It’s hard to remember a time when Bandai and Namco were separate companies. The merger happened in 2006 which was around the time when Square and Enix combined in 2003. For Japanese companies, it easily made sense to do this and this was the era of the PS2.
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Together they have made a lot of hits beyond the PS2 and many of them have been hard like the various Dark Souls games in collaboration with FromSoftware. For now, let’s look at the many nail-biting challenges from Bandai and Namco separately and together on the PS2. Some are easy to play today while finding others will be a challenge in and of itself.
9 Kill.Switch
GameFAQs Difficulty: 3/5
- Released: October 28, 2003
- Developer: Namco USA
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance
kill.switch is an important game in the history of the industry because it was one of the first to include cover-fire as a mechanic. It was a step outside of the typical run-and-gun genre like Contra. The game followed a super soldier, Nick Bishop, fighting in a made-up war somewhere in the desert.
In some ways, ducking behind cover made the game easier than older shooters. However, the need for cover was apparent quickly because players would die quickly without cover. There were certainly some missions wherein players had to fine-tune their movements within pixel-perfect degrees.
8 Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies
GameFAQs Difficulty: 3/5
- Released: September 13, 2001
- Developer: Project Aces, Namco
- Platforms: PlayStation 2
Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies is the first game on the PS2 for the series. Like all other entries, players could jump into a variety of jets and take down enemies in the skies. The flight simulator and flight combat simulator genres were huge on PC and often required flight sticks. That wasn’t a big controller option on the PS2, which made games like Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies harder. The native controller arrangement was fine on the PS2 albeit a bit clunky. Controller issues aside, enemies would not let up on their fire, leading to a lot of retries.
7 SoulCalibur 2
GameFAQs Difficulty: 3/5
Soulcalibur II
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 2 , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 , Arcade , GameCube , Xbox One
- Released
- July 5, 2002
- Developer(s)
- Project Soul
Fighting games like SoulCalibur 2 can often be hard for players not used to the genre. Thankfully, the actual difficulty levels can be raised or lowered. However, even on the easiest setting, getting to the final rounds could still prove to be tricky.
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Besides the difficulty, SoulCalibur 2 was a big deal because every console had an exclusive character. The GameCube had Link from The Legend of Zelda, Spawn was on the original Xbox from his titular comic series, and Heihachi from Tekken joined the PS2 roster.
6 Ridge Racer 5
GameFAQs Difficulty: 3/5
- Released: March 4, 2000
- Developer: Namco
- Platforms: PlayStation 2, Arcade
Like the fighting game genre, the racing genre can be tricky too because of rubber banding AI. It’s not in every racing game but this means when players get ahead of a race, something will ignite within an AI character to get better.
It’s most noticeable in games like Super Mario Kart but it is somewhat alive in Ridge Racer 5 too. This was the first game in the series on the PS2 and it gave the Gran Turismo franchise a decent run for its money. Winning a race in this game could sometimes feel impossible unless every right turn was made.
5 Xenosaga Episode 2: Jenseits Von Gut Und Bose
GameFAQs Difficulty: 3/5
- Released: June 24, 2004
- Developer: Monolith Soft
- Platforms: PlayStation 2
The first game in this series, Xenosaga Episode 1: Der Wille zur Macht, was balanced in the right direction. It wasn’t too easy and it wasn’t too hard, falling somewhere in the Final Fantasy 10 territory. This sequel, Xenosaga Episode 2: Jenseits von Gut und Bose, cranked the dial up so hard it broke off. It is incredibly unforgiving, forcing players to grind like mad. The thing was, even normal enemies could kill players if they weren’t utilizing their abilities correctly. It was the dark middle chapter in terms of the story and gameplay and thankfully things in the gameplay department at least were tweaked for the finale.
4 Namco X Capcom
GameFAQs Difficulty: 3/5
- Released: May 26, 2005
- Developer: Monolith Soft, Namco, Capcom
- Platforms: PlayStation 2
Namco x Capcom is a Japan-exclusive tactical RPG that crosses over Capcom and Namco characters. On Capcom’s side, players could recruit characters like Ryu from Street Fighter, Mega Man Trigger from Mega Man Legends, and Kos-Mos from Xenosaga. On Namco’s side, players could recruit characters like King from Tekken, Taki from Soulcalibur, and Klonoa from his titular series. Players who dove into this game with an import know how brutal this got with all of the enemies on missions. Tactical games are often some of the hardest RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics.
3 Katamari Damacy
GameFAQs Difficulty: 3/5
Katamari Damacy
- Released
- September 21, 2004
- Developer(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment
- Genre(s)
- Action
The first Katamari Damacy was a mind-blowing experience from the intro movie leading to the title screen. The song was wildly catchy and there was so much weird stuff going on. The gameplay was interesting too as players had to roll up random trash with their balls at each level.
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Once players got to a certain size, that ball would be turned into a star, and then they could move on. The controls were janky in this initial title though and some challenges didn’t give players enough time. The remake made things much easier, but the original version on PS2 is no easy task to complete.
2 Urban Reign
GameFAQs Difficulty: 4/5
- Released: September 13, 2005
- Developer: Namco, Project Soul
- Platforms: PlayStation 2
Urban Reign was a modern idea for a brawler, which was a genre that was quickly fading out by this generation. Players could go around tough neighborhoods, beat up thugs, and move on. The controls weren’t sublime though which led to players getting brutalized more often.
Capcom tried to keep the genre alive with a 3D brawler too, Final Fight: Streetwise, which was equally tough and obtuse. Urban Reign was no match for modern action games that implemented a lot more style into combat like Devil May Cry.
1 Death by Degrees
GameFAQs Difficulty: 4/5
Death by Degrees was another brawler-like game and it was a spinoff from Tekken. One of the core playable characters from that series, Nina Williams, was given this game to expand the universe. Instead of using buttons, all of her movements were controlled using the two thumb-sticks.
It was an idea that was ahead of its time as many recent twin-stick shooters and action games work perfectly fine with modern thumb-sticks. Nina’s movements, especially her actions during combat, were held back on the PS2 controller though. Controller issues aside, it was just an unfair and poorly balanced game on top of many other flaws as commented on by reviewers back in the day.
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