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We gamers here at Complex are suckers for nostalgia. The sudden craze of HD collections has become too hard to ignore and the rise of downloadable classics on PSN has been a sight to see. But there are a few PS2 titles we remember having a grand ol’ time with that we’re quite sure a lot of other gamers didn’t get the chance to.
Underrated PS2 games that were shown little love back in the day certainly deserve some today. Sony, please grant our wishes and hook us up with these 25 games for download on PSN. Trust us when we tell you: we’d rather play any of these over some of the other titles floating around...
25. Sky Gunner
Take to the skies and live out your Japanese anime dreams as an ace pilot. This air…er “sky” gunning adventure goes for a pretty penny these days. That should let you know how revered it is.
24. Kinetica
Imagine Wipeout, but the ships are human beings outfitted in futuristic racing gear. That's all that needs to be said really. The sheer awesomosity speaks for itself.
23. Second Sight
The devs behind TimeSplitters crafted this psychic third-person romp and the graphics definitely showed it. The gameplay was a cool mix of cap busting and telekinetic beatdowns.
22. The Red Star
Magic in the Soviet Union? Sounds awesome, right? Well it was awesome. This side scrolling shoot 'em up was the business. Once the melee action got going, we were hooked.
21. Spartan: Total Warrior
Sega put together their answer to Dynasty Warriors with this overlooked goodie. Pure carnage erupted when you took your Spartan hero across the battlefield and chopped off a few limbs along the way.
20. The Adventures of Cookie and Cream
Co-Op games make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. This game increased that feeling by 10. The gameplay was purely addictive as you and your partner helped one another make it past every cute and cuddly obstacle.
19. Bombastic
When a puzzle game gets it right, it becomes too addictive to put down. If you remember a title called Devil Dice, then we're quite sure you're familiar with this puzzler. But this time, our lil' devils blow dice up and move too fast for anyone to catch their bearings.
18. Fire Pro Wrestling Returns
Never mind the visuals, graphic whores! This wrestling game gave away mass amounts of content (customizable wrestlers, arenas, mat logos etc) that kills time in the best way possible. Fancy a barbed-wire deathmatch? Load up that FPR.
17. Rumble Racing
There's no way a car can backflip in the middle of a race, right? Right? WRONG! This arcade racer was made for the fast and the furious. Power-up's made our ride damn near indestructible. EA needs to revive this series, BTW.
16. Shadow of Rome
Capcom was known for churning out some brand new IP's for the last generation of gaming. One of those new franchises didn't catch fire with too many people, but it got some love from us. We could do without the stealth elements, but we loved bludgeoning dudes to death in the arena battles.
15. Way of the Samurai
We're huge fans of games that let us make the type of decisions that actually impact the world we're playing in. We're even bigger fans of games that let us cut through fools as a badass samurai. Whether as a hero or a villain, this Choose-Your-Own-Adventure title was a dope experience.
14. Mister Mosquito
Who loves quirky, Japanese video games? WE DO! You gotta appreciate a game that lets you play as a mosquito that sucks the blood out of an entire family just to drive them crazy.
13. Katamari Damacy
Some of y'all still ain't up on this ball-rolling swag yet an that saddens us. The original game in this series, Katamari Damacy let us take our sticky ball all over planet Earth and terrorize everyone on it.
12. Alien Hominid
Flash games were all the rage back in the day, weren't they? When this shoot 'em up got ported to the PS2, it became so much more fun and accessible with a Dual Shock 2. Aliens over secret service agents all day, every day.
11. Gungrave
Yo, we were floored when we first laid eyes on the lead character. His gats take care of enemies just fine, but that coffin of his could spit out rockets like it's nobody's business. Gungrave was pure, bullet-ridden nirvana for us.
10. Silpheed: The Lost Planet
If you know anything about games like Gradius or Ikaruga, then you should have a clue about Silpheed: The Lost Planet. The feeling of euphoria we got from blowing enemy ships to scrap metal in this game was awesome.
9. Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
Some would say this game is nothing but a Zelda knockoff. You know what? They'd be right! Is that really a bad thing, though? The combat and platforming performed just fine, plus torturing that invincible mummy was hee-larious.
8. XIII
We love a good spy thriller and XIII hit us in our hearts when we got our hands on it. The cel-shaded graphics and the comic book panel-style storytelling made this shooter stand out, but it still didn't get much attention. This must be rectified!
7. Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
Another psychic third person shoot 'em up fest? Yep…and this one was also a quality title. Our time spent with the game's super commando was pure bliss. We made evil grunts levitate, proceeded to light 'em up with bullets while they stayed airborne and then made their buddies' heads explode.
6. Downhill Domination
Or as we'd like to call it: SSX on Wheels. We took our rider and his mountain bike on rocket fuel for some super fast racing and trick pulling. Man, this joint moved fast! If you weren't careful, you were bound to go careening into a tree. It was actually pretty cool to see come to think of it.
5. Contra: Shattered Soldier
Classic Contra combined with 3D graphics was done before and it wasn't much of a success. When this entry hit our living rooms, we finally got a worthwhile upgraded Contra game. The side-scrolling and frantic run and gun action was back! And so was the crushing difficulty…
4. Area 51
Remember that light gun shooter where the aliens looked like humans in C-Movie quality outfits? Have any memories of some black commando telling you to stay low? Yep, you played this game in the arcades! There was a first person shooter reboot of this series for PS2, ya know. Fun fact: David Duchovny and even Marilyn Manson lent their voices to the game.
3. Super Dragon Ball Z
Yeah, we know most of you played the hell out of those Budokai and Tenkaichi fighting games. Did you know there was another fighting game for DBZ that dropped on the PS2? It was a cel-shaded, 2D fighter that had some Street Fighter mechanics plugged into it. Plus, it let us play with Chi-Chi!
2. The Mark of Kri
A criminally overlooked Sony franchise right here, people. We enjoyed our time controlling Rau Utu as he snuck past guards, snapped necks and impaled any fools that faced him head-on. The shit officially hit the fan once we unlocked his spear and battle axe.
1. Klonoa 2
Now this joint right here son? The definition of an underrated video game. Crisp graphics, cheery audio, fun platforming and cool puzzle interludes make up the entirety of this awesome experience. Sony heads know the greatness of this game's ring wearing mascot, so it's about time new heads find out what all the fuss is about.