Ok, the big one.......What was your reaction to the Playstation 2? (at launch/launch window, because clearly was the GOAT at the end)

[sacrament]

Pretty uninteresting... Had a dreamcast which was leagues better in terms of games and actual performance. Got it on launch day, but promptly turned it off until Wipeout XL launched. Then it was my Wipeout XL and THPS machine. Until it died, and went back to PC.

Got another one later on, it was better-ish but ended up being a cheap DVD player at that point until it too died.

It sold buckets, but I actually see that era being a low point for consoles - an awkward teenage phase. Xbox OG teased something better but 360/ps3 were light-years better in convenience and online features with local and cloud saves. I don't think people really understand how much better everything got post-PS2. (And Dreamcast is still GOAT, sorry).

 

[P-Bo]

"Holy shit, we've GOT to have it!!!"

My family never did get one, as I asked for a Gamecube instead (no regrets lol). While I was old enough to purchase a PS3, and all the last gen games I missed, I still kinda regret missing out on growing up with several franchises that were born (or peaked) that gen.

 

[thomasmahler]

I was pretty underwhelmed, to be honest and I LOVED my original PS1.

At first the games didn't look much better than the Dreamcast games I had, a lot of them even looked worse (I remember Grandia 2 and Code Veronica getting pretty shoddy ports). I still imported the console from Japan back then with Shadow of Memories and Zone of Enders (mostly cause I wanted to play that MGS2 demo)... and I dunno, the lack of RPGs and so on in the first few years really turned me off. Then MGS2 came out and really disappointed me and I even imported Final Fantasy X and that was also a disappointment to me back then. At that point the Xbox with Halo in splitscreen was constantly on and my PS2 gathered dust until I finally ended up selling it. Never really got much out of the whole PS2 generation, still not a huge fan of the library looking back. So back then I played a lot more Xbox / PC and GameCube.

 

[Manmademan]

It sold buckets, but I actually see that era being a low point for consoles - an awkward teenage phase. Xbox OG teased something better but 360/ps3 were light-years better in convenience and online features with local and cloud saves. I don't think people really understand how much better everything got post-PS2. (And Dreamcast is still GOAT, sorry).

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I get how online play being more mature in later consoles might be a bonus, but the 360 or DC libraries being superior to the PS2 library is some insane, pants on head crazy talk. PS2 library demolishes both combined.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

I was pretty underwhelmed, to be honest and I LOVED my original PS1.

At first the games didn't look much better than the Dreamcast games I had, a lot of them even looked worse (I remember Grandia 2 and Code Veronica getting pretty shoddy ports). I still imported the console from Japan back then with Shadow of Memories and Zone of Enders (mostly cause I wanted to play that MGS2 demo)... and I dunno, the lack of RPGs and so on in the first few years really turned me off. Then MGS2 came out and really disappointed me and I even imported Final Fantasy X and that was also a disappointment to me back then. At that point the Xbox with Halo in splitscreen was constantly on and my PS2 gathered dust until I finally ended up selling it. Never really got much out of the whole PS2 generation, still not a huge fan of the library looking back. So back then I played a lot more Xbox / PC and GameCube.

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dude me and you are so similar even with ffx. Ff9 was my fav ff ever up until then and then x came out and I thought it was pretty rubbish tbch

 

[Skade]

Immediate thought ? Weirdly disapointed that the awesome launching sound from the ps1 was gone.

Other than that, it was great console.

 

[TheWildCard]

I was as hyped for it as I have ever been for a console, and it seemed like a big deal judging by news reports too. Graphically it looked amazing with Tekken and Madden, and SSX felt like some next level stuff you'd want from a new gen. Course it helped I didn't have much exposure to the Dreamcast. And then later the Final Fantasy X demo and Devil May Cry looked sick. I didn't even contemplate try to afford one at launch as a kid, but it fairly quickly cemented itself as something I couldn't skip.

 

[VG Aficionado]

I remember being very impressed by the first games that, on top of the tech leap, ran at 60 fps. They looked leagues above what I had experienced on PS1. Devil May Cry and MGS2 felt really special early on, but so did GTA3 and others that were a whole different experience that couldn't be replicated on earlier platforms.

I also remember the first time I started it up. The blue LED dot and the subtle fan noise surprised me, I thought it was really cool.

I sold a lot of oregano to kids in my school to get one.

I regret nothing.

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Did you keep the oregano leftovers in the HDD bay?

 

[Cats]

I got it a bit after launch and I think the beginning was pretty rough honestly.

I really wanted to play the "big" franchises, like Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, ect. and I felt like those all took a huge nosedive in game quality. Final Fantasy 10 was pretty weak when compared to 7-9 (not a bad game, just not nearly as good as those games). I think it's a very flawed title. Then, Metal Gear Solid 2, no offense to the fans here, sucked. I really don't think very highly of that game in the MGS franchise (again, not a bad game per say, just not a good sequel). So looking for continuations of my "favorite games" the console was a pretty big letdown for half its life.

I ended up loving other franchises, like Timesplitters and Tony Hawk instead and that redeemed it. It wasn't until MGS3, Final Fantasy 12, that the console was able to live up to the PS1 in terms of those big, classic games but I mean, PS3 came out the same year as FF12 so yeah...

 

[Mona]

i didn't get my first PS2 until 2010, greatest console ever made though

 

[Tygre]

I was pretty underwhelmed, to be honest and I LOVED my original PS1.

At first the games didn't look much better than the Dreamcast games I had, a lot of them even looked worse (I remember Grandia 2 and Code Veronica getting pretty shoddy ports). I still imported the console from Japan back then with Shadow of Memories and Zone of Enders (mostly cause I wanted to play that MGS2 demo)... and I dunno, the lack of RPGs and so on in the first few years really turned me off. Then MGS2 came out and really disappointed me and I even imported Final Fantasy X and that was also a disappointment to me back then. At that point the Xbox with Halo in splitscreen was constantly on and my PS2 gathered dust until I finally ended up selling it. Never really got much out of the whole PS2 generation, still not a huge fan of the library looking back. So back then I played a lot more Xbox / PC and GameCube.

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Big time this.

Having the Dreamcast get killed off was bad enough, but that it was killed off by the false promises of what seemed like a very much inferior machine was extra galling.

 

[Euler007]

I had bought a N64 and regretted not having bought a PS1 instead after the N64DD debacle. Bought a PS2 and have been a satisfied customer since.

 

[MercuryLS]

I was a Dreamcast fanboy and was salty that the PS2 hype machine was killing my favourite console. Then I saw MGS2 and I knew it was over, I'd have to get on board with the ps2 eventually. Bought one a year after launch with GTA3, DMC and MGS2 and I was blown away.

PS2 is the machine that made me into a Sony fan, and I'm still one to this day.

 

[Border]

The launch was really rough. It was about 10 times more exciting to have it as a DVD player than it was to have it as a game console.

SSX was a ton of fun though, and I really miss that racing, tricky-heavy style of snowboard games! Looked and sounded great.

Tekken was beginning to feel pretty backwards with its weird infinite scrolling backgrounds. Between that and the image quality issues, it did not compare well with Soul Calibur on Dreamcast.

Madden was Madden. I wanted it to be fun because it looked so good, but sim football just wasn't my thing.

Ridge Racer V had the same image quality problems and field rendering issues.....once again the racing titles on Dreamcast were just more compelling.

 

[SolidSnakex]

I wouldn't call it "revisionist". A lot of people were disappointed with the Western launch line up at the time. It's just a difference of opinion.

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It comes across as revisionist because it launched with one of the best Ridge Racer's, one of the best Tekken's and then two fantastic new IP's in Timesplitters and SSX. And then you have some talking about its first year being disappointing. Unless you're defining its first year as just to the end of 2000, then I don't see any scenario where its first year could be described as disappointing given that from October 2000 to October 2001 the console saw GT3, DMC, Klonoa 2, Onimusha, Red Faction, Twisted Metal: Black, SH2, ICO and GTA3.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I honestly don't remember that much. I got my PS2 and DOA2 Hardcore with it and then proceeded to mostly play PS1 games on it for the better part of a year and a half.

 

[Persagen]

Got it at launch (U.S.), and was back to playing my Dreamcast within an hour. Ended up loving the PS2 in the long run, but launch left me completely underwhelmed.

 

[bionic77]

My parents somehow managed to get one for me and my sister on that first Christmas. I had a Dreamcast so I wasn't blown away graphically. While I did spend countless hours playing SSX, my main early experience with the PS2 was going back and playing PS1 games I never had the chance to play, the first few being Chrono Cross, Mega Man Legends 2 and Vagrant Story. It felt less like a new console and more like I was finally getting access to an entire corner of gaming that I had never gotten to experience outside of multiplayer games at friends' houses.

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Once I got a DC it was hard for me to go back to PS1 and N64 games. DC was the first 3D console where it all kind of worked effortlessly IMO. With the PS1 and N64 they had to make huge sacrifices just to get the games to run.

Right out of the gate it felt like the majority of DC and PS2 games were 60 fps, which helped a lot. Especially on CRTs.

Oh my bad lol - ironically enough, I didnt even know the Dreamcast existed until after it was delisted (saw one for the first time at a friend's house) back in 2004 or something.

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I don't think the DC was very big in the mainstream. Felt like 99.9% of mainstream media was focused on the PS2. I heard a lot of great things about the DC launch and I bought one shortly afterwards. That launch was one of the best ever when you factor in hardware and software. Amazing how well everything worked right out of the gate.

 

[martincrimson87]

Was enjoying my ps1 too much to care. I think that the dreamcast and xbox aged much better. The ps2 had lots of great games but the image output was really muddy compared to the other sixth gen machines.

Also the much maligned gray/brown military shooter era started on the ps2. I also think that by the second half of the generation japanese devs started losing their mojo, pumping out games catered towards anime fans instead of everyone like on previous consoles.

 

[sacrament]

I get how online play being more mature in later consoles might be a bonus, but the 360 or DC libraries being superior to the PS2 library is some insane, pants on head crazy talk. PS2 library demolishes both combined.

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As I said, I went back to being a PC primary player which, for my tastes, was well beyond consoles at the time (and had online, etc). Never did get the Xbox OG.

But yeah, I'd still argue that PSO, sonic, soul caliber, etc in the ~2 years really shined over PS2 and remained the better versions (rez, thps, etc). Dreamcast was a true revolutionary step forward, and PS2 - which had wide range developer support - was just not as good. I can't speak in hypotheticals, but just overall preferred the hardware, games, and vision the DC represented over PS2.

Hope that doesn't "demolish" your sense of things too badly.

 

[ghostemoji]

I don't know if I've ever been more hyped for a launch than the PS2. It was still the era where it was out in Japan months before it was available in the US, and even then I knew I wouldn't get one until some time later because it was either a Christmas or birthday present and those weren't going to line up with my parents ability to get me one immediately.

I poured over magazines daily for new info and screenshots. OPM had several really good spreads in that time that were beautiful and informative. I finally got one for Christmas the year MGS2 and GTA3 came out and those two games alone cemented it as one of the greatest consoles of all time.

 

[Diarrhea Day-Lewis]

I sadly didn't play ps2 much. I stopped playing games for sports and music from 2000-2004. Honestly it's one of my biggest regrets coz there were so many great games this time.

I remember having my brothers ps2 at my house in 2001 briefly, playing some racing game, and thinking gaming was over rated and I was done with it lol. Such a bad mistake. I loved genesis, 64, ps1 before and when I got back into gaming on Xbox in 2004 I restarted my favorite hobby which is still going strong 17 years later.

I've played some of those ps2 games and many of them hold up well, the ones that don't would've been great at the time tho.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

It comes across as revisionist because it launched with one of the best Ridge Racer's, one of the best Tekken's and then two fantastic new IP's in Timesplitters and SSX. And then you have some talking about its first year being disappointing. Unless you're defining its first year as just to the end of 2000, then I don't see any scenario where its first year could be described as disappointing given that from October 2000 to October 2001 the console saw GT3, DMC, Klonoa 2, Onimusha, Red Faction, Twisted Metal: Black, SH2, ICO and GTA3.

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me personally I was more disappointed with the visuals and IQ more than the games. It had some solid games not spectacular.

 

[Guru Meditation]

The hype was insane but in terms of library it didn't really start taking off until GT3 A-spec in summer 2001. And by that fall the library was legendary.

 

[AIan]

The best console. My childhood was built around the PS2 and MMOs on my PC. Probably had like 4 different consoles before we finally moved on to the PS4, lol. The consoles are dirt cheap (depending where you buy them, not from Amazon) right now too, unlike the Nintendo 64.

 

[Manmademan]

I don't think the DC was very big in the mainstream. Felt like 99.9% of mainstream media was focused on the PS2. I heard a lot of great things about the DC launch and I bought one shortly afterwards. That launch was one of the best ever when you factor in hardware and software. Amazing how well everything worked right out of the gate.

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It definitely wasn't, but not for lack of SEGA trying. Huge marketing campaign around the 9/9/99 launch and everything.

Problem here was that it was mostly SEGA themselves supporting the device. Most of the top selling games people were interested in the prior gen simply weren't there, and SEGA had very little credibility as a hardware manufacturer after the Saturn bombed against the PS1.

It had a number of quirky titles hardcore gamers liked (space channel 5, jet set radio, skies of arcadia, shenmue, rez) but these games absolutely do not move copies to mainstream audiences.

 

[Moff]

I didn't love it that much, sadly, I think my favorite games were tenchu 3 and symphony of the night

 

[Eblo]

"Wow, it can play original PlayStation games!"

 

[iapetus]

Launch window includes the MGS2 demo, right?

 

[jwhit28]

I thought it was neat, but the N64 and PS1 were still fine for me until GTA3 hit. The first time I saw and played that, I needed a PS2.

 

[Deleted member 11008]

I was 8 or 9 when I got a PS2, not at launch but pretty close. Many of my first set of games were follow-ups from PS1 games, like Metal Gear Solid 2, RE Code Veronica X or Silent Hill 2, but Capcom delivered new amazing series with Onimusha and Devil May Cry. Ah, good times.

 

[PSOreo]

PlayStation 2 is probably my favourite console of all time; so many fantastic games and memories from that system. It was also the first one I bought with my own money after saving for well over a year. I think the first game I bought it with it was the Spider-Man The Movie game.

 

[MikeProtagonist]

The launch was fairly horrible, in Japan and Europe. It had mostly crap games at launch in Japan and once it made its way here, six+ months later it basically hadn't changed. I only played Dynasty Warriors 2 (which was new and exciting at the point) and Timesplitters for quite some time until Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance in 2001. We also didn't get Ico until 2002, so GTA3 was one of the few highlights of 2001 as well.

I was hugely disappointed in all three fighting games. SFEX3 and TTT both had horrible PAL conversions and ran slowly and compressed (as did Ridge Racer), while Dead or Alive 2 had worse image quality than the DC even if the actual graphics were slightly better. Meanwhile the DC was getting the best fighting games ever.

I dodged a bullet by not getting any of the RPG:s available at or near launch. Let's just say From Software weren't as good back then...

 

[bionic77]

Launch window includes the MGS2 demo, right?

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How long is the launch window?

I think it did fall within that though.

 

[jfkgoblue]

I wasn't old enough to be allowed to use the internet by myself so I was only hyped for the GameCube because that's all I really knew

 

[Obi Wan Jabroni]

My Dreamcast got far more play that first year of the PS2's lifecycle but there were certainly some good games regardless.

Tekken Tag was enough to justify a Day One purchase, at least for me.

But Year One was a bit dry.

 

[Hydeus]

EMOTION ENGINE.

That was something.

 

[HighspeedRefleX]

I can only speak for 02 and later. The variety of games within genres had to be amongst the best in gaming. I remember reading magazines and looking at all the cool screenshots of upcoming games. good times.

 

[CaviarMeths]

Oddly enough despite loving the PS1, the PS2 kind of wasn't on my radar at all for its launch window. I was too into Pokemon and PC at the time to really care about the PS2. I didn't get a PS2 until I was in high school, so around 2004. Missed being "there" for most of the generation, so I don't have as strong of a nostalgic attachment to it that I do PS1 or even PS3. It was still a fantastic console though.

 

[Dolce]

As much as I loved the PS2, it's my favorite console of all time, I was excited for every console. I don't think I was more excited for it than I was the Dreamcast, or the GameCube and XBOX after. They were all so unique and different.

Pretty uninteresting... Had a dreamcast which was leagues better in terms of games and actual performance. Got it on launch day, but promptly turned it off until Wipeout XL launched. Then it was my Wipeout XL and THPS machine. Until it died, and went back to PC.

Got another one later on, it was better-ish but ended up being a cheap DVD player at that point until it too died.

It sold buckets, but I actually see that era being a low point for consoles - an awkward teenage phase. Xbox OG teased something better but 360/ps3 were light-years better in convenience and online features with local and cloud saves. I don't think people really understand how much better everything got post-PS2. (And Dreamcast is still GOAT, sorry).

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It's my favorite era because it was the gap between early 3D and HD. Teams could be small and creativity was outlandish. So there was this extreme mixture of talent and artistic creativity and output. Before teamsizes had to balloon.

 

[MegaRockEXE]

Even though I was already into video games at the time, I don't remember the PS2 launch at all. I would have been about 10 at the time. I think I already had a GameCube by then though.

 

[Jaypah]

I was knee-deep into the Dreamcast and early PS2 games weren't blowing my mind. Then I started seeing Xbox games and those were impressive at the time so the next year I got an Xbox instead. The following year (2002) I got a GameCube and a PS2. Naturally I went on to love the PS2. What a library.

 

[Obi Wan Jabroni]

Tekken was beginning to feel pretty backwards with its weird infinite scrolling backgrounds. Between that and the image quality issues, it did not compare well with Soul Calibur on Dreamcast.

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I owned both and Tekken Tag on the PS2 visually blew SC out of the water.

It wasn't even close.

You might argue SC was the better playing game (I wouldn't personally) but from a visual standpoint TTT was in a league of its own.

That said, SC on the Dreamcast might have been the biggest visual leap I've ever experienced. Going from PS1 and N64 games to that was mind-blowing. So please don't take this post as a sign of SC disrespect. :)

 

[RPGam3r]

I was happy to have one, but thought the launch was absolutely forgettable and lackluster.

Good thing it had BC though bc I just played PSX games that were still coming out (and amazing) until PS2 had games that were better.

 

[Biggersmaller]

I truly adored my Dreamcast, but once I saw what Sony dropped at E3 2000 I knew it didn't stand a chance of surviving. The MGS2 trailer, Gran Turismo demo, and SSX. They absolutely blew everyone's mind.

 

[FLEABttn]

It had a mediocre launch lineup that couldn't hold a handle to the DC collection available, with poor image quality. Ultimately that didn't matter and in the long run had one of the strongest console libraries of all time.

 

[Djalminha]

I sold a lot of oregano to kids in my school to get one.


I regret nothing.

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Nothing like gaming with some good oregano available.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

I owned both and Tekken Tag on the PS2 visually blew SC out of the water.

It wasn't even close.

You might argue SC was the better playing game (I wouldn't personally) but from a visual standpoint TTT was in a league of its own.

That said, SC on the Dreamcast might have been the biggest visual leap I've ever experienced. Going from PS1 and N64 games to that was mind-blowing. So please don't take this post as a sign of SC disrespect. :)

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imo definitely not blew out of the water

sc had 3D arenas ttt didn't

sc also ran at 480p ttt ran at something like 512x440 iirc

they were definitely comparable and the fact that they were was pretty disappointing as I had been hyped as hell for the second coming at launch lol

 

[Mahonay]

Was busy playing my Dreamcast and was definitely too poor to get a PS2. I was fortunate that one of my best friends who lived up the street had one within that first launch year. Spent A LOT of time at his family's house playing it. Shit seemed absolutely incredible.

 

[sacrament]

It's my favorite era because it was the gap between early 3D and HD. Teams could be small and creativity was outlandish. So there was this extreme mixture of talent and artistic creativity and output. Before teamsizes had to balloon.

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I tend to agree. There was a lot more variety, and risk taking back then and costs didn't nuke companies for failure. That said, there was a lot of bin bucket crap out there too that you had to sort through - and often at full price which sucked. Rentals were always scratched so too a lot of effort to find good stuff, outside of the known hitters. Still, somewhat preferable to what we see today... Then again, things like a Steam/GOG sales and even GamePass have opened up pretty big doors to smaller developers and gamers to have low entry experimentation.

I see a lot of these threads, and I love retro gaming, but like middle school - you could never make me go repeat those years either :)