The PS2 came in two shapes: the original “fat” case (2000) and the Slimline (October 2004). The Slimline is smaller, has a built-in Ethernet port and an external power supply, and doesn’t have the expansion bay at the back, so it can’t take an internal hard drive.
When did the PS2 come out?
March 4, 2000 in Japan, October 26 in North America, November 24 in Europe and November 30 in Australia. It’s the best-selling console of all time at 160 million units, with a library of over 4,000 games.
What’s the difference between a fat PS2 and a Slimline?
Three things you can see from across the room. The Slimline is thinner, it loads discs from the top instead of a motorized tray, and it runs off a separate power brick. Both can sit horizontally or stand upright, but the Slimline needs a dedicated stand to stand up safely.
The one you can’t see is the expansion bay. On the fat PS2 it takes the network adaptor and an internal 3.5 inch hard drive. The Slimline hasn’t got the bay, so it doesn’t support the hard drive. Wikipedia says that was criticized, because some games needed one. The example it gives is Final Fantasy XI.
Is every PS2 black?
Black is the standard, but there were plenty of other colors in different regions and quantities: ceramic white, light yellow, aqua, metallic silver, navy blue, opaque blue, midnight black, pearl white, sakura purple, satin gold, satin silver, snow white, super red, ocean blue, and pink in parts of Oceania and Asia.
What’s the PSX?
It’s a PS2 inside a media center box, released only in Japan on December 13, 2003. It could record TV and DVDs, and it came as the DESR-5000 with a 160 GB drive and the DESR-7000 with 250 GB.
Which one should I look for?
It depends on what you want to play. A game that needs the hard drive, or the network adaptor, needs the fat one. For discs and less shelf space, the Slimline does that. If you’ve used both, tell us which you prefer.
The console is on our PlayStation 2 page.
Source: Wikipedia, PlayStation 2, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Header image: Sony PlayStation 2.png by Perchybits (CC0), Wikimedia Commons.
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