PS2 PS2 Hidden Gems

[Geistmensch]

R:Racing Evolution
Enthusia Professional Racing
Tourist Trophy

 

[zilbert25]

The Bouncer and Urban Reign are great games that deserve more attention.
The Suffering is also a good one to play through. Twisted and shit but good story and gameplay.
Shadow of Rome, cant go wrong either.
PS2 has too many man, absolutely insane amount of good games, including 100s of hidden gems.

 

[Gym Ghingham]

I will just add some from my list despite it might have some more known games

Steambot Chronicles
Shadow Heart
Soul Nomad And World Eater
Okage Shadow King
Forbidden Siren
Tear Ring Saga
Shinobido
Odin Sphere
Valkyrie Profile 2
Suikoden 5
Rogue Galaxy
Front Mission 5
Armored Core 3
God Hand
Way Of Samurai 2
The Red Star
Robotic Alchemic Drive R.A.D(aka The Big 0 with tragic comedy moment,not tragic but the execution is funny)
Shadow Of Collossus
Dark Cloud 1 and 2
Ring Of Red
Romancing Saga Minstrel Song
Tales Of The Abyss
Rule of Roses
Gregory Horror Show
Urban Reign
Shadow Tower Abyss
Wizardry Forsaken Land
Eternal Ring
Mystic Heroes
Legend Of Sayuki
Tenchu Wrath Of Heaven
Nightshade/Kunoichi
Eternal Poison
Haunting Ground
The Bouncer
Fatal Frame 1 2 3
Final Fight Streetwise
Skygunner
Crimson Sea 2
Dawn Of Mana
Dragon Quest 8
Dragon Quest 5 Heavenly Bride
Monster Rancher 4
Vampire Panic
Shadow Of Destiny/Memories
ICO
Chaos Legion
Ar Tonelico 1 2
Ace Combat 5

 

[ThirdEidolon]

What are some of your favorite PS2 Hidden Gems? I am looking for some obscure PS2 games to play this Xmas.

Magna Karta

My submission would be World Destruction on DS.

Post automatically merged: May 11, 2025

Is Rogue Galaxy similar to a space opera? Because if it is, I wanna play it.

Think Cowboy bebop meets skies of arcadia

Post automatically merged: May 11, 2025

Haunting Ground for the PS2 deserves more love honestly. It is just a shame that it had to be overshadowed by Silent Hill 3 and Resident Hill 4.

It doesn't help that it got scalped to hell, like Rule of Rose.

Post automatically merged: May 11, 2025

Was this part of the Dino Crisis series?

It absolutely was, and finishes the story, but we don't talk about it.
We just don't. But yes it explains what happened to Dylan's daughter.

 

[TinRattler]

Brave the search for spirit dancer
The getaway
Street boyz

 

[tigg]

Okage
nice little RPG thats commonly overlooked

 

[timehack]

.hack//Series

 

[popckorn]

Damn... I truly have ignored the PS2 too long...
I could not emulate it very good with Ryzen 3200u Laptop, so I skipped it a lot.
But man, there are a treasure trove of recommendations in this thread.
Good thread!

 

[solidbatman]

graffiti kingdom is a good one. spiritual sequel to the very mediocre magic pengel. Both games allow you to draw your own lil fellas to fight with. Bit clunky but kind of works. a very blemished gem a gem nonetheless.

 

[BigNerdSam]

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.

 

[Segadude113]

Aqua Aqua is a 3D Tetris clone that uses land to surround pools of water to keep it from overflowing. It is the direct sequel to Wetrix. :) Play it! It's fun!

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

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.

 

[Darzhgrod]

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.

 

[DrunkGecko]

Stretch panic
Dbz infinite world

 

[Gyakon]

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

 

[ThatOneLum]

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
View attachment 86872

This has been installed on my PS2 hard drive for ages but I've not got around to trying it out yet.

 

[Boularingos29]

Shadow hearts if you like a really dark fairytale story with really interesting characters
and
V-rally 3 if you like a hard enough racing game with many challenges.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[ThatOneLum]

Looks like this has an unreleased English version on Hidden Palace but I dunno how complete it is. Might have to try it out.

 

[nobitakun]

 

[JoystickV2]

Finished recently and even made a video about it, and I think Treasure Planet was a really good Platformer! If you like the movie, you'll like this game as well xD
Just a little heads up: sadly there is no level set in the RLS Legacy in this version ç.ç

 

[FrootyLoopsSamurai]

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.

 

[Lowpoly Kenshiro]

Boku no Natsuyasumi 2. It's even English patched.

omg! this is a super cool one :D

Post automatically merged: Jul 23, 2025

What are some of your favorite PS2 Hidden Gems? I am looking for some obscure PS2 games to play this Xmas.

"GUNGRAVE" and "GUNGRAVE overdose" are titles i never see people talk about! they are very VERY short games but the experience itself stayed with me forever the entire presentation and raw fun was super nice!

 

[DjQuick2008]

Post automatically merged: Jul 24, 2025

SHMUPS and action:
Silpheed
Rez
The Red Star
Contra Shattered Soldiers and Neo-Contra
R-Type Final
Space Channel Five - Part 2.

Silpheed is great for PS2

 

[KyoshiSmoshi]

Not sure if its obscure, but I never see anyone talking about it. Genuinely one of my top 3 PS2 games. The mechanics are so addicting, and the soundtrack is awesome. I think racing is so much more fun in this than anyone of the mainstream car racing games. And it has an awesome PSP port. Highly recommend this game!!