Jak and Daxter as well as Ratchet and Clank are both fun series. Jak was always weird in emulators for me, but maybe it works now.

Lots of good suggestions from everyone.

No one mentioned Mr Moskeeto though!

We played the hell out of Shaun Palmer’s snowboarding. And I’m pretty sure we hammered Tony Hawk too.

NBA Street Vol 2 or V3. Never found another sports game that's as much fun.

Games only last a few minutes and there's no concept of seasons or anything. It's just casual streetball where no rules matter - including the rules of physics.

The legend of dragoon

It depends on whether piracy is in the mix. If it is, that opens up assorted unofficially translated games. Super Robot Wars: Original Generations, for instance, if you are into strategy mecha games.

Metal Saga might appeal if you are into sandbox RPGs and a lover of tanks. Also, dogs with rocket launchers on their back.

I'm bias, but Sly Raccoon is such a great series. I thoroughly enjoyed it growing up. I see you have Sly2 in your image. I would suggest starting with the first game and move up from there.

If you can get a webcam working for Eyetoy games, we played a fuckton of the window cleaning game. Even though its objectively shit.

I'll recommend Kinetica. It's a one-of-a-kind racing game where you race through gravity-defying tracks as a person in a kind of iron-man negligee with wheels while listening to old-school techno.

Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favorite games ever, battling entities big enough that you run around on top of them, subtle storytelling, an enormous map for the time it was made, and fairly large even by modern standards.

The Tenchu games are also good: ninja stealth assassination.

Dark Cloud 2 is a kind of fun game. Smack your way through dungeons with a wrench and use the bits to build villages for your allies.

Bloody Roar is a favorite for fighting games. Fight to BIOS energy then transform into a wilder form, like a mole, a bear, etc. and you can kick people through the edges of the arenas into new areas to fight.

Devil May Cry is a classic.

Ratchet and Clank, classic.

Time Splitters is reminiscent of even older games.

Red Faction 2 wasn't a bad little shooter.

Highly recommend playing 'Forbidden Siren', but WITH A WALKTHROUGH. Amazing and scary story, but for a slow gamer.

The original Yakuza 1 and 2, though I'd recommend the Restored mods for each because the localizations (especially Y1's dub) were notoriously awful. Hilarious at first, but that wears off fast. (Though it is so funny to me how Y7 dub Kiryu's VA is the original VA from Y1, you'd think they would've wanted to forget that ever happened LOL)

When I first played the series I played the remakes first, and after going back and playing the originals I understood why so many series vets weren't happy with the remakes. Y2 especially has some of the best feeling combat in the franchise.

I just finished up a playthrough of SSX3 about a month ago, and I used PCSX2 for the playthrough. With the resolution unlocked and better texture filitering, the game's graphics hold up nicely. Locked 60fps (except for one level), and just a really stylized grahpical presentation that still feels modern.

In terms of gameplay, the controls definitely have a learning curve with having to preload jumps and sheer amount of button combinations the game expects you to use and remember, but boiled down you are usually just holding dpad for a spin and then your modifier button + a trigger. The game isn't particurally hard unless you are going for Platinum medals, and I found the soundtrack pleasant enough to listen to as it ebbs and flows with how well you are doing on the course.

I definitely spent way more time with SSX Tricky as a kid, but after playing through SSX3 as an adult, I would definitely say 3 is a much more polished and approachable game than Tricky.

The original Yakuza games! Yakuza and Yakuza 2. There is a patch out now to for the original Japanese dub for the first game

Dark Cloud 2 is a super unique dungeon crawler RPG. I absolutely love that game.

Some small niche games that I grew up with, that I am playing again with my Steam Deck:

God Hand - A third person beat em up that is funny, and really good. Full of flavor. Complete flop.

Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy - A third person shooter with psionic powers used as its main selling point. Good dumb fun on the PS2.

Spyhunter & Spyhunter 2 - A shockingly good reboot of Spyhunter by Midway games, where you have a car that transforms its mode depending on the mission. Part racing game, part spy game.

I-Ninja - A 3d action platformer that has Billy West as the lead, a ninja who accidentally killed his Master and now has to get him back and collect bullshit trinkets. Clearly more "just dumb fun" than anything serious.

~~007: Nightfire - The best James Bond game ever made. Better than Goldeneye. Plays like its an original movie, with solid gameplay, and I spent as many hours on the local multiplayer as I did with Halo.~~ I didn't see that, but I wanted to share that I love that game.

Evil Dead A Fistful of Bootstick - Still need to play more to see if it holds up, but its an original story featuring Bruce Campbell voice acting.

Primal is a game that got a lot of hype at the time but nobody ever seems to talk about any more. No remaster, no sequel, nothing.

The EA Sports BIG titles are stupid fun. Highly recommend SSX Tricky, NBA Street Vol. 2, and NFL Street 2.

MX vs ATV Unleased is a classic. Great racing game.

ATV Offroad Fury 2 is fantastic, but hard to emulate.

I'm sure I'll think of more, but those are great off the top of my head.

Silent Hill 2 and Fatal Frame

Twisted Metal Black Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (there are pc/steam remasters which are good, but this was my first Atlus game when it came out and it was fantastic to me). any/all of the Sly Cooper games Burnout 3 Robot Alchemic Drive Armored Core (any of the ps2 releases were good I think) Ace Combat Pro Evolution Soccer 5, 6 or 2014 Onimusha Tenchu I didn't play it originally but I've heard good things about Auto Modellista

Gitaroo Man!

I only played it recently but it really feels like an underrated gem that you don’t see mentioned that often in lists of “best PS2 games”

It’s a rhythm game with goofy visuals and cutscenes. Also super hard at points but the music is great!

Steambot Chronicles is my favorite game of all time. It's not well known, but absolutely incredible.