In Hindsight: Was the PS2 launch year really that bad?

I didn't get my PS2 till Gran Turismo 3, but when you look back at the launch & the ensuing year on PS2, it's often talked about in a negative light. In hindsight though, was the first year really as bad as many make it out to be? While Ridge Racer may have been a fail, & Tekken Tag didn't do anything particularly new, there were some surprise stand-outs in SSX & Timesplitters. The PS2 also had the benefit of two football games, which is usually a rarity.

Notable Releases wrote:Launch

Tekken Tag Tournament
Ridge Racer V
SSX
Timesplitters
Fantavision
Fifa 2001
International Superstar Soccer
Madden NFL 2001
Silent Scope
Ready to Rumble

December

Dead or Alive 2
Kessen
Rayman Revolution
Super Bust-A-Move

January

Theme Park World

February

Star Wars Starfighter

March

Zone of the Enders

April

Summoner

May

Quake 3
Red Faction

June

Crazy Taxi
Fur Fighters
MDK2
Escape from Monkey Island
The Bouncer

July

Gran Turismo 3
Onimusha: Warlords

August

MTV Music Generator 2

September

Dark Cloud
Resident Evil Code Veronica X

October

Spy Hunter
Time Crisis 2

November

GTA III
WWF SmackDown
Silent Hill 2
Klonoa 2
Burnout
Project Eden

(After today, this thread will be moved on over to Retro)

After looking at the 3DS one, nope (joke) :mrgreen:

It had GT3 and GTA3, two of the best games I had played, for their time and even now.

It wasn't bad, but Dreamcast and PlayStation were getting much better games.

Yes.

Timesplitters wasn't that good, both those football games were bad, half of the best games were DC ports.

Really only Burnout and GTA 3 were standouts.

Launch

Tekken Tag Tournament
Ridge Racer V
SSX
Timesplitters
Fantavision

December

Dead or Alive 2

March

Zone of the Enders

July

Gran Turismo 3
Onimusha: Warlords

August

MTV Music Generator 2

October

Time Crisis 2

November

GTA III
Burnout

That's every launch year game I own, underlined games are the ones I actually enjoyed.

In all honesty I am glad I missed the launch because I was enjoying my lovely Dreamcast. I must say though the coverage in the media was all about Sony this and Sony that and it really made me want one, especially as practically everyone I knew held out for Sony's beast. I remember watching Big Breakfast on Channel 4, they were demoing Ridge Racer 5 and I thought to myself that this really isn't a step above Sega's machine, although by the end I must concede there was a gulf between the two systems from a technical standpoint.

Even when I got one I think I only got one game, SSX I think and I remember salivating over the demo's I had in my possession. Launches don't require AAA titles, but the odd one helps. History has told us it's best not to spunk your load too early, because if you do that you finish early.

The only launch game worth anything was SSX. Everything else was terrible. Things did improve though; Kessen is a stone cold classic, Gran Turismo 3 is the best in the series and Red Faction remains a classic 2-player FPS. Dark Cloud was also a great little RPG and I recall Herdy Gerdy, Project Eden and Thunderhawk 3 were pretty great too.

Oh how I miss you, Core. :cry:

SSX, GT3, ZoE, TimeSplitters, ISS, Crazy Taxi, SmackDown...

Not a bad first year, at all.

The actual launch was terrible. The 1st year though was good

HSH28 wrote:Yes.

Timesplitters wasn't that good

The story was average at best, but the multiplayer was brilliant fun.

HSH28 wrote:Really only Burnout and GTA 3 were standouts.

I suppose you think Silent Hill 2 was a pile of gooseberry fool?

CaptainCalcium wrote:SSX, GT3, ZoE, TimeSplitters, ISS, Crazy Taxi, SmackDown...

Not a bad first year, at all.

ISS was a complete pile of gooseberry fool.

7256930752

It contains Silent Hill 2 so no.

I didn't realise that I bought it so early into it's life :shock:

Also I could have sworn that GTAIII was out in October.

BID0 wrote:Also I could have sworn that GTAIII was out in October.

Some of the dates might be a little off. :shifty:

Tekken Tag Tournament
SSX
Fantavision
Theme Park World
Star Wars Starfighter
Quake 3
Crazy Taxi
Gran Turismo 3
Time Crisis 2
GTA III
Burnout

All the launch year games my Dad and me had.

I see no reason why the PS2's launch was gooseberry fool - no launch is ever exactly chock-a-block with good games. Stuff like SSX and Bantavision were excellent.

I bought Fantavision a few months ago in a charity shop, really need to get a PS2 again to actually play it!

The first year wasn't bad per se but was pretty terrible when compared to the Dreamcast output at the time with Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, Metropolis Street Racer etc. Also many PS2 games were lower quality Dreamcast ports which didn't really live up to the promise (and price) of the console.

But it played DVDs.

Buffalo wrote:I see no reason why the PS2's launch was gooseberry fool - no launch is ever exactly chock-a-block with good games. Stuff like SSX and Bantavision were excellent.

Dreamcast launch was sexy :wub:

In Hindsight: Was the PS2 launch year really that bad?

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