I got through phases of games, and right now I’m in the one I like to think of everything-modern-is-making-me-angry-so-I’ll-turn-back-to-vintage-games - and that’s in the form of PCSX2 on my Steam Deck.
Playing the PS2 generation on the Steam Deck is kinda the ‘perfect’ generation: I can upscale the resolution without a performance hit, I can apply HD texture packs, Retro Achievements and I can drop the TDP to extend the battery life.
Anyway, I never had a PS2 (it was just a touch before my time), so there’s so many games I’m yet to discover there. I’d love to hear any suggestions you might have for what I can play on there:
Just a couple notes:
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No GTA games because they’re better with the PC versions. While I’ve bought the games, the account that Rockstar demands people have to play their games makes me angry on principle (a single-player game forcing an online check each week to be able to play it? No thanks), so I’ve got cracked versions to play.
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No Final Fantasy because I’m not even sure where to start!
So if anyone was around back in the PS2 era, and has some recommendations for games they’ve loved, I’m all ears. I’ve been having such a fun time playing these.
Some big thanks to my friends who made and run RetroDECK (my choice for emulating on the Steam Deck), and to the PCSX2 team (who I’m chatting to right now actually, so keep an eye out and in a week or so I’ll share that chat with them all about creating and maintaining the PS2 emulator!)
Also, if you do have a Steam Deck, and want to play with the HD texture packs I do, then it’s really simple. Just download the pack, and name then according to their game’s I.D. code - SLUS-20743 for example, then place it in the texture_packs folder:
From there, go into PCSX2, then right-click the game, select properties, graphics, texture replacement and tick the two boxes I have:
Then you’ve got the games looking the best they can be!
Here’s a link to a stack of pre-done HD textures for a lot of PS2 games, to help you on your way!
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Zone of the Enders 1 and 2
Shadowhearts
SSX Tricky
Burnout
Katamari Damacey
Ribbit King
Roommania #201
SkyGunner
Oni
Dead or Alive 2
Silent Hill 2 and 3
Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Lost War Chronicles
Xenosaga
.dot Hack
Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain
Def Jam Vendetta
GunGrave
Capcom vs SNK
Marvel vs Capcom 2God Hand is a hidden gem, the game is hard tho.
Crash of the Titans
Crash Twinsanity
Black
Midnight Club 3
NFS Underground 2
Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks
Gun
Burnout
Darkwatch (hidden gem too)There are more but these worth mentioning because they can’t be played without emulation on PC, so it fits well to play on PCSX2.
Ps2 was golden Mortal Kombat territory.
Dark cloud 1 - amazing
Dark cloud 2 (Dark Chronicle in EU) - 11/10, I replay it almost every year
If you can get a webcam working for Eyetoy games, we played a fuckton of the window cleaning game. Even though its objectively shit.
This is an obscure one, and not high on most people’s lists, but my personal favourite PS2 game is Steel Lancer International, a game where you build mechs and take them into arena battles in a post-apocalyptic future.
Katamari Damacy and sequel <3
Onimusha 3 is a banger
Simpsons: Road Rage is my all-time favorite of any game on any console…
So much so that I bought the game without having the console to even play it 🫣
Hit & Run was also fantastic
We played the hell out of Shaun Palmer’s snowboarding. And I’m pretty sure we hammered Tony Hawk too.
Push 1v1 caused a lot of shouting matches between me and my brother. 10/10 would play again, that shit was genius.
Silent Hill 2 and Fatal Frame
Seconding someone else’s suggestion of Psi-Ops - a really cool game that I think flies under the radar a little bit.
Gun is also really cool.
The early Red Faction games are also fun but a bit dated.
The PS2 Ace Combat games (4/5/Zero) are still best-in-genre as far as I’m concerned, and have held up exceedingly well in general. Aerial dogfighting with good controls, good mission design and interesting story.
Sky Odyssey is a more “relaxed” little flight game that I also like, still got game-like controls but no combat, just missions where you fly through hard situations.
BTW I couldn’t get AC5 full speed on Steam Deck so if anyone knows the right config hmu
Gitaroo Man!
I only played it recently but it really feels like an underrated gem that you don’t see mentioned that often in lists of “best PS2 games”
It’s a rhythm game with goofy visuals and cutscenes. Also super hard at points but the music is great!
Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 or 3
- The Mark of Kri
- Maximo
- Jake and Daxter
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3
- Timesplitters
- The Warriors
- Tourist Trophy
I’m playing through Yakuza at the moment and never bothered with HD textures before so will have a look at that myself.
I think Jak and Daxter now has a native PC port.
