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Does anyone know the best way to get a reliably working PS2 nowadays? I happen to have a bunch of old PS2 games and would love to have a reliable PS2 to be able

Does anyone know the best way to get a reliably working PS2 nowadays? I happen to have a bunch of old PS2 games and would love to have a reliable PS2 to be able to use them with. But buying online seems fairly fraught - how do you have any guarantee you get a reliable device? And they seem to be fairly expensive now. (I couldn't read the article because the site was currently down for me, so apologies if this comment is off-topic, but hopefully relevant!)

ebbi 1y ago
Have you considered emulating instead?
- trenchpilgrim 1y ago
  There are still many beloved games that don't emulate well.
  - xandrius 1y ago
    Really? Like what?
    - WhiteDawn 1y ago
      The Stuntman series is a still painful example. Blame the odd non-IEEE-754 floating point implementation changing physics enough that AI fails most of the missions which softblocks progress quite egregiously
      - Ndymium 1y ago
        Made me laugh though, when in the first level that it completely blocks, the director tells you to get close to a pickup, but the car you're chasing smashes the pickup to the sky like Team Rocket. Last I heard there was a feature branch for testing a software implementation of floating point that would fix these issues, but naturally it would be a lot slower. I haven't tried it myself.
      - CaptainOfCoit 1y ago
        > The Stuntman series is a still painful example. I tried PS2 emulation just a year to ago, just to play Stuntman and found the same thing, painfully slow and barely playable.
    - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
      In my case I'm a big fan of Ace Combat and PCSX2 has rendering issues in both software and hardware modes: https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/issues/10976 https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/issues/10976 https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/issues/12173 https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/issues/12173 It's gotten better (no more black untextured planes!) but the best experience is still on original hardware.
bombcar 1y ago
Either spend a lot for an eBay seller that looks reputable or find them at garage sales or thrift stores where they’re cheap enough to buy and try if you can’t fire it up there.
hamdingers 1y ago
If you don't care to do the work yourself, I've bought many modded consoles from Etsy sellers and have always had a great experience.
rtpg 1y ago
Mercari + Buyee will get you things that are decent. Here's just one of many listings. Shipping depends on where you are of course. And it's a Japanese model so you'll need to do stuff based on that. https://jp.mercari.com/item/m93693596459 https://jp.mercari.com/item/m93693596459
- klaussilveira 1y ago
  Sadly, does not ship to the US.
  - bombcar 1y ago
    IF you're really dedicated, you can find Japanese reshippers.
  - rtpg 1y ago
    Does Buyee not ship to the US?
etempleton 1y ago
Look for the slim models. They are much more reliable than the standard PS2.
stevenwoo 1y ago
The author claims they could not find a buyer for theirs but they added hard drives to the finished PS2s. Browsing EBay finds a plain refurbished PS2 for 160-200 from seller with 99.3 percent rating with over 1100 sold. The mods in the article seem really nice - allowing you to rip games you own to a hard drive and play games off the hard drive instead of waiting for DVD seek/read times. There are not a lot of details about the cost of the mod in article but I’m guessing it would add a couple hundred to his sale price .
johncoltrane 1y ago
The ones you can find online are sold by people who know the market all too well so the prices are high. Plus it's online so there's no guarantee about anything. Pawn shops, thrift stores, or their "modern" equivalents (EasyCash, CashConverters, etc. YMMV) would be a good start. I got mine out of a pile for 10€ at a countryside GiFi (French store) ten years ago.
exitb 1y ago
I actually have a PS2 and don't use it much, as it's a pain to hook up to a modern TV. Most games don't support progressive scan, which forces your TV to deinterlace, which im my case adds enough latency to make it unpleasant to play. There's some boutique hardware that can deinterlace with less latency, but then it starts to get expensive really fast. Ideally you'd have to buy a CRT TV along with it.
- jgalt212 1y ago
  The base retrotink models work well and are inexpensive.
  - exitb 1y ago
    You mean the 99 USD one? After duties, VAT and shipment to EU, it will most likely get more expensive than the PS2 itself.
    - pezezin 1y ago
      If your console supports either RGB output via SCART or YPbPr via component cables, which an European PS2 definitely does, I would recommend you the GBS-C. You can find it in Amazon for less than 80 euros, and the upscaling quality is great.
- MobileVet 1y ago
  Yes! That latency was very quick to induce nausea for me while trying to play Battlefront with my son. I thought maybe it was just the frame rate… but latency makes more sense. Thanks for sharing that and solving a mystery for me!!
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
rm445 1y ago
Try a gaming store that offers a guarantee? I don't know where you are, but here in the UK, second-hand stores such as Cash Converters are full of PS2s, fat and slim. Dedicated second-hand entertainment stores like CEX will test consoles before buying them off people, and claim to offer a several-months guarantee.
psyclobe 1y ago
Buy one and replace the laser they are cheap and plentiful
mmarvin 1y ago
You could also check out https://ongoldscar.com https://ongoldscar.com, sometimes there is a PS2 in the current drop (repaired, certified and with warranty)

ebbi 1y ago

Have you considered emulating instead?

trenchpilgrim 1y ago
There are still many beloved games that don't emulate well.
- xandrius 1y ago
  Really? Like what?
  - WhiteDawn 1y ago
    The Stuntman series is a still painful example. Blame the odd non-IEEE-754 floating point implementation changing physics enough that AI fails most of the missions which softblocks progress quite egregiously
    - Ndymium 1y ago
      Made me laugh though, when in the first level that it completely blocks, the director tells you to get close to a pickup, but the car you're chasing smashes the pickup to the sky like Team Rocket. Last I heard there was a feature branch for testing a software implementation of floating point that would fix these issues, but naturally it would be a lot slower. I haven't tried it myself.
    - CaptainOfCoit 1y ago
      > The Stuntman series is a still painful example. I tried PS2 emulation just a year to ago, just to play Stuntman and found the same thing, painfully slow and barely playable.
  - trenchpilgrim 1y ago
    In my case I'm a big fan of Ace Combat and PCSX2 has rendering issues in both software and hardware modes: https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/issues/10976 https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/issues/10976 https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/issues/12173 https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/issues/12173 It's gotten better (no more black untextured planes!) but the best experience is still on original hardware.

bombcar 1y ago

Either spend a lot for an eBay seller that looks reputable or find them at garage sales or thrift stores where they’re cheap enough to buy and try if you can’t fire it up there.

hamdingers 1y ago

If you don't care to do the work yourself, I've bought many modded consoles from Etsy sellers and have always had a great experience.

rtpg 1y ago

Mercari + Buyee will get you things that are decent. Here's just one of many listings. Shipping depends on where you are of course. And it's a Japanese model so you'll need to do stuff based on that. https://jp.mercari.com/item/m93693596459 https://jp.mercari.com/item/m93693596459

klaussilveira 1y ago
Sadly, does not ship to the US.
- bombcar 1y ago
  IF you're really dedicated, you can find Japanese reshippers.
- rtpg 1y ago
  Does Buyee not ship to the US?

etempleton 1y ago

Look for the slim models. They are much more reliable than the standard PS2.

stevenwoo 1y ago

The author claims they could not find a buyer for theirs but they added hard drives to the finished PS2s. Browsing EBay finds a plain refurbished PS2 for 160-200 from seller with 99.3 percent rating with over 1100 sold. The mods in the article seem really nice - allowing you to rip games you own to a hard drive and play games off the hard drive instead of waiting for DVD seek/read times. There are not a lot of details about the cost of the mod in article but I’m guessing it would add a couple hundred to his sale price .

johncoltrane 1y ago

The ones you can find online are sold by people who know the market all too well so the prices are high. Plus it's online so there's no guarantee about anything. Pawn shops, thrift stores, or their "modern" equivalents (EasyCash, CashConverters, etc. YMMV) would be a good start. I got mine out of a pile for 10€ at a countryside GiFi (French store) ten years ago.

exitb 1y ago

I actually have a PS2 and don't use it much, as it's a pain to hook up to a modern TV. Most games don't support progressive scan, which forces your TV to deinterlace, which im my case adds enough latency to make it unpleasant to play. There's some boutique hardware that can deinterlace with less latency, but then it starts to get expensive really fast. Ideally you'd have to buy a CRT TV along with it.

jgalt212 1y ago
The base retrotink models work well and are inexpensive.
- exitb 1y ago
  You mean the 99 USD one? After duties, VAT and shipment to EU, it will most likely get more expensive than the PS2 itself.
  - pezezin 1y ago
    If your console supports either RGB output via SCART or YPbPr via component cables, which an European PS2 definitely does, I would recommend you the GBS-C. You can find it in Amazon for less than 80 euros, and the upscaling quality is great.
MobileVet 1y ago
Yes! That latency was very quick to induce nausea for me while trying to play Battlefront with my son. I thought maybe it was just the frame rate… but latency makes more sense. Thanks for sharing that and solving a mystery for me!!

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

rm445 1y ago

Try a gaming store that offers a guarantee? I don't know where you are, but here in the UK, second-hand stores such as Cash Converters are full of PS2s, fat and slim. Dedicated second-hand entertainment stores like CEX will test consoles before buying them off people, and claim to offer a several-months guarantee.

psyclobe 1y ago

Buy one and replace the laser they are cheap and plentiful

mmarvin 1y ago

You could also check out https://ongoldscar.com https://ongoldscar.com, sometimes there is a PS2 in the current drop (repaired, certified and with warranty)