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PS2 turns 20 next year, isn't that crazy?


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I wouldn't say it's 'crazy'- it is the nature of time to, y'know, move forward... but it's defintely a bit overwhelming to realize just how much of it has gone by.

 

My PS2 was bought in June 2001. it was my high school graduation present to myself, a plan I'd had in place for a full year after seeing the kind of money my sister had got for her graduation. I believe Zone of the Enders was my first game? I'm not 100% sure anymore. I know Shadow of Destiny was early-on becuase a good chunk of my remaining grad money disappeared a few days later (my brother was sticky-fingered at the time) and I set out immediately to buy a game, any game, just to prevent the rest from getting taken too. It's the first system I ever bought myself, and the oldest of my systems that I got brand-new. It eventually fell to the laser death of so many PS2s- but luckily, it did so while Sony had to repair lasers for free, so I got it fixed. I actually came across the invoice for that just the other day, I'm not sure where I put it...

 

The next few years in the retro world will be interesting to me, as this was about the time the nostalgia for the cart systems started to climb up. We have seen an increase of love for the PS1, not as much as the NES, but I've long thought the overwhelming popularity of PS2 coupled with its backwards compatibility messed with the PS1's 'retro cycle', so to speak. If I'm right, we should really start seeing the PlayStation market start to overtake the Nintendo one.

Edited by HoshiChiri
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I have more PS2 consoles than any other console. I didn't mean for this to happen...

 

Far left fat is my original PS2, bought back in the early 2000's... Don't know exact date. It had Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec as a pack in, so if that's any indication of timing, there ya go.

 

Middle fat is one that a co-worker gave me last year. He found it in a trash can. lol The disc tray is damaged and won't open, but it seems to run okay other than that.

 

Far right fat is one that I got as a parts donor to fix the one in the middle. I went into a game store and was talking to the guys about the middle one and that I'd probably need to get another non working one to steal the disc tray from... he went to the back and brought this one out and said I could have it. Free. Thing is, it works perfectly. So... I don't want to use it for spare parts.

 

The slim on top was my step-dad's. I didn't even know he had it until he died. My mom asked me if I wanted it and I said yes. He'd had a stroke several years prior and had very limited use of one of his hands, so I'm not sure how much he played it. I asked her why he got it and she said he saw it at a garage sale, decided he wanted it, and he bought it. /shrug This is also where I got most of my PS2 sports games. Works perfectly and is the one I use most.

 

The silver slim was one I found at a garage sale. Had a game and controller, but no cords. It was okay because I have plenty. Got it for $5.

 

So, I guess my average is one every 4 years now? lol

 

post-21069-0-06356200-1546522658_thumb.jpg

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Time flies.

 

I remember going last-minute to WalMart in the AM, but too many people were ahead of me. I wasn't totally hyped for this leading up to it, but once it was available, I wanted it. Then I couldn't find it. Then one day my friends calls, saying he's at the Cherry Hill Mall and they have some. Man, did I drive quickly.

 

Got it, and I remember getting Madden pretty early on and seeing the "dead eyes" of the players. Scary stuff.

 

Loved Twisted Metal Black too.

 

Also remember never being able to play Half Life on it, and my system couldn't read the blue disc.

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I didn't make it past the first mission in The Getaway. Let's do a hard mission to introduce you to the game. No wonder GTA's sandbox approach worked great, as opposed to "always be on a mission".

 

I bought my PS2 just before the price went down from 300 to 200. Never a single problem. Still have it.

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Well, we're still much closer to 18 in North America than we are 20, since it didn't launch in the US until the end of 2000. So let's not get too ahead of ourselves. :lol:

 

Back in the day, I didn't get my PS2 until after new Dreamcast releases had pretty well dried up. The first few games I got were tons of fun, though: Final Fantasy X, Capcom vs. SNK 2, and NBA Street. Having the DVD player built in was a big deal, too. It was my first experience with movies in that format, and I bought the IR remote for the system.

 

These days, it's one of the easier modern systems to "mod" and play backups. I really like having an SCPH-50001 with a 2TB hard drive.

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I remember seeing these new in stores around 2011 still. Frys Electronics always had a few stocked in a corner.

 

I picked up a Slim a few years ago. The Ps2 had all the great Armored Core, Jrpgs, Ace Combats. I even went out and found the flight sticks for for Ace Combats. It also had some weird games like RAD on it and the good Gundam titles.

 

 

But, I can see the games starting to go up on it with it being near 20 years old. My local stores started drying up of good Ps2 and Ps1 games about a year ago. I haven't seen good common titles like Xenosaga or KH(1 or 2) in months.

Edited by Outdoormongoose
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... and a year later, being told not to play DVDs on it or Ps1 games, because that would wear out the laser.

I remember that thing. I still wonder how people treated their consoles to wear them out in less than a year.

 

I got my PS2 with Silent Hill 2 in december 2001. Really, I bought it for Silent Hill 2, and I wasn't dissapoint.

What a great experience ! The graphics, the storytelling... It's really amazing that such an early game set up such high standards in graphics.

I remember when I started playing :

https://youtu.be/wh6LhkA3698?t=255 at 5:04, the game switched from "game-engine cinematic" to, well, play. I remember staring at the screen, because I couldn't believe, I couldn't understand that the game would looks like this all along! The only few images and videos I had seen were of GTA III, so the jump in quality was quite high.

 

And about that laser damage, I played DVD, played PS1 games, and it's only after 6 years that I opened my console to "retune" the laser, and 4 additional years before I got another PS2 to replace my own. Still, my original PS2 works, it's just that I had to choose between "reading PS1 and CD" and "reading DVD and PS2 games". Still, took me 10 years to wear it out, so...

What were people doing with their consoles? I mean I got GTA III, GTA VC, GTA San Andreas, Silent Hill 2, 3, 4, err... the PS2 is the console on which I own the most games, in fact, so in 10 years my PS2 saw A LOT of use. And yet, as I said, took 10 years to wear out the lens.

But given that I've seen games that were less that 2 years old that looked like they had been used to sand metal bars, I think the problem wasn't with the console....

Edited by CatPix
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And about that laser damage, I played DVD, played PS1 games, and it's only after 6 years that I opened my console to "retune" the laser, and 4 additional years before I got another PS2 to replace my own. Still, my original PS2 works, it's just that I had to choose between "reading PS1 and CD" and "reading DVD and PS2 games". Still, took me 10 years to wear it out, so...

What were people doing with their consoles? I mean I got GTA III, GTA VC, GTA San Andreas, Silent Hill 2, 3, 4, err... the PS2 is the console on which I own the most games, in fact, so in 10 years my PS2 saw A LOT of use. And yet, as I said, took 10 years to wear out the lens.

But given that I've seen games that were less that 2 years old that looked like they had been used to sand metal bars, I think the problem wasn't with the console....

 

To me, the laser wear thing is a big deal NOW, but it wasn't back THEN. Today I think it's fairly important to have a way to play on original hardware without using discs. Discs are fragile and lasers require maintenance. It's not a big deal on cart-based systems, but it's why I have a hard drive in my PS2. Even then, I'm buying tons and tons of PS2 games for $5 or so, lots of them disc only. I don't need them, but they're fun to have and don't take up nearly the space that carts do since I can just stuff them into a disc binder.

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The PS2 is one of my favorite consoles ever!

As soon as they were announced, I wanted one. Problem was, so did everyone else. Finding one was impossible, as all the scalpers bought them up right away because they were hawking them all before the holidays. I wasn't able to find one until the following March at a CompUSA store, which got a handful of them after Sony started shipping them out again. The day I bought it, I went to Gamestop and picked up TimeSplitters and a multitap, called some friends, got a couple pizzas, and stayed up all night playing 4-player deathmatch. It was glorious.

About a year and a half later, it started acting up. I was getting the dreaded Disc Read Error on PS1 and non-DVD PS2 games. I tried all the tricks: taking it apart and cleaning the laser, upping the voltage on the laser, putting tape on the games to act as "counterweights" to keep them spinning, and more. Eventually, the thing started getting errors with DVD's, and I tore the connector ribbon while taking it apart after probably the 30th time taking it apart. I was pissed, and wasn't about to drop more money on another "Fat" PS2, so it sat in a box in pieces while I played my Gamecube, Dreamcast, and Xbox.

About a year after that, I got a Slim PS2 for Christmas. And by that time, a lot of the games I wanted to play while my Fat PS2 was sitting in a box in pieces were in the bargain bin, so I started amassing a large collection of great games for short money. When the recession hit around 2008-09 and retailers were starting to tank, I was there buying up all their games, including their PS2 titles, for pennies on the dollar. I still have a sizeable horde of sealed PS2 games that I'm afraid to open at this point!

My collection stands at 166 games and four PS2's: three Fat (one CIB) and one Slim that's still hooked up to the TV in the game room. It still gets played!

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To me, the laser wear thing is a big deal NOW, but it wasn't back THEN. Today I think it's fairly important to have a way to play on original hardware without using discs. Discs are fragile and lasers require maintenance. It's not a big deal on cart-based systems, but it's why I have a hard drive in my PS2. Even then, I'm buying tons and tons of PS2 games for $5 or so, lots of them disc only. I don't need them, but they're fun to have and don't take up nearly the space that carts do since I can just stuff them into a disc binder.

But not every game will work on a hard drive no matter what you try to do with it. One thing I would like to see happen is to put an additional USB port that is connected to the motherboard that will allow you to use a USB based external DVD-ROM drive since those are still plentiful, better built, and easily replaceable.

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But not every game will work on a hard drive no matter what you try to do with it. One thing I would like to see happen is to put an additional USB port that is connected to the motherboard that will allow you to use a USB based external DVD-ROM drive since those are still plentiful, better built, and easily replaceable.

Youre right about hard drive compatibility, and many of those same incompatible games dont work too hot over Ethernet or USB. But having the hard drive reduces wear and so I can save all my lasers sweet power for those games that need it.
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I was a bit late to the party -- I did not get my PS 2 until 2010. I was still happily enjoying the original PlayStation that I had purchased second-hand in 2004. I purchased a slim sliver version at, IIRC, the Sony store.

 

I remember seeing these new in stores around 2011 still. Fry's Electronics always had a few stocked in a corner.

 

By 2011, they were getting harder to find. The Singstar bundle (with the slim white console and the microphones) was still readily available, but other models somewhat less so.

 

Around 2012, I bought the very last unit from Future Shop or Best Buy; it was new in an opened box. I retain it as a backup system.

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I think next year we should start allowing the PS2 in the classic gaming tracker or in 2021 and allow the Game Cube and original Xbox as well...

 

This isn't the first time I've said this - I disagree. The PS2 isn't classic to me yet. Almost all of the gaming genres on it are the same ones we have today, it uses virtually the same controller, and even had online play. I don't think being old puts it into a "Classic" or "Retro" category.

 

For goodness sakes, there are still games getting a reskin from that era in 2018 and being re-released: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/katamari-damacy-reroll-switch

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This isn't the first time I've said this - I disagree. The PS2 isn't classic to me yet. Almost all of the gaming genres on it are the same ones we have today, it uses virtually the same controller, and even had online play. I don't think being old puts it into a "Classic" or "Retro" category.

 

For goodness sakes, there are still games getting a reskin from that era in 2018 and being re-released: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/katamari-damacy-reroll-switch

Your logic is flawed. The PS1 used virtually the same controller with the Dualshock 1 and in fact all PS2 controllers work with the PS1. There are plenty of pre-PS2 titles being remade recently. Many N64 games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. PS1 games like Spyro and Crash have been remade and so on.

 

And there are plenty of PS2 games that I would consider to be classic.

 

Playing Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast would count towards the tracker but not Crazy Taxi on the PS2?

 

What about the Game Boy Advance? That has a huge amount of classic games on it. And that came out after the PS2.

 

You might not feel it to be classic but that does not mean other people don't.

 

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Your logic is flawed. The PS1 used virtually the same controller with the Dualshock 1 and in fact all PS2 controllers work with the PS1. There are plenty of pre-PS2 titles being remade recently. Many N64 games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. PS1 games like Spyro and Crash have been remade and so on.

 

And there are plenty of PS2 games that I would consider to be classic.

 

Playing Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast would count towards the tracker but not Crazy Taxi on the PS2?

 

What about the Game Boy Advance? That has a huge amount of classic games on it. And that came out after the PS2.

 

You might not feel it to be classic but that does not mean other people don't.

 

 

I don't consider the PS1 classic either.

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Ah the pS2, Sony's last reliable console.

 

Still have my original that works (powering this), might help that it's been running HDD games since 2005 so the laser doesn't get much use. But my PS3 died just after a year of use and my PS4 needed replacing a few months after launch.

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Really? You don't consider a system that first released in 1994 to be classic? I hate to break it to you but the game tracker does.

 

 

Thanks for the breaking news update. I just logged time for that system in the tracker last week.

 

But seriously, there really is no good way to determine what is classic or not. It is always going to be different and changing. If you are picking some sort of line in the sand then I think that the year 2000 is as good as any moment. Another option would be every system with media primarily on an actual cartridge (but not an SD card). So that would allow for inclusion of the N64 but not the PS1 or Saturn. You could also include the GBA at that point even though it released after 2000, but isn't that thing basically a SNES anyway?

 

The argument will never end, so I've just chosen to have an opinion and be ok with disagreement.

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