PS2 PlayStation 2 games worth revisiting

Kannibal

Novice Adventurer
Writers Guild
Joined
Oct 4, 2024
Messages
66
Reaction score
68
Points
227
I'm about to order a Brook Wingman PS2, mainly so I can play several PS2 games that the PS2 Classics emulator for PS3 isn't compatible with. Another reason is that one of the games I never got to 100% is Beatdown: Fist of Vengeance, and it just doesn't feel right doing it on PCSX2 when I have a perfectly working PS2 hooked up. Sadly, most of my PlayStation controllers have started failing in some way or simply show too many signs of wear.

1728717131114.png


What are some PlayStation 2 games you guys think are worth revisiting?
 
Shadow of Memories (or called Shadow of Destiny) is a really solid time travelling mystery adventure game. Still holds up for its uniqueness and varied endings.

Under the Skin is a short little action game where you are an alien trying to annoy everyone. Its not very complicated and holds up solidly on par with many 3d indie games.

PS2 era Ratchet and Clank and Sly Cooper are definitely still worth playing today too. Really solid 3d platforming.

Shadow of Rome is another one worth giving a spin. The first half is a stealth/puzzle type thing and the second plays like a prototype for Dead Rising in a Roman coliseum.
 
There's so many but I give you a few
-Metal Gear Solid series, stealth and tactical espionage action by none other than Hideo Kojima

-God of War series, hack and slash and Santa Monica's magnum opus

-Ratchet and Clank/Sly Cooper series as mentioned above, great platformers ( Ratchet and Clank is quite a shooter too, ahead of it's time)

-Grand Theft Auto series, a revolutionary start for Rockstar, some missions aren't as enjoyable though, but it is worth visiting

-Spider-Man series, 2 and Ultimate is one of the best superhero games, so many changes made to make the web slinging actually fun
 
I'm about to order a Brook Wingman PS2, mainly so I can play several PS2 games that the PS2 Classics emulator for PS3 isn't compatible with. Another reason is that one of the games I never got to 100% is Beatdown: Fist of Vengeance, and it just doesn't feel right doing it on PCSX2 when I have a perfectly working PS2 hooked up. Sadly, most of my PlayStation controllers have started failing in some way or simply show too many signs of wear.

View attachment 1120

What are some PlayStation 2 games you guys think are worth revisiting?

The Playstation 2 is the greatest console on earth, name a genre and you shall receive, in the meantime

  • Silent hill 2 3 and 4 (1 too)
  • Siren 1&2
  • Haunting Ground
  • Clock Tower 3
  • Every Project Zero Game
  • Shadow Hearts
  • Downhill Dominartion
  • Kingdom Hearts Final mix 1&2
  • Metal Gear Solid 1 and 3 (and 1)
  • Black
  • Jack and Daxter
  • Viewtiful Joe
  • Okami
  • God Hand
  • The Warrios
  • Scarface
  • The Godfather
  • Urban Reign
  • Dynamite Dekka
  • Panzer Dragoon
  • Outrun 2 SP
  • Burnout 3
  • Midnight CLub
  • Gradius 5
  • Radirgy Precious
  • Klonoa 2 (and 1)
  • Dodonpachi-dai-ou-Jou
  • The Suffering
  • Manhunt 1&2
  • Devil May Cry 1&3
  • Yakuza 1&2
  • Pac man world 2
  • Puyo Puyo Fever 1&2
  • Bujingai
  • NamcoxCapcom
  • Soulcalibur 2&3
  • King of Fighters 98
  • Matrimelee
  • Resident Evil Code Ceronica X
  • Ico
  • Shadow of the Colossus
  • Galaxy Force 2
  • Last Bronx
  • Roadkill
  • SSX3
  • Chulip
  • Katamari Damacy & We Love Katamari
  • Dead to Rights
  • The Punisher
  • Spiderman 2
  • Hulk Ultimate Destruction
  • Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Wererabit
  • Skygunners
  • Metal Max
  • Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks

I have much much more
 
Shadow of Memories (or called Shadow of Destiny) is a really solid time travelling mystery adventure game. Still holds up for its uniqueness and varied endings.

Under the Skin is a short little action game where you are an alien trying to annoy everyone. Its not very complicated and holds up solidly on par with many 3d indie games.

PS2 era Ratchet and Clank and Sly Cooper are definitely still worth playing today too. Really solid 3d platforming.

Shadow of Rome is another one worth giving a spin. The first half is a stealth/puzzle type thing and the second plays like a prototype for Dead Rising in a Roman coliseum.
I've never heard of Shadow of Memories or Under the Skin. Shadow of Rome definitely looks right up my alley, but I'll give Under the Skin a try as well.

There's so many but I give you a few
-Metal Gear Solid series, stealth and tactical espionage action by none other than Hideo Kojima

-God of War series, hack and slash and Santa Monica's magnum opus

-Ratchet and Clank/Sly Cooper series as mentioned above, great platformers ( Ratchet and Clank is quite a shooter too, ahead of it's time)

-Grand Theft Auto series, a revolutionary start for Rockstar, some missions aren't as enjoyable though, but it is worth visiting

-Spider-Man series, 2 and Ultimate is one of the best superhero games, so many changes made to make the web slinging actually fun
The only game I've never played is God of War, I'm not sure what keeps me from finishing it but it couldn't hurt to give it another chance this time around. I've played the others ones though.

The Playstation 2 is the greatest console on earth, name a genre and you shall receive, in the meantime

  • Silent hill 2 3 and 4 (1 too)
  • Siren 1&2
  • Haunting Ground
  • Clock Tower 3
  • Every Project Zero Game
  • Shadow Hearts
  • Downhill Dominartion
  • Kingdom Hearts Final mix 1&2
  • Metal Gear Solid 1 and 3 (and 1)
  • Black
  • Jack and Daxter
  • Viewtiful Joe
  • Okami
  • God Hand
  • The Warrios
  • Scarface
  • The Godfather
  • Urban Reign
  • Dynamite Dekka
  • Panzer Dragoon
  • Outrun 2 SP
  • Burnout 3
  • Midnight CLub
  • Gradius 5
  • Radirgy Precious
  • Klonoa 2 (and 1)
  • Dodonpachi-dai-ou-Jou
  • The Suffering
  • Manhunt 1&2
  • Devil May Cry 1&3
  • Yakuza 1&2
  • Pac man world 2
  • Puyo Puyo Fever 1&2
  • Bujingai
  • NamcoxCapcom
  • Soulcalibur 2&3
  • King of Fighters 98
  • Matrimelee
  • Resident Evil Code Ceronica X
  • Ico
  • Shadow of the Colossus
  • Galaxy Force 2
  • Last Bronx
  • Roadkill
  • SSX3
  • Chulip
  • Katamari Damacy & We Love Katamari
  • Dead to Rights
  • The Punisher
  • Spiderman 2
  • Hulk Ultimate Destruction
  • Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Wererabit
  • Skygunners
  • Metal Max
  • Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks

I have much much more
I absolutely love brawlers like Beatdown, Final Fight, Urban Reigh, Def Jam FFNY. I wouldn't mind learning about any niche fighting games that are so deep under the radar like the Simple 2000 All Star Fighting Festival. Not much of a racing guy but I love Ridge Racer V and OutRun Coast to Coast.
 
PA.02282.001.jpg

Space Fishermen is precisely what it sounds like, it's extremely unique both on its presentation and gameplay loop, there's not a huge deal of Japanese knowledge required either but it would help. Honestly worth a shot because of its sheer oddity status alone. Well, revisiting does imply having played it before but I just had to mention it, hehe.





Tokobot Plus is worth revisiting, if you ever played the PSP release this is
71zttfsze5L.jpg
essentially the same game with additional content. It's a puzzle-oriented 3D platformer where you command a bunch of tiny robots to get you through different hazards and obstacles, kind of like Pikmin but not really. Definitely worth a try. It was quite the late PS2 release as well.
 
I've never heard of Shadow of Memories
Shadow of Memories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I played only the PSP version but it's the same thing except for lighting effects and dub. Funniest shit.

I know it's a port from a PS2 game, but you can't let it pass. A guy is killed and receive powers from the beyond to go back in time and avoid his death, then he's killed again... and again.... and again.... its a full game of you going back to prevent the new ways your killer tries to kill you, and its amazing how this scalates through many stupid situations. The text is gold, the acting is gold, the animations are gold and the music tries to be tense but that flute from 00:39 onwards always makes me laugh.
1728751919520.png
 
I've never heard of Shadow of Memories or Under the Skin. Shadow of Rome definitely looks right up my alley, but I'll give Under the Skin a try as well.


The only game I've never played is God of War, I'm not sure what keeps me from finishing it but it couldn't hurt to give it another chance this time around. I've played the others ones though.


I absolutely love brawlers like Beatdown, Final Fight, Urban Reigh, Def Jam FFNY. I wouldn't mind learning about any niche fighting games that are so deep under the radar like the Simple 2000 All Star Fighting Festival. Not much of a racing guy but I love Ridge Racer V and OutRun Coast to Coast.
Then you owe it to yourself to play God Hand; the director made it because he was a fan of final fkight but the one on ps2 was shit so he made his own. It plays like a single player focused evolution of the beat em up, very different from combo action games like devil may cry

The warriors is very fun too especially if you like the movie, theres also the x men legends games, marvel ultimate alliance and crimson tears if you like em mixed with rpg stuff, once again shaolin monks is great and co op, shrek 2 is a also a fun beat up to play with friends

As for fighters I think all virtua fighters but 3 are on ps2, Rumble Fish is another great one so is last bronx, and all the tekkens especially 5, also the snk vs capcom games and all the king of fightera and if you like the show the Hokuto No Ken Game

I forogt to recommend Kingdom Hearts chains of memories



As for arcade racres there's also a port of virtua racer, crazy taxi, theres smuggler's run, the sega ferrari game, the king of route 66, 18 wheeler, sega rally and sega rally 95 and 2006. the wipeout games, the need for speed games, the choro q games, flatout..
 
Super surface level answer, but GTA Vice City. It's clearly not a hidden gem for the system or anything, but it gets so slept on in modern times in favor of San Andreas.

The PS2 port of The Sims. It's more limited than even the original PC version was at launch, but it's a fun, kind of quirky version of the game. It was out about a year and a half before the PC release of The Sims 2, and in some ways it feels like The Sims 2 skinned as the original game and played with a controller.

The PS2 version of Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2, a fantastic game in addition to being a bit of a technological marvel.
 
Then you owe it to yourself to play God Hand; the director made it because he was a fan of final fkight but the one on ps2 was shit so he made his own. It plays like a single player focused evolution of the beat em up, very different from combo action games like devil may cry

The warriors is very fun too especially if you like the movie, theres also the x men legends games, marvel ultimate alliance and crimson tears if you like em mixed with rpg stuff, once again shaolin monks is great and co op, shrek 2 is a also a fun beat up to play with friends

As for fighters I think all virtua fighters but 3 are on ps2, Rumble Fish is another great one so is last bronx, and all the tekkens especially 5, also the snk vs capcom games and all the king of fightera and if you like the show the Hokuto No Ken Game

I forogt to recommend Kingdom Hearts chains of memories



As for arcade racres there's also a port of virtua racer, crazy taxi, theres smuggler's run, the sega ferrari game, the king of route 66, 18 wheeler, sega rally and sega rally 95 and 2006. the wipeout games, the need for speed games, the choro q games, flatout..
Smuggler's Run is criminally overlooked.
 
Smuggler's Run is criminally overlooked.
It happens to have a good gba version too! One of those 3d gba games

However downhill domination is the one thats criminally underrated to me, just the character select screen has s much mork put into it where it couldve been a simple "move the cursor to the portraiy), the tracks morphing as you go through it as fantastic as well, big enviroment variety too
 
King's Field IV for that sweet sweet dungeon crawling . Megaman X8 is worth checking out and there's this motocross game called freektstyle that i liked quite a lot but the races start to drag out towards the end and you have to repeat each 3 times to advance to the next level but even so, is worth checking out.
 
Then you owe it to yourself to play God Hand; the director made it because he was a fan of final fkight but the one on ps2 was shit so he made his own. It plays like a single player focused evolution of the beat em up, very different from combo action games like devil may cry

The warriors is very fun too especially if you like the movie, theres also the x men legends games, marvel ultimate alliance and crimson tears if you like em mixed with rpg stuff, once again shaolin monks is great and co op, shrek 2 is a also a fun beat up to play with friends

As for fighters I think all virtua fighters but 3 are on ps2, Rumble Fish is another great one so is last bronx, and all the tekkens especially 5, also the snk vs capcom games and all the king of fightera and if you like the show the Hokuto No Ken Game

I forogt to recommend Kingdom Hearts chains of memories



As for arcade racres there's also a port of virtua racer, crazy taxi, theres smuggler's run, the sega ferrari game, the king of route 66, 18 wheeler, sega rally and sega rally 95 and 2006. the wipeout games, the need for speed games, the choro q games, flatout..
Those are all great choices! God Hand is a great game, I did not know that it was made in spite of another game though lol. The Warriors is one of my all-time favorite games. I got Shaolin Monks when it came out and I was sad that it was a very short game. I'll check out Shrek 2, I always avoided these kind of movie games.

I am definitely set for fighters! I guess Rumble Fish is one I've only messed around with when going through Atomiswave games on DEMUL.

That's a great selection of racing games. Now that is actually a genre I know nothing about.

Also, I went directly to the store to pick up my Wingman PS2. Couldn't wait for shipping lol
65tvGEc.jpeg
 
It happens to have a good gba version too! One of those 3d gba games
I wasn't even aware of a GBA port, I do recall Max Payne having a really decent GBA one though.
However downhill domination is the one thats criminally underrated to me, just the character select screen has s much mork put into it where it couldve been a simple "move the cursor to the portraiy), the tracks morphing as you go through it as fantastic as well, big enviroment variety too

Downhill Domination is a game I definitely ignored back then as well, had no idea that tracks even morphed as you went through them, that's something many games are only now beginning to do like DiRT Rally 2.0
 
So, as the modern game-space devolves into profit-chasing, micro-transaction-laden, sequel-spamming corporate nonsense I've been putting more-and-more distance between it and myself (Sans Nintendo, for whatever reason).

Came to the realization that there was still SO MANY games for the PS2 I still hadn't played and have been making brilliant discoveries for the past year or so. They are as follows:
  • Onimusha Warlords
  • Genji: Dawn of the Samurai
  • Ape Escape 2
  • Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix
  • Darkwatch
  • Shadow Hearts
If you haven't tried em' yet, do it! 🤘

It also goes without saying that the Ratchet & Clank series is the best thing to happen to platforming... period.
 
So, as the modern game-space devolves into profit-chasing, micro-transaction-laden, sequel-spamming corporate nonsense I've been putting more-and-more distance between it and myself (Sans Nintendo, for whatever reason).

Came to the realization that there was still SO MANY games for the PS2 I still hadn't played and have been making brilliant discoveries for the past year or so. They are as follows:
  • Onimusha Warlords
  • Genji: Dawn of the Samurai
  • Ape Escape 2
  • Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix
  • Darkwatch
  • Shadow Hearts
If you haven't tried em' yet, do it! 🤘

It also goes without saying that the Ratchet & Clank series is the best thing to happen to platforming... period.

Fuck yeah Shadow Hearts

 
For any fans of action RPGs, I gotta recommend Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath. Both great titles that hold up really well. Champions even has four player local couch co-op.

And for light gun fans, Time Crisis II is awesome.
 
Those are all great choices! God Hand is a great game, I did not know that it was made in spite of another game though lol. The Warriors is one of my all-time favorite games. I got Shaolin Monks when it came out and I was sad that it was a very short game. I'll check out Shrek 2, I always avoided these kind of movie games.

I am definitely set for fighters! I guess Rumble Fish is one I've only messed around with when going through Atomiswave games on DEMUL.

That's a great selection of racing games. Now that is actually a genre I know nothing about.

Also, I went directly to the store to pick up my Wingman PS2. Couldn't wait for shipping lol
65tvGEc.jpeg
My childhood friend had Shrek 2 and then I got a bootleg disc for myself; suprisingly good co op game

4 player, lost of locations, characters not seen in the movie like red riding hood, side quests, multiple game play styles... If you like the x men legends games this is kind of a simplified more laid back version of that recreates the enviroments of the movie well

That game is also the reason Shrek is an unlockable character in Tony Hawk Underground 2 as they were both published by Activision

It's also uncanny going from the bizzarely bad shrek 1 game to this, I wonder whats the story behind that 1st game

For any fans of action RPGs, I gotta recommend Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath. Both great titles that hold up really well. Champions even has four player local couch co-op.

And for light gun fans, Time Crisis II is awesome.

Let's not forget the X men Legends and Marvel Ultimate Alliance games! If you're a comic book geek it's got a lot of deep cut characters

I can't think of another game that's got Sugarman
1728886120820.png
 
Dark Cloud. Yeah the dungeons have a zillion floors, but it's random and you can build towns with stuff you find in them. The weapons breaking is a little annoying but you can upgrade them to make them stronger in attack power, add different elements, and make them more durable. You also have to survive with a thirst meter and a hunger meter. It's not anywhere near as unforgiving as other dungeon crawlers though. The music is really dang good too!
 

Connect with us

Latest Threads

Your Fanarts

Well, recently i went nuts researching about the world of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus to...
Read more

Hi

Checking out the forums, what's up
Read more

HELLO :D

o/

im new here :D
uhhh diggin the new forum'
i used to hang out on the isozones forums all...
Read more

MegaDrive RPG Favorites

I know that SNES is known for having the lion's share of classic RPG titles, but I think the MD...
Read more

Anyone here play deadlock?

I really want to find a group of people to play this MOBA with, if you want an invite too...
Read more

Online statistics

Members online
2
Guests online
13
Total visitors
15

Forum statistics

Threads
407
Messages
3,503
Members
687
Latest member
SteveCast

Members online

Back
Top