I don't know how my PS2 controller never had stick drift once after being literally thrown across the room multiple times but my modern-day xbox controller, PS4 controller, and switch controller all break if you breathe in the same room as them
there's a specific reason for this:
every time you boot up the PS2, the controller auto-recalibrates its sticks. they DO have drift -- it's just that whenever you start playing again, the "at rest" position is automatically set to the current value and the drift is eliminated at the software level.
you lose like, 5/10% of sensitivity on the long run? but trust me when i say you are never ever going to notice the difference. if things go south and the drift gets noticeable (i have never in my life seen that happen, and i own a PS2 to this day, but if), you can manually recalibrate the whole system by just rotating the sticks as the console boots.
see the PS2 instruction manual (pictured above) for the exact motion if you want to be precise, but really, any motion will do. you're setting the new minimum and maximum values when you do that. it fixes itself as you use it.
that's it.
the DualShock 2 is a beast of a controller and possibly the best controller ever made, it's packed with features that are barely discussed and that we never saw again. this could theoretically be implemented in any controller though and it's an indictment of the current state of hardware: we had stick drift solved in the early 2000's, but that drastically reduces the number of new controllers you can sell.
Edit: as someone rightfully pointed out, the PS2 isn’t the only console that did this - and yes, the DualShock absolutely has issues with the stick getting sticky after some time. I still think analog face buttons were brilliant though but they were criminally underused and completely forgotten
The DualShock 2 sucked ass and other consoles and controllers did stick auto-calibration, this is not unique to it. They were built like shit, how they handled analog triggers made racing games feel awful, they're a pain in the ass to take apart, and the sticks got slimy so quickly that in all my years of doing video game collecting and console repair I've only seen a good quality controller once or twice.
Cramming analog inputs onto every button made each one feel mushy and unsatisfying to press for what ended up being a barely used gimmick, with shining examples of implementation being basically limited to however Kojima and his team utilized them. If you've ever had to get the thin flimsy analog contacts board lined up between the L2/R2 buttons and the plastic, you know exactly why I can speak only vitrol.
I genuinely cannot contain how much contempt I hold for the DS2. The PlayStation 2 has quite possibly one of the greatest game libraries in the history of consoles (with maybe the SNES being superior) and you're stuck with using that dogshit controller unless you want to emulate it. Which you will, because even through component cables the PS2's output looks like you smeared vasoline on it.
