Mxm. Sequels are never as good as the originals, are they?

Oh, this one was. The original PlayStation redefined home gaming, but five years later, Sony unleashed another revolution. The new console’s guts packed serious clout, enabling game makers to sculpt breathtaking efforts: the soulful Ico and awe-inspiring Shadow of the Colossus, the sprawling open world of GTA3, grin-inducing racers like Burnout Revenge – and many more. This wasn’t merely shifting more polygons; it was a quantum leap in gaming.

Hurrah! Progress! Year zero! Just like gaming is supposed to be.

Except no. Sony recognised the investment millions of gamers had made in its new platform back in 1995, and rewarded their loyalty by not forcing them to lob their game collections into a bin: the PS2 was backwards-compatible with original PlayStation games, and even memory cards and controllers. Some compatibility of this sort is expected today, but back then, the only home console that offered it out of the box was the Atari 7800. And unlike the 7800, people wanted a PS2.

One console to rule them all, and in the glow of the TV set bind them!

Something like that. And it didn’t end there. The PS2 also included DVD support while undercutting standalone players, removing any excuse not to buy one and further tightening its hold on the living room. Other ideas were… less successful (such as a bundle that turned it into a Linux PC, and a TV with the console jammed inside). Still, the basics were so potent that Sony sold 160 million PS2s, swatting aside its rivals, and confusing everyone when the PS2 even outsold its own successor for several years.