PlayStation 2 celebrates its 25th anniversary today, October 26, 2025. Below we look back at the diversity of her library, the qualities that endured beyond its borders, and those that were exclusive to the moment.
In some ways, games are more expansive than ever. Forums like Itch promote gaming jams and niche subcultures, while also giving aspiring developers a place to share their work. Steam features a wider catalog of games than has ever been available on any home console. The diversity of games in these areas is under direct threatbut by no means defeated.
However, if someone wants to experience video games in their full breadth on just one platform, the PlayStation 2 may still be the best choice.
The diversity of the PS2 stands in stark contrast to its counterparts released during the same period. The Nintendo GameCube has quite a few true classic games, but most of them were developed in-house. You'll always be more familiar with Microsoft's original Xbox as the source of college Halo LAN parties and Xbox Live hangouts for any other game you might play with it.
The PS2, on the other hand, is home to a collection of video games that push their boundaries and somehow barely connect with the console they were first released on. This has made Grand Theft Auto the biggest video game franchise on the planet. In my understanding, the console is closely related to Pro Skater from Tony Hawk, although these games were also released on GameCube and Xbox. This was the starting point of Kingdom Hearts. This marked the beginning of Persona's explosion in popularity in the US and Europe, paving the way for Metaphor: ReFantazio. It's hard to underestimate the PS2's role in popularizing the gaming medium and setting the course for what it would become.
There was also a lot of unusual and unique things here. Rule of Rose remains one of the strangest and most profound survival horror games ever made, and it holds its own against the competition of its time, which included such forbidding classics as Silent Hill 2 and Resident Evil 4. It was the home of Drakengard, a still unsettling and grueling journey through a dark fantasy hell. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus remain secretly influential, shaping both The Last of Us and God of War (2018). Still, there's a grandeur and magic to them that those games can't quite capture, a poetic restraint that feels tied to the PS2's architecture. If you play Shadow of the Colossus on the original PS2, you can feel the console straining with the ambition on display. This fact enhances his greatness rather than stifles it.
On PS2, Katamari Damancy, a gonzo existential toy, could find a huge audience, while Silent Hill 2 and Fatal Frame III: The Tormented pushed the medium toward a maturity it's still struggling to find. Games like Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty questioned the foundations of the genre long before BioShock and Spec Ops: The Line tried their hand at meta-fiction. Of course, the PS2 was a product of everything that came before. Still, the breadth of what he establishes and envisions is astonishing.
However, all of this takes for granted the distance I now have from that time period. I don't read about interesting games from Japan that will never be ported. I don't go to the local store only to find shelves filled with cheap extra games and profitable sports titles. I'm not an aspiring game developer trying to break into the industry and discovering how difficult it is to create something that's truly yours. I'm someone who has played most of the PS2 games, either by borrowing them from friends, buying them cheap from the mom-and-pop game store, or illegally. Now I can play English translations of games that never made it to America. My wistful, utopian view of the PS2 is a side effect of me returning to it now. A lot of my exposure to the video game industry goes back to the PS2. As I write this, unique and amazing visions are just a click away. Why feel nostalgic at all?
The PS2 wasn't the last year that video games were good. But that was the last time mainstream games felt like they were actively and collectively pushing new horizons beyond pixel counts.
One reason is that the PS2 represents a time when few console games were looking to take over your life. The lack of widespread internet connectivity on consoles meant that few were able to offer constant online updates. Massive online sagas like Final Fantasy XI and Phantasy Star Online were the exceptions that proved the rule. Even they didn't have the countless hooks in your wallet and your life that are now commonplace in free online games. The roots of this, of course, lie in computer games. But now it's everywhere.
The PS2 has also become much cheaper over its life cycle. For a while, the PS2 was quite cheap and became ubiquitous. It is still the best-selling console of all time. still selling over a million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, just a few months before it was discontinued, at the very end of its life. Over the years, games like FIFA and Final Fantasy XI still regularly released new games for the PS2. This still one of the most popular consoles in Brazilwhen modified models that run pirated games dominate. This fact makes Sony's move to expensive premium hardware with the PlayStation 3 even more confusing and heartbreaking.
In short, the PS2 was a relatively cheap device, had a gigantic and varied library, and existed on the cusp of a new online era that it both predicted and eluded. The PS2 wasn't the last year that video games were good. But that was the last time mainstream games felt like they were actively and collectively pushing new horizons beyond pixel counts. For most of the PS2's lifecycle, even mainstream games felt expensive, weird, and daring. It is worth celebrating and it is worth mourning.
