Once upon a time I briefly had a PS2. It's a long story what became of it that I'll skip here but my best memory of that is playing some racers, especially Mx vs ATV 1 and 2. I remember buying a number of titles for it at the time but they all went with the system. One in particular I wish I had gotten to play was Final Fantasy X. I have never played a Final Fantasy game and other than what I just mentioned I have no console experience.

Anyway, the local Gamestop shop is selling refurbed slimline PS2 machines for just 40 bucks and I've been thinking about getting one of them to try out console gaming for cheap and play some good old games for PS2.

Well, who better to ask about Good Old Games than you guys so, what would be your most highly recommended titles I should look for for PS2? I'm planning to check the rack at Gamestop of used PS2 games as well as maybe hunting for some on Amazon.com. I won't do ebay (another long unrelated story).

Exclusives to the system that are classics would be cool. I also like racing games, rpgs and fps games. I'd really like to try a good fps on console and see if I can get comfortable using a controller in that genre.

So maybe you guys could do some top 10 PS2 games lists or whatever suggestions you care to make? That would be great. Thanks!

Oh, and survival horror would be very cool too!

Survival Horror:

Silent Hill 2+3
Resident Evil 4 or Code Veronica X
Haunting Ground
Fatal Frame
Siren
Clock Tower 3

RPG:

Final Fantasy X, X-2, XII
Dragon Quest VII, VIII
Xenosaga
Kingdom Hearts
Suikoden III, IV, V (1 and 2 on the PS1)
I've heard good things about the Shin Megami Tensai games.

Action/Platformer:

Jak series
Ratchet & Clank series
Devil May Cry series (I've been told numerous times to avoid the second game)

Didn't play many racing games or shooters on the system.

... there's literally tons more good offerings for the system, but that's all I can really think of at the moment based on your genres. If you don't mind wrestling games, "WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain" is probably one of the best for the PS2.

Fatal Frame 2. Evil Dead: Regeneration is pretty good, what I've played of it. I really like Drakengard, but it's very love it or hate it. I can't be of too much help with FPS's, since I really can't play them without a mouse and keyboard, but maybe try Killzone? Also, Fatal Frame 2. Excellent, excellent game.

Okami and Bully were fun games.

Personal reccomendations from Roman5, handpicked just for you:

Contra Shattered Soldier

Gradius V

God Hand

Okami

Motorstorm: Artctic Edge

Sly 1-3

Black

Raiden 3

ICO

Burnout 2, 3, Revenge and Dominator

Rez

- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (one of the greates gaming experience that i had)
- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (:P)
- Final Fantasy XII
- Okami

Those games i would recommend easily.

I started playing ps2 last year so my list won't be long:

- Okami - visually stunning japanese action adventure rpg. absolutely must play. this was the game that made me purchase ps2 (first i played it on emulator on pc)
- SSX3 - snowboarding game so addicting you will be playing it for months. i started playing it about 2 months ago and i can't get enough of it, i play it every other day. it might just be one of my fav games ever, so very surprisingly. you might also get ssx1 and ssx2 tricky. i myself only playing ssx3, but want to get the first two games of this trilogy as well. the new ssx relaunch on ps3 is so bad it amazes me :0
- Final Fantasy X - wonderful story driven jrpg with great visuals for ps2. i finished it last week after playing about 2 months with longer breaks and it took me total 70+ hours to beat it, but i still want to do sidequests and get cool items after beating the story. btw FFX HD remake is going to be released on ps3 this year.
- God of War I and II - great slashers with rpg elements and puzzles. must have for ps2.
- Urban Chaos: Riot Response - it's an untraditional FPS about peacekeeping. you get to fight crazy street gang members. the coolest thing about this game is use of peacekeeper shield. this game has HORRIBLE graphics LOL but i think it's worth playing, since you mentioned wanting to try out FPS on ps2. the gameplay is really good and it has cool presentation.
- Prince of Persia - Sands of Time - i think this game doesn't need any comments, but the pc version is much better (much better graphics and , surprisingly, controls).

ps2 games that are considered great but i didn't like for one reason or another: gta san andreas, shadow of the colossus, ico, metal gear solid games, kingdom hearts games, persona games.

ps2 games i want to try out in near future: devil may cry, twisted metal black, mister mosquito, final fantasy xii, god hand.

of course there's tons of other games that are supposed to be great on ps2. i read somewhere that ps2 game library is about 2000 games and 10% (200 games) of them are great or masterpieces.

;_;

There is a reason why I still have my PS2 kicking around. :)

I can't believe I forgot to mention this one, but Psychonauts is another must-buy for the ps2. It is a game with a quirky sense of humor with a fun cast with some very colorful personalities.

anything with Shin Megami Tensei in the title

Well, it depends a lot on what you like. Personally, I'd recommend the Sly Cooper series and the Destroy All Humans series.

My absolute favourites on the system: Resident Evil 4, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico and Okami.

I'd suggest starting with those and then move on to lesser games.

Beyond Good and Evil is available for the ps2 if you haven't gotten it on this site already. I haven't played the ps2 version yet so I can't really comment on it, but I hear that it is the better version.

I loved Destroy All Humans, really fun to play as the villian for a change. Although, I liked the second game better than the original but both are still woth playing.

Thanks for all the suggestions, many names there I recognize. I copied all your suggestions so far to a text file for reference and plan to look up reviews of them for further info on Gamespot. That will further help me identify some of the best choices for me.

Wasn't there a Call of Duty game that came out on PS2 that did not release for PC?

I remembered for shooters that there are Medal of Honor games which I would probably like. I certainly LOVED Allied Assault on the PC when it came out. I had so much fun with that game. Is there a Medal of Honor game for PS2 that stands out for being quite good?

That Japanese RPGs I am very interested in checking out. I'll definitely be looking all of those up. SSX3 sounds like something I'd really get a kick out of too. A lot of your suggestions do. Thanks a lot for making them.

I would recommend Rez and Katamari Damacy.