The PlayStation 2 and the Super Nintendo are the same system

[FireAza]

When I think back to which console has my favourite games on them, I always come back to the Super Nintendo and the PlayStation 2. But when I thought about it, the two systems are actually eerily similar! Let's compare!

1) The second generation of a new kind of technology. The PS2 was part of the second generation to use 3D polygon graphics, while the SNES was the second generation to use 2D sprites (not counting very early systems like the 2600). This meant that the hardware had progressed beyond the very basic level of power the previous generation had and was now capable of running games that were a massive jump in graphical and audio quality. This also resulted in games that just would not have been possible on the previous system.

2) Developers now many years of experience in working out how to make games. After a lot of experimentation and flops in the first generation, developers now had a good idea on how to make polished games and a number of genres had been established. This experience combined with more powerful hardware resulted in some of the most polished and well-designed games ever seen.

3) Japanese-made games dominated both systems. While there were European and American developers making games for the system, it was the Japanese studios who made the best-of-the-best. And the system was dominated by games made by Japanese studios. And with so many Japanese games on the system, you can bet there were lots of kooky, creative titles to be had!

4) The systems both had a massive amount of excellent JRPGs. The PS2 and the SNES are home to some of the all-time classic JRPG titles. The SNES had the likes of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger and the PS2 had the likes of Final Fantasy X and Dragon Quest VIII.

What do you guys think? Am I on to something here?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Well, they're my two favorite consoles, so you may be on to something. I think the PS2 has a better library though.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

PS2 is the last great console before the curse of online fully infected console gaming.

 

[FireAza]

Well, they're my two favorite consoles, so you may be on to something. I think the PS2 has a better library though.

Well, the PS2 has Katamari Damacy, so that means it automatically wins that argument. Though the SNES has Yoshi's Island...

 

[Saelune]

They are both systems about refining what the last gen started. Neither did anything revolutionary on a major scale like oh, jumpng to 3D gaming, or re-establish gaming as a viable thing. The SNES did a lot of what the NES already could do, but better, as did the PS2 doing what the PS1 could do, but better.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

*attempts something he saw in a Jon Tron video* But my A Link to the Past cartridge doesn't want to fit the the disk tray of my PS2, and I'm still waiting for my eBay order for a Play Station (the canceled SNES disk drive) to come so I can try God of War 2 on it.

Joking aside, that is an interesting comparison. Both systems are also their respective manufacturers' second major home consoles, with the first consoles also being their successful jumps into the home console market.[footnote]Funny tangent: both also were in the only two generations were a Sega system got a lot of positive attention.[/footnote] And each immediate successor to the SNES and PS2 had rocky histories due to some mistakes (hubris?) made by their manufacturers. (N64 lost some titles due to cartridge limitations/costs compared to competing CD-based systems and could never quite catch up to the PS1. The PS3's launch price and limited early library meant it only caught up to the 360 after the RRoD SNAFU caught up to MS.)

Indeed, both do have some of my favorite games (the two from my joke, Super Metroid, the Dark Cloud series, FF6, FFX, Chrono Trigger, GTA: Vice City, Mega Man X, and Sonic Mega Collection+[footnote]Wait, is that one cheating? I don't even own the PS2 version, only the Gamecube version.[/footnote]) but the same could be said for any system made between the late 80s and today.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

Both great consoles, both with a great library of games, and fair points on the similarities too.

PS2 is the last great console before the curse of online fully infected console gaming.

Ouch. I enjoyed the 360 a hell of a lot, but I think you've definitely nailed a very valid point there.

I certainly didn't enjoy some games such ask Arkham City & ME3 because of the online aspects.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

This thread reminds me of that Abraham Lincoln and JFK are the same guy thing. If you try hard enough you can find startling similarities between almost anything.

Both great consoles though.

 

[BrawlMan]

When I think back to which console has my favourite games on them, I always come back to the Super Nintendo and the PlayStation 2. But when I thought about it, the two systems are actually eerily similar! Let's compare!

1) The second generation of a new kind of technology. The PS2 was part of the second generation to use 3D polygon graphics, while the SNES was the second generation to use 2D sprites (not counting very early systems like the 2600). This meant that the hardware had progressed beyond the very basic level of power the previous generation had and was now capable of running games that were a massive jump in graphical and audio quality. This also resulted in games that just would not have been possible on the previous system.

2) Developers now many years of experience in working out how to make games. After a lot of experimentation and flops in the first generation, developers now had a good idea on how to make polished games and a number of genres had been established. This experience combined with more powerful hardware resulted in some of the most polished and well-designed games ever seen.

3) Japanese-made games dominated both systems. While there were European and American developers making games for the system, it was the Japanese studios who made the best-of-the-best. And the system was dominated by games made by Japanese studios. And with so many Japanese games on the system, you can bet there were lots of kooky, creative titles to be had!

4) The systems both had a massive amount of excellent JRPGs. The PS2 and the SNES are home to some of the all-time classic JRPG titles. The SNES had the likes of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger and the PS2 had the likes of Final Fantasy X and Dragon Quest VIII.

What do you guys think? Am I on to something here?

For me at least, the PS1 and PS2 was picking up where Sega had left off/failed. I was with Sega Genesis (still own it) during the 16-bit era, but if I had to choose between the two, I'd still pick the Genesis every time. It had more games that appealed to me; plus I was never big on RPGs so the SNES wouldn't have done that much for me.

My proof for this is that like Sega, Sony wanted to cater to more than just "kids and family". Sony target demographic was not just kids or pre-teens, but also an emphasis on teens and adults. Sega started the trend, but kept their audiences in mind, which is what I love about PS2. There was a genre for about everyone: Action/Adventure, RPGs, Racing, FPS, Fighting games, the list goes on. That's reason why I never got the original XBOX. Outside of a few games here and there, console was just dominated by Halo and a whole bunch of shooters.

Nintendo and Microsoft were able to learn from this mistake, until the latter made the same mistake again for the Xbox One. The former made the mistake in losing variety in their library for its respective consoles. Though this problem could be traced back during the 5th generation of consoles when a lot of 3rd party developers or publishers were getting tired of their censorship policies.

 

[CritialGaming]

When I think back to which console has my favourite games on them, I always come back to the Super Nintendo and the PlayStation 2. But when I thought about it, the two systems are actually eerily similar! Let's compare!

1) The second generation of a new kind of technology. The PS2 was part of the second generation to use 3D polygon graphics, while the SNES was the second generation to use 2D sprites (not counting very early systems like the 2600). This meant that the hardware had progressed beyond the very basic level of power the previous generation had and was now capable of running games that were a massive jump in graphical and audio quality. This also resulted in games that just would not have been possible on the previous system.

2) Developers now many years of experience in working out how to make games. After a lot of experimentation and flops in the first generation, developers now had a good idea on how to make polished games and a number of genres had been established. This experience combined with more powerful hardware resulted in some of the most polished and well-designed games ever seen.

3) Japanese-made games dominated both systems. While there were European and American developers making games for the system, it was the Japanese studios who made the best-of-the-best. And the system was dominated by games made by Japanese studios. And with so many Japanese games on the system, you can bet there were lots of kooky, creative titles to be had!

4) The systems both had a massive amount of excellent JRPGs. The PS2 and the SNES are home to some of the all-time classic JRPG titles. The SNES had the likes of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger and the PS2 had the likes of Final Fantasy X and Dragon Quest VIII.

What do you guys think? Am I on to something here?

I think you look favorably upon those two consoles because they yield a lot of games in the genre you like. In your case JRPG's, so of course you would look at those two consoles as the peak of gaming excellence because JRPG's are no longer the iconic things they used to be.

However if your favorite games where FPS you might look upon the 360 as the best console ever.

I don't like these comparisons because it is always easier to look back and remember the great times you had with games as a kid. Yet I don't feel like you can compare the way you experienced games as a child to how you experience them now. Your mind is different, your tastes are different, your ability to think and understand and process the story and mechanics of a game are all going to be much different. So games you would have loved as a kid, you would not like now as your mindset is completely different.

Then you have the classics problem. Games like Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy, if they were to be released this year, would you still consider them classics? Or even fantastic? Probably not. People often say that today's games suck compared to how they used to be, but we don't know what today's classic games will be. All that will be determined by the kids playing those games today.

Perhaps Modern Warfare? God of War? Could those be classics? How about Halo, or The Witcher?

I think people tend to look back at the old days, because back then we thought gaming was magical. Fantasy worlds completely open to our imagination. And now as adults, we look at games with cynical eyes. We talk shit about game mechanics, character diversity, voice acting, story, game value in ratio to cost, all of this pointless over-analytical shit. We can't just sit and enjoy games anymore, we are always projecting our values and opinions upon a media as if we have to validate the games existence in our lives.

No wonder we look back so fondly upon our childhood "classics". That was the last time we could just sit and enjoy a game for what it was.