Highlights
- The PS2 allowed villains in games to have more life and emotions, moving from text boxes to full voice acting.
- Despite being home to great games and famous villains, the PS2 also had underrated and forgotten antagonists.
- Characters like Kun Lan, Manah, Hikawa, Claudia Wolf, and Wendy are some of the most fascinating and underappreciated villains on the PS2.
While many games on the previous gen had featured 3D settings and voice acting, the PS2 featured increased storage space that allowed for more life to be injected into these characters. As they often do, villains knew how to take advantage of the situation and gave themselves every opportunity to become the best the industry has seen. Villains were able to go from terrorizing the heroes through text boxes and occasional voice actors on the PS1, to experiencing the full range of emotions that the upgraded hardware of the PS2 offered.
10 Best Characters That Debuted On The PS2
A lot of legendary characters debuted on the PS2. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg.
But while the PS2 may have been able to stake its claim as the best-selling video game console of all time with one of the greatest software libraries ever, some of its best antagonists remain largely forgotten. As the PS2 is home to some of the greatest games of all time, it was hard to stand out on a console that featured villains like Xehanort from Kingdom Hearts and superstars like The Boss from Snake Eater. But even with all of their villainous peers standing in their way, they were still just as compelling and intriguing as their more famous counterparts.
5 Kun Lan
Sinister Leader Of The Heaven Smile Organization
Killer7 is easily one of the most underrated games of its generation, as it forms the basis of the Capcom Five, a collection of games designed to boost hardware sales. While Killer7 was relegated to being mostly forgotten, its main antagonist Kun Lan suffered the exact same fate.
The leader of a terrorist organization known as Heaven Smile, this sharply-dressed and brilliantly written villain never quite got the credit he truly deserved. His creator, the legendary Suda51, would eventually go on to create even more fascinating villains, but Kun Lan remains one of his most forgotten and fabulous creations.
4 Manah
One Of PS2's Most Sinister Antagonists
Drakengard
- Released
- September 11, 2003
- Developer(s)
- Cavia , Square Enix
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG , JRPG , Fantasy , Science Fiction
Drakengard was a series that never quite managed to achieve the recognition it deserved, but its creator Yoko Taro would go on to even greater success with the NieR games. These muted results meant that one of the PS2's greatest villains, Manah from the first Drakengard, went sadly under the radar.
Every Drakengard And NieR Game, Ranked
The Drakengard and NieR series are known for their excellent narrative complexity and philosophical themes.
Manah is a member of the Cult of the Watchers, commanding an entire army and making use of powerful telepathic abilities. This sneering, pint-sized antagonist is one of the PS2's most forgotten villains who would later become the protagonist of the second game.
3 Hikawa
Charismatic Villain Responsible For Engineering The Apocalypse
Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne is one of the PS2's greatest and most challenging RPGs, but the focus always tends to be on the demons and monsters when it comes to villains. Characters like Lucifer tend to get the most of the mind share, but Hikawa is easily SMT3's greatest and most underappreciated villain.
As the one who organizes and sets the events of Conception, the world-ending event that jumpstarts the story of Nocturne, Hikawa isn't often given the credit he deserves. His devil-may-care attitude and excellent dialogue make for a fantastic enemy, but one that often gets passed over on the SMT villain hierarchy.
2 Claudia Wolf
Deranged Cult Leader On A Mission To Create Paradise
After the first Silent Hill game, Konami took the franchise in a different direction for the sequel and ultimately left the cult storyline surrounding The Order in the shadows. But the third game brought that back in full force, introducing the newest leader in the form of Claudia Wolf.
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These horror games from the PlayStation 2 are the genre's best titles from the console's era.
Clashing with one of Silent Hill's most popular protagonists in the form of Heather Mason, Claudia has been lost in the shuffle of other great villains from the series like Pyramid Head. But her motivation and disdain for humanity has driven her to create a new paradise. Through a brilliantly subtle performance by Donna Burke, Claudia remains Silent Hill's most tragically forgotten villain.
1 Wendy
Unexpected Villain Is PS2's Most Underappreciated
Rule Of Rose
- Released
- January 19, 2006
- Developer
- Punchline, Shirogumi
- Genre(s)
- Survival Horror , Adventure
In terms of PS2 games, Rule of Rose may be the one that gets forgotten the most. This deeply disturbing and morally complex survival horror game is one that deals with some incredibly dark subject matter but does so in a very classy way. One of the best examples is the way it handles its lead villain, the deceptively innocent Wendy. Introduced as a little girl who is the only source of positivity towards player character Jennifer, Wendy is presented as something truly innocent in a world full of evil.
Her turn and reveal as the villain is one of PS2's greatest moments, but one that is unfortunately not as popular as it could be due to Rule of Rose's obscurity. The controversy and low sales put Rule of Rose in an awkward position, as it failed to achieve the status of its peers. Despite all that, Wendy remains one of the PS2's most fascinating and sadly forgotten villains in a game that is in desperate need of a remaster of some sort.
