PS2 Slim Vs Original: What are its Differences?
The PlayStation2 was widely hailed as one of the great video game console generations, providing unforgettable gaming thrills and adventures. From creating hit series that remain relevant today to continuing legacy franchises first introduced on smaller greyer predecessors – its legacy continues with each passing year! But one of its defining moments wasn’t in video gaming at all: Sony found a way to debloat its chunky design to produce an easier to manage slimline version that revolutionised how we all experienced video gaming!
The PS2 Slim offered players two distinctly distinct experiences, yet contrary to logic the more recent model wasn’t always preferred by its owner. To help understand why players found it so hard deciding between fat PS2 or thinner iterations it’s beneficial to gain knowledge on major differences between both versions – something this article does just that!
The PS2 original’s disc tray would eject from its face of the console, sliding out and creating a groove for you to place the disc into. Once in, pressing “eject” again would retract it back in. However, no disc would actually click into place underneath an optic drive like other systems; rather it just floated above.
With no stabilizing mechanism to hold it steady, laying horizontally was the optimal positioning of a console game console. Even minor movements could jostle its contents enough for game freeze-up or glitching to occur when standing vertically.
However, the slimline version offered a top-loading disc drive which enabled discs to click into place like on its predecessor, the original PlayStation. As such, disc read errors due to dislodged discs were greatly reduced but players sometimes experienced issues with either their lid not latching closed properly or needing to press gently down for their disc to be properly read.
With its redesign, the PS2 can now stand upright when used with a circular vertical stand.
Notable differences between the PS2 original and Slim versions were the removable cover available only on fat versions, and one notable use case being online gaming such as Final Fantasy XI or Resident Evil Outbreak. Not every player took advantage of it though and many did use this slot exclusively when online play became accessible for their PS2.
Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Network Adapter were installed into this slot and delivered one of the earliest instances of online multiplayer for consoles – it predated even Xbox Live’s release in Japan – together with power delivery via connection cable from original PS2. Both peripherals worked hand-in-hand. The HDD required the Network Adapter as part of its connection process to receive power.
With its 40GB capacity and unofficial HD Loader software, this HDD could reduce load times and back up memory card data, but its most useful (yet controversial) use was as an unofficial and potentially illegal means to bypass copy protection by directly loading games onto its storage medium without discs and bypassing copy protection restrictions.
At launch of the PS2 Slim drive there were only 35 North American titles that supported its drive; online access enabled more titles. When it comes to backward compatibility however things start getting complicated: Original PS2 games cannot run on either console at once (hence no backwards compatibility between original PS2 titles and PS2 Slim titles).
As part of its development process, changes were made to the laser lens of the slim PS2, in an attempt to increase compatibility with PSOne libraries and read PS2 games more rapidly. Unfortunately, however, compatibility issues still existed on later iterations of this version; while very few games proved incompatibly with it entirely, many PS1 and some PS2 titles experienced glitches or freezing on various PS2 Slim models.
