• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Is it possible the PS2 is the worst PlayStation console?

PS1 > PS4 (if judging against the other consoles at this point in their lifecycle, including the promise of games upcoming) > PS2 > PS3

PS3 may have been great if it wasn't for the huge 2-year plus setback that the price put on it. And some would say the 10-year plus setback that the price put on Japanese console game development. It's only now, 10+ years later that companies like Square Enix are re-focusing development back to consoles.
 
I tried to ignore this thread, but I just read through it and here are my thoughts:
It seems like some new gaffers are just trying to yank on our nuts. The PS2 is quite possibly the best console ever made. We all know this. I don't even need to start naming games.
 
I've been playing PS2 for a decade, literally hundreds of games played, and I still find more games on the system.

I exhausted the supply of PS3 games in about two years.

It's no contest. The PS2's library of good games is so vast, you could play on it for the rest of your life. There's so many games you've never heard of that are fantastic experiences.
 
PS3 has the weakest PS library, IMO. I've owned and thoroughly enjoyed every PS console, but looking back, I think PS3 library was the one that impressed me the least.

I mean, it's still great, but PS1/2 were just chock full of amazing stuff, and my favorite genre of games (JRPGs) didn't get nearly the representation or quality last generation that it had previously.
 
PS3 has the weakest PS library, IMO. I've owned and thoroughly enjoyed every PS console, but looking back, I think PS3 library was the one that impressed me the least.

I mean, it's still great, but PS1/2 were just chock full of amazing stuff, and my favorite genre of games (JRPGs) didn't get nearly the representation or quality last generation that it had previously.

I feel like only people who were never really into Japanese games could possibly disagree with the PS3 being the weakest in terms of library. Such a sad generation for Japanese stuff.

PS4 is looking decent in that regard but The PS1 and PS2 were fucking loaded.
 
Hmmm, off the top of my head:

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Midnight Club
Grand Theft Auto III
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
SOCOM II
SOCOM III
SSX
Smuggler's Run
Driver 2
Need for Speend Underground
Tony Hawk Pro Skater Underground

I could keep going. Yup, easily the WORST console ever.
 
PS1 > PS4 (if judging against the other consoles at this point in their lifecycle, including the promise of games upcoming) > PS2 > PS3

PS3 may have been great if it wasn't for the huge 2-year plus setback that the price put on it. And some would say the 10-year plus setback that the price put on Japanese console game development. It's only now, 10+ years later that companies like Square Enix are re-focusing development back to consoles.
Tabris pls
 
FMYuXfw.gif
 
OP, is your lone argument as to why the PS2 is the worst console because it had no games you wanted to play more than once?


That's what I got out of it..that seems kinda, weird, to discount the entire console because of that...Didn't it have games you simply wanted to play once? That isn't important?
 
I stated it already.

It was the weakest, it was the hardest to program for, it actually had a pretty bad failure rate if i recall correctly, and the online was gimped. I remember it selling people on that "emotion" engine, which really was all fucking hype because no games ended up looking like that.

It also came out of the gates kind of flat compared to the dreamcast (yes, i still get butthurt over the dreamcast). But there is no denying the console ended up providing a lot a lot a lot of games.

so wait...you claim the PS2 was the weakest system, yet claim to be a fan of the dreamcast which the PS2 blew out of the water technically.

so which is it?

It's funny, because this line of rationale comes up quite a bit. People claim the PS2 was somehow the weakest system of it's era, because it beat the tar out of sega so badly no one wants to even remember they were competitors.

edit: also re: the emotion engine- \

 
so wait...you claim the PS2 was the weakest system, yet claim to be a fan of the dreamcast which the PS2 blew out of the water technically.

so which is it?

It's funny, because this line of rationale comes up quite a bit. People claim the PS2 was somehow the weakest system of it's era, because it beat the tar out of sega so badly no one wants to even remember they were competitors.

Right, despite being weaker it had a lot going for it. But it still failed, and so i don't count it in the other argument because it was no longer an option.
That's my rationale at least.
 
Yeah, I can agree with that. I always felt like it wasn't that good of a console and I enjoyed the other PS consoles more.
 
Right, despite being weaker it had a lot going for it. But it still failed, and so i don't count it in the other argument because it was no longer an option.
That's my rationale at least.

It was an option when the PS2 released- until it wasn't anymore because the PS2 was all anyone cared about.

The DC was released one year earlier than the PS2, and there were cross platform games between the two systems. The DC was the weakest of that generation, there's no other way to spin it.
 
PS2 > psone > Vita > ps4 > PSP > PS3
How does this work?

Most of what there is to play on Vita is PS1 classics, PSP games, and gimped PS3 games. PS3 played more PS1 games, more PS2 games, and more PS3 games. PSP played more PSq games and more PSP games. PS3 has more exclusives than PS4, free online with about the same quality PSN, PS1 and PS2 classics that were actually cross compatible with classics bought on PSP or Vita, actual Vita support, not the worst UI of its generation including handhelds, and plenty of wildly successful new IP.

PS2 ≥ PS1 >>>>>>>> PS3 > PSP >>>>>>>>> PS4 >>>>> Vita >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> PSTV
 
Ok so my point isn't to say it's a bad console at all. I don't think that at all. This is to discuss PS consoles and the software that is associated with them. I'm also gonna leave the PS4 out of this discussion for now. It may be kind of easy to call the PS4 the worst at this time but it's early to make that determination. This isn't about sales either PS2 sold extremely well, coming of the heels of the very popular PS1 with a fabulous DVD player are huge factors. I'm not saying there isn't a shit ton of games on the PS2.

The reason I think the PS2 may be the worst PS console is that while there was a ton of different games, there aren't many I actually care to play again. I find the libraries of games I treasure larger on both the PS1 and PS3.

Is this a weird opinion or do a lot of people feel the same way about it?

While the PS3 probably wasn't worth buying till around 2009, it turned out being an excellent console in the end.

Edit: some people are responding as if I said all PS2 games are bad and I don't like a single one. That's not what I said. PS1 is definetly no. 1 for me. I think the PS3 may be better than PS2 as well for me.


this is such a disjointed statement that it's quite possible you may not know what it is you're trying to say.
PS2 is not "bad" under any metric. period.
 
No PS3 was the worst. Some good exclusives here and there, but most 3rd party games ran better in the 360. The PS2 also saw weaker multiplats, but had much better exclusives than the competition.
 
I'm with OP. By the time the PS2 came around 3D had ceased to be very novel and experimentation in games had declined considerably, but it also wasn't anywhere near as polished as PS3 and later systems.

There are certainly plenty of great games, but I struggle to think of many that didn't have directly comparable titles that were better on the PS1 and the genres that were sold had begun to narrow as well.
 
I never bought into the system and its offering, while I owned it I just didn't feel it made an impact imo, i went from DC to Xbox. 2 consoles that I much preferred. Might be that I've never really liked the franchises it was famous for apart from MGS.
 
If you're talking hardware and how it stacked up compared to its rivals, yes, the PS2 was a piece of shit. The Gamecube and Xbox outstripped it in power.

Games wise, it was king.
 
I still replay PS2 games all the time, and there are many I still need to play that I haven't. PS2 is the best PlayStation, and I don't see the PS4 changing that. Heck it's right up there with the SNES. Top 3 best consoles ever for sure.
 
The ps4 is the worst.
Followed by the ps3.
Yep, I second this.

PS2 - PS1 - PSP- PS3 - PS4 - Vita.

I don't think it will change either. PS2 game library was amazing. PS4 is just not clicking with me like all the other Sony home consoles. Not saying it's bad, I don't know what it is. PS3 started off slow, but steamed rolled once it got going. I'm hoping Ratchet, Gravity Rush and Persona 5 change that.

If you're talking hardware and how it stacked up compared to its rivals, yes, the PS2 was a piece of shit. The Gamecube and Xbox outstripped it in power.

Games wise, it was king.
PS2 was a piece of shit if you are speaking hardware. As I stated many times here, the Disk Read Error failure was rampant. It was just as worse as the RROD.
 
I still replay PS2 games all the time, and there are many I still need to play that I haven't. PS2 is the best PlayStation, and I don't see the PS4 changing that. Heck it's right up there with the SNES. Top 3 best consoles ever for sure.

lets be real, the PS2 kicks the shit out of the SNES and it's not close at all. the SNES had a third of the games at twice the cost.


PS2 was a piece of shit if you are speaking hardware. As I stated many times here, the Disk Read Error failure was rampant. It was just as worse as the RROD.

eh, not really. DRE could easily be fixed by the user- either by cleaning the lens (canned air, or a lens cleaner) or adjusting the lens height on the PS2 yourself. did it more than a few times on my own.

it's certainly no worse than the PS1, which inevitably all stopped working unless the user flipped them upside down to play games once the track started wearing out.
 
I know it's generally ranked the highest among the PS consoles, but PS2 is my least favourite of the four, although for personal reasons.
I'm primarily a fighting game fan and the PS2 era was when there was a huge drought of quality fighting games. Cap com and SNK games were mostly on hiatus save for some compilations and 3D spin-offs, MK was going through its experimental phase and I wasn't hugely into 3D fighters.
I'd fallen out of love with games during that period. I played FFX and XII and the GTA series but never finished any of them.
It wasn't until the PS3, SFIV and online gaming that I got back into games in a big way.

For Tekken the PS2 served us well with TTT/T4/T5, I'm sure there was a few different Virtua Fighters too

But yeah for 2D those we're dark times
 
Top Bottom