Best PS2 games?

Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Kingdom Hearts and Burnout are some of the franchises worth looking into.

Burnout and that free off-road ATV game that came along with the later PS2s are both responsible for my taste in music.

I'll list some of my favorites that haven't been posted yet:

-TimeSplitters 2 and Future Perfect

-Onimusha series

-Dynasty Warriors series

-Soulcalibur II and III

-Tekken(any of them)

-Burnout 3

-OutRun 2006 Coast2Coast

-Simpsons Hit and Run

-Dark Cloud I and II

-Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

-Ace Combat 4

Seconding the Dark Clouds, god I wish that series had continued.

If you can find a copy I would suggest the first Sly Cooper game.

I would also suggest the second game which is my personal favorite from the original trilogy
- As much as I love the 2nd game, my biggest gripe is that there is no way to replay missions without having to replay the game. Don't know if there any any ways to replay them any other way, which is more annoying than anything. Other than that, definitely recommend it, alongside the first and third game.

shadow of the colossus, metal gear solid 3 substistence

Need For Speed Underground 1 & 2
NFS Most Wanted
GTA San Andreas
Call of Duty 3
Lord of the Rings Return of the King

Interesting, I heard cod 3 was the worst one

Gonna have to get We Love Katamari as well....

Naaa nananananananana Katamari Damacy

GT4 is better than GT3 imo, but if you have to spend money on it, it might not be worth.

I'm mostly into RPGs, and it doesn't seem like you are from this list. If you are, then FF10 and 12 are available. So are KH1 and 2, and also Wild Arms 3, Personas 3 and 4, Disgaea, Shadow Hearts, Okage, Okami, Star Ocean, Dragon Quest, Devil May Cry, God of War, and so on.

Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2 are silly and fun side scrolling beat 'em ups. Tony Hawk needs no introduction. Silent Hill 2 and 3 if you're into horror. Resident Evil 4 if you're into action horror.

Shadow of the Colossus is great if you're into a quiet, contemplative adventure game.

Was hoping someone would mention Shadow Hearts and Wild Arms! The PS2 truly was the janky AA JRPG console of all time. Also don't forget

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

Digital Devil Saga 1-2

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

Stella Deus

~~Magna Carta: Tears of Blood~~ On second thought do forget this one

Ico

My PS2 is basically a Tony Hawk machine, all of them are good but THPS4 is my favorite.

Also, Psychonauts aged very well!

I spent so much time in path of neo's hacking game. Warriors still holds up, Final Fantasy X, Burnout 2/3, Tony Hawks underground, Okami and Shadow of the colossus. Those are a few off the top of my head.

Essential for some of the ones that have become too expensive 007 - Agent Under Fire for free mcboot

From your collection, I'd rank them

GTA Vice city
Katamari
GTA 3
GT 3
Matrix
Midnight club

I stand by Persona being my favorite game series of all time (3 was my first one, but 4 is very good too) but those are available on Steam now so aren't a great recommendation. but if you're taking games that are in other places as well, I would say Disgaea (2 was my favorite) and Devil May Cry (3 was my favorite.)

I would echo what someone else said here about Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank. I know it wasn't as popular as some of the other games in the series, but Ratchet: Deadlocked was the first game I beat multiple times in a row.

I also played a bit of Dark Cloud 2 and never got too far in, but heard a lot of good things.

Vagrant Story

Shadow of the colossus is good, ps2 is before my time but I played part of colossus and loved it

Max Payne 2

007: Nightfire

Even if you’re not a huge James Bond fan, it’s still a fantastic game. I sank countless amounts of hours into it as a kid. The multiplayer is top notch as well.

Really can’t go wrong with any of the Bond games on the PS2.

Lego Racers 2 has a pretty good PS2 port. Solid kart-style racer with silly storyline to go with it

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. 3 and VC are good but SA just puts them to shame in scope alone and I think it had a better story.

Other than that, like many are saying, Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter, Sly Cooper, Shadow of the Colossus. Prince of Persia The Sands of Time. The whole trilogy if you can but I think the first was the best with The Two Thrones coming in at a close second thanks to improved mechanics and the banter between characters feeling more confident. Oh, and Spider-man 2. It's still the gold standard for webswinging for a reason.

Depends on your tastes. If you like platformers the PS2 had some great ones. Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and the Sly Cooper series to name a few. For something more action-oriented the old God of War games still hold up, although they are very different in tone from the modern ones. If you have any interest in JRPGs there's FFX, X2, and FFXII along with Personas 3 and 4. Although most of those have better ports/remasters/remakes on modern systems.

Downhill Domination will always get my vote. It's also excellent in multiplayer.

The first call of duties where good.

Especially Call of Duty: Big Red One

Worth mentioning that almost every time, the PS2 is the worst platform for multiplatform titles, simply due to how weak the system was compared to both other consoles and contemporary PCs.

There are a small handful of exceptions. GTA San Andreas has complex lighting and effects (which took advantage of the unique hardware and were not possible on other systems at the time, not even PCs), as well as many details that are completely lost on every single other version. The downside is that the PS2 version has primitive shadows, poor frame rates, a low resolution and a very short draw distance. Thankfully, you can mod the PC version (which was actually downgraded even further several times over the years) to add in all of the missing effects and details, making it the best of both worlds. Don't underestimate just how much of a difference this makes. The lighting alone turns this otherwise bland-looking title into a game that can provide surprisingly atmospheric and even stunning moments, despite the low poly count and low-res textures. The more recent remaster tries to unsuccessfully emulate this look, but I would stay away from it as far as possible.

Another example is Need for Speed Underground 2: Only the PS2 version has complex lighting and color-grading effects. They were never ported to other platforms, because just like with GTA SA, they were not technically possible elsewhere at the time.

If anyone knows more games this applies to, feel free to reply.

I should add that due to the low resolution of the system, it's usually a far better idea to emulate PS2 games than to play them on native hardware. On PC, PCSX2 is the gold standard and on Android devices, AetherSX2 is near equivalent, provided you have a beefy enough phone or tablet (lower-end devices might struggle). This also makes it far easier to explore ROMhacks (or should we call them ISO-hacks?), like this upcoming one of Gran Turismo 4:

https://youtu.be/Ct2i7cCaetk

If you want to stick with original hardware, make sure to use a Component cable instead of Composite cable, if you aren't already. The difference in image quality is massive, even if it's rarely ever great due to the messy, highly aliased output of the system in in all but a small handful of titles.

These days there are mods, such as SkyGFX, that let the PC version of GTA:SA match the PS2's graphical effects, but these obviously rely on GPU improvements that didn't exist back in 2005.
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 was best on PS2 because it was made by a different developer (Black Box) who then went on to make all the NfS game up to Undercover as well as World.
- Ah yes, the confusing world of ports that aren't ports, but entirely different games. There were a number of those on PS2, especially late in the system's lifespan, during the cross-gen days, when it was lucrative to cater to the huge existing install base.
  
  On top of my head, Splinter Cell Double Agent was a completely different (and according to some, better) title on sixth compared to 7th gen consoles and PC, although I have played neither version myself.
  
  Test Drive Unlimited on PS2 and PSP had the same enormous game world as the 360/PS3/PC-version, the entire island of Oahu at full scale, but ran on a different engine with very different driving physics, which feel bouncy and direct, nearly identical to Gran Turismo 2 of all games, making it more fun to play than the "next-gen" version, which attempted more realistic physics that feel flat by comparison however. I consider GT2 to be the peak of simcade driving physics and thus am a huge fan of this version's driving physics as well. Graphics are obviously much worse than on seventh gen, customization features, game modes and many vehicles are missing and the GPS is buggy, but it is nonetheless a very interesting and enjoyable version. In my opinion, the visuals have actually aged rather nicely, on PS2 at least, where it even has pleasant-looking car reflections and surprisingly detailed interiors. It has a low-poly charm to it, with just the right amount of detail. Both versions are outstanding at just randomly going on a relaxing drive, since you'll never run out of twisty roads to explore.
  
  That was a good example. A bad, but fascinating one is the Alone in the Dark reboot. The next-gen version was by the same developer as the next-gen version of Test Drive Unlimited, Eden Games, an attempt at using the latest tech and tons of innovative and immersive mechanics as well as scale never seen before in a horror game. It didn't work at all and fell flat at practically everything it tried, from physics to narration, not to mention, it manages to be a horror game that isn't scary at all, except for the terrifyingly bad controls, but it's a very interesting train wreck to behold. By comparison, the PS2 version, by a different studio, feels like a demake made by someone who got the rough outline of every scene over a bad telephone line and then tried to cobble something vaguely similar together in six to nine months on a budget of whatever was left from the catering bill of the developer of the costly next-gen version. Sometimes, it just uses screen-recordings of real-time cutscenes from the PS3/360 version. It's awful to play, but also very interesting, especially next to the overambitious next-gen version.

I don't see it here so I'll mention Ty the Tasmanian Tiger! Really fun collectathon platformer. Played through the more recent remaster on PC and realized it's very easy, but I spent a huge amount of time as a kid just running around the maps and hub area.

Bit of a boring answer, but Gran Turismo 4 on the PS2 has stolen many hours off of my life.

Another honorable mention would be the rhythm game "Frequency".

A third, which isn't a game, is eJay Club World; though that's more of a DAW than anything.

All the ratchet and clank

I personally think racing games like Cartoon Network Racing and Sonic Riders are some pretty good PS2 games.

I'd suggest games like Ratchet & Clank, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, etcetera, but they're probably the first games brought up almost immediately.

I don't know if you are looking for anything specific but here is a list of some of the games that I would recommend trying:

The Harry Potter games, the PS2 version of these games seem to be heavily inspired by the N64 era Zelda games as they have a lot of similarities. Chamber of Secrets is, at least in my opinion, the best of the three but the other two games are still worth checking out. Also, something interesting to note is that, unlike how games for these systems normally are, the PS2 versions of these games are technically better than both the GameCube and Xbox versions due to porting issues and some other poor design choices.

The Sly cooper games, these games, especially 2 and 3, are speculated to be direct inspiration for the Assassin's Creed games. Some say that Sly 2 is the best, while others say that 3 was the best, but I don't know which one I prefer.

Monster house, I know that this is a bit of a weird one to mention, but it was a really good game. The game is similar to Resident Evil 4 in both gameplay and atmosphere. It's one of the rare examples of a movie licensed game that was actually good.

Pac-Man World 2 and 3, both which are action platformers. I personally prefer 3 but 2 had a better soundtrack (I don't know why they put that much effort in the OST of a Pac-Man game).

Rogue Galaxy FIFA

Games that I'm confident the average person would love:

Burnout (3 and/or Revenge)
Tony Hawk's Underground (definitely 1 and not 2)
Shadow of the Colossus (I'm otherwise avoiding games with HD versions for modern platforms but I specifically think this game is weirdly better with PS2-level graphics and performance)
Ultimate Spider-Man (Spider-Man 2 had better swinging but I think this is the stronger overall package)

Games with a more niche appeal but, dammit, I want you to play them anyways:

Steambot Chronicles
Shadow of Destiny

Games that felt like a big deal at the time but I haven't actually played since I was a kid so take with a grain of salt:

Evergrace
Way of the Samurai (1 and/or 2)
Stuntman
Def Jam Vendetta & Fight for NY
Mercenaries 1
NBA Street (2 was my favorite but all three were great)
NFL Street (only played 1, presumably 2 and 3 are also great)

A game I know is bad but I want you to play it so that the voice clips will be burned into your brain also:

Kessen 2

I know what you mean about SotC, i enjoyed the remake a lot but the physics and jank are still the same as the PS2 version, so the new photorealistic graphics don't really mix with it. feels off sometimes

.//hack Rebirth 1-8 is pretty much the all-time hands down best offline MMO of all time and it's being slept on in this thread!

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 Gradius V - amazing arcade shooter

If you are into horror there are some excellent titles for ps2

Silent Hill 2, Siren, Fatal Frame, Kuon

(though theyve become a lot more popular and collectible recently)

Not seen it anywhere else in this thread so....Colosseum: Road to Freedom
Roman slave fights in the arena to gain fame, fortune and, most importantly, freedom. Super good. Highly recommend 👌 👍 👏 🙌

There are a bunch of good suggestions already, so I'm gonna say some of my favorites:

Def jam: Fight for NY (really good 4-player fighting game)
Digimon Rumble Arena 2 (another 4-player fighting game, similar to Smash Bros)
D.O.N. (Dragonball, One Piece and Naruto 4-player fighting game, might have to pirate it to play with the english language patch)
Digimon World 4 (4-player hack'n'slash with rpg elements)
Radiata Stories (Single player action rpg, with 175 recruitable NPCs)
The Sims 2 (2-player)
Final Fantasy X, X-2 ans XII (famous jrpgs)
Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition (single player hack'n'slash)