Welcome to my first article for the Playstation Collecting Weblog. Today I will be talking about something your average gamer probably never really thinks about. Cases. Specifically Playstation 2 cases. Sure it’s probably boring for most, but for the hardcore collector it may be interesting. Please also note that this was written by a PAL collector, so information here may be inaccurate for those in NTSC-land.

All PS2 cases are made by the European company Amaray. They had a deal with Sony in 1995 to produce the ‘CD Safe’ for the Playstation, so it comes as no surprise Sony continued to use them for PS2 cases. They also make regular DVD cases. Amaray made three main case types for PS2.

“TYPE A Black” (Pictured: Fantavision, SCES-50002)

Here is the original case used in PS2 launch titles and was unchanged until about 2002. Most people call these black, however they are actually a very dark navy blue. It has the memory card holder above the disc and 3 clips to hold the disc in place. The plastic on these cases is nice and thick.

“TYPE A Blue” (Pictured: Virtua Fighter Evolution, SLES-51616)

So some time passed. DVD sales climbed steadily and Microsoft released the rivalling Xbox. This is when Sony decided to change the colour of all their cases to the now classic blue. I suspect that this was so they could more easily stand out against the DVD video (black) and Xbox (green) titles. Otherwise exactly the same as the original launch cases in design. This is the most common case Sony used.

“TYPE B” (Pictured: Mortal Kombat Deception, SLES-52705)

Then at some stage a new sort of case came out. The memory card holder was removed, probably as a cost cutting measure. In its place is just the stylized “P” Playstation logo. These cases only have two clips holding the disc and the part where you put your fingers to pry the case open has also been changed. It also has two small lots of prongs down the inside of the spine. I suspect this is so a holder for a second disc to be slotted in. Either that or something to do with holding the manual in place.

“TYPE C” (Pictured: Yakuza 2, SLES-55242)

By 2007 or so, even with the PS3 released, the PS2 was going strong. It was around this time that Sony started releasing games with yet another design. This final design somehow uses even less plastic than the previous design and feels extremely flimsy. The disc is held in place by an unusual 4 clip design that looks like arrows pointing towards the centre. Has a tiny plastic ridge inside the spine. Be careful not to put anything to heavy on top of these ones!

“TYPE D?” (Pictured: Ty The Tasmanian Tiger 3, SLES-53636)

So that about wraps it up? Not quite. There is one more variant I have come across. This horrible looking thing is a bit of a mystery to me. Its like the normal two clip design, and very flimsy. But instead of the matte look all the other PS2 cases have this one is shiny! I have only ever come across one case like this myself, on a game I bought used. I presumed it was just a blue DVD case someone had swapped out because it doesn’t even have the “P” logo inside. But then I looked at the back and it has the Official Sony hologram on it. Factory seconds perhaps?

Sony’s platinum re-releases of top selling games come in silver (well platinum) coloured cases. Depending on the age of the game the case can be either type A or B. I have not seen a type C platinum case, but I do not have enough platinum games to verify this properly. In addition to the standard blue and black cases there are specific games which came in unusually coloured cases. This is not a complete list but just one example for each colour. Careful with these cases, replacements can be hard to find!

- Frosted Clear: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (limited 2 disc version), SLES-50383
- White: Gran Turismo 4, SCES-51719
- Real Black (different to launch cases): Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, SLES-52541
- Red: Buzz, The Big Quiz (bundled version), SCES-53879
- Fluorescent Orange: EyeToy Play 3, SCES-53315

Well I think that about covers about everything except the collectors tins and special editions, which are outside the scope of this particular article. I hope you will think twice now before swapping that damaged case for the first one you see! This was written from alot of original research and the thread on the Playstation Collecting forums. Therefore I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If you have any corrections, additions, comments or suggestions please post them on the forum or in the blog comments.