With PlayStation's 30th anniversary celebrations in full swing, Sony has been encouraging fans to think back to their formative experiences with the iconic PS1 console, and, as you might expect, Tomb Raider has cropped up in that conversation.
Lara Croft's debut found most of its audience on the 32-bit console and eventually hosted four instalments in the series – however, it's often forgotten that Tomb Raider technically began life on Sega's Saturn, not PlayStation.
UK-based Core Design was a staunch Sega supporter during the Sega CD years and threw its weight behind Saturn from the start. However, as it became clear that Sony's machine was winning the war, Core Design – alongside its publisher and parent company Eidos – would embrace that platform with increased gusto.
The original Tomb Raider was developed for Saturn, PS1 and PC simultaneously, with Sega securing a short, six-week window of timed exclusivity in Europe. The Saturn version arrived on 25th October 1996, with the PlayStation launch taking place a month later. Both versions launched on the same day in North America.
It received a delayed launch in Japan, too. Sega Retro lists the Japanese Saturn release date as January 24th, 1997, with the PlayStation release date apparently being February 14th, just under a month later.
Speaking to Eurogamer, former Sony Interactive Entertainment president Shawn Layden touched upon the fact that Tomb Raider came to Sega first in Sony's homeland – in fact, he counts it as the one time he felt "jealous" of a rival firm:
The one time I really felt jealous... I'm going back to my time in Tokyo on PS1. My job was to bring Western titles to Japan. And in your local parlance, that's like bringing coals to Newcastle, right? I would bring things like Twisted Metal to Japan, and the Japanese market would go 'what the hell is that?'. But one game I saw early on, and I heard the buzz, and I went out to Core Design in Derby because... I wanted to get Tomb Raider for the Japanese market. I wanted it to be on PlayStation. And I saw the Smith brothers, and we talked about it, and they were really excited about the concept. We talked it through. They talked it through. Bada bing, bada boom... they signed to bring it out on Sega Saturn. Sega?! And then shortly thereafter, they did get it onto the PlayStation in Japan as well, but it launched on Sega. And yeah, that always felt... What could I have done to have actually gotten it? But I came that close.
Released as Tomb Raiders in Japan, it is reported that in that region, the Saturn version apparently sold best – but the console would miss out on sequels as Lara Croft became something of a PlayStation icon.