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When you think of the PlayStation 2, do you also think of cool, late night gaming vibes?

I was just thinking about some of the PlayStation 2 PlayStation 2 games that I used to play at night back in the day... survival horror titles like Siren and Resident Evil: Outbreak, role-playing games like Final Fantasy X, Dark Cloud, Dark Cloud 2, and Dragon Quest VIII, racing games like Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero and Midnight Club II, and some genuinely awesome first-party exclusives like Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and Twisted Metal: Black. I also replayed Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance and Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence multiple times which felt more special and unique back then, when games with cinematic presentations weren't yet so widespread. Not to say that subsequent PlayStation consoles and handhelds weren't also great but the PlayStation PlayStation and PlayStation 2 definitely had a unique, cool gaming feel to them.

That said, what were some games you would play at night back in the day that come to mind, GAF?
 
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DelireMan7

Member
I remember playing Metal Gear Solid 2 on a Saturday evening, on the small TV I had in my bedroom, as a teen. I already beat the game at least once and I was now playing on the hardest difficulty.
I reached Fatman boss fight. I was really struggling to beat him. I can't remember the time but it was really late already and was raging quit a bit. Then I am almost done, one bomb left to defuse. I find it, start to defuse it...
Only, if I remember correctly, it takes 5 sec to defuse the bomb but the last bomb timer was at 4 sec when I started the defusing...
So I lost for 1 sec....
I raged like crazy (but silently for not waking up my parents).
Fun fact : When I raged, I can strongly hit my upper leg with my hand/controller. In one of this rage moment, I remember hitting one of my balls with the controller accidentally… Now that I think about it, it’s most probably my biggest rage moment in gaming.

Whatsoever, after this 1 sec failure it was all set ! I can hear myself again “I will not sleep till I beat him !”
Eventually I succeeded ! Then I looked at the small window of my room, the Sun is going out… 6 or 7 am, don’t remember exactly... Went to bed after that xD

I am smiling while writing this and remembering this night... I love gaming memories ! PlayStation 2 PlayStation 2 is the console of my teens and where my gaming passion took off. I have many memories with it :)
 
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Man, March really is nostalgia month on Neogaf. The mods should put a banner up or something.

Regardless games like Midnight Club and NFS Underground gave those vibes for me.
Aww sheeeett. Now these fucking games man. Midnight Club was the goat, even had it on my PSP back in the day and quite enjoyed NFS Carbon when it came out.

Socom 2 was another highlight. I remember how the voice commands blew my mind at the time.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
Smoking bad pot with my homies and destroying everyone in Tekken 5!

I never owned one, but had someone to borrow from.
I remember getting it with Metal Gear Solid 2 one time, how absolutely mind-blowing I thought the graphics were and playing it for 26 hours non-stop till the end, 'cause I had to return the console. Still my personal record.
 

bender

What time is it?
I think of SSX, Rumble Racing, Nocturne, Downhill Domination, Burnout at its' peak, the $50 Metal Gear Solid 2 demo that came with a free copy of Zone of Enders, Devil May Cry, Twisted Metal Black, Ace Combat 4, Gran Turismo, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Adventures of Cookies and Cream (Dark Souls of co-op games), Ico, Shadow of Colossus, Mark of Kri (Disney meets Beserk), Psi-Ops, GTA at its' peak, Silent Hill 2, Persona 3 & 4, Jak and Daxter, Maximo, Ratchet and Clank, Gitaroo Man, NBA Street, the downfall of THPS, Hulk Ultimate Destruction, Shadow of Destiny, The Thing (completely underrated), Virtua Fighter 4, Street Figther Ex 3 (best credits in a game ever), Soul Reaver (best story and acting in a game ever?) Timesplitters, the birth of Guitar Hero, The Suffering, Rez, Yakuza, Metal Gear Solid 3, God Hand, Okami, Final Fantasy 11, playing SOCOM online (why is reload mapped to clicking a fucking thumbstick), Hot Shots Golf, Hot Shots Tennis, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, Need for Speed Underground, Dragon Quest VIII, Mercenaries, Red Faction (GEOMOD!), Indigo Prophecy (FUCKING A GHOST), Onimusha, Katamari Damacy, Frequency (proto Guitar Hero and better than the sequel due to the soundtrack), Simpsons Hit and Run, Aggressive Inline (best THPS knockoff ever), Xenosaga (KOSMOS!), Fatal Frame (it will make you shit your pants), Dark Cloud 2 (fuck clowns), Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Ape Escape 3, Suikoden...

..I think about all that and then I get real fucking sad.
 
Late nights with FFX, for sure. But when I think back on cool, late night gaming vibes for me, it's gotta be Sega's ill-fated and beloved Dreamcast system.

I played it well after PS2 release and many memories of late night Phantasy Star Online, which was my first "MMO" experience, even though it wasn't truly one. Also late night Shenmue or "Crapcom" with friends, as we so affectionately called MvC2.
 

Arun1910

Member
I think of my 10th birthday having LoTR: The Two Towers and a PS2 as a gift from my grandparents and having to play the start of the game like 10 times until the next weekend came cause they didn't buy me a memory card.

One of my fondest memories despite that hiccup.
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
Nope. I think of 50Hz games, all-green DVD movies when using a SCART cable, a ton of JRPGs I thought I’d be eager to play and never played, and the definitive acceptance of form over substance and narrative over gameplay.

I made late night with PS1 much more than I did with PS2, that’s for sure.
 
Opposite for me, interestingly enough. The vast majority of my memories of those older consoles seemed to have taken place during the day, because when I think NES/Genesis/PS1/PS2 I picture daytime, sunshine and being energized.
 
I remember loading up Dead or Alive 2 for the first time and thinking hardware development is over because games can't possibly look better than this.
I had a similar feeling but with Virtua Fighter 4. Beautiful looking stages like Castle that featured a form of terrain deformation with the snow that would disappear as you moved through it. Then there was the City stage with the helicopter flying around shining its light on you. Aquarium was another cool stage where you fought underwater with nice, soothing music.

That said, goddamn, where is Virtua Fighter 6, SEGA?

A bunch of friends, Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and tons of weed.

I bought one for myself years later to play the God of Wars, the Metal Gears and God Hand, but not much else. Still have some PS2 games I want to play like DQVIII and Valkyrie Profile 2 tho.
Never played Budokai Tenkaichi 3 but I did play the original Budokai and Tenkaichi. I was super into Dragon Ball Z then.

I remember playing The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction at a friend's and it was crazy fun. The same developers who made The Simpsons; Hit & Run too (Radical Entertainment).
 
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Dqviii with my best friend. Trading off the controller, checking walkthroughs, blazing. Some of the best times of my life playing that game.
Yeah, it was an awesome entry. Definitely mindblowing for me because I went from playing the first three Dragon Quest games on the Game Boy Color to Dragon Quest VIII on the PS2, and seeing the fully 3D environments with the orchestral music (Mysterious Tower being one of my favorite tracks).
 

HE1NZ

Banned
I'm mostly think about that noise the slim version does. Very irritating.
 
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cyen

Member
I think a lot of missing college in order to play PES all night until early morning at a friend's house. Multitap was a thing.
 

jakdex

Member
Yep, it was pure late night kino.
Spectabis.jpg
 

Ten_Fold

Member
Elementary and Middle school days. Playing KH2, xenosaga,DQ8, dragon ball z games with friends. This was when nobody was glued to the computer, social media was really new and nobody really cared much for it. This was a time when you would meet other kids in the neighborhood an play outside. Ah good ass times.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
I missed out on the best years of the PS2 cause my brother joined the Army and took the PS2 with him. I wasn't gaming much at the time.

For me, the PS2 reminds me of playing Code Veronica: X, Oni (obscure R* 3D brawler), The Bouncer (disappointment), Madden.

I've since revisited many of the classics and I play my current PS2 quite often. I mostly associate the OG Xbox with late night gaming sessions; Silent Hill 2, Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding. My buddy got one at launch and we'd play all the time while raiding his parents liquor cabinet, lol. GREAT MEMORIES!
 

Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
High school, late summer evening, 2001. Stayed up all night playing Gran Turismo 3 on my friend's PS2. Went out the next day and blew an entire coffee shop paycheck on the GT3 bundle. Never regretted it for a second.

Hell yeah - endurance races on that and GT4 :)
 

Bogroll

Likes moldy games
Now that yo mention it yes. I remember me and a friend played Pro Evo Soccer Master League in the week on our own, building our teams signingnew players etc. Then on the Saturday night I'd take my memory card round his house and play each other all night drinking beers whilst dissing each others new players all in good humour.
 
I forgot to mention Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 were amazing games later in the PS2's lifecycle.

I missed out on Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne when it originally released. The remaster is set to release sometime this year though. It looks good.
 

laynelane

Member
One of my most memorable late-night experiences was on the PS1. I was playing Silent Hill with a friend. It was my first experience with survival-horror. We put our minds together on the piano puzzle and the game shifted into the other world. He had to leave soon after and about an hour later, I looked away from the game, saw it was 3AM, and realized I was scared out of my mind. I had to take a wee break at that point lol.

Other than that, there's been countless all-nighters with Final Fantasy, Persona, Kingdom Hearts, Chrono Cross and others across PS1 and 2. I always paid the price later with exhaustion or having to work on no sleep, but it was worth it considering how much fun I had.
 
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Batiman

Banned
Nah that’s ps1 for me. Not sure why everyone has their most fond memories from ps2. Ps1 was way better IMO. I always assume it was their first console and they’re just younger than me to have that opinion.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Got a used PS2 some time in 2001. My first batch of games that year were:

Gran Turismo 3
NFL 2k2
Ace Combat 4
Twisted Metal Black
DMC

All awesome games except this clunker..... NHL 2002. The dark times for EA NHL games. The time when the game had bullseye stars, scoring goals got you 50 pts to buy album cards and weird shit. Ding Ding Ding! It's like whomever worked on it just came from making a carnival game.
 

Animagic

Banned
I was just thinking about some of the PlayStation 2 PlayStation 2 games that I used to play at night back in the day... survival horror titles like Siren and Resident Evil: Outbreak, role-playing games like Final Fantasy X, Dark Cloud, Dark Cloud 2, and Dragon Quest VIII, racing games like Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero and Midnight Club II, and some genuinely awesome first-party exclusives like Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and Twisted Metal: Black. I also replayed Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance and Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence multiple times which felt more special and unique back then, when games with cinematic presentations weren't yet so widespread. Not to say that subsequent PlayStation consoles and handhelds weren't also great but the PlayStation PlayStation and PlayStation 2 definitely had a unique, cool gaming feel to them.

That said, what were some games you would play at night back in the day that come to mind, GAF?
I think of all the disc read errors I got because they used such cheap components in the dvd laser eye.
PS2 had an amazing library. I don’t think it’s been beaten by any of Sony’s console successors.
 

Mobile Suit Gooch

Grundle: The Awakening
I bought a PS2 a couple of years ago. I've been building my collection of games from my childhood and games I've missed out on.

I games like Auto Modelista, Ace Combat 4 and Zero, Def Jam Fight for NY, Wreckless yakuza mission, Xenosage EP I and III, SSX 3, Silent Hill 3, Nightshade, Onimusha 3, the Ratchet and clank series, Viewitful Joe 2, Burnout 3 and Revenge.
 
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