PS2 Memory Cards

Mai-Kero

So, I'm thinking about getting a PS2 because I'm an idiot and missed out on the system with probably the biggest amount of good exclusives ever, and it's now $130 for a seemingly awesome redesign. However, the question now becomes how big of a memory card I need.

Ever since getting the original Xbox, I relished not having to buy this kind of module, and I was pleased when my Wii came with flash memory. I was displeased when I found out I still needed a gamecube card, though, and doublepluss displeased when I found out it was thirty fucking dollars for a reasonably sized one.

How big of a card am I going to need for my PS2?
http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=800953
Will an 8MB one for $25 suffice for dozens and dozens of games, or am I going to need to buy a truckload of these? Any idea how many games fit onto one memory card like this, on average? Also, will this work for PS1 games too, or do I need a separate card for those?

Oh, and as a side question, are there any cheap, reliable wireless controllers I should look out for?

Cript

I have 12 games for my PS2 and I am just now starting to fill up my 8mb card. And that is with like 40 FFX saves.

Kami

I would highly suggest the double-pack of official Sony memory cards for $39.99.

That will be more than enough memory for, I don't know, ever.

Metalfoot

Kami wrote:

I would highly suggest the double-pack of official Sony memory cards for $39.99.

That will be more than enough memory for, I don't know, ever.

Plus if you're a fan of samurai champloo you can pretend the blue one is Jin and the red one is mugen and carry them around always to hear their advice.

Target Practice

I've had the same 8MB card for as long as I've had my PS2, but I've also deleted quite a bit in that time.

I really should get some extras, but $25 for one or $40 for two... man...

Anyway, most games in my experience only take somewhere between 100 and 300K. Many are less. There are a couple, though, that are insanely memory-consuming. In particular, Beyond Good & Evil will go over 2MB (this is because it saves actual image files of all the photographs your character takes), and before I got a PC version of Max Payne 2, that was taking up over 1MB on my card.

Tiemler

Only use the Sony cards, period. I don't care if the Datel or Max ones are offered to you for free, don't use them. It took losing my RE4 saves to learn that lesson.

I've got two 8mb cards. One gets the saves from games I've beaten and have a bunch of unlocked stuff. The other gets the in-progress saves. And then I have a Max Drive with backups of all this stuff.

japan

Get one, and a Max Drive. I copy everything that isn't for a game I'm currently playing to the hard drive of my PC. That way it's always available and I never have to worry about memory card space.

Sir Red of the Manti

Or do what I did, throw a hard drive into an older model and use an exploit to load a memory management tool. Who needs a pile of 8 meg cards when you can get away with one and a few gigs of partitioned space? The setup was a bit time consuming, but the end result was worth it, as I can do a lot of other stuff with it (legal mind you, using it as a media player, FTP server, etc).

garathkane

I have 3 cards and its barely enough.. However, this is because of games like Madden, Champions of Norrath (and sequal), etc. All these games swallow 3-4mb per save.

If you avoid sports games you should be fine with 1 or 2.

apotheos

I have one. I actually filled it up the other day and deleted some ridiculously large eyeToy profiles.

Lunker

Tiemler wrote:

Only use the Sony cards, period. I don't care if the Datel or Max ones are offered to you for free, don't use them. It took losing my RE4 saves to learn that lesson.

Years ago, it took losing my maxed-out FF7, FFT and Xenogears savegames for me to learn that lesson.

Daedalus

Oh, and yeah, you'll need a PS1 memory card for PS1 games. My current one is a no-name card that I got for free and probably wasn't worth that much. However, you can (and I do) back up PS1 saves to a PS2 card. It's just that PS1 games can't load or save to a PS2 card directly.

gaming_librarian

Lunker wrote:

Tiemler wrote:

Only use the Sony cards, period. I don't care if the Datel or Max ones are offered to you for free, don't use them. It took losing my RE4 saves to learn that lesson.

Years ago, it took losing my maxed-out FF7, FFT and Xenogears savegames for me to learn that lesson.

I can't echo these comments enough. I had some crappy expansion memory card that I put my Sony card into, expanding my memory to 24 MB, and I thought I was set. I was wrong. Sure, it worked for awhile; long enough to lose most of my Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance II data, some NCAA Football dynasty saves, and all of my Maximo, Prince of Persia, etc., etc, etc. *Sigh*
The worst part is the way I found out, when I popped Xmen Legends in to finish the game, as we had made it all the way to basically the last couple of rooms, only to find that all of my data was gone. I have not recovered from this.

Mandres

Amazon has the Sony two pack (red and blue) for $28.95. Can't go wrong with that:

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Playstation-Memory-Card-Blue/dp/B00006F2EP/sr=8-1/qid=1169571968/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-1104203-0421459?ie=UTF8&s=videogames

LockeCole

It depends on the kind of games you like on how much space you need. GTA type games need like 1.5 megs each. Also depends on how agressive you are with backup saves and if you delete saves when you are done with a game. All that being said, just get the double pack of official save cards, and if you run out of space, get more official cards. I swear to god you WILL lose a save that is important to you if you don't.