Two days ago, I turned 33 years old. While that’s another step up in my age, it was also worth mentioning that my 33rd birthday is the 20th anniversary of when I got the PlayStation 2. For this reason, today’s entry will be about my experiences with the PlayStation 2.
For my 13th birthday, I wanted an Xbox for my birthday. As all three kids in my family primarily played video games during our free time, we were mostly a Nintendo family since we had Nintendo 64s, GameCubes, Gameboys, and one DS. But by asking for an Xbox, I would be getting a non-Nintendo console for my birthday.
But instead, I got a PlayStation 2. And you know what, I was glad that I got a PS2 instead. I could’ve gotten an Xbox instead, but that wasn’t the case for the following reasons:
- The original Xbox was being discontinued right around 2006. The console, its hardware, and the software were becoming unavailable. And the only Xbox they had was the Xbox 360, which was too expensive.
- The PlayStation 2 wasn’t just a game player. It also functioned as a DVD player, meaning that I can use it as both a DVD player and a game player.
- Our family was also into Neopets at the time. While that’s a memory of the past, we used to play Neopets online. Also, around that time, Neopets was trying to merchandise their brand, including making video games. The one big game they had at the time was Neopets: The Darkest Faerie, and it was exclusive to the PlayStation 2.
- While we were unaware this was going to happen since it was still early within the Xbox 360’s lifespan, the Xbox 360 frequently had serious hardware issues as the years went on. Many new Xbox 360s have been dying off fast because of poor console design. Imagine if I got that instead of the PlayStation 2.
Now if you want to know why I feel more nostalgic towards the PlayStation 2 than towards the Nintendo 64 and the Nintendo GameCube (which were better consoles in my opinion), it’s because I still play Nintendo 64 games and GameCube games today. They weren’t just fun games from the past. They’re still enjoyable today, as I still play them for as long as I have access to them. I even still have a Nintendo 64 as of today. But the PlayStation 2, I haven’t played it in over 10 years, nor have I played any games made for the PS2 in a long time. This leads to more nostalgia towards the games and when I first had the console. The four shape buttons on the right having different colors also helped.
The First Wave:
The first four games I got for the PS2 were Shamu’s Deep Sea Adventures, Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies, Tak and the Power of Juju, and Ty 2: Bush Rescue. I started with Shamu’s Deep Sea Adventures and played it three times over because I wanted to see what the game was like in different difficulties. The difficulty feature didn’t change the adventure. Instead, it changed the difficulty of the game. After that, I started Tak and Jimmy Neutron at the same time. Ty 2 was my least favorite of the games and was the only one I never got finished. I haven’t even went too far. Tak, though, I only played through and finished once. I don’t plan on playing again. My favorite of these games was Jimmy Neutron, because of the color coding of invention pieces and the inventing part. But to be honest, the second half of the game wasn’t as good as the first half.
Now looking back at this, I feel embarrassed. While I’m not opposed to playing kiddie games or licensed games, the poor reception of these games kinda made me think “why did I start with this?”. I would still like another game like Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies, but instead longer, more inventing, and more original and less based on a TV show.
The Second Wave:
In our family, the child having the birthday isn’t the only one who gets presents. Every child gets presents. For me, I asked for three more games for the PlayStation 2, and I asked for specific ones that time. Because I liked SpongeBob, I asked for the SpongeBob Movie game (which I’m still waiting for an HD Remake for as of today). Because I had Tak and the Power of Juju, I asked for Tak 2: Staff of Dreams. Because we all played on Neopets at the time, I asked for Neopets: The Darkest Faerie. I got all three of these games, and I liked them better than the games I got on the first wave.
Out of all three of these games, Neopets: The Darkest Faerie was my favorite. I even replayed it several times over the years. But I went through the story twice in 2006, with the second playthrough being the first playthrough I actually finished the game. The quests, the premise of destroying monsters to break the curses, the multiple elements you can use, and the exploration all enthralled me. After not playing it in over 15 years, this is one game I want to play again, and one game I would like an HD remake of. In fact, I used some ideas from this game for my Winter Island idea as discussed last week. As of today:
- It’s my favorite third-party game on the PlayStation 2.
- It’s my favorite licensed game.
- I gotten less interested into third-party games growing up to be honest.
- It’s my fourth favorite game on the PlayStation 2 and my favorite PS2 game I got within the first three months of owning it.
The Third Wave:
I got two more PlayStation 2 games in the summer. That time, I didn’t request any games in specific, and they were kept a surprise. When I first got these two games, I didn’t care for them that much. I just wanted to go through the gameplay and be done with it. But over time, I grew to like these games and the entire trilogy of these games.
These are none other than the Sly Cooper Trilogy. If you thought Neopets: The Darkest Faerie was my favorite PS2 game, you’re wrong. My top three favorite PS2 games were all Sly Cooper games. While the gameplay is okay at best, with some fun parts, what I liked about the games was how story-driven they were. As I continued to replay the games, I became more attentive and started understanding these games better. And surprise! I will be talking more about Sly Cooper on this site later this year.
My mom got me these games because one of the characters is a turtle, and I liked turtles when I was a kid. But with more familiarity and knowledge on Sly Cooper over the years, I would be more grateful for these games because of the story-driven nature and not because of Bentley (even though Bentley is my favorite character of the series and my favorite in the Cooper Gang).
Currently, this is how I rank the Sly Cooper Trilogy (I don’t even recognize Sly 4 as canon):
- #1 – Sly 2: Band of Thieves
- #2 – Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
- #3 – Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
I’m part of the popular opinion when it comes to putting Sly 2 at the top. The job-based format and the plot were the high points, as they were better than what we had in Sly 1 and Sly 3. Only problem is that you can’t replay the older missions. Sly 1 may had a completely different gameplay, but at least it had vaults and clue bottles, a level set in the United States (a casino-themed level too), a level set in a spooky swamp, and a better antagonist faction. Sly 3 would be at the bottom. But it does have some really good dialogue and an interesting story.
One thing you would notice were that in all three games, there’s a change in balance between A subplot and B subplots. The first game had a strong A subplot (which was about fighting the Fiendish Five and taking back the stolen pages of the Thievius Raccoonus), but the B subplots didn’t stand out well. The second game had both a strong A subplot (which was about stealing the Clockwerk pieces) and strong B subplots (like the Northern Light Battery and the Spice Operation). The third game made the A subplot recessive (which was about inviting more thieves to join the Cooper Gang to prepare to enter the Grand Cooper Vault), but the B subplots were very strong with strong emotion about the issues surrounding the episodes.
Later Games:
After getting both Sly 1 and Sly 2 at once, and later Sly 3, every game I got for the PS2 after these ten games were not as enjoyable. The only two that I played the most were Ape Escape 3 and Mojo! (which was a cool action puzzle that had no characters or story). Despite having fun with some of these games, they weren’t as enjoyable as the earlier games I had. The worst of these games was the Atlantis Squarepantis game, and that was the first time I noticed that there is something wrong with licensed games.
If you ask me about the SpongeBob games, the ones I liked most were Revenge of the Flying Dutchman, Battle for Bikini Bottom, the Movie Game, and Cosmic Shake, three of them being available for the PlayStation 2 and other 6th generation consoles.
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