Sony kicked off the 21st century in style with the PlayStation 2, launched in 2000 as the company’s sophomore home console. Despite its popularity, many games released for the PS2 aren’t available on modern platforms, and we’re highlighting some notable omissions. Several of the best PS2 games of all time have not been rereleased on more advanced hardware. Even popular franchises aren’t exempt from this, with pivotal titles remaining confined to a PS2 release.
The games that we’re listing here are currently unavailable for modern platforms through official rereleases. This extends to titles that are unavailable for purchase on PC digital storefronts or through Sony’s PlayStation Plus digital game library. That means the only official way to play these games is if you have the original physical releases. The following classic PS2 games are unplayable on modern platforms today by legal means.
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
The original “Gran Turismo” is one of the best PS1 games according to Metacritic, setting a lofty bar for racing games moving forward. The series’ first title released for the PlayStation 2 was 2001’s “Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec,” which took full advantage of the newer hardware’s technical capabilities. The amount of playable vehicles and customization features were reduced from 1999’s “Gran Turismo 2,” but the presentation was improved significantly. Also making up for the reduction was an ambitious level of visual fidelity as well as smoother automotive handling and a stronger emphasis on racing realism.
Just as the first two “Gran Turismo” titles are classic PS1 games that are unplayable today on modern platforms, so too is “Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec.” This likely has to do with the series’ penchant for utilizing licensed music prominently in its soundtrack as well as featuring real-world cars. Rereleasing any of these games on modern platforms would require renewed licensing deals with the various music labels and automotive brands, none of which come for free. With all that in mind, “Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec” is unlikely to receive an official rerelease any time soon, if at all.
Tekken 4
Just as “Gran Turismo” defined racing games on the PlayStation 1, the “Tekken” series defined fighting games for the ’90s console. The 1998 port of “Tekken 3” is a classic PS1 game that still holds up today, so hopes were high when the series came to the PlayStation 2. The non-canon 1999 release “Tekken Tag Tournament” was the first game in the franchise ported for the console, and it was later made available for the PlayStation 3. The same cannot be said for the subsequent release “Tekken 4” — the only console it was ever released for was the PS2 and it’s not currently available through the PlayStation Plus digital library.
“Tekken 4” brought in five brand-new fighters and featured the return of original protagonist Kazuya Mishima, who is searching for his long-lost son Jin Kazama. Dropping between the acclaimed games “Tekken 3” and “Tekken 5,” it’s something of the underrated middle child in the fighting game series. What makes the game’s omission from the PlayStation Plus digital library all the more head-scratching is that “Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection” (the standalone update to “Tekken 5”) is available to play through this subscription service. While not as widely beloved as its predecessor or sequel, “Tekken 4” absolutely deserves to be on PlayStation Plus.
Resident Evil Outbreak
One of the more overlooked chapters in the “Resident Evil” story, at least as far as modern audiences are concerned, is “Resident Evil Outbreak.” A PlayStation 2 exclusive released in 2003, the game marked the franchise’s first major foray into online multiplayer. Through the use of the PS2’s online modem peripheral, groups of up to four players could complete a variety of third-person survival horror scenarios cooperatively. These levels are in various locations around Raccoon City as it’s consumed by a zombie uprising, approximately occurring concurrently with “Resident Evil 2” and “Resident Evil 3.”
One of the games that best took advantage of PlayStation’s early days of online gaming, “Resident Evil Outbreak” is among the franchise’s better spin-offs. The game was successful enough to receive a standalone expansion on the PS2 the following year, “Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2.” Unfortunately, neither title has been rereleased by Capcom on any other platform beyond the PS2, even as the series has experimented further with online multiplayer. The legacy of the game lives on, however, with one of its playable characters, Alyssa Ashcroft, playing a prominent supporting role in “Resident Evil Requiem.”
Killzone
Sony Interactive Entertainment
“Halo” gave Xbox owners their own sci-fi first-person shooter franchise, and the PlayStation 2 filled this void with its own original game, “Killzone.” The 2004 release revolves around a devastating war involving two planets colonized by humans in the 24th century, with the player characters battling against the mutated, xenophobic Helghast. The original “Killzone” scored some solid reviews at the time (Next Level Gaming called it “the best PlayStation 2 FPS to date” and PSM Magazine said that it “hits the mark in so many ways”), spawning its own series that spread to PlayStation’s subsequent platforms.
Not only is the first “Killzone” game unavailable on PlayStation Plus, but all three mainline home console games in the series remain glaringly absent. This omission extends to a high-definition remaster of the original PS2 game released for the PlayStation 3 in 2012. The franchise isn’t completely excluded from the digital library, with the 2006 PlayStation Portable title “Killzone: Liberation” currently available. But despite being a PS2 original and the start of a prominent Sony series, the first “Killzone” remains frustratingly absent from modern platforms.
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
The last game in the “Mortal Kombat” series set primarily in the original continuity, 2006’s “Mortal Kombat: Armageddon” follows protagonist Taven and his quest to avert the apocalypse as he battles fierce opponents. The game has a variety of features, including players being able to create their own fighters and a tongue-in-cheek racing mode. “Armageddon” felt like an extension of and marginal improvement over “Mortal Kombat: Deception,” but, unfortunately, the mainline “Mortal Kombat” games released in the 2000s are largely unplayable today.
“Armageddon” is not available for modern consoles, which is strange considering that it dropped to generally favorable reviews and holds an important place in the transformation of “Mortal Kombat.” The game’s impact hasn’t been completely ignored, however, with the 2011 soft reboot of the series revisiting its events in its prologue before going in a radically different direction. NetherRealm Studios is pushing for a new Mortal Kombat game, so hopefully renewed interest in the franchise will lead to titles like “Armageddon” being made available for the current generation of gamers.
