The PlayStation 2’s CPU was so powerful that it aroused military interest

The curious revelation came from an interview in Famitsu magazine with video game developer Kazuhiko Aoki, a legendary figure at Squaresoft with his name in the credits in classics such as “Chrono Trigger”, “Chocobo Mystery Dungeon”, “Dragon Quest

Released in 2000, “Final Fantasy IX” had the peculiarity that it was developed at the same time in Hawaii and Japan, which led to the curious story.

“Towards the end of my time in Hawaii, there was talk of sending me some kind of PS2 test kit so I could see if FF9 would work on the PS2,” Aoki recalled. “But at the time, the PS2’s CPU was so powerful that there was a chance it could be used for military purposes, so exports were restricted.”.

Aoki does not give details of what use the army planned to give to the consoles’ CPUs, but notes that “it was a very difficult situation” and his test equipment “took a long time to arrive.”

Curiously, this would not be the last time that the components of Sony consoles were used for more than playing video games and it is known that the United States Air Force built a powerful supercomputer, called Condor Cluster, from 1,760 PlayStation 3 consoles, taking advantage of the power of the device, its use of Linux and its relative low price of US$400 per unit.

In any case, the anecdote allows us to imagine a world where the PlayStation 2 could have been restricted in some way or in which it would have had to use other components. Could under these circumstances become the best-selling console of all time, with more than 160 million units shipped? Would Sony be the titan in the video game industry that it is now without the triumph of the PS2? The truth is that living in a world where ‘classics’ like “Frogger: The Great Quest”, “Catwoman”, “Charlie’s Angels” may not exist is not something I want to do.