This is it, guys. The end of an era. The last PlayStation 2 game worth a damn is hitting stores today, and with it ends a decade of media dominance. At least it’s going out with a bang, right? A bang to the head, even! The followup to last year’s (and also this year’s, kinda) Persona 3 — aptly entitled Persona 4 — has arrived. After this, you can just about stop looking for anything good to come out on the PS2. (Unless of course Atlus USA decides to grace us with the final MegaTen game, Kuzunoha Raidou 2.)
It’s strange looking back on the history of the highest-selling console ever. From its botched launch where shipments were cut in half the day before release and a meagre handful of excellent launch software like Fantavision and laser-lens failures aplenty, all the way until today, where the PS2 has sold some retarded number like 140 million units worldwide. Seriously, guys, that’s a helluva lot of consoles that have been moved, and that doesn’t even take into account how many consumers picked up systems secondhand. Sony has bulit an empire with the PlayStation 2 that surpasses even its predecessor by 40 million units. Touting full backwards compatibility with all the PSone games certainly helped sales; customers didn’t have to feel like they were making their current possessions obsolete.
Nothing could stop the beast that is the PlayStation 2 — not even the PlayStation 3. For its first year and a half of the PS3’s life, the PS2 was consistently outselling its successor month-in and month-out. It’s name that is now synonomous with console gaming. Twelve years ago, everything was a Nintendo to my grandma; now everything’s a PlayStation, and with good reason. The PS2 was home to literally thousands of games, and there were a lot of good ones. Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, God of War, Disgaea, Metal Gear Solid 2 (and of course 3), Final Fantasy X and XII, The Bouncer (shut up guys this game is great), Devil May Cry, Raw Danger….the list goes on and on. Of course, there were some games that were complete garbage, but we won’t stoop so low that we talk about those.
But enough about an old person’s console, let’s talk about the new games coming out.
Ohh yeah! There aren’t any! Other than Persona 4 (which deserves its own week anyway), not a goddamn thing is being released, unless you really gotta have Slingo Quest for the DS, which also comes out. So go out, purchase your Persona 4s, and play the sequel to one of the finest RPGs in years. In fact, while you do so, you should take part in Talking Time’s P4 Fun Club so you can talk about it with other nerds like yourself. For all intents and purposes, this is the end of the gaming year. Thank god for that, too, because now we have a few months where we can actually catch up on everything that has released over the past three months.
Ah, you got me you trickster. ;)
still not getting P4 :P
Weren’t people saying the same thing back in early 2007 when God of War 2 came out? Ah well, I’m sure that Bandai-Namco will do a fine job of filling the gaps with assorted roboty goodness.
I keep thinking about trying P3 or P4, but after the extremely slow pace of P1 for the PS1, I’m hesitent to try it the later games.
Also does anyone else out there have a working launch PS2? I think I’m one of the very lucky few who do.
Josh – I found P2 to be incredibly slow, and P3 is one of my favorite games. P4 is very similar to P3, so I’d give it a shot if I were you.
My best friend has a working launch PS2 (er…well, it works most of the time, anyway). I traded mine in for the slim model once it started showing the first sign of disc read errors.
Kat:
Yea, I was actually talking to my friend about this same thing the other day. I believe the PS2’s had something like 4 swan songs now :p
Since my life long dream isn’t being a Japanese teenager, I’ll be skipping this “swan song”.
Still waiting for a half-decent Batman game, Levi?
Hey, the PS2’s not dead, yet! There’s still uh… erm… Ar Tonelico 2?
My PS2 from 2001 is still alive and kicking. Sure, it makes weird noises occasionally and now takes longer to start up…but it works.
Screw you, Xbox. Back in my day, we made consoles that walked 15 miles; uphill both ways! AND WE LIKED IT!!!
To anyone holding back on Persona 3 or 4 because you played 1 or 2 and weren’t keen:
Don’t.
They’re completely different beasts. Persona 3 and 4 are very much RPGs of the highest caliber and you should all play them. The first two Persona games were good, but definitely kinda niche. 3 and 4 are way safer bets. Also, no real continuity, so play away withou hesitation.
I got my P4 today, but I also got my new surround sound receiver, so I spend my evening connecting, configuring and calibrating it instead of playing the game. But I’m all set for tomorrow.
I too have a functioning PS2 from 2001 (it’s the GT3 pack-in model). Games take a little longer to load and FMVs get choppy. So it has pretty much been retired since I have a launch 60GB PS3. Actually I unhooked my PS2 today when installing the new receiver. But it’ll get one last boot so I can copy the rest of my save files from the HDD to memory card and import them into my PS3 (it is such a slow process with just one memory card that I never finished).
I still have a launch PS2 which works just fine. The only console I’ve ever had die on me was my NES though it helps that I don’t have a 360 as everyone I know has went through at least 1 of those.
I think I’ll pass on P4 as I didn’t get into P3.
Jak and Daxter!?!!??!?! Ha ha ha ha ha.
Hold on, did you just give props to Raw Danger? All is forgiven, brother, all is forgiven.
Yeah, I also had a launch-gen PS2 that was still working *most* of the time up to the point where I got my 60G PS3. I had to blow in the slot one time to adjust the lens. (No crap, it worked.)
I remember enjoying The Bouncer. Sure, it was basically a glorified tech demo and had some balance issues, but it was a relatively fun and shiny tech demo.
All is NOT forgiven… where is the God Hand love brother?!
Raw Danger!?!? Holler!!!!
As much love as I have for God Hand, I have no idea how I neglected to add it to the list.
Except, of course, that it only sold like fifty copies and that was to everybody who visits this site.
@ people using P1 and P2 as their reason not to play P3 and P4:
STOP
You know how most direct sequels fix some of the problems with the original but get some things the original did right wrong or maybe what’s wrong with the sequel is it hasn’t managed to differentiate itself enough from the original so it actually takes two or three more sequels to get another game that is as fresh and exciting as the original? That’s the difference in quality between P3 and P2 except with all the disappointing sequels cut out of the middle.
Maybe I can explain myself with analogies. Remember how big the improvement was between Suikoden and Suikoden 2? It’s like that between P2 and P3 except more. It’s like what Resident Evil 4 was to the Resident Evil franchise except more.
The Bouncer was both terrible and awesome at the same time. Depending on which playthrough you were on, its difficulty varied wildly and the controls never worked as well as you would like. Yet I still liked it a lot because I got it for cheap and it was one of the few modern attempts by Square at a new IP.
I still have my PS2 from 2001. Do you call that a PS2 Phat? I sure do wish it had a component out um hookup-y thing, but can anyone here tell me whether component PS2 graphics are as horrible on an HDTV as some people have said they are? Because that would be bad.
You can’t make a list of good memorable PS2 games without mentioning Godhand. Its just not possible. You should be arrested and Gene spanked.
You said the Bouncer was a great game. I…I think this could be the start of something beautiful.
Jrpgs are and overrated nightmare.
@vsrobot Quit trolling lest ye be trolled.
How is he trolling? This whole site is starting to turn into Americans who want to be Japanese when they grow up.
I’ll buy P4 whenever someone explains to me how watching your character study or sit through a high school history lecture makes for a compelling gaming experience, let alone “one of the best RPGs in years.”
1) I don’t think I ever called P4 the “swan song” of the PS2.
2) Sorry Eric, not everybody loves Madden.
3) Turnip, because it’s different. Seriously, RPGs are all the same goddamn thing at this point; In generic RPG #2334355 you talk to random villager #45 who tells you that “The wind has picked up lately.” At least Persona keeps a world that never forgets itself.
You can cut a chunk of skin off your arm and rub garlic salt on the gaping wound. That would also be a different experience, but that doesn’t mean it’d be a fun or pleasant one.
I dunno, everyone keeps trying to say how different it is, but the only thing that sets it apart is the really boring highschool sim parts that bog the game down and make it insufferable.
The PS2 is hardly having P4 as it’s last game. We’re still getting PS2 versions of Tomb Raider Underworld, Rock Band 2, and Ar tonelico 2, among others.
Also, Gundam Musou 2 is hitting Japan on PS2 and is coming out here (as Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2) at some point not yet named and Fate/Unlimited Codes is coming out in Japan as well.
Beyond that is probably lots of console down-ports, but I think the Wii is artificially extending PS2’s life a bit.
Turnip, did you PLAY Persona 3? If you have, then I’ll accept your thoughts as perfectly acceptable; if you haven’t then I really can’t accept your argument.
I love it when people accuse me of never playing the game just because I didn’t like the remarkably boring life sim aspects.
I am with Turnip. I stopped playing P3 because I didn’t want to join the swim team and take a kid out to eat noodles. The “being a japanese teenager” stuff is why I don’t like Persona, hence my earlier joke. (The comment I left that said “I kid my P4 obsessed friends” was apparently eaten by the site.)
I also love it when people assume I’m attacking your opinion, when I really don’t know if you justifiably have one. In all reality, I don’t give a flying fuck if you enjoy Persona 3; what bothers me is the people who assume they hate it before playing it.
2) Sorry Eric, not everybody loves Madden.
LOL, way to generalize.
No matter how hard you really try, you’ll never be Japanese.
Sure is troll in here.
I just want to clarify that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with hating on Persona’s life sim aspects. Also, that said hatred is quite justifiable as long as it’s expressed. The sentiment speaks for itself. Life sim=boring to many hardcore gamers. Not all, not me, but many. Besides, we’re commenting on a blog here, let’s try and enjoy the opinions of others for once, yeah? I don’t know about you guys, but I give a “flying fuck” about people expressing themselves, and yes, whether or not they enjoy their games.
So Eric, let me get this straight. It’s ok somehow for you to say that everybody that plays Persona wants to be Japanese, but when I turn around and throw ye ol’ pigskin at ya, you become all high and mighty.
Seriously, you’re retarded.
Rock on brother… rock on! You’ve done the God Hand proud! ;)
Yay, some love for The Bouncer. It was always underrated IMO.
Frankly? I say it’s still to early to count the PS2 out. People have been sounding its death knell for 3 years now and there are still new, quality games. As reibeatall wrote, there are 140 million consoles out there and they’re not suddenly going to disappear. Furthermore, with the world economy being what it is (sorry, I hate everyone ranting about it too), not everyone can afford to jump on the latest and greatest.
Oh, and my launch PS2 is still going strong…….. although it has some trouble reading the blue CD-ROM media.
@ people using P1 and P2 as their reason not to play P3 and P4:
STOP
hammer time!