The PS2 is now over two decades old. However, there are still fans of the system pining over some of its classics that are hard to play nowadays. Some games are on PlayStation Now along with PS3 and PS4’s digital store. However, there are still many that remain lost to time which were never re-released in any form past the PS2 or any other launch hardware.
Some of these games have been forgotten for good reason though. While bad, it’s important to remember the games that tried to go for something even if the execution wasn’t a hundred percent perfect.
8 Auto Modellista
Auto Modellistawas a Capcom racing game that featured cel-shading as the main gimmick. It released for the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube in North America in 2003. Despite all of those platforms, it was never seen again on any of their future consoles’ digital services. The idea of a cel-shaded racer was also not further explored. It wasn’t the best racer as the visuals again seemed to be the focus, but it seemed like a cool enough idea that could have worked out better in a sequel given more time.
7 Bujingai: The Forsaken City
Gackt was, and still is, a Japanese music idol. Besides his music career, he attempted to make a mark in video games in the mid-2000s. This game was the first to use his likeness which was a PS2 exclusive in 2004 in North America.
After that, he made a brief appearance as G in Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII but had a more prominent role in the prequel, Crisis Core. As for Bujingai itself, it was a fairly average action game that was never re-released.
6 Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
Fallout started as a PC exclusive series before moving onto consoles with Fallout 3. That’s the history one might know, but there actually was a console game prior to that. Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel launched on PS2 and Xbox in 2004. It was a top-down RPG that felt like it was trying to be like a Diablo game on consoles. It wasn’t terrible but its averageness made it one to easily forget.
5 Lifeline
The late 90s and early 2000s were filled with survival horror games trying to chase that Resident Evil money. Konami found success with Silent Hill but they made another horror game that was perhaps too ambitious. Releasing only on PS2 in 2004, Lifeline saw players instructing a waitress aboard a space station overrun by aliens via a headset. It was sort of like Parasite Eve but in space. The thing was the voice detection made it frustrating to play as it was buggy, to say the least.
4 Clock Tower 3
On the subject of Capcom, Resident Evil was not the only horror franchise they made. In fact, Clock Tower predates that series as it was a SNES game. It and its sequels, like this game, were more survival adventure games without action. One had to avoid danger instead of confronting it. Clock Tower 3 only released on PS2 and has been the last game in the series since 2003.
3 Mega Man X: Command Mission
The Mega Man series has seen many spinoffs. One genre it dipped its toe in was RPGs via the Battle Network series that started on GBA. Many may not remember this PS2 and GameCube RPG from 2004 though. It was Capcom’s attempt at a Final Fantasy X-like battle system but with Mega Man. It was flawed but many fans still have a soft spot for it.
2 Metal Slug
Metal Slug has primarily been a 2D run and gun shooter since its inception in 1996. The only exception was this PS2 game, just called Metal Slug, which only released in Japan in 2006.
It was probably never brought over because the reviews were poor over there. Reviews often wrote that the game didn’t look or feel good in 3D and that the camera was problematic.
1 Spy Fiction
The world knows SWERY today as the man behind Deadly Premonition. Prior to that, he had a plethora of other games he worked on like Spy Fiction in 2004. It was an attempt to splice a Metal Gear Solid-like story into a Mission Impossible-like spy action thriller. The story had its quirky moments reminiscent of Deadly Premonition but it was a little before its time as well. The world was not yet ready for SWERY.