PSOne recommendations you can get through the PSN service. (Note: Currently US only, but EU/PAL should be added soon.). Filtered PS2 Classics list, cross-check with our PS2 reccommendations.
Screenshot | Title | Genre | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Beyond Good and Evil HD | Action Adventure | The cult classic from the makers of Rayman makes its way to PSN with an HD uplift. An action/adventure game with stealth elements, a good style, solid gameplay, and a surprisingly deep story involving a government conspiracy and the photographer bent on exposing it. Seriously, if you don't have a copy/haven't played it, buy it. Let them know that the sequel is wanted. | |
Blast Factor: Advanced Research | Shoot 'Em Up | Pretty much Geometry Wars, but you fight against the ongoing infection in certain specimens. This one is less on survival and more on completion. Cleanse 8 cells and move on to the next specimen. Simple and fun. | |
Braid | Pretentious Puzzle Platformer | Use some very well-done time manipulation powers to save the princess. Or maybe it's a girlfriend. Or candy. Or the atomic bomb. Don't pay attention to the hipster games-as-art bullshit "story", just pay attention to the myriad of time-powers (and the ending is pretty good too). | |
Burn, Zombie, Burn! | Run 'N Gun | A top-down mop-killing shooter where your job is to play as a Bruce Campbell rip-off and flamethrower as many zombies as you can. You get score multipliers for however many zombies are currently on fire. Pick this up if you wanna kill some time and zombies. | |
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger | FPS | A great $15 downloadable game that has little to do with Call of Juarez. Cowboy shoot-the-bad-guys. Five to six hours of gameplay, no multiplayer, decent replay value. | |
Castle Crashers | Beat-'Em-Up / RPG | One of the best couch multiplayer games this gen. Up to 4 players pick from different classes with different spells, weapons, and familiars, then tear the shit out of everything on screen. You also level up to learn new skills and power up your abilities. Has some of the craziest boss fights of recent gens. PSN version also includes extras and a new volleyball game mode. | |
Comet Crash | Tower Defence | ||
Costume Quest | Adventure / RPG | Note: Best played around Halloween. You play as a kid trying to rescue your sibling kidnapped by troll-like monsters. However, this game has a nostalgic childhood-like feel to it. The dialogue, the attitudes, along with the general humor and plot can really take you back. In dealing with obstacles, you find, build, and use costumes and their abilities to proceed, such as a light-up toy sword to scare away darkness phantoms. The battles are a little simple, but play well enough and are rather cute and silly, being hilariously exaggerated through imagination. The game is a little short, but the DLC expansion chapter rounds it out nicely.
The PC version comes with the DLC! | |
Crash Commando | Run 'N Gun / Shoot 'Em | A multiplayer focused side scrolling dual-stick shooter in a similar style as Soldat for the PC. Players run around arenas using one of six default weapons or other discoverable weapons or vehicles blowing each other up. Good fun online, and supports bots online and offline. No split screen unfortunately. Has a decent amount of DLC. | |
Critter Crunch | Puzzle | A surprisingly original "match three" style puzzle game with GORGEOUS 2D animation. You have a big row of critters of varying sizes and qualities, such as poison or exploding critters, and you have to grab smaller ones, feed them to bigger ones, destroy big sections of similar critters, eat the crystals, and repeat. The challenge and puzzle modes are really well thought out, too. Plus, it's like 6 bucks, goddamn. | |
Crystal Defenders | Tower Defence | A Final Fantasy tower defence game where you place units in strategic areas and face against 300 waves of monsters in the span of three chapters. | |
Cuboid | Puzzle | Move the cube from point A to point B while fending against puzzling obstacles preventing your success. A pretty challenging and fun puzzle game. Has pretty good music too. | |
Dark Mist | Action Adventure | A game very reminiscent to Legend of Zelda on the NES. An overhead dungeon crawler where you can gain hearts, diamonds, keys, and crescent moons. Master several dungeons and defeat bosses and you got yourself a nice lil' Zelda-like game. You even have a spin attack for fuck's sake. Not available in North America, Europe and Japan only.
| |
Darkstalkers Resurrection | Fighting | A compilation of both Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge and Darkstalkers 3, updated in HD with online multiplayer, spectator mode, and new unlockables.
Available as a physical release, but not in the west. | |
Daytona USA | Arcade Racing | The arcade classic returns once again to home consoles. A perfect port of the arcade version, which holds up surprisingly well. Three courses, three difficulties, Logitech GT Driving Force steering wheel support (only one supported, God knows why) and a Karaoke mode. Not that you needed that to sing along to the fantastic music any way, with such classics as Let's Go Away and Sky High. | |
DeathSpank | Action RPG / Diablo-esque | A goofy Action RPG by Ron Gilbert of Monkey Island fame. Do heroic deeds like stuffing annoying orphans in a bag, slaying stoopid chickens, hammering magical poop out of demons, and more as you quest for an ancient, powerful artifact: The Artifact. A bit short, but fun, easy to control and great humor. Gets better with the more weapons and skills you get. A pal can co-op in at anytime as SPARKLES THE WIZARD. He shares your health bar, but has handy magic like ranged damage and healing. | |
DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue | Action RPG / Diablo-esque | DeathSpank ventures to the war-torn land north of last game. Humor and quests are mostly the same, if not better; but now your arsenal is more impressive. Poison bazookas, ice grenades, laser monocles, earthquake shovels, etc. replace the medieval gear before (the new melee weapons act like the old ones, so no worries). The DLC is mostly for fun, but goes cheap anyways. Note: Console versions may sometimes get bugged with a late-game quest, but Hothead is willing to help anyone who encounters it. | |
The Baconing | Action RPG / Diablo-esque | The 3rd chapter of the Death Spank games isn't even titled Death Spank, but the love is still there! Not as good as the other Death Spank games, but it's not really horrible either. | |
Dead Nation | Top Down 2 Stick Shooter | Awesome co-op top down shooter. It doesn't sound original at all (you run through levels and kill hordes of zombies while purchasing upgrades for weapons and armor), but it's one of the most polished and fleshed out top down arcade games you'll play. | |
Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara | Beat 'em up / Action RPG | Compilation of two of Capcom's arcade classics, Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, and Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara. Includes online multiplayer, a new loot hunting feature, and online leaderboards.
Only available as a download for North America and Europe. The Japanese release does have some JP-exclusive minor extras that the download doesn't, but you have to deal with moonrunes and importing though. | |
Earthworm Jim HD | Side-Scrolling / Run-'N-Gun / Platformer | Rediscover the grooviest action game of all time in full hi-def glory with Earthworm Jim HD! For the first time, grab friends and combine your wormy powers in four-player co-op! If you never played Earthworm Jim back in the retro days now's the perfect chance to check it out. | |
Echochrome | Puzzle | A very Escher-esque puzzle game in a minimalist style where the camera angle determines the shape of the level. Will hurt your mind after a while. Comes with level editor. | |
Elefunk | Puzzle | A bridge making game that tests the bridges you make by withstanding the weight of the elephants that walk across it. NO, this doesn't make you an outstanding architect. Actually really easy. | |
Fat Princess | Strategy / Multiplayer | A mix of strategy and cake-feeding action in this multiplayer oriented game. Up to 32 people compete in 2 teams to rescue their princess, while feeding the hostage princess to make her fatter and harder to rescue. Has classes, resource gathering, and more. The DLC addes even MORE stuff, but isn't mandatory. Also has a PSP spinoff that plays quite similarly. The biggest flaw of this game is that matches can sometimes turn into a never-ending tug-of-war. Online multiplayer is somehow still alive and includes bots for when a full 32 player lobby cannot be acquired. | |
flOw | Puzzle | A short game that's the precursor to Flower, Flow takes place on a microscopic scale where you control plankton that must gobble up other plankton. With the expansion, there are six different plankton in all. Simple gameplay, but extremely soothing. | |
Flower | Puzzle / Relaxation Simulator | You play as a gust of wind/flower petal that goes around and blooms other flowers, normally to complete an objective. Extremely beautiful and relaxing. Sixaxis controls and fun and don't feel gimicky. You might think this game is for pansies (HURR PUN) but if you just get over yourself and try it you might be suprised. Has stunning level designs and an actually interesting "story". | |
Gravity Crash | Shooter | Pretty cool 2D shooter. | |
Gunstar Heroes | Run 'n Gun | A goddamn runnan/shootan classic. Check out the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive page here if you don't remember it. | |
Hard Corps: Uprising | Action Shooter | Made by Arc System Works of Guilty Gear and BlazBlue fame, this "spiritual successor" to Contra: Hard Corps is all you could ask for and then some. The game is beautiful, the soundtrack kicks ass, and you'll be in awe at how smooth the controls are. What are you waiting for, go and get what may possibly be the best Contra game of this gen! | |
Journey | Adventure / Multiplayer | Explore beautiful landscapes and form a closer bond with a fellow player you never talk to than any other human being you've ever met, ever. Why can't I hold all these feels? (You can find who you shared an hour of your time with later by checking Recently Played with in the Friends category on the main menu) | |
The Last Guy | Sim / Puzzle | An absolutely bizarre game where you control a good zombie in a top-down view on city maps that look like satellite maps. You must rescue civilians trapped inside buildings while dodging bad zombies - it plays a little like the classic Snake game. | |
Limbo | Platformer | Beautiful, simplistic black-and-white puzzle platforming adventure with a fantastic atmosphere. Short, but well worth it. Incredibly moving soundtrack if you're into ambient music. | |
LocoRoco Cocoreccho | Platform | Similar to the PSP titles, except instead of tilting the world you guide the LocoRoco to the goal with a cursor. Sports unique colorful paper collage/mosaic-like graphics. | |
Lumines Supernova | Puzzle / Rhythm | A semi-port of a kickass PSP game, Lumines is a puzzle game with rhythm elements - blocks fall from the top of the playing field and it's your job to create a 2x2 square of matching colors before the time line sweeps them away. It's like Tetris meets your local club DJ. Has free DLC and regular DLC. | |
Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers | TCG | Good MTG game, best for beginners to the game since decks are pre-made and while you unlock cards, you can't make custom decks. I might be in the minority(not really), but this is what got this anon into the real card game(great starting point for anyone looking to get into MTG). | |
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 | 2D Fighting / RIDE TAKAN | I'M GONNA TAKE YOU FOR A RIDE! This awesome game is now in DLC for on the PS3/360! Pretty much a port of the DC version but with modernized features (e.g., trophies and DLC), this port is worth getting not just because it's fucking MvC2 alone, but because IT HAS GREAT FUCKING ONLINE TOO! It's around 15 bucks so choose wisely... | |
Mega Man 9 | Jump'n'Run | It's Mega Man, back to 8bit style, still hard as balls (although some claim it's still too easy, they're just trying to look hardcore, it's not working). If you liked the old games, you'll like this one. | |
Mega Man 10 | Jump'n'Run | Same as 9, it continues the series in the lovely 8bit style. Easier than 9, especially if you play as Bass, but it can still kick your ass. This one has more variety in it, with creative mini-bosses (almost 1 per stage) and stages. Protoman and Bass are playable as well. | |
The Secret of Monkey Island | Adventure | One of the most famous and successful adventure games ever made, this one is considered a cult classic by many. Help the "mighty pirate" Guybrush Threepwood defeat the evil ghost pirate LeChuck, win the love of the beautiful Elaine Marley and uncover the titular secret of Monkey Island. Exceptional writing and humor, this game is a mandatory play for everyone who loves adventures everyone. This is a remake with modern graphics and voice acting. The artstyle is generally agreed upon to be ugly and the controls are fucktarded, but you can also switch to the original graphics and interface easily. | |
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge | Adventure | Just like Monkey Island 1, but longer, funnier, and all around better. Get a job by tainting soup with a rat, kidnap two large animals for your twisted machinations, practice voodoo against your foes, and cause two huge explosions while stealing everything that's not nailed down. This is also has a remake with redone graphics and full voice acting. The remake art is better looking this time around, but you can still return to the original style at will. | |
Namco Museum Essentials | Minigame | Well, it's a collection of Namco games. Now with achievement-ish systems and other miscellaneous unlockables. Not bad for a nostalgia trip or for giving younger kids something easy to pick-up-and-play. Rev up your Solvalou and give this a go. | |
Noby Noby Boy | Sim / Sandbox / Being A Dickhead | The entire point of Noby Noby Boy is to stretch your character boy. That's it. But it's really weird and inventive, and you can spend hours just fucking around and eating people, and seeing how much you make GIRL grow. Everyone who plays the game reports their points, and they all get tallied up. Each point grows GIRL a little longer. Collectively, we've gone past Jupiter in actual distance. That's actually a pretty fucking crazy achievement. It's only 5$ so there's no excuse not to support this gem of a mindfuck. Also, local multiplayer up to four players. | |
Ōkami HD | Action Adventure | Okami, now in glorious 1080p. Be a wolf goddess in medieval Japan, run around doing inane things for villagers, and be a part of a beautifully realized parody of Japanese mythology and culture. Very long, with some rather tedious cutscenes, but the graphics are more beautiful than ever (just be sure to turn the rice paper filter up.) The full credits are back, but sadly without the Reset song that the Wii/PS2 versions had. Comes with Move compatibility if you want to waggle. No physical release in the west, HOWEVER, the Hong Kong version comes with fully compatible English. Otherwise, get off the PSN store. | |
Pain | Physics | You launch people out of a cannon and try to hurt them as much as possible, while also trying to fuck up the environment as much as possible. You can also make the people you launch grab onto things, which opens the door to all sorts of crazy madness (grabbing onto a subway for example). Sounds simple but it can be pretty damn cool.
Received a physical release in Europe. | |
Pixeljunk Eden | Platformer | A minimalist platformer where you control a 'grimp', a sort of bug that is able to jump and stick onto plants and rocks in the game, as well as create threads. You need to learn to extend your thread to swing and leap higher and higher. Uses heavily stylized graphics and a soundtrack guaranteed to blow your mind. | |
PixelJunk Monsters | Tower Defense | An entertaining strategic tower defense game. Hoards of enemies attack your lives and you must build towers on the trees to protect them. Upgrades, nine types of towers, many different types of enemies to kill. Comes with Co-Op and Remote Play. There's also a PSP Ultimate edition. | |
Pixeljunk Shooter | Shooter / Puzzle | Glide around, shoot things, save people, and enjoy that soundtrack. Just make sure your engine doesn't overheat. | |
PixelJunk Sidescroller | Shoot'em up | A PixelJunk styled shmup, complete with real imitation arcade cabinet screen, high score leaderboards and various difficulties. It's rumoured that this game is actually being played by the crew on the spaceship in PixelJunk Shooter... | |
Piyotama | Puzzle | Kind of like Tetris Attack, lining up four in a line, but you have to slide your rows all the way while maintaining some pieces outside the board. It's a new type of puzzle game for all who like Tetris Attack or Meteos. | |
Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic | 2D Fighting / Beat 'Em Up | Sort of like super smash bros, but with it's own perks. It's 100% balanced for example, because all the characters are the same. You can shoot out energy balls and do rocket punches n shit. It's a lot more "flowing" than smash bros. Just try it. Developers of LittleBigPlanet's first game. | |
rain | Platformer | A game where you play as a young boy exploring a town while under some weird spell that only makes him visible because of the rain splattering on him. Has some stealth elements where you try to escape from some monsters, but is otherwise a simple linear platformer type. Because of the spell he goes invisible in shelter so you have to keep track of where he is with mud puddles. Has a super cool narration told through floating storybook text, which sometimes works as a hint system. | |
Rocket Knight | Platformer / Shoot 'Em Up | The new Rocket Knight game with Sparkster hacking and slashing and shooting and jetpacking through many levels. Is slightly difficult and lacks a little more variety, but it's still a fun ass Rocket Knight. | |
Savage Moon | Tower Defence | A tower defence game so hard they actually had to release an easy-mode patch for it. A PSP sequel has been released that is much supperior to this game (except graphics). | |
Shatter | Shooter | Breakout / Arkanoid clone with some fresh features and | |
Skullgirls | 2D Fighting | Indie 2D fighting game partly made by a few members of the fighting game community. Skullgirls is a beautifully sprited and animated fighting game that takes inspiration from Capcom's older titles, while doing its own thing as well. Netcode is pretty good, and the story should at least last you a bit. While it has a limited roster, plans are to gradually update it with more characters with enough support. Re-released on PSN as Skullgirls:Encore due to new content from Indiegogo campaign, including some hundred+ tweaks/balances, faster gameplay, "Drama meter", Expanded training mode, improved online play, and more stages. Get the free characters(5), they're fun. | |
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I | Platformer | REALLY FUN. A bit different from the classic 16-bit Sonics, sure, since the physics were nerfed and there's a homing attack. Instead, the gameplay is more reflexive. Did I mention there's a homing attack!? Gets a bad rap for not staying true enough to the original formula, but taken on its own, it's a good game. | |
Space Invaders Infinity Gene | Shoot 'Em Up | Space Invaders: Infinity Gene is a great evolution for the classic series and one of the best space shooters in recent years. If you like shoot 'em ups you'll like this, since it takes elements from all sorts of them. Originally an iOS game but the "port" to PS3 adds a ton of stuff. | |
Stacking | Adventure | Double Fine's Industrial Age tale remixes traditional Point-And-Click with Stacking Dolls. As a tiny doll, the young lead Charlie can't do much alone, but he can stack within others and manipulate people using the status, prestige, and abilities of his disguises. This is a bit short, but there are actually multiple solutions for nearly every puzzle and the game encourages/entices you to find all of them in replays. The aesthetics are just delightful, recalling silent movies and plays, but filled with the color and technology seen in the era proper. Definitely try the demo if nothing more. | |
Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars | Sports / Minigame | Wins the award for "Most Descriptive Title". You control small rocket-powered cars that can FUCKING FLY and you play soccer with them. Split-screen multiplayer is a blast, and the theme song is pure camp. | |
Super Stardust HD | Shoot 'Em Up | One of the first titles released on the PSN, this dual stick shoot-em-up is one part Asteroids and one part Geometry Wars. Use three upgradeable weapons, bombs, and a booster to blast your way through 5 levels of asteroids, dangerous aliens and some pretty huge bosses. Features two player mode and several expansions that add a whole new host of fun extra modes. Great music and shiny graphics round out the package. | |
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition | 2D Fighting | Port of one of the best and most beloved fighting games of all time, except this time, Capcom wow'd us with challenges, Online Gameplay, Dipswitches, Unlockables, and best of all, GGPO NETCODE! Thats some cool shit there, bro. | |
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | 2D PAZZURU FAITING | Just like below, Capcom re-released one of the best puzzle fighting games of all time (if that even is a real genre). you just sit back and watch the kawaii fly. But in all seriousness, a fuckawesome game that is now clear as fucking crystal and in HD. Online multiplayer also! | |
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | 2D Fighting | The last version of Street Fighter II (a game that has been continually updated/re-released since its first release in 1991, so 'last' should be interpreted loosely). It has all the characters. It is solid, balanced, the music has been remixed by OCRemix, and all the backgrounds/characters have be redrawn to support HD by UDON. Some character movelists have been expanded and tweaked to give the game not only more depth, but balance as well (for example Ryu can do a Hadouken fake, which sets you up for a combo). Online Multiplayer doesn't hurt either. | |
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection | 3D Fighting | It's Tekken 5, downloadable, with extra features, such as online play. Do want. | |
Tokyo Jungle | Survival Sandbox | Humanity vanishes, and Japan is taken over by wild animals. You pick a species and attempt to eat, fuck, and survive in the ruins of Tokyo. Carnivores hunt and kill other animals for food, while herbivores try to avoid conflict and find plants. 50 different species, RPG mechanics, pet dress-up, and some reasonably priced DLC. The gameplay is unique and I dare you to find anything like this. | |
Tori-Emaki | Misc. | Also known as "bird-picture scroll" it's an interactive picture scroll which is pretty nice. Utilizes the Playstation Eye. | |
Trash Panic | Puzzle | An insanely tough puzzler where you need to compact trash into a garbage can by smashing and breaking it up. Think Tetris but with actual shit. 6 stages on normal mode that get progressively crazier. | |
Trine | Platformer | Beautiful physics-based platformer set in a colorful world where you switch between three different characters to use their unique abilities to defeat skeletons, collect hidden treasures and build platforms to climb on. Also has local co-op where you and two friends pick a character each and play together. Has a sequel on PC/Mac with online co-op, and on PSN as well. | |
Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown | 3D Fighting | The second update to VF5 includes new characters from VF5R and further improvements to animations etc. Only available via download. | |
Wipeout HD Fury | Racing / Action | Very fast futuristic racer with great graphics and a fantastic soundtrack where you shoot at the other racers and what not, sort of like a (much) more hardcore Mario Kart. Runs in 1080p at a fluid 60 fps, and 3D. Includes 8 tracks (you can also listen to music off of your hard-drive), 8 ships (with several skins) and 4 game modes. Wipeout HD Fury adds 12 new tracks, 13 new skins, 3 new game modes (Including the fan-favorite eliminator! Think Twisted Metal on an actual racetrack at several hundred MPH.) and some new music, and is also available as a Blu-Ray game in Europe, if you prefer a tangible variant. Supports online and split-screen. | |
World Gone Sour | Platformer | A game that takes some elements from Donkey Kong Country and Pikmin, You control a Sour Patch Kid trying to control and murder others, and you get AWARDED FOR IT. It's pretty decent, actually. | |
Worms 2: Armageddon | Turn-Based / Side-Scrolling / Physics / Shooter | Worms 2: Armageddon is the most fully-featured Worms game ever. With four player online and offline multiplayer, voice support, a raft of new weapons (including the return of some iconic weapons from the past), all-new high-definition landscape themes, new play modes, hats, skins, speech-banks, loads of other customization and to top it all off, a highly-involving single player experience with tutorials, deathmatches, races, fort games, and puzzles. It's a package as high on fun as it is destruction. | |
Yakuza 5 | Beat 'em Up / Idol Simulation | Following Yakuza 4, Yakuza 5 brings us five playable characters: Kiryu, Saejima, Haruka, Akiyama and newcomer and former baseball player Shinoda. To top it off even further there's five cities this time: Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka. Notable changes to the game include the new fight engine which allows for much bigger fights and character specific uses of the heat gauge. Every character except for Akiyama also have their own unique "Another Drama" substory. This includes everything from taxi driving, street racing, hunting, baseball and becoming the toppu aidoru.
For the west, the game is only on the PSN so go and buy this, especially if we ever want to see any other Yakuza games on this side of the pond. | |
ZEN Pinball | Pinball Simulation | Have you ever noticed how a lot of pinball games are floaty and weird and have completely unrealistic physics? Don't you just hate that? Yeah, apparently so did Zen Studios: This isn't a video pinball game so much as a physics simulator with pinball rules bolted on. If you're a pin veteran frustrated by how you can't use any of your usual ball control in video games, play this. Comes with four tables, and the DLC tables are $2.50 each, but are totally worth it. |
Delisted Games[]
These games can't be bought anymore. Listed here for posterity. And you can still install it on CFW consoles, search for 'game_name + pkg'