8 Great PS 2 Titles That Still Shine Today

With the release of Pac-Man World 2: Re-Pac in just under a month, it needs to be reminded how much this game meant to those growing up with it. Back when everyone was willing to do a mascot platformer, Pac-Man gave us a surprising second entry in a short-lived but still well-beloved series of platformers. Despite the age, the game visually still looks stunning and is just a pleasant experience for those looking for the Pac’s adventures beyond the dark mazes.

#2 Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom

Spongebob has been known for being a surprisingly big player when it comes to the video game market, with one title that has been regarded as defining the entire brand in some ways. Acting as the means many got close to to playing Super Mario 64 on the PS2, Spongebob and his friends give you a wonderful trip around Bikini Bottom for lots of nautical nonsense. Collecting golden spatulas to take down Plankton’s evil-yet-accidental robot plan, and meeting most of the iconic characters at the time. Even with the remake that came out just a couple years back, there are still many who think the original holds up arguably better in many ways.

#3 Kingdom Hearts II

While for me, and most, are talking about the Japanese only Final Mix version that would later come to new collections. Kingdom Hearts II (even Kingdom Hearts I and a little bit of Birth By Sleep while we’re at it) is still heavily regarded as the best in it’s series.

Featuring engaging combat, colorful worlds and characters, and a fairly intriguing (though confusing at times) story about random people in black coats you get told about in a randomly release Game Boy Advance title trying to create more darkness for the world and fulfill the ideals of lord Xemnas. Despite it’s age, the game feels as if it hasn’t aged a day, and is arguably one of the best Square Enix put out in that generation.

#4 Sonic Riders

A personal favorite of mine, Sonic Riders is an execution-heavy racing game that definitely takes some time to learn and grasp the mechanics. It becomes a joy, and is quite honestly the best racing title starring the blue blur. Even featuring a few guest characters from other SEGA titles: AiAi, NiGHTS, and Ulala. With a unique art style, amazingly well animated cutscenes, and brand new yet fun characters all riding futuristic hovercrafts. There was something to be said about the art that has long since been lost ever since SEGA adopted the characters simply racing in cars. At the very least the extreme gear is being memorialized in the new Sonic Racing: Crossworlds.

#5 SEGA Superstars Tennis

While it is more commonly remembered as being on many other platforms, the PS2 is what introduced me to an underrated gem that has been in desperate need of a revisit. Even though it’s racing counterpart became the bigger success, tennis was a surprisingly fun fit for the SEGA characters to get together on and play. With surprisingly well-done mechanics, a good roster, and fun side modes such as the Puyo Puyo mini-game. It felt like the closest SEGA has truly came to giving Nintendo a run for it’s money, as Mario Tennis has not quite hit since the days of getting it’s handheld RPG counterparts.

#6 Shadow the Hedgehog

Many viewing this will think it is crazy, but I disagree. While the Sonic Adventure titles never hit the PS2, and Sonic Heroes being the terrible experience it is, Shadow the Hedgehog was a marginal improvement on the formula despite it asking for more playthroughs to get to the Final Story. Though instead of going through 4 story modes of varying quality that can take you around 2-3 hours each, optimally playing runs of Shadow the Hedgehog should only take you around 45 minutes if you know what you’re doing. Though with any title in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, learning is your best friend!

#7 Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast

I know, I know, I’ve been putting plenty of SEGA games on the list. It cannot be understated that the era, despite it being quite the restart since SEGA’s failure on the Dreamcast, they were still able to put out amazingly high quality titles across the other platforms to make up for it.

With this title in the Outrun series being an unfortunate miss that it is still locked to this platform. As it is easily the most content rich Outrun title, with graphics that felt a few generations ahead and then some, with the iconic Outrun music being beautifully rearranged for modern ears that is highly recommended of viewers to sit down on. Perhaps even a protest to demand of them to bring this game back in some form!

#8 Cars (PS 2)

Besides Spongebob, the PS2 housed a lot of surprisingly well-made Disney licensed titles. With some other key ones that I grew up with being based on other movies such as Ratatouille, and Wall-E to name a couple. Though it was Cars that I feel stood out the most in an already childhood built around tons of racing games.

It absolutely had a few shortcomings, but for a mid-2000s sandbox racing game starring Owen Wilson as a car it meant a lot to a kid who was already collecting many of the diecast cars based on the film. It definitely holds up the least of the above, but I feel it is absolutely worth a shot for anyone looking down the rabbit hole of the PS2’s seemingly endless amount of games.

While there are definitely way more loveable PS2 games worth going back to, these were just a few that surprisingly hold up in their own ways and come recommended.