I think a lot of the criticism of the PS2 launch line up was for the Japanese launch. Somehow that got mixed in with the narrative surrounding the overall launch of the console.
Except that this is a list is of the Japanese PS2 Launch and the entire basis of the OP is to challenge the perception of the PS2's launch line up in the West or, more exactly, outside Japan as seen by the article by a Western outlet that was cited. Answering with this 'well actually, OP' is pedantic and to call it revisionist history is disingenuous and misses the point of the topic entirely.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. There were some solid titles but nothing that wowed anyone like Halo, BotW or SM64 for their respective launches. you bought the machine for the machine and picked up some launch titles to play on your new machine while you waited for the 'Wow!' games to be released. Which is basically every console launch with a few exeptions.
Anyone that tells me PS2 had a bad launch lineup is smoking some good green. IMO there only needs to be 1 amazing game and 3/4 good ones for a decent launch and to sustain for a month or two until games start rolling in.
PS2 could've had only Tekken Tag and SSX and it would've been a great launch lineup.
IDC about "opinions", you're a fool if you think the lineup in the eyes of millions of players was bad. It is a hard fact that a decent portion of the lineup has reached classic status.
And before you say opinions GTA3 shuts you up a billion times, the system was ass til it came period.
So I think there are a few factors that really add to the bad launch lineup discussion that aren't really considered out of context (and out of time).
Firstly, those of us who were buzzing for the PS2 at launch were reading all about it in magazines for a good while before it finally came to the West. The Japanese launch came about six months before the US/EU launch and so we had about six months of reading about it already being launched and those launch titles etc. The Japanese launch was really rough in terms of software.
A6 A Reisha de Ikou 6 Artdink CD-ROM
Sky Surfer
American Arcade
Kessen
Drummania
Street Mahjong Trance Mashin 2
Golf Paradise
Ridge Racer V
Tekken Tag Tournament
Eternal Ring
Jikkyou World Soccer 2000
We basically had six months (and however long before that when we knew what the launch lineup was going to be) of acknowledging that this was a god awful launch in terms of games anybody wanted to play. They did, of course, get some more titles together for the eventual Western release (Timesplitters and SSX being the notable titles) but by that point we'd all absolutely devoured reviews and import impressions for the console and it's games. Imagine how much news and opinion pieces gets shared here in six months. The console had launched and the launch lineup was awful. It was just the narrative by that point. There's a reason that it became a running joke that the most popular launch title for the Japanese PS2 launch was The Matrix DVD movie.
Secondly, the PS2 launch was coming off of a frankly disgustingly good final year for the PS1 (well, final year in terms of it being 'the only PlayStation'). Like, fine, Tekken Tag was an alright Tekken game and Timesplitters was the new game by some of the folk that made Goldeneye but 2000 for the PS1 saw us get games like Final Fantasy IX, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2, Vagrant Story, Dino Crisis 2, Colin McRae Rally 2, Breath of Fire IV etc. Huge, huge games. The PS1 was still absolutely smashing it at that point and there was definitely a general feeling of 'where are the big hitters'? There was no huge 'must get' launch title.
Tekken Tag Tournament was probably the front and centre game for the release in both Japan and the West. But it was both not a new 'mainline' Tekken game (it was the first non-numbered Tekken game and we really did all just want Tekken 4) and it was coming hot off the heels of Soul Calibur coming out for the Dreamcast. Those of us that had seen and played Soul Calibur found it increasingly difficult to get that excited about a side Tekken game as the big game for launch.
I personally think the PS2 launch was a year of two halves. It had a weak launch lineup of games. It just did. But that first year (including the famous Fall/Winter 2001) was so ridiculously strong that it just didn't matter in the end.
Yup. Console released right around the time DVDs were blowing up. The DVD player inclusion made the spark. The games that came after the launch caused the fire.Dem DVD playback saved that console. As an old man, i remember dem days.
I'm having trouble understanding this, but are you saying the PS2 was "ass" before October 2001?
I think it was mostly bad in context. The last two big console launches prior to the PS2 were the DreamCast and the N64. The DreamCast launched with a slew of all-timers including Sonic Adventure and Soul Calibur (this was big at the time because of how it exceeded the arcade version which was unheard of at the time iirc). The N64 revolutionized the industry with Super Mario 64. Then comes the PS2 with a bunch of b-tiers like SSX and TimeSplitters, and it still sells like gangbusters. Afterwards came the Xbox with Halo on day 1 and the Gamecube with Rogue Squadron/Luigi's Mansion/Super Monkey Ball/Wave Race day 1 and Melee/Pikmin just weeks later.
Compare that to the upcoming lineups of the PS5/XSX, which will probably be a good bit worse.....but console launches haven't really mattered much in like well over a decade, outside of Breath of the Wild which was cross-gen anyways.
I think it was mostly bad in context. The last two big console launches prior to the PS2 were the DreamCast and the N64. The DreamCast launched with a slew of all-timers including Sonic Adventure and Soul Calibur (this was big at the time because of how it exceeded the arcade version which was unheard of at the time iirc). The N64 revolutionized the industry with Super Mario 64. Then comes the PS2 with a bunch of b-tiers like SSX and TimeSplitters, and it still sells like gangbusters.
Compare that to the upcoming lineups of the PS5/XSX, which will probably be a good bit worse.....but console launches haven't really mattered much in like well over a decade, outside of Breath of the Wild which was cross-gen anyways.
They should've made one! Hey, I bought Fantavision on PS4. I'm doing my part!
It wasn't just the launch lineup was bad, it was also that no other good games came out for almost a year after launch. The situation was so bad that I actually finished Summoner.
I'm still scratching my head at the word you used to describe it in the thread title, OP.
That said, I got a Japanese PS2 at launch with Ridge Racer V and Tekken Tag Tournament and I was happier than a pig in shit. I don't think I bought any other games for months.
It might be the perfect word, I've just never heard it before. You learn something new everyday! :)Yeah, there were releases peppered here and there, but the second half of 2001 is an almost unfair metric to compare any console library too, haha. The months after PS2's launch:
Once June/July kick in, the PS2 gains stupid software momentum.
- The Bouncer (I have a soft spot for its mediocrity) was December 2000
- ATV Offroad Fury, February 2001
- Onimusha hits March 2001
- Zone of the Enders, March 2001
- Gauntlet, May 2001
- Red Faction, May 2001
- Dark Cloud, May 2001
- NBA Street, June 2001
Hmm, maybe there's a better term. I basically think the widespread claim that the PS2's launch lineup is bad enough to be exemplary is bogus. I chose "apocryphal" because I see it cited and coined as Exhibit A of bad software lineups for a launch, but I disagree with it (and provide my receipts, heh).
Is there a better word for contesting a wide-spread claim you deem inaccurate?
Wave Race 64 was around a month really (5 weeks) and Pilotwings 64 was pretty insane at the time tbh. I think the N64 droughts didn't really start hurting though until spring 1997, getting just one or two games every month stings less when they're basically best in class exclusives.I do think it's worth noting how much of a barren desert the N64's library was for a while. There was Mario 64 and... Pilot Wings. You had to wait almost two months for Wave Race 64 and Killer Instinct Gold, then another month for Cruis'n USA.
There's no denying how damn good Mario 64 is, but PS2 had a wide variety of ok-to-good games to play day one. I never felt hungry for new games with my PS2.
Wave Race 64 was around a month really (5 weeks) and Pilotwings 64 was pretty insane at the time tbh. I think the N64 droughts didn't really start hurting though until spring 1997, getting just one or two games every month stings less when they're basically best in class exclusives.
That said I think PS2 had a great launch lineup and in particular I'd put RRV up against any other launch racer. I sort of agree with the idea PS2 was more a "bad in context" versus everything else that gen (Dreamcast, Gamecube, Xbox, even GBA) but I also feel the margin wasn't that wide either really. They were all pretty great.
Sure it can, I was 7 when the ps2 came out and didn't buy a current gen console until the xbox came out a year laterWhen the PlayStation 2 launched there was no such thing as Xbox so that could not have been a factor.
Yeah, there were releases peppered here and there, but the second half of 2001 is an almost unfair metric to compare any console library to, haha.
SSX, timesplitters and Telenor Tag are all games I'd enjoy playing today and those have me many many hours of fun back in the day. Great games.
Sure it can, I was 7 when the ps2 came out and didn't buy a current gen console until the xbox came out a year later
Not sure why this bothers you but ok.Ahh, well OK as a personal story sure. I assumed we're all here talking about the PlayStation 2's launch as that's what the thread is about. If you made a decision a year after the PS2 came out then yeah, but that's different than making a launch decision.
Not sure why this bothers you but ok.
SSX ended up being one of my favorite games so that's where it's coming from.
Would have easily bought the game at launch.
I thought the 360 launch was better. I picked up Oblivion, PGR3, Fight Night Round 3 (how next gen was that!) and I think I picked up Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter a few weeks later which was pretty good too.