The From A to Z series lets our editors go back and take a look at games from past generations that are classics, overlooked gems, or just titles they remember fondly. The idea behind this is to pick five games from each letter of the alphabet, once a week to showcase. This delivers 26 weeks and 130 games to talk about. Hopefully it sparks some conversation, and of course plenty of memories.
Our second series will focus on Sony’s sophomore entry into the console business, the PlayStation 2.
Let’s continue with the letters “N and O”.
NBA Street
In the SNES days, I was a huge NBA Jam fan. In the early days of the PS2 remember hearing NBA Street was going to be a spiritual successor to NBA Jam. I was totally on board. While not exactly what I heard, I did find a lot of enjoyment out of this title and I’m not even a basketball fan.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
Possibly THE Need for Speed game. The game that really put the franchise on my radar and had me excited for the next iterations in my teen and early 20’s. This was one of the best racing games on the PS2 and one of the best entries in the entire series. Playing as either the police or the street racers was a blast. A must own for any PS2 racing enthusiast.
Odin Sphere
This action RPG takes on many forms. It’s hard to describe at times, but one thing is for certain, this Vanillaware game was and still is absolutely gorgeous. Even for a PS2 title, Odin Sphere’s looks and animations are some of the best in the industry.
Okami
My Phoenix Down co-host and I covered this game on Phoniex Down a few years ago, and still to this day, it is an enjoyable experience. With a beautiful art style, interesting combat and exploration, and a full on Zelda dungeon setup, Okami delivered on many levels also making it an amazing looking game as well.
Onimusha: Warlords
One of the first games I picked up brand new for my PS2, Onimusha was like a samurai version of Resident Evil for me. Static camera angles, demonic enemies, and a supernatural vibe to it all added a bit more action to the traditional survival horror game, and this is one of the very few game series where every sequel was actually pretty great.
Tune in next week for the next collection of titles.
YouTube Credits:
Chariot Gaming
NFSCross2010
GGGamesVideos
EightBitHD
EmpiresPS2Games
