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One surefire way to incite nerd rage is to ask what the best gaming console ever is. “Dreamcast!!”, the savvy gamers will say. “Super Nintendo, no doubt”, retro fans will argue. “Xbox 360”, the foolish young’uns will say.
However, the only reasonable answer is Sony’s Playstation 2.
I won’t recount the history of the console here. For an in depth look For that, I’d point you to Mike Fahey’s “My Ten Years with the Playstation 2” (Kotaku, 4 March 2010). Instead, suffice it to say that the system launched in 2000, ten years ago last week, and games are still being made for it. And it’ll probably still see new titles for one to three more years. Its library is unparalleled in terms of quality and depth, as it is home to scores of great RPGs, fighters, puzzle games, and every other genre that anyone could want. For me, it is impotant because it’s the console that turned me into a “hardcore gamer.”
The PS2’s father hooked me on gaming with a score of Final Fantasy titles and action games. But it was with the PS2 (and games like the Metal Gear series, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, and, of course, more Final Fantasy titles) that I began to take gaming more seriously. I’d say that the seeds of becoming a quasi-professional games writer were planted in me in its early days.
But this is less about my experiences with Sony’s console and more about why it’s the best console ever. And really, in terms of its competition, nothing comes close.
The amount of classic games on the system is astounding: two Metal Gear games (arguably the best two in the series), two God of War games, four Final Fantasy titles, even though many discount the underrated X-2, and two surreal Katamari games to name a few. It also facilitated the birth of the Guitar Hero series and included RPG standouts like two Persona games, a Dragon Quest, and two installments of Kingdom Hearts. Oh, and Grand Theft Auto’s best are there too. It’s unreal how many AAA titles the console boasted in its decade of existence.
If the parameters for “best console ever” are quality of titles, length of run, sales, graphics, or anything else, the PS2 wins without a doubt. I have to believe that any of the big three console makers look at the PS2 as the gold standard of success. Backwards compatibility? DVD player? Price points and multiple iterations over time? It really laid the blueprint for how modern consoles work today.
However, today my PS2 is probably also on it’s last legs. I tried to play Silent Hill 2 on it recently, and it struggled and wheezed like an old dog. In many ways, it’s fitting. Mine is a first generation system that is still chugging along . . . barely—much like the PS2 as a console itself. Will I get it replaced? Probably, as there are many games that I want to continue to play on it. And anytime you can get some money out of someone for a decade-old system, that’s success.
So happy birthday PS2. May you have a great farewell run.
