Today marks the 20th Anniversary of the Playstation 2

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the Playstation 2, the world’s best selling console of all time having sold over 155 million units worldwide.

Sony’s hardware sequel launched on March 4, 2000, in Japan, and there was almost instant acclaim for the system. The much of the praise heaped on the power under the hood, backward compatibility with PS1 games, and the ability to play DVDs, something that was praised at the time due to the cost of dedicated DVD players. Retrospectively, it’s now considered one of the greatest video game systems of all time.

There were some minor gripes about online capabilities (as SEGA had launched online services for the Dreamcast that year) and only two controller slots, but these didn’t affect the sales of the system. By the end of its first month of purchase in Japan, the console had already racked up over 1.4 million sales of the system. The console had already sold over three and a half million units before it reached the shores of North America in October later that year.

The PS2 launched in Japan with only five titles, including Eternal Ring, an action role-playing game from Dark Souls developer From Software. The strength of the console though, came in its releases later in its life cycle, which lasted for six years until 2006’s launch of the PS3. Unsurprisingly, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was its best selling title, with over 17 million copies sold.

You discover all of the best games for the PS2 by checking out our handy list of the best games that the console had to offer.