Retro|Spective X05: Playstation 2

[Neon Ignition]

I'll be honest, I didn't really think of doing anything for the twentieth anniversary of the Playstation 2 as I was fairly convinced the console had recently been revisited in one of the threads but having looked back it turns out that it hasn't, instead just getting mentioned during the discussion of rival machines. So, it would be incredibly unfair to not dedicate some bandwidth to looking back at the true titan of the 128bit generation.

It was a generation that saw four consoles battle it out and of those four Sony's was unquestionably the king of the hill. Despite being harder to work with for developers its sales success utterly annihilated the other rivals cementing the dominance of the market that Sony had quickly begun to assert with its debut console. Evolving the controller with Sixasis and pressure sensitive face buttons, the PS2 also repositioned the branding as being black with hints of electric blue and pushed DVD media for both the games themselves and as a movie player, a winning move for many.



As with every generation of Sony console, its opening year wasn't its greatest for content even if some titles - exclusive or not - did go down well with new owners such as SSX and Timesplitters. As time went on the library began to grow but one early and unexpected cause of an explosion in success was the unanticipated arrival of a game that would go from off the radar to overnight sensation - Grand Theft Auto III



A momentum set in early that would prove to be unrelenting with thousands of games reaching the machine covering every genre over the course of its long life. In addition to a wealth of varied titles those who liked key games were well served with multiple entries, a long way from today's one and milk them approach at best from multiple studios, and the machine eventually found itself being more and more pushed leading to its swansong giants like the expansion San Andreas or epic in scale God of War II.

Share your thoughts and memories of the PlayStation 2

[Asura]

Honestly, in terms of games (if not hardware) I find it hard not to consider it as the prime candidate for best console ever.

Other consoles have their greats, but the PS2 has both an enormous breadth of titles (both in terms of quantity and variety) and really good games in pretty much every genre. I think the only stuff it lacks is a good RTS game (like most consoles) and a truly great FPS game (there were a few decent ones but I don't think there was anything truly ground-breaking). Online play was spotty at the time too, but that doesn't really matter in 2020 now such functionality doesn't work for its rivals either.

Then with PS1 support it also has access to another enormous library of games.

Through that, it has some of the greatest racing games, RPGs and wonderful adventure games. It has the Resident Evils, the Silent Hills, the Devil May Crys, the Onimushas. It has the best of the Tekken series (Tag or 5), the best of the Virtua Fighter series (4 Evo), the best of the Soul Calibur series (2, **** you, fight me). It has experimental stuff like Ring of Red or Dark Chronicle. It has hidden gems like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and import-only greats like Another Century's Episode.

It's just really hard to knock it IMO.

[Brad]

Ico, sotc, 2 metal gear solids!

[Atticus]

One PS2 memory that still gets a revisit was me pretty much setting my stall out with the future Mrs H. We were enjoying our first day out together in York when I got a text at 4.00pm from Dream Machines along the lines of: 'mate, your PS2 and RRV are here - we're open 'til 5.00'. This was Friday and being a mail-order company they never opened over the weekend. Cue a warp-speed drive through the weekend traffic to make the deadline. And make it I did. I was so hyped for the Jp launch and RRV and it did not disappoint. And we only set off from York a bit earlier than planned. Honest.

[wakka]

My main launch memory revolves around SSX. Originally I got the machine with Dynasty Warriors 2 and Moto GP, but returned DW2 to Electronics Boutique because of how much PSM2 magazine were raving about SSX. LOVED it. Such a fun game - I used to spend hours trying to find new shortcuts on the tracks. Not only that, but it was insanely mindblowing compared to something like Cool Boarders 3.

SSX Tricky was even better - essentially it was the game they'd probably originally intended to make, and SSX was the rushed launch version - but the original is a special game for me.

There's so much to say about the PS2 it's hard to know where to begin, and that's maybe why I'm relying on nostalgia above. It truly was an incredible machine with an insane wealth of software for it.

[Asura]

I'm one of the weirdos who didn't "get" SSX, and still doesn't. I still don't feel anyone has bettered 1080 (apart from visually)... Apart from maaaaaybe Amped 2 on Xbox.

[dataDave]

I've only lately learned that it has arcade perfect ports of Sega Rally, VF2 and Dynamite Deka. Along with NiGHTS there really isn't much more need for me to want a Saturn any more.

[Neon Ignition]

I got my PS2 from Comet, thanks to that whole weird registration system Sony implemented it made it so much more of a faff so I used my Ex's job there to get around it and secure one. Picked it up on Day 1 but had to put it away till Xmas day. It's a bit of a struggle to recall what my earliest memory game wise was with the system. I think that despite the hype and owning one I was already deep into DC love and looking forward to what GC and XB would deliver to PS2 was kind of just there especially coming off the back of the PS1 which I enjoyed but it never hit the love that others have for it.

It may have been around the time of ZOE and the MGS2 demo that I started to pay more attention to it as well as GT3 but the latter end of its life was very much the opposite. The GTA's, MGS3 etc were defining titles andc peaks in their series whilst the system was an absolute treasure trove for weird budget games that weren't necessarily good but were interesting to dig out and try to a level that no other system has reproduced since.

[Dogg Thang]

It would be hard to argue against claims of this being the best console. I don’t love it in the same way that I love some other systems but I often love those systems because they’re quirky or the underdogs or have something totally unique. The PS2 wasn’t quirky or weird. It just had everything. It really had something for everyone and you could never run out of games on the system. And among those games was lots of games at exceptionally high quality. Devs had really figured out how 3D games should play and got the best from them on PS2.

And the thing about systems having something totally unique? Well, often we remember that due to a lack of other games around those unique gems and, as it happens, the PS2 had its share of quirky unique games. Remember the EyeToy games, for example? It really had just about everything.

So yeah, I don’t cherish it in the way I cherish some systems but, if I could only ever own one system with all its games for my entire life, the PS2 would be the one to go for.

[importaku]

While PS1 is my current focus at some point i want to reassemble my PS2 collection however due to the sheer volume on PS2 i like it's going to be a massive undertaking as there are a lot of games i like. I got my PS2 pauper style from CEX back when they sold imports i can't remember what console i flogged off to get hold of a used one but it ended up with a Japanese machine i remember getting the amazing overlooked fantavision as my first title. There is a lot on PS2 that comes under that quirky umbrella like with PS1 the PS2 had an amazing library of music rhythm games thanks to Konami's crazy output i remember paying a small fortune to get hold of para para paradise and playing the living hell out of it till i could do all the routines.

The PS2 does have a few cooking games i'm after like curry house coco ichibanya and Yoshinoya. Also some sequels to PS1 games like segare ijiri and parappa. Like i said there's so much that i want to get hold of but i simply can't afford to fragment my funds into another collection as the music rhythm games alone will costs hundreds to pick up but i will get there eventually.

[hudson]

Aye aye aye, a-bata-bing a-batta-boom!

- Monster Hunter series begins.
- The Katamari series begins.
- God of War begins.
- Densha De Go! Final.
- Fire Pro Wrestling Returns!
- Capcom Vs Snk 2
- Dragon Quest VIII
- FFXII
- Amazing soccer times with PES
- Socom!
- San Andreas
- Snake Eater!

[teddymeow]

Fantavision was relaxing gaming bliss.

[Neon Ignition]

One thing it didn't better its rivals for was the start up animation

[wakka]

The startup animation was really cool. I really liked the PS3 one with the orchestra tuning up too. I feel like cool startup animations are a lost art, the PS4 and Switch don't really feature them. The Bone still has one but it's nothing too exciting.

[JazzFunk]

I still love the PS2 but I HATE the bloody sticks. Always have done, they were nowhere near GC or XB, and they get worse with age, like stirring gravel in a dustbin with a long wooden spoon.

Yeah, without trying to make it sound sexual, it's like the rubber goes all hard as they get older, they get stiffer, more grindy, even more imprecise. I rarely played FPS games on the thing. It was just wank for accurate aiming and most FPSes on it had choppy framerates to begin with. Nightmare.

I've got so many bloody good games for it, though. The 'special stuff' that's from Japan and isn't FPS. Shedloads of obscure PAL. Wanna get back into it. Play Bujingai beyond Stage 1. Finally give Glass Rose a blast. Resi Outbreak 2. Loads and loads not getting play and I won't get a chance if the Las Plagas gets me!

(because I'll be dead).

Anyone know where I can get a new, cheap controller on the high street, Argos or ASDA Living or somewhere? Can I just use a cheap generic USB pad or do you need the proper connector? I know it's got USB on the front, tho that might be just for the mouse???