Games

It's a little cringe in retrospect, but I really liked my time with Makai Kingdom. Avoid if anime stuff isn't your bag.

Ico had some interesting ideas that are worth a look.

Rogue Galaxy was pretty okay.

Psychonauts deserves a mention, though it's kind of obvious.

Red Faction had cool political leanings for a game of that era.

You've got heaps of great suggestions already so I'll leave it at that.

GOD HAND- the granddaddy of Platinum Games's combo based "beat em ups", made by Clover Studios before they went bankrupt and reopened as Platinum. So think Devil May Cry and Bayonetta but hand to hand 🎵"or fist to fist. Kick your nuts or twist your wrist. God power keeps my pimp hand strong so trust me or you won't last very long."🎵 Yeah, it also has quite possibly the best theme song ever too.

Zone of the Enders the Second Runner drops you into the midpoint of a fairly generic mecha anime plot, but as overseen by Hideo Kojima. It has a lot of "Dynasty Warriors" style "tear through hundreds of fodder with ease" gameplay, but also a very fast paced "attack/dodge/parry" system for fights against beefier enemies that ends up as this fast paced sort of rock paper scissors as you have to adapt to use the right technique to counter the enemy. You fly and can manuever very fast, attacks can come from any angle, and it's just flat out fun to control. There is a PC port/remaster of questionable quality (and no steam deck support), and a xbox 360 port of good quality, but it's mostly just uprezzed graphics that you'll get by emulation anyway.

Fatal Frame II

Mister Mosquito

Gitaroo Man

Ratchet and Clank 3 is missing.

My entire childhood was Tony Hawk's Underground 2 on the PS2.

Def Jam: Fight for NY, dot hack series (originals and G.U.), King's Field 4, Monster Rancher 4, Midnight Club 3 DUB Edition, and quite a few more. I can't look at the games I have installed just yet, but I could always recommend more if anyone is interested. :)

Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance 1 and 2, Champions of Norrath, Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2, Burnout 3, Jak and Daxter, Rachet and Clank, SSX3, Twisted Metal Black, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3. I am sure I forgetting some other amazing games.

The Star Wars Battlefront games. With how horribly the liver service EA version that came out in 2015 was and how dead it apparently is, the PS2 games are the only ones I'll ever acknowledge as existing.

Also, one of my personal favorites that I'd consider a must have is Dokopon Kingdom. Yes the remake/remaster exists, but I don't normally go for remasters in most situations. Gameplay is just roll a spinner, move on board, and adventure around the world while trying to do quests if you are in the story mode.

Both games have a lot of content and replayability in my eyes, which makes a game more of a must have for me.

Edit:

Hot Wheels: Beat That! Looked it up because I couldn't remember the name, but that's a racing game with a good amount of replayability and isn't as short as something like Cartoon Network Racing. Didn't realize it came out on various other consoles and PC, but can definitely recommend on at least PS2 (how I ended up playing it).

Try Dynasty Warriors. It's a genre I don't see much anymore, but you take control of a general and blast through tons of minions in a big battlefield, aiming for enemy generals to turn the tide of battle (reflected in overall 'morale').

All the games tell the same story of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Obviously just play the last one available, because it has all the quality of life improvements, but I'll only play 3, because it's the only one that has Gan Ning with his super-pimp sword resting on top of his super-pimped no shirt tats.

There are two amazing super hero games that I would recommend: Spider-Man 2 and Hulk: Ultimate destruction.

Spider-Man 2 was easily one of my favorite games of all time. This game essentially set the bar for what a Spider-Man game should be.

Hulk: Ultimate Destruction was an open world game where you were the Hulk and did all the Hulk things. I can't think of a recent game where you play as the green giant.

GTA San Andreas (also GTA III, VC, VCS, LCS), God of War 1/2, Gran Turismo 4, Katamari Damacy, SSX Tricky, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Downhill Domination, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3, Ace Combat 4/5, Resident Evil 4, Metal Slug Anthology, Metal Gear Solid 2/3

Shadow of the Collossus

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.

Beyond Good & Evil. Legendary, Ubisoft firing on all cylinders. Weird and French and beautiful. HD remaster is also a fine option but I like it on PS2.

Ace Combat 4, 5, and Zero are great. The music in zero is legendary.

SSX tricky

Timesplitters

Final Fantasy X unless you want to do the HD remaster, which is a great way to play tbh.

Devil May Cry holds up incredibly well and IMO is a must-play.

Metal Arms: Glitch in the System

LOTR games are good fun.

Armored Core 3 is pretty great if you’re into the series as a whole.

GTA Vice City/San Andreas. 3 is fine but VC is better.

Shadow of the Colossus obviously

Ratchet and Clank games

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.

I’m just gonna say that KH2 on the PS2 isn’t even the best one. The HD remake was better bc it was the English release of the final mix. And you can play that natively through steam. Even with mods on the steam deck.

Play Need For Speed: Most Wanted for the PS2. It’s such a great cops vs racers game. It’s perfect for emulation bc shop should save state before selecting the winning card since there is one with a pink slip every time. Back in the day, we would just need to reset the whole system and make sure we saved before 3 full races, and just redo them. Emulation is the way to play this game! I’m surprised no one has recommended this since it’s the most popular need for speed game.

-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

Ace combat 4, 5, and Zero

Star Wars: Racer Revenge is probably the best racing game I've played to-date. It's very similar to, and often confused with, the N64 podracing game, but it's way more polished, and the driving physics are chef's-kiss perfect. Like, the N64 game, the pod and two engines all move together as one unit; basically a car racing game with a pod racer skin. The PS2's Racer Revenge actually feels like you're in a pod that's being pulled by two distinct engines.

Try playing in 1st-person view and set the controls (if you have a PS2 controller) so the left joystick controls the left pod and right joystick controls the right pod - so to turn left for example, you'd pull back on the left stick to brake the left pod, and push forward on the right to accelerate the right pod; since they're tethered together, the right one arches around the left a bit, and it pulls the pod to the left. It's harder to play that way vs the usual 'press X to accelerate' mechanic, but after the first couple laps you'll have the hang of it, and it feels so satisfying.

Unfortunately, the last time I tried to run a rom of this game, it did NOT emulate well, to the point of being unplayable. That was probably at least 10 years ago though, so hopefully advancements since then mean it won't be an issue for you; but heads up.

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

Dance Dance Revolution!

Katamari Damacy

Mercenaries

DOA 2

I don't have a steam deck but I bet Ape Escape would be the perfect series to play on it!

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.

The first three Ratchet and Clank games (R&C, Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal) were phenomenal. The first feels dated by today’s standards, but 2 and 3 are peak. Deadlocked is a divisive entry; Some players loved it, others hated it. Try it first yourself and see. It’s definitely different than the first 3 games.

Final Fantasy X has already been mentioned in the thread, but I’d suggest trying the PC HD remaster instead. It adds a lot of quality of life improvements.

Final Fantasy XII wasn’t well received at launch, and I initially agreed. But that was largely because it didn’t fit into my idea of what a Final Fantasy game should be. I gave it another try a few years ago with a more open mind, and ended up loving it. The gambit system seems basic at first, but eventually opens up into a very versatile system once you start unlocking new gambit combos for it. The Zodiac version is the definitive version, (it enforces a rigid job system, where each character is locked into a specific ability tree) but the original is still alright too.

If you enjoy the Castlevania series, Curse of Darkness is an interesting entry. It features Hector, who has the ability to summon creatures to fight alongside him. They level up based on which weapons you use in combat, so it encourages you to diversify your play style to level up your creatures in specific ways. The gameplay can initially feel clunky by today’s standards, but that’s true of most 3D hack-n-slash games from that era.

Speaking of clunky hack-n-slash games, I see you already have Kingdom Hearts 2. Do yourself a favor, and play the other games (KH1, then KH Re:Chain of Memories) first. CoM has some radically different gameplay, which many players hated. It seems like one you can skip… You can’t. You will be horribly confused for the rest of the series without it. At the very least, go watch the cutscenes on YouTube. In terms of gameplay, KH1 feels janky by today’s standards. CoM is very different. KH2 is where the series really hit its peak.

Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening. It’s a prequel, so you don’t need to play 1 or 2 first.

Metal Gear Solid. Play 3 (Snake Eater), 1, and 2 (Sons of Liberty) in that order. Snake Eater is an early prequel. Then 1 is on the PS1. Sons of Liberty is the direct sequel to 1.

GTA: San Andreas.

Id look up the GT4 spec II mod. it adds a bunch of features to the game and even the Valencia track from Tourist Trophy

Some good ones that are not yet mentioned

• Ribbit King is Golf game with frogs for balls which get strategically shot around a map littered with bonuses and obstacles. Players alternate shots and try to have the most points after both players reach the hole. It's extremely cute and great local multi-player fodder
• Stuntman is tough as nails. You are a Hollywood stuntman pulling off increasingly complex stunts for movies being filmed. At the end of each shoot you get to see the movie trailer filled with clips of your own driving.
• Black is a big dumb loud shooter, and it has zero reservations or shame in that. That's what makes it so much fun to play
• Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is excellent 3D brawling. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King is excellent 3D brawling with co-op
• Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is a 3rd person shooter where you have guns and psychic powers you use in and out of combat.

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

Silent Hill 2

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.

Gitaroo Man

A unique rhythm game with a phenomenal soundtrack.

Some racing recommendations:

Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition

Enthusia

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 (the PS2 version is the best one)

Burnout 3 Takedown AND Revenge, both are stellar

Tokyo Extreme Racer 3 and Drift 2