Summary
- Top-selling PS2 games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec sold over $14M each.
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty sold over 7 million copies, showing how popular the series was on PS2.
- Final Fantasy 10 sold over $8M and became a hit thanks to its tropical setting and gripping story.
The PS2 was released in 2000, and it was already widely popular at launch. The launch games may not have been too exciting, but the ability to watch DVDs on the console was a cool gimmick, as the movie disk format was still new in 2000. The console’s heyday lasted until 2006, which is when it was replaced by the PS3.
8 PS2 Games More People Should Play
From RPGs to platformers, these PS2 games have unique concepts that deserve to be experienced by more players.
Over those years, the PS2 was home to a lot of hit games that helped prop it up as a must-have console. Among the top twenty best-selling games in terms of units sold are Kingdom Hearts, God of War, and Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. If those weren’t in the top eight, then what games were? Most of this data came from various editions of the Guinness Book of World Records and other sources.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty
Two Heroes, One Solid Stealth Game
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- Released
- November 13, 2001
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Animated Blood, Animated Violence
- Genre(s)
- Stealth
- Copies Sold: Over 7M
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty landed at just the right time in 2001, as fans were hungry for the next entry, and it sold over 7M copies. It was also a technical showpiece for Son'y console, so even if players weren’t fans going in, they wanted a game to show off to their friends, and MGS2 was that game.
The boat mission with Solid Snake had some impressive wave technology on display, and the Plant section had tons of secrets in terms how players could dispose of guards. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater actually ranked in the 20th position, so that’s two great games that sold well on PS2.
Final Fantasy 10
Awkward Laughs, Great RPG
Final Fantasy 10
- Released
- December 17, 2001
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Mild Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Genre(s)
- JRPG
- Copies Sold: Over 8M
Final Fantasy 10 was another great 2001 release and a leap forward for its respective franchise, which sold over 8 million copies. It was the first mainline Final Fantasy game with voice acting, and there was a lot of it. It looked good on the console back then and still looks good today, thanks to the tropical location.
Beyond that, the story is what really hooked players in, even if they weren’t all fans of Tidus, the main character. Final Fantasy 12 made it to 9th place, and Final Fantasy 10-2 was in 11th position, so overall, Final Fantasy did quite well on PS2.
Tekken 5
Fighting Perfection
Tekken 5
- Released
- February 24, 2005
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- t
- Genre(s)
- Fighting
- Copies Sold: Over 9M
Tekken 5, which sold over 9 million copies, was the third entry in the Tekken franchise released on PS2 and the last before the series made the jump to the PS3. Tekken 4 made it to the 15th spot on the list, and the Tekken series usually does well on PlayStation consoles in general.
Tekken 5 was everything fans wanted in a series entry, from a large character roster to weird endings. It may not be upheld as the best entry in the franchise anymore, but it was a huge fighting game on the PS2, to say the least.
Grand Theft Auto 3
The First Of Many
Grand Theft Auto 3
- Released
- October 23, 2001
WHERE TO PLAY
- Copies Sold: Over 11M
Grand Theft Auto 3’s inclusion on this list should not surprise anyone, as it was a revolutionary entry, and it sold over 11 million copies on the PS2. It took the series into the third dimension and offered players a lot more to do in Liberty City than the previous top-down entries had to offer.
There were wild missions, tons of vehicles to hijack, secrets to uncover, and, of course, it allowed players to cause all kinds of mischief and chaos. It’s easy to call Grand Theft Auto 3 one of the most important PS2 games of all time, or even one of the most important games, period.
Gran Turismo 4
From Prologue To Full Game
Gran Turismo 4
- Released
- December 28, 2004
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- e
- Genre(s)
- Racing, Simulation
- Copies Sold: Over 11.5M
Gran Turismo 4 was the third game in the series, technically, on the PS2, and also the last, and it sold over 11.5 million copies. Gran Turismo 4 Prologue was released before this as a sort of preview to the main game. It was an odd release schedule, but regardless, it was the racing game everyone dreamed of on the PS2.
Gran Turismo, as a series, has improved a lot since the PS2 days in terms of technology, but it’s hard to dismiss how jaw-dropping these cars looked in 2005. The series still pushes the boundaries of what video game visuals could accomplish today, and it was doing the same back in the 2000s as well.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Back To The 80s
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
- Released
- October 29, 2002
WHERE TO PLAY
- Copies Sold: Over 14M
Fans didn’t have to wait long for the next series entry, as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released a year after Grand Theft Auto 3 in 2002. It was set in a new location, Vice City, and it was a fun throwback to the 80s, selling over 14 million copies.
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The biggest improvement the game made over the previous entry was Tommy Vercetti, the protagonist, who could talk this time. Voiced by the late Ray Liotta, Tommy is a favorite among series fans. It will be interesting to see how much Vice City, as a location, has changed since it will also be the setting of Grand Theft Auto 6 too, only it will take place in the modern day.
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
A PS2 Marvel In Technology
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
- Released
- April 28, 2001
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- t
- Genre(s)
- Racing
- Copies Sold: Over 14.5M
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec is another one of those 2001 games that every PS2 owner had to have, and it was the first series entry on the console. Even if racing games were not a favorite genre at the time, it was a tempting game to buy for the graphics alone, just like the physics seen in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The technology improved so much between the PS1 and PS2, and those cars looked realistic in 2001.
Like Gran Turismo 4, it’s safe to say that the cars in Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec don’t look or handle as well today as they used to, but at the time, it was revolutionary, and sold over 14.5 million copies.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Take Back The Streets
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
- Released
- October 26, 2004
WHERE TO PLAY
- Copies Sold: Over 17M
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, for many, is still the favorite entry in the series, which sold over 17 million copies. It was the first game that allowed players to explore the world outside of the city limits in Los Santos, which was unheard of in 2004.
It was a massive game that offered even more groundbreaking mechanics, such asleveling up through repetitive tasks like working out, riding bicycles, or swimming. Players could also get big and beefy if they loved fast food and avoided the gym. More so than all of that, CJ, the protagonist, spoke to a lot of people who felt seen for the first time.
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