Ehhh. I mean. Ps2 came out in 2000 but most people didn’t jump in until 2001.
Also, while you could argue it came out “late” in its life, 1997 is prime ps2. FF7 came out in 97. The system didn’t get busy in a big way until specifically that year. Most people got PlayStations in 97 or 98. So it coming out in 97 is pretty impactful. Let’s not forget that back then, rumble was a huge, new, defining feature. Few people didn’t upgrade to at least one dual shock once it came out after the dual analog.
Finally, you are relying on Japanese release dates. I am not Japanese, I’m American. And the ps1 came out in September 95. So by our perspective, dual analog controller came out less than two years into its life. So uh, definitely not nostalgia. When you consider that its biggest games used analog, and sony based an entire, iconic game around the set up, that most of us were still using our systems and playing ps1 well into 2001 (Final Fantasy IX, Vagrant Story, and Chrono Cross all came out in 2000) it’s like the equivalent of a N64 mini not having 64 Ram upgrade games. The dual analog was an iconic, integral part of the system and to criticise Sony for not having it in a mini PlayStation isn’t nostalgia. Especially given the entire point of the mini system is...nostalgia.