Happy birthday best system ever
March 4, 2010
One surefire way to incite nerd rage is to ask a group of friends what the best gaming console ever is. “Dreamcast!!” the savvy gamers will say. “Super Nintendo, no doubt” retro fans will argue. “Xbox 360″ foolish young’uns will say.
But the only real answer is Sony’s Playstation 2.
I won’t recount the history of the console here, but I’ll point you to Kotaku’s Mike Fahey’s ode to the system. In short, it launched in 2000, ten years ago today, and games are still being made for it. And it’ll probably still happen for 1-3 more years. It’s library is unparalleled in terms of quality and depth – home to scores of great RPGs, fighters, puzzle games, and every other genre anyone could want. It’s the console where I became a “hardcore gamer.”
The PS2′s father was where I got hooked on gaming, with a score of Final Fantasy titles and action games. But the PS2, with games like the Metal Gear series, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus, and, of course, the Final Fantasy titles released on the console, I began to take gaming more seriously. The seeds of me being a quasi-professional games writer, I’d say.
But this is less about my experiences with Sony’s console and more about why it’s the best console ever. And really, it’s not 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. Three Final Fantasy titles, even though many discount the underrated X-2. Two surreal Katamari games. The birth of the Guitar Hero series. 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 had in it’s 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 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 operate today.
Today, my PS2 is probably 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’s a first generation still chugging along. Barely. Much like the PS2 as a console itself. Will I get it replaced? Probably, as there are many games I want 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.
