SNES is the best ever, its library has also aged better. Half of the PS2 library is unplayable early 2000's edgy crap now. A lot of it copying Matrix. Cringe. A lot of the NBA Street to Mark Eco early 2000s Spike TV crowd stuff. Cringe. Your action games trying too hard to be cool but the gameplay-aged liked ass. Bloodrayne's and stuff of that nature. Also, the age when so many JRPGs overdesigned characters. Like an FFX or a Dawn of Mana. It's the generation that gave the genre a bad name and pretty much killed it leading into the 7th gen. PS2 not to get too technical had the worst hardware as well of it's generation. It had issues with blurry textures. I don't like the greenish look to a lot of games and the hazy look. The other 3 consoles that gen had a crisper look and sharper textures. PS2 games in general with some exceptions. Look hideous. I think DC,GC, Xbox overall aged better visually.

Yes PS2 has some great games. Just overall a lot of it is insanely dated. SNES is aged better. SNES library has some of the best RPGs ever made. I can't say that about PS2. Some good ones yes. Best ever RPGs? Nah. In fact, it's when the FF series went downhill. Most of the other genres on PS2 were evolved so much in the coming generations. Some of the fighting game ports ran better on DC or more features for some reason. It only had 2 controller ports. Drove me nuts. PS2 has a place in history. Sales don't determine the best ever. Just appeal to more casual players. Good system yeah. Sales are damned. Not the best. Otherwise, I guess the mediocre film Avatar is the best movie ever.

What 

PS2 to me is like the Wii. Very popular with afew great games but was also filled with so much shovelware and the hardware was incredibly weak for its gen (Like the Wii) did not age well at all. Software also didn't age well either. I could think of plenty of other systems that were better. Like the SNES, games still look good, had alot more better games to play (quality over quantity) and games actually hold their value. PS2 games are cheap for a reason. It was and still is a very overrated console. Even when it comes to JRPGs, PS2 had plenty but the best JRPGs were on SNES and PS1.

The thread title doesn't indicate that you rate the PS2 as "greatest system" from a collector's perspective.

And in the OT you are jumping between collecting and playing good game classics (which are different things with a different focus).

"I mean for real. Anybody that has kids and is struggling to keep them entertained during this pandemic, get yourself a PS2! Games can still be had for $10 to $15. And I'm not talking about A FEW games. I mean the vast majority of the PS2 library is still dirt cheap."

Here you are talking about entertaining kids (or yourself) by playing old PS2 games. But most of these games you (or your kids) can play in a much prettier version on a newer console system or on PC.

F. e. I still have the Kingdom Hearts games as PS2 versions. But you'd have to pay me money to play these versions in 480p instead of playing them in a much prettier version on PS4/5, Xbox One/Series or PC. PS2 graphics aged better than PS1 graphics, but they still aged badly without resolution boost by emulators/remasters.

I got this retail collection including 9 KH-games in 2019 for just €15, so less than $2 per game:

Also the $10 to $15 per used PS2 games will be for standard editions.

The standard editions on all game systems from the year 2000 and above are quite boring IMHO: a standardized cheap plastic case with the bare minimum of content.

For PS2 games:

• an Amaray case (same format as DVD movies)
• a paper cover around the Amaray case
• the DVD-disc
• a (in most cases generic) manual, which has to fit in the small space of the Amaray case
• in some cases 1-2 pages quickstart guide or ad for other games

I prefer one special/collector's edition (or a PC big box of the '80s and '90s) with interesting content over a dozen generic standard editions, when it comes to collecting retail games, but that's just me.

Well, collecting every game for the console honestly isn't, nor will it ever become a goal of mine. There's too much garbage to go through that you have to force yourself to collect. Games you don't like, and will never play. There are even games that may not even be bad perhaps, however, I just might not enjoy it personally.

I have most of the games I intend to get on Sega Genesis. But, when it comes to Playstation, the PS2 is actually the second-worst console for me. It's better than the PS1. But, I still like playing the PS1 sometimes for the SCEA opening. However, considering I can play my entire PS1 & PS2 collections on PS3 in HD without converters as well as it being a full media center, I end up using my PS3 most, even if I'm playing PS1 or PS2 games.

The only time I turn on my PS2 is to play Japanese PS1 imports. since they won't work on my PS3, sadly. The other two American model PS2 consoles I have are honestly never touched.

I do not yet have a PS5 but I have high hopes for it. But, as someone who owns every PS console, except PS5, PS4 and PS2 are pretty low on my list.

In case anyone's curious:

PS1,2,PSTV,PSP,4,(Pro),PSVita,PS3 - Is how I'd arrange them. The Japan-exclusive PSX is just another PS2, and I can't justify owning one, so I won't be getting it.

For someone who's collecting all the game, maybe the PS2 is the best.  However, you also have to consider how easy it is to collect those games and the average cost of those games.  The PS2 has about three times as many games as the Sega Genesis, and you have to factor that in too.

Well, I didn't want to make the thread title too long. Collecting and playing are not mutually exclusive things. I only collect games I intend to play, scrapping games that I think have aged poorly. Despite this, I'm at 81 Genesis games and counting and 55 PS2 games and counting. When my collection is complete (as in I have everything on my wishlist) my PS2 collection will end up at 86 games, and my Genesis collection will be at 133 games. 

But most of these games you (or your kids) can play in a much prettier version on a newer console system or on PC.

On a PC? Yes. On a newer console? Nope. 

The standard editions on all game systems from the year 2000 and above are quite boring IMHO: a standardized cheap plastic case with the bare minimum of content.

SegaCD/Saturn/Dreamcast/Genesis/PS1/PS2/GC/Xbox/DS all come with the game, a case, and a manual. NES/SNES/GBA don't. 

I get where you are coming from though. Lots of older PC games came with cool extra goodies. As far as modern game collecting goes, getting the version with all the extra goodies is a really good idea, because that's likely the version that will go up in price, and be hard to find later. Get those statues, art books, and coins while you can! What's more, is that those collector's editions of modern games often come with all the content of the game, plus the DLC plan to boot. 

I love my SNES, and am going to order a Super NT as soon as it's in stock, so I can play my SNES games in 1080p, and on a PVM with the best color output. SNES definitely has a lot of the Goat games like Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, FF6, LttP, and Super Mario World. It got great support from Capcom, Squaresoft, Capcom, Enix, and Konami. 

I agree that a lot of PS2 games are outdated. A lot of them were also just bad on release. I'd say that only around 10% of the PS2's library is worth considering playing today. Here's the thing though: Ten percent of 1850 North American PS2 games is still a lot of games. Personally, I'll be at 86 PS2 games once I find everything I want. That's just 4.6% of the total NA library. 

Gamecube, and Xbox both have a much smaller library than PS2, so the power difference is made up a lot by that. The OG Xbox is missing the majority of Japanese developed games, for the time. The vast majority of good GameCube games are also on PS2, and can be found for 1/5th the price of the GC version. The funny thing is that a lot of GC multiplatform games are just shoddy ports of the PS2 version with poor controls. Developers didn't know how to map for the weird GC controller, so a lot of games just have this weird control style on the GC. 

Also, PS2 was weak, for its generation, but it wasn't Wii to 360/PS3 weak. 

Finally, PS2 games look a lot better on a flatscreen CRT with Component cables. Don't let your memories of composite-cable quality 480p, on a cheap curved glass display, trick you into thinking PS2 games are ugly. 

Do you have a list of these PS2 games? Would be interesting.

They also look okay on a PS3 with HDMI cable. But they can look so much better in higher resolution (f. e. the PS2 HD games on PS4/PS5 in the PS Store or the PS3 HD collections of PS2 games).

Here's my collection. https://www.pricecharting.com/offers?seller=z7k4dvglkmyknuh74nsmqtjoeq&status=collection

And here's my wishlist: https://www.pricecharting.com/wishlist?user=z7k4dvglkmyknuh74nsmqtjoeq

Just scroll down to the PS2 section on each list, and you'll be able to see what 86 games I have in mind for my full collection. 

It would be interesting to see a list of PS2 games that are playable on PS3/PS4, cross-sectioned with my own list of 86 games.

I dream of Analogue releasing an FPGA based PS2 clone, one day so we can have completely 100% authentic PS2 games running at 1080p with no emulation. 

Edit: Actually, I'm going to pair that 86 game list down a bit. Just realized that there's about 10 games on that PS2 list that I can get on GoG. :)

It is definitely an S tier console for sure.