My favorite photo of the PS2. Taken by Evan Amos.

This week Sony’s PlayStation 2 celebrated its fifteenth birthday. March 4, 2000 marked the Japanese launch of the system which went on to be the best-selling home console ever – and my personal favorite system.

Despite an October 2000 launch it was only in 2004 that I was finally able to get my hands on the system. Some of my first games were DDR Max 2, Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts, and Grand Theft Auto 3. Shortly after that came Silent Hill 2, a game which will likely always stand tall atop my top 10 list.

As of today I have 4 PS2s (3 original sized and 1 Slim), a big handful of controllers and peripherals, at least 6 dance pads, and 538 games across NTSC-US, NTSC-J, and PAL regions. My goal is to eventually have a complete set of US releases but this will likely take a very long time. Even so, it’s a very fun and challenging (but attainable) goal!

Without the PS2 I’m not sure my love of gaming would have ever grown so strong. Heck, my interest in game reviewing may have never even happened if the console and I didn’t cross paths. Happy birthday PS2!

What are your favorite PS2 games?