Sony has a pattern with these limited edition consoles now. Announce a big first party or Marvel game, dress up a PS5 to match, sell it alongside a matching controller. Ghost of Yotei got the black and gold treatment last time around, and it was fine, if a little safe. Wolverine is where that formula gets an upgrade.

This time Sony gave us two console designs instead of one. Battle Yellow is unapologetic, claw gouges and a screaming Wolverine face on a bright yellow panel. Adamantium is the plot twist, the same claw motif but stripped down to brushed metal that looks closer to a premium appliance than a video game tie in. Two designs, two totally different personalities, and somehow neither one feels like the compromise pick.

Designer: Jock for Sony & Marvel

Battle Yellow is the flagship of the two, sold as a full PS5 Digital Edition bundle for $649.99 with a matching DualSense controller and a code for the game. The artwork comes from Jock, the Scottish comic artist who worked on Wolverine’s key art, and you can actually tell. The claw slashes and the inked portrait have that loose, hand drawn energy comics get right and games usually flatten out. It is a rare case of licensed hardware art that does not look like clip art stapled onto a console.

Adamantium skips the yellow entirely and goes for brushed silver, but only as a console cover for PS5 Pro owners plus a standalone controller, no full bundle here. That is honestly the smarter buy for anyone who wants the Wolverine tie in without turning their entertainment center into a comic shop display. Same claw details, completely different mood. It reads expensive in a way the yellow version was never trying to.Adamantium skips the yellow entirely and goes for brushed silver, but only as a console cover for PS5 Pro owners plus a standalone controller, no full bundle here. That is honestly the smarter buy for anyone who wants the Wolverine tie in without turning their entertainment center into a comic shop display. Same claw details, completely different mood. It reads expensive in a way the yellow version was never trying to.

Here is where it gets less fun. This entire lineup drops during Sony’s second PS5 price hike in under a year, with the standard console now sitting a hundred dollars above where it started. So a $649.99 bundle for a digital only console, no disc drive option at all, lands at a moment when PS5 pricing is already a sore subject for a lot of players. The comments under every Wolverine reveal video prove that. People are annoyed about the missing disc drive way more than they are annoyed about yellow paint.

I get why Sony leans into these drops even now, maybe especially now. A great design distracts from a rough price conversation better than any spec sheet does, and Jock’s artwork is genuinely good enough to pull that off. But good design and good timing are not the same thing, and this lineup is proof you can nail one without fully nailing the other.

The post Sony’s Wolverine PS5 Comes in Two Very Different Designs, and Only One Feels Worth the Price first appeared on Yanko Design.

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