 PlayStation 2: Three Years Old
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Whether we were customers or employees at various game stores around the continent, the PS2 launch was something that reached unforgettable levels of hype. Hell, it got so much attention with the mainstream press that it was very hard to escape it during the Christmas season. Of course, we all had our reasons for liking or not liking Sony's machine. Whether it was because we were satisfied with our Dreamcasts or because of the somewhat pitiful lineup of launch titles available, we all remember at least one thing about the system's launch. The following are a couple of testimonials from the TNL staff about our initial impressions of the system when it first launched, and what games were able to sway our opinion of the system one way or another. We've also included each editor's top 5 PS2 games, for the morbidly curious I remember the morning of October 26, 2000 very well. That was the day I wasn't going to bother getting a PS2. As I drove to work along the freeway, I looked down across the side of the overpass to the Best Buy that I cruised by every morning. I'd been expecting to see a long line waiting outside the door, and I wasn't disappointed. It stretched clear around the entire length of the store. "There's going to be some sleepy folks going home empty-handed today," I thought. I was feeling pretty smug because I'd done my homework on the PS2, and decided there was no rush to get one at launch for the following reasons:
The lackluster games released over the first year supported my decision, and I honestly didn't regret not buying one at all during that time. The first PS2 game that really turned things around for me was Grand Theft Auto III, about a year after the console had been out. Once I played that, I knew that it was "the next big thing" in games, a real generation-definer that I was missing out on. Still, I waited until the price drop during E3 2002 to get the system.
So would I buy the PlayStation 3 at launch? Hmm... That depends, but I'd better decide far in advance. After all, I hear they're already lining up at Best Buy! Teddman's Top 5 PS2 Games
I was really excited about the PS2, even going so far as buying SSX and Madden 2001 2 days before launch, just so I had them to look at and drool over. That excitement lasted just about as long as it took me to realize that a) the graphics weren't anything like Sony had led me to believe they would be, and b) SSX and Madden would be all I would want to play on the system for a long time to come. Thankfully, some good games finally came out for it, and even though they're all ugly, I've gotten my 300 dollars worth out of the system, finally. AFX's Top 5 PS2 Games
At the time of the PS2's launch, I was working at Microplay (Canada's EB, basically). It was a pretty crazy period since everyone in my town was getting excited over the system's launch. Unfortunately, since we were a small franchise, we didn't have the pull that the big Wal-Marts or Future Shops did. We got a total of three systems for launch, and god knows how many games. It was so bad at launch that we were actually losing close to $40 per system because of all the hype. Despite the hype surrounding the system, I wasn't very impressed with it when I first saw Tekken Tag Tournament running on the system during E3 2000. I remember walking into a game store that had the game running, and it wasn't looking good at all. Granted it was the JPN version of the game, and hindsight has shown that the US version is vastly superior, but you know what they say about first impressions, right?
Since then the system has become one of my favourites, despite getting the GameCube first. What surprises me most about the system is the quality of the first party games. We all think that Nintendo is superior when it comes to games, but SCEA has shown that they aren't that shabby either. Titles like War of the Monsters, Mark of Kri and ICO have shown that Sony is more than capable of delivering quality titles at a rate that's far more frequent than Nintendo has been as of late. Reno's Top 5 PS2 Games
Bought mine in April 2001, and to this day has had no problem contradictory to what many people claim. Good system, good games, nothing I'd really want different in the system except for maybe having those expansion slots filled from the get-go. I know I'm not one to pad my opinions with words, but for what it's worth that's what I think of the PS2! cka's Top 5 PS2 Games I got my PS2 in March (yeah, the Japanese one) and waited for and then played Tekken 3 for all of 15 minutes and proceeded to wait for software, and wait, and wait, and wait. The Bouncer, Driving Emotion Type S, Scandal... Blech. Victorious Boxers was the first to really stand out, as it came out of nowhere and wasn't an overhyped piece of trash. Gran Turismo was never my thing. I was disappointed. I was even more disappointed that this piece of crap was going to instantly slay the Dreamcast on name alone - and it did. The DC had better games, better quality software, and a huge head start. It didn't matter. The PS2 took a year or two to really get going and Ring of Red started to change my views on the system. Haohmaru's Top 5 PS2 Games
When I consider the life of the PlayStation 2 and what it's brought to gaming in the past three years, I don't even think of the lackluster launch library. The fact that my PS2, along with many others, is currently shelved because it won't play games doesn't taint my memory, either. What do I think of when I look back on the past three years? Sony dominance. Nevermind the bad, because it doesn't matter. What matters is that in the last three years, Sony has extended their empire past the reach of the PSOne. With just a one-year headstart, Sony has sold more than double what Microsoft and Nintendo have...combined. Sony hasn't reached this dominance simply with their marketing muscle, either. They've done a better job than anyone else at getting quality games - that people want to play - exclusively on their system. Metal Gear Solid 2 (initially), Devil May Cry, Zone of the Enders, Gran Turismo, Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto, and Virtua Fighter are all solid titles with demand (throwing in Tomb Raider was a joke). What's surprised me the most, though, is that Sony themselves have stepped up to develop some fine games for the PlayStation 2.
Consider also games like War of the Monsters, SOCOM, Twisted Metal: Black, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, et al, and compare the line-up against Microsoft's and Nintendo's. Sony's got its big-name exclusives through third parties, and keeps us entertained in the meantime with their own awesome efforts. Microsoft may have Halo once every couple years, and Nintendo's got Wind Waker... but what's there between the big guns? Not much compared to Sony, and I think that's why PlayStation 2, three years after it's launch, is sixty million units strong worldwide. Mark Ryan's Top 5 PS2 Games
I wish I could say I remember the PS2 launch like it was yesterday. What I do recall are a few gamers who expressed similar stories - standing outside of their local retail shops just so they could be one of the first to pick up a unit. Quite fanatical if you ask me...(you'll never find me doing anything like that for a console or game. Now feature films on the other hand...)
Eventually I began to develop a mild sense of envy and desire as publishers shipped a few review copies of their respective first-generation titles. Here I was - staring at these games that I couldn't play. I tried to ignore the temptation, but as the PS2 library began to improve (not to mention the editorial obligation I set out to fulfill), I finally caved in (fortunately, I've had no regrets). Bahn's Top 5 PS2 Games
Where was I during the PS2 launch? At home, playing my Dreamcast, and basically not caring much either way about what the PS2 had to offer at the time. Now that we're three years into the system's reign at the top of the console heap, I still find myself only mildly disposed to it and its admittedly attractive library of games. Surely I jest, right? I mean, there's no way I could overlook such head-turning titles like Grand Theft Auto 3, Final Fantasy X, and Metal Gear Solid 2 (which sucked, sucked, and REALLY sucked, respectively). 'Fraid so, little ones. But that doesn't mean I don't turn to the system every so often to enjoy the occasional marathon of WWE Smackdown!: Shut Your Mouth, or Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution. And although I still haven't gotten much use of the system personally, the numbers have people like myself clearly in the minority. So rejoice, PS2 fans. This is your day to shine. Or something syrupy like that. Now, back to the periphery with me! soakrates' Top 5 PS2 Games
Ren's Top 5 PS2 Games I remember October 26th, 2000 like a well-read narrative. Oh yes, it was a cold day in California, well, as cold as cold gets around here. The birds were chirping; on second thought, I was heading out to Lakewood Mall - birds flee at its sight. So maybe I don't remember it like it was yesterday, sue me. I do remember hitting up GameStop the hour it opened though and waltzing straight up to the front of the line. Pre-ordering gives you that sense of purpose and power. Seeing the kid across the counter I nonchalantly requested what I came for: "Did you get it?" And with that I drove home with a brand new copy of Majora's Mask under my arm. What, you thought I bought a PS2?! For 300 bucks? When there was Tekken Tag and... uh, Tekken Tag? Get real. That isn't to say the monolith hasn't come into its own. With the largest user base, the largest library, and quickly becoming synonomous with the term videogames (Nintend-who? Micro-what?), the Playstation 2 has aged well. Hero's Top 5 PS2 Games
When the PS2 first launched I wasn't going to buy it, it simply didn't impress me. In fact I was happy with the PSOne and Dreamcast. So for a I waited about 6 - 8 months before getting one. I think it was the announcement that MGS2 was coming out sold me initially. No games I wanted were out, but what truly sold me was the backwards compatibility. My PSOne had officially died, and there were still a ton of PSOne games I wanted to get. (eBay baby!) Nothing impressed me at first except for 2 games, Fifa 2001 and Onimusha. For about 6 months that's all I had and I just kept concentrating on playing the old games like Silent Hill. I bought a few more games from then on, mostly action titles like Devil May Cry, but not many. Most of the games that came out didn't last very long and the overhyped games were well, overhyped.
Nercm's Top 5 PS2 Games
When the PS2 launched it was just another system that I had to buy. It felt like a necessity, but nothing that I was real excited about. Perhaps the Sony hype machine sucked the fun out of it. Perhaps I preferred rooting for the underdog, the Dreamcast at the time. I enjoy playing the great games in it's library, but I feel that for the most part it's a poorly designed and unreliable system. In short, I own one because I have to in order to play all of the games I want to play. It's fun, but it's certainly not my favorite. PBMax's Top 5 PS2 Games
What I remember predominantly is the pre-launch and first year of the PS2. I was called insane when I dared say that Sony´s tech demos (the duck in water, old man face, etc.) werent all that impresive. I was blasted left and right and called a delusional Sega fanboy when I said the PS2 was evolutionary better then the Dreamcast and definitely not generational leaps ahead as was claimed. People said I was crazy when I dared sugest that the GameCube would be at least comparable technologicaly and that the XBox would be considerably more powerful (technically) then the PS2. When the system finaly launched people tried to convince me that the crud released and coming soon would kicked the crap out of whatever was available on Dreamcast and that soon the 75 million polygon power would show itself once developers started to get experience with the system. Call me a bitter old asshole if you want but I do believe that the PS2 rode the popularity of the PSOne and has very little merit on its own. It was popular from the outset because of the PSOne and the brilliant hype it managed to generate. On its own, if it came from any other company and launched with the same software in its first year the machine would have been dead in the water. Ali's Top 5 PS2 Games
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But what a difference in opinion I have nowadays. The PlayStation 2 has slowly become my most played current-gen console. I absolutely love that I can play old PSOne games on it; in fact I probably use it for that purpose just as much as I do to play PS2 games. And eventually it did distinguish itself from the DC once developers learned to code for its hardware strengths in different areas. The software has improved dramatically since the first year, and there's no disputing that it has the largest sheer number of quality games.
As the months went on, I was still sticking with my Dreamcast, no matter what. It had the games I loved, and with the exception of SSX, Madden and Onimusha, there was nothing on the PS2 that I wanted. In fact, I didn't even pick up a PS2 until just recently. The game that convinced me to make the purchase? Virtua Fighter 4. I had been playing the game forever in the arcade, so I definitely wanted to get the game when it came out on the PS2. Luckily for me, I don't feel like I missed out on too many good games early on. Once I got VF4 and my PS2, I went back and picked up Final Fantasy X, and I was set.
A healthy chunk of my PS2 library is Sony-published, and two of my top five games for the system have come from their development studios. Mark of Kri earned praise from just about everyone that played it for its awesome artistic style (and for the axe, of course). And SCEE's The Getaway, for me, was a great example of the direction games may take soon. With its hardcore story-driven gameflow, and completely cohesive design that held me firmly within the game's world, The Getaway really impressed me.
Much like Haohmaru, I wasn't too thrilled with the fact Dreamcast would soon be dismissed in favor of a bolder system supported by the company previously recognized as the founder of the Walkman. But all good things must come to an end, and at least I would finally have a personal DVD player!
Ah, the launch of the PS2. I was determined to get one the second I heard about it. I had been a huge PS1 fan, so of course I had to buy its successor. There weren't a whole lot of games out when it first launched, so I bought DOA2 (pretty good fighting game at the time) and played Tekken Tag and Timesplitters at my buddy's house. I was impressed by the system in every way, though the lack of launch titles was frustrating for a while. I also rushed out to rent DVDs now that I finally owned a "DVD player". Well, a few years later, it is no longer a DVD player. Not a good one, anyway. Luckily, my computer can play DVDs, so I'm not completely stranded. Aside from that, my ol' PS2 is still in good shape.
Then that's when I heard the news that VF4 was coming. I waited for what felt like years for it to come out. I bought and beat Final Fantasy 9 just so I could distract myself from going into convulsions. I still don't play games as much as most of you guys, but there were a few things that I liked about the PS2.....the network adapter is a big improvement. Playing football online is the greatest! (against your actual friends, not cheeseballs who care about winning only and exploiting AI weaknesses). I am still getting the old games that people are praising are the best: Castlevania: SOTN, and Final Fantasy Tactics are next on the list. The only thing I wish they could have done better was a better job with the "enhancing" of graphics for the PSX games. It would've been better if they improved the quality of the graphics to what Bleem did back in the day, but that's a minor issue.
