20th Anniversary of the Sony Playstation 2

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I know this should have been in March, but this year marks the 20th Anniversary for the Sony Playstation 2, one of the most successful video game home consoles ever released. It was first launched in Japan on 4 March in the year 2000.

https://www.theguardian.com/games/20...ture-of-gaming

North America had to wait until 26 October

https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/26/t...jan-horse.html

Europe until 24 November

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1037939.stm

Australia until 30 November

https://stevivor.com/news/happy-belated-birthday-ps2/

The console was eventually discontinued in Japan on 28 December 2012, and international on 4 January 2013.

[Andrew NDB]

Distinct memories of my old friend threatening to kill himself after his orange cat died and his PS2 was stolen in the same night.

Epic console. Many great memories. GTA 3, FF X.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Almost every friend of mine and relatives with sons around my age had a ps2 back in the day with GTA San Andreas, it's crazy how popular this thing was despite arguably being inferior to both the Gamecube and the Xbox from a Quality standpoint.

[Wildcat]

Inferior? I have all 3 consoles from that era so I’m not against any of them but what quality standpoint? The disc read error thing? That was the only real problem it had for some. It happened to mine but by that time the Slim came out so it was ok.

The biggest thing I remember about the PS2 is the shortage it had at first. We used to call Wal-Mart for awhile to check if they had any. Finally one day they did and went and got one.

I know there’s speculation the PS5 could be backwards compatible with all previous PlayStation games out of box. Not emulation or downloads. I hope this is true. That would be amazing.

I always read that the hardware is unique for each one that’s why the PS3/4 didn’t do it but I always think...it’s totally possible if they wanted to though. You can’t tell me a PS3/4 is incapable of running PS2 games. Technically speaking. PS2 can play original PS games.

Edit: just checked and it looks like it’ll only do PS4 naturally. Disappointing but fair I guess.

[turtle1237]

20 years and my ps2 still works, to bad I cant say the same for the ps3.

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Originally Posted by Wildcat

Inferior? I have all 3 consoles from that era so I’m not against any of them but what quality standpoint? The disc read error thing? That was the only real problem it had for some. It happened to mine but by that time the Slim came out so it was ok.

The ps2 was Graphically inferior to the Gamecube and Xbox, had a less revolutionary library of exclusive games, the failure rates were higher and only 2 controllers were supported on 1 system as opposed to the other systems having 4 controller support.

That being said though, the ps2 had a lot going for it such as the backwards compatibility with ps1, the DVD player, affordability, and a one year head start, not necessarily things which I would say translate into the best gaming console when it comes to quality, but undoubtedly things which helped make it the undisputed champion of console sales.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

the DVD player.

It definayely sped up the introduction of DVD. Why buy just a video game?...

[Leo656]

Hah, the PS2 was definitely my first DVD player, and a ton of other people's, too.

Game-wise I initially only gave a crap about Metal Gear Solid 2, that's essentially why I bought the system. I did eventually put together a rather robust library for the system and I definitely got my money's worth out of it.

Sadly, mine stopped working a little over ten years ago, so I haven't been able to play most of those games in a long time, except for ones that were re-released on newer consoles. Real drag. I keep meaning to replace it, but I've been holding out for a reasonably-priced modded system that can play Japanese imports. There's a lot of wrestling stuff from Japan I want to play, like Wrestle Kingdom and King Of Colosseum and stuff like that. But modded PS2 consoles are usually kinda pricey and/or hard to come by, so I keep putting it off. Lately people just seem to be modding them and selling them with like a ton of digital games pre-loaded (at a higher price) but that's not what I want.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Sadly, mine stopped working a little over ten years ago, so I haven't been able to play most of those games in a long time, except for ones that were re-released on newer consoles.

My first generation PS3 is still kicking. Plays all PS1 and PS2 games.

[Leo656]

Yeah, I didn't get that one.

So far the only consoles I've ever owned that took a sh*t on me were my original NES, my PS2, and my original XBox. Oh, and my first 360.

[IMJ]

My 80GB PS3 took a YLOD on me years back now. But my original PS2 still play perfectly and I actually just, about a month ago, picked up the upscaling pound cable and honestly it works incredibly well.

I've been playing the PSOne Civilization IV game on it a my 1080p Bravia and it looks great.

[Leo656]

Dumb as it sounds, the first thing I'd play if I got a working PS2 would probably be Rocky Legends. I picked that up right before the thing died so I never actually got to play it. That's really been sticking in my craw.

[Autbot_Benz]

My first gaming console was the PS2 I remember playing lots of WWE games on it along with Jax and Daxter among other classics

[Leo656]

Way to make me feel ancient, ya D-bag. Can't believe I even know people that young.

I cut my teeth on a Coleco-Vision and Atari 2600 add-on module. You young'ins with your Gamestations and Playbox 720s make me sick!

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Dumb as it sounds, the first thing I'd play if I got a working PS2 would probably be Rocky Legends. I picked that up right before the thing died so I never actually got to play it. That's really been sticking in my craw.

Dude, if you ever get the notion... try "Creed: Rise to Power" on PSVR/PS4. AMAZING! Best boxing video game experience of my life.

It's just... it's also exhausting, lol. In a good way.

[Leo656]

I've heard some good things. I don't have the VR stuff but it definitely seems interesting.

I picked up Legends as a fan of the first game, enticed by the idea of storylines for characters who weren't Rocky himself. That sounded fun. I'm quite sure it's nothing special but it's one of those games I just am annoyed I didn't get to play. Like Dragon Warrior, up until last week.

Speaking of that game, I bought the DW cartridge used almost 20 years ago and who knows who owned it before me. But the battery save still had stuff on it! NES games with battery saves are supposedly only good for about 7 years, but I come across stuff fairly often that's pretty damn ancient and that never ceases to amaze me.

[Wildcat]

Originally Posted by FredWolfLeonardo

The ps2 was Graphically inferior to the Gamecube and Xbox, had a less revolutionary library of exclusive games, the failure rates were higher and only 2 controllers were supported on 1 system as opposed to the other systems having 4 controller support.

That being said though, the ps2 had a lot going for it such as the backwards compatibility with ps1, the DVD player, affordability, and a one year head start, not necessarily things which I would say translate into the best gaming console when it comes to quality, but undoubtedly things which helped make it the undisputed champion of console sales.

I think graphically you really could not tell the difference unless it was a game that didn’t have quality graphics to begin with.

I understand the Xbox was technically more powerful. One console usually is every era but it’s one of those things that only matters for bragging rights. Things hadn’t even changed to HD yet. Even know I’m sure there’s barely a noticeable difference between PS4 Pro and Xbox One X. They’re only incremental upgrades of themselves anyway...which I feel is intentionally planned from the start to boost sales later.

I don’t know how bad the disc read error thing was. I mostly just heard about it early on. I do remember the complaints about the 2 controllers and needing the multi-tap accessory.

Exclusive games really depended on what you personally liked. I feel like the only major exclusives were Halo and first party Nintendo games. The Xbox had internal memory so you could add music to certain games and save without cards. That was a nice feature at the time.

[Leo656]

I played the crap out of all three consoles at the time. The hierarchy of graphical fidelity generally went PS2 -> Gamecube -> XBox, in ascending order. Although SOME games on PS2 did look better than most of what was out at the time on the other consoles, like Final Fantasy X.

I generally don't obsess about graphics, but if "How it looks" were a factor in a specific multi-platform game I wanted to play, then I generally bought it on XBox.

Some games, it definitely made only a negligible difference. Like The X-Men Legends games look pretty much the same on Xbox and Gamecube. But stuff like the Lord of the Rings movie games definitely show a fairly noticeable difference. They don't look "bad" on any of the three consoles they were released on, but they definitely look way better on XBox than the other two, with the PS2 versions bringing up the rear.

In the end, it isn't a huge deal but it comes up. Ultimately, I started having reliability issues with both my PS2 and Xbox, so most of the games that were released multi-platform I ended up buying on Gamecube anyway, since you could drop a Nintendo console from low orbit and it would still work after hitting the ground. In the end, I'm less concerned with crystal-clear graphics than I am about whether the game runs when I turn it on.

[Storm Eagle]

So far, it's the only non-Nintnedo console I've ever owned. I even still have it hooked up to my TV for some reason. I also already owned a DVD player before I got it, and I got it in the summer of 2002.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I've heard some good things. I don't have the VR stuff but it definitely seems interesting.

I picked up Legends as a fan of the first game, enticed by the idea of storylines for characters who weren't Rocky himself. That sounded fun. I'm quite sure it's nothing special but it's one of those games I just am annoyed I didn't get to play. Like Dragon Warrior, up until last week.

Speaking of that game, I bought the DW cartridge used almost 20 years ago and who knows who owned it before me. But the battery save still had stuff on it! NES games with battery saves are supposedly only good for about 7 years, but I come across stuff fairly often that's pretty damn ancient and that never ceases to amaze me.

Awesome. As a kid, maybe... 13, 14, I remember buying a used copy of DW 2. I brought it home and it had saved games in it where all the characters were like level 85. Wow. Jesus. Who could do that?