Support NeoGAF

[Zero7]

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Japanese launch of thr best selling and ome of the greatest consoles of all time, the ol mighty PlayStation 2.

From the start the PS2 had some of the greatest games of it's time. Ridge Racer v, Tekken Tag Tournament. Then along came other amazing games, like GT3, GTA3, MGS2 the list goes on.

The PS2 also sparked the DVD market to become the sucess it is amd offered full BC with all PS1 games and accessories.

It also seen off all its big and more powerful competitors like the Xbox and Gamecube. Even forcing Sega to quit consoles altogether

I never had a dull moment with the PS2 it deserves the legacy it still has

Happy birthday you black box of awesomeness

 

[Elektro Demon]

Happy birthday console of my childhood.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

No joke, I played my PS2 more than my PS4 in 2019. Amazing system that will never die.

 

[DGrayson]

PS2 thin was such an amazing looking console.

 

[Woodchipper]

Long live the King!

I will never forget when I first saw MGS2 gameplay on some gaming TV show back in the day. I must’ve been 11 or 12 and my jaw was literally on the floor.

 

[Fake]

Hail to the king.

 

[Saber]

Still dream about Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2. Used to play this game a lot.

 

[Naibel]

No joke, I played my PS2 more than my PS4 in 2019. Amazing system that will never die.

Same lol ! The PS2 is my favorite Playstation system by far, and I simply enjoy playing its games more than a lot of the modern ones. No system updates, no installation, no DLC, everything's onto the disc and it's just quicker to jump in and have fun.

And also, in terms of graphics, many of those games have aged exceptionally well. To think they're approaching the 20 year mark is nothing short of astonishing !

For example, MGS2, ZOE 2, Silent Hill 3 (those facial animations were gorgeous back then), Burnout 3/Revenge, Gradius V, Gran Turismo 3/4 and SMT : Nocturne held up surprisingly well. And guess what, they are great-playing games too ! I regret sleeping on many of those titles, simply because I was a lot more into GameCube at the time.

Happy birthday to that big black monolith of greatness. 20 years... Damn, I feel old...

PS : I love how low-key the Japanese PS2 launch ads were. Simple slice-of-life moments, showing people's excitement over Sony's new machine. They should do more of them for PS5.

 

[DelireMan7]

My first "modern" console. (My last console was the MegaDrive)

Got it as a teenage, for Metal Gear Solid 2...

Then Metal Gear Solid 3, Final Fantasy X/X-2, Guilty Gear X/X2, Devil May Cry 1/3, Guitar Hero, Dragon Ball : Budokai... So many hours went on these and many others

 

[ZywyPL]

PS2 thin was the best looking console.

Fixed for accuracy


It's not a coincidence it's the best selling console of all times, it was simply the best console of all times - the tech, the looks, and the damn games, that was Sony at their peak. It actually feels like a bad joke that PS4 is catching it up in global lifetime sales, it's basically a low-end PC with 4-5 TPP games...

 

[DGrayson]

Fixed for accuracy

Fuck I love how the Dreamcast looked though.

 

[Deleted member 774430]

PS2 thin was such an amazing looking console.

I don't know if both me and my brother weren't as careful enough as kids or if the console itself was just extremely fragile (i think there's truth on both) but that optical disk drive worked like 20% of the times.

 

[DonF]

THE GOAT

Happy birthday, I can only hope we get another generation as great as the ps2 gen. Lots of genres, lots of great games, creativity, risks...

 

[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]

I'm still buying ps2 games in 2020. I guess it only shows how stellar is its library, even today.

Happy 20th birthday PS2.

 

[Shin]

Not even PlayStation Japan gives a flying fuck, that's some shit.
Players and the media are remembering the legendary console though.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Not even PlayStation Japan gives a flying fuck, that's some shit.
Players and the media are remembering the legendary console though.

PS5 b.c. with PS2 confirmed to be excluded.

 

[Robot Carnival]

I still have my PS2 somewhere at home. best console of it's gen.

 

[Shin]

I still have my PS2 somewhere

Lucky you, the worst thing that could have happen to mine did.
There were more memories and nostalgia related to mine than any other console.
My idiotic parents gave it away or something, I have some of the games still but the console and joypads are nowhere to be found.

 

[synchronicity]

I still have a sealed PS2. I loved the console so much that I wanted to keep one as a pristine collectible, so I bought another one late in the consoles life.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

If you don't have a modded phat PS2 with a massive IDE drive inside loaded with your favorites I don't know what else to tell ya.

 

[Captain Hero]

WHAT A CONSOLE , GREAT GAMES GREAT TIME LOVELY DAYS

 

[Werewolf Jones]

I blew the dust off mine last night. You're taking me through all three Xenosaga episodes and SMT Nocturne soon.

 

[Poop!]

Fun fact: the launch PS2 didn't have the DVD drivers on the internal hardware, they were on a memory card so every launch unit came on with a memory card for this reason. Once the DVD drivers were added to the internal BIOS then the memory cards were not included.

Fun fact: The PS2 launch unit did not have an empty bay for a HDD. If you wanted to use the HDD on a launch unit, you were forced to buy an external one.

Fun fact: Tekken Tag Tournament was *not* a launch game. The best launch launch game was Ridge Racer 5

 

[Azelover]

That was an epic moment!

Almost a million units in a single day.. first time that ever happened!

Happy birthday sexy shoe box!

 

[Tarin02543]

I'm using mine solely to play SoTn.

 

[Eimran]

The King of consoles!
No console in history will ever do what this absolute beast did.

 

[EverydayBeast]

PS2 was a HUGE win for SONY.

 

[IbizaPocholo]