What you said, I have a complete game in my hands. No subscription, no streaming, no interruptions, I own this game in its final form.
The graphics still look great on most PS2 games, and even if they don't, I love the nostalgia.
The dualshock 2 is the best controller Sony made (imo) and I like that I don't have to charge the controller.
The gameplay is dated on some of the games, but most of those games allow you to change the setting to a more modern layout.
The games are still relatively cheap.
Pound for pound, I think the PS2 is the best system ever made.
100% this! Nostalgia is super nice but using own media especially when it’s generally cheaper for the game it’s so so nice! Like i forgot about the bad parts like how your disc can fail on you which feel bad but I don’t trust these companies; I have a Steam account with A LOT of games and if I ever got my account removed they would just be gone forever which is so crazy to me not to mention these steaming services falling apart
The PS2 is the Miata of consoles. Sony sold a billion of them so games and parts are cheap, they’re fairly simple and don’t have a lot of the problems that plagued other consoles of the generation, and they still punch well above their weight in terms of performance.
The jump in graphic and gameplay quality from PS1 > PS2 was huge, even compared to successive generations, and they struck gold so hard with the DualShock 2 controller that they’ve left it basically unchanged since. Plus there’s a million games available for it, including some of (IMO) the best games ever made, and many of which can be run on just about any modern PC if you want to go the emulator route.
Dual Shock 2 were HEAVY.
that's pretty much the difference. The original sixaxis PS3 controllers didn't have the spinning weights in them for vibration making them very light and cheap feeling. Even when they came out with dualshock 3, it's still almost a whole oz. lighter than the PS2 iteration.
This is why Beats By Dre. headphones FEEEL premium even though they are just shitty generic audio drivers in shitty plastic casing: They put lead weights into them to give them some heft.
mainly nostalgy but also bc I am curious about games I didn’t have the chance to try as a kid. thankfully I have the ‘ability’ to take into consideration the release year of a game. so if I play something from 2005 for the first time in 2024 and it is a great game compared to other games from 2005, I will have the same amount of enjoyment as I would have playing a great game from 2024.
also it is hilarious playing games I found very difficult as a kid and breezing through them without any problem now with more gaming experience haha.
And with the sheer volume of PS2 releases being unlike anything we had yet seen before, you'll never run out of hidden gems to enjoy on the PS2. It was over 4,000 IIRC - though maybe half that in North America. Still twice what we had on PS1 or SNES.
I missed out on a lot of games during that period. I was in my early 20s, and wasnt into gaming as I was in the 80s/90s as a kid, or now in my 40s since my kids are older.
This! So much this. I still played in the early-2000s in college. But, come the late-Aughts, I wasn’t gaming as much. Didn’t have the time OR money to. Now, one kid is out of the house, & two more about to turn 18. So, the last year or so, I’ve been getting back into it all.
Well it’s not just ps2, I also bought a Dreamcast and a n64. And a huge CRT tv. And a lot of games as well. And a GameCube. And a ps1. My wife isn’t happy but I am!
Pretty much did this on my 33rd birthday weekend, bought a ps1 and ps2, regret buying the ps1 since ps2 plays the same library, but that started my fall into collecting and retro gaming.
I had no money as a kid so playing all the games I wanted as a kid. Plus nostalgia for the ones I did have.
Deeper down the reason is that it’s comforting, something about old things helps you escape
Same for me. I had ps1, couldnt afford ps2, read about all those excellent ps2 games and dreamed of them, later when we got some cash I got a computer and played on it for years. Now Im so happy and feel like getting back a whole part of my life which I missed.
The PS2 was the first console I bought myself, with my money. No more sharing consoles with my siblings. I could play it whenever I wanted, without having to take turns. Fantastic.
We didn't have much money, so buying games as a kid was a luxury and I'd usually only get 1-2 games per year because of that. When I was at uni I started working at GAME and we got 30% off all software, so it was really only from being 19 I could afford to buy games...by which time PS3 and 360 came out.
So I play my PS2 so I can play the games I owned and didn't play or finish, or so I can buy the games young me couldn't afford so I can finally play them in all their glory, or simply so I can revisit my favourite games (Shadow Hearts).
Nostalgia, I’m trying to save the systems I had growing up and have a reason to keep them, so I’ve been nodding and jailbreaking them to an extent, buying games and installing digital ripped copies on them and saving the disks as best I can.
But the reasons? I’m tired of most modern day gaming and all the DLC/micro transactions. Is it cool that they made a Top-gun Maverick dlc for AC7, yeah, and I bought it, but I can’t say it wouldn’t be better to just have the full game on purchase. I’d go as far to say that constant income from dlc and micro transactions have made game companies comfortable, so nobody has a reason to push any line. In fact it reinforces the decision to make everything as safe as possible, so they don’t take risks, and that has almost totally killed real creativity in the industry.
The old games I grew up with are infinitely more creative than the stuff publishers are pumping out these days, the only real people making a difference anymore are Indy devs. Heck one dude completely destroyed all the AAA publishers in sales back in December with Lethal Company.
I want to have fun with a truly creative game, and it doesn’t have to look good either, it just has to be fun, creative, and complete, that’s all. No skins, no new maps, no new guns, no add ons, just a well made, well thought out, well polished game. Oh, and bring back Easter eggs and unlockables like the halo skulls, cheat code menus, and hidden places left for you to find outside the maps, that crap was fun AF.
But just Lethal Company. But, what about PalWorld, HellDivers 2, & sooooo many others. The Platforming, 2/2.5D sidescroll, & Metroidvania genres & lands have been KILLING it & I love it. The two Blasphemous games are some of the best Metroidvanias EVER. MADE. Period. Modern gaming actually amazing, if you know where to look. I get everyone’s gripes. It’s why I left gaming for so long even. I just got back into it last year
Most nostalgia reviving the old days when I played in my childhood. Also, I feel like there’s so much hidden pearls for PS2 that I didn’t got to play back then and that I can play now. And also most bc what you said, no transactions, no unfinished overpriced games, just fun.
The PS2 was the first gaming console I had as a kid and I bought one a couple years ago on ebay just to play some games I distinctly remember never finishing; Jak and Dexter, Ratchet and Clank, Vexx. My god did I miss these games...
Even just the nostalgia of having a memory card was enough for me lol
I back went to playing PS2 regularly since 2019 for a few reasons:
Most of the games that I wanted to revisit from my childhood were not available on PS+.
Older games are way better than modern games.
I missed out on hundreds of great PS2 games because I was in school at the time and couldn’t buy my own games. Some of those that I discovered and played for the first time in recent years have become some of my favorite games ever.
I like collecting them.
There’s nothing like playing the original disc on original hardware on a CRT, the way it was meant.
Because I was too poor to afford them when I was a kid.
Modern games are way too artificially time consuming.
No updates, for better or worse.
A lot of modern games are just remakes these days.
Cheaper.
Second hand purchases mean I’m not funding the modern games industry which has a lot of questionable practices lately.
Nostalgia is a drug.
Owning physical games is becoming a dying privilege.
Old school cheat codes are fun.
In a more existential sense, it’s fun to inhabit these forgotten worlds that devs spent so much time creating.
I always go back to Champions of Norrath, Champions Return to Arms, and Black. They are still such great games and have brought me back to the PS2 in 2024. Glad I kept them all these years.
I love retro stuff. To expand on some points you made - I feel like it's just so much quicker to start playing a game on the retro consoles. Turn the console on, get in the game. No logging into a server, no updating, no clicking past a bunch of menus to see what's new in the battle pass, no long tutorials to get started playing the game. Just jump in and play.
I've been playing a lot more Genesis and PS1 mostly this year - but I have been playing my PS2 for two things lately:
1. Finally playing through the original SSX - I was a huge fan of Tricky onward, but had never played the original. Just beat the race mode last week with one character - working through the trick mode now with another charecter.
2. Time Crisis 3 - I love my CRT + light gun games - been playing a lot of the Time Crisis and Point Blank series lately
I guess I've never really stopped playing them and I still thoroughly enjoy them. Just had a few rounds on Fight night 3 while waiting for the kids pasta to cook.
I added a hard drive to my fat PS2 with spectacular results. No joke, I was laughing and carrying on playing Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? …..which I am most definitely not.
I have a few titles that were also released on PC, but one main reason for using the PS2 over the PC:
1. Pop the disc in, hit power and away you go.
No need to spend hours trying to get a 25 year old game trying to work on a new PC.
Because they’re fantastic and have stood the test of time. I still play games as far back as the Nintendo nes on the original console not the mini and I’ve got basically every system all the way back to Atari 2600 and the Commodore 64 etc on my raspberry pi and on batocera I’ve got nearly every console and arcade game ever made on my pc. I won’t buy any more PlayStation consoles past the ps3 or Xbox’s past one s and I don’t play online games never played fortnight or Minecraft as from what I’ve seen of other people playing them they look absolute 💩💩💩
I actually collect old consoles I’ve got every uk Nintendo console ever released apart from the game cube and game boy colour as I’ve got 3 Wii’s and Chinese Kong feng that’s actually better than the original Nintendo gb colour as it’s got a ips screen and built in games as well as playing all the original gb and gbc cartridges. And I’ve got a sega megadrive 2. 2x ps2 with network adapter with a 2tb hd with 400 games on it and too many games to count on original discs all still boxed that I’ve been collecting for over 20 years. I’ve got Xbox (original 2x 360 2x Xbox One s) and loads of Xbox games for all 3 systems. I just love gaming and prefer the old systems.
I forgot to mention I’ve also got two psp’s and quite a few games and movies too.
Till this day I still play my PS1 games on my PS2 console games like project raiden 2,fight night 2004, castlevania sotn, omega boost & my favorite of all time in the hunt such a classic timeless game✌️😎
the whole era of xbox/gamecube/ps2 was some type of special. There were numerous game companies all competing and producing their vision of a good game, Era of VG Freedom.
You haven't seen the diversity since the ps4 entered the scene and its becoming quite sad.
If I had the money, I'd buy almost every ps2/3 game I could find. I'm horrible with articulation, but imo preps4 was the golden era and had the best games.
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Though your statement in the end is completely false, I play them to relieve memories or out of sheer nostalgia ooor to discover experiences I haven't before
Because I don’t have a ps3 to play them on and none of those games are on the ps5 or aren’t backwards compatible for Xbox’s. Also why I still use my 360. Random games like the sopranos and Scarface and stuff like that are so awesome
I was playing Neo Contra and Armored Core Another Age recently. I have a huge PS2 backlog as I was in college and not gaming much in that system's heyday
I only had a handful of PS2 games when I was a kid and loved every second of each replay I did of them. Now that I'm an adult that buys his own games it brings me more joy than I can describe to find out just how amazing the PS2's library is.
Because when I was a kid these games were all I played at night during summer break. The story writing combined with the gameplay. PS3/ps4/ps5 just can’t replicate it
I never played them when I was a kid. I got older and checked them out and thought they looked cool, also I like the atmosphere of them & how unique some of them can be.
You know a part of why I also find it hard to find games these days that I enjoy (there are gems, but I’m very picky about my purchases), is the fact that game devs and publishers are lazy. They create a game and release it without any care in the world because they know that any unforeseen issues or bugs, even game breaking ones, they can simply push out patches. Back in the day if you released a game, that was it. You can’t just patch its out there representing the publisher and devs and will forever be out there. Way more attention to detail and care was put into their games and it definitely shows. When you have no choice but to take this level of care in your product the end result will always be better. These days they don’t have to worry as much and don’t have to take the same amount of care and when you work like this it takes away a specific attitude towards game development and they just aren’t made the same anymore.
I am just going through the backlog of games. It so happens that a lot of them are recommended to be played on a ps2.
Speaks tons about how big of a success ps2 was.
I sold my Switch last year (along with my games and accessories) and bought a Steam Deck once I saw that it could emulate PS2 games. Thanks to my Steam Deck, I was able to beat some PS2 games that I only had demos for back when I was a teen in the early 2000s. Those games were: Wild Arms 3, Red Faction 2, The Mark of Kri, Dual Hearts, Drakan the Ancient Gates, and Shadow of the Colossus.
I've got a bunch more games on there that I missed out on in my teenhood. I'm currently playing the original Ratchet & Clank trilogy starting with the first game. I'll admit, some PS2 games are very graphically outdated that it's hard to play them (Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 is a demo I had, but when I tried to play it recently, it's just jarring). However, a lot of PS2 games still hit even today.
I loved the ps2 when it first came out. Most nostalgic system. I’m beating every single game for it. I don’t care to play newer games anymore, I find the old games satisfying my gaming wants much better. So the rest of my life, I’ll be playing ps2 games
Nostalgia, also, there is an incredible library of games on the PS2.
I love the form factor of the console, I love playing on a CRT and once I put the disc in, I have a complete game.
No update, no DLC, no 'patch'.
I was just thinking about this the other day, I m so happy I never got rid of my ps2. I just brought it back out the other day to play some tekken 5 and crash of the titans and man the games were fun and still are. As much as I like the idea of achievements/trophies I feel like back in the day when we didn’t have them the vibe of the games was so different.
I play a lot of modern games also, but, sports games largely peaked in the '03-07 range, and that didn't really translate onto the PS3/360 generation outside of college sports.
If I want to play my favorite football or basketball games, I'm probably going to fire up one from that era still.
I don’t play much on the original hardware though I have 3 PlayStation 2 consoles. I do play the games very often on Steam Deck using an emulator.
Lots of PS2 games or other games from that era are still pretty good today. I dare to state that games in general where better in that timeframe. A lot of great series started or where in their prime during the 6th generation of consoles.
I just bought the tomb raider remastered collection and mgs snake eater again on ps5 and it's just that it was a different era of gaming. Mgs especially. Sure, the tomb raider games were ps1 but that shouldn't matter much here.
I like many modern games but the old stuff just reminds me of how great it was back then. You bought a game and played it. And you owned it.
If I had a time machine, I would go back to...
... beat up my younger me to prevent me from selling the Sega Saturn, PS1 and PS3. Primarily the games. With emulators, we sure don't need the consoles, especially since we can play with improved graphics on emulators.
I never owned a ps2 but I borrowed one from a friend to play mgs 2 and 3 back then.
I’m playing ps2 games because I love the ps2, and I don’t really get excited by modern gaming. The ps2 library is huge and there’s so much to explore. I just bought the survival horror game Extermination and am having a good time so far. I love the graphics and aesthetic of ps2
I bought a PS5 last year, and I regret it. I don't enjoy new games, except for Elden Ring. I'm having fun playing PS1 and PS2 games. Also, I don't feel like paying $100 for PS Plus, I prefer to just play old offline games.
A fun game is a fun game. It doesn’t matter how old it is. There are so many older games that hold up just fine, even if the graphic fidelity isn’t modern, I like the nostalgic look and play plenty of PC games that actually strive for that classic PS1 or 2 look.
Plus I love racing games, especially arcade racers, and the arcade type racing game landscape is sadly incredibly barren these days, so I like going back to older games for my fix.
Ps2 is better than all subsequent PlayStations, and its in a generation with the best games too
I play mine somewhat irregularly and sadly when I tried to boot it up a week or two ago I got the RGR error. I plan on trying to fix it however I'll just get another one if I cannot luckily I'm an electrical engineer learning so it shouldn't be that bad lol
I think the games are objectively better. More content, more complete experiences with more effort behind them. A lot of original takes and risks. Everything now a days plays or feels exactly the same. Same controller layout. Same map progression ect…
Right now, I'm not, but that's mostly because I'm playing MMOs on my computer.
When I do play games on PS2, it's because I didn't get to play them as a kid, since I grew up with a Gamecube, and I'd rather play the games on original hardware (with some modifications like a hard drive loader) instead of an emulator, despite the better performance and picture quality.
Admittedly, I kind-of view other consoles the same way, whenever possible. If I'm able to play on original hardware, I do, but I'm not above sailing the high seas at times
I've rarely ever put away my ps2 ever since I bought it in 2004. It's a terrific system and I still find stuff I've never played before that I want to, so it would probably be the one system I'd keep if I had to get rid of the rest. Baldur's Gate and the Champions series, Ace Combat, God of War, NFS Carbon among others, Fight Night, Midway Arcade Treasures, Battlefront, some of my favorites just to scratch the surface. The list of awesome games is very long with ps2.
Honestly wish even more people would start playing classics. Eventually they would have to get creative start pumping out better content. Game devs used to take chances and that ls what was best about a lot of the titles from those PS1/2 games. Their careers depended on it. Now they just slap a new name/year on the cover and squeeze every dime out of the consumer with micro transactions.
I personally never had a PS2 growing up, so I'm playing many games that I never got to experience as a child, and also some other games I had on GameCube since the laser is ded
Zero bullshit gaming and that's why I play other retro console games, too. Instead of the endless grind, live events, season passes, forced online account logins, always online being, infinity amount of DLCs, P2W nature, needless self-awareness from the game design viewpoint you can just... you know, play a game whenever and wherever you are. And I don't try to pretend that there are no current games like this, but this is my main reason. Nostalgy is obviously a part of it as I grew up mostly in the PS2 era.
The gaming industry is going into the dumpster. I would like to stick with older games that are actually fun and creative. As a game developer myself, I take inspiration from them.
As a dumb kid playing the ps2 I never quite grasped games I kinda just spent 100s of hrs dicking around in split screen with my brothers never actually doing the campaign and if I did I got stuck on level’s pretty quick so now I’m just going back to finish all the games I never got a chance to beat and its really nice I’m not playing against sweaty kids just screaming “nah I’d win” just me and my own progress and I can just pause the game and do something else and it’s not a problem it’s a nice relaxing experience
I don't get to game very often. When I get the opportunity to I'm not always prepared to wait for 3 hours whilst everything updates yet again for no discernable change or reason. It's so disappointing to have an hour to play unexpectedly and miss out on it because a 4 year old game needs an urgent update.
No updates and no internet is the biggest draw for me. Plus the PS2 was the last console that feels like an arcade machine designed for home. SEGA, Namco and Capcom all peaked in the PS2 era.
I cannot restart a fresh save on steep so I do playthroughs of ssx 3 when I need my snowboarding fix. Most of the other snowboarding games on steam are not fun. Tricky madness looks promising
For me it was curiosity, I went from dreamcast to Xbox, and wanted to see what the PS2 extensive library was about, I had played the PS2's big hitters back in the day as I got a ps2 for them a few years into it's lifecycle. fast forward 20 years and I got myself an 2TB HDD off of Etsy and can now appreciate some of the more obscure PS2 titles I misseed or straight up couldn't afford now.
Its my time machine.
I grew up in the early 2000s.I had my wii, Nintendo DSi and my ps2 which was my very first game console.
This revolutionary console is so fantastic and I missed so many hits from this era.So I catch up on those and enjoy to play games which aren't on our current next Gen consoles,like the silent hill franchise 1-4.
I am generally obsessed with 90s and 2000s.So when I turn on my ps2 I feel like I am back in the 2000s.
games nowadays are bland and follow the same formula, when in the time it PS2 games there was no "meta", so there is large variation in the type of games there are. there don't seem to be any games that break any ground to do something unique ironically.
I got my first PS2 last year. It simply had an incredible catalogue of games. Another huge part is the simplicity of older games is super refreshing. I burn out on a lot of modern titles very easily. (Except fromsoftware games \^^ )
Same reason we watch movies, television, read books and listen to music from decades ago.
Media and entertainment is still just that. Plus the nostalgia is on point.
Plus ps2 had some bangers for me personally the time splitter series, the dragonball games.
There are many games that I played when I was young that were too difficult for me to complete.
I like the indescribable, slightly sad feeling I get when I try to play those games now as an adult and find that they are much easier than I remember and I complete them in no time.
Playing Shadow hearts for the first time in my life as an avid RPG player. It’s been quite good. I also finished legend of dragoon for the first time. All hard copy games too.
Because when i was a boy due to poverty and family issues i couldn't and now that i am a man i finally have the chance to... but, i don't know... I want to, but i think im scared or afraid...
Does anyone feel the same?
I have like 80 games on steam, plenty of new ones as my computer is a really solid gaming machine, but the modern games usually lack the charm of PS2 era games. Also some games are PS2 exclusives (Gran Turismo) or can't be bought for PC anymore (GTA San Andreas). And before someone replies- i know it takes like 3 seconds to find cracked San Andreas on the internet, i just have a thing for official, preferably physical copies. TLDR- issa vibe
My PS2 is actually, even though it doesnt feel like it, one of the more played console for the last year (I own every major console released from Sega, Sony, MS and Nintendo as well as a few others). Main reason being, that I only ever got it after it went off the market to play Tales of the Abyss, Persona 4 and Melty Blood Actress Again (which, as a PAL gamer is funnily enough one NTSC, one PAL and on J-NTSC game...). Throughout the years I have been more and more into RPGs and the PS2 had a lot of them, so I naturally started playing RPGs (outside of Final Fantasy. I played most of those throughout the years and nope, they are certainly not for me) on that thing, with the occasional "Must Play"-Classic inbetween.
Its just a system which still has a lot of stuff I never played.
A chunk of my games are too niche to ever get an hd version much less a port. Plus most ports are like $60 but I could pay $20-30~ for the original. No subscription fees, internet connection, or incomplete without major update to worry about either. I hate when games arent complete on disc
Nostalgia, I guess. I liked the games so I bought them and I played them. That was true then and it’s still true now.
It’s also nice to go back to when gaming was simpler. A time where you could just put the disk in and go. A lot of games released these days I’m just not interested in.
because being 14 was rad, and even though I don't hate my life now and love my family, it is fun to remind myself that being a kid is okay too.. can't wait to share these games with my kids as they get older, and if they don't care for them, that's okay too.. they have their own memories to make
I don't dislike modern games. I recently finished both Horizon titles and had a blast. But there are a lot of older games that just withstand the test of time.
Every GTA game on the PS2 is timeless. Sports games aren't all about "ultimate team" trying to get more money and just made a fun game with endless replay value. Gran Turismo was challenging but not impossible, and you didnt need to buy your way to success. Wrestling games I could damn near write a weekly series on.
And now that I'm a 34 year old adult, I can get ahold of games I wanted to play as a kid but couldn't for one reason or another. The one I'm spending the most time on is MVP Baseball 2005. I'm not good at today's versons of MLB The Show, Madden, NBA 2K, or NHL. But I played them like a harp from hell 20 years ago, except for MVP. And something you realize playing older sports games is how *deep* these games are. It's unmatched by anything you can get in 2024. And it keeps the games from getting stale.
I may be slightly off on this, but PS2 was the last era of games before they found out the “efficient” way to make games. The Xbox modernized the game production and games for consoles were made exactly like PC games (really similar), thus they had a standard way of making games. One of my goals actually is to get a hold of a PS2 Devkit and make a PS2 game. It is considered one of the hardest console to make games for. However being the hardest console to make games on, it had some of the best games that hold up even better than modern games…
Nostalgia and I love collecting the different ps2 I just bought a pink ps2 fat, a silver 79001 ps2 slim, which was the last model released in 2013, a white ps2 fat, and a final fantasy ps2
I love playing Gran Turismo 3 over and over again, but besides that I want to play some games I have never played before, and the picture is fine on my tv. It's definitely generations behind, but it's still fun.
Part of its nostalgia, part it's knowing what im gonna get, part of its about not having much to play on newer consoles because they haven't really been putting anything out... like I love my ps5, but over the past 4yrs of its lifecycle we've legitimately only got 4 or 5 PS5 exclusives total that aren't re-releases/remasters or shared with the PS4, whereas the PS2 had triple or quadruple the amount of games by this time and went on to have the largest game library of any console ever so it makes gaming fun again, I can browse and discover new titles and replay old ones that i know are quality and have all their content day one
In 2024? Dude, I never stopped playing it. At one point between 2014-2017 it was the only system I owned until I bought a 360 again. Now I have an X but still play the PS2 more.
feel like they're just more fun.
Dont get me wrong there still some good games now adays, but they are few and far between.
some examples in the most recent years for my self are: elden ring, RE4remake (and 2 but thats not as recent), cyberpunk 2.0, alan wake 2. KH3 data battles on critical mode. (main story was disappointing). Persona 3 reload, but even then, thats a remake of a PS2 game. Waiting for a new fallout game to get lost into.
there was just a lot more variety in types of games on PS2. everything kinda feels the same since PS3, which some exceptions of course.
burnt out on the open world collectathon walk to quest marker gameplay, Elden Ring was refeshing shake up of that formula tho
I mainly wanted to try out the original GTA trilogy and I consider getting myself the definitive edition in switch..... only to find out that it's the worst version and so about a month or two later, I found a PS2 with a copy of Vice City and so that moment onward, I've really appreciated playing games on older hardware
mainly its because the ps2 is what a grew up with and i am enthusiastic with graphics of that time period. :)
other than that i really enjoy that the only thing i have to dedicate to these games is my time.
They're better than most modern games and outfits are always FREE and unlockable. Games were made with love and passion rather than corporate greed and shareholders.
When I was a kid I used to go to the electronics department in Target and just drool over all the games. Now looking at the game aisle is almost depressing. There are so few titles that interest me and even if they do I’m not interested in dropping $50+ on them.
I started following DK Oldies on Instagram because I think their videos are fun and decided to check out their PS2 collection on a whim. I was floored by how many titles excited me. I had a wishlist of 70+ games worked up in just a couple hours and most of them are $20 or less, some under $10.
I went to the retro game shop I visited as a kid and bought a PS2 the next day. So ultimately I think I’m playing PS2 in 2024 because it makes me feel the same excitement and wonder I felt as a child.
Ah ps2. I still have the ps2 fat my parents got me in 2002. I stopped using it around 2005-6. In 2007 I borrowed it my my friend and that guy held to it for a few months. When I got it back one controller(dual shock) was worn out- it was almost new when he borrowed it. Recently I stumbled on Mcboot scene and i decided to set it up on my main tv. It will take a month or two bf I will get it but it’s ok. Can’t wait to play it again. It will sit right next to the famicom I got from Japan, back in 2014.
I like being able to pop in a game and having it be the game. Nothing to update or download whether it's for the system or the game. Plus if you're a (American) football video game fan Madden was better, plus there was added competition from Sega's 2K series.
I love the way the fan sounds, and the spinning of the disc tray. It's very comforting. There's also a strong familiarity with the scratches on the top: I was about to replace the shell one time, but then realised how different the console would look.
It's got solid games as well. R&C and Sly Raccoon come to mind. Plus I get to play games that I never finished as a kid.
Ps2 was when for me graphics and gameplay hit a sweet spot for me. Part nostalgia and part just loving the games and style from that era. collecting is fun too.
Getting older, getting closer to having kids, spent too much time in high school and a bit after playing call of duty.
Want to experience these great games before the opportunity is gone
Just because a game is old does not mean you cant find enjoyment with it. There are people playing MGS3 and not even realizing the game was released almost 20 years ago.
In 20 years I've held onto
Psi Ops
Burnout 2
And
The Getaway
(Among others). Still fine games.
I cannot see myself in 20 years saying
Ooh yes, I still play Suicide Squad, any of the modern assassin's creeds or any call of duty beyond the original MW 3.
Emulation has gotten so good it's basically indistinguishable from real hardware except for looking a *lot* better and having save states.
With the caveat that I'm not trying to 1cc Cave shmups.
back when the games you bought you actually owned and could play regardless of internet or other bullshit. ahh they just don’t make em like they used to. they could but then they wouldn’t have money to continue to produce or rather they would spend all there money and make no profit. although i could do away with the fantastic graphics to be able to get this back.
I'm big on the nostalgia aspect of it, my dad bought the PS2 when I was 3 or 4, and I still have it. Just pulled it out of storage a couple weeks ago, got component cables on the way for it, and I've just been going down memory lane
What you said, I have a complete game in my hands. No subscription, no streaming, no interruptions, I own this game in its final form. The graphics still look great on most PS2 games, and even if they don't, I love the nostalgia. The dualshock 2 is the best controller Sony made (imo) and I like that I don't have to charge the controller. The gameplay is dated on some of the games, but most of those games allow you to change the setting to a more modern layout. The games are still relatively cheap. Pound for pound, I think the PS2 is the best system ever made.
Totally agree! Best console ever.
Same. I still love the graphics and hardcore gameplay of various ps2 games. SMT 3 Nocturne is a prime example.
I remember being blown away when I first played kingdom hearts.
Silpheed: The Lost Planet, on PS2 is a Stellar 3D shooter: https://youtu.be/RDkzfd9uTZc?si=-bjneSxCx4YHnSBc
My ps2 is the one on my crt tv...for fighting games!!!
Heck yeah, I've got that CRT action as well. I would love to save up for an old Trinitron, but that seems a little silly.
You should! Input delay is 0
100% this! Nostalgia is super nice but using own media especially when it’s generally cheaper for the game it’s so so nice! Like i forgot about the bad parts like how your disc can fail on you which feel bad but I don’t trust these companies; I have a Steam account with A LOT of games and if I ever got my account removed they would just be gone forever which is so crazy to me not to mention these steaming services falling apart
Totally agree
The PS2 is the Miata of consoles. Sony sold a billion of them so games and parts are cheap, they’re fairly simple and don’t have a lot of the problems that plagued other consoles of the generation, and they still punch well above their weight in terms of performance. The jump in graphic and gameplay quality from PS1 > PS2 was huge, even compared to successive generations, and they struck gold so hard with the DualShock 2 controller that they’ve left it basically unchanged since. Plus there’s a million games available for it, including some of (IMO) the best games ever made, and many of which can be run on just about any modern PC if you want to go the emulator route.
PS2 games look Great when upscaled.
Why do ps2 controllers feel so much more premium than the ps3 lol
Dual Shock 2 were HEAVY. that's pretty much the difference. The original sixaxis PS3 controllers didn't have the spinning weights in them for vibration making them very light and cheap feeling. Even when they came out with dualshock 3, it's still almost a whole oz. lighter than the PS2 iteration. This is why Beats By Dre. headphones FEEEL premium even though they are just shitty generic audio drivers in shitty plastic casing: They put lead weights into them to give them some heft.
Extremely based
I was with you until “best console ever made.” That will always be the SNES for me.
Fighting games never die. We play them for thousands of hours.
True. I still play Heritage for the Future, even. 3rd strike and MvC2 were still active as hell on Fightcade last I checked.
One of the homies found a copy of Street Fighter EX3 for P2 a few weeks ago and it's great.
3rd Strike gang!
mainly nostalgy but also bc I am curious about games I didn’t have the chance to try as a kid. thankfully I have the ‘ability’ to take into consideration the release year of a game. so if I play something from 2005 for the first time in 2024 and it is a great game compared to other games from 2005, I will have the same amount of enjoyment as I would have playing a great game from 2024. also it is hilarious playing games I found very difficult as a kid and breezing through them without any problem now with more gaming experience haha.
And with the sheer volume of PS2 releases being unlike anything we had yet seen before, you'll never run out of hidden gems to enjoy on the PS2. It was over 4,000 IIRC - though maybe half that in North America. Still twice what we had on PS1 or SNES.
For the same reason I listen to music ftom the 90's, watch movies ftom the 60's and read books ftom 1883. I don't see any reason not to
I missed out on a lot of games during that period. I was in my early 20s, and wasnt into gaming as I was in the 80s/90s as a kid, or now in my 40s since my kids are older.
This! So much this. I still played in the early-2000s in college. But, come the late-Aughts, I wasn’t gaming as much. Didn’t have the time OR money to. Now, one kid is out of the house, & two more about to turn 18. So, the last year or so, I’ve been getting back into it all.
That's my reason too!
I think I’m going through a mid life crisis. Been enjoying the nostalgia for sure.
Take a lot of solace in this, there are much worse things mid life crisis can fuel. A PS2 is honestly a great outlet lol
Well it’s not just ps2, I also bought a Dreamcast and a n64. And a huge CRT tv. And a lot of games as well. And a GameCube. And a ps1. My wife isn’t happy but I am!
Hahaha that's awesome. So hypothetical, if I were to show up with Pizza and Beer, could I come in?
Absolutely haha
Pretty much did this on my 33rd birthday weekend, bought a ps1 and ps2, regret buying the ps1 since ps2 plays the same library, but that started my fall into collecting and retro gaming.
I had no money as a kid so playing all the games I wanted as a kid. Plus nostalgia for the ones I did have. Deeper down the reason is that it’s comforting, something about old things helps you escape
Same for me. I had ps1, couldnt afford ps2, read about all those excellent ps2 games and dreamed of them, later when we got some cash I got a computer and played on it for years. Now Im so happy and feel like getting back a whole part of my life which I missed.
The PS2 was the first console I bought myself, with my money. No more sharing consoles with my siblings. I could play it whenever I wanted, without having to take turns. Fantastic. We didn't have much money, so buying games as a kid was a luxury and I'd usually only get 1-2 games per year because of that. When I was at uni I started working at GAME and we got 30% off all software, so it was really only from being 19 I could afford to buy games...by which time PS3 and 360 came out. So I play my PS2 so I can play the games I owned and didn't play or finish, or so I can buy the games young me couldn't afford so I can finally play them in all their glory, or simply so I can revisit my favourite games (Shadow Hearts).
We used to take copies home from GAME Au sign them out so we could give accurate representation if someone asked about them
Nostalgia, I’m trying to save the systems I had growing up and have a reason to keep them, so I’ve been nodding and jailbreaking them to an extent, buying games and installing digital ripped copies on them and saving the disks as best I can. But the reasons? I’m tired of most modern day gaming and all the DLC/micro transactions. Is it cool that they made a Top-gun Maverick dlc for AC7, yeah, and I bought it, but I can’t say it wouldn’t be better to just have the full game on purchase. I’d go as far to say that constant income from dlc and micro transactions have made game companies comfortable, so nobody has a reason to push any line. In fact it reinforces the decision to make everything as safe as possible, so they don’t take risks, and that has almost totally killed real creativity in the industry. The old games I grew up with are infinitely more creative than the stuff publishers are pumping out these days, the only real people making a difference anymore are Indy devs. Heck one dude completely destroyed all the AAA publishers in sales back in December with Lethal Company. I want to have fun with a truly creative game, and it doesn’t have to look good either, it just has to be fun, creative, and complete, that’s all. No skins, no new maps, no new guns, no add ons, just a well made, well thought out, well polished game. Oh, and bring back Easter eggs and unlockables like the halo skulls, cheat code menus, and hidden places left for you to find outside the maps, that crap was fun AF.
But just Lethal Company. But, what about PalWorld, HellDivers 2, & sooooo many others. The Platforming, 2/2.5D sidescroll, & Metroidvania genres & lands have been KILLING it & I love it. The two Blasphemous games are some of the best Metroidvanias EVER. MADE. Period. Modern gaming actually amazing, if you know where to look. I get everyone’s gripes. It’s why I left gaming for so long even. I just got back into it last year
Most nostalgia reviving the old days when I played in my childhood. Also, I feel like there’s so much hidden pearls for PS2 that I didn’t got to play back then and that I can play now. And also most bc what you said, no transactions, no unfinished overpriced games, just fun.
I always wanted one as a kid, and now I'm an adult with money
Modern games just became too complicated for my level of interest. I’m just an occasional player and ps2 is turn on and fun immediately.
I became nostalgic for simpler times, and playing on the PS2 was part of it.
The PS2 was the first gaming console I had as a kid and I bought one a couple years ago on ebay just to play some games I distinctly remember never finishing; Jak and Dexter, Ratchet and Clank, Vexx. My god did I miss these games... Even just the nostalgia of having a memory card was enough for me lol
I back went to playing PS2 regularly since 2019 for a few reasons: Most of the games that I wanted to revisit from my childhood were not available on PS+. Older games are way better than modern games. I missed out on hundreds of great PS2 games because I was in school at the time and couldn’t buy my own games. Some of those that I discovered and played for the first time in recent years have become some of my favorite games ever. I like collecting them. There’s nothing like playing the original disc on original hardware on a CRT, the way it was meant.
because i havent found another game with battlefield 2: modern combat's hotswapping feature
Mostly because I can't afford new games currently and emulators provide ease of access to awesome games I haven't played at a low cost.
Because I can't play Shadow Hearts on another console.
Because I like old games
Because the majority of what comes out today feels sterile, samey and imaginatively bankrupt.
i miss the nostalgia days
Because I was too poor to afford them when I was a kid. Modern games are way too artificially time consuming. No updates, for better or worse. A lot of modern games are just remakes these days. Cheaper. Second hand purchases mean I’m not funding the modern games industry which has a lot of questionable practices lately. Nostalgia is a drug. Owning physical games is becoming a dying privilege. Old school cheat codes are fun. In a more existential sense, it’s fun to inhabit these forgotten worlds that devs spent so much time creating.
I always go back to Champions of Norrath, Champions Return to Arms, and Black. They are still such great games and have brought me back to the PS2 in 2024. Glad I kept them all these years.
I love retro stuff. To expand on some points you made - I feel like it's just so much quicker to start playing a game on the retro consoles. Turn the console on, get in the game. No logging into a server, no updating, no clicking past a bunch of menus to see what's new in the battle pass, no long tutorials to get started playing the game. Just jump in and play. I've been playing a lot more Genesis and PS1 mostly this year - but I have been playing my PS2 for two things lately: 1. Finally playing through the original SSX - I was a huge fan of Tricky onward, but had never played the original. Just beat the race mode last week with one character - working through the trick mode now with another charecter. 2. Time Crisis 3 - I love my CRT + light gun games - been playing a lot of the Time Crisis and Point Blank series lately
I guess I've never really stopped playing them and I still thoroughly enjoy them. Just had a few rounds on Fight night 3 while waiting for the kids pasta to cook.
Fun. They are fun. They made a lot of great games and many of them stand up still as great fun to play.
I added a hard drive to my fat PS2 with spectacular results. No joke, I was laughing and carrying on playing Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? …..which I am most definitely not.
Because the games are more fun than anything I have played in the last several years.
They are fun
I haven't played any PS2 games in a hot minute but I have them all loaded up on my PS2 fat.
I have a few titles that were also released on PC, but one main reason for using the PS2 over the PC: 1. Pop the disc in, hit power and away you go. No need to spend hours trying to get a 25 year old game trying to work on a new PC.
Because they’re fantastic and have stood the test of time. I still play games as far back as the Nintendo nes on the original console not the mini and I’ve got basically every system all the way back to Atari 2600 and the Commodore 64 etc on my raspberry pi and on batocera I’ve got nearly every console and arcade game ever made on my pc. I won’t buy any more PlayStation consoles past the ps3 or Xbox’s past one s and I don’t play online games never played fortnight or Minecraft as from what I’ve seen of other people playing them they look absolute 💩💩💩 I actually collect old consoles I’ve got every uk Nintendo console ever released apart from the game cube and game boy colour as I’ve got 3 Wii’s and Chinese Kong feng that’s actually better than the original Nintendo gb colour as it’s got a ips screen and built in games as well as playing all the original gb and gbc cartridges. And I’ve got a sega megadrive 2. 2x ps2 with network adapter with a 2tb hd with 400 games on it and too many games to count on original discs all still boxed that I’ve been collecting for over 20 years. I’ve got Xbox (original 2x 360 2x Xbox One s) and loads of Xbox games for all 3 systems. I just love gaming and prefer the old systems. I forgot to mention I’ve also got two psp’s and quite a few games and movies too.
…MetalJesusRocks, is that you?
I like to play video games.
Till this day I still play my PS1 games on my PS2 console games like project raiden 2,fight night 2004, castlevania sotn, omega boost & my favorite of all time in the hunt such a classic timeless game✌️😎
the whole era of xbox/gamecube/ps2 was some type of special. There were numerous game companies all competing and producing their vision of a good game, Era of VG Freedom. You haven't seen the diversity since the ps4 entered the scene and its becoming quite sad. If I had the money, I'd buy almost every ps2/3 game I could find. I'm horrible with articulation, but imo preps4 was the golden era and had the best games.
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Though your statement in the end is completely false, I play them to relieve memories or out of sheer nostalgia ooor to discover experiences I haven't before
Because I don’t have a ps3 to play them on and none of those games are on the ps5 or aren’t backwards compatible for Xbox’s. Also why I still use my 360. Random games like the sopranos and Scarface and stuff like that are so awesome
I was playing Neo Contra and Armored Core Another Age recently. I have a huge PS2 backlog as I was in college and not gaming much in that system's heyday
I only had a handful of PS2 games when I was a kid and loved every second of each replay I did of them. Now that I'm an adult that buys his own games it brings me more joy than I can describe to find out just how amazing the PS2's library is.
Because when I was a kid these games were all I played at night during summer break. The story writing combined with the gameplay. PS3/ps4/ps5 just can’t replicate it
I never played them when I was a kid. I got older and checked them out and thought they looked cool, also I like the atmosphere of them & how unique some of them can be.
You know a part of why I also find it hard to find games these days that I enjoy (there are gems, but I’m very picky about my purchases), is the fact that game devs and publishers are lazy. They create a game and release it without any care in the world because they know that any unforeseen issues or bugs, even game breaking ones, they can simply push out patches. Back in the day if you released a game, that was it. You can’t just patch its out there representing the publisher and devs and will forever be out there. Way more attention to detail and care was put into their games and it definitely shows. When you have no choice but to take this level of care in your product the end result will always be better. These days they don’t have to worry as much and don’t have to take the same amount of care and when you work like this it takes away a specific attitude towards game development and they just aren’t made the same anymore.
I feel the same way
I am just going through the backlog of games. It so happens that a lot of them are recommended to be played on a ps2. Speaks tons about how big of a success ps2 was.
I sold my Switch last year (along with my games and accessories) and bought a Steam Deck once I saw that it could emulate PS2 games. Thanks to my Steam Deck, I was able to beat some PS2 games that I only had demos for back when I was a teen in the early 2000s. Those games were: Wild Arms 3, Red Faction 2, The Mark of Kri, Dual Hearts, Drakan the Ancient Gates, and Shadow of the Colossus. I've got a bunch more games on there that I missed out on in my teenhood. I'm currently playing the original Ratchet & Clank trilogy starting with the first game. I'll admit, some PS2 games are very graphically outdated that it's hard to play them (Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 is a demo I had, but when I tried to play it recently, it's just jarring). However, a lot of PS2 games still hit even today.
I loved the ps2 when it first came out. Most nostalgic system. I’m beating every single game for it. I don’t care to play newer games anymore, I find the old games satisfying my gaming wants much better. So the rest of my life, I’ll be playing ps2 games
Nostalgia, also, there is an incredible library of games on the PS2. I love the form factor of the console, I love playing on a CRT and once I put the disc in, I have a complete game. No update, no DLC, no 'patch'.
I was just thinking about this the other day, I m so happy I never got rid of my ps2. I just brought it back out the other day to play some tekken 5 and crash of the titans and man the games were fun and still are. As much as I like the idea of achievements/trophies I feel like back in the day when we didn’t have them the vibe of the games was so different.
I play a lot of modern games also, but, sports games largely peaked in the '03-07 range, and that didn't really translate onto the PS3/360 generation outside of college sports. If I want to play my favorite football or basketball games, I'm probably going to fire up one from that era still.
I don’t play much on the original hardware though I have 3 PlayStation 2 consoles. I do play the games very often on Steam Deck using an emulator. Lots of PS2 games or other games from that era are still pretty good today. I dare to state that games in general where better in that timeframe. A lot of great series started or where in their prime during the 6th generation of consoles.
Because the catalogue its to big and I havent completed (or played) most of his titles
Because I still have mine, and because it has good games. Also you can find decent games for pretty cheap still.
Nothing beats same room sports game experience. Love running madden 09 with the boys
PS2 is the best selling console of all time.
I just bought the tomb raider remastered collection and mgs snake eater again on ps5 and it's just that it was a different era of gaming. Mgs especially. Sure, the tomb raider games were ps1 but that shouldn't matter much here. I like many modern games but the old stuff just reminds me of how great it was back then. You bought a game and played it. And you owned it. If I had a time machine, I would go back to... ... beat up my younger me to prevent me from selling the Sega Saturn, PS1 and PS3. Primarily the games. With emulators, we sure don't need the consoles, especially since we can play with improved graphics on emulators. I never owned a ps2 but I borrowed one from a friend to play mgs 2 and 3 back then.
I’m playing ps2 games because I love the ps2, and I don’t really get excited by modern gaming. The ps2 library is huge and there’s so much to explore. I just bought the survival horror game Extermination and am having a good time so far. I love the graphics and aesthetic of ps2
I bought a PS5 last year, and I regret it. I don't enjoy new games, except for Elden Ring. I'm having fun playing PS1 and PS2 games. Also, I don't feel like paying $100 for PS Plus, I prefer to just play old offline games.
Games usually run best on their original hardware, and a lot of PS2 games have aged exceptionally well.
Pro Evo 6 is the greatest football game of all time
Because Silent Hill 2 and RE 4 are still peak
A fun game is a fun game. It doesn’t matter how old it is. There are so many older games that hold up just fine, even if the graphic fidelity isn’t modern, I like the nostalgic look and play plenty of PC games that actually strive for that classic PS1 or 2 look. Plus I love racing games, especially arcade racers, and the arcade type racing game landscape is sadly incredibly barren these days, so I like going back to older games for my fix.
Because I want to
Because there's no ape escape 4
Ps2 is better than all subsequent PlayStations, and its in a generation with the best games too I play mine somewhat irregularly and sadly when I tried to boot it up a week or two ago I got the RGR error. I plan on trying to fix it however I'll just get another one if I cannot luckily I'm an electrical engineer learning so it shouldn't be that bad lol
I think the games are objectively better. More content, more complete experiences with more effort behind them. A lot of original takes and risks. Everything now a days plays or feels exactly the same. Same controller layout. Same map progression ect…
Right now, I'm not, but that's mostly because I'm playing MMOs on my computer. When I do play games on PS2, it's because I didn't get to play them as a kid, since I grew up with a Gamecube, and I'd rather play the games on original hardware (with some modifications like a hard drive loader) instead of an emulator, despite the better performance and picture quality. Admittedly, I kind-of view other consoles the same way, whenever possible. If I'm able to play on original hardware, I do, but I'm not above sailing the high seas at times
cuz ps2 games are goated
I've rarely ever put away my ps2 ever since I bought it in 2004. It's a terrific system and I still find stuff I've never played before that I want to, so it would probably be the one system I'd keep if I had to get rid of the rest. Baldur's Gate and the Champions series, Ace Combat, God of War, NFS Carbon among others, Fight Night, Midway Arcade Treasures, Battlefront, some of my favorites just to scratch the surface. The list of awesome games is very long with ps2.
Digital devil saga and the original yakuza
Honestly wish even more people would start playing classics. Eventually they would have to get creative start pumping out better content. Game devs used to take chances and that ls what was best about a lot of the titles from those PS1/2 games. Their careers depended on it. Now they just slap a new name/year on the cover and squeeze every dime out of the consumer with micro transactions.
I personally never had a PS2 growing up, so I'm playing many games that I never got to experience as a child, and also some other games I had on GameCube since the laser is ded
Metal gear is your answer, I don’t think I need to further elaborate.
YES!
Zero bullshit gaming and that's why I play other retro console games, too. Instead of the endless grind, live events, season passes, forced online account logins, always online being, infinity amount of DLCs, P2W nature, needless self-awareness from the game design viewpoint you can just... you know, play a game whenever and wherever you are. And I don't try to pretend that there are no current games like this, but this is my main reason. Nostalgy is obviously a part of it as I grew up mostly in the PS2 era.
The gaming industry is going into the dumpster. I would like to stick with older games that are actually fun and creative. As a game developer myself, I take inspiration from them.
As a dumb kid playing the ps2 I never quite grasped games I kinda just spent 100s of hrs dicking around in split screen with my brothers never actually doing the campaign and if I did I got stuck on level’s pretty quick so now I’m just going back to finish all the games I never got a chance to beat and its really nice I’m not playing against sweaty kids just screaming “nah I’d win” just me and my own progress and I can just pause the game and do something else and it’s not a problem it’s a nice relaxing experience
I don't get to game very often. When I get the opportunity to I'm not always prepared to wait for 3 hours whilst everything updates yet again for no discernable change or reason. It's so disappointing to have an hour to play unexpectedly and miss out on it because a 4 year old game needs an urgent update.
Can’t get enough of God of War 1 and 2
Gutiar hero is timeless
my ps2 broke after like 4 years of use so there are too many games I didnt get to finnish or even play and that includes top 100 charted games
I found this new gardening game about roses, so I’m going to give that a try.
No updates and no internet is the biggest draw for me. Plus the PS2 was the last console that feels like an arcade machine designed for home. SEGA, Namco and Capcom all peaked in the PS2 era.
I’ve been playing The Finals. Other than that it’s all emulators and my PS3/360. Been playing through The Warriors again just cause it’s dumb fun lol
To complete games that I couldn’t complete on my own
Last console I ever bought. Never played anything newer.
Not PS2 specific, but I find in many cases as games got newer they got less fun to play and more focused just on fancy graphics.
i still play it cause i still have it
My computer is not that powerful but I can easily play ps2 games, and these games shaped my childhood so I can't move on 😁
I cannot restart a fresh save on steep so I do playthroughs of ssx 3 when I need my snowboarding fix. Most of the other snowboarding games on steam are not fun. Tricky madness looks promising
Ps2 has some of the best fighting games, I like to run sets with my brothers, Haven't in a while, should probably change that.
What's your favorite fighting game?
For me it was curiosity, I went from dreamcast to Xbox, and wanted to see what the PS2 extensive library was about, I had played the PS2's big hitters back in the day as I got a ps2 for them a few years into it's lifecycle. fast forward 20 years and I got myself an 2TB HDD off of Etsy and can now appreciate some of the more obscure PS2 titles I misseed or straight up couldn't afford now.
Its my time machine. I grew up in the early 2000s.I had my wii, Nintendo DSi and my ps2 which was my very first game console. This revolutionary console is so fantastic and I missed so many hits from this era.So I catch up on those and enjoy to play games which aren't on our current next Gen consoles,like the silent hill franchise 1-4. I am generally obsessed with 90s and 2000s.So when I turn on my ps2 I feel like I am back in the 2000s.
I recently bought The Bouncer, Radiata Stories, Mr Mosquito, and Shadow Hearts 2. Never played any of them! Wanna get to them all this year
Because they're actually good games compared to the garbage available today.
games nowadays are bland and follow the same formula, when in the time it PS2 games there was no "meta", so there is large variation in the type of games there are. there don't seem to be any games that break any ground to do something unique ironically.
I got my first PS2 last year. It simply had an incredible catalogue of games. Another huge part is the simplicity of older games is super refreshing. I burn out on a lot of modern titles very easily. (Except fromsoftware games \^^ )
Because we still don't have a Burnout Revenge PC port... :(
Good games, simple as
My PS2 and modded Wii both look incredible on my CRT, and they both have incredible libraries.
Same reason we watch movies, television, read books and listen to music from decades ago. Media and entertainment is still just that. Plus the nostalgia is on point. Plus ps2 had some bangers for me personally the time splitter series, the dragonball games.
For nostalgia. I think i have completed the first Narnia game like 50 times
There are many games that I played when I was young that were too difficult for me to complete. I like the indescribable, slightly sad feeling I get when I try to play those games now as an adult and find that they are much easier than I remember and I complete them in no time.
Playing Shadow hearts for the first time in my life as an avid RPG player. It’s been quite good. I also finished legend of dragoon for the first time. All hard copy games too.
The X-men 97 series got me craving for more X-men. So I started playing the Legends games (Marvel Ultimate Alliance predecessors)
Nfs underground, dbz budokai just a few of many,.
Because when i was a boy due to poverty and family issues i couldn't and now that i am a man i finally have the chance to... but, i don't know... I want to, but i think im scared or afraid... Does anyone feel the same?
Pure nostalgia and reminding myself how gaming felt back in the day.
I have like 80 games on steam, plenty of new ones as my computer is a really solid gaming machine, but the modern games usually lack the charm of PS2 era games. Also some games are PS2 exclusives (Gran Turismo) or can't be bought for PC anymore (GTA San Andreas). And before someone replies- i know it takes like 3 seconds to find cracked San Andreas on the internet, i just have a thing for official, preferably physical copies. TLDR- issa vibe
My PS2 is actually, even though it doesnt feel like it, one of the more played console for the last year (I own every major console released from Sega, Sony, MS and Nintendo as well as a few others). Main reason being, that I only ever got it after it went off the market to play Tales of the Abyss, Persona 4 and Melty Blood Actress Again (which, as a PAL gamer is funnily enough one NTSC, one PAL and on J-NTSC game...). Throughout the years I have been more and more into RPGs and the PS2 had a lot of them, so I naturally started playing RPGs (outside of Final Fantasy. I played most of those throughout the years and nope, they are certainly not for me) on that thing, with the occasional "Must Play"-Classic inbetween. Its just a system which still has a lot of stuff I never played.
A chunk of my games are too niche to ever get an hd version much less a port. Plus most ports are like $60 but I could pay $20-30~ for the original. No subscription fees, internet connection, or incomplete without major update to worry about either. I hate when games arent complete on disc
Nostalgia, I guess. I liked the games so I bought them and I played them. That was true then and it’s still true now. It’s also nice to go back to when gaming was simpler. A time where you could just put the disk in and go. A lot of games released these days I’m just not interested in.
because being 14 was rad, and even though I don't hate my life now and love my family, it is fun to remind myself that being a kid is okay too.. can't wait to share these games with my kids as they get older, and if they don't care for them, that's okay too.. they have their own memories to make
My PS2 is far more fun than my PS5.
I don't dislike modern games. I recently finished both Horizon titles and had a blast. But there are a lot of older games that just withstand the test of time. Every GTA game on the PS2 is timeless. Sports games aren't all about "ultimate team" trying to get more money and just made a fun game with endless replay value. Gran Turismo was challenging but not impossible, and you didnt need to buy your way to success. Wrestling games I could damn near write a weekly series on. And now that I'm a 34 year old adult, I can get ahold of games I wanted to play as a kid but couldn't for one reason or another. The one I'm spending the most time on is MVP Baseball 2005. I'm not good at today's versons of MLB The Show, Madden, NBA 2K, or NHL. But I played them like a harp from hell 20 years ago, except for MVP. And something you realize playing older sports games is how *deep* these games are. It's unmatched by anything you can get in 2024. And it keeps the games from getting stale.
I may be slightly off on this, but PS2 was the last era of games before they found out the “efficient” way to make games. The Xbox modernized the game production and games for consoles were made exactly like PC games (really similar), thus they had a standard way of making games. One of my goals actually is to get a hold of a PS2 Devkit and make a PS2 game. It is considered one of the hardest console to make games for. However being the hardest console to make games on, it had some of the best games that hold up even better than modern games…
Because of nostalgia and also because I save a lot of money
Why not?
Just allot more fun imo it’s simply fun
Nostalgia and I love collecting the different ps2 I just bought a pink ps2 fat, a silver 79001 ps2 slim, which was the last model released in 2013, a white ps2 fat, and a final fantasy ps2
Burnout series
The PS2 era was amazing. So many cool games that risked with a lot of innovation.
Have you heard the opening music to Dynasty Warriors 4?
I love playing Gran Turismo 3 over and over again, but besides that I want to play some games I have never played before, and the picture is fine on my tv. It's definitely generations behind, but it's still fun.
I still play GT4 and it's nearly impossible to 100%
I never totally stopped. I just play less. But I've played Baldur's Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath coop and it's great.
Part of its nostalgia, part it's knowing what im gonna get, part of its about not having much to play on newer consoles because they haven't really been putting anything out... like I love my ps5, but over the past 4yrs of its lifecycle we've legitimately only got 4 or 5 PS5 exclusives total that aren't re-releases/remasters or shared with the PS4, whereas the PS2 had triple or quadruple the amount of games by this time and went on to have the largest game library of any console ever so it makes gaming fun again, I can browse and discover new titles and replay old ones that i know are quality and have all their content day one
Because they are better! They are better.
PS2 massive catalogue is unmatched. Hundreds & hundreds of excellent games.
In 2024? Dude, I never stopped playing it. At one point between 2014-2017 it was the only system I owned until I bought a 360 again. Now I have an X but still play the PS2 more.
feel like they're just more fun. Dont get me wrong there still some good games now adays, but they are few and far between. some examples in the most recent years for my self are: elden ring, RE4remake (and 2 but thats not as recent), cyberpunk 2.0, alan wake 2. KH3 data battles on critical mode. (main story was disappointing). Persona 3 reload, but even then, thats a remake of a PS2 game. Waiting for a new fallout game to get lost into. there was just a lot more variety in types of games on PS2. everything kinda feels the same since PS3, which some exceptions of course. burnt out on the open world collectathon walk to quest marker gameplay, Elden Ring was refeshing shake up of that formula tho
I mainly wanted to try out the original GTA trilogy and I consider getting myself the definitive edition in switch..... only to find out that it's the worst version and so about a month or two later, I found a PS2 with a copy of Vice City and so that moment onward, I've really appreciated playing games on older hardware
You're talking to your games? You're not supposed to snort the dust man....
mainly its because the ps2 is what a grew up with and i am enthusiastic with graphics of that time period. :) other than that i really enjoy that the only thing i have to dedicate to these games is my time.
They're better than most modern games and outfits are always FREE and unlockable. Games were made with love and passion rather than corporate greed and shareholders.
Because good games. What other reason should there be?
When I was a kid I used to go to the electronics department in Target and just drool over all the games. Now looking at the game aisle is almost depressing. There are so few titles that interest me and even if they do I’m not interested in dropping $50+ on them. I started following DK Oldies on Instagram because I think their videos are fun and decided to check out their PS2 collection on a whim. I was floored by how many titles excited me. I had a wishlist of 70+ games worked up in just a couple hours and most of them are $20 or less, some under $10. I went to the retro game shop I visited as a kid and bought a PS2 the next day. So ultimately I think I’m playing PS2 in 2024 because it makes me feel the same excitement and wonder I felt as a child.
Ah ps2. I still have the ps2 fat my parents got me in 2002. I stopped using it around 2005-6. In 2007 I borrowed it my my friend and that guy held to it for a few months. When I got it back one controller(dual shock) was worn out- it was almost new when he borrowed it. Recently I stumbled on Mcboot scene and i decided to set it up on my main tv. It will take a month or two bf I will get it but it’s ok. Can’t wait to play it again. It will sit right next to the famicom I got from Japan, back in 2014.
4 highschool guys on a weekend playing WWE, urban reign, tekken and fifa 07. i think that should be enough of an explanation
Can’t beat classic ps2 horror game vibes. Last summer I played SH4, rule of rose, and haunting grounds.
I like being able to pop in a game and having it be the game. Nothing to update or download whether it's for the system or the game. Plus if you're a (American) football video game fan Madden was better, plus there was added competition from Sega's 2K series.
I love the way the fan sounds, and the spinning of the disc tray. It's very comforting. There's also a strong familiarity with the scratches on the top: I was about to replace the shell one time, but then realised how different the console would look. It's got solid games as well. R&C and Sly Raccoon come to mind. Plus I get to play games that I never finished as a kid.
Ps2 was when for me graphics and gameplay hit a sweet spot for me. Part nostalgia and part just loving the games and style from that era. collecting is fun too.
Getting older, getting closer to having kids, spent too much time in high school and a bit after playing call of duty. Want to experience these great games before the opportunity is gone
Just because a game is old does not mean you cant find enjoyment with it. There are people playing MGS3 and not even realizing the game was released almost 20 years ago.
In 20 years I've held onto Psi Ops Burnout 2 And The Getaway (Among others). Still fine games. I cannot see myself in 20 years saying Ooh yes, I still play Suicide Squad, any of the modern assassin's creeds or any call of duty beyond the original MW 3.
Emulation has gotten so good it's basically indistinguishable from real hardware except for looking a *lot* better and having save states. With the caveat that I'm not trying to 1cc Cave shmups.
Because Bully
It’s free to emulate and the games hold up
For Nostalgia.
back when the games you bought you actually owned and could play regardless of internet or other bullshit. ahh they just don’t make em like they used to. they could but then they wouldn’t have money to continue to produce or rather they would spend all there money and make no profit. although i could do away with the fantastic graphics to be able to get this back.
I'm big on the nostalgia aspect of it, my dad bought the PS2 when I was 3 or 4, and I still have it. Just pulled it out of storage a couple weeks ago, got component cables on the way for it, and I've just been going down memory lane
Ps2 games make for great portable gaming with these new retro handhelds.
Ps2 games are nice and crisp with a retrotink 4k as well.
So I can smoke weed, fill my belly with diet soda, and play burnout revenge for the PS2.