Sony Revealed A PlayStation Trick From 20 Years Ago

The console that brought us such stone cold classics as Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Devil May Cry, the original Kingdom Hearts, and plenty of other gems has passed an incredible milestone. This month marks twenty years since the PlayStation 2 was released in stores. This is a great time to look back on the PS2 and remember all of the fun little innovations it made in gaming. In fact, as part of the anniversary celebration, Sony took to Twitter to show off a secret feature of the classic console that many fans may not have been aware of.

The front of the disc drive had a small version of the PlayStation 2 logo attached to it. What most people may not know is that the logo could be turned on its side, displaying the logo horizontally or vertically. This was done because players had the option of laying the console itself down horizontally or standing it vertically on its side. By making the logo adjustable, the PlayStation brand was always right side up for players who chose to stand their consoles on end.

To illustrate this, the official PlayStation Twitter account tweeted a gif of someone doing just that. This was accompanied by the caption, "Did you know you could turn the PlayStation logo on the PS2?"

As it turns out, the answer for several fans was a resounding and shocked "no." In the comments on the original tweet from PlayStation, many players expressed disbelief at the discovery. Even some hardcore PlayStation fans had no idea that the logo did this, but were delighted by the post. A few fans mentioned that they had only found out that the logo did this by accident. At least one fan expressed that they always thought the logo on their own console was broken loose in some way. Another posted a video of themselves trying out the logo turn, chuckling in delight when it actually worked.

For one fan, this post reminded them of a specific memory from when they first got their PlayStation 2 years ago. "That was the entire reason my mom let me open my ps2 early was because I noticed the logo was in two different positions in promo photos," they tweeted. "I had to see how it worked!"

Other fans took this as an opportunity to needle Sony about future projects. One fan mentioned that Sony should make a PlayStation 2 Classic mini console in the vein of the PlayStation Classic and the Sega Genesis Mini. While there certainly seems to be a bit of fan interest thanks to the big anniversary, it's unlikely that Sony would be keen on investing time and money into making a new "Classic" console. 

The PlayStation Classic was a total bomb, due to a number of negative factors including a poor user interface, audio issues, and a lack of major marquee titles. It has been suggested that licensing issues kept that retro console from featuring such beloved series as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon from being featured. Sony would have to pull out all the stops to get fans invested in coming back a second round of retro games, particularly when so many of their favorite titles are already available through PS Now.

Some fans took this as an opportunity to needle Sony about the lack of a proper PlayStation 5 update. After all, the PlayStation 5 is still supposedly coming later in the year, but we still have no information on a release date or price point for the next gen console. There's some speculation that the system may be in trouble. The parts being used to make the console are scarcer than they have been for previous console generation and there are fears that the current coronavirus outbreak could negatively impact the manufacturing of the console overseas.

It has been theorized by a few fans on Twitter that Sony may be sharing this neat little trick as a sly form of marketing for the PlayStation 5. As tweeted by streamer and video game journalist Jeff Grubb, "We just want to know if we can do that on the PS5 as well." 

The reasoning here seems to be that that perhaps the company will go for the nostalgia factor and include this rotating logo on the new console. However, it's much more likely that this post from PlayStation is simply what it appears to be on the surface: a fun reminder of the company's ingenuity and a celebration of its history.