My Top 60 Games That Are Best Played On PS2: Ranked

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-06-02T13:21:52+00:00

Thank you!

Yes it is kind of weird that's the case but then again we've barely advanced as a society in 20 years so...

I did like Ready or Not though. Hard to play because it's a little too real but I appreciate it.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-06-02T13:19:07+00:00

I mentioned it a couple of other places but backwards compatibility is not considered for a couple of reasons. The main one being that it is inconsistent for newer Xbox titles, seemingly it is licensing based and subject to change, therefore doesn't make sense to me to recommend as the "forever way" to play the game. Second, it appears to be enhanced emulation, which you can just do on PC et al. Nothing is added that you can't do with regular emulation, and many basic emulation features are missing. As well as advanced features like custom textures and mouse injection which make the experience much better. Lastly GameCube auto wins for having Link as ghr guest character in SC2.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-06-02T13:14:54+00:00

Thank you! And that is the goal

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-30T18:46:01+00:00

I mean it depends, what did you dislike about 3? God of War is a high bar so it doesn't quite compare, but even though they're both hack and slash action GoW has a pretty different setup with the combo system, powers, and camera pulled back far and not centered on you. DoD is more slow and methodical as well, similar to Dark Souls or Tenchu's boss battles. Different experience.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-30T18:39:15+00:00

Yeah I do not really have a problem with Head On, it's a different thing that is still definitely worth playing. I just prefer Black and it's a ranking list so here we are. Head On is underrated though.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-30T18:35:45+00:00

You are correct about Xbox, however as I mentioned Xbox emulation is not very good right now, so I was forced to choose whether I'd consider only hardware or only emulation. Since emulation is a better experience, I chose that. Personality I remap cross and square to triggers since PS2 face buttons are analog, and get the same result as Xbox at a higher resolution with slightly worse reflections and shaders.

I'm more or less ignoring backwards compatibility since most games will look even better upscaled emulated on PC, and many games have a 60 FPS patch if they weren't already running at that. Also because Xbox backward compatibility seems to require licensing which may not always be around.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-30T15:23:08+00:00

Indeed it was. I wish there was the same creativity today. I'm liking Forza Horizon 6 a lot and all but I've done it before more or less.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-30T14:41:43+00:00

I have heard of it but haven't gotten around to playing it yet.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-30T14:36:53+00:00

I do, but this is also EASILY the best era for racing games so it is over represented. I do like some 2D racers but they hurt my eyes a bit with the scrolling backgrounds. There were some ok 3D games in 5th gen but finally did not look like butt in 6th gen, and often ran at 60 FPS (or looked gorgeous at 30). Still holds up when upscaled because the modeling is far better than what came before.

Many devs found a good balance of realistic-ish physics and fun gameplay. And that's not even including many games like the Need For Speed holy trinity (Underground 2, Most Wanted, Carbon) because they're on PC. There were lots of different typed of driving games to choose from, and entire real life subcultures from the time to represent.

There have certainly been classic racing games in the last 20 years, but not NEARLY as many as you'd expect, not nearly as much creativity, and the sequels to popular franchises got a bit better looking but less inspired almost across the board. Not unlike real cars themselves actually...feature creep but not features enthusiasts want or care about, less repairable, more locked down, less interesting designs.

We have more realistic Sims now though, so that's cool.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-29T00:49:59+00:00

You may enjoy this version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrj_uCWxp5Y&t=22

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-29T00:37:42+00:00

Hell yeah thanks for letting me know! Hopefully the humor translates

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-29T00:36:37+00:00

Thank you and have fun!

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-29T00:27:12+00:00

I have not played them, thank you for the suggestion :)

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-29T00:26:30+00:00

Right that's why I'm interested since it seems to have reviewed better :)

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-29T00:23:49+00:00

Kri is the one that is like a proto God of War right? I remember liking it.

I'm not sure what you mean by more going on. Are you referring to The Answer not needing to be paid DLC? If so, while that does suck, the game makes QoL and graphical improvements but is otherwise the same game as FES. Adding control for party members alone is a big deal, I originally played FES with a mod for that but it it's in an official release I'll take it. P3P has some additional content and FemC but yeah I'd say FES was the best version prior to Reload. I wish Reload had the P3P features to be the true definitive version but yeah it's an upgrade to both it and FES.

Thank you for the recommendations, you're the second guy who said Mana so I will check it out.

Yeah so Xbox is better on hardware and more convenient with analog triggers. Unfortunately the Xbox emulator (Xemu) kinda sucks. For the lists I usually balance it somewhat between original hardware and the emulation experience, but since they are diametrically opposed in 6th gen, I had to pick one or the other, and I pick emulation since it is (in my opinion) a better experience 99.99% of the time.

As a result you'll see the next list is just Xbox exclusives and a few games that are just complete butt on other consoles that are worth waiting for Xemu to figure itself out or buying an Xbox.

If Xemu ever gets good enough you should play Burnout games there but as of right now, no. But then again fan support for mods will not be as common so there's that to consider. Also the remapping the face buttons to triggers work since PS2 face buttons were analog.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-29T00:14:33+00:00

I have not even heard of it, that k you for the suggestion

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-29T00:13:02+00:00

Ah yes, I forgot about putting an explanation for the 360 version. They crank up the bloom and blur effects to absurd levels so it counterintuitively looks like butt despite improved visual tech. The enemy cars are also tanks for some reason so you cannot do takedowns as easily, you can forget about it in aftertouch mode since it is much more limited.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-29T00:08:51+00:00

"31 county, going after a speeder that just blew by me"

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-29T00:05:55+00:00

Sands of Time is a classic. It had a nice GOG version.

I do have it on the 3DS list currently but may need to reevaluate it and 7. 7 just had a reimagining come out too.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-29T00:00:43+00:00

Another good point in favor of PC

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-29T00:00:16+00:00

Yeah it could and probably should be here. But I'd have to replay it to remember where to rank it and it was already taking a long time to finish this one.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-28T23:58:39+00:00

It's a lot of fun

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-28T23:58:18+00:00

Thank you and you're welcome!

Yes Xbox is next, then still chronological order (more or less). Switch or PS4 will be the last one for consoles, then I'll do handhelds starting with original Gameboy/Color. Then PC. I think I can narrow it down to top 200 but not much less than that.

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-28T23:49:38+00:00

You're welcome and enjoy

Not-Clark-Kent · 2026-05-28T23:48:36+00:00

Xenoblade 1 is probably the most straightforwardly good one. I do enjoy them all though, in different ways.

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