March 4th 2000 Sony dropped the PlayStation 2 on the world and while a few were apprehensive about the change, the console quickly proved it was more than capable of matching and surpassing it’s predecessor!
While production of the PS2 has ceased since January 4th 2013, gamers all over the world will today celebrate the console’s 15th birthday and remember fondly hours spent curled up in front of the TV screen!
Declan
We were lucky enough to have two PlayStation 2s in our house, there six of us and we were unwilling to share.
Eventually other consoles made their way into our home and I was allowed take one of the PS2s to college.
Some of my best memories of college involve the PS2, using it as an impromptu CD player for random house parties, binge gaming X-Men Apocalypse with a friend until we both ended up developing unhealthy attachments to our ‘powers’ and movie nights with friends. It was perfect!
Shane
I remember getting Final Fantasy X and being super excited! I played it all summer until I got stuck on a boss called Yunalesca and I was stuck there for nearly two years! My favourite scene from any PS2 game is also from Final Fantasy X, Yuna’s wedding to Seymour.
I loved watching as Yuna defiantly faces Seymour but fails and throws herself off the edge of the city only to catch herself with her summon, Valefor, to this day it still gives me goosebumps!
Céire
I can clearly remember getting my PS2 for Christmas the year after it’s initial release because with it I got three games Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets two of which had only been released.
My best (and worst) memory of having the console is playing Kingdom Hearts up until the Sea Witch Ursula in The Little Mermaid world who I could not beat until I went away for a couple of days then came back and finally skewered that witch. Also the fact I still have my PS2 all these years and I still play it says a lot about it. Happy Birthday PS2!
Laura
My first experience with a PS2 was when my brother got one for Christmas. I was still very young, only about 8 years old, and as per the rules of being the younger sibling, his upgrade meant I got the PS1. Ddon’t get me wrong, I played loads of my PS1, but any chance I got I was always trying to play my brothers PS2. I didn’t even mind that I wasn’t allowed to have my own save files!
By the time I actually managed to get a PS2 of my own, I was practically in love. I played it nearly every day, kept my little Spyro figurine sitting on top of it as a good luck charm, cried deeply when I accidentally spilled nail polish removed on it, cracking the plastic. I actually felt so bad this year because I had to move all my PS2 stuff up to the attic to make room for the PS4.
It felt like a huge part of my childhood, and my gaming identity was going up there with it.
Ross
One of my best memories was getting a multitap to link four controllers up and have hours-long sessions of TimeSplitters 2 and (to a lesser extent) Unreal Tournament. TS2 is still one of the finest local multiplayer shooters/games ever.
It cemented my love of getting together a crowd of people, gathering round the TV, stuffing your face with a tonne of snacks and just having a stupidly fun time being a plasma rifle-toting monkey blasting the shit out of a life-sized gingerbread man
