PS2 PS2 at the end of 2001

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

It’s a bit crusty, but look at this. These are all some of the heaviest hitters for the console and they came out… within two years of the system’s release. It’s not hard to see why PS2 steamrolled so hard that generation in terms of hardware sales.

 

[UnDubious]

The PS2 was the NES of its day, just infinite amounts of games. The library is insane.

 

[Inkingsama]

When you think about it, this is an insane line up for a console launch. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft would kill to get something like this nowadays.

 

[Stare best girl]

When you think about it, this is an insane line up for a console launch. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft would kill to get something like this nowadays.

No, this is the actual launch lineup(at least in America)

 

[Iguana-0]

Where is the hell is Twisted Metal Black? That's a 2001 title

 

[SpcDaicon]

Absolutely stacked lineup.

Its incredible how many heavy hitters the PS2 had in it's first year. Truly the greatest console of its generation

 

[Wechseln]

The greatest of all time, simply unmatched in raw output and quality, you could even play PSX games on it for god sake. Extremely cheap and accessible (If modded), PS2 is still played all over my region to this day, that's why we have so many DBZ BT3 and PES mods.

The Super Nintendo (Through I didn't own one as a child) is the only console I believe could match the PS2 when it comes to raw quality, at least for its time.

PS3 was kind of a let down to be honest.

 

[Frickinfrik]

The PS2 truly was an awesome system.

 

[Deleted member 179251]

Another thing why they had such long lineups, were because games back then had an average length of 10-14 hours at best, and didn't cost the gdp of fiji and half the population of canada to make a single game.
So since games were usually this small (yes there were 100 hour rpgs like final fantasy and all but they were more novelty), people would be able to beat like a game in a week, and then buy another next week. Instead of being stuck with a single unnecessarily bloated game that could've been 13 hours but was made 30 hours just for the sake of it.

 

[UnDubious]

Another thing why they had such long lineups, were because games back then had an average length of 10-14 hours at best, and didn't cost the gdp of fiji and half the population of canada to make a single game.
So since games were usually this small (yes there were 100 hour rpgs like final fantasy and all but they were more novelty), people would be able to beat like a game in a week, and then buy another next week. Instead of being stuck with a single unnecessarily bloated game that could've been 13 hours but was made 30 hours just for the sake of it.

All that, plus with games being somewhat more affordable to make (though they were already much longer and more expensive to make than they had been 10 years before), more companies could make them, leading to more variety. We started seeing a lot more joint developments during that era, though. If you look at the credits of most Japanese games, there's typically a main developer and then various other companies brought in to do specific things - maybe the graphics, maybe help with some programming, maybe write the story or compose the music, definitely the CG cutscenes, etc. But it was still at a more manageable point.

 

[FTLOTG]

No, this is the actual launch lineup(at least in America)

It always shocks me when people say this is a bad launch line up. Not only is basically every genre covered just imagine today getting:
-a new tekken
-a new street fighter
-3 new fromsoft games
-2 new rockstar games
-a new timesplitters
-a new SSX
-a new ridge racer
All on the same day.

 

[Deleted member 179251]

All that, plus with games being somewhat more affordable to make (though they were already much longer and more expensive to make than they had been 10 years before), more companies could make them, leading to more variety. We started seeing a lot more joint developments during that era, though. If you look at the credits of most Japanese games, there's typically a main developer and then various other companies brought in to do specific things - maybe the graphics, maybe help with some programming, maybe write the story or compose the music, definitely the CG cutscenes, etc. But it was still at a more manageable point.

It reminds me of a funny thing that I always tell people around. In 2005 people complained that a 15-20 hour game like Resident Evil 4 was too long, while in 2023, the same people complained that the resident evil 4 remake, of almost similar length, was too short. Somewhere between OG Re4 and Re4 remake our idea of game length became so bloated, that a health 15 hour game started feeling too short. Like, Cult of the lamb, which sold for like 20-30 dollars and was 17-20 hours long (an impressive length for an indie game), still got complains from some people saying it was too short. Like my dude...why? XD

 

[Graw]

people would be able to beat like a game in a week, and then buy another next week

I owned between 10-15 ps2 games total over the entirety of its run. Unless you had a lot of money, you were definitely not buying a new game once a week. You were lucky if you were renting one new game a week.

 

[Wechseln]

Modded PS2 supremacy. You could get the games burned into disks for a few bucks back in the day, through they didn't really last long due to the disk quality. At least that was what we did in my country.

 

[Deleted member 179251]

I owned between 10-15 ps2 games total over the entirety of its run. Unless you had a lot of money, you were definitely not buying a new game once a week. You were lucky if you were renting one new game a week.

Yeah i get you, the money being tight was always a thing. Still is. I am currently going through it. But yeah, those who had money for new games, or to buy or atleast rent one a week, wouldn't feel like they have a massive backlog to get through because they'd be able to beat their games more quickly. I know some people who own 200 or so ps2 games, and they used to buy one every week, and none of them are in their backlog because most were able to finish them under a reasonable time. XD

 

[Varyag]

Ooor you lived in a country with rampant piracy and bought a new game every week because your unlocked PS2 could run burned DVDs for dirt cheap. I'm so glad I got to experience such a massive dearth of the PS2's incredible library because of that. I ended the PS2's days with like, nearly 100 games, I filled out 2 disc holders, never really counted them.

 

[Android 18]

Another thing about the PS2 library is that it was conceivable to actually plan & finish entire sagas across the span of a singular console. A lot of that was extreme crunch and often the third in a trilogy would suffer from the expectation of following up a console-defining hit, but a massive part of the nostalgia for the PS2 library was the idea that you, as a gamer, could commit to seeing out the full breadth of your character's adventures in an affordable and timely manner. A massive library is one thing, a massive library filled with hits *on the same generation* is something that has been basically impossible since the demise of the PS3, and even then there were clear production line issues happening that only fully manifested into the PS4 era and beyond.