Fox Mulder
Member
Every GameStop I find that still has ps2 games has cleared out all but the shittiest sports games awhile ago.
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PS2 Appreciation & Celebration Thread, long live the King!
- Thread starter Canis lupus
- Start date
Every GameStop I find that still has ps2 games has cleared out all but the shittiest sports games awhile ago.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
A cheaper but just as good alternative: The always lovely Monoprice offering PS2/PS3 component cables at about $4 a pop
Superb cables. Buy some HDMI cables, or earbuds or something to make the shipping cost worthwhile.
Back-ordered
I've been fussing with crappy cables long enough that I just put an order through for the official cables. $20 with shipping and tax.hardcastlemccormick
Banned
Back-ordered
Not on Amazon. I'm not going to try to convince you since you've already bought them, but the official cables are a terrible waste of money. They're not even that durable! If it's worth to you, I guess.
Back-ordered
You know, I misplaced my official cables earlier this year and slummed it at Gamestop and bought one of their branded cables (very similar form factor to the older PS2 component cables, without the silver) and they work identically. They were about $5. I've since found the official cables and, no difference.
IrishNinja
Member
yeah, i got lucky with a few spots but many aren't so good, when looking for GC stuff recently i found a bunch of them are kept in little yellow sleeves in drawers behind the counter, because they chucked the original cases to save space...sucks
Mr.Marston
Member
Just the best console of all time imho. I remember playing GTA III for the first time on my uncle's one and being utterly hooked. I knew then that I had to have one.
MidgarBlowedUp
Member
I don't think they actually made any. I know action replay made something similar but it was a lie in reality. It was more like the card had extra space for you to compress saves but it was slow and a huge hassle that would eventually corrupt your saves. Even on the bc ps3 fat you only get 8mb virtual saves.
my setup is fat bc ps3 component to hd crt with xploder hd boot disk for ps2. Ps3 for ps2 is nice because you can switch virtual memory cards anytime with the controllers ps button.
Deified Data
Banned
Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
It's a comfort knowing that the current gaming scene could go to hell and I could just spend the rest of my life working on my PS2 backlog and not miss the current-gen at all.
It's a comfort knowing that the current gaming scene could go to hell and I could just spend the rest of my life working on my PS2 backlog and not miss the current-gen at all.
You're referring to SONY when you say "they" right?
Fox Mulder
Member
yep.
I only just started buying ps2 games again, but I'm always adding to my broad collection of consoles going back to the nes. I don't have to buy a single new game going forward to enjoy the hobby.
I just found yakuza and metal slug anthology cheap, which I was actually trying to find on the wii.
Incredible machine. So much fun has been had with it...and I still have so many PS2 games to play.
I like that you can "beat" this game in ~5 minutes (depending on an early choice your game ends).
Just started playing Metal Saga.
This game is huge! How did a Post-Apocalyptic non-linear JRPG where you pilot Tanks and have Dogs with Canons strapped to there back completely fly under my Radar like this!?
I like that you can "beat" this game in ~5 minutes (depending on an early choice your game ends).
NinjaCatfish
Member
So word's gotten out in my flat that I'm a bit of a game collector, and I've actually had people start just giving me their old games that they don't want anymore, so that's pretty neat.
Have yet to get anything INCREDIBLE, but for the smooth price of free, I ain't complaining.
Have yet to get anything INCREDIBLE, but for the smooth price of free, I ain't complaining.
I've been buying and playing games since the NES era, and overall I think the PS2 wins 'best console ever' due to the sheer breadth and depth of the library. Sure, there's a ton of junk (as there is with any console), but you could easily spend a lifetime just playing the huge backlog of quality releases. I'm currently working on completing a full US set, and while the library is large, the popularity of the system has an extra bonus: most of the games, even the really good ones, are dirt cheap. I've been given more than my fair share of games for free by people who wanted to get rid of their 'old junk'. Their loss!
Unfortunately, with ever bigger budgets and the move toward digital only distribution and day one patches/DLC, the PS2 may end up being the last truly collectable console. It's certainly the last console that will allow me to take a shrinkwrapped copy of a game 20 years from now, open it, and play it exactly as the developer intended with no patching or extra downloads necessary.
Unfortunately, with ever bigger budgets and the move toward digital only distribution and day one patches/DLC, the PS2 may end up being the last truly collectable console. It's certainly the last console that will allow me to take a shrinkwrapped copy of a game 20 years from now, open it, and play it exactly as the developer intended with no patching or extra downloads necessary.
Fox Mulder
Member
Pretty much how I feel. There's already games from this gen that have had their online servers cut off, who knows how bad it will be a few years from now. I think the wii has some games worth collecting though, and there never was much of a huge online component to it.
Got my official component cables, and they work! So nice to see blue in my games.
This is the most useful thing I have learned all year.
(Did you know the towers represent the amount of games you've played?)
Not sure its been posted, I reckon its kinda thread worthy but dont have access to that so ill leave this here
The very last PS2 title will be released this September.
The very last PS2 title will be released this September.
IrishNinja
Member
^that's kinda sad...amazing run it had, though! ending on a FIFA game, heh
The last game on the PS1 (at least in North America) was FIFA 2005.
sixteen-bit
Member
RIP in piece
Still kinda new to PS2 myself, I was a Gamecube-only individual during this particular gen, but I'm starting to dive into the massive PS2 library.
First game I've tried was Persona 3, I'm addicted. About 15 hours in so far (from what I've heard I have a long way to go) I want to try 4 as well.
Another underrated game I'm liking is Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection. This is multiplat of course but it's a nice little collection for those of us too poor to own an actual pinball machine. There's also Flipnic, a unique pinball title from Capcom that moves away from reality and crafts a pinball playing field in mystical locations.
First game I've tried was Persona 3, I'm addicted. About 15 hours in so far (from what I've heard I have a long way to go
) I want to try 4 as well.Another underrated game I'm liking is Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection. This is multiplat of course but it's a nice little collection for those of us too poor to own an actual pinball machine. There's also Flipnic, a unique pinball title from Capcom that moves away from reality and crafts a pinball playing field in mystical locations.
Still kinda new to PS2 myself, I was a Gamecube-only individual during this particular gen, but I'm starting to dive into the massive PS2 library.
First game I've tried was Persona 3, I'm addicted. About 15 hours in so far (from what I've heard I have a long way to go
Another underrated game I'm liking is Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection. This is multiplat of course but it's a nice little collection for those of us too poor to own an actual pinball machine. There's also Flipnic, a unique pinball title from Capcom that moves away from reality and crafts a pinball playing field in mystical locations.
The Pinball Williams Collection is great as well.
sixteen-bit
Member
Speaking of pinball games, how is AKIRA Psycho Pinball?
Still kinda new to PS2 myself, I was a Gamecube-only individual during this particular gen, but I'm starting to dive into the massive PS2 library.
First game I've tried was Persona 3, I'm addicted. About 15 hours in so far (from what I've heard I have a long way to go
Another underrated game I'm liking is Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection. This is multiplat of course but it's a nice little collection for those of us too poor to own an actual pinball machine. There's also Flipnic, a unique pinball title from Capcom that moves away from reality and crafts a pinball playing field in mystical locations.
I don't think there's anything underrated about Persona 3 or the Persona series in general. Make sure to try other spin-offs and mainline SMT games, especially Nocturne!
sketchsanchez
Member
Glad i found this thread cuz i was about to make a "i got a ps2 for the first time!" thread and i would have felt foolish.
So yeah, just bought my first ps2. I was an xbox and gamecube guy for mostly silly fanboyish reasons but I'm looking forward to delving into thos classic library.
This is what i have so far:
So yeah, just bought my first ps2. I was an xbox and gamecube guy for mostly silly fanboyish reasons but I'm looking forward to delving into thos classic library.
This is what i have so far:
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
I used to, until the hard drive broke, and then the PS2 Phat broke before I could find a new hard drive.
How long were you using the PS2/HDD combo before it broke?
Everything that needs to be sad about the PS2 has been said by me and others countless times over in this thread and in other threads. What really strikes me, though, and stands out as something we'll never have again, is the incredible diversity of the major retail release during this generation. Shooters, platformers, character action, puzzler, JRPG, SRPG, horror games, flight sims, sports games, brawlers, racers, adventure, and on and on. If you liked a genre, you were well served on this platform except for some PC genres like WRPG and online multiplayer shooters (though the PS2 even had plenty of those). The diversity of AAA and indeed the presence of the B game at all is completely gone. Nowadays when we get a competent B game-- something like Remember Me-- it's a treat where everyone marvels at how a game of this quality could be made with so many little flaws. These used to flood the streets during the PS2 generation.
I can't think of a console I'd rather have if I were shipped off to a deserted island.
I can't think of a console I'd rather have if I were shipped off to a deserted island.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
About five or six months. I should have invested some more money in getting a non-shitty PS2 and hard drive though.
This is why I can never understand the people who think the PS2 sucks because it has too much shovelware. I have a friend like this and it's hard to talk about console rankings because of it. Maybe the bad makes the good seem less, but my god, can you point me to a better variety? Can you point me to a console that has nearly every genre and at least a few games that are among the best in their respective class?
I've often theorized that console generations come in pairs. A flawed generation (plagued by technical issues like low frame rate and/or overreaching) followed by a golden age. NES -> Super NES/Genesis, then the PS1/N64 -> PS2/GCN/Xbox, and now the PS3/360 -> PS4/Xbone. The latter is always a better place to be. I hope history repeats itself.
Heart Attack
Member
Nothing will ever top the PS2 generation.
MattyH
Member
yeah my phat has got a HDD and hdloader using freemcboot
Erebus
Member
Host Samurai
Member
When gaming peaked IMO. Great variety, perfect difficulty in games (generalization), lots of content, diverse selection of games and every game had its own idenity.
Sad how watered down the industry has become. Comparing Resident Evil 4 to 5 is a great example of watered down.
-No inventory management
-No RPG elements
-Terrible enemy placement
-No open ended strategy
GTA is another example of being watered down. Going from the godly San Andreas to GTA 4 is a travisity
DMC 3 to DMC4 and DmC
I can go on and on
These posts nail it. Diversity of games has slowly gone extinct since the PS3/360 generation. Handhelds actually have a more diverse library than consoles, as developers flock to them to avoid high dev costs. It's one of the reasons the 3DS's library outclasses the Vita.
Same
My personal story with PS2 is that it was the first contemporary system I owned, before that I got a Saturn and NES (a Famiclone to be exact) long after they were discounted (though Famiclone thorough the 90's was very popular in Poland), but I wasn't that aware of that. Shortly before getting a PS2, I started reading gaming magazines regularly, slowly learning about the current state of the industry.
I dreamed of PS2 for quite some time but it was sort of out of my league. It still was very expensive for me, as a 12yo I'd never save up enough money even after a year or two and my parents would never buy me something this pricey. Maybe a PC but when would that happen I didn't know. But the dream was actually going to come true, much sooner than I expected.
December 2002, my older brother was on his way home after doing some shopping, when he spotted something lying on the frozen canal (we have two small lakes and a canal in our area). Something that looked like a phone, though at first he thought it was just some toy, but nevertheless he came down to check it out. Turns out, it was a real mobile phone, a Nokia, and it actually was pretty new at the time. Not thinking much he took it home, where we thought about what's the best way to use it.
Now, I know some would say that obviously we should have tried to return the phone, you know, do the proper thing but actually it never crossed our minds, even our parents never suggested doing that - finders keepers I guess, especially if it was something worth actual money.
From the start the obvious thing to do was to sell it or something, but without box or warranty it was worth maybe half of the store price. At the time I was reading the gaming mag PSX Extreme (still published), which had this small "flea market" column in the letters section and it gave us an idea, why not try to exchange the phone for some gaming machine? It had almost the same price (the new one, at least) as a used PS2. So we went to some internet cafe to check if anyone selling PS2s on an auction site was willing to do a trade instead. Eventually, one guy appeared to be interested, he only asked about the box and warranty (brother told him they've got stolen) but in the end agreed to make a swap. We were supposed to get a used V4 model, with a modchip and some bootleg games after sending him the phone. And so it happened, I remember the date, January 6th 2003, I came home after school around 4pm, went into the room (we waited for the package for some time and I didn't know when to expect it) and saw my brother playing the goddamn GTA III. My first thought: "So that's how it looks like". I saw GTA III on TV before but the picture was so bleak and washed out compared to what I saw, not to mention, it was finally mine. All those games I read about for more than a year were finally in my reach. Surely, a defining moment of the gaming part of my childhood. The other games we've got were Tekken 4, Virtua Fighter 4, Star Wars Starfighter, Star Wars Racer Revenge, Aerodancing 4, Le Mans 24 and something else. I guess I don't need to tell you that for the first months it was pretty much all about GTA III.
The same PS2 is still with me, 10 years later, though the system itself is around twelve years old (it was supposed to be 1,5 years old when we got it). It went through some tough times, with the original laser dying out completely after 2 years and some part of the insides (don't remember exactly) getting burned, but after some maintenance it still works. In the meantime I dropped bootlegs altogether (one day I simply ditched over 100 of burned CDs and DVDs) and started actually paying for games, for all systems.
About the bootlegs, at the time I'd say the majority (I think so at least) of console gamers in Poland were playing (and, like we did at first, actually buying) backups since the games were, and still sort of are, very expensive if you check the price:salary ratio. With PC games it always have been a little better with numerous budget re-releases that even 10yo kids could buy for pocket money. In my case, for the first 2 years or so I could only play CD rips, you know, with cut content to fit on the CD (after that, before switching to original games, I also went through the Swap Magic chapter). When I got my copy of Vice City, the whole glorious soundtrack was diminished to literally three songs, with audio in the cutscenes gone completely. I wasn't even aware of what I was missing, I still liked it, but yeah, those were the dark times, fortunately long over. Many people from the start wanted to just get the system, mod it and just play the games, because that alone was quite expensive. It had a side effect though, of glorifying original games. I too wished to afford them, with their packaging, CD art and manuals, but it wasn't till much later that I actually started to buy them. That's also the reason why I always go for complete copies of games, no manual, no box=no buy.
Right now I'm playing Test Drive Unlimited and finished Ace Combat The Belkan War few days ago. I extened my "Sony collection" with PSP this February, and I'm days away from finally buying the PS3, with games waiting on the shelf already. I don't see the PS2 going anywhere, and if (God forbid) it'll pass out one day (unlikely, at least for several years I believe), I will immediately look for a replacement. Definitely the best system ever, with unusually rich and diverse library. Long live indeed.
I play games from HDD all the time, since at least 5-6 years, don't exactly remember. Internal HDD along with dedicated homebrew was the best thing that ever happened to PS2. Especially if you went through all the hassle of faulty lasers, although in my case after replacing it once it still works to this day and it's been almost 10 years. The only strange thing is that in the meantime it sort of died again (after an excessive amount of installs to HDD) but like after a year, after a small calibration, it works like a charm again. I rarely play games from disc now but it's nice that it still works. And with HDD I can't help thinking about my PS2 as being sort of immortal. I mean, what could possibly brake down?
Also, if you use the Open PS2 Loader, you can easily create virtual MCs for every game. How cool is that?
I dreamed of PS2 for quite some time but it was sort of out of my league. It still was very expensive for me, as a 12yo I'd never save up enough money even after a year or two and my parents would never buy me something this pricey. Maybe a PC but when would that happen I didn't know. But the dream was actually going to come true, much sooner than I expected.
December 2002, my older brother was on his way home after doing some shopping, when he spotted something lying on the frozen canal (we have two small lakes and a canal in our area). Something that looked like a phone, though at first he thought it was just some toy, but nevertheless he came down to check it out. Turns out, it was a real mobile phone, a Nokia, and it actually was pretty new at the time. Not thinking much he took it home, where we thought about what's the best way to use it.
Now, I know some would say that obviously we should have tried to return the phone, you know, do the proper thing but actually it never crossed our minds, even our parents never suggested doing that - finders keepers I guess, especially if it was something worth actual money.
From the start the obvious thing to do was to sell it or something, but without box or warranty it was worth maybe half of the store price. At the time I was reading the gaming mag PSX Extreme (still published), which had this small "flea market" column in the letters section and it gave us an idea, why not try to exchange the phone for some gaming machine? It had almost the same price (the new one, at least) as a used PS2. So we went to some internet cafe to check if anyone selling PS2s on an auction site was willing to do a trade instead. Eventually, one guy appeared to be interested, he only asked about the box and warranty (brother told him they've got stolen) but in the end agreed to make a swap. We were supposed to get a used V4 model, with a modchip and some bootleg games after sending him the phone. And so it happened, I remember the date, January 6th 2003, I came home after school around 4pm, went into the room (we waited for the package for some time and I didn't know when to expect it) and saw my brother playing the goddamn GTA III. My first thought: "So that's how it looks like". I saw GTA III on TV before but the picture was so bleak and washed out compared to what I saw, not to mention, it was finally mine. All those games I read about for more than a year were finally in my reach. Surely, a defining moment of the gaming part of my childhood. The other games we've got were Tekken 4, Virtua Fighter 4, Star Wars Starfighter, Star Wars Racer Revenge, Aerodancing 4, Le Mans 24 and something else. I guess I don't need to tell you that for the first months it was pretty much all about GTA III.
The same PS2 is still with me, 10 years later, though the system itself is around twelve years old (it was supposed to be 1,5 years old when we got it). It went through some tough times, with the original laser dying out completely after 2 years and some part of the insides (don't remember exactly) getting burned, but after some maintenance it still works. In the meantime I dropped bootlegs altogether (one day I simply ditched over 100 of burned CDs and DVDs) and started actually paying for games, for all systems.
About the bootlegs, at the time I'd say the majority (I think so at least) of console gamers in Poland were playing (and, like we did at first, actually buying) backups since the games were, and still sort of are, very expensive if you check the price:salary ratio. With PC games it always have been a little better with numerous budget re-releases that even 10yo kids could buy for pocket money. In my case, for the first 2 years or so I could only play CD rips, you know, with cut content to fit on the CD (after that, before switching to original games, I also went through the Swap Magic chapter). When I got my copy of Vice City, the whole glorious soundtrack was diminished to literally three songs, with audio in the cutscenes gone completely. I wasn't even aware of what I was missing, I still liked it, but yeah, those were the dark times, fortunately long over. Many people from the start wanted to just get the system, mod it and just play the games, because that alone was quite expensive. It had a side effect though, of glorifying original games. I too wished to afford them, with their packaging, CD art and manuals, but it wasn't till much later that I actually started to buy them. That's also the reason why I always go for complete copies of games, no manual, no box=no buy.
Right now I'm playing Test Drive Unlimited and finished Ace Combat The Belkan War few days ago. I extened my "Sony collection" with PSP this February, and I'm days away from finally buying the PS3, with games waiting on the shelf already. I don't see the PS2 going anywhere, and if (God forbid) it'll pass out one day (unlikely, at least for several years I believe), I will immediately look for a replacement. Definitely the best system ever, with unusually rich and diverse library. Long live indeed.
I play games from HDD all the time, since at least 5-6 years, don't exactly remember. Internal HDD along with dedicated homebrew was the best thing that ever happened to PS2. Especially if you went through all the hassle of faulty lasers, although in my case after replacing it once it still works to this day and it's been almost 10 years. The only strange thing is that in the meantime it sort of died again (after an excessive amount of installs to HDD) but like after a year, after a small calibration, it works like a charm again. I rarely play games from disc now but it's nice that it still works. And with HDD I can't help thinking about my PS2 as being sort of immortal. I mean, what could possibly brake down?
Also, if you use the Open PS2 Loader, you can easily create virtual MCs for every game. How cool is that?
Yeah, I was just messing around with that yesterday. MCs can get annoying for a person who plays 50 games off of a HDD.
IrishNinja
Member
since my phat PS3 just died & i acquired an upscaler, i'm tracking down another pair of component cables soon & hooking back up my phat PS2 with has the top-loader mod and HDD loader, worked great for years.
wait, how do you do this exactly? maybe i have the wrong disc for this option
also does anyone know about the memory card exploit or other ways to play imports? top loader method is iffy for me, sadly
drtomoe123
Member
Yeah, me too. I'm still just using the 40GB one that came with FFXI, though. I have a BC PS3, so I just use my PS2 when I'm dealing with imports or games that have super bad loading times. I just finished FFXII International and the Rurouni Kenshin PS2 game.
I've also been toying around with some of my games with the GSM build that's been integrated into the newest OPL and it's been pretty great. A few games really look fantastic when displayed in 1080i, but a lot of games (FFXII, for example) bug out.
I used the guide here to install FreeMcBoot on my fat PS2 with a HDD. I had to use a copy of some 007 game that I got at a Gamestop for like $2, but it was totally worth it.
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
The only two ways of doing it are essentially:
1) Use a disc like Swap Magic to change the discs prior to playing.
2) Install FreeMCBoot and OpenPS2Loader, and then install your imports to the hard drive.
The latter isn't hard once you have the right materials. For installing FreeMCBoot, I found it was just best to drop the $30 or so for Swap Magic (or whatever it goes for on eBay these days), but the other methods do work.
Free Mcboot should be only thing to use when modding any PS2, fuck swapping discs. Of course mods are easier if you have a Free Mcboot memory card lying around you can literally just run around modding random PS2s with just one memory card.
IrishNinja
Member
ah yeah, ive got swap magic but its an older version/works okay, most times i just leave the HDD loader disc in...might be time to upgrade
that's a 2nd vote for mcboot, with an explanation on the MC exploit i think...okay, time to look that program up, cause again my version of HDD loader is weird...Berserk worked, others didn't. plus im hoping this will let me play PS1 imports somehow too, since i hate the censorship in Um Jammer Lammy!
NinjaCatfish
Member
I don't believe there's a difference. I use PS3 branded Sony Component Cables with my PS2 Slim and they work as expected.
Ok, good to hear. I was just wondering why the PS2 cables were going for a bit more. I'll order the PS3 cables. Thanks.
I already switched my other two PS2s to the PS3 component cables after my old ones wore out. I am adding a few more consoles to my home network because me and some friends are going to play SOCOM LAN soon.