Sony's PlayStation 2 is the second home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated, and to date is the best-selling home console of all time, with an install base of 150 million units since its launch.
Welcome to The Top Shelf, a weekly feature wherein I sort through my extensive PS2 collection for the diamonds in the rough. My goal here is to narrow down a library of 185 games to a svelte 44: the number of spaces on my bookshelf set aside for my PS2 collection. That means a whole lot of vetting and a whole lot of science that needs to be done, ten games at a time. Be sure to check out the Case File Repositoryfor more details and a full list of games/links!
Well, here we are. It took twelve months, 227 appraisals (49 of which were deep dives) and 74 blogs that collectively contain over 140,000 words to get to this point, but we finally have our list of the 44 games that represent the finest that the PS2 had to offer. Well, at least in my view.
I've spoken at some length about my love for the following games in previous blogs, each of which is linked under their respective entries, and the order is purely alphabetical: I had enough trouble narrowing it down to this number without ordering them (but, uh, you can reasonably assume that Dark Chronicle is at #1. In fact, you don't even have to assume; I'm telling you). However, I will reiterate the most significant reason why that game has made it onto the Top Shelf. After all, great care was made to ensure that this list features a distinctive mix of genres, settings and styles, and each one has very different reasons for being an all-time classic. I've tossed in some useful stats and information for each entry too, just for funzies.
Before we begin, just want to bring up a couple of items: This list is not complete, but is "complete enough". Barring the opportunity to play a few bucket list entries in the future - there aren't many, but this interim blog covers most of them, and I'd like to hope that whomever is in charge of porting PS2 games to the PS4 digital storefront will get around to adding them eventually - I probably won't be writing about the PS2 again any time soon. I also want to thank the handful of people who have followed this gargantuan project from beginning to end throughout 2017, and I hope I didn't dismiss too many of your own favorites too brusquely. Heck, you could always build your own "Top Shelf" in response, though I might urge you to be ever so slightly less meticulous than I was.
Status: Added to Reserves List after the first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: One of a handful of non-Nippon Ichi Software strategy RPGs for the system, Twilight of the Spirits introduces an unforgettable cast of characters across two opposing teams, cleverly dividing the player's loyalty.
Current Availability: Digital version available on PS4.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: The middle chapter of the Atelier Iris trilogy, this RPG perfectly balances the tactical combat and item creation of its franchise, and introduces (and later subverts) a dual protagonist feature that allows for concurrent storylines.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: A satisfying hack-and-slash loot RPG, elevated by a versatile minion system, a brilliant approach to dealing with vendor trash, and some great self-effacing humor and musical numbers.
Current Availability: Available pretty much everywhere - Steam, iOS, Android, PS4, PSVita, and the Ouya even.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: In some respects, BG&E feels like the first big Ubisoft open-world game, mixing a bunch of gameplay genres, adding various game-wide bonus objectives to pursue like hoverboat races and photography, and crafting it around what feels like the first part of an enormous space-faring epic.
Current Availability: The HD version is available for Xbox 360 and PS3, and the 360 version is compatible with Xbox One.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: Blood Will Tell manages to create a compelling character action game from an obscure Tezuka manga, featuring dozens of optional bosses and upgrades with a memorable storyline about a demon-killing robotic samurai.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: The Breath of Fire series had always featured solid if unexciting RPGs, but Dragon Quarter totally subverts its legacy with a grim post-apocalyptic aesthetic and unique mechanics built around restarting the game over and over for incremental gains.
Current Availability: PS2 only. Has a digital PS3 port, but only in Japan.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: Rockstar's best game builds a boarding school caper comedy out of excellent open-world mission design, memorable characters, a great soundtrack, and classes which, miraculously, are actually fun to attend.
Current Availability: The enhanced Scholarship Edition is available on Steam, Wii and Xbox 360.
Status: Survived its Battle Royale and progressed directly to the Top Shelf.
Reason for Inclusion: In creating a loot RPG suited for consoles, Snowblind used every trick in their book to guarantee a demanding and treasure-rich hack and slash experience, as well as throwing in a number of experimentally silly ideas for extra challenges.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: Simply the greatest Japanese RPG ever made, Dark Chronicle juggles a dozen different gameplay systems and mechanics to ensure the player always has plenty to do and work towards, and seals it with a charming aesthetic and soundtrack.
Status: Survived its Battle Royale and progressed directly to the Top Shelf.
Reason for Inclusion: A strategy RPG someone could feasibly play forever, filled with inventive progression mechanics and a brilliantly funny cast and story.
Current Availability: Available on Steam (as "Disgaea PC"), PSP (as "Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness") and DS (as "Disgaea DS").
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: Level-5 could do no wrong during the PS2 era, and Square Enix made the right decision entrusting the next entry of what is arguably their biggest franchise to them, producing this expansive and colorful open-world JRPG.
Current Availability: Recently remastered for 3DS. Also available on iOS and Android.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: The greatest Arika creation that isn't masochistic Tetris or a guy in skeleton pajamas, the Everblue series are super chill underwater exploration/salvage games that can nonetheless get pretty terrifying when it's just you inside a pitch-black wreck with a dwindling supply of oxygen.
Status: Survived its Battle Royale and progressed directly to the Top Shelf.
Reason for Inclusion: Square's big, confident step into the PS2 era was this tropical-themed and vaguely meta epic about breaking the cycle of tradition and trying to live up to one's own lineage, building on the strengths of the series but evolving and changing aspects as well.
Current Availability: Remastered for PS3, PS4, PS Vita, and Steam, along with its sequel.
Status: Added to Reserves List after second round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: A gladiatorial sim that takes strategy RPG battles and adds a huge degree of mission variation and character customization for players to get lost in.
Current Availability: No re-releases, but it's also available for GameCube and OG Xbox.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: A truly immense RPG with one of the greatest turn-based combat systems of its era in the way it gives you full mastery over the field.
Current Availability: Remastered for Steam, though with a few issues.
Status: Survived its Battle Royale and progressed directly to the Top Shelf.
Reason for Inclusion: San Andreas is one of the broadest, silliest, coolest and most technically impressive of Rockstar's flagship Grand Theft Auto series to come out in the PS2 generation, and its right balance of dumb and serious means it's still the series peak to this day.
Current Availability: Available on Steam, PS3, PS4 and Xbox 360.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: One of the most imaginative and kookiest games on the PS2, the player needs to rely on stealth and careful observation to figure out when best to jack valuable souls from the game's many cuboid psychopaths.
Current Availability: PS2 only, and only in Europe (or Japan).
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: The next step after 2D bandicoot shenanigans, the fully realized 3D world of Jak & Daxter is full of collectibles to find and obstacles to overcome, including various dalliances with other genre types, and is easily one of the most impressive platformers for the system.
Current Availability: Remastered for PS3 (as part of a compilation) and PS4.
North American Release Date: 16th of September, 2002.
European Release Date: 15th of November, 2002.
Developer/Publisher: Square Enix/Square Enix.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: Disney's sense of magic, codified for an action JRPG that can drag in spots but generally delivers on its promise of a best of both worlds merger between the animation and video game giants.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: I have to begrudgingly accept the level of craft that went into MGS3's many survival and stealth mechanics, as well as its entertaining 1960s espionage story and many incredible boss fights.
Current Availability: In the HD Collection for Xbox 360, PS3 and PSVita. Also on 3DS.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: A picturesque and inventive open-world action-adventure game in the Zelda mold, with character action combat, clever world-changing paintbrush mechanics, and a healthy dose of silly humor.
Current Availability: Also came out on Wii. HD version is available on PS3, PS4, Xbox One and Steam.
North American Release Date: 10th of November, 2003.
European Release Date: 21st of November, 2003.
Developer/Publisher: Ubisoft/Ubisoft.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: As well as being a great action-adventure game in its own right, this reboot also introduces climbing traversal and time-manipulation to the modern era of action gaming - two features done so well here that they've been revisited many times since.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: Otherwise known as Fatal Frame 2, this eerie photography-based survival horror still earns the dubious distinction of making me the most scared I've ever been while playing a game.
Current Availability: Also released on OG Xbox, and remastered for Wii and WiiU.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: Currently the greatest of Tim Schafer's various experiments outside of the graphic adventure genre, Psychonauts features the platforming adventures of a young ESPer in a psychic summer camp that frequently feels like the best Nicktoons show that never was.
Current Availability: Available digitally for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Steam.
Status: Survived its Battle Royale and progressed directly to the Top Shelf.
Reason for Inclusion: The scientifically proven best game of the original Ratchet & Clank trilogy, and one that perfectly represents the franchise's mix of frenetic run & gun shooting, platforming and space-sim action in a Looney Tunes-inspired sci-fi universe.
Current Availability: Remastered for PS3 and PSVita.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: Rez is one of those showpiece games that you just had to let everyone you knew see in action, and because it only took an hour or so to complete it was perfect for spreading around which might suggest how this little synesthesia shoot 'em up became such a phenomenon.
Current Availability: "Rez HD" for Xbox 360, and "Rez Infinite" for PS4 and Steam (with VR support).
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: One of the most impressive PS2 games that apparently hardly anyone played, the truly epic-sized (two DVDs!) gothic RPG balanced a brilliant combat system, some great character-specific quests and moments, and a massive and elaborate globe-trotting Lovecraftian conspiracy.
North American Release Date: 18th of October, 2005.
European Release Date: 17th of February, 2006.
Developer/Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan/Sony Computer Entertainment.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: Quite possibly the best looking game for the PS2, its set-piece battles against a series of enormous opponents never once lost their luster or their spark of originality throughout the length of the game, but even in its quiet horse-riding moments the game was wonderful to experience.
Current Availability: Remastered for PS3 along with ICO, and soon to be remade for PS4.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: The PS2's swansong, Persona 4 continued to perfect Atlus's formula of randomized dungeon-crawling armed with a highly customizable party of summoned creatures, with a life and dating sim that often proved to be the more compelling half of the game's equation.
Current Availability: Remastered, sorta, with Persona 4 Golden for PSVita.
Status: Survived its Battle Royale and progressed directly to the Top Shelf.
Reason for Inclusion: A psychological survival horror game that puts far more effort into spinning its disquieting and metaphysical narrative than simply tossing hellhounds down a hallway.
Current Availability: An iffy HD Collection for PS3 and Xbox 360.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: A reliably fun Grand Theft Auto clone made more appealing with how rewarding exploration is for fans of the cartoon, making it not only one of the precious few good The Simpsons games but one of the few licensed games to really do right by its source material.
Current Availability: Available on GameCube and OG Xbox. Also on PC, but not digitally alas.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: My personal pick for best PS2 platformer, Sly 2 is an ingenious mix of open-world exploration and quest design that builds up to these hugely entertaining level-concluding heists once the player has all their pieces in place.
Current Availability: Remastered as part of The Sly Collection for PS3 and PSVita.
Status: Added to Reserves List after second round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: Following the footsteps of Final Fantasy Tactics in structure, this apocalyptic SRPG has surprisingly deep character customization mechanics and some typically unusual character designs from the art director for Personas 3 and 4.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: My favorite Suikoden, and one that perfectly encapsulates the franchise's mix of party-based dungeoneering, strategic army battles and rock-scissors-paper duelling in a sordid and occasionally tragic tale about an attempted coup.
Current Availability: So far, it's the only Suikoden game yet to be rereleased digitally.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: The best Pro Skater game breaks away from the time restrictions of its forebears, allowing players to fully explore and experiment in its massive skateboarding levels for all the gaps and secrets they'll need for high-scoring combos.
Current Availability: Also released on OG Xbox and GameCube, but no remasters or digital ports yet.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: One of the flashier games for PS2, Silmeria follows its predecessor Lenneth in balancing satisfying combo-chaining action RPG combat with a labyrinthine time-travelling plot based nominally on Norse mythology.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: The first Katamari game that Europe saw, We Love Katamari creates a compelling gameplay basis in giving the player a giant ball that can roll up everything in its path, and then finds numerous creative applications for this premise.
Current Availability: PS2 only, but some of its levels are in Katamari Forever for PS3.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: The best of Media.Vision's western-themed RPGs, Wild Arms 3 sports a strong ensemble cast of bounty hunters and a combat system which is far more tactical than it seems.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: An old-school dungeon-crawler inspired by the granddaddy of the CRPG genre, given a fresh perspective with the Japanese aesthetic and a set of tactical team "plays" that can really make or break a battle.
North American Release Date: 9th of September, 2008.
European Release Date: 19th of September, 2008.
Developer/Publisher: Sega/Sega.
Status: Immediately qualified for the Top Shelf in the first round.
Reason for Inclusion: Building from what Yakuza 1 started, Yakuza 2 settles into a groove of occasional insanity and hilarity while otherwise playing straight a traditional tale of noble and less noble criminals and a conspiracy to bring Japan to its knees.
Current Availability: Yakuza Kiwami 2, a remake with lots of additional content, is out in North America and Europe later next year.
Status: Added to Reserves List after first round, added to Top Shelf in final deliberations.
Reason for Inclusion: One of the more reliably entertaining action-RPG franchises out there, the sixth Ys game in particular helps to establish the modern Ys experience of ludicrously fast and challenging combat and awesome rock music.
I think that's as good a selection of games as you can make without double-dipping into series. I'd argue stuff like Wild ARMs 4 would merit a look simply because it was so different than anything that came along before it in the series, but honestly, you probably made the right decision in 3. And a couple of picks in there I'd never heard of, which is unusual, but neat.
Also, come back to us, Shadow Hearts. I own you but I'm not hooking back up a PS2.
You lunatic, you managed to do it! Finally, a top shelf consisting of only the creme de la creme. In some way, I feel like this feature has unintentionally acted as a bit of a riposte to the oft-repeated phrase that "it's the best time to be playing video games" because even with the current variety and breadth of today's gaming space, there's a lot of cool, eclectic stuff from the PS2 era that straight up does not get made anymore. A lot of that has to do with the changing tides of Japanese game development in particular, but man, it was a console with a lot of really good stuff on it, huh?
As someone who didn't own a PS2 until 2009, I'm pretty envious of some of your collection. Dark Cloud 2 is obviously on PS4 (I own it, and will definitely get past the first dungeon one of these days. Definitely) but then you get to stuff that's rare/expensive in the resale market and probably not coming to digital platforms anytime soon. I'd love to try out weird off-kilter JRPGs like Suikoden V, Shadow Hearts, or Breath of Fire Dragon Quarter... without having to spend a bunch of money or engage in casual piracy.
@justin258: I might not unconditionally recommend all of them - some of them only squeaked onto the list through clearing, and others are more dated than I'm willing to admit - but I could vouch for any that have made it onto PS4 or Steam at least, as a good place to start. Yakuza Kiwami 2 should be a lot of fun when that shows up in 2018; I'd be curious to see how they can make that game any more insane.
@arbitrarywater: The first dungeon (the sewers, right?) is definitely the hump, since there's no Georama yet and it's the hardest dungeon to play Spheda in, but it starts picking up immediately after that when you reach the forest. Of course, the majority of the game still involves randomized dungeons, but like Persona it makes it work. I still get goosebumps thinking about how good those Georama puzzles were.
@liquiddragon: I've just never cared for stealth games, at least until relatively recently when the improved tech around vision cones and the like has made the genre more palatable. I never once felt like I was betrayed by insufficient feedback in the new Hitman, for instance. The Vice City/San Andreas thing could've gone either way though (III was rough to revisit for a number of reasons), and I definitely did VC a disservice by not getting further into it.
@sparky_buzzsaw:I did strongly consider Wild Arms 4 because that battle system was so distinctive, but overall I prefer 3's ensemble cast, cel-shaded look, and the ridiculous amount of post/end-game optional content. 3 didn't have the sweet jazz of Nightless City Guara Bobelo though...
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