Best way to play imports on PS2

[honeymustard]

Hey, I have a slim US PS2, and I want to play a few games from Japan and Europe on it. What would be the quickest and cheapest way of enabling it to play imports? Is there a modchip, or would using a flip top case and swap magic be easier? Thanks.

[Flabio]

I think the simplest way to do it these days is just to pick up a Japanese PS2 on ebay...

[honeymustard]

That's probably true, but to be honest I don't really want 3 PS2s cluttering up the place

[gunrock]

Depending on the model (because the slims lasers seem to be a bit delicate in some models more than others), you could get it modchipped. This, if possible, is the best solution.

Alternatively, you could get a second hand fat PS2 and install a harddrive and then install and boot games from there, which I think negates the need for a modchip, but I've never done this and maybe someone else can comment. I think you can then use the Free McBoot exploitations to do this (but it's a bit convoluted).

[smouty]

I'm gonna try booting a game from a USB HD tonight using Free MCBoot and USB Advance. It is working great on an unmodified fat PS2 and internal HD.
I can let you know how it goes if you're interested.
I can also create the memcard if needed.

[Alex_976]

Swap Magic 3.6

[smouty]

Booting from USB HD does work (Killer 7 tested) but game compatibility is very poor so is probably not a good option for you.

[fallenangle]

If you've only a few games Swap Magic, ensuring it's the correct version for your PS2's region of course, has got to be the best, easy, cheapest (and legal) solution. I've not tried myself but it's apparently possible to use a slimline PSTwo with Swap Magic without even having to buy/fit the 'official' lid mod parts. Swap Magic isn't perfect though there are compatibilty with certain games.