There's no other way to describe it: PlayStation 2 was an absolute beast. Sony followed up the popular (and industry-changing) PlayStation with a more capable console in the year 2000, and little did we know it would go on to become the best-selling gaming machine ever. It's a record the PS2 holds to this day, having amassed sales of over 150 million units during its lifetime. This week represents the 20th anniversary of PS2's debut in North America, and it has us looking back very fondly on the legendary hardware.
The most important reason the world loves the PS2? Its unrivalled and enormous catalogue of games. Though things started slowly on that front, the system would go on to become a mecca for all kinds of software. Many of the most iconic games we think about today got started on PS2. The Metal Gear Solid series continued to wow fans with Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater; Grand Theft Auto exploded in popularity with 3D, open world sandboxes like Vice City and San Andreas; and Sony would introduce some of its most enduring and beloved franchises, such as Ratchet & Clank and God of War. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. We could fill this article with a list of the best PS2 games, and we wouldn't be able to move for all the stone cold classics.
Another part of PS2's success was its flexibility. This was a machine that was capable of more than just running PS2 titles. From the start, it was backwards compatible with PS1, meaning all your favourites were instantly accessible on the newfangled console. More than that, though, it doubled up as an affordable DVD player, marking the beginning of the all-in-one entertainment box. Sony would later innovate with things like the EyeToy, which was basically Kinect before Kinect, and online play allowed you to play select titles over the wires.
Despite heavy competition from Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox, the PS2 prevailed, and has gone down in history as one of the greatest consoles. That epic software lineup and unparalleled sales mean most of you will have a story or two to tell about the machine. As we celebrate its 20th anniversary, what are your best memories of PS2? What were your favourite games? Do you still have one hooked up in your home? Answer our polls, and let's all raise a glass in the comments section below.
Comments 39
Same age as the PS2! I do love the library, a whole lot of classics there. I have fonder memories of the Cube but I played a lot of greats on the PS2 as well.
Happy 20th Birthday PlayStation 2! I have so many gaming memories and nostalgia from PS2. I still have a PS2 Slim even now, truly one of the greatest consoles ever made.
I was a GameCube kid but I really did envy my PS2 friends! Haha Dark Alliance 2 never coming to GameCube caused me to buy a PS2 on eBay a few years ago haha. Now I get to enjoy all those classics!
God of war started on ps2.i use to l🖤ve the movie classic of the Titans from 1981.and i use to say wish we had a video game like that.and god of war was it for me.kratos is the g.o.a.t.grand theft auto vice city.gta 3.gta san andreas.bully.manhunt.sly cooper.etc ps2 is legendary.word up son
Still the best console ever, simply because of the game library. The PS4 is looking a close second or even contender right now, but for me the PS2 still edges it.
Clash of the titans is a big reason why i l🖤ve ps2.the library of games.best selling system ever.makes the PlayStation the best ever.word up son
@JapaneseSonic I'm kinda the same. Way too much going on at that time in my life to commit any real time to it, though I did own one. Military service, new wife, new baby... I probably played like 5 games tops.
I didn't get it day 1 but when I did buy it I couldn't breathe when i was opening the box because I was that excited for it I will never forget that day to and it still works my original fat PS2 What a console!!!
My favorite console. Even if it did kill the Dreamcast I was having so much fun with.
Purcahsed when and for FFX. I think the system may have even gone on sale right about then as well.
Then like an idiot I traded it in and now I have a bunch of PS2 discs I can't play. Really regret that now. Almost as much as trading in my Xenogears game.
But yeah, PS2 had the 3D platformers galore, enough JRPG, and the graphics really were a huge leap from PS1. The last great advancement in gaming I still say.
Never had one, I remember really wanting original PlayStation as a kid but unfortunatelly we hadn’t that much spare money for some gaming console and games. I played on PC during PS2 era and later kinda stopped playing at all. I really enjoyed playing NHL with my brother, father and uncle on PC, we had tournaments, seasons, etc. My uncle even built a really robust excell sheet where we imported all stats from each game. Man those were great times. At one point EA stopped releasing NHL for PCs. So after some time we decided to buy a console for Xmas so we could play again. I was tasked to choose which one - XboX 360 or PS3. Went for PS3 because I always wanted to play this one game called Uncharted. And the rest is history, I have been a proud member of PlayStation Nation ever since.
The PS2 was basically the peak of video game consoles in my opinion. I do love systems like GameCube, PS4 and Switch but the PS2's library by home console standards was the very essence of "something for everyone". As an avid RPG player, the selection of games to choose from that library was immaculate, including obviously Final Fantasy X-XII, not to mention it being backwards compatible with PS1 games out of the box, as well as functioning as a makeshift DVD player, a function that I still use on current PlayStations when watching movies with my family today.
I may have owned an Xbox during the PS2's heyday, but when I eventually got around to experiencing those games, I can easily say it's probably my favorite game console of all time.
Battlefront II was my childhood.
@rjejr Yeah the one negative with the PS2 was that it killed another amazing console in the process lmao
The Dreamcast is honestly way better than people give it credit for.
What a machine..................I Believe the Spanish were told it was the cheapest way to get hold of a DVD player...................one highlight for me the amazing Final Fantasy XII.
Used to play the ps2 at my cousin’s place. I had a gamecube and xbox. Tho I’ve now owned 5 ps2’s and gave away 3 of them to friends. Also bought a dreamcast which is by far my favorite gen 6 console.
@TheFrenchiestFry The Dreamcast had it all before any other console - built in online, web browser, go anywhere and play VMU, next gen graphics which I can still play today w/o wanting to poke my eyes out, a motion controlled fishing pole controller for the best fishing game ever Sega Marine Fishing, a rumble pack that it stole from N64 but also doubled as a memory card.
Still have mine hooked up, but for most people it's simply forgotten, like the PSP go. But it was first in a lot of ways.
@rjejr Dreamcast's exclusives were also pretty game changing at the time. Shenmue was one of the key pioneers of cinematic storytelling in gaming alongside titles like FFVII and MGS1, and the console was flat out amazing in terms of fighting games as they ended up being extremely accurate to their arcade versions like SFIII 3rd Strike and MvC2
I personally have a PSP 3000 but honestly from an ergonomics standpoint I don't think I would've liked the Go that much. The thumbstick is just way too cramped in that slide-down form factor next to the extremely large d-pad and face buttons
@TheFrenchiestFry First time I played MGS was on Dreamcast w/ a Bleemcast disc. Looked really good. And of course Soul Caliber. Sonic Adventure may still be my favorite Sonic game - don't like 2D anything. But it will always be 1 of my favorites for the JRPG Skies of Arcadia and Grandia 2. Grandia 3 and Grandia dungeon crawler, whatever it was called, not so much. And my family has still never found another game like FPS 4 player Ooga Booga. Not that we've looked that hard.🤣
Good times.
Got one a year in, and it was perfect timing. Picked up the console with Gran Turismo 3 in September, then GTA3 in October, Pro Evolution Soccer in November, and then SSX Tricky, Tony Hawk 3 and Jak and Daxter for Christmas. Then in the few months after that we got Ico, Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy X.
Still finding hidden gems for this.
Affordable, probably my first DVD player, games of every genre, played PS1 games,easy to hack. I got a HDD for it, just wish it was bigger size HDD.
I would still say, Tenchu 3 is my favourite game.
I was in my first year out of college when the PS2 released. I went to Gamestop to preorder that March, and was told they were already sold out, but they let me pay in full with the promise that I'd get one on the second shipment. Well, time came and went, and I called and stopped in every week after the release, and eventually got one in March 2001, a full year after I paid for it. I was so mad that I had to work so hard to get something that I'd already paid a lot of money for. Money that I absolutely didn't have in those days. That was the one and only time I preorderd a console.
It was such a HUGE jump from the PS1. The graphics and details were such a step up, that when I was expecting the same thing with the leap to the PS3 in 2006, it was a huge letdown. The PS2 was a really solid system.
@Unlucky13 How did you predict that you'd get a PS2 next year
@TheFrenchiestFry Ha! Old age and senility setting in, I suppose, lol. Fixed.
@AJDarkstar Probably just a matter of taste, but I was never interested in anything on the Dreamcast at all. A close friend had one, and it just didn't appeal to me. On the flip side, the PS2 library was overflowing with games that I liked and wanted to play.
The first console I ever paid for with my own hard-earned money, shortly after landing my first proper job, in a supermarket.
It'll always be my favourite
I bought a PS2 slim in 2010, if I recall correctly... I had already had an X360 by that time. But there were no Fatal Frame and Forbidden Siren on the Xbox.
That PS2 slim is connected to my TV and hopefully it will work at least a few years more. Recently I bought a PS2-to-HDMI adapter just in case my next TV wouldn't have any analog component inputs.
I bought a ps2 last year, original in the box. Immaculate condition. I just wanted to have one. Such a cool looking console.
Yeah it had probably the best library of games ever and was the best console they ever had, shame that those games couldn't be on PS3 store and so on. Licenses would be an issue but licenses should be dead in the water now for old content about time licenses where brought to up date with the 21st century
Happy birthday PS2!
My father bought the system around the time Final Fantasy X was released here in europe. I was a huge Nintendo fanboy at the time (and being a dumb pre-teen kid "supporting" both was out of the question) so I sort of dismissed the system beyond whatever games my father happened to buy for it. So it wasn't until some years later when I had finally gotten over my silly fanboy self and finally started to actually see what an amazing library the system truly had, I've been doing pretty nice job collecting the games that I've missed out on that interest me but more and more hidden gems seem to pop out at every turn, a truly great system for a huge fan of RPGs such as myself, and being backwards compatible with the superb PS1 library is a huge boon as well.
I had a GameCube, PS2, and Xbox, in that order. Of the three, I sunk far more hours into my PS2 than anything else and it was a staple of my early teenage years.
I owned a PS1, but it was the PS2 that cemented me as a Playstation fan.
https://youtu.be/Laf9vpJMDjA
Happy Birthday PS2, and I’m definitely older. Good memories with Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Capcom vs SNK 2, King of Fighters, Tekken, WWE games, Street Fighter, etc. I would ask for a PS2 Mini/Classic, but it needs to be better than what the PS1 Classic turned out.
I got my full fat PS2 shortly after release. Still have it. Still use it. Mint condition. It truly was and still is something special. Oh the classics I have on this machine. It has what is still my favourite Gran Turismo... GT3. Also loved that wacky Treasure game, the one with the girl and the evil scarf. Bah I must be getting old, I forget it's name.
What a console it was, so many great games. Was around 18 when it came out, managed to get one few months after launch, remember went to town to see if any were left in stock and managed to grab the last one, so many pro evo sessions with mates drinking and smoking those were the days lol
@AJDarkstar I was a Nintendo guy for about ten years before jumping to the PS1 in 1997 for Final Fantasy and sports games. I later became obsessed with Gran Turismo too. When the PS2 came out, I was still obsessed with those types (and still am), but then I also expanded my horizons with others too. Then with the PS3, I really started getting into a lot of the other exclusives.
@TheFrenchiestFry
Exactly. Dreamcast is one of the most underrated systems of all time. I personally think based on the length, quality, and innovative things they did. Look at online, VMU, and games like Seaman, that system is one of the greatest if not #1. Now based longevity and number of quality games ps2 is definitely #1.
I didn't get a PS2 until Summer 2003 but a lot of the games were $30 or less so I was buying games like crazy during those few months off from college. Also remember Virtua Fighter 4 Evo and Silent Hill 3 releasing that summer. Loved those two.
I camped out overnight at Best Buy to get mine, the only time I've ever done that. Summoner, Madden, and SSX were my first games. Good times. Great console.
Happy 20th Anniversary PS2 ! 😀
Best console with very great games library from Sony.
"What are your best memories of PS2?"
Playing DDR on PS2, getting monsters from other disc on Monster Farm 4, playing kickboxing games from K-1.
"What were your favourite games?"
PS2
Dance Dance Revolution
Para Para Paradise
Guitar Freaks & Drummania
K-1
Final Fantasy X-2
Monster Farm 4
PS1
Dance Dance Revolution
Punky Skunk
Magical Drop 3
Pocket Fighter
Chocobo Racing
Bishi Bashi Special 1 + 2
Puzzle Bobble 2 & 3
Hello Kitty Cube Frenzy
Magical Tetris featuring Disney
Pepsiman
"Do you still have one hooked up in your home ?"
Yes, indeed. 😀
I have two PS2 machines hooked onto my TV: White PS2 Slim Japan & White swapped PS2 Fat USA.
I first wrote a massive wall of text declaring and explaining my love for the PS1 and PS2 but then I said "***** it", I'm not old enough to be babbling about my "golden age" yet lol.
To be concise: my history with Sony
Consoles with their year of acquisition
OG PS1: 2000 (sold in 2003)
Fat PS2: 2003
PS3 super slim: 2018
PS4 slim: 2019
I still have that same PS2 hooked on my good old CRT. I still used it, even though I have a ton of last gen and current gen games to play. PS2 is my gaming "rock"and it's my favorite console to collect games for.
Tap here to load 39 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...