It’s been 23 years since Sony launched the PlayStation 2, and an entire lot has modified in that point. Whereas console warriors conflict on social media over the deserves of Starfield and Spider-Man 2, the PS5 and Collection X|S era has gotten off to a comparatively sluggish begin. Though Sony has managed to promote a whopping 40 million PS5s since 2020, it nonetheless lags far behind the decades-old PS2, which bought 155 million models since its launch in 2000 and continues to be the best-selling console of all time. Extra importantly, the PS2 was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the panorama of recent gaming, reworking longstanding franchises and serving to to shift the business towards making video games extra stunning and immersive than ever earlier than.
Learn Extra: Each U.S. PlayStation 2 Recreation Handbook Is Now Scanned In 4K
Gaming seemed very completely different earlier than the PS2 got here alongside. The business was dominated by 32- and 64-bit video games of the ‘90s, just like the PS1 and Nintendo 64. Suppose harsh strains, sharp polygons, and easy colour palettes. All the things was lo-fi, and whereas that model has come again into trend, the photorealism of recent {hardware} was a distant dream.
The PS2 really shook up gaming, although. It popularized various developments that earlier consoles had tried with out mainstream success, together with backward compatibility, a DVD participant, and web connectivity. It boasted a unbelievable assortment of video games which can be beloved to today, launching with bold new franchises equivalent to Satan Might Cry whereas additionally reworking famed sequence like Grand Theft Auto, Last Fantasy, and Steel Gear Stable into one thing that extra intently resembles their “fashionable” type.
It was additionally house to video games you wouldn’t see wherever else, such because the atmospheric action-adventure titles Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. And due to Sony’s pedigree within the gaming area, together with its partnership with Japanese builders like Sq. Enix, the PS2 was a dream machine for RPG followers who lower their tooth on the PS1 and Tremendous Nintendo, because of style classics like Kingdom Hearts II, Persona 4, and Xenosaga. It’s mind-boggling when you concentrate on the affect the PlayStation 2 has had.
The PS2’s extra highly effective {hardware} gave builders the room to flex its graphical capabilities. The visible leap from the PS1 to the PS2 was far more pronounced than, say, the bounce from PS4 to PS5. Many PS2 video games, like Tony Hawk’s Professional Skater 3, Steel Gear Stable 2, Ratchet & Clank, and Twisted Steel: Black, ran at 60 frames per second, offering a a lot smoother gaming expertise than earlier console generations. Perhaps it wasn’t fairly as straightforward on the eyes because the Xbox or the GameCube, however the broad reputation of the PS2 was instrumental in altering the longstanding notion that video games had been toys for teenagers. They had been artwork, and the PS2 helped usher in that concept to a bigger viewers than ever.
Nevertheless it’s the spectacular library of excellent video games that made the PS2 the best-selling console of all time. It was the console that launched me to demon twin brother Vergil and his too-damn-cool Yamato katana in Satan Might Cry 3: Particular Version. I performed so many samurai video games on this factor, from Genji: Daybreak of the Samurai to Musashi: Samurai Legend to Onimusha: Warlords to Samurai Warriors. As a skate punk, Tony Hawk’s Professional Skater—and its numerous spin-offs—had been my absolute obsessions. And though Black characters existed in video games earlier than this, it wasn’t till GTA: San Andreas the place I noticed life as I lived it represented in a online game. Then you definitely’ve acquired an array of different spectacular video games, together with Burnout 3, Guitar Hero, Jak II, Okami, and Silent Hill 2. Lots of them had been multiplatform, however most of them felt at house on the PS2.
Not gonna lie, I get somewhat misty-eyed desirous about the PS2. I used to be a literal baby when it got here out, so my reminiscence of it’s hazy, however particular moments in time come to thoughts once I reminisce concerning the legendary console. Like, I bear in mind my sister booting up Last Fantasy X, telling her to attend so I might cosplay as—and imitate the actions of—the swords-hunk Auron all through her playthrough. This was a bonding second for us, even with our large 18-year age hole. I used to be too younger to know the nuances of the sport’s advanced storytelling, however watching the emotional toll the motion RPG took on my sister as she lastly beat the ultimate boss, Yu Yevon, after months of attempting and dying helped solidify my love of gaming.
Learn Extra: PS2 Recreation Packing containers Nearly Regarded A Lot Cooler
Placing all of it into perspective like this, it is smart that the PS2 is so fondly remembered. It was a part of a broader development towards extra spectacular and practical visuals, and it additionally got here with an unusually stacked set of video games that genuinely outlined a era of players. Perhaps, in time, one other console will lastly outsell the PS2. And who is aware of, it’s potential that as players age and recollections fade, so too will our collective nostalgia for the PS2. For now, although, the king of consoles stays the king.