Armored Core 2, Armored Core 3, Armored Core: Silent Line

Need for Speed Underground 1 and 2

Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 (and go back and play 1 first, if you haven't).

Only other thing that comes to mind is FFX. Just try to resist min/maxing too much. Very unsatisfying to spend tons of hours grinding your characters into unstoppable gods and then go one-shot the final boss.

• The Mark of Kri
• Maximo
• Jake and Daxter
• Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3
• Timesplitters
• The Warriors
• Tourist Trophy

I'm playing through Yakuza at the moment and never bothered with HD textures before so will have a look at that myself.

Dark cloud 1 & 2, star ocean til the end of time, dbz budokai and dbz tenkaichi. That's all I can think of.

There are some good PS2 Crash Bandicoot games-- any of the platformers, or the racing ones (I had Crash Nitro Kart and can confirm it's a good time).

You could also try Kingdom Hearts (+ the sequels, Re:Chain of Memories and KH2) if you want to be confused

If you have the time for a JRPG, Dragon Quest 8 is one of my favorite games ever. Maximo is also a cool third person action game.

If you want a wacky, unique rhythm game: Gitaroo Man

For the PS2 entry into one of the best shoot em up series of all time: Gradius V

For a fun, anime themed, voice acted tactical RPG that you can just literally play forever because it seemingly invented the "looping, start over but with better base stats" mechanic that idle games use these days: Disgaea

(As a bonus, the original PS2 version of Disgaea has a different voice for one of the characters than it does in other releases because they lost the rights or some thing like that, so you get to experience it in a slightly different manner than most other people.)

Robot Alchemic Drive

SSX Tricky, and any of the NBA or NFL Street games, they’re all gas, no brakes. If you can get someone else to play two player (don’t know how well that works on steam deck emulation), check out Cookies & Cream. It’s one of the more clever two player co-op puzzle games, and it’s one of the first games my wife and I played together when we were first dating.

Surprised I didn't see anyone mention Persona 3 FES.

The definitive version of Persona 3, before they simplified the combat system for 4, 5, and remakes of 3.

The epilogue of the game, The Answer, has the best story in the series.

Persona series is [almost] totally standalone; no need to play 1 or 2 first.

Persona 4 and Clock Tower 3

Road Trip Adventure is one of my favourite racing games. It's like Disney cars before then. You get to drive around a world doing side quests outside of races.

Driving can feel clunky and it feels really bad in the beginning, but most of it is due to the fact you start off with bad parts. As you upgrade your car the game starts to feel better and better as it goes on. Eventually you get parts to fly and go under water.

...

Also when it comes to final fantasy, there is no one place to start, each game unless a direct sequel (like X-2) they are all completely standalone. None of them are in the same world or universe. They share similar themes but that's it.

XGRA: Extreme G-Racing Association

Scifi Racer with motorcycles that go through the sound barrier and weapons

You already have an insanely good library. You could probably play for the rest of the year on those games alone. In addition to what you have here, I'd recommend:

Alien Hominid
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Burnout series
Def Jam: Fight for NY
Destroy All Humans 1 & 2
Devil May Cry
Godfather, The
GTA Vice City Stories & Liberty City Stories (NOT ON PC)
GUN
Hitman: Blood Money
Jak & Daxter series
Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Marvel vs Capcom 2
Need For Speed Underground & Hot Pursuit series
Onimusha: Warlords
Psychonauts
Ratchet & Clank Series
Rayman 2
Resident Evil 4
Red Dead Revolver
Sly Cooper 1 & 3 (1 & 3 are probably my favs)
Shadow of the Colossus
Silent Hill 2 & 3
Simpsons Hit & Run
SoulCalibur II
Spider-Man 2 (phenomenal free roam)
Star Wars Battlefront I & II
Super Monkey Ball Deluxe
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Twisted Metal: Black

FWIW, the original PS2 versions of the GTA games that are also on PC are actually better because they removed content as licenses expired. Unless you have the downgraded PC versions - in which case, godspeed.

Even then, I usually stick with PS2 as PC doesn't have support for the analog face buttons that the PS2 had. I don't know if you can emulate that on Steam Deck, but if you play PS2 GTA San Andreas with an OEM controller, pressing the button harder actually does make you go faster. It's magic, and I find it hard to play without now. 😅

I look forward to seeing how the Deck holds up with some of these titles! I'll admit, I've been thinking about getting it to use as a portable PS2 myself.

I remember loving the Mercenaries game

Midnight Club 2

I see you've got 007: Nightfire in that list, so let me raise you 007: Agent Under Fire. The single player is not as good as Nightfire, but the multiplayer is spectacular, as it lets you turn on fun modifiers like moon gravity and use gadgets like the Q Claw on any surface instead of just preset spots. They probably toned down the multiplayer in Nightfire because Agent Under Fire's didn't feel very Bond-esque, but Bond or not, it was a ton of fun. The multiplayer is up to 4 players split-screen on Gamecube, but I can't tell if it still retains that on PS2; often times, back then, PS2 games only had 2 player support while Gamecube and Xbox had 4. This was because the PS2 was weaker and also required an extra peripheral called a Multi Tap to hook up more than 2 controllers. Find some friends and play some deathmatch, if you find yourself in a situation where you can dock your Steam Deck or otherwise play on another computer.

There's also Metal Arms: Glitch in the System, a third person shooter where you play a robot who can take over other robots. It's quite challenging, it's got a sense of humor, and it's probably one of the best games of that era to not get remastered in a modern port. Once again, we've got the multiplayer issue rearing its head, but I'd strongly recommend the single player for this one, too. I also played this on Gamecube back in the day, so just play whichever version is rated best for compatibility in your emulator of choice.

You might also want a Burnout game in your library. Most people seem to prefer Burnout 3: Takedown, but my Burnout of choice was Burnout Revenge. Both great. I wish we got more racing games like these today. Local multiplayer is a dying breed in this genre.

You've got Tony Hawk's Underground in that list, but for my money, the best game in the series is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.

The first three Ratchet & Clank games on PS2 have not been topped by their later entries, as far as I'm concerned. Ever since the fourth game, Deadlocked, the best they've been able to do was to remix ideas they've already used.

Mister mosquito

Shadow of the colossus

Robot Alchemic Drive

Dark cloud

Dragon quest 8

Super monkey ball

Twisted metal black

Soul Calibur 2

I will ALWAYS suggest amplitude (sequel to frequency on PS1). Best rhythm music game ever.

Metal gear solid 2: snake eater

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 was pretty close to the peak of the series if you ask me, and the PS2 version was the superior one. THPS4 also came out on the Playstation 2. I see you already have Underground on there.

If you'd like something you can handily use to consume the rest of your entire life, Disgaea and/or its sequel will probably do you.

Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are also legendary. I haven't tried in ages, I have no idea if modern emulators can get the latter to run at a non-crap frame rate. It'd be a lot nicer if so.

Odin Sphere is an often overlooked 2D action sidescrolling fighting thing wherein you Norse In The North and beat the shit out of absolutely everyone. Its sequel, Muramasa: The Demon Blade is much the same thing except therein you Ninja In The Night instead. The latter stayed locked to the Wii to my knowledge but the former was on the PS2.

The PS2's library is quite vast. I'm not going to go looking this up to prove it right now, but I'm pretty sure it's got the most titles ever released for a home video game console (i.e. not the PC) in history. Even just trying out unknown games at complete random, it's likely to be able to keep you entertained in one way or another basically forever.

I came here to make sure outrun 2006 is mentioned. Try it!

(Also SC2, Burnout and Gradius V but I saw those mentioned)

I would recommend those that doesn't have a remaster version on current systems. Personally I'd recommend:

• Armoured Core 3
• Armoured Core 3: Silent Line
• Armoured Core 3: Last Raven
• Front Mission 4
• Zone of the Enders
• Zone of the Enders 2
• Another Century's Episode
• Another Century's Episode 2
• Another Century's Episode 3: The Final

As others have said, Ratchet and Clank series is fantastic

One I did not see in the comments is Test Drive: Eve of Destruction.

Just throwing Tokyo Extreme Racer Zero into the mix.

Onimusha 3 is a banger

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_PlayStation_2_video_games

I'd just start reading at the top and play some that look fun. Sales are a fair proxy for "good" games. I'm sure there are ratings lists too, if you feel so inclined.

(You can probably skip all the sports games, though.)

The original Fatal Frame trilogy are some of the best horror games I’ve played. Not only are they genuinely scary without using a lot of blood, but they have difficulty that connects well with the scariness.

It occasionally feels “unfair” and makes you feel vulnerable, but is still relatively doable so that you don’t get overwhelmed. At times you’ll be retreading old ground just trying to solve a puzzle when another ghost will come at you out of nowhere.

This is an obscure one, and not high on most people's lists, but my personal favourite PS2 game is Steel Lancer International, a game where you build mechs and take them into arena battles in a post-apocalyptic future.

• Silent Hill 2, obviously.

• Kuon - FromSoftware

• Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex

• Robotech Battlecry (the Xbox release was better, but the PS2 one is fine)

• Berserk Millennium Falcon Arc (there is an English patch)

• Shadow Tower Abyss (there is an English patch)

• Castlevania: Lament of Innocence & Curse of Darkness

• Haunting Ground

• Ultimate Spiderman

• Winback

• Xenosaga 1-3

• Cold Fear (PC version is probably a better pick though)

If you've never played the genre before, I'd throw dynasty warriors at you. Pick whichever was the highest number available, because quality of life improved so much for each one. It's an endless sea of mooks that you smash through until you come up against the wall that is... LU BU!!!

Seconding someone else's suggestion of Psi-Ops - a really cool game that I think flies under the radar a little bit.

Gun is also really cool.

The early Red Faction games are also fun but a bit dated.