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

Is it possible the PS2 is the worst PlayStation console?

I like it more than the PS3 but I'll say that the PS2 is one of my least revisited "retro" consoles right now. Like the PS1 much more, personally.

Not counting the PSP and Vita btw.
 
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- \

You do realize that perhaps they just prefer the Dreamcast's library of games and that's why they're a DC fan over a PS2 one? It doesn't have to be tied to hardware power.

Also, even tho PS2 did beat DC on most technical merits, DC produced a much better video output quality, especially on hi-def monitors, and seemed to be better at saturated colors. Not to mention having a much better mip-mapping feature. So it's not a complete blowout in comparison to PS2.

In fact, it's similar to how PS2 had a monstrous fillrate for particle effects that gen even the GC and Xbox couldn't match, which is part of the reason games like ZOE never got Xbox ports.

That gen is a bit easier to discern which systems are more capable than the other compared to the previous 5th gen, but it's still not a clear-cut thing.
 
Does it really matter? I just don't get why you would think of an old console like this. There are maybe one or two Famicom games I would consider playing again, but that doesn't mean I think the Famicom is the worst console.



It seems like "Am I the only one who..." threads have replaced the old favorite "Has X gone too far?"

I really hate topic that are worded just like that. At least TC started off with is it possible.
 
05933c74382826fd0b590f677bbe36a9.gif


OP's going to be shamed for all of eternity.
 
Considering that my favorite genre is (J)RPG, PS3 is by far the worst of the first three. PS1 slightly edges over PS2 for me though.

For me it's in order:

1. PS1
2. PS2
3. PS3

Too early to say where PS4 will land.

Considering things like FFVII Remake, DQXI, KH3 and Ys 8, PS4 is steadily surpassing PS3 already.
 
PS1 and the PS2 are even for me

after that comes the Ps3


I mean Games like Kingdom Hearts, FFX and FF12, MGS 3, GTA San Andreas, Dragon Quest 8, Jak & Daxter, the best gran turismo games, Need for Speed, DMC

No way....No man...no



I think the Ps4 will easily surpass the PS3, since it brings back so many big Japano Games, while also bringing out those First Party AAA Games
 
The OP may have a point in that most of the best PS2 games have been ported to PSN. In contrast the PSX has a lot of rare hidden gems not avaliable to purchase via online store (Thousand Arms) while the PS3 is still relatively new to the point that a lot of its best titles haven't been ported (Demon's Souls). If we rank the systems by their debut than yeah the PS2 is hard to beat. There is a reason why so many of its games have been ported to other devices.
 
Eh, considering the width and the breadth of the PS2 library I can't see how it could be possible to state PS2 being the worst Sony console. PS1 will always be dear to my heart but PS2 is close (and I love PS3 as well). If anything PS4 is iffy since Japan seemingly is bringing most things to PC now, all the Western stuff goes to PC, so you only have a few Sony exclusives left.

So PS1 -> PS2 -> PS3=Dreamcast (as a surprise contender :p).
 
PS1 was my formative Playstation console, given that it released when I was finishing up middle school and was my main console through high school. However, I'd probably rank the Sony systems as:

PS2 > PS1 > PS3

PS1 had better JRPGs for my money, but PS2 killed it in a lot of other genres.

I can play like 90% of the PS3's western games on PC with much better performance. I don't think it is controversial to suggest that Japan's non-Nintendo output last generation wasn't really up to snuff to that of the PS2 generation. As such, PS3 is the weakest of the three, even though I liked it as well.
 
I'll try to take this on from a few angles.

Its game library is the best of all, and it had full BC. The games still stand up by modern standards in many cases; not so with PS1.

The visuals have aged... not well... but a few games like MGS2 do still look good. Moreover, PS1 games have aged awfully in graphics.

DVD player. Sweet media feature. PS3 wins as a great Blu-Ray player and app box. PS1 loses.

PS2 may have had the worst combination of difficulty of development and resulting graphical fidelity. Poor ROI for developer effort. It also was probably the worst built in terms of reliability. PS3 was a pain for developers too but could be harnessed to outdo its simpler competition. PS2, hardly so.

Overall... I don't think so. That last paragraph does hurt but not enough. PS2 is a great device. Admittedly, a lot of that had to do with things other than its actual physical specs.
 
I'll try to take this on from a few angles.

Its game library is the best of all, and it had full BC. The games still stand up by modern standards in many cases; not so with PS1.

The visuals have aged... not well... but a few games like MGS2 do still look good. Moreover, PS1 games have aged awfully in graphics.

DVD player. Sweet media feature. PS3 wins as a great Blu-Ray player and app box. PS1 loses.

PS2 may have had the worst combination of difficulty of development and resulting graphical fidelity. Poor ROI for developer effort. It also was probably the worst built in terms of reliability. PS3 was a pain but could be harnessed to outdo it's simpler competition. PS2, hardly so.

Overall... I don't think so. That last paragraph does hurt, but not enough. PS2 is a great device.

IIRC, while PS2 was VERY good w/ BC, I think that it did have some oversights. I could of course be entirely wrong.
 
IIRC, while PS2 was VERY good w/ BC, I think that it did have some oversights. I could of course be entirely wrong.

Well, it had hardware BC. So it was a 99.9% type thing. There were some corner cases I've heard of, but all in all not a concern for the most part. At least in my experience and from what I recall.
 
Only thing I hate about the PS2 is that most of it's games are in 480i, and it's a pain to record games since interlacing looks nasty in motion so I have to deinterlace all but the 480p games, and it's hard to record in 60FPS as well so it's the worst PS console to record games from. Even recording PS1 games isn't as difficult due to 240p being easy to do with my capture card.

But worst PS console ever, oh hell no, it's the best one.
 
I prefer PS1, but PS2 was a great console. Both are easily superior to PS3, in my opinion, in terms of quality and quantity of games, especially when it comes to Japanese titles.

Put it this way: I bought the PS3 as a matter of course after PS2, while PS3 helped me reconsider PlayStation and ultimately decide that PC/Nintendo is the way I am going to go until something special (and exclusive/only on non-Nintendo consoles) inspires me to get a PS4/5/6 (or alternatively an Xbox).
 
The worst thing about the PS2 is not having a clean progressive picture for all its games. You can play an original Xbox game now in progressive mode and the picture holds up well. The PS2 doesn't.

Everything else though, from game variety to game library etc, as street fighter 2 puts it best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3F1wgG70Qw
 
It was the best for me. It had nearly full BC with all Ps1 games so it technically had the library of both in 1. Even with PS3 still getting Persona 5, it won't compare.

PS4 will surpass PS3 easily when everything is said and done, but it's BC is shaky right now. We'll see what it can do, it's still got a few years ahead of it.
 
In your own little world, it is.

PS2 is clearly the best. PS1 is slightly behind. I wasn't around for the PS3 generation, but that one is not as good as the first two.

Jury is out on PS4, but it has the potential to eclipse the PS1 at least. PS2 will be very hard for anybody to match.
 
If we are talking purely about exclusives, then maybe. If not, then it's pretty unlikely.

Regardless, the PS1, PS2 and PS3 all have fantastic libraries.
 
I mean, it's your opinion, but it's an opinion I could never share. PS2 hosts so many of my favourite games, including the JRPG golden era.

No. JRPG golden era belong clearly to PSX... soooo many games:

- Suikoden II
- Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX
- Chrono Cross
- Xenogears
- Vagrant Story

And a lot more.

For me, PSX was BY FAR the best PlayStation console, with many of the greatest games on history... then, personally, I enjoyed PS3 more than PS2 with titles like The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted saga or Mass Effect saga.
 
I'm done.

Imo the PS3 is the weakest. Many of the exclusives and jrpgs from the PS1 and PS2 era either didn't come to PS3, weren't exclusive to PS3 anymore, never got released, or were much weaker entires.

For example, FFXIII trilogy was a huge drop off and no longer exclusive to PS.

Agent, TLG, and FF Versus XIII never got released for it.
 
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.
When PS2 graphics become "quaint" and there so bad (comparitively) that you don't mind going back to them, I'm betting this will chance. PS2 has some excellent gems. Tons of 'em. Gems that have yet to be replicated or repeated.

Especially if you like action-adventure, fighting games, or RPG, PS2 is essential.
 
Not only not the worst Playstation console, but arguably the best console of all time. A broad and deep library of classic games, from an era where the medium-budget AA level game (something like Katamari Damacy, for example) had a place. If I was only allowed to have one console and its games for the rest of my life, PS2 wins hands down.

PS3 on the other hand....
 
Not only not the worst Playstation console, but arguably the best console of all time. A broad and deep library of classic games, from an era where the medium-budget AA level game (something like Katamari Damacy, for example) had a place. If I was only allowed to have one console and its games for the rest of my life, PS2 wins hands down.

PS3 on the other hand....

PS3 was the worst of the three play stations but still has a great library.
 
No. JRPG golden era belong clearly to PSX... soooo many games:

- Suikoden II
- Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX
- Chrono Cross
- Xenogears
- Vagrant Story

And a lot more.

For me, PSX was BY FAR the best PlayStation console, with many of the greatest games on history... then, personally, I enjoyed PS3 more than PS2 with titles like The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted saga or Mass Effect saga.

Very much agreed. I feel that while the PS2 had the best overall library, it'd be reasonable to argue that the PSX had the best JRPG library of all time.
 
Very much agreed. I feel that while the PS2 had the best overall library, it'd be reasonable to argue that the PSX had the best JRPG library of all time.

Agreed. People tend to argue between the SNES and PS1 for that (personally I'm in the PS1 camp), with the PS2 being an also-ran at best.

I think that people tend to overrate the PS2's JRPG library just because the consoles that came after were and are so limited in that genre. The PS2 was the last console where there was a large JRPG library, while later ones have more/better known WRPGs.
 
PS2 likely wont ever be topped for best Playstation and one of the best consoles period.

Its early, but PS4 is easily the worst so far - must-play exclusive game selection is nearly non existent. PS3 was pretty bad too due to one of the worst controllers ever made - MGS4, Demons, Valkyrie, and the PSN classics make up for it. That said neither come anywhere close to PS2.
 
Playstation 2 probably had one of the most expansive libraries before maybe the Wii. Hidden gems scattered everywhere. It was an evolution of the smorgasbord of games that were garnered on the ps1. Either you taste were too strict or you didn't experiment to say it was the worst in that aspect.
 
FFX
FF12
KH 1 +2
DMC 1 + 3
Shinobi
Tenchu Wrath of Heaven
Persona 3 + 4
Digital Devil Saga
SMT Nocturne
Devil Summoner
Mercenaries
Gun
God of War 1 and 2
GTA 3, VC, SA
Ratchet and Clank
Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3
Don't care for all of these games except the bolded. God of War 1 was OK at the time but nothing that I'd ever care to revisit (and it helped popularize awful tropes like QTEs).

Come on, I agree with the OP but I could still come up with a better list... xD FF12 and Shinobi, barf.
 
Top Bottom