I’ve been sinking further and further into the RetroDECK time-sink of setting up my emulators just so, and having the most fun doing so. The PS2 is a largely unknown system to me, I neither had one nor spent much time before now playing through some titles.
So…this is what I have so far! Most have either HD texture packs (Rule of Rose for example, and also Silent Hill 2 has a incredibly big 29GB of HD textures, I added after taking this screenshot), or mods applied (Gran Turismo is Spec II)
I haven’t got MGS3 there, as I’m waiting for the remake to arrive, but…
Can anyone suggest any titles which are ‘must adds’ for me? I’d appreciate it!
Not yet mentioned:
Prince of Persia Trilogy (Sands of Time, Warrior Within, Two Thrones)
God of War 1&2
Devil May Cry 1-3
Bully (Canis Canem Edit in PAL)
Killer7
Under the Skin
Viewtiful Joe 1&2
It’s Tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s right on time It’s Tricky…it’s Tricky (Tricky) Tricky (Tricky)
SSX. All of them.
…from what I’ve read and seen in the past, that game can be rather risky on one’s thumbsticks due to all the efforts in making yourself look as amazing as possible.
(sounds worth it, tbh, thanks!)
Luckily since you have a Deck, you can realistically change your thumbsticks should they get damaged.
-Dark Cloud (1 and 2)
-Time Splitters 2
-Red Faction
-Grandia 2
-ICO and Shadow of the Colossus
-Shinobi
-Twisted Metal Black
-Ape Escape (2 and 3)
-Armored Core 2
-Dead or Alive 2
-Gran Turismo 3
-Final Fantasy X
-Grand Theft Auto III / Vice City / San Andreas
-Midnight Club Street Racing
-Soul Calibur 2
You and I would have been friends in 2001. We’d have smoked some weed, and played that stoner game where hou create a story one word at a time…and somehow, that one word always ends up being “penis”.
Okami is native on PC, so I’m curious, why not run that? This is coming from someone who does a lot of emulation but I’ve never seen the need to emulate when a native port was the option. Even bad ports I find are often better because of community made mods that fix a lot of issues. Its possible I havent found the worst port though.
Katamari Damacy
Mercenaries
DOA 2
Katamari.
Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix. If the first three Fast and Furious movies tickle your fancy, it’s the go to game
Crazy Taxi, GTA Vice City, Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec, Gran Turismo 4, ICO, Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Midnight Club, Midnight Club II, Odin Sphere, Shadow of the Colossus, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill 3, Shinobi, SSX, Star Wars Bounty Hunter, Time Splitters 2, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3.
That’s my PS2 collection sitting on my shelf. Some of these have been remade into arguably better versions on later consoles, but the originals are still good.
Shadow of the Collossus
No one mentioned the Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank games. Those were my childhood growing up and in my opinion hold up gameplay-wise to this day.
Plus the Jak series have a native launcher called OpenGOAL.
While I never played them myself, I have heard good things about the Sly Cooper series.
Second the ratchet and clank suggestion. Such a great series overall! I’m not at all ashamed to admit that I own or owned every single game in the series at some point (with the exception of the app which I didn’t find out about until far too late)
Going Mobile from 2005? That was surprisingly fun. Apparently you can still find it as a JAR file and play it using a Java emulator.
https://ratchetandclank.fandom.com/wiki/Ratchet_%26_Clank:_Going_Mobile
EDIT: Anyone know what the best way to play a JAR on Steam Deck would be? I tried using J2ME Loader on my phone, and while it runs fine, the touchscreen controls are just not great.
Most of the good stuff’s been mentioned, so some B-Sides:
If you like JRPGs, the Xenosaga series
NBA Street 2
Don’t think I saw Jak and Daxter mentioned, they’re great
Freedom Fighters is flawed but so fun
Edit: forgot Zone of the Enders
Loved the Xenosaga series, shame they never actually got to make the 6 games they wanted.
Jak and Dexter games absolutely, but I actually prefer the later ones that aren’t just platforming like the first.
Yeah, such a bummer they got shut down, especially since the gameplay was just finally getting really tight by episode 3.
Same page on Jak and Daxter, first is definitely my least favorite, the evolution of the gunplay, exploration and vehicles was awesome.
Manhunt 1 & 2, God of War
