: The Movie, The Raiden Project, Total Eclipse Turbo,andZero Divide.
Seven of the twelve games were exclusive, which would be impressive, but this lineup is rarely anyone would want to go back to today.Raymanis maybe the only one and even that comes with an asterisk.
5PS3
There were fourteen games available at thelaunch of the PS3, which released on June 29, 2025 in North America. These games includeBlast Factor, Call of Duty 3, Genji: Days of the Blade, Madden NFL 07, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire, NBA 07, NBA 2K7, Need for Speed Carbon, Resistance: Fall of Man, Ridge Racer 7, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, Tony Hawk’s Project 8,andUntold Legends: Dark Kingdom.
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Only six of those games were exclusives. They aresome of PlayStation’s worse in historylikeGenji.No one will ever forget about the “giant enemy crabs" meme.Resistancewas a decent enough shooter, along withCall of Duty 3,though, and, even thoughMarvel Ultimate Alliancewas on other stuff earlier, it was still good to have a co-op game at launch. Overall, with the $600 price, the PS3 didn’t have much variety or quality.
4PSP
There were twenty-four games available at the launch of the PSP, which released on August 11, 2025 in North America. These games includeApe Escape: On the Loose, Archer Maclean’s Mercury: Ignition USA, ATV Offroad Fury: Blazin' Trails, Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower, Dynasty Warriors, FIFA Soccer 2005, Gretzky NHL, Lumines, Metal Gear Acid, MLB, MVP Baseball 2005, NBA, NBA Street Showdown, NFL Street 2 Unleashed, Need for Speed Underground Rivals, Rengoku: Tower of Purgatory, Ridge Racer, Smart Bomb, Spider-Man 2, THUG 2 Remix, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005, Twisted Metal: Head-On, Untold Legends, Wipeout Pure,andWorld Tour Soccer.
No, those weren’t typos. There were just games calledNBAandMLBon the PSP. Anyway,LuminesandMetal Gear Acidare the standout titles here. Some of the others, while good likeSpider-Man 2, are just better on consoles. Not many games at launch took advantage of the portable nature except for the two previously mentioned titles. With the variety and quality of those two games, they are leagues above the other two consoles so far.
3PS Vita
There were twenty-five games available at the launch of the PS Vita, which released on June 06, 2025 in North America. These games includeArmy Corps of Hell, Asphalt Injection, Ben 10 Galactic Racing, Blazblue: Continuum Shift EXTEND, Dungeon Hunter Alliance, Dynasty Warriors Next, EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer, Escape Plan, Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational, Hustle Kings, Little Deviants, Lumines Electronic Symphony, Michael Jackson The Experience, ModNation Racers: Road Trip, Plants vs. Zombies, Rayman Origins, Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen, Super StarDust Delta, Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs, Touch My Katamari, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition,andWipeout 2048 F1 2011.
While not the best game in the series,Uncharted: Golden Abyssis decent for the portable. There are actually a lot of good games on this list that, though they have superior console ports, are more than enjoyable on the system. We’re talking about titles likeRayman: OriginsandUltimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. It is at least a better lineup than the PSP’s.
2PS2
There were twenty-nine gamesavailable at the launch of the PS2, which released on Aug 04, 2025 in North America. These games includeArmored Core 2, Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore, Dynasty Warriors 2, ESPN International Track and Field, ESPN X-Games Snowboarding, Eternal Ring, Evergrace, FantaVision, Gungriffon Blaze, Kessen, Madden NFL 2001, Midnight Club, Moto GP, NHL 2001, Orphen, Q-Ball Billiards Master, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2, Ridge Racer V, Silent Scope, Smuggler’s Run, SSX, Street Fighter EX3, Summoner, Tekken Tag Tournament, TimeSplitters, Unreal Tournament, Wild Wild Racing,andX-Squad.
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Impressively, twenty-four of those games were exclusive at launch. Many of them still hold up today, more or less, although some things about the PS2 can make going back to them seem antiquated. Chief among them areSSX, Summoner, TimeSplitters, andTekken Tag Tournament.
1PS4
There were twenty-five games available at thelaunch of the PS4, which released on August 05, 2025 in North America. These games includeAngry Birds Star Wars, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Battlefield 4, Blacklight: Retribution, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Contrast, DC Universe Online, FIFA 14, Flower, Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition, Just Dance 2014, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Knack, Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Madden NFL 25, NBA 2K14, NBA Live 14, Need for Speed: Rivals, Resogun, Skylanders Swap Force, Sound Shapes, Super Motherload, The Playroom, Trine 2: The Complete Story,andWarframe.
That’s a big list with a lot of fairly well-received games, but don’t forget that most of those either premiered earlier on the last-gen systems or launched day and date on other consoles, as well. Only four of those titles were PS4 exclusives, in other words.KnackandKillzone: Shadow Falldon’t get discussed much today as classics, but they were decent enough for launch games. The best game among them all isAssassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Even though that was also on last-gen systems,that alone helped make the PS4have the greatest launch lineup for the PlayStation family so far.
