The purpose of the BIOS for the PlayStation was to provide an interface for the end user to manage their memory cards and the option to play an audio CD and was automatically displayed when the console was turned on without a disc inserted. Not all games provided a way to manage the memory card so the BIOS was often used for this purpose. Like the hardware, the BIOS went through various revisions and designs which we will look at.
SCPH1000 (Original Japanese launch)
The very first BIOS version, this one has a different cursor appearance and the CD player cannot be accessed unless an audio CD is in the drive.
SCPH1001 (Original US Launch)
Initial BIOS version for the NTSC lands
SCPH1001 (Revised US Model)
A revised version of the US model, the option colour has slightly changed
SCPH1002 (Europe Launch model)
In PAL-land we got this menu instead, using icons and symbols instead of text due to the different languages used in Europe and to reduce the ROM space. This is the BIOS I remember growing up with. Also the Europe Cd player can have different sound effect applied to it, which I couldn’t find in the NTSC BIOS?
SCPH3000 (Japan)
Japans SCPH3000 is equal to our 1001/1002, with their 1000 being a different revision with a buggy GPU. Model numbers would be synchronized with the 500x series.
SCPH5000 (Japan)
SCPH5001 (US)
Sony would continue to revise each hardware
SCPH5002 (Europe)
No visible difference from the 1002?
SCPH7001 (US)
This model introduced SoundScope, this BIOS would remain the same for the SCPH9001 models
SCPH7002 (Europe)
Seems like Sony wanted to unify the BIOS designs worldwide and change Europe to look like the US/Japanese versions
SCPH101 (US PSone redesign)
Or maybe not, since the NTSC versions used the PAL design albeit with different icons, you can briefly see the Soundscope effect in the BIOS before it fades to a black background
SCPH102 (Europe PSone redesign)
Same as the US version
Soundscope
This was a feature from the SCPH7000 models and up, and introduced a visualizer that appeared in time with the music by pressing SELECT on the controller.
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