The best selling console ever hits 20.

[Guest]

It was twenty years ago today, the PS2 taught us all to play,

 

I’ve had all the PlayStation’s over the years. The PS2 I actually won on the second day after release. I popped into the local Blockbuster to hire a video and walked out with a console and 5 games just by being the nth customer that day. So I have fond memories of it.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-51736665

 

Quote

Why was the PS2 so successful?

Alex Wiltshire is a writer for games magazine Edge, and he says the PS2 is "an important part of gaming and console history."

The DVD player in the console made it accessible to people at the time who could get "two things for a cheaper price".

Alex believes the console attracted people who might not have played video games, and put controllers in the hands of a new wave of gamers.

"It was home to games which elevated creativity and expanded the games market - like Singstar and Guitar Hero," he says.

Singstar let you compete against friends at singing while Guitar Hero was a guitar-based video games that was played on a big plastic instrument.

"It gave people who weren't self-identifying as gamers a chance to play things like karaoke and music games."

According to Guinness World Records, 157.68 million people have owned a PlayStation 2 in their lifetime.

That is a lot of consoles to sell. Quite amazing really considering just how much competition there was at the time.

[minibois]

No.. That's impossible!

 

The PS2 is still in my top 5 favorite consoles, just for the sheer amount of nostalgia.. But also its library of games and great controller!

To date it's the console I still have the most games for.

I remember the specific store I bought mine at even. Sadly it doesn't exist anymore

SSX On Tour was definitely my favorite game for the system. Remember playing it a bit as a demo in store and I just HAD to have it!

 

There is nothing better than just taking a controller, memory card and game to a friend's house and booting up some DBZ Tenkaichi Budokai 3 and duking it out!

This weekend will probably be spent playing the console and celebrating its birthday!

[TVwazhere]

I never got the original PS1, but I have a PS2, PS2 Slim, PS3 Slim, PS3 Super slim, PS4 (sold to a friend) and now PS4 Pro. All but the first PS4 me and/or my sister still have. 

[WaggishOhio383]

I also have a PS2 and I love it. I grew up playing games on it at my grandmother's house. I ended up buying a used PS2 and collecting all the games I used to play just for nostalgia's sake. It's an amazing console.

[TetraSky]

Never owned a PS2. 

I was on PC by the time the PS2 rolled around so I had little interest to buy one.

My family was relatively poor, so for us, it was either a multi usage PC for the whole family or a game console just for the kids... So PC it was and luckily for me, it was good enough to play some games even with the built-in GPU.

[Slottr]

Looks like I gotta boot up classic Battlefront 2 to celebrate

[leadeater]

Still got my fat boy PS2 

[Touch My Hamm]

PS3 was a very cheap DVD player when it first launched. It fit in with other hardware in a home media setup at the time. It used the new DVD format which movies quickly got on board with and the game lineup when it launched was great. There were alot of 3rd party support as well. All signs of a great console. I wouldn't be surprised if Sony took a hit for every PS2 sold...

[RejZoR]

Still have the PS2. Pretty much bought it for Burnout series and Gran Turismo 4.

[Andreas Lilja]

GTA 3.

 

I don't think I've ever been more blown away after putting a disc in. 

[CephDigital]

It's 20 now??? But... Im 20
I feel old now, I remember playing Ratchet & Clank series when I was younger. Played the 2nd game over 99 times (there was a counter for how many times you killed the final boss and went back to the start), got all the skill points and upgrades all the weapons to their Ultra variants (I still remember how fast the RYNO II could kill the final boss )
And Star Wars Battlefront II... With the jet trooper and the burst laser... Oh those were the good times. Just pure fun games.

[Orangeator]

9 minutes ago, TheUberMedic said:

It's 20 now??? But... Im 20
I feel old now, I remember playing Ratchet & Clank series when I was younger. Played the 2nd game over 99 times (there was a counter for how many times you killed the final boss and went back to the start), got all the skill points and upgrades all the weapons to their Ultra variants (I still remember how fast the RYNO II could kill the final boss )
And Star Wars Battlefront II... With the jet trooper and the burst laser... Oh those were the good times. Just pure fun games.

You are speaking my language! Especially with Battlefront II Lol!

[RyomaSJibenG]

ahh PS2,

 

DMC3, NFSU2, FFX, Dragonball Budokai 3, Naruto UltimateHero 3, Digimon Rumble Arena, Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2

 

good times man, good times

[Commodus]

The PS2 was my first home console -- I'd played on others before (even the Atari 2600!), but this was the first permanent one.  Bought it on launch day alongside Tekken Tag Tournament... and our TV at the time needed an adapter just to take RCA input! When we finally got an HDTV, I was ecstatic.

 

I used the hell out of that system and remember games like SSX and Rez (I actually got a Dreamcast after the PS2, so no Rez on Sega's system) quite fondly.  And yes, it was my first DVD player.

[Andreas Lilja]

4 hours ago, TheUberMedic said:

It's 20 now??? But... Im 20
I feel old now, I remember playing Ratchet & Clank series when I was younger. Played the 2nd game over 99 times (there was a counter for how many times you killed the final boss and went back to the start), got all the skill points and upgrades all the weapons to their Ultra variants (I still remember how fast the RYNO II could kill the final boss )

Jak and Daxter + Sly Cooper.

 

PS2 had the best platformers by far.

[GDRRiley]

I got a PS2 and PS3 but both are at home.
I should bring it along for some classic multiplayer fun when I get my place.

[Engineer.AI]

Wow, 20 years makes me... I don't know...OLD!?!?!?

 

[suicidalfranco]

the PS2Portable sony doesn't want to give us

 

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Commodus said:

.  And yes, it was my first DVD player.

It was for many people. I had  DVD drive in my PC but it was barely usable as a player. The PS2 changed that and really opened the market up. I remember the cheaper DVD players if the time often had compatibility issues and would not play many discs. The PS2 however seemed to work with everything and if it didn’t Sony were very quick to issue a firmware update. Sony must have sold a shed load of remote controls for the platform. People who were not into gaming bought the PS2 just as a DVD player as it was one of the best options at the time.

 

Quite amazing to think that in just 20 years we have gone from VHS to DVD through BluRay and now o to streaming media. The whole concept of owning physical media has died in such a short period.

[Eschew]

Happy birthday Sony PlayStation 2, thanks for the memories.

They were pretty damn great. 

 

Nostalgia Pics:

Spoiler

 

 

 

[GreatnessRD]

PS2 is by far my favorite console of all-time. (n64 follows afterwards) Maybe its nostalgia kicking in, I don't know, but it just had a ton of games. Maybe its because most of my all-time favorites are on that console never to be replicated by the newer consoles. PS2 was ahead of its time and I'm glad I was there from the start. I feel bad for these kids today as they'll never know the awesomeness that was the PS2 in its OG form.

 

Happy belated birthday, Sauce!

[suicidalfranco]

2 hours ago, Eschew said:

Happy birthday Sony PlayStation 2, thanks for the memories.

They were pretty damn great. 

 

Nostalgia Pics:

  Hide contents

 

 

 

And how it got better over time the more you filled your memory card with different titles

[PhantomJaguarr]

I always feared that red screen with the “please insert PS or PS2 format disc” error. Always happened to my Spyro Enter the Dragon Fly disc. (Shitty game I know but I was too young to notice and was a diehard Spyro fan).

 

 

[Master Disaster]

13 hours ago, Andreas Lilja said:

GTA 3.

 

I don't think I've ever been more blown away after putting a disc in. 

GTA 3 was genuinely a huge leap forward in gaming, in pretty much every way possible tbh. It revolutionised gaming like no other game ever has and at this point probably ever will.

[FloRolf]

14 hours ago, Phill104 said:

just by being the nth customer that day.

Wait what, these things actually happen? I thought this was only in the movies.