About PSX PAL Database
I’ve been collecting PlayStation games for years and was lucky to get myself a launch console for Christmas. Over the years a specific obsession took hold: not just which games I owned, but which version of those games. The PAL region is a genuinely fascinating corner of PS1 collecting. The same title could appear in a dozen different forms across its lifespan — a UK first pressing with no hologram, a French Platinum reprint with the second Hologram design, a German budget release under a completely different label, a later pressing with a revised barcode as a case sticker over the original. Each is a distinct physical object with its own production history. There was never a central place to document all of this properly, and as games are modified, with swapped cases, discs, or even binned, verifying exactly how these games looked and what they came with when launched becomes harder every year. This site is my attempt to change that, while it’s still possible.
Mission
My goal is to preserve and document the complete physical history of PAL PlayStation releases — every pressing, every variant, every label programme — with accurate image documentation and verified physical details.
What I Document
Game Releases
PAL PS1 games went through multiple release cycles across the platform’s life. I document all of them:
- Launch releases — First pressings, from the platform’s European launch in September 1995 onwards
- Platinum releases — Sony’s best-seller reprint programme, identifiable by the Platinum colouring on the case artwork
- Budget releases — Third-party value label programmes that repackaged popular titles at a lower price point. These include series such as EA Classics, Best of Infogrames, Riccochet, Zoo Classics, Pocket Price, and Codemasters No. 1 Bestseller, among others. Ridge Racer, for example, received a Value Series reissue long after its original SCES pressing
- Reprints — Later re-pressings under the same label, sometimes with a revised barcode, updated hologram, or case sticker changes
- Special editions and doubles — Dual-game releases, enhanced editions, hardware bundled releases and publisher-specific multi-game collections
In total, the database currently documents 29 distinct release types across 4,000+ variants.
Physical Details
Each variant entry records:
- Case type (Full Jewel PAL, Mini Jewel, Multiway multi-disc cases, Cardboard, Rental)
- Hologram variation (No Hologram, Hologram A, Hologram B)
- Serial numbers (SCES / SLES codes)
- EAN barcodes
- Release dates
- Publishers and developers
- Languages included
- Loose paperwork, case stickers, and bundled demo discs
- Artwork inside the front cover
- Additional details that make a variant unique
Visual Documentation
- Front and back cover images
- Disc images
- Manual cover images
- Barcode images
- Paperwork and inserts
Regional Coverage
The PAL region is broader than most people realise. This database covers releases from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, Greece, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Australia, and more — 22 countries in total. Many games received separate pressings for individual markets, with different language text, different barcodes, and sometimes entirely different case configurations. Tracking which variant belongs to which country, and how those differ, is one of the more satisfying parts of the research.
Database Statistics
The database currently documents:
- 1,478 games
- 4,187 variants across 22 countries
- 29 distinct release types
- Over 200 publishers — including Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (599 variants), Electronic Arts (415), Infogrames (228), Psygnosis (204), and Eidos Interactive (183)
This is constantly growing as new documentation and images are added.
Content Sources
This database thanks and stands on the shoulders of other amazing sites and work over the last 30 years.
- PSX Data Center ~ https://psxdatacenter.com/sitenews.html
- GameDB-PSX ~ https://github.com/niemasd/GameDB-PSX?tab=readme-ov-file
- GameFAQs ~ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps/
- Lost Releases ~ https://crimson-ceremony.net/lostreleases/
- SCPH by Maru Chang ~ https://maru-chang.com/hard/scph/index.php/all/english/
- PriceCharting ~ https://www.pricecharting.com/console/pal-playstation
- eBay.co.uk ~ https://www.ebay.co.uk/
- EAN-Search ~ https://www.ean-search.org/
- The Internet Archive ~ https://archive.org/
- Sony Index ~ www.sonyindex.com (long dead now)
How to Contribute
This database only gets better with help from other collectors, and there are a few ways to contribute.
If you’re browsing a variant page and spot something missing or incorrect — wrong release date, missing country, incomplete paperwork list, no images — every variant page has a Submit data for this release button that opens a form directly. You can attach images and add notes, and it goes straight to me.
If you have a release that isn’t in the database at all, you can use the submission page to send details through.
Or if you’d rather just drop me a line directly, get in touch by email. Especially useful if you have something unusual or want to discuss a variant in more detail before submitting.
Technology
This site is built with:
- Hugo — Static site generator
- SQLite — Database
- Python — Data processing and asset management
All data is maintained in a structured database and exported to this static website for fast, reliable access.
Copyright
All game covers, disc art, and related materials are property of their respective publishers and copyright holders. This database exists for preservation and documentation purposes.