I recently began replaying Metal Gear Solid 2 on the PS2 using my Sony PVM 2030 RGB monitor.  I was about four hours in, and the game kept crashing right after a cutscene (fortunately, I had saved very recently).  I tried several times and it was always a crash.  I looked at the bottom of my disc, and there is a light scratch which is probably what is causing the crash.

I was bummed.  This was not just the vanilla MGS2 release, but a later, enhanced release subtitled "MGS2: Substance."

Here are the versions of MGS2 I own:

  1. original ps2 release
  2. "greatest hits" ps2 release
  3. MGS2: Substance for Xbox (original)
  4. MGS2: Substance for PS2 (my scratched disc)
  5. MGS HD Collection for PS3 (includes mgs2/3/peace walker)
  6. MGS HD Collection for PS Vita (includes mgs2/3)
  7. MGS Essentials Collection for PS3 (includes mgs1/2/3/4/peace walker)

The only versions I don't own are any Japanese releases, and the Xbox 360 version of MGS HD Collection.  I also don't yet own the MGS2 demo that came with Kojima's Zone of the Enders for PS2.

So I was bummed that the ONE version I want to play has a scratch on the disc!  I was about to order another copy of MGS2: Substance for PS2 on eBay (which would be like $20 - 30), when I thought that I should check my box of HIDEO KOJIMA games just to be sure.

Sure enough, I had yet another copy of MGS2:Substance for PS2 (which was from the PS2 MGS Essentials Collection).  I tried it this morning and it works just fine!  :)