Famitsu, Japan's longest-running weekly gaming magazine, dropped a very special issue on June 18 that every PlayStation fan should have on their radar. The publication is marking its 40th anniversary this year, and to celebrate, it handed the entire issue over to PlayStation.
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Why PaRappa is headlining this thing
The cover star is PaRappa the Rapper, and that choice says a lot about how Japan still views the franchise. While the rest of the world has largely moved on, PaRappa remains a genuine cultural fixture in Japan, with regular pop-up stores and clothing collabs keeping the character visible well beyond its PS1 origins. The cover ties directly into PaRappa's 30th anniversary, and the issue includes a creator roundtable discussion celebrating three decades of the rhythm dog.
Here's the thing: PaRappa debuted in 1996 and essentially helped define what PlayStation-exclusive personality looked like in the late 90s. Putting him on the cover of a 40th anniversary PlayStation tribute issue is a deliberate statement about legacy.
What's actually inside the issue
Beyond the cover, the issue packs in a few genuinely interesting pieces. SIE CEO Hideaki Nishino sat down for a special interview, which makes this a rare chance to read a direct conversation with PlayStation's top executive in a print format. There's also a full double-spread of Astro Bot celebratory artwork, which fits given how much goodwill that game built across the PlayStation community.
This is a double-issue, so the page count runs higher than a standard weekly Famitsu. More content per copy than usual, which matters if you're importing.
The bigger picture for PlayStation history
Famitsu has covered Sony's platforms since the original PlayStation launched in Japan in 1994. Thirty-two years of weekly coverage means the magazine's archives are essentially a living document of PlayStation's entire commercial history, from the PS1 era through to PS5. Dedicating a full anniversary issue to the brand is a nod to how deeply intertwined the two have been in Japan's gaming culture.
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Collecting it outside Japan
Famitsu is a Japanese-language publication, so most of the editorial content will be inaccessible to readers without Japanese literacy. The appeal for international PlayStation fans is more about the collectible factor: the PaRappa cover art, the Astro Bot spread, and the historical significance of the issue itself. Physical gaming media at this scale barely exists in most Western markets anymore, which makes an issue like this feel genuinely rare.
What most players miss is that Famitsu's weekly format means it covers an extraordinary amount of ground per issue, far more than most monthly Western gaming magazines ever managed. The 40th anniversary PlayStation edition pushes that even further with the double-issue format.
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