I've Got the PlayStation 2 Out

We had a mid-week public holiday last week. They're nice, mid-week holidays, but they're also a bit useless. You're not going to get up to anything too exciting, or travel too far afield, with just 24 hours sandwiched between regular workdays.

I think they're best spent at home. Go to bed a little later than usual the evening before - an extra 30 minutes of Dragon Age: The Veilguard - tackle a few chores on the day to slightly free up the weekend, bake something; go for a daytime jog. Or, as I decided to do, get the PlayStation 2 out. 

A week later, and I have yet to put it back away.

I've bought a handful of PS1 and PS2 games the last couple of months but have been putting off trying them. I just didn't fancy going through the whole rigmarole of unpacking the PS2 and getting it hooked up to the monitor, especially as I didn't know whether it would still work or not. I'd plugged it in a couple of times last year and found it to be increasingly unreliable, making all sorts of unhealthy whirring noises as it struggled to read discs.

Also, the yellowing upsets me.

My white Slim, pictured above, isn't actually mine. I bought it for my then-girlfriend, now-wife, as a birthday present in the mid-2000s. She'd made the mistake of expressing some vague interest in playing Final Fantasy XII, which I took as an invitation to buy her something that I like. In my defence, she played and enjoyed FFX and FFXII. Anyway, it has essentially become my PS2 - not mine - and is well looked after. That being said, no amount of care could have prevented the controller from turning a cursed, tobacco yellow.

Some plastics fade, some yellow, and some remain pristine. There is no rhyme or reason to it. To be fair, there probably is, but I don't want to hear about it. The controller has succumbed to the yellowing yet the console has not. The memory card is slightly fucked and, unfortunately, my NeGcon is starting to turn. There's probably some chemical I can dip them into, but why fight nature?

Yellowing aside, there's another, more pressing issue that has been testing my patience: inconsistent disc reading. Something at the back of the lid isn't quite triggering - two bits of something aren't coming together as they should when the disc tray is closed. Not being technically minded, and loathe to open it up, I have instead found a temporary but very effective solution: stack three sets of cards on the lid. A pack of Final Fantasy Tactics playing cards, a Chocobo set and another FF-themed pack from Uniqlo applies just enough pressure to get the disc read without doing any obvious damage to the software or hardware. I assume playing cards with other themes, like Crash Bandicoot or war criminals, would also work, but I can't confirm.

These strange workarounds are becoming increasingly necessary as my retro hardware ages and their issues exceed my tinkering abilities. I'm eyeing up all sorts of alternative solutions, but they're all rather expensive. I'll probably just wait until everything fails and then figure something out.

Fortunately, my PS1 and PS2 memory cards are still in working order, complete with save files stretching back to the late '90s. They contain my original runs on Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VIII, Resident Evil 2 - a treasure trove of nostalgia of little interest to anyone but me.

As for the games, I started off with the PS1 titles: Wipeout 3 and Porsche Challenge. I picked up Wipeout 3 for a steal last month (¥480) and it really is a lovely looking thing. Sounds great too. It's just a shame that I'm shit at it. I'm also hopeless at Porsche Challenge - I couldn't even finish a single race! I also tried them both with the NeGcon, which considerably improved my Wipeout performance yet failed to alleviate my suffering in Porsche Challenge. It feels great twisting that lump of plastic to glide around corners, even if I'm constantly worried that the rubber bands inside will snap with my next rotation.

It doesn't actually use rubber bands, does it?

As for the PS2 games, I was sorely disappointed to discover that my PS2 could not read Fantavision. I even switched the order of the stacked playing cards, but it didn't make a blind bit of difference. SSX is a delight and so easy to dip into, and this was somehow my first time playing Ridge Racer V. It's Ridge Racer, obviously, so I knew what to expect, but its style and presentation still greatly impressed. You'd have been over the moon to have had that at launch. 

And speaking of stylish things, NBA Street Vol. 2 is the reason why, a week later, I have yet to pack up the PS2. What a game! The art direction and presentation of the first few NBA Streets is perfectly judged, and this entry in particular manages to capture the spirit of streetball. Having Bobbito Garcia emcee was a stroke of genius and it ensures that there's never a dull moment. I've written a little about my fondness for NBA Street and my late discovery of Vol. 2 before, which you can find here. I'm currently chipping away at the NBA tour mode with the 2002-03 Phoenix Suns, who are a perfect fit for NBA Street: Marbury, Marion and a young Amare bombing it up and down the court, blocking and dunking everything. I've been playing a game or two each evening this week, once I've finished the dishes, and it is bliss.

I'll put the PS2 away soon, as I don't like having that mess of wires scattered across the floor. Just give me a few more days of NBA Street, then I'll get it tidied up. Back in its box, at least until the next mid-week holiday.