The 2007~200x sub-$20 PS2 games list

**mollipen** · 19 Sep 2007, 05:52 PM

With the coming of the PlayStation 3, and the start of the PS2 down the road to being a late-in-life video game console, we are now entering the stage where the PS2 receiving a number of lower-priced releasing which include a large amount of wacky or niche Japanese stuff that wouldn't have survived release had they come out in the heyday of the PS2.

So, the idea behind this thread is to cover all of those cheap PS2 releases, be them already released this year, or coming up in the months (years?) ahead. I decided to keep the games in this thread to the sub-$20 titles, because those are the ones that have the best chance of being over-looked.

If you know of any titles I should add to this original post, post details and I'll get this post updated.

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Art of Fighting Anthology
Publisher: SNK Playmore
Release: July 2007
Price: $14.99

The quality of the Art of Fighting series is up for question, but if you're on the side that loves the games, then here's a collection for you, as Art of Fighting 1, Art of Fighting 2, and Art of Fighting 3 are all collected on one convenient PS2 disc.

Dai Senryaku 7 Exceed
Publisher: Crave
Release: October 2007
Price: $14.99

IGN says: "Upgraded version of the Xbox strategy game (which was released in Japan in 2003 and later brought to the US) This turn-based strategy game is layered with vehicles, more than 800 real-world military vehicles -- ranging from dozens of subs, fighter planes, jeeps, tanks, ships, to carriers. It takes places on a 3D board, organized into segments. You command a huge variety of soldiers, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, as you tell as many as 50 units simultaneously to do your bidding. You can flank enemies, grab their bases, and do much more. You'll even manage your own fuel and ammo supplies."

DT Carnage
Publisher: Agetec
Release: August 2008
Price: $14.99

YouTube video for this one makes it look like Gran Turismo, but with missile launchers. Who hasn't been playing Gran Turismo and thought to themselves, "You know, I really do love this game, but the only thing that could make it better would be if I could blow the shit out of the Subaru Impreza in front of me." Well, now your dream can come true. Seems like it may be part of some "DT" series I know nothing about.

Falling Stars
Publisher: Agetec
Release: August 2008
Price: $14.99

Seems to be some weird RPG for girls that combines fashion, animal raising, and Pokemon-style battles. I have heard not one good thing about it, but you know, there you go.

Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol 1
Publisher: SNK Playmore
Release: August 2007
Price: $14.99

Ah, the late days of the PlayStation 2, and here (finally) comes the flood of SNK 2D fighters. Battle Archives volume 1 contains Fatal Fury, Fatal Fury 2, Fatal Fury Special, and Fatal Fury 3.

Fatal Fury Battle Archives Vol 2
Publisher: SNK Playmore
Release: April 28, 2008
Price: $14.99

The second of SNK Playmore USA's Fatal Fury PS2 collections. Collection includes Real Bout, Real Bout Special, and Real Bout 2: The Newcomers.

FirePro Wrestling R
Publisher: Agetec
Release: November 2007
Price: $14.99

It's 2D, it has no John Cena or Undertaker or CM Punk, and yet it's one of the best wrestling games ever. FirePro Wrestling builds on the idea that the player should decide who is and isn't in the game, and builds an engine where gameplay is amazingly deep and well-balanced, and if there's some aspect of your wrestling fed that you want to create or modify, there's an option here to do so. This is the first major FirePro title to come to the States, so if you love (or even just like) wrestling games, don't even think about missing this one.

Heavenly Guardian
Publisher: UFO / Tommo
Release: February 26, 2008
Price: $14.99

Originally intended as a high-res 2D sequel to Pocky & Rocky, the game went through some legal issues, and lost the rights to the Kiki Kaikai connection. The game then had to undergo some cosmetic and character changes, and will finally arrive in the States as Heavenly Guardian. Also coming out for the Wii, but pick up the PS2 version as it'll probably be the cheaper of the two, and to avoid any potentially required waggling.

King of Fighters: The Orochi Saga
Publisher: SNK Playmore
Release: October 2008
Price: $14.99

What in the world could be better for a 2D fighting game fan than a KOF collection consisting of King of Fighters '95 through '98? Well, a lot of things, if the frustration in SNK's continual suckiness when it comes to game emulation has indeed once again showed up in this collection as I've heard it has. Oh SNK, will you ever learn?

King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match
Publisher: SNK Playmore
Release: February 2009
Price: $19.99

SNK takes one of their best fighting games ever - KOF '98 - and makes it even better, with a bigger roster, new character balancing, reworked backgrounds, and more. The only hesitation I have in recommending this PS2 release is that Ultimate Match is supposedly also coming to XBLA, and if it does and has online play, it's hard to recommend any version but that.

King of Fighters XI
Publisher: SNK Playmore
Release: November 2007
Price: $14.99

The final King of Fighters title before SNK decided to completely redraw and re-work the series for King of Fighters XII. KOF XI certainly feels different for those of us who still long for the days of '98, but there's no question that it's a great-playing fighter containing an interesting selection of characters.

Metropolismania 2
Publisher: Natsume
Release: August 2007
Price: $14.99

The original Metropolismania was certainly an acquired taste. The game was an interesting but rather under-developed SimCity-esque game from Japan, where you walk around your town and build it up depending on what the residents who you talk to are asking for. People tended to get really bitchy about things ("What do you mean you want a school? I just built one three blocks away!"), and unlocking new possible structures to build only came after talking to people who were referred to you by other people. Still, there was some fun to be had, and hopefully the second game has improved things enough to make the game more enjoyable.

MLB PowerPros 2008
Publisher: 2K Sports
Release: July 2008
Price: $19.99

Konami's big-head baseball series gets another shot here in the States thanks to 2K Sports. Some hardcore sports fans may scrunch their noses up at the game, but the cute and wacky take on the world of baseball has a hardcore niche following, and it's nice to see the series get a chance on our side of the ocean after years of not getting said chance.

NeoGeo Battle Coliseum
Publisher: SNK Playmore
Release: December 2007
Price: $14.99

Capcom had their Capcom All-stars fighter, so SNK had NeoGeo Battle Coliseum. The game is a 2vs2 fighting game featuring characters from a number of SNK games: King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, Fatal Fury, Last Blade, World Heroes, Metal Slug, and many more. Basically, it's the game that King of Fighters originally wanted to be, but never had the guts to fully try.

Obscure: The Aftermath
Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
Release: March 2008
Price: $19.99

Living up to its name, the original Obscure was a game that not many people played, or even knew existed. The idea was two-player
(or one player and one CPU-controlled character) survival horror: monsters only took serious damage while in the light, so at the start, one player had to focus their flashlight on the monsters while the other disposed of them. (After a while, you could find flashlights to attach to your weapons, so co-operation became a bit less forced.) The second sounds to continue on this idea behind gameplay, but not enough is yet known as to if the problems of the original game have been taken care of.

Pipe Mania
Publisher: Empire Interactive
Release: September 2009
Price: $19.99

It's Pipe Mania! you know, that puzzle game where you have to connect the pipes before the liquid of choice spills everywhere? Man, I used to love this game back on the Gameboy. Let's be honest: this is the kind of game you get for the DS, not the PS2. But if you don't have a DS, then here you go.

Puzzle Quest
Publisher: D3
Release: November 2007
Price: $19.99

The little "puzzle RPG" game that took the world by storm when it was released on the DS and PSP. If you're still waiting for the game, then you're probably waiting for the XBLA version, but in case you have none of those three consoles, or want more to love on your faithful old PS2, here's the release for you.

Raw Danger
Publisher: Agetec
Release: June 2007
Price: $14.99

Raw Danger is the sequel to Disaster Report, a crazy Japanese "survival" game based around an island city that was hit by a major earthquake. This time, the story takes place in an underground city that gets flooded after a number of days of heavy rain. (If only the original game had had flooding, so that stupid guy didn't have to stop and drink every five minutes.)

RC Mini Chooper
Publisher: Valcon Games
Release: February 2008
Price: $14.99

Supposedly the U.S. version of the Japanese game "Puchi Copter 2." Amazon says: 3 different play modes, including Adventure and Challenge; 35+ challenge levels, with a wide variety of goals and mini-helicopters; 16+ model helicopters to fly around the house; 13 different locations that you can explore around the home, including the basement, den and bathroom; Interact with the environments, opening doors, turning on equipment, and even zapping bugs.

Shepherd's Crossing
Publisher: Valcon Games
Release: August 2008
Price: $14.99

I knew nothing of this game until I came across it recently in one of Best Buy's bargain bins. Sounds like it takes the ideas of Harvest Moon, and then turns them into some sort of more turn-based strategy game. Hmm... sounds interesting, but the YouTube videos of the game make its quality seem a bit in question. Somebody on the GameFaqs board for the game really raved about it, however.

SNK Arcade Collection v1
Publisher: SNK Playmore
Release: April 28, 2008
Price: $14.99

A must-have PS2 collection for any SNK / NeoGeo fan. Volume 1 contains the following games: Art of Fighting, Baseball Stars 2, Burning Fight, Fatal Fury, King of Fighters '94, King of the Monsters, Last Resort, Magician Lord, Metal Slug, Neo Turf Masters, Samurai Shodown, Sengoku, Shock Troopers, Super Sidekicks 3, Top Hunter, and World Heroes.

Samurai Shodown Anthology
Publisher: SNK Playmore
Release: ??? 2008
Price: $14.99

Unlike their other collections, somehow SNK seems to not have completely screwed this one up, as the time I've spent with the PS2 version was quite pleasant. This collections gives you all of the major SamSho titles from I to VI with the exception of V Special. Really, all that's worth caring about is SamSho II, and maybe III, but it's still nice to have a (mostly) complete archive of the series.

The Red Star
Publisher: Xs Games
Release: March 2007
Price: $19.99

Originally planned for release many years ago by Acclaim, The Red Star sat in limbo for quite some time, seeing a number of possible releases until finally Xs Games was finally able to get the game out on store shelves. Some sort of action-shooter type of game that I've not at all tried yet.

Taito Legends 2
Publisher: Destineer
Release: June 2007
Price: $14.99

If all of these games are "legends" or not is certainly up for debate, but Taito Legends 2 contains 39 games, four of which are exclusive to the PS2 version. (The Xbox version got Cadash... why the hell was that one of the "specific version only" games??) I was going to list all of the included titles, but instead, I'll be lazy and point you in the direction of the Wikipedia article instead.

World Heroes Anthology
Publisher: SNK Playmore
Release: March 31, 2008
Price: $14.99

Tentative addition: game is now listed on U.S. SNK Playmore website. If pricing trend continues, should retail for $14.99. Collection includes World Heroes 1, World Heroes 2, World Heroes Jet, and World Heroes Perfect.

**George** · 19 Sep 2007, 05:59 PM

Definitely biting on KOF XI and NG Battle Coliseum, especially when so cheap.

**jonas** · 19 Sep 2007, 06:21 PM

Fire Pro Returns is a must for me, but Metropolismania 2 also looks really interesting.

I still have FF12 just sitting here. Time to plug in the old PS2.

**kingoffighters** · 19 Sep 2007, 06:37 PM

Chulip is $14.99 at GS I think, but that's a price drop.

**mollipen** · 19 Sep 2007, 06:45 PM

Ah damn, forgot about Chulip. Pretty sure if there was a price drop, it wasn't much, though - I know when I bought it just after released, it was sub-$20.

**Shooting Love** · 19 Sep 2007, 06:56 PM

Raiden III is $19.99 at Walmart.
(But higher elsewhere, from what I've seen.)

**mollipen** · 19 Sep 2007, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by Shooting Love

Raiden III is $19.99 at Walmart.
(But higher elsewhere, from what I've seen.)

Well, the whole point is for games that came out this year and beyond at sub-$20 prices. If we include price drops, that'll end up being every game. *heh*

**Jeremy** · 19 Sep 2007, 07:23 PM

NGBC, Fire Pro Returns, Fatal Fury Battle Archives, and KoF XI are on my to-buy list. I'll definitely get the first two the second I see them available for sale, while the latter two I'll just pick up whenever I happen upon them.

I'd recommend Fire Pro Returns for MMA fans as well, as the MMA gameplay style gets a great deal of praise from folks who have seen the improvements made in Returns, and it allows you to have cage fights (like UFC) or fights in a ring (like PRIDE).

Raiden III came out in April of this year, shidoshi. Taito Legends 2 is another $20-and-under 2007 PS2 release.