Hey, I've been playing the first God Of War game emulated on my Series S, and it plays fantastic, upscaled to 1080p and 60fps.

I did own a PS2 at some point during my life, but I don't think I ever bought many games for it. Does anyone have any recommendations for the system? What I'm really more after is more arcadey type games - any good shmups or scrolling brawlers?

I already know about the likes of Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 and all the AAA stuff - anyone know of any more hidden gems?

Thanks!

Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, X-Men Legends 1&2, The Punisher, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, Burnout 3, Dynasty Warriors 3 or 4, the Onimusha games, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Devil May Cry... I don't think I'm helping with hidden gems!

God Hand, Gradius V.

This is the exact kind of thing I've been exploring myself lately. Not all of these are arcadey, but I tried to put ones that are nearer the top of each list. But at the risk of repeating stuff I've already been posting about a lot recently...

- God Hand
- Gungrave (the first one anyway)
- Bujingai: The Forsaken City
- Ghost Rider
- Auto Modellista (JP version plays better than US/EU version)
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 (this franchise has many subseries, but this is probably the best mainline)
- I-Ninja
- Castlevania: Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness
- Legacy of Kain (at least the Soul Reaver/Defiance trilogy, but the first isn't on PS2, best played on Dreamcast)

Games that aren't really "hidden" but don't get talked about much:
- SSX 3 and On Tour
- Midnight Club 2 and 3
- Zone of the Enders (the PS4/PC "MVRS" remaster of the sequel is a better experience for that one)
- Drakengard 1 and 2 (a very acquired taste, but worth checking out if you enjoy Nier)
- Yakuza 1 and 2 (some argue these versions are aesthetically superior to the remakes, the first has a patch to restore the original Japanese audio)

Games I haven't tried yet but I have heard good things about:
- Oni
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
- Shinobi
- The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge (action game made by the DMC studio)
- Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked (a pre-No More Heroes Suda51 action game)
- Berserk: Millennium Falcon Arc: Chapter of the Holy Demon War (Japan only game that has an English fan translation)
- Way of the Samurai 1 and 2 (later sequels came to 7th gen and PC)
- Valkyrie Profile 2

Gregory Horror Show.

Thanks all! Plenty to check out there. Re: God Hand, I remember buying that when it came out digitally on PS3 (it was just the PS2 version, not a remaster or anything) but for some reason I never played more than an hour or so of it. Will have to go back and give it a proper go.

I own 286 PS2 games.

Here is my backloggery list. I recommend you go through it and look up stuff you don't know.

https://backloggery.com/games.php?user=Lard&console=PS2

Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast if pretty much a must-have if you're into the arcade-y racers. Absurdly smooth gameplay with a presentation that holds up and an absolute bang-load of content - Outrun 2, Outrun 2 SP and a bunch of home-exclusive stuff to keep you busy. The campaign stuff can be a bit tedious if you're trying to binge it, but not really an issue if you're dipping in and out in spurts.

Ah yes! Forgot that was on PS2, it's always been a PSP game to me - will definitely get that downloaded. I wish it would come to Switch.

The OG Xbox version of C2C is the best though, but they're all great.

ratsoalbion wrote: ↑October 4th, 2022, 1:03 pm The OG Xbox version of C2C is the best though, but they're all great.

Ah I do actually remember having it for Xbox back in the day now you mention it. Shame it's not available digitally any more.

It is indeed.

Reminds me that I discovered recently the OG Xbox version of C2C is absurdly expensive due to a low print run.

Alex79 wrote: ↑October 1st, 2022, 2:47 pm I did own a PS2 at some point during my life, but I don't think I ever bought many games for it. Does anyone have any recommendations for the system? What I'm really more after is more arcadey type games - any good shmups or scrolling brawlers?

Okay, I went through my list of games and selected some games I think fit your criteria.

If you're looking for "arcadey games", then I'll recommend the following:

The 007 games (Nightfire and Agent Under Fire)
Amplitude and Frequency
Ape Escape 2 and 3 (I quite like 3)
Atari Anthology
Activision Anthology
The Bouncer
Bully
Castle Shikigami 2
Crazy Taxi
Devil Kings
Devil May Cry 1 and 3
Driving Emotion Type-S
Fire Pro Wrestling
The Getaway
Ghosthunter
Giants Citizen Kabuto
Gungriffon Blaze
I-Ninja
Ico
Killer 7
Mark of Kri/Rise of the Kasai
Max Payne 1&2
Maximo/Maximo vs. Army of Zin
Medal of Honor Frontline
Midway Arcade Treasures 1-3
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2
Parappa 2
The Punisher
Raiden III
Rez
Robotech - Battlecry/Invasion
Samurai Western
Secret Weapons of Normandy
Silent Scope 1-3
Silpheed - The Lost Planet
Skygunner
Snoopy vs the Red Baron (seriously, it's excellent)
Star Wars Battlefront I & II
Steambot Chronicles
Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2
Tekken Tag
Timesplitters 1-3
Unreal Tournament
Virtual-On Marz
X-Men Legends I & II
XIII

Nice one mate, thanks

I remember hearing that Snoopy game was a surprise great game a while back, will certainly give it a look.

I'd add James Bond Everything or Nothing into the Bond mix too

duskvstweak wrote: ↑October 1st, 2022, 4:03 pm Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, X-Men Legends 1&2, The Punisher, Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, Burnout 3, Dynasty Warriors 3 or 4, the Onimusha games, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Devil May Cry... I don't think I'm helping with hidden gems!

I second Dynasty Warriors 3 or 4. They can be a little janky at times, like when you have too many guys on screen and the dudes you're fighting start glitching in and out. But they're still a lot of fun to play I think, and the gameplay is really simple. Only thing is, you do have to spend a little bit of time raising stats and acquiring equipment, so maybe not the kind of jump in and go thing you're (Alex) looking for?

I haven't played Twisted Metal: Black for over a decade, but I LOVED it back in the day, and I think it fits the bill.

To Caligula's Horse's comment - from the Warriors Series I think Dynasty Warriors 5 is actually the best of the lot and to date best in the series. Good mindless fun with some nice quality of life fixes over 4, which is also very strong.

Top suggestions:

• Midnight Club 3 DUB Edition - very unique arcadey racing game to this day, high degree of polish. Incredible feeling of speed with a fantastically handled level of challenge.
• Ace Combat series on PS2 - amazing and relatively short, highly playable games. You might want to go emulator for these if you're not amazing at action games, as they can be punishing. This is an especially strong suggestion since you want more arcadey games. The rush these games can give you by going down and pulling up at the last moment is unparalleled.
• Yakuza 2 the original if you are going through the series - better than the remake (but ONLY on emulator)
• Devil May Cry the original - still best on PS2 (future versions are missing some special effects). Highly playable but very hard game. Cool aesthetic with
• Sly Cooper series - if you like collectathon platformers, does not reinvent the wheels but it's very well constructed without taking the mick with collectibles.

Still good but better on other platforms

• Bully - in my mind still Rockstar's Best, though Scholarship Edition on 360 is superior. The PC version is unfortunately very buggy to this day.

Some I haven't seen talked about yet:
Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2 - lots of old arcadey titles in this
King of Fighters XI (and others)
Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary - same as Capcom, but titles generally older
R-Type Final - surprised I'm the first to mention it.
The Red Star - maybe? It got decent reviews, but I remember practically none of it in spite of making it most of the way through.
Taito Legends 1 and 2 - same as Namco Museum, mostly older arcade titles.
Whatever Wipeout titles were released on PS2.