Console of the Month (Feb 2022): PlayStation 2

[Ziggy]

Here's my PS2 collection from back in 2020 before I started selling things.



Not that many PS2 games sold though, so I still have most of those. And I even added at least one (Ghostbusters) since then.




Here's one game I'd like to talk about...

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks



This was actually one of my favorites games for the PS2 during its lifetime. I learned of it from one of those demo discs. Remember those?



Now that I think about it, I didn't even try any of the other games on that disc. I saw an MK game, and I went straight to that one. I played through the demo and promptly picked up a used copy. And I played the hell out of it!

It's an action/adventure beat 'em up with light RPG elements. I've always been a fan of the early MK games, especially MK2, and this game is just a complete love letter to MK2. It starts with an opening cutscene depicting the ending events of MK1. Then it picks up right from there. The game follows the story of MK2, but the first area of the game is escaping Outworld at the end of MK1. More or less so they could shove some MK1 locations in there quick, namely Goro's Lair and The Pit. From there, it's all MK2 locations. It's definitely awesome getting to see all of the locations from MK2 in 3D.

The game plays like a 3D beat 'em up. You can choose to play as either Lui Kang or Kung Lao. You can play through the game solo as either character, or 2-player co-op as both. You can also unlock Sub-Zero and Scorpion as playable character, but they don't have their own story. You gain experience points from defeating enemies and such, and you can spend those points on new moves and the like. And it's an MK game, so you learn finishing moves along the way as well. The gameplay is addictive. It's shallow enough to be easily accessible. But it's just deep enough to not be boring and repetitive. For example, learning how to juggle enemies for larger kombo counts. Or knocking/throwing enemies into traps for instant kills.

I checked my save file on my PS2 memory card and apparently I haven't played this game since 2011. I had several saves on there. I played through it solo as both Lui Kang and Kung Lao. And I played through it co-op as both characters, as well a Sub-Zero/Scorpion run. It was just that much fun. IIRC, the game has a versus mode but I don't remember it being much fun. But you can unlock the arcade version of MK2, and this I had a blast with. I don't know if it's emulated or just not a great port, because it runs too fast. But it was the first time I had the arcade version at home (as oppose to the SNES port) so I found it fantastic. My brother and I played many, many rounds in this. And we even beat the single player which is insanely difficult due to the increased speed. So between the main game and the MK2 arcade port, I sunk many, many hours into this game. It's gotta be in my top 5 of most hours played PS2 games.

A sequel focused on Scorpion and Sub-Zero, titled Mortal Kombat: Fire & Ice, was planned to be developed by Paradox but financial constraint caused the project's cancellation.[19] Ed Boon recalled: "Monks was FAR and away the best spinoff. We were in talks to do a sequel before the Moorpark studio closed."

A possible HD remake of Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks was teased by Boon in October 2013. He also previously said they would "love to make one" someday, but a remake would not come "in the NEAR future" (from January 2013). In 2014, he also disclosed that they already did talk "about doing an up-rez'ed version for [the] PS3 and 360 a few years ago."

Reading the above killed me. I would have loved to see a sequel or HD port of this game, and sadly that never happened. Oh well. I just fired up Shaolin Monks on my PS2 for the first time since 2011. I've been thinking about replaying this game for a few years now, but I was kind of scared if I would still find it enjoyable or not. Well, it's still just as much fun to play now as it was a decade ago!

[alienjesus]

I skipped the PS2 and went with the oXBOX for that generation. The oXBOX felt like a sequel to the Dreamcast and I loved the 2K Sports games. I did end up getting a PS2 slim from a friend around the launch of the PS3. Since getting it I have not put too much time into it - almost every game I wanted to play I already played it on the oXBOX (Metal Gear 2&3, GTA Collection, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and more). The games that were not on oXBOX I did get but soon purchased superior versions on other consoles - DQ8 on 3DS (portable RPGs are always better for me), Kingdom Hearts and FFX remastered on PS3 and The Zodiac Age on XBONE.
I have a small collection of PS2 games, but this generation (PS2, oXBOX, GC) was when I was spending more time being out and social that it is my least played/collected generation of games and systems.

I have even less experience with the Xbox than the PS2. I was definitely a Gamecube guy in this generation of gaming. A few friends had PS2s though, so I tried the occasional game here and there when visiting. Unfortunately, multiplayer was the order of the day, and the PS2 has quite a weak multiplayer library I think - especially as there were often 3 of us and the system only has 2 controller ports!

Like others, I was reluctant to get a PS2 at first. First I was annoyed at it because I saw it as being partly responsible for the demise of the Dreamcast.
But my little brother got one for Christmas one year and while I never played games on it, it served as the family DVD player. And for that generation, I first saw the original Xbox as the successor of the Dreamcast with a lot of interesting Sega games right off the bat. A couple years later, I picked up a Gamecube when the price dropped to $100 and figured I'd never get a PS2.

[...]

For multiplatform games, it's still my last choice for that generation after Xbox or Gamecube, which tended to have nicer graphics, but PS2 has plenty of really interesting unique titles! There are a bunch of games in my backlog I haven't gotten around to yet that I'm still looking forward to like Rogue Galaxy. And plenty of games I regret not picking up when my local FYE had them all for dirt cheap, like Steambot Chronicles.

Yeah, I feel like the DVD player was a big selling point for people when the PS2 came out. They were pretty pricy early on, although by the end of the 6th gen they were pretty cheap so it probably became less of a selling point over time.

PS2 would be my last choice for multiplatform games too. I'll favour Gamecube in most instances where possible because it's usually got better performance than PS2 and has a much nicer controller than Xbox. PS2 does have one advantage though - multiplatform games which can be pricy on the other 2 tend to be dirt cheap on PS2. For example, Metal Arms is a £25 game over here on Gamecube but is only a fiver on PS2. Similarly, Outrun 2006 on Xbox goes for like £65, but on PS2 you'll pay about a tenner at most. If you want to keep things cheap, it's a good system to buy for.

I've played a little bit of Dark Cloud. It's a fun, little dungeon crawler with real time combat. The combat feels almost like those 3d, Zelda games. You also have different characters with different strengths and weaknesses and you can switch between them. The first character you get for example has a bow and arrow which makes dealing with obnoxious flying bats a LOT easier. Dungeons have a certain number of floors for you to descend as you look for various items. You have to worry about stuff like weapon durability, thirst, as well as your own health. This means you can only do a certain number of floors before having to exit the dungeon...or you die. I think the floors are randomly generated too if I remember correctly.

Also, there is a sort of city building aspect to it. As you find certain items in the dungeons, you can use them to "restore" a city that has lost its buildings and residents. You can choose where to place buildings and residents and there are various pros and cons to where you put them. You can always change your mind so it's no big deal if you don't like how you've set things up.

Lastly, there are these strange sort of boss fights that play out like a rhythm game. Dark Cloud is a weird game, but I enjoyed what I played of it

Dark Cloud is definitely one I wanted to pick up because I remember reading about it in a PS2 magazine my cousin bought once back in the day. It was before the 6th gen stuff was really out there so it looked amazing to me. I remember thinking the city building mechanic sounded so cool, and I'd recently got into Zelda in a big way so the fantasy adventure setup was right up my alley. I gave my disc a 30 minute playtest to check all seemed to run OK and it's super charming from the off. I enjoyed the slightly excessive dance sequence at the start.

For your thoughts on the other games, good to hear, although I have a good idea what to expect with those 4 - I've played Ape Escape 1, Klonoa 1, Parappa 1 and Um Jammer Lammy on PS1 before via various means (some I got on PSN), and I've played the Katamari Damacy remake on Switch too. I guess I played it a bit safe with my selection really seeing as 4 of the 6 games were sequels.

I bought a PS2 at launch - the first console I did that for. I remember being in college and waiting outside the Gamestop in the Carousel Mall in Syracuse, NY to pick up the console at midnight. I got SSX and Madden at launch along with a DVD or two. I took it back to my first ever apartment and hooked it to the first TV I'd ever bought for myself and I felt like I was on top of the world. It was sweet.

This month I've been dipping into the library some. I am not tooling around with a lot of the "classic" games that I've played to death on the system - these days I typically go to quick/arcadey fixes if I play the console. So, I've played some State of Emergency, some ATV Offroad Fury 3, Some Arctic Thunder (which sucks, it turns out), and hope to toss in a few fighters and retro compilations (the PS2 is a compilation lover's dream console). I hope to play some Cave titles on it to wrap out the month too. In any case, it has been great to hook it up again...

Love some of the picks, would be great to hear more about those lesser known games here.

On your launch games, SSX was a series I see a lot of love for but I found it kinda hard to go back too when I got a copy of SSX tricky in a bundle a few years back.

Kinda off topic, but I'd love to know more about which consoles racketboy people bought at launch first, or with their own money. Maybe I should start a thread. My first launch day system was the Nintendo DS personally!

Here's one game I'd like to talk about...

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

This was actually one of my favorites games for the PS2 during its lifetime. I learned of it from one of those demo discs. Remember those?

Interesting to hear some love for this. I kind of assumed the Mortal Kombat spin-offs were all pretty awful, like the N64 ones were.

I loved demo discs back in the day, but I don't really remember playing any for PS2. All of my demo discs were played on PS1. They kinda died out a bit over this era I think.

[Raging Justice]

Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks is excellent, even more so if you can play it with a friend. I have fond memories of that game. Plus, I own it. I never finished it though, I remember my disc having playback issues right before the final boss. I'm shocked it's the only MK game that is a beat 'em up. I'd argue that the MK universe lends itself even more to the beat 'em up genre than it does the fighting game genre. Heck, I could even imagine a 2d beat 'em up being great

[Raging Justice]

The PS 2 era really is historic and interesting in a lot of ways.

GTA III kicked off the open world craze.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time would pave the way for Assassin's Creed.

Dynasty Warriors 2 would kick off the extremely prolific musou genre.

The God of War franchise started off as a PS2 game that seemed unlike anything else at the time.

Naughty Dogg and Sucker Punch would have their final forays into the platformer genre before moving on to bigger things like Infamous, Uncharted, and the Last of Us. Even Insomniac would go on to try other things beyond platforming like Ghost of Tsushima. Back in the PS 2 era though, Insomniac, Naughty Dogg, and Sucker Punch were these platform genre juggernauts (though I never did understand the appeal of Jak and Daxter).

The 2d fighting genre started to wane during this period.

I feel like 2d gaming was kind of dying, until getting a resurgence on the indie scene during the following console era

Xbox and Dreamcast were experimenting with internet access being a bigger thing in console gaming, though Sega would ultimately leave the console industry at this point in time unfortunately, which is a big deal. The fact that Microsoft got into gaming at this time was also a big deal. It's almost like they replaced Sega.

This was the last time Nintendo had a traditional gaming console on the market, with everything that came after being some type of gimmick console.

I believe the PS 2 also helped make DVD more of a mainstream format for not just games, but movies too.

Lastly, I think that era was the last big leap forward for technology. This is the era that perfected 3d gaming. Games in 3d, looked significantly better than the PS 1 era, and they also ironed out a lot of the controls issues of that era. After this we got the HD era, but it didn't feel like as much of a leap forward. In fact, the PS2 and the Dreamcast were already experimenting with HD before the PS3 and Xbox 360 even came out. The HD era did make internet connectivity a bigger deal for consoles, but again, we saw people experimenting with that already in the previous era

[Ack]

My PS2 collection.

I was in high school when the PS2 released. I remember getting one in 2001, with Oni being the first game I received. The PS1 had been my favorite of the previous generation, so an upgrade that could also play DVDs and my PS1 collection was absolutely solid gold to me. In fact, I have never owned a legit DVD player; I used a PS2 for a decade for movies until getting a PS3.

The console had a massive array of genres, and you can see where I was focusing at the time: fighting games and survival horror make up a large part of my library, followed by general action games and RPGs. There were also a variety of oddities I picked up for dirt cheap late in the console's lifespan, but to have so many options for current and older gaming and such a wide library were massive strengths that I adored during the time. Yes, the XBox and GameCube might have done many things better, but for what I wanted, the PS2 was everything I needed.

And I know that if ever I wanted to return, there would still be depths to mine in its collection. From personal shifts in genre taste to large numbers of compilations, there is so much available to play.

[dsheinem]

Ack, I want to come flip your stacks so that they go A-->Z from top to bottom instead of A-->Z from bottom to top.

Nice collection, though

[Ack]

Ha! I understand, I just did it this way so it was easier to stack as opposed to figuring the count for each column. If I had my way, they'd be arranged horizontally, but I lack the space in my apartment!

[Note]

Just wanted to share a bit of my experience with the PS2. I ended up purchasing the PS2 about a year after its original launch date. IIRC, I bought it in the summer of 2001 with my father at a Toy's R Us location in Yonkers, NY -- which was one of my go to's for video games. I was a high school student at the time, still living at home and I worked during summer breaks. This was actually the first console I bought with my own money, as I received the Gamecube and the previous consoles I owned as Christmas gifts. When I purchased the system, I bought it with Midnight Club Street Racing. My friend who was also my neighbor came by that evening to check out the system with me, as he didn't have one at the time.

During my high school years, the other games I really enjoyed on it were GTA III, GTA Vice City, Final Fantasy X, and Xenosaga Episode I. Another title I owned and really liked was X-Men Legends. One of my other close friends had Devil May Cry and Contra: Shattered Soldier, which I enjoyed trying out at his house too. On the other side, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a bit of a let down for me. I was hoping it would have some of the same magic as Turtles in Time but for whatever reason, it just didn't do it for me. I still think the cell shaded graphics look nice though. I also picked up Disgaea as I was excited that a new Strategy RPG was coming out, but I ended up not being able to get into that one either.

I ended up taking the PS2 to college with me in the fall of 2004, which was maybe a mistake, as I like to keep my things in good condition, and the system and a few of my games got pretty roughed up in the dorm, as my roommates and friends would use it when I wasn't around. My PS2 now features a few big unsightly white scratches on the top of it. Most of my games are still in good condition, but my copy of GTA San Andreas, which was another favorite of mine (and my roommates) at the time is pretty rough. Someone spilled something onto the manual at some point, as I noticed its now wrinkled from water damage, and the disc's seen better days too.

Another dorm mystery involving the PS2 is that my roommate randomly let someone borrow (what the hell!) one of my black controllers, which never returned. When I asked him about it, he ended up returning to our room one day with a transparent blue controller. I still get annoyed thinking about this and I wonder where he got the blue controller from. Lol. But the blue controller's in good shape, and I still use it to this day. Needless to say, I think I left my PS2 at home after my freshman year.

Also in 2004, during my freshman year of college, I ended up picking up the Sega Classics Collection for PS2. I thought it might be a good way to revisit some of Sega's classics with the console I had on hand. But as many of you know, some of the games on there don't control very well and are kind of a mess. This lead to me wanting to purchase a Genesis again, which I did that spring, and getting into buying games for my older systems again.

Overall, I do like the PS2, and enjoy the games I have for it. I think at that time in my life, I was more focused on my studies and socializing, and I didn't have the disposable funds for gaming. Also, I wasn't as knowledgable on everything coming out for it, as I was with previous generations.

I'd like to pick up some of the stapes I missed and some oddities that sound fun to experience more titles on the system. I've enjoyed reading everyone's experiences and seeing your collections!

[Ziggy]

Those stories of abuse and controller theft bother me!

[Note]

:lol: Those stories of abuse and controller theft bother me!

I still get annoyed thinking about it! Lol. My other roommate ended up bringing an original XBOX later on too. I should've just left my PS2 at home, and played some XBOX when I wanted a gaming fix. Would've saved my poor PS2 and games from the abuse of dorm life.