PS2 Games That Took Huge Creative Risks No Major Studio Would Greenlight Today

2 hours ago 1

Published Feb 15, 2026, 9:31 AM EST

Adam is a lifelong gamer who enjoys RPGs, action adventure games and a healthy helping of VR to boot. He has written for countless sites in the gaming medium, and you can find him playing the newest souls-like or JRPG.

Back in the early 2000s, it was pretty much anything goes in the gaming world. 3D was just in its infancy, and the ideas were new and exciting. While certainly not all of them were surefire hits, the creativity was through the roof, and it had this creative energy that we just don't see these days.

Regardless of the genre, the size of the studio, or the budget, the games had some truly wild ideas that today's gaming landscape simply just would not allow. It was such a cool time to be a gamer, and it saw some crazy ideas come into the palms of our hands.

10 PS2 Games That Never Got Remastered, but Desperately Deserve One

There are so many excellent PS2 games that deserve to return with the remaster treatment.

We're going to check out some PS2 games that could've only existed on the PS2 due to some crazy, creative risks.

8 Katamari Damacy

Roll Up

One of the weirdest games in the world is Katamari Damacy. It's a game that today's landscape wouldn't be able to comprehend, let alone become the cult classic it turned out to be. The gameplay is spectacularly strange, having you go through various levels simply trying to roll over everything and become the biggest ball of garbage you can be. Sounds thrilling, doesn't it? Well, it was, and it's a creative Hail Mary that Bandai Namco felt comfortable enough to go with in an era where every series was firing on all cylinders.

It's a game that doesn't even have a genre. There is no comparison. How many games today can you say are genre-less? None that I can think of, and especially none from a company as established as Bandai Namco. It's a creative masterclass, showing how important videogames are as far as an artistic medium goes, because this could never be a book, never be a movie, and never be a TV show. It could only exist as a videogame, and we're glad it does, as it's one of the most unique games ever made.

7 Mister Mosquito

It's a Bug's Life

Mister Mosquito is the epitome of wild PS2 ideas that probably didn't need to be made, but the platform's creative flexibility allowed for it to exist. How to even describe this game though? You basically play as a mosquito, and your job is to annoy the hell out of a household and bite people, and also be a pervert as well.

Yup, that was a game back in the PS2 era. It was even published by Sony, meaning they had some hopes for this one. It's pretty funny if you meet it at the comedy level it's going for, and watching the family you're terrorizing slowly lose their minds and turn on each other as you constantly bite them over and over is enough to get a kick out of it. It's a bizarre game in every way imaginable and one that could truly only exist on a platform like the PS2.

6 Shadow of the Colossus

An Empty World of Beasts

Shadow of the Colossus is an amazing game that goes against every single trope of modern-day gaming. It is technically an open world, sure, but within it? There are no map markers, just a big empty expanse that feels both mysterious and scary all at once. You're a foreigner in a foreign land, and the citizens of that land are gigantic, hulking monstrosities called the Colossi.

Your sole mission in this game is to kill them. Have they done something wrong? Not particularly, but you're trying to save your loved one's life, and it appears to be the only way. It's a game that is just one boss after another, without any other enemies in the game, no side quests, no other NPCs to talk to, just you and the Colossi.

It's a brilliant title and one that sits so far outside the box that a modern studio wouldn't even think of trying something so strange. The result was an all-time classic. But to see a game like this today? It's such a wild swing. This was 2005, when the gaming industry was full speed ahead. It took some serious guts to actually pull this game off, and thankfully, Team Ico did, because it's a one-of-a-kind game.

5 Resident Evil 4

A Chance to Fight Back

Resident Evil 4 is one of the best games in the franchise, but being the 4th game in the series, change was needed in the evolving gamescape. Enter Resident Evil 4, which took the franchise from a slow-paced survival horror to a fast-paced, open-area, third-person shooter. It's a game that is revolutionary as it introduced the world to the third-person, over-the-shoulder camera view, as well as a unique aiming system.

Changing a genre mid-series is absolutely wild. Imagine if Dark Souls suddenly became a fast-paced, hack-and-slash game or if Nioh turned into a slow-paced, choice-laden RPG? It just doesn't happen, and yet, Capcom, one of the biggest companies at the time, decided to flip the script and evolve the series in a way that it hasn't really looked back from since. It was ambitious, and thankfully, it paid off in a big way.

4 Okami

An Acid Trip For Wolves

Okami is an incredible game with some of the most striking art design any game has ever seen. Now, it may look like some experimental indie game, but believe it or not, this was a Capcom game. Can you imagine Capcom releasing a game like this today? Anartsy-lookingg action game about a dog? Of course, you can, Okami 2 was just announced. That's why the crowd at the TGA's went nuts.

But back then, it was a really odd choice. It was an era where Capcom was easily a top 5 company in the gaming industry. Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and Street Fighter were all firing out titles year after year, and that success let them get a bit wild with their ideas. Those ideas resulted in Okami, which today is treated as one of the all-time must-play games, due to its amazing visual design, tight gameplay, and thoughtful story.

The OG Gaming Controversy

If you weren't around in the days of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, then you wouldn't understand. This was utter chaos. After one of the best demos in gaming history, where you play as Solid Snake, the main release of the game saw the reins turned over to a brand-new character following the end of that demo. Enter Raiden, a nasally, blonde-haired, pretty boy who crawled out of your favorite anime to ruin a classic franchise.

At least, that's what the discourse was. The reality is that he was a great character that you warmed up to as the game went on, but initially? Pure outrage. People boycotted Konami, and if Reddit existed back then, the platform would've imploded. Taking a risk this big was unheard of back then, let alone today, and honestly, you couldn't even keep a secret like that today if you tried. The only other game to do something remotely similar was The Last of Us 2, and we know how well that decision was received.

2 Final Fantasy X-2

One for the Girls

Final Fantasy X is one of Square's biggest-selling games of all time, so the idea of making the first ever direct sequel in the franchise felt like it wouldn't be that ambitious, right? Well, what if I told you that the sequel, Final Fantasy X-2, would open up with the main character doing a pop concert, essentially changing her entire character from the first game in the process, and having a battle system that revolves around wearing different outfits?

Yeah, it was that weird, a sort of creatively ambitious off tone. The result was still a success, as the combat system improved upon the first game and although the story fell woefully short of the original's ambitions, the game served as a fun epilogue to the incredible story of Final Fantasy X. It was a weird moment in gaming, because it was really the first time in a long time that a Square Enix mainstream series didn't become an instant bonafide mega success. The game was good for sure, but it lacked that Final Fantasy magic, and it's the type of swing that you're unlikely to see these days when it comes to big franchises.

1 Kingdom Hearts

An Unheard of Duo

Kingdom Hearts is one of the biggest gaming franchises we've ever seen, but the thought of it at the time was simply nuts. Disney and Final Fantasy, together? Who asked for that? More importantly, who is this even for? Clearly, the Final Fantasy portion of the fanbase isn't going to like how kid-friendly the content is and the Disney crowd is going to be offended by how serious and complex the story of a Final Fantasy game can get.

So we had a game for nobody, right? Wrong. Somehow, the Final Fantasy and Disney combo just worked. I remember playing, being incredibly skeptical as an angsty teen, but I was addicted to it regardless. The combat was just too good and the usage of the Disney properties was brilliant, using villains and heroes alike to craft a truly wild story.