The PS2 is considered by many to be one of the greatest video game consoles, with a diverse and robust library of games. It's the console I grew up with, as my dad bought the console before I could remember to play Tom Clancy and NASCAR games. I have a lot of good memories with the console, although the library my parents had for me at a young age consisted entirely of LEGO Star Wars and shovelware. I also played quite a bit of Ratchet and Clank 1 & 3, before I saved up enough money to buy my own PS3 and truly got into video games in the new generation.
Recently, however, I've felt a strong desire to return to the system of my youth, and to start collecting older games. Lo and behold, this weekend my family finally found it for the first time since moving cross-country.
Ol' Reliable in all its glory
The PS2 still works like a charm, and it even has a wireless Predator controller that I did not remember we owned. Would have been nice back in the day... but regardless, now is as good a time as any to start a proper collection!
Now, my first priority is to assemble all of the Ratchet and Clank titles for the system. I had all three of the originals at one point, but they were unfortunately they all seem to have been lost in the move. I swear, as soon as I buy new copies I'll find my old ones, but hey, at least then I'd have them. I'd also like to have a copy of Deadlocked on the PS2. I never played this version, but I did get the PS3 port for free because of the delay for Full Frontal Assault on Vita. The game was fun, but boy was the port a free gift for people who bought a $40 Ratchet and Clank spin-off in 2012.
I've never played Size Matters, so that would be fun to have too.
I've played a ton of Ratchet and Clank, but I never really found interest in Jak and Daxter or Sly Cooper back in the day. We actually did own The Precursor Legacy when I was a kid, but my preference for science fiction lead me to skip it. I didn't even know about Sly until I got a demo of Thieves Among Time, and from what I hear it's not the best the series has to offer.
However, I started on The Precursor Legacy yesterday, and it's been a lot of fun! I've also watched B-Mask's retrospective series on the Sly Cooper trilogy, which is excellent and made me interested in that series as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO-OPkBwLe4 So, I'd like to get both trilogies on the PS2 and finally give the rivals of my childhood platformer a chance.
The final franchise I'm going after to start is Shin Megami Tensei. I played Persona 5, and am playing through Royal now. I've loved my time with the games, and of course it's sparked my interest in playing other games in the series. Since Atlus refuses to do ports for some reason, many of these older titles are locked to the PS2 and handhelds. While the handheld versions of Persona 3 and Persona 4 are considered to be the definitive versions, they are also crazy expensive and hard to find now, and I don't have the hardware for them. So, I'm aiming for Persona 3 FES and Persona 4, as well as Nocturne and the Digital Devil Saga games. Rest in peace to the first three Persona games... let's hope Atlus lightens up on their port policy, or I can get a good emulator somewhere.
This is a bit of a weird note to end on, but I'd also like to get Battle for Bikini Bottom on the PS2 sometime! Growing up I adored Cars on the PS2, and trying it out again, the game is still very impressive for what should have been a pretty standard shovelware adaptation. Driving around the fully-rendered Radiator Springs is still really fun. And so, I'd like to try the other piece of shovelware that everyone agrees is way better than it has any right to be.
By a collector's standard it's pretty small, but I think it will be a great starting point to get the hang of collecting and get some games I've wanted to play for ages. If you have any games you think I should keep my eye on, though, I'd love to hear about them!