PS2 Nostalgia is Alive, Logo Rotate Hits the Spot 25 Years Later

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the PlayStation 2’s launch in Europe, and even two-and-a-half decades later fans still have a particular fondness for the console.

PS2 nostalgia in the form of plush toys, re-released titles, and even horror game homages is running rampant today, and let’s be fair, can you really blame people for that?

It’s the console that gave birth to absolute banger series like Kingdom Hearts, God of War, and TimeSplitters. Not to mention games like Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, and GTA: San Andreas. Oh, the list goes on and on.

Even all this time later, did you know the PS2 is still finding new ways to surprise people? For example, did you know you could flip and rotate the logo on the front of the console?

Okay, so you might know this. But it turns out, some people don’t! So for the benefit of those people, I’ll explain it here.

Much like many of our games consoles today, the PlayStation 2 was able to be laid flat on its back, or upright with a stand keeping it in place.

If you were pretty tight on space, it would help with giving your console a place to sit on your TV unit or shelves.

In a genius move, Sony clearly didn’t want people to think there was a right or wrong way to orient your console.

So, it included a handy little feature that allowed you to flip and rotate the PlayStation logo located on the disc tray.

This meant that the logo could appear to be the correct way up no matter how your console was situated. It was a neat little feature which we have to give the Sony engineers of the early 2000s a lot of credit for.

It turns out that nostalgia for that particular aspect of the PS2 still runs rampant today. As posted on the PlayStation Europe X (formerly Twitter) account on Monday (24 November), a video showing Astro Bot gameplay demonstrates the PS2 logo flip in all its glory.

It’s a shame that the PS5 doesn’t really have anything like that, especially considering you can also choose to have it standing up or lying down flat.

You can, however, already use a PS2-related theme on the console’s home screen, as well as access many PS2 classics via the store or PlayStation Plus Premium.

So, I’m still tempted to boot up my PS5 if I need a dose of early 2000s nostalgia.