Oh, memory cards. As boring as these precious little lumps of plastic might seem on the surface, the real ones out there know that they were so much more than that. These things housed childhoods - specifically, all those countless hours that went into our games, be it Spyro, Crash, or of course, Final Fantasy VII (try beating it without one).
It’s so strange to think that some of the PS1 memory cards stored just a single megabyte of data on them. If that doesn’t illustrate just how much video games have evolved over time, I don’t know what to tell you - 1MB these days might give you a single hair on Aloy’s head, if you’re lucky. But anyway, actual function aside, memory cards were never the most exciting thing to look at - everyone knows that you could get them in a few different colours, but that’s about it. Or, so we thought, anyway.
While you're here, check out this oh-so-satisfying restoration of an original PlayStation below.
As it happens, there were actually some very interesting options out there on the market, as YouTuber Caddicarus explored in his latest video. For one, if a chunky, Driver themed memory card was all you’ve ever dreamed of, then you’re in luck, because that’s a thing that exists. But far more bizarrely is the official, special collector’s edition Tomb Raider memory card, which is literally just the top half of Lara Croft’s body, stuck to the functional bit that’s inserted into the console.
Why does this exist? Who approved the product? Who out there actually bought and used one of these like there was nothing remotely weird about it? I have so many questions, dear reader, and all of them are only made more pressing by the incredibly pronounced breasts included on the figure, which the people in charge clearly thought were important to include in their full, unadulterated glory.
Now, if you’re looking at this and thinking “boy, I wish I could store my PS1 save data inside Lara Croft’s torso”, I have great news for you. They’re actually quite easy to find online - check out this listing here, which shows a full army of them up for grabs. Alternatively, you can find a complete-in-box one here. I won’t judge you (much).
Topics: Tomb Raider, PlayStation