Surprised this hasn't been posted yet.
beautiful
PS2 Appreciation & Celebration Thread, long live the King!
- Thread starter Canis lupus
- Start date
beautiful
sixteen-bit
Member
I found Chaindive kinda boring. And it says a lot when Sony won't bring over one of their own first-party games to North America.
I got into the PS2 around 2004. I had finally had enough with the GC, and decided I wanted to see how the other side lived. I sold my GC and a good chunk of my games for it, for a used PS2. Loved picking up cheap used games I had missed, since I was GC only up until then, also got on board to get some big games on release. My favorite games are MGS2 and MGS3, San Andreas, Katamari Damacy, GT4, and Final Fantasy X.
Surprised this hasn't been posted yet.
2001 was such a massive, massive year for the PS2. I don't think we'll ever see the likes of that again for any console.
Riesenfass
Member
Surprised this hasn't been posted yet.
I had 4 of the games listed, and still play them pretty regularly. That was an unreal time.
LMAO! Its my bunker backlog!
I'll always have these to play when the jrpg drought is coming. They're obviously all over in iOS now these days. 
Right now I'm trying to mop up my 360 backlog before my console craps out (its awful loud these days).BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Surprised this hasn't been posted yet.
I bought almost all of those games back in the day, and they are nearly all classics.
meanspartan
Member
Just bought this old issue of OPM on ebay last week, the Ps2 launch issue. Beautiful cover:
How I miss the king. Just got PCSX2 running and am replaying Manhunt with glorious upscaling. Man, that game is SUPER similar in gameplay to the Last of Us.
How I miss the king. Just got PCSX2 running and am replaying Manhunt with glorious upscaling. Man, that game is SUPER similar in gameplay to the Last of Us.
Surprised this hasn't been posted yet.
How were you supposed compete against this?
meanspartan
Member
Jesus Christ what a lineup. Makes me sad I didn't get a Ps2 until a year later in 2002.
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
With Halo, Dead or Alive 3, and Project Gotham Racing
or with Super Smash Bros Melee, Pikmin, and Rogue Squadron II
It was just a really, really good time.
Though PS2's lineup for fall 2001 was obviously the best.
Sizeable post incoming...
Did anyone else love the Midnight Club games? I probably have more hours in this series than any other game/series on any console. I still play these regularly.
Midnight Club: Street Racing I picked up when I bought my PS2 in January 2001. I knew nothing about the game, I just knew I liked cool cars and the boxart looked interesting.
From the moment I started playing, I knew I was hooked. I had never played a racer like this before; no tracks, no walls or barriers. Just checkpoints in a huge open city. I spent _days_ just driving around, exploring every corner. It earned a permanent spot in my then small collection.
On April 9th, 2003, the sequel, Midnight Club II was released:
At first, I wasn't sure I liked the game. The difficulty felt like it had been ramped way up from the first, the cities were darker and more gritty looking, and the color options for your non-licensed ride had been greatly reduced. I actually got stuck a couple weeks in and put the game down for a week or so, only to hop on Gamefaqs and discover something I had never seen before- people were playing this game ONLINE. I rushed out to buy a network adapter, and from the very first room I joined I knew I had found something gamechanging.
Soon, a couple of the racing elite discovered another mode in the game; Capture The Flag. This caught on like wildfire and exploded in popularity; soon, multiple clans had sprung up, wars were being fought ( a race/battle could pit up to 8 players FFA or 4v4 team play) and legends were being born. In the dark corners of a few almost-forgotten message boards and IM convos, people -still- argue who the best players were. There is little debate about the top clan however- DOA, in its original lineup, was never defeated.
In summary, Midnight Club II was my first online gaming community and I still talk and game with friends I met over ten years ago racing in these dark streets. Every once in awhile, a few of us get together to relive the glory days, thanks to the servers still being operational:
I got lucky, and did pretty well one game:
In April 2005, Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition released:
And a year later, the Remix version was released, adding Tokyo from Midnight Club II and a good deal of new rides.
MC3 was a mixed bag, for me. It was the first Midnight Club game with licensed vehicles, and for a street racing game of the time, it had an unprecedented amount of cars (90 something total with the Remix version). Customization, which had been bare bones in the last two games, was featured in spades. In terms of content, it was an enormous game, dwarfing the number of cars and options featured in the last two games combined.
There were, however, some drawbacks. R* San Diego had taken some heat from the review press about MC2 being too difficult. In fact, it is widely regarded as one of the most difficult arcade racers ever made. In MC3, they attempted to remedy this somewhat by making the streets far wider and the AI more forgiving. This of course made the game more appealing to the mass market, but a lot of us hardcore guys found that it was just too easy after MC2. R* also made some changes to CTF which made the game more about speed than driving finesse.
Whew! So...any other Midnight Club fans in here?
Did anyone else love the Midnight Club games? I probably have more hours in this series than any other game/series on any console. I still play these regularly.
Midnight Club: Street Racing I picked up when I bought my PS2 in January 2001. I knew nothing about the game, I just knew I liked cool cars and the boxart looked interesting.
From the moment I started playing, I knew I was hooked. I had never played a racer like this before; no tracks, no walls or barriers. Just checkpoints in a huge open city. I spent _days_ just driving around, exploring every corner. It earned a permanent spot in my then small collection.
On April 9th, 2003, the sequel, Midnight Club II was released:
At first, I wasn't sure I liked the game. The difficulty felt like it had been ramped way up from the first, the cities were darker and more gritty looking, and the color options for your non-licensed ride had been greatly reduced. I actually got stuck a couple weeks in and put the game down for a week or so, only to hop on Gamefaqs and discover something I had never seen before- people were playing this game ONLINE. I rushed out to buy a network adapter, and from the very first room I joined I knew I had found something gamechanging.
Soon, a couple of the racing elite discovered another mode in the game; Capture The Flag. This caught on like wildfire and exploded in popularity; soon, multiple clans had sprung up, wars were being fought ( a race/battle could pit up to 8 players FFA or 4v4 team play) and legends were being born. In the dark corners of a few almost-forgotten message boards and IM convos, people -still- argue who the best players were. There is little debate about the top clan however- DOA, in its original lineup, was never defeated.
In summary, Midnight Club II was my first online gaming community and I still talk and game with friends I met over ten years ago racing in these dark streets. Every once in awhile, a few of us get together to relive the glory days, thanks to the servers still being operational:
I got lucky, and did pretty well one game:
In April 2005, Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition released:
And a year later, the Remix version was released, adding Tokyo from Midnight Club II and a good deal of new rides.
MC3 was a mixed bag, for me. It was the first Midnight Club game with licensed vehicles, and for a street racing game of the time, it had an unprecedented amount of cars (90 something total with the Remix version). Customization, which had been bare bones in the last two games, was featured in spades. In terms of content, it was an enormous game, dwarfing the number of cars and options featured in the last two games combined.
There were, however, some drawbacks. R* San Diego had taken some heat from the review press about MC2 being too difficult. In fact, it is widely regarded as one of the most difficult arcade racers ever made. In MC3, they attempted to remedy this somewhat by making the streets far wider and the AI more forgiving. This of course made the game more appealing to the mass market, but a lot of us hardcore guys found that it was just too easy after MC2. R* also made some changes to CTF which made the game more about speed than driving finesse.
Whew! So...any other Midnight Club fans in here?
Melee stole most of my time during this era. That is a game with LEGS.
It is important to note that a few of those games eventually found their way to xbox a year or so later. Still a killer lineup in '01
meanspartan
Member
Whew! So...any other Midnight Club fans in here?
I am not, (I don't not like it, just didn't play it much at the time) but wow do I commend you for that post, well done!
ChronoDragoon
Banned
I am SO jealous of you that you have not played some of these games yet.
Must-play-immediately picks from me.
Does anyone have a preference for models of PS2 Slims? I just bought an open box 90001 with internal power supply, and my previous one is a 77001 with external power. I'm looking around a bit but finding conflicting arguments as to which model lasts longer. I know there is no definitive answer of course but did any specific model seem to burn out quicker from your experience?
I'm kinda just curious if I should keep the old one. I planned to buy another new one pretty soon so I was going to sell the old one since I got it at a goodwill and it seems pretty beat up cosmetically. It runs rather hot as well.
I'm kinda just curious if I should keep the old one. I planned to buy another new one pretty soon so I was going to sell the old one since I got it at a goodwill and it seems pretty beat up cosmetically. It runs rather hot as well.
IrishNinja
Member
LMAO! Its my bunker backlog!
wow, this is a decisively brilliant but depressing strategy you have here =/
I know. Quality and etc should be preserved for later use. I planned this out for several reasons. One was next gen disappointments and awful "pay-to-win/play" bullshit that's going to be prevalent.
You know that Bravely Default sequel has a thing... http://gematsu.com/2013/10/stop-time-attack-bravely-default-for-the-sequelAnd the timelessness of vgm and along with the old school 2D sprites that's on the way out these days on portables even.
The PS2 is my favorite system of all time. I have two working ones today after so long, and that speaks volumes compared to a lot of consoles these days. I even had a Wii break on me.
But yeah, I have two terrific CRTs for my precious PS2 backlog to have great visual quality. Or a low quality LCD tv that works just as well, but that's being used with the 360 or the ps3. But yeah, I had no other bigger backlog than the ps2's... EVER. I'm saving those CRTs just for this backlog too.
CMojicaAce
Member
Just bought Half-Life for PS2 used on Amazon. Let's see what this game is all about..
James Woods
Banned
I am playing Midnight Club III Dub Edition Remix right now as we speak! Rented it from Gamefly.
GT3 and FFX.Surprised this hasn't been posted yet.
Sooooo many hours spent on those. Those games blew my mind when we first got our PS2. I think my brother and I unlocked 8-900 or some crazy number of cars, and FFX.... well just look at my avatar.
sixteen-bit
Member
GT3 only has 180 cars
Big Papa Husker
Member
They still carry PS2 games?!
James Woods
Banned
Yup. Some of them are rarely in stock though, like they have only 1 (or even 0) copies. I had to buy Shadow Of Rome off Amazon because Gamefly listed it as Not Available.
They still got a pretty damn good selection tho.
speedlolita
Member
Guess I can cross post this:
I was wondering why the pick-up thread was dead, I forgot it was February now, anyway.
The first PS2 ever made (revision wise):
The last PS2 ever made (revision wise - note internal PSU):
Ironic that the one that was made more recently is in much much worse condition.
In fact, this SCPH-10000 is in better condition than my four other PlayStation 2 (not including these two).
My other machines are a SCPH-30003 R with a Magic 3 chip which is rubbish, a SCPH-39003 with a Ghost 2 v2 chip which is okay, a SCPH-39003 with a DMS Plus which is okay other than having to manually select PS1 booting and a DTL-H30101 E which is pretty great too.
PS2 is an amazing game system and I find the console revisions fascinating!
I was wondering why the pick-up thread was dead, I forgot it was February now, anyway.
The first PS2 ever made (revision wise):
The last PS2 ever made (revision wise - note internal PSU):
Ironic that the one that was made more recently is in much much worse condition.
In fact, this SCPH-10000 is in better condition than my four other PlayStation 2 (not including these two).
My other machines are a SCPH-30003 R with a Magic 3 chip which is rubbish, a SCPH-39003 with a Ghost 2 v2 chip which is okay, a SCPH-39003 with a DMS Plus which is okay other than having to manually select PS1 booting and a DTL-H30101 E which is pretty great too.
PS2 is an amazing game system and I find the console revisions fascinating!
Young Magus
Junior Member
Is it a good idea to track down component-to-HDMI cables? Do the games look THAT much better?
speedlolita
Member
That's a horrible idea in my opinion.
If you want your PS2 games to look that much better over component get an XRGB-Mini/XRGB-3.
Or use a CRT as I do.
Fox Mulder
Member
I dropped an early fat ps2 on concrete moving into dorms once and it still worked perfectly with little cosmetic damage. The drive still died later as they like to do since they used cheap plastic bits in certain spots. Pretty fixable though. I've wanted a final revision but they vanished from stores pretty quickly.
speedlolita
Member
I was just scouring eBay and found a console only unit. Knowing it didn't need an external PSU I ended up bidding on it. Definitely paid more than I wanted and the condition is average but it's definitely nice to have. Very streamlined inside too, even compared to earlier slim models.
Fox Mulder
Member
Is it worth tracking down a wheel for the ps2? I found Gran Turismo 4 among other things at goodwill and never did play with a wheel setup.
they can't be that expensive anymore, right?
they can't be that expensive anymore, right?
hardcastlemccormick
Banned
I goofed around with Metal Gear Solid 2 today. The Dolby Digital 5.1 support is pretty limited (it's only in the opening/closing cutscenes, as far as I can tell), but it's pretty damn cool.
Metal Gear Solid 3 still has great surround sound.
Metal Gear Solid 3 still has great surround sound.
Playing around with my PS2 library and got to Max Payne 2 a couple days ago. Man, that game runs like crrraaaappp on the PS2. We're talking a rock-solid 20fps at most times, even worse when there's serious action happening on screen (like the level where Max runs through a burning building). The game itself still absolutely holds up, but I'm definitely sticking with the PC version for future playthroughs :lol.
Next up...Enter the Matrix. God help me.
Next up...Enter the Matrix. God help me.
Yeah, I managed to play through Both Max Paynes on the PS2, but it was far from optimal.
TheUsual
Gold Member
Surprised this hasn't been posted yet.
Wow!!! What a intimidating lineup! This brings back so many memories. I remember getting a PS2 with GTA3 and FFX. Such great times.
sixteen-bit
Member
It wasn't my cup of tea, but it's a Futatsugi joint (Panzer Dragoon, Phantom Dust) if you're curious about his take on strategy games.
speedlolita
Member
The visuals of Ring of Red were always nice for me. For $3, why not?
The OG Xbox versions of both Max Payne games run really well, 60fps for the first game for sure and I think it holds for MP2. I recall playing Enter The Matrix on PS2 and I don't think it was too bad, really.
I paid $5 for Unlimited Saga and am kinda regretting it
my party member got killed and kept on fighting. Figuring out how to use a key on a door was hilariously confusing....maybe the game is just a master troll.
I blame the reel system, but i'm a SaGa fan of sorts, so i'm looking forward to all the crazy.
James Woods
Banned
Going through Shadow Of Rome now. So good. Those Octavianus sections tho.
on that note, how are the King's Field games? Been eyeing the PS2 one. will go for that or the ps1 game, if its better.