Swap Magic For Slim
Play station 2
by: Jeromy
Recently my Japanese PS2 that I got way back at the
Japan launch died on me. Seeing as I need to have a
machine that plays Japanese PS2 games I went looking
around at prices for a new one and unfortunately
found the price tags to be in the $180 range. With
that in mind I set out to find a more cost effective
method of playing import games. I’ve always been
fond of tinkering with my consoles which is
evidenced by my blue see through modified Dreamcast
and the mod switch on the side of my Game cube, so I
looked around at the current PS2 mod options since I
already own a Slim US PS2.
I’m absolutely
terrible at soldering and I’m not a fan of
the PS2 modchip scene seeing as it’s rampant
with piracy so I didn’t want to install a
Modchips. After searching a bit I came
across the Swap Magic product. It looked
interesting but upon further inspection I
realized that it required opening up the
console to install. I looked a little
further and found a new version of the
product which required zero modification to
the console. This looked to be the solution
to my problems. Luckily I had the PS2
version it supported, the Slim PS2, so I
took the plunge and ordered it up from
ModChip.Com.
Then I got to
play the waiting game. I waited for weeks
for this thing to be delivered before I
finally gave up on it. I also tried many
times to find and e-mail the staff of this
website store but their support e-mail is so
well hidden, if existent, on their website
that I could never find it. So with one scam
under my belt I looked for a more reliable
store. I found that store at
modchipstore.com. It took less than three
days to arrive and the product was in
perfect condition. With the import enabler
in hand, I set out to play some Japanese PS2
games on my US Slim PS2.
The kit comes
with a CD, for CD based games, a DVD, for
DVD based games, and three small plastic
parts which are to be inserted into crevices
under the popup cover of the Slim PS2. There
were no instructions included in the package
so I headed over to the website in search of
directions but came up with only a dead
link. After about a half hour of searching
the web I finally found a PDF with
instructions that were very detailed and
contained great pictures of the installation
process. With instructions in hand, so to
speak, I give the installation a try.
The first
thing I had to do is install the three small
plastic pieces. The first plastic piece
required that it be pushed into a small
hole. My fingers alone didn’t do the job so
I had to grab a screw driver and shove it
into position. After quite a bit of
fiddling, it finally stayed in place. The
next piece had to be slid in between a latch
of some sort and was somewhat difficult to
make stay in place. The third piece slipped
into place easily. With all the plastic
pieces installed the physical work was done.
Unfortunately I dropped the PS2 after this
and all the pieces flew out. I tracked them
all down, reinstalled them, and was ready to
go once again.
When all the
plastic pieces are in place the next step is
to go ahead and boot up the swap CD or DVD.
The game I was testing with was a CD so I
popped in the swap CD and turned on the PS2.
With the plastic bits in place you don’t
have to keep the flip top closed, so I left
it open. A flash screen appears followed by
a second screen that allows you to adjust
the video mode. If you are using a US PS2
set the video mode to NTSC and not the
default “Normal” mode otherwise it won’t
boot the game you’re trying to play.
Playing
Next the swap
CD or DVD will stop spinning and you’re
ready to swap in your import PS2 game. With
the import game placed in the PS2 all you
have to do execute the load command from the
menu on screen and the game will start up
spinning and load. Once I had the game
loaded it played and looked perfect. Another
big plus is that you don’t have to buy
another memory card just for import games
due to the fact that you can save all
different regions of save games on one
memory card.
Swap Magic for
Slim PS2 has allowed me to play import PS2
games for a fraction of the price of a new
Japanese PS2 and I have to say it works
great. I have yet to come across a game that
doesn’t work using this product. That said,
it’s not something for the lazy out there as
it does require swapping discs every time
you want to play a game. So if you’re short
on cash and already have a USA or PAL Slim
PS2 then get this product but if not and you
have the cash go ahead and grab a Japanese
PS2. Pros
* Relatively Easy Install
* Low price
Cons
* Requires Some Effort
* Requires A Slim PS2
Overall Score
9.2
