On the PS2 hidden gems were aplenty. The console had such a huge library with some of the biggest titles ever released. Of course some games were going to be overshadowed, and with so many to choose from it can be tough to pan out the hidden gems from the shovelware. It is after all one of the most popular pieces of video game hardware of all time. The PlayStation 2 is one of my most played video game consoles of all time and I’ve amassed a huge collection for it. In this case I was always a fan of the more obscure because I wasn’t the biggest fan of Sony’s first party efforts, Grand Theft Auto, or even the more mainstream RPGs of this era. That’s why today I’ve decided to highlight what I consider to be the best PS2 hidden gems of all time.
Before we get started I’d like to outline some rules I made for myself when deciding which games to include:
- I’ve purposely omitted import games from this list. This is because if included they would absolutely dominate it due to being universally unknown in this part of the world. The games here were all released in North America.
- I gave it my best shot to include games that are still relatively unknown here. Some (God Hand for example) have huge cult followings now and can’t really be considered hidden gems. Others may have received a fair amount of hype around the time of release but have since been forgotten.
- Licensed games were also omitted. A few may have slipped through the cracks, but by and large I tried to skip them because they cater more to fans of the specific intellectual properties than gamers in general.
With that out of the way let’s jump in and get going! These are the best PS2 hidden gems in alphabetical order.
Extermination
Survival horror was the golden goose by the time the PS2 rolled around. Extermination was an early game released for the platform It tried to monopolize the market by being one of the first survival horror games on the console The results were mixed, but I really like Extermination. This game takes place on an Antarctic base overrun by monsters mutated by a virus. How typical, right? Extermination is a third person shooter where you explore the environments, solve light puzzles, and pump monsters full of bullets.
The jump to more powerful hardware allowed the developers to ditch pre-rendered backgrounds. This is both a blessing and a curse. One one hand the action is seamless. Unfortunately the controls are kind of out of whack. You have no camera control. The viewpoint simply follows your character from behind leading to some awkward controls. The tight corridors do this camera no favors, and it’s almost as scary as the monsters themselves. The auto target system alleviates some of the frustration, but Extermination clearly shows it’s age. Regardless it’s still worth checking out.
Gitaroo Man
The PS2 had a lot of quirky and crazy games. Gitaroo Man is the first of these to make this list. This one routinely shows up on hidden gems lists because it had a meager production run. Oh, and it’s also a lot of fun. This is a rhythm game based on, you guessed it, playing a guitar. It’s particularly interesting because this one predates Guitar Hero by a fair margin. Unlike the aforementioned title Gitaroo Man isn’t designed around any kind of specialty controller. Instead you press the face buttons in unison with the on-screen indicators.
Gameplay is set to absolutely crazy action in the background and a great mix of unique music. Seriously, the range of genres is staggering and it all sounds fantastic. There are few music games that have a set list quite as good as this one. The zany graphics are also really impressive though they shoot for style over substance. I have no problem with that however. Gitaroo Man is a unique game with a style all its own. It’s also still worth playing.
Grandia Xtreme
To be honest I had to use some self restraint to not include all the Grandia titles on this list. The series is good, period. I settled on Xtreme because parts 2 and 3 have their fair share of fans. Almost no one even remembers this one exists. Grandia Xtreme ditches the previous focus on storyline and instead is primarily a dungeon crawler. These are such a focus that there’s very little exploration outside of them. Most of your time spent here will be inside the long and daunting dungeons. These are chock full of puzzles and treasure and plenty of battles to fight.
The battle system has always been the primary focus in the Grandia series. This case is no different. Grandia Xtreme uses a more refined version of Part II’s battle engine. You can attack, cast spells, use items and also cancel enemy’s commands in turn based combat. Thanks to the now wheel shaped turn gauge you can see whose turn is coming up next. This allows for significant planning and strategy. You’ll need to master combat because Grandia Xtreme isn’t exactly easy. It’s the battle system which pushes this one above most other dungeon crawlers. It’s a fun role playing game for those who love turn based combat.
Haunting Ground
It’s very interesting that while Resident Evil was near the height of its popularity Capcom opted to release an entirely original survival horror game for the PS2. This is Haunting Ground, and it’s more frightening than anything else they’ve released. That’s saying a lot given the developer’s pedigree. Here you play as a young girl trapped in a dilapidated castle. You gather keys, items, and solve puzzles like in Resident Evil, but combat is entirely different. The thing is the protagonist cannot really fight back. She must hide instead of fight. The enemies will search for her and give chase. Bear in mind Haunting Ground released in a time when this wasn’t really a widespread concept in video games.
Running from enemies is downright disturbing and anxiety inducing. Each section of the game features one singular baddy that’s after you and they show up at random. There’s no telling when these fiendish ghouls will show their faces. You do have a dog companion (which you must also train as you play) but against one of these foes they can only distract. It’s a shame Capcom never made this into a series because Haunting Ground is more frightening, and more entertaining than the majority of Resident Evil titles. I would even say it’s one of the best survival horror games of all time.
Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil
These days almost no one remembers Klonoa. It’s a real shame because 2.5D platformers were a breath of fresh air back then what with 3D taking over and all. Klonoa 2 is the greatest title in the series, and in my opinion one of the best PS2 hidden gems. This game has you playing as the titular fox/skunk character as you romp through several inventive stages. His unique ability is that Klonoa can grab and hold enemies. These can either be tossed at foes or, or thrown downward in mid-air for a double jump.
There’s a neat focus on puzzles that’s uncommon for this genre. Unfortunately there is some backtracking required. Despite this it’s never a slog to play. The graphics hold up remarkably well thanks to the cel shading style and vibrant colors. Because it’s not fully 3D there’s no clunky camera to fight with, and the controls are remarkably clean. If you haven’t already picked it up Namco actually released a collection of Klonoa titles on modern consoles. This is not one to miss because in a sea of PS2 platformers this one might just be the best one.
Lifeline
Sometimes I hate Lifeline, but other times I absolutely love it. I’ve never played a game that’s so fun yet frustrating beyond belief at the same time. Survival horror games were defined by their clunky controls but Lifeline takes this to a new level. You don’t directly control the protagonist. Instead you issue commands to her using the PS2 microphone. From here you watch her interpret (or misunderstand which is most common) your commands and then carry them out. All this is happening while you’re stuck viewing the action from security cameras.
This makes Lifeline the most unique survival horror experience of all time. As I mentioned, the protagonist Naomi doesn’t always listen. She tries her best, but the technology just wasn’t there. This is where the frustration comes in. Regardless there’s something really addictive about the concept. The idea is a good one, and now that technology has caught up (for the most part) I’d love to see it revisited. For now Lifeline probably the only game of its kind, and it’s locked on the PS2 console.
Mister Mosquito
Yes, this is a video game where you play as a mosquito. Given that fact it’s easy to see why most gamers passed on this one it. Heck, they still do. Mister Mosquito has been left behind as a well kept secret. The game has you buzzing through the sky in 3D space and the stages are enclosed rooms within a house. Your goal as Mister Mosquito is to suck the blood of the home’s human inhabitants. Sounds easy, right? Not so much.
The problem is you’re a mosquito. People swat mosquitos. You’re in constant danger here. Mr. Mosquito has to rely pretty heavily on stealth. You’ll find yourself waiting for each member of the family living here to get into some rather unassuming positions so that you can drain them of their previous blood. It’s certainly a unique concept, and the gameplay holds up remarkably well. This is another case of there being nothing else quite like it. Give Mister Mosquito a spin if you’re looking for something obscure and off-the-wall crazy. Heck, it might even make you feel a little bad for the little bugs.
Radiata Stories
In my opinion the PS2 generation is where developer Tri-Ace started to go astray. Star Ocean 3 was a tremendous let down for me and a lot of faith in them was lost. I almost didn’t even bother with Radiata Stories. At the time it released there was kind of a lull in interesting RPGs, and the unique art style and combat system drew me in. The game turned out to be great. Faith restored.
The first thing you should know is that this story doesn’t take itself seriously here. At all. It’s full of jokes. Some of them are hits, and others misses, but Radiata Stories did manage a few chuckles out of me. This RPG uses a lot of traditional mechanics such as exploring dungeons and traveling to towns, but the battle system is more like typical to a Tri-Ace release. Instead of being turn based you can move freely during these encounters and hack away at enemies. It’s similar to, but much better than Star Ocean: Til the End of Time.
Rule of Rose
Rule of Rose was never given it’s fair shake. Publisher Atlus released only a few thousand copies in North America, and with almost no advertising. It also didn’t help that this release came out when the PS3 was already on the horizon. It’s really good though. So much that copies of this title go for a small fortune at auction. Rule of Rose was never re-released in any capacity, and it’s probably stuck as a PS2 exclusive forever.
The game throws you into the shoes of 19 year old Jennifer at the turn of the 20th century. You’re tasked with exploring an otherworldly orphanage full of disturbing monsters. There’s also an airship and some steampunk elements. The storyline is downright strange and given a lot of exposition here. Because Jennifer is just a regular person she’s not a particularly adept fighter. Combat is entirely done in awkward fashion with makeshift melee weapons. To be fair clunky gameplay is kind of par for the course when it comes to survival horror so I’m not going to hate too much. There’s nothing else out there quite like Rule of Rose. I just wish it wasn’t such an expensive endeavor.
Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love
This game has the honor of being the first Sakura Wars game localized for North American audiences. Unfortunately it was doomed in the market. Not only did it release long after the PS3 was a thing, but zero effort went into advertising the dang thing. For all intents and purposes this is actually the fifth mainline Sakura Taisen game, and the first one released on a non-Sega console. It’s a shame that Sega was so weird about localizing their RPGs back in the day.
Sakura Wars: So Long My Love is a strategy RPG that takes place in an alternative steampunk world. The setting this time is a crazy anime version of 1920s New York City. You play as a young man named Shinjuro Taiga swept across seas to the big apple to lead the New York Combat Revue to victory. By day the characters put on dramatic performances in a dilapidated theater, but by night they board giant mechas and do battle with otherworldly demons. I absolutely love the story, setting, style and combat of this one. You move in real-time but take turns during battle which is still pretty unique. The game is part dating sim which is weird, but somehow it all works. It’s definitely one to check out.
Samurai Western
The Wild West is kind of a boring setting for a video game in my opinion. So then how would you spice it up you may ask? With samurais, of course! This game is a unique melding of Samurai action pitting you against gun slinging cowboys. All wrapped up in a cool anime aesthetic. I say that as someone who isn’t even a big fan of anime. I wasn’t expecting much but Samurai Western won me over in a big way.
This is a 3D hack and slash where you run around well designed environments fighting off foes. The difference here is you’re a samurai and the enemies you face are generally cowboys. The flow of the action is fantastic. You can chain attacks and deflect bullets pretty easily. Combat works, and it makes it each fight a pleasure. The game even has RPG elements. Normally I’m pessimistic about these in action titles but here they add a lot to the experience. What’s cool is there are several different weapons you can use. Unfortunately these are only switched out between stages. It’s fun to mess around with these because there’s a good range of functionality. Just experimenting with this mechanic was a real treat. If you’ve been looking for the best wild west game on the PS2 this is absolutely it. Even if it does unironically star a samurai.
Shadow Hearts
The sequels to this game are often cited as some of the best PS2 RPGs of all time. Unfortunately the original is often overlooked. Yes, it’s not as good as the titles that followed it’s still well worth playing.. What’s interesting is that Shadow Hearts is a semi-sequel to the PS1 game Koudelka. It takes place in the same world, and even shares some of the characters/events. If you like that miserable game then you’ll probably love this one.
The focus here steers away from survival horror elements and instead plays more like a traditional Japanese style RPG. The combat system has been completely changed and revamped. It’s more similar to something like Final Fantasy this time around. Combat is strictly turn based and the movement grid in its predecessor was completely ditched. What’s unique is that to attack you have to perform timed button presses. Think Super Mario RPG, but the mechanic here is more forgiving. An indicator goes around on a circular wheel and you have to stop it at just the right time to deal damage. The better you do the more hit points powerful the attack is. This is a pretty unique mechanic and it works quite well here. Don’t just skip to the sequel because Shadow Hearts is worth playing.
Skygunner
Now here’s something a little different in this list. It can’t all be RPGs and survival horror here, right?. Skygunner is a 3D airplane dogfighting game. It’s kind of like Ace Combat but less realistic, more colorful, and covered head to toe in cutesy anime aesthetic. You fly around arenas in your ship and blast away at foes in the sky and on the ground. The story isn’t worth much, but when the game is this fun it’s hard to care.
Skygunner is incredibly stylized. It’s extremely colorful, and the anime art is geared more toward kids. It’s fair to say that Skygunner doesn’t take itself too seriously and honestly that’s one of its greatest strengths. Gameplay is disorienting at first but incredibly fluid. It takes almost no time to get the hang of. You’ll be performing aerial feats of fancy in no time. The combo system is an absolute treat allowing you to rack up chain attacks. Few games trap me into competing for scores but this was one of them. You have three different characters to choose from (each with their own weapons, and other strengths/flaws). Weapons include things like machine guns, missiles, and each protagonist even has their own special attack. Skygunner is a thrilling, entertaining, and rewarding game to play.
The Thing
I’m breaking my rule of licensed games. The Thing is worth it however. This is based directly on John Carpenter’s classic horror film and serves as a canonical sequel of sorts. The action picks up right where the original story left off. You play as a group of army grunts sent in to find out what happened to the missing team on Antarctica. All the while not knowing about The Thing, or even that almost the entire team has perished.
This is a squad based third person shooter where you and a team of NPCs work together to put down the threat. The thing is, every one of your teammates can be taken over by the Thing. You remember the movie after all, right? The alien creature can take over the body of anyone at any time. You must test the members of your squad if you become suspicious. If The Thing is discovered it will transform the person into a hideous monster that’s out for blood. This adds genuine tension to just about everything you do here. The sense of dread is immaculate here. This aspect of the game is really technical for this era of survival horror games and I absolutely love it. The old movie is fantastic, and I’m happy to report that the game carries on the same spirit and quality.
Vampire Night
In a rather odd move Sega released an original horror based light-gun game on the PS2 that isn’t House of the Dead. Considering that was their big light gun franchise at the time it’s kind of a head scratcher. Nonetheless Vampire Night carries over some of the spirit of Sega’s zombie blasting series, and that’s a good thing. It will remind you of House of the Dead at just about every turn. Enemy patterns, and environments are highly reminiscent. The big difference is that these are vampires, but that’s just semantics in my opinion.
The game features over the top action, beautiful graphics, and some serious b-movie grade voice acting. The opening sequence with the lake is absolutely beautiful and drew me in immediately. As I already mentioned vampires are the star this time around. I loved the dark and decrepit castle setting, and found the enemies and their patterns fun to contend with. With that said Vampire Night doesn’t quite reach the same heights as House of the Dead 2. It is however one of the better light gun offerings on the console. If you’re a fan of Sega’s brand of pew pew action then Vampire Night is a no brainer.
Honorable Mentions
For a console as prolific a library as the PlayStation 2 we couldn’t keep our list limited to just fifteen. So let’s check out a few that almost, but didn’t quite make the cut.
Clock Tower 3
The Clock Tower series has never been particularly popular in North America. These were point and click adventures after all, and they came out on home consoles. It’s not a recipe for success. Clock Tower 3 is a more traditional survival horror game. For one thing you have direct control over your character. That’s a plus for sure. Like Haunting Ground this game is all about being chased by enemies. The main character is a teenage girl and therefore has very little combat ability. At best you can only stun foes for a short duration. This adds several layers of tension because sometimes it feels like you’re just playing a game of cat and mouse. A SCARY game of cat and mouse, that is. Clock Tower deserved better and is still worth a look.
Mad Maestro!
Released under the same ‘Fresh Games’ label as Mister Mosquito, Mad Maestro is a pretty unique title. At its core this is a rhythm based game where you press buttons to the beat. The main difference here is that it uses the pressure sensitivity feature of the PS2 controller. I haven’t seen any other game of this sort that uses this concept. Mad Maestro is able to detect three different ranges of pressure. You’ll have to constantly bounce between these. It’s a lot more difficult and skill based than it sounds. What’s really cool is that if you miss three notes in a row you’re plunged into devil mode where your score is constantly plummeting until you play a series correctly. Mad Maestro isn’t amazing, but it’s fun in short bursts. This is yet again an underplayed gem in the PS2 library.
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
Before Persona took off the Shin Megami Tensei series was pretty much universally ignored in the West. Digital Devil Saga is one of the most unique and interesting takes on the franchise. It looks like a typical Japanese style RPG at first glance. It’s heavily stylized and a little more abstract though. The battle system is strictly turn based wherein your party of three transforms into demons, and this is their primary means of fighting. This one is unique thanks to the press turn mechanic which allows them to pass their move to another ally. This is used primarily to target enemy weaknesses. It doesn’t sound major but this mechanic has a huge effect on how battles are played. It’s a great game that has gotten a second life thanks to the newfound popularity of Persona.
