Despite the huge library, it is always a struggle to overcome its speedrun challenges. PS2 requires heavy investment to experience the best version of some games. Seeing all of this makes our heads hurt or just come to a good conclusion as to why speedrunning back then was probably very expensive compared to now since the current generation has fair competition on PC due have the Load Time Removal support.
Preservation is very important because keeping them safe is a huge struggle
Everyone knows that value of the hidden gem makes us frustrated since corporate companies like Sony have “hard time” making the games accessible. Because, this inflates the cost of games regardless of the condition. This article provides us a good example of how expensive some games are. Hence, we often pray that the company for the game be remastered and accessible on the PC platform. Additionally, once you own a rare game, it is critical to maintain it properly, which is the hardest part.
Would you want to risk for a Slim or Fat ?
Unless you own the final slim model (SCPH-90000), the earlier models were bad because of the design choice on the ribbon cable since it bends in a manner that it can touch the disc. Consequently, it will damage the disc with a circular scratch. You can see what (SCPH-77004) has done to my JP Lament of Innocence copy.
There are plenty of ways to fix this. Such as an elastic that ties it to the metal frame at the end of the trajectory of the optical drive, so you can make the ribbon stay more extended than its normal height. However, it requires you to open up the console and such.
For my case? I just went ahead and bought a fat model with (SCPH-39000). This model is superior to Slim in every aspect, even though it has a loud fan. I also won’t have to worry about the ribbon problems. It actually took me a long time to decide which PS2 model I wanted to buy cause, some models like the (SCPH-50000) series have a special laser that kills itself when you play pirated games.
One interesting case that I found out about PS2 is that all models have exactly the same loads for multiple games. The only exception is probably the speed of the Disc 1/2 switch. Slim is much faster than the fat.
Platform/Version Specific Glitches
Usually, JP is the best version and platform to play PS2 games. Some localised games are deliberately made harder to prevent rental players from finishing them quickly. A good example of this is Chaos Legion and Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening. This is done by switching difficulty between Normal and Hard or player stats modification..etc.
PAL releases are often ignored due to the lack of 60Hz support or patching glitches such as Item duplication in Lament of Innocence. Devil May Cry 2 is one of the only few games that is preferred to run in that release. It fixed the damage value from using different weapons, Supports 60Hz and more.
Recently, I came across a phenomenon where I can’t reproduce this new Dawn of Dreams glitch. It allows Soki to reach any maximum level skill right from the start. He can max out his helm splitter skill which grants huge damage boost. As a result, it saves huge time against Hecuba where you can just one cycle it.
What is happening ?To enable this, you load the sava data after beating Ohatsu in Chapter 8 > Return to title screen > Start New Game. There are two possibility behind this:
- (SCPH-39000) may not be comptabilite.
- Difference between regular and greatest hits editions.
According to Capcom, they never fixed the bug in the greatest hits editions, but is that really true ? The only way to find out is to buy the best version too and see if the glitch is available on (SCPH-90000) model. The best part is that the greatest hits edition version was released twice, in 2006 and 2007 😊
This raises huge concern when publishers decides to Re-release/Remaster the games:
- Are we going to get the right version ?
- Is Capcom aware of the versions that they are releasing ?
- Glitch fixes minor changes ?
It is very clear that before you start speedrunning PS2 games. You need to dig deep into the games that you would want to run and make sure that you buy a model/region that has most of your speed game secured. You could always buy multiple PS2s but for some countries like mine. It’s a heafty investment.
Emulators are generally frowned upon in speedruns
Every game has it’s own rules. It vary from community as well. Emulators like Bizhawk uses a forked mednafen core and are usually preferred due to it’s accuracy. There hasn’t been a PS2 emulator that perfectly emulated a PS2 (one that included frame drops and load times). Hence it gets separated into a different category from the main platform.
There are some exceptions to In-game Time but these are usually unreliable. Lament of Innocence saves 2s for having faster save than the actual Hardware. However, this isn’t significant enough, since the game is heavily gate-kept with RNGs.
The emulator is capable of Tool-assists. The past cheated runs left the Emulator speed runs with a bad reputation. Especially Super Mario 64. Luckily, most games I run are niche, so the cheating problem barely matters. At the same time, I remember running an emulator. I really didn’t like it just because of the lack of accuracy. This happened to me when I switched to PS3 for Lament of Innocence.
The general problem we have with the emulators stigma is that it’s not an official way to play the game, and has the potential to be inaccurate. It is also one of those things why I am coping and desperate with Backward Compatibility from games like Onimusha series.
Analogue recently made reimagining of the N64 console which represents a milestone in video game preservation. Maybe there is a hope from getting something similar to PS1 2 and 3 ?
Conclusion
Speedrunning PS2 games are hard because we are gate-kept with high costs associated with accessing and preserving certain titles. We have to look for specific console models that meets our need. The best versions of some games can be expensive, especially given the limited accessibility of the older titles. as they are often seen as inaccurate and unofficial. While some emulators offer advantages, they are generally separated from main platform speedruns due to concerns over reliability and fairness.
Ultimately, the piece underscores the complexities of speedrunning PS2 games, including the need for thorough research on game versions and the investment required to maintain the necessary hardware.
