The PlayStation 2 found tremendous success with most of its ideas, but it also pushed forward certain innovations that flew under the radar. The PlayStation 2 is largely a two-player console, but the advent of Sony’s multitap allowed more people to jump in on the multiplayer action. However, the average gamer remained unaware of many of the games that support this feature.
Updated on January 6th, 2023, by Jack Pursey: As online multiplayer continues to grow, local multiplayer, unfortunately, continues to shrink. There are still some fantastic local multiplayer games being released each year, though they are few and far between. Thankfully, there are plenty of games from the PlayStation 2 era that are still great fun with friends. To help players choose what to play next, we’ve updated this list to include some more entries and useful information.
17 Shrek 2
Initial Release Date: April 28, 2004 Available Platforms: PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PC, Xbox Main Story Completion Time: 4. 5 Hours Best Feature: The wide range of iconic characters with varying abilities that players can control
Movie tie-in games are rarely seen today, but back in the early 2000s, almost every major film release with action sequences had a video game adaptation. Many of these games struggled to impress fans and critics, likely due to them having to stick to tight release schedules that coincided with the film’s release.
Although Shrek 2 is far from a masterpiece, the 4-player PS2 game does offer some great action-packed fun and is still worth a play today for any group looking for some simplistic entertainment.
16 WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain
Initial Release Date: October 27, 2003 Available Platforms: PlayStation 2 Main Story Completion Time: 15 Hours Best Feature: Nearly 20 years later, the gameplay is still some of the best in any pro-wrestling release
WWE video games were once considered to be among the most enjoyable multiplayer sporting releases, with Royal Rumble matches, in particular, bringing hours of joy. Unfortunately, WWE’s gaming franchise has since taken a nosedive, with WWE 2K20’s disastrous launch being the last straw for many fans.
Thankfully, the classic pro-wrestling games still exist, and WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain remains an absolute blast to play. Up to six people can join the action and have a wealth of iconic WWE stars to choose from.
15 Crash Nitro Kart
Initial Release Date: November 11, 2003 Available Platforms: Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox Main Story Completion Time: 7 hours Best Feature: Well-designed tracks with plenty of shortcuts to find
Vicarious Visions’ Crash Nitro Kart may not have lived up to the high standards that Naughty Dog set with Crash Team Racing in 1999, but it’s still a fantastic kart racer in its own right and great fun to play with friends.
Racing isn’t the only multiplayer mode that Crash Nitro Kart offers, as the game also brings back the Battle Mode from the PlayStation 1 classic.
14 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003
Initial Release Date: October 27, 2002 Available Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, PC Main Story Completion Time: N/A Best Feature: Quintessential PGA Tour gameplay that still holds up today
Released in October 2002, EA’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 is the highest-rated golf gaming of all time on Metacritic, with a PC Metascore of 92. The game is also excellent on PS2 and allows up to four players to compete across multiple game modes.
Most of the multiplayer modes can be played by alternating with just one controller. Speed golf, however, must be played simultaneously as it requires players to chase after their ball once they’ve hit it, leading to some great golfing races.
13 Buzz!: The Mega Quiz
Initial Release Date: April 27, 2007 Available Platforms: PlayStation 2 Main Story Completion Time: N/A Best Feature: The impressive range of over 5,000 different questions
Although most of the PlayStation 2’s attempts at creating innovative equipment like the EyeToy fell flat, there were a few that performed well; one of which is the Buzz! Buzzer.
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Buzz! The BIG Quiz was the second entry into the Buzz! franchise, and is one of a whopping 13 games from the franchise that appeared on the PlayStation 2. Buzz! The BIG Quiz was a huge hit with causal gamers, earning it the 2006 BAFTA for best Casual and Social game.
12 Rock Band 2
Initial Release Date: September 14, 2008 Available Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii Main Story Completion Time: 9 hours Best Feature: Some of the best rhythm gameplay of all time
The Rock Band series finally gave people the chance to get a band together with friends while giving them the safety of a virtual crowd to ensure that no fruit would be thrown at the struggling vocalist.
Rock Band differentiated itself from its Guitar Hero competitor by allowing four people to play simultaneously with microphone, drum, lead guitar, and bass guitar controllers.
11 FIFA 2003
Initial Release Date: October 25, 2002 Available Platforms: PlayStation, PC, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox Main Story Completion Time: N/A Best Feature: Fast-paced gameplay that offers an arcade-like alternative to today’s simulation-style
The strongest entry into the FIFA series during its PlayStation 2 era, FIFA 2003 scored an impressive 88 on Metacritic. As the third FIFA game to release on the console, it was clear that EA had found their feet on the system, offering their most realistic soccer sim yet.
FIFA 2003 lets up to eight players compete simultaneously, allowing for argument-inducing four vs four battles.
10 Mystic Heroes
Initial Release Date: March 14, 2002 Available Platforms: GameCube, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance Main Story Completion Time: 8. 5 hours Best Feature: Rewarding and satisfying beat ’em up gameplay
Koei’s explosive Dynasty Warriors series has helped redefine the action genre with its musou games that specialize in seemingly endless hordes of enemies that need to be taken down. The Dynasty Warriors series has spun off in many unique directions, but Mystic Heroes marks one of the first deviations from the norm as it embraces magic and sorcery over melee weapons and pure combat.
Mystic Heroes never lets up and it’s a title that not only allows for four-person multiplayer but there’s also a co-op mode present that allows for even more of a group experience.
9 Micro Machines V4
Initial Release Date: June 27, 2006 Available Platforms: PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS Main Story Completion Time: 4 hours Best Feature: The fantastic range of cars to collect
Micro Machines V4 is an inventive take on the racing genre and while it’s far from a perfect game, it does enough things differently that it deserves its due. The main novelty of Micro Machines is the creative tracks that emphasize the small nature of the vehicles. Players not only race, but they can assault one another with power-ups to gain the advantage.
Micro Machines V4 allows for four players to race at once, but it doesn’t use a split-screen option. If a player is far behind then they’re left off-screen, making it much harder to win.
8 Rayman Arena
Initial Release Date: November 30, 2001 Available Platforms: PC, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation 2 Main Story Completion Time: 4 hours Best Feature: The platforming elements offer an interesting take on the racing genre
The Rayman franchise is one of the quirkier platformer franchises out there and it’s become a dark horse for Ubisoft over the years. Despite how the Rayman games have done some inventive things for platformers, Rayman Arena (known as Rayman M in Europe) instead focuses on multiplayer gameplay and allows four people to jump in on the action.
Impressively, Rayman Arena offers both a battle-type multiplayer as well as foot races, which add a surprising amount of versatility to the spin-off title. While not as acclaimed as the core series, Rayman Arena is much better than it deserves to be.
7 Project Eden
Initial Release Date: October 8, 2001 Available Platforms: PC, PlayStation 2 Main Story Completion Time: 18 hours Best Feature: The interesting and well-crafted plot and setting
Project Eden is a title that got greatly overlooked during the PS2 era, but it’s the kind of game that would deeply benefit from a modern remake.
The game is set in a futuristic society where players control a powerful group of law enforcement officers who are hunting for some missing people. There are four members on the team, all of which have different skills that cater to the game’s puzzles. Project Eden can be played alone where the gamer hops between characters, but the game truly comes alive when four people are playing together and working as a team.
6 Quake 3: Revolution
Initial Release Date: December 2, 1999 (under the name Quake 3 Arena) Available Platforms: PC, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, iOS Main Story Completion Time: 5 hours Best Feature: Classic arena-shooter fun, particularly with friends
The Quake series is one of the formative shooter franchises for the PC that helped move the genre forward in tremendous ways. The PC was the best place to play Quake during the early 2000s, but the PlayStation 2 offered a satisfying alternative in the form of Quake 3: Revolution.
The port combines Quake 3 Arena and Quake 3: Team Arena and it’s one of the first games that showed what the PS2 could accomplish with multiplayer that extends beyond simply two players. Quake 3: Revolution allows for four-player frag matches with the game handling the frenetic chaos without compromise.
5 Twisted Metal: Black
Initial Release Date: June 18, 2001 Available Platforms: PlayStation 2 Main Story Completion Time: 4 hours Best Feature: Some of the best vehicular combat gameplay of all time
The video game genre of demolition-based racers has dwindled in more recent years in favor of more traditional titles, but Twisted Metal was one of the original PlayStation’s flagship titles and the series’ big debut on the PlayStation 2 does not disappoint.
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Twisted Metal: Black helps push the destructive title into the next generation of gaming and one of the biggest advents is that this messy chaos supports four players. An online update version of the game makes the multiplayer experience even more of its priority.
4 007: Nightfire
Initial Release Date: November 18, 2002 Available Platforms: GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, PC Main Story Completion Time: 6. 5 hours Best Feature: Offer the best James Bond multiplayer gameplay since GoldenEye 007
The Nintendo 64’s GoldenEye 007 is still looked at as one of the best multiplayer games of all time and The PS2’s 007: Nightfire is the console’s attempt to cash in on the previous title’s success. Nightfall crafts an original story and the multiplayer features many love letters to classic James Bond films.
The multiplayer here may not be as addictive as Goldeneye’s, but it’s still an extremely satisfying substitute. The PlayStation 2 allows for up to four players to join in on the spy action, with the addition of AI bots adding even more to the experience.
3 Tekken Tag Tournament
Initial Release Date: July 1, 1999 Available Platforms: Arcade, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 Main Story Completion Time: 2 hours Best Feature: The visuals, which were incredible for the time and still look great today
The Tekken series has been a mainstay of the fighting genre for decades and it’s been exciting to watch the arcade fighter progressively shift over to the home console market. Each of the early games in the series refines the formula a little more, but Tekken Tag Tournament is a juggernaut of a title that packs a lot into one game.
Tekken Tag Tournament still only allows for two fighters in a match at once, but the “tag” aspect of the game allows for four players to duke it out, two-on-two, and leads to some interesting gameplay strategies.
2 Gauntlet Dark Legacy
Initial Release Date: 1999 Available Platforms: Arcade, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance Main Story Completion Time: 13 hours Best Feature: The multiplayer is well integrated and offers great dungeon-crawling fun with friends
The Gauntlet Legends series has fallen out of favor in recent years, but the games had a solid run of being some of the best four-player fantasy action games on the market.
There’s a very familiar structure to the Gauntlet Legends series as players choose from diverse classes of fighter-like wizards or warriors as they prepare for an onslaught of enemies. Dark Legacy is the entry of the series on PlayStation 2 and the luxury of hacking and slashing through monsters and enemies with four players is such an enjoyable experience.
1 Timesplitters 2
Initial Release Date: October 8, 2002 Available Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube Main Story Completion Time: 10 hours Best Feature: Some of the most enjoyable multiplayer gameplay on the PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is teeming with shooters that get the adrenaline pumping, but gamers who truly want to go nuts and celebrate a wild time with a mob of people, there’s no better title than Timesplitters 2.
The time-traveling shooter doesn’t just offer slick gameplay, but it has a shrewd sense of humor as it gets anachronistic with the many time periods visited in the game. Timesplitters 2 doesn’t only allow for four-person multiplayer with a multitap, but it even allows for a 16-player showdown with the use of the system link accessory. Even now, that’s an impressive feat.
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