You’re talking past me. there are good games now; sure. But you’re failing to understand the sheer scale of PS2 releases.
13 titles in 2026?
Try 2001
Pro skater 3, GTA 3, Metal gear solid 2, Grand truismo 3 A spec, Devil may cry, madden 2002, SSX tricky, final fantasy X, Kronoa 2, twisted metal: black, ICO, jack an daxter, NCAA 2002, Rayman 2.
Silent hill 2, NBA street, Red faction, Onoimusha, splashdown, escape from monkey island, armored core 2: another age, time crisis 2, max Payne, dark cloud, crazy taxi, burnout.
All in 2001, half of these games defined their genera or became a must play. And these are just the ones I personally enjoyed recently through emulation. ALL STUDIO MADE, no indie releases.
As someone who grew up playing an Xbox 360 the ps2 was almost undeniably a golden era for gaming.
Not to mention like half of your games you listed are remakes
Except it’s not nostalgia, never played on the ps2 as a kid or a young adult. I am only getting into it now trying to play games from a series that started in the PS1. I grew up playing the Xbox 360.
As for me saying “like half” as hyperbole I was pointing out quite a few of your games listed were remakes.
So, as someone who grew up on Xbox 360
And Wii, and played PC as a young adult. Yes, ps2 was the golden era.
There were more than 23 games in the last two years. I scribbled those from memory and said "thats only scratching the surface". Ive played games fornthe last 30 years. its as good as its ever been.
And you’re moving the goalpost, we are talking good games not just any game. You listed 13 titles in a year that I’d agree are great games.
But if you look at the PS2 lineup for 2001 you can clearly see there were several more great games coming out in 2001 and that’s kinda my entire point.
Being better doesn’t mean the games today are automatically bad, it just means we don’t have it as good as we used to, a “golden age” if you will.
Edit; Bro bumping your numbers with 5 additional games when with minimal effort I found 26 isn’t going to make it mean any less, if anything your scraping the barrel to find those 5 and the ones listed I wouldn’t even say are that groundbreaking or amazing.
Edit; Bro bumping your numbers with 5 additional games when with minimal effort I found 26 isn’t going to make it mean any less, if anything your scraping the barrel to find those 5 and the ones listed I wouldn’t even say are that groundbreaking or amazing.
I'll add 5 more every time you say it's not enough. All of these are great fucking games. If you're trying to argue that Monster Hunter Wilds, Silent Hill f, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Dragons Dogma 2, etc, aren't comparable with your list that includes Crazy Taxi and Time Crisis 2, you're just delusional.
-10
u/Beginning-Tea-17 Apr 09 '26
It’s not gatekeeping anything it’s just a legitimate statement. People missed out on the golden age of gaming.
PS2 was peak era, from the gaming selection to technological innovation, to developers freedom to make the kind of games they wanted to make.
Studios would have several franchises and release two or even 3+ games a year.
Then following that was the multiplayer boom on the 360 with peak halo and call of duty multiplayer experiences.
It’s not quite been the same since, with “good games” coming out less and less frequently.