I love Magic Pengel and Graffiti Kingdom. First is a turn-based JRPG, second is an action platformer. Both share the same gimmick where you collect materials to make the characters you play with the clunky in-game 3D modeler.
Twisted Metal Black Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (there are pc/steam remasters which are good, but this was my first Atlus game when it came out and it was fantastic to me). any/all of the Sly Cooper games Burnout 3 Robot Alchemic Drive Armored Core (any of the ps2 releases were good I think) Ace Combat Pro Evolution Soccer 5, 6 or 2014 Onimusha Tenchu I didn’t play it originally but I’ve heard good things about Auto Modellista
playing the witcher but I sorta don’t like it. thinking of dropping it and pal world and bringing in the next biggest (in disk size) onto my steamdeck.
yeah the controls are not bad. I did take it off. Honestly its an rpg where I have to be in a character class that im not big on basically. I like the horse mechanisms and such. Would sorta like fast travel from anywhere to the markers.
Final Fantasy isn’t continuous. Aside from races, the occasional character name, and some thematic elements, the games are not connected at all. PS2 has two of the best: 10 and 12.
Of the two, 10 is a more traditional turn-based experience with notoriously awful-in-a-good-way voice acting and a very typical FF plot. It’s not really a spoiler to say that you end up killing god. It features some of the most egregiously awful mini games to grace the franchise. And if you want some of the best gear in the game, you will be committing a not -insignificant amount of time to frustrating button mashing.
Square tried a whole bunch of new stuff with 12 including realtime, MMO-like combat and a much smaller and focused narrative that is mostly a side story occurring inside a larger narrative. The voice acting is infinitely better than 10’s, and there are no obnoxious mini games.
They’re both still worth playing. The PC ports don’t add all that much to the games over what you can do with them emulated. In fact, I bet save states make some of the mini game awfulness of 10 better.
Some small niche games that I grew up with, that I am playing again with my Steam Deck:
God Hand - A third person beat em up that is funny, and really good. Full of flavor. Complete flop.
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy - A third person shooter with psionic powers used as its main selling point. Good dumb fun on the PS2.
Spyhunter & Spyhunter 2 - A shockingly good reboot of Spyhunter by Midway games, where you have a car that transforms its mode depending on the mission. Part racing game, part spy game.
I-Ninja - A 3d action platformer that has Billy West as the lead, a ninja who accidentally killed his Master and now has to get him back and collect bullshit trinkets. Clearly more “just dumb fun” than anything serious.
007: Nightfire - The best James Bond game ever made. Better than Goldeneye. Plays like its an original movie, with solid gameplay, and I spent as many hours on the local multiplayer as I did with Halo. I didn’t see that, but I wanted to share that I love that game.
Evil Dead A Fistful of Bootstick - Still need to play more to see if it holds up, but its an original story featuring Bruce Campbell voice acting.
Ratchet and Clank is the best, and the story is best experienced in order but the first game is a bit clunky so starting on the second game isn’t the worst idea. I personally started with Up Your Arsenal! then got hooked on the series and backfilled.
SSX Tricky, and any of the NBA or NFL Street games, they’re all gas, no brakes. If you can get someone else to play two player (don’t know how well that works on steam deck emulation), check out Cookies & Cream. It’s one of the more clever two player co-op puzzle games, and it’s one of the first games my wife and I played together when we were first dating.
I’ll recommend Kinetica. It’s a one-of-a-kind racing game where you race through gravity-defying tracks as a person in a kind of iron-man negligee with wheels while listening to old-school techno.
Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favorite games ever, battling entities big enough that you run around on top of them, subtle storytelling, an enormous map for the time it was made, and fairly large even by modern standards.
The Tenchu games are also good: ninja stealth assassination.
Dark Cloud 2 is a kind of fun game. Smack your way through dungeons with a wrench and use the bits to build villages for your allies.
Bloody Roar is a favorite for fighting games. Fight to BIOS energy then transform into a wilder form, like a mole, a bear, etc. and you can kick people through the edges of the arenas into new areas to fight.
Devil May Cry is a classic.
Ratchet and Clank, classic.
Time Splitters is reminiscent of even older games.
Space Station 14. I can’t get enough. Even just sticking to botany, the depth and complexity of what can be achieved feels limitless, let alone botanist+syndicate agent where I can buy “gatfruit” seeds and grow revolvers inside fruit.
Hands down the most fun multiplayer gaming I’ve ever enjoyed.
Taking advantage of Epic while it’s taking advantage of me, I’m playing Nightingale. It reminds me a lot of Return to Moria, also an ‘Epic’ adventure.
Character creation is kinda fun as you get to pick your family tree from preset models of any race, then adjust your own model to look a little more like them.
Tutorial is a bit lacking for anyone new to the genre and while the introductory map is quite large, it all tends to repeat. You can go around collecting the basic form of tools and some weapons, which then unlocks their blueprints for free in your progression trees. And boy there are many!
Wood axe, skinning knife, pickaxe, climbing dual pickaxes for climbing walls, umbrella for floating down from great heights, hammer presumably for advanced construction, sickle for harvesting and a watering can.
Then there’s the weapons, sword for slashing, maul for blunt, bow for piercing, slingbow/crossbow with FX marbles and found elemental ammo for rifle, revolver and shotgun.
All can be used to deal damage relatively. The wood axe is the first weapon given.
There are corruption enemies, there’s wildlife, giant spiders, puzzles, destructible environment with some secrets and flying essence point (universal currency so far) swarms that you can chase around. A lot of gathering and different crafting stations. Item modifications, food buffs, resting to change difficulty or day/night. NPCs to stay in base or follow you around.
A lot of little things that can get overwhelming.
But it shows it’s early access. Can’t say i recommend it wholeheartedly. I’m playing solo, so I’m unable to say anything about coop mishaps. If you don’t mind Epic and like the survival crafting genre, I’d give it a go now while it’s free to gain.
I paid for Nightingale on Steam, and I still give it a recommended. For sure shows it’s early access bones, but the crafting is deeeep. Hard sell for some folks though, since it doesn’t tutorialize well.
They do, of course. There’s also a gigantic scene where people modify the consoles. But check my screenshots, this is using PCSX2 via RetroDECK on my Steam Deck, not native hardware.
DVD drive laser does. They’re replaceable however. I replaced mine once because I also used a Swap Magic case mod to play burned discs at the time which accelerates laser wear. Outdated method these days.
Most tech savvy users just soft mod and run games off a hard drive for the fat models or over network LAN for fat/slim. Storing the games on a PC or NAS instead.
PSBBN (PlayStation Broadband Navigator), is a newer alternative to the FreeMcBoot memory card mod for the PS2.
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