Hidden Gems!

I've been having a bit of a ride with the PS2 lately and I got some picks:

1) Bouken Jidai Katsugeki Goemon/Mystical Ninja Goemon Zero: This game would have hit me like Okami and Persona 4 did if it came out when it did. The basic melee is too narrow to confidently mitigate hits, the shop menus do not tell you enough, and there are several points where the game lets you get lost because it neglects to signpost itself, but I'm really enjoying the game.

2) ATV Offroad Fury 4: somehow the game I played for two hours just to watch the ragdolls fly had a sequel that is currently one of the best looking games I've laid my eyes on this year, and it's a late PS2 title.

3) Samurai Western: Really simple and mashy, but it's very satisfying to dodge perfect, hear the whistle and see "Hot Dang!" on the screen followed by several counter-hits and an outlaw violently bleeding out. Also I can put a cowboy hat on the main character and adjust it to my tastes: 10/10.

4) Nanobreaker: So I heard this game was hard, thought it was being oversold, then I got to the hallway with a dozen of the laser dudes and the game looking at me like I had a manual to read from this ebay seller. After figuring out that I can reflect lasers, the game started sucking me in and appealing to the former Splatoon player in me.

5) Ougon Kishi GARO/Golden Knight GARO: Again: very simply PS2 action game made for Tokusatsu fans that own a sword. Normally I don't play import games because I need to know what's being said to satisfy the demon in my brain, but it's just a game based around the TV series of the same name. If you want an idea of how it plays, it's like a Wuxia scene where they leap in the air, clash, and while frozen in the air swing at eachother or airdash around with their own qi: that's how GARO's combat feels in-game.
 
Tetris Plus. A cute little version of Tetris, with a fun little soundtrack and a few modes.
Normal Mode is your standard Tetris affair, and Puzzle Mode, which is my favorite, a mission mode where you clear puzzle layouts within a limited time
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running high. its JP only, but the menu's are mostly in english if not really easy to navigate if you can't read japanese. its a on foot racing game with 3 tracks. its pretty cool.
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vampire hunter D. based on an anime of the same name. its a more actiony melee focused resident evil clone. its a bit tricky to get used to the controls, but its really cool. i need to go back and finish this one some time.

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Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses. its like the trading card game, except but on a chess like board. each player has "deck leader" who is basically their king if you compare it to chess. each space has a terrain. each terrain either strengthens or weakness a monster based on the monster's race and element. there's some other rule differences and cards don't exactly do the same thing as the original card game.
its also really tough and can get grindy depending on your starting deck. you get to name yourself at the start and the 3 available decks to choose from depends on you chosen name. if you want to make it easier on yourself, type in "ace" as your name. it gives you the zombie deck "patrician of darkness." zombie decks are really strong thanks to pumpking.
 
The fact that you can buy toys and play them on Brave Fencer Musashi is the sickest thing ever as a kid

Also Chaos Break is pretty cool like RE clone but arcadey and feels like Megaman Legends with how the gun bullets looked like
 
Tetris Plus. A cute little version of Tetris, with a fun little soundtrack and a few modes.
Normal Mode is your standard Tetris affair, and Puzzle Mode, which is my favorite, a mission mode where you clear puzzle layouts within a limited time
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i bought this in a Goodwill and opened the CD case, it had Frogger inside. lol
 
Fun fact!
Most of SEGA’s library exists on the PS2 thanks to the SEGA Ages 2500 line! They’re JP exclusive for the most part, but it’s crazy how many games got ported to the PlayStation 2. Not all games are their best versions, even ones that have more content (I’m not a fan of the NiGHTS version that came out on PS2 and then got ported to PC), but again there’s SO MANY.
 
Everblue 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, I wish it got more attention. I did a forum search and got 5 hits lol. It's a Capcom scuba diving game made by the studio Arika formed by one of the co-creators of Street Fighter II. The series continued (spirtually succeeded) on Wii as Endless Ocean, but those games didn't hit as hard for me.

I think those are the only original games Arika made, they mostly do spinoffs for bigger franchises.

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Gregory Horror Show is pretty good, when I played it I was surprised by its gameplay cause feels fresh even more nowadays
On top of that is quite charismatic
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This has been installed on my PS2 hard drive for ages but I've not got around to trying it out yet.
 
Don't know if they'd be considered hidden gems, but since their patches were released somewhat recently:
  • Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity: if you're on that Diablo grinding mood, this game is incredible. One of those "turn your brain off and relax" kind of games. Lots of weapons, incredible mmo-like customization and loads of missions. The story is... surprisingly decent too!
  • Fate/Extra CCC: Extra is translated and it's... fine. An interesting translation of the Fate/Stay Night premise to gameplay, with lots of caveats. CCC flips the table, and while the gameplay is somewhat similar (that atrocious combat hasn't changed much), the story is way more engaging and the characters are much more interesting. Do be warned that it's a fairly NSFW game, especially compared with the previous entry, but while I'm usually very annoyed with fanservice in general for some reason I just find it endearing here. The patch is downright incredible too.
 
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Road Trip Adventure aka Road Trip in the US. I'm not sure the title sold too many people on the game. It has nothing to do with the 2000 comedy movie and is part of the Choro Q series which I know barely anything about other than that it exists.

It's an open world adventure/racing game hybrid. The racing is a fairly small part of the game, and you'll mostly be driving around the world doing random quests and exploring. It's really neat and worth at least trying.
 

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