So I think I'll finally buy a PS2.

[Square King]

US model, for whatever shmups I can pick up. Plus, there are some games I missed out on (Shadow of the Colossus), so I think it's for the best. Maybe I'll try out Memento/Memor32 or whatever and try to run some Japanese imports.

[Nate]

Let me know how that Memento thing works out. I'm planning on picking up TFVI and just waiting to pick up a PS2 at a Pawn Shop when they're available for $30...someday.

[themachinist]

Eight long years and now you've finally decided to take the plunge.

[Erinu]

Whoa, slowking.

[MX7]

Eight long years and now you've finally decided to take the plunge.

And there's really no better time to start. There are so many awesome shooters on the PS2, especially if you mod it to play imports. Here's a quick list of cool stuff on my shelf:

Shooty games

Ibara
DoDonpachi Daioujou
Mushihimesama
Twinkle Star Sprites: La Petite Princess
Metal Slug Anthology
Treasure Box (with three Treasure Mega Drive run and guns)
Alien Hominid
Gunbird 1 & 2 super value pack
ESPGaluda
Gadius 5
Psyvariar, etc etc etc

Also, don't forget other cool games like Street Fighter 3.3, Persona 3/4, Pro Evolution Soccer, Melty Blood, Ico, Odin Sphere and Outrun 2

[Jockel]

Plus Dragon Quest VIII

[Turrican]

And there's really no better time to start.

Any point from 2003 and onward would have been a better time

[Octopod]

I second Odin Sphere. God Hand is also pretty damn cool. Plus you can pick up some of the company compilations that have lots of fun games. Ive been playing quite a bit of Space Invaders '95 on the Taito Legends 2 comp lately myself.

[MX7]

I completely forgot about Godhand and Dragon Quest VIII
(though neither of them are really my poison, so to speak)

Any point from 2003 and onward would have been a better time

Yeah? How so?

[D]

Have you checked out the logo for Dragon Quest IX?
friggin amazing art job, never played/showed interest in any of those types of games though.
here:

[Turrican]

Yeah? How so?

For something like this:

Metal Gear Solid 2 - Sons Of Liberty, Ico, Sub Rebellion, Gradius III & IV, Zone Of The Enders, Onimusha - Warlords, Onimusha 2 - Samurai's Destiny, Mobile Suit Gundam - Federation Vs Zeon, Silent Hill 2 - Director's Cut, Contra - Shattered Soldier, Metal Gear Solid 2 - Substance, Guilty Gear X2, Silent Hill 3, Klonoa 2 – Lunatea’s Veil, Rez, Shinobi, Zone Of The Enders – The 2nd Runner Special Edition, XII Stag, Psyvariar Complete Edition, Prince Of Persia – The Sands Of Time, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Castlevania, R-Type Final, Breath Of Fire V - Dragon Quarter, Onimusha 3 - Demon Siege, Metal Slug 3, Project Zero II - Crimson Butterfly, Gradius V, Metal Gear Solid 3 - Snake Eater, Midway Arcade Treasures, Disgaea - Hour Of Darkness, Gunbird Special Edition, Gregory Horror Show, Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas, Activision Anthology, Project Zero, Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts II Covenant, God Of War, Half-Life, Space Channel 5, Space Channel 5 Part 2, Ys VI - The Ark Of Napishtim, The Warriors, Taito Legends, Shadow Of The Colossus, Pool Paradise, Suikoden IV, Capcom Classics Collection, Castlevania – Curse Of Darkness, Tengai, Project Zero 3 - The Tormented, Jade Cocoon 2, Suikoden V, Dragon Blaze, Metal Gear Solid 3 - Subsistence, Neo Contra, Taito Legends 2, Okami, Final Fantasy XII, We Love Katamari Damacy, Raiden III, Tomb Raider Anniversary, Shadow Hearts III - From The New World, Outrun 2006 Coast To Coast, Homura, Grim Grimoire, Valkyrie Profile - Silmeria, Sega Megadrive Collection, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, Odin Sphere, Capcom Classics Collection Vol.2, Alien Hominid, Suikoden III

Half a dozen there are masterpieces, playing them at release time wouldn't have hurt.

@ D: last time I checked, DQ9 was NDS.

[Square King]

I had a PS1, but then I went with Xbox. I have a 360 now. So I never had any extra monies to put into another system. I was never one of those guys with 5 systems tucked away in the TV stand.

edit: Also had a Dreamcast for a number of years, which probably kept me from taking the PS2 plunge -- especially with Border Down, Ikaruga and Mars Matrix. If Cave titles had ever made it to the DC, I'd still have it.

I can kinda see the allure of wanting to play an awesome game at the time of release, but if it's still awesome years later and I can get it for cheaper, I think it's a win-win for me.

[dmauro]

US model, for whatever shmups I can pick up. Plus, there are some games I missed out on (Shadow of the Colossus), so I think it's for the best. Maybe I'll try out Memento/Memor32 or whatever and try to run some Japanese imports.

You don't need a memor32. The software can run on a standard memory card. It works like a charm, but it won't boot original imports.

[MX7]

Metal Gear Solid 2 - Sons Of Liberty, Ico, Sub Rebellion, Gradius III & IV, Zone Of The Enders, Onimusha - Warlords, Onimusha 2 - Samurai's Destiny, Mobile Suit Gundam - Federation Vs Zeon, Silent Hill 2 - Director's Cut, Contra - Shattered Soldier, Metal Gear Solid 2 - Substance, Guilty Gear X2, Silent Hill 3, Klonoa 2 – Lunatea’s Veil, Rez, Shinobi, Zone Of The Enders – The 2nd Runner Special Edition, XII Stag, Psyvariar Complete Edition, Prince Of Persia – The Sands Of Time, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Castlevania, R-Type Final, Breath Of Fire V - Dragon Quarter, Onimusha 3 - Demon Siege, Metal Slug 3, Project Zero II - Crimson Butterfly, Gradius V, Metal Gear Solid 3 - Snake Eater, Midway Arcade Treasures, Disgaea - Hour Of Darkness, Gunbird Special Edition, Gregory Horror Show, Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas, Activision Anthology, Project Zero, Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts II Covenant, God Of War, Half-Life, Space Channel 5, Space Channel 5 Part 2, Ys VI - The Ark Of Napishtim, The Warriors, Taito Legends, Shadow Of The Colossus, Pool Paradise, Suikoden IV, Capcom Classics Collection, Castlevania – Curse Of Darkness, Tengai, Project Zero 3 - The Tormented, Jade Cocoon 2, Suikoden V, Dragon Blaze, Metal Gear Solid 3 - Subsistence, Neo Contra, Taito Legends 2, Okami, Final Fantasy XII, We Love Katamari Damacy, Raiden III, Tomb Raider Anniversary, Shadow Hearts III - From The New World, Outrun 2006 Coast To Coast, Homura, Grim Grimoire, Valkyrie Profile - Silmeria, Sega Megadrive Collection, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, Odin Sphere, Capcom Classics Collection Vol.2, Alien Hominid, Suikoden III

Pretty sure you can still buy them now...

And for a fraction of the cost

[Observer]

Add Shienryu Explosion and that Macross game made by Sega AM2. Also joining the Odin Sphere and Grim Grimoire crowd. My heart breaks every time my friend reminds me she picked The World Ends With You instead of Odin Sphere... Oh, Makai Kingdom might be interesting too.

Personally, it's never too late =P

[Ceph]

I pity the fool who likes videogames but refuses to buy a PS2.

[Square King]

You don't need a memor32. The software can run on a standard memory card. It works like a charm, but it won't boot original imports.

Aww, weak. Is this the burning thing I've heard about? Don't wanna go into too many details and risk breakin' da rules.

[ROBOTRON]

Get an import ps2 and feel the shmup love of ps2 and ps1 shmuppery.

[Ceph]

You don't need a memor32. The software can run on a standard memory card. It works like a charm, but it won't boot original imports.

Aww, weak. Is this the burning thing I've heard about? Don't wanna go into too many details and risk breakin' da rules.

As far as I understand it, you need to patch every game to make it run with the memento firmware. That means, you need to create a disc image, apply the patch and then burn it. May seem a bit cumbersome, but it's a good way to protect the original discs...

[Square King]

As far as I understand it, you need to patch every game to make it run with the memento firmware. That means, you need to create a disc image, apply the patch and then burn it. May seem a bit cumbersome, but it's a good way to protect the original discs...

Meh. Do you know if the opposite true as well (as in, if I buy an import PS2 I'll have to do the same for US games)?

[stuntman]

Memento firmware doesn't work on a Jap PS2. Patching an image before burning takes 2 seconds, so it's no hassle.

[Square King]

Memento firmware doesn't work on a Jap PS2. Patching an image before burning takes 2 seconds, so it's no hassle.

And I'm sure all of the important info regarding this process is on the Memento site. Excellent.

This is all becoming incredibly relevant to my interests.

[RackGaki]

Memento has given people many reasons to dust off their PS2s. I haven't taken the plunge just yet, but I'm somewhat disappointed to hear that it will not play original NTSC/J games.

But beggars can't be choosers...

[elvis]

Memento has given people many reasons to dust off their PS2s.

My PS2 sitting inside an arcade cabinet getting used weekly gathers no dust.

[dmauro]

Memento is causing my PS2 to gather MORE dust since I don't have to keep flipping it open to use my swap disc.

edit: and yeah, patching discs to work with memento is extremely easy, and they still function as normal on any other console.

[Elixir]

Can't you just get a premodded PS2 off craigslist, or something. It would really save you a lot of hassle. I've never heard of this Memento thing, but it sounds rather time consuming. If you're going to go ahead and patch every single burned disc, maybe you should just resort to using a HDD instead.

[jonny5]

softmod with an HDD.....burning discs is for chumps....anyone who says otherwise is silly....

unless you like load times and wearing out the laser

and softmodding a fat ps2 is even easier than going the memento route...and no patching involved for disc images....no region issues for anything either

just google independence exploit....

oh ya..best part...it doesnt void your warranty

[Square King]

I like the HDD option, but it's probably going to be a bit more expensive than I want. Truthfully, there are only a handful of import titles I want (Cave, mostly), so I'd be ok with burning DVDs. Most everything else I want I can get locally...

[jonny5]

just grab a tiny HDD for like 20 bux.....i see 60 gigs for around that much

[Square King]

I'm looking up the independence exploit stuff...can I run original exports?

oh ya..best part...it doesnt void your warranty

I don't think Memento does either.