Sony’s original PlayStation launched in Japan on December 3, 1994 – exactly 25 years ago today. The Japanese electronics giant’s debut console was a smash hit that propelled Sony to major player status in the video game industry but it almost didn’t happen at all.

Nintendo in the late 1980s reached out to Sony to build a CD-ROM accessory for its upcoming Super Nintendo Entertainment System as well as a standalone device called the Play Station that could play both SNES cartridges and optical discs. A licensing dispute between the two companies eventually unraveled the partnership.

Rather than scrap the project, Sony continued to develop the system. The rest, as they say, is history.