The impact of this soundtrack on the Playstation brand cannot be understated. The game came out in Christmas 1996, which was the year most people started shift

The impact of this soundtrack on the Playstation brand cannot be understated. The game came out in Christmas 1996, which was the year most people started shifting from the 16-bit era. There had been several games that looked really good (Ridge Racer, Wipeout), but this was the holiday where heavy hitters like Tekken 2 and Wipeout 2(097) would come out. Playstation had been developing an edgier, more grown-up image in their marketing, in opposition to Nintendo's perceived younger audience. Wipeout was the answer to F-Zero and Mario Kart. Very fast racing, item power-ups. Sony went above and beyond in making the console look cool, with PS1 booths demoing Wipeout 2097 at the Ministry of Sound (super trendy club in London). They somehow managed to land most of the hot electronic / techno artists of the day. The Prodigy's Firestarter was blasting all over the radios, but The Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Fluke, Underworld (of Born Slippy fame) and more were all there. This game showcased 3D in a way that the competition couldn't (the Saturn port looked much more basic, and Nintendo had nothing to show yet). But the soundtrack really sold the whole deal. "Sony is here to give you kick ass, high tech, trendy games". Really impressive to see a product deliver on every front. The game would go to be a system seller, but also inspire lots of teens who had grown up on Nintendo, to explore electronic music, modern design aesthetic (inspired by the work of The Designers Republic), and developers, who would go on and develop games such as BallisticNG. (PS: I'm obviously a fan, and it inspired me on my own game design and electronic music journey back then!)