You love the PS2, we love talking about the PS2, and there’s still a plethora of hidden gems and absolute whippers that haven’t been mentioned that much. Thankfully, our wonderful comment sections in our other videos were there to ensure that we have the inside scoop on the real hidden gems of the PS2. Now, we get to pass that information on to you, like a bunch of information ants part of one big God Hand-loving hive.
1. Tear Ring Saga: Berwick Saga
Clearly we need to start this list with an apology, as the selections shown in our Sadly Forgotten PS2 Games list weren’t quite what @Verbalaesthet was looking for. Fortunately for us, he left us with an idea that’s about as under the radar as it gets: “One I highly recommend is the brilliant Tear Ring Saga: Berwick Saga. Maybe the best game of this genre ever to be produced. And it’s not that well known.”
If, like us, you hadn’t heard of Tear Ring Saga before, it’s a Japan exclusive duology of strategy RPGs that come from the creator of Fire Emblem Shouzou Kaga after he left Nintendo’s Intelligent Systems back in 1999. Tear Ring Saga would end up causing a legal battle between Nintendo and the game’s developer and publisher, Tirnanog and Enterbrain respectively. Originally, the game was set to be called Emblem Saga, with Nintendo forcing a change to Tear Ring Saga, but the real battle came a few months after the game’s release in May 2001 on PS1 as Nintendo sued on the grounds of license and copyright infringement in order to try and prevent the game from being sold. While Enterbrain were forced to pay Nintendo millions of yen in damages, the Japanese courts ultimately found that Tear Ring Saga had every right to be sold, a ruling that allowed spiritual successors to legacy RPGs to become commonplace in the years since.
All of this, and we haven’t even gotten to talking about the second game, Tear Ring Saga: Berwick Saga, which was released on the PS2 in 2005. Like Fire Emblem and the previous game, Berwick Saga has you forming a party to revitalize the Berwick League in its fight against the Raze Empire. Crucially, Berwick Saga contains some key differences from its inspirations and source material, with the main difference being that combat takes place on a hexagonal grid instead of a square on. Those two extra sides on every space gives combat and strategy that extra bit of dynamism that keeps the action fresh throughout the lengthy campaign. Another innovation is that a good chunk of the recruitable party members are actually mercenaries, requiring you to fulfill certain conditions in order for them to join full time. Considering mercs can often be just filler grunts for your army, having them actually become a core part of your roster is a neat mechanic.
If you’re interested in giving this a go yourself, fan translations of Berwick Saga are available online, so fire up the emulators when you get a chance.
2. Kessen 3
Koei might have had one of the biggest libraries of PS2 games, though if we’re being honest, most of them were just re-releases or revisions of the same game. Xtreme Legends and Empires are still just Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors games, guys. However, for @AnimeBrosAMV, one Koei game deserves more love than it receives: “For me it has to be Kessen 3. I play that game on PS2 to this day!”
Much like Dynasty and Samurai Warriors, Kessen dives into the romanticized history of Asia to create a game about smacking hordes of dudes with a massive weapon. While Kessen 2 took from DW to retell the story of the hundreds of years old novel Romance Of The Three Kingdoms, Kessen 1 and 3 are all about samurai and Feudal Japan. The first game was a mostly historical retelling of the war between the eastern Tokugawa clan and western Toyotomi clan, with a few romanticized embellishments of events and a couple of what if scenarios thrown in for good measure, but Kessen 3 is a fantasized take on the life of historical figure Oda Nobunaga. The game even paints Nobunaga as more of a virtuous hero, compared to Onimusha where he was a big demon villain.
As for the game itself, you control one of several warriors as they lead their troops into battle. Unlike the Warriors games, you have an army following you at all times, and you need to keep their formation in line when attacking other units, activating skills and abilities that can turn the tide in your favor. While that might sound like you’re a bit too divorced from the action, all playable characters can trigger a “rampage”, which zooms the action in and allows you to just control the leader. Here, you have sixty seconds to cause as much damage as possible, earning experience, cash and the ability to restore lost troops in the process.
For our money, we reckon a new Kessen game would be interesting to explore. If nothing else, it’d make a nice change from the poor reviews Dynasty Warriors has been getting.
3. Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex
We’re not here to tell you that Ghost In The Shell is some kind of hidden gem franchise that only the cool kids know. We’ll leave it for guys like this instead. What some people do forget about though is Ghost In The Shell’s tie-in games, including Stand Alone Complex, based on the anime of the same name. @jesusiskingofkingss stated as much in our comments: “it’s not very forgotten but Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is an amazing game that deserves more popularity”.
Right you are fella, but we’re sorry: Triple H is the one true King of Kings.
Set between the events of the first anime series and its sequel, 2nd GIG, the game follows Section 9 members Major Motoko Kusanagi and second in command Batou as they investigate a conspiracy involving the Japanese government. Granted, that doesn’t narrow it down in the slightest in the world of Ghost In The Shell, but this conspiracy has something to do with micromachine rice, so at least that’s a bit different. Players switch control of both Motoko and Batou during the course of the game, with both characters playing differently to each other just to keep the action fresh.
While Batou’s levels are a bit more straightforward, with his superior firepower able to crater anyone unfortunate enough to be on the same city block as him, Motoko’s levels are much more interesting. The player is able to use her agility to maneuver quite freely around the level, jumping up walls to reach new heights. Imagine Sam Fisher had Mario-like jumping abilities and you’re getting the sense of the verticality we’re talking about. Throw in some cool abilities like hacking, which allows you to take control of your enemies to turn them against their friends, and the fact that the full voice over cast from the original anime series reprise their roles in this game and you’ve got something that both fans and action game lovers can enjoy.
Seriously, you could probably release the Motoko levels today and it’d probably become one of the most wishlisted indie games on Steam.
4. Ribbit King
@jonathaneaves376 laid down the challenge for us in the comments, and who were we to not nibble on that bait just a little bit: “Ribbit King. I’ve never heard anyone on any platform mention this game”. Well, you’re about to now.
A sequel to Kero Kero King, which was released exclusively on the PS1 back in the year 2000, Ribbit King is a weird one. Weird probably doesn’t even begin to cover it, if we’re being completely honest, but it’s definitely an accurate place to start. Essentially, you play as a lad by the name of Scooter who’s competing in a sport called Frolf, a portmanteau of frog and golf. You’re playing golf with frogs, only replace the golf clubs with hammers and catapults for some reason. The goal is similar to golf, in that reaching the hole in the fewest strokes possible is advantageous, but earning low strokes on a hole just gives you points towards your total, and each hole has a host of weird interactables that give players points too, whether it’s floating bubbles filled with points or flies that the frogs can catch.
Look, are we going to sit here and say that Ribbit King is the best PS2 game ever made and the fact it never won game of the year is a disgrace? No, we know it’s not polished and it’s a bit too weird to gain any real success, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of fun to be had here. The game’s career mode allows you to unlock plenty of new characters for use in multiplayer, along with different frogs that each have their own unique properties and strengths. You can even equip one of five power-ups to give yourself some kind of advantage during the match.
If you want to see a game that spotlights the PS2’s library at its most imaginative, something that would be unheard of in today’s gaming landscape unless Astro Bot fancies a round of Frolf, Ribbit King deserves to be checked out.
5. Twin Caliber
Commenter @Goatbone wasn’t exactly forthcoming when he made his recommendation to us on the Actually Underrated PS2 Hidden Gems video: “Twin Caliber. Thank me later.” Thank him we will though, as Twin Caliber looks like the most 2002 game ever made, with a combat system designed to make players feel like they’re in the hospital scene Hard Boiled.
If you’re struggling to remember Twin Calber, it might be because the game only launched in Europe, and developers Rage Software actually failed to rage against the dying light soon after its release. Like all good video games, Twin Caliber opens with a text crawl telling us about a mysterious young woman that’s rocked up at the small American town of Sweet Liberty (not to be confused with the line that plays when your Helldiver stubs their toe). Cut to one month later, and the entire town is now ruined, with zombie-like mutants running rampant. The last survivor in town, Sheriff Fortman, has retreated to the prison and decided to seek help from the one person he shouldn’t trust, the criminal Valdez, who inexplicably is topless the entire time. Weird cults and monsters are fine, but a protagonist doing his best impression of the average Wigan high street visitor is a bit hard to get onboard with.
The game itself plays out like a mixture of Time Crisis and a twin stick shooter, creating a third-person on-rails game that’s every bit as bonkers as it sounds. You’re moving along a set path, but you can control both of your arms using both sticks, allowing you to mow down the hordes of monsters that are standing between you and liberating the town from this madness. As you progress through the game’s 20+ levels, you’ll unlock new weapons to switch from, giving you more firepower when the hordes and monsters grow stronger.
The game does have some flaws, with the graphics being pretty naff and the boss fights offering some horribly unbalanced roadblocks in your journey, but grab a friend and you could have a proper laugh with this one.
6. Rogue Galaxy
Look, we know that Rogue Galaxy isn’t the most hidden of gems, given that you can buy and play the game right now on PS4 and PS5, but we’re including it here as recompense for commenter @Stratuvarious8547, who made his feelings very clear indeed: “Poor Rogue Galaxy, snubbed on your Best Playstation 2 RPGs list and now forgotten on your PS2 Hidden Gems video.”
First of all, thanks for sticking through two whole videos of our waffle, a record of some kind, but secondly of all, let’s fix that.
A Level-5 fronted action RPG, Rogue Galaxy follows the adventures of one Jaster Rogue, an unassuming young farmer who ends up being whisked across space by a group of pirates who believe him to be a legendary warrior. Along the way, like in most RPGs, the party ends up becoming embroiled in a massive conflict, and the fate of everyone in the galaxy rests in the hands of Jasper. Oh, by the way, did we mention that ships which travel to and from planets in the Rogue Galaxy world actually resemble normal human ships, complete with masts and sails, giving the whole game a Treasure Planet-esque vibe? Making that comparison, it actually makes sense now that Rogue Galaxy failed to meet Sony’s sales expectations.
While the story and characters play a bit more on the basic side, arguably appealing to a younger audience, it’s the gameplay and RPG mechanics that’ll keep players coming back for more. Rogue Galaxy utilized real-time hack and slash combat, in a time when most RPGs were still utilizing some kind of turn-based system or time-based mechanic like Final Fantasy 12’s ATB system. Being able to let loose a bit more was a liberating feeling, but that’s not all. Rogue Galaxy’s RPG mechanics like the Revelation Flow, similar to the Sphere Grid or License Board in FFX and FFXII respectively, gives players access to new moves, while Level-5 also brought back weapon synthesis from Dark Cloud in order for players to really hit their stride power-wise.
Again, Rogue Galaxy is available right now on PSN, so if you feel like giving it a try, it’s pretty easily accessible.
You know, if you have a PS4 or PS5 anyway. The same can’t be said about this next game.
7. Grandia 3
“My hidden gem is Grandia 3”, @sang3tsu stated in our comments like that picture of the one guy stood up in the courtroom. A game that managed to be left out of a HD collection for the Grandia series, Grandia 3 is a decent game by any stretch of the imagination, but for diehard fans, it’s not the same as the originals.
Still, games in legacy franchises that weren’t quite as loved as the rest of the series make for excellent hidden gem fodder, and Grandia 3 meets that criteria effortlessly.
Set in a fantasy world where humans can control plane-like vehicles via the power of magic, you play as a young chap by the name of Yuki, who dreams of following in the footsteps of the legendary pilot Sky Captain Schmidt. One day during a normal flight, he and his mother discover a young girl being accosted by some shady men, so the two set out to rescue her, revealing herself to be a Communicator by the name of Alfina, who can speak to the planet’s Guardians. Because Yuki is immediately lovestruck like a dog, Miranda agrees for the two to escort her in her Communicator duties, with the growing party uncovering a plot to revive an evil Guardian in the process.
Before the next time you do something charitable, just think to yourself: “will this end up in me fighting Sephiroth?”
The gameplay of Grandia 3 follows the same mechanics and principles as the other games in the series, utilizing an active time battle system to determine attack order and the like. Basically, each character and enemy’s icon progresses along a bar until it reaches the action phase, where an action can be selected. Once the icon then reaches the end of the action phase, the action is triggered, with actions able to be interrupted with the proper timing.
Most critics would end up agreeing that the gameplay is the real highlight of the overall package, while the story was considered too linear for most fans and RPG lovers. Looking back now though, a shorter length RPG with less exploration doesn’t sound like the worst thing in the world. In this day and age, a game like Grandia 3 would make for a great palette cleanser between games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
8. Battle Engine Aquila (@Briers221)
Battle Engine Aquila first made its debut on PS2 in 2003, making very few waves in the process. Fortunately for any big Battle Engine Heads out there, or whatever you fans refer to yourselves as, aquilaholics?, @Briers221 was on hand to remind people of its existence: “Battle Engine Aquila. Not a lot of people talk about this.” Time to rectify that.
Another entry into the genre of “put the player inside a cool vehicle and let them lay waste to everything”, Battle Engine Aquila follows Hawk Winter, who is a dockworker despite having the coolest name in existence. Clearly nominative determinism kicked in a bit late for the guy though, as Hawk Winter ends up becoming the pilot of the experimental Battle Engine. Just in time as well, because war has begun to erupt between Hawk’s country of Forseti and the aggressive Muspell invaders. Reviews at the time were decent if not groundbreaking, but for whatever reason, the game just flopped in terms of public attention and sales, despite the fact you control one of the coolest vehicles in gaming.
Players can pick from four different types of Battle Engines, each with their own weapons and abilities, but each engine shares the capability of swapping between Jet Mode and Walker Mode. Jet Mode allows you to fly for a limited amount of time, giving you plenty of mobility to cover these massive battlefields, while the Walker Mode allows you to let loose with the Battle Engine’s full arsenal. As for the levels themselves, you’re given quite a bit of freedom in how you want to approach battles, which targets you want to take down and, in some cases, which orders you want to follow.
In the grand pantheon of mech games, it’s not exactly Armored Core 6: Fires Of Rubicon, but what is? Despite that though, Battle Engine Aquila is still an interesting and fun experience you should check out, especially as it is actually on Steam right now.
9. ONI (@bawanafox251)
Most people associate Bungie with either the first five Halo games or Destiny, its sequel and the various expansions that have been released, but their earlier work tends to be forgotten. While Bungie are bringing back Marathon, though they might be second guessing it after Concord crashed and burned, one game has seemingly been forgotten by all except @bawanafox251: “ONI, gameplay like Fighting force and i don’t know why no one talks about this game, kinda forgotten.”
It’s funny that we have both ONI and Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex on the same list, as ONI was quite heavily inspired by the Ghost In The Shell film. GITS: SAC, the only thing people should call that game, would then feature a similar mix of gunplay and melee combat that ONI did, so it’s just funny how things go around in the gaming industry. Anyway, Bungie’s Ghoul In The Clam–I mean, Oni, sees players controlling Konoko, who is an agent of a totalitarian government lying to the public about the dangers of this post-apocalyptic cyberpunk world. Of course, the government is lying about Konoko’s origins too, so she goes rogue and starts clashing with the government and a criminal group known as The Syndicate in an attempt to discover who she truly is.
The levels themselves are pretty open ended, with players able to unleash an array of combos and melee focused moves to takedown opponents. There’s guns too, but you can only carry one weapon at a time and ammo is pretty scarce, so for the most parts, you’ll be letting your fists and feet do the talking. As you progress through the game, you’ll fight against a decent variety of enemies, each with their own fighting styles and methods to takedown, and there’s even power-ups to find that’ll make life against the government and The Syndicate ten times easier. While the story and minimalist graphics were criticized by reviewers at the time, the gameplay animation and range of moves have ensured that Oni has become fondly remembered by some fans. Fun fact: this game was published by Rockstar, owned by Take-Two, who were planning to also publish Halo before Microsoft swooped in, meaning we came relatively close to having Halo on PS2. Check out more on that in our PS2 facts video.
10. Road Trip Adventure (@brett7799)
People love open world racing games. Look at the likes of Need For Speed Underground 2, Burnout Paradise and the Forza Horizon series. Being able to hit the open road in a range of vehicles without having to deal with the real world consequences of causing a 20 car pile up is brilliant wish fulfillment, but one game beat all of those to the punch, and @brett7799 wants us to talk about it: “Road Trip Adventure was the greatest hidden gem.”
Part of the Choro Q series of racing games, Road Trip Adventure has been considered by many to be the best in the series thanks to its tight gameplay, the introduction of the open world to explore and range of content on offer for players. The story, because yes this racing game also predates Need For Speed’s weird FMV cutscenes, sees the President of, I don’t know, the whole world I guess, decide that he’s had enough of being the big man in charge and wants to leave it all to whoever can win the World Grand Prix, a series of seven races open only to the most elite drivers. Naturally, top level drivers flock to the area like suspicious circumstances surrounding Boeing, with your created driver making the decision to win the whole damn thing. Little side note: you’re also given the ability to choose the name of the game’s currency, which of course should always be “poop”.
Once the introductory cutscenes are over, you’re pretty much free to explore the world at your leisure, completing races and recruiting fellow drivers, finding collectibles off the beaten path or just competing in one of several minigames like football, golf, ski jumping and others. Along the way, you’re earning Stamps that track how much of the game you’ve completed, and with 100 Stamps to collect, there’s a lot to complete.
While Road Trip Adventure did get a re-release, it was only in Europe and it was on the PS3 store specifically, meaning that specific port has now been lost to time. With Sony upping their efforts in preservation somewhat thanks to the PlayStation Plus Premium package, Road Trip Adventure would be a great candidate for a new port.
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