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[Shirokun]

I'm here in Tokyo for one more month, and I was thinking of grabbing a bundle of games before I go, but the sheer amount of things to choose from is a little intimidating.To help narrow things down, I was wondering what titles are considered to be the must-have Japan-only games on the PS2. The language barrier isn't much of a problem, and I'm pretty much open to any genre.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Kyoufu]

Tales of Destiny remake.

 

[I AM JOHN!]

Kuma Uta.

 

[duckroll]

Get Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box and Monster World Complete Collection. Might also want to try and find a Saturn PS2 controller. They're OOP.

 

[H_Prestige]

KH2 Final Mix+

 

[Shalashaska161]

Final Fantasy XII: Internation Zodiac Job System.

 

[sixteen-bit]

DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou

 

[ShinobiFist]

 

[Shinriji]

Sakura Taisen (the first one)
Hokuto no Ken (the aksys fighting game)

 

[MCX]

Powerful Pro Jikkyou

 

[Dizzy-4U]

Super Galdelic Hour. It's from Enix dude! ENIX!!!!

Spoiler

Don't buy it...and also never google it.

Arcana Heart is pretty good.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Tales of Destiny remake.

Wow, first post nailed it, hard.

Also, Espgaluda.

 

[SonicX_Zero]

Tales of Destiny remake.

First thing that came to mind as I saw the thread title.

 

[Shadow780]

yay?



serious answer:

Spoiler

SRW@3

 

[madara]

I liked Angels Present, Tales of Destiny R, TOD2 and even Tales of Rebirth. I could not understand all of it but the VA was really sweet compared to the few stateside ones.

 

[theultimo]

Sega AGES collections, like the Monster World or Phantasy Star collection. It sucks it was never released stateside, but most of the collections contain the NA releases as well.

 

[The Judge]

Tales of Destiny Remake

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ (get it if you liked the normal version or simply didn't play it)

Final Fantasy XII: International

I'd say Tales of Rebirth as well, maybe.

 

[Shirokun]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

Monster World Collection looks awesome.

Tales of Destiny remake.

Is it worth it to put out the extra change for the Director's Cut?

Final Fantasy XII: Internation Zodiac Job System.

Never played XII, actually. I'll assume from the "International" that this version has the English voices, correct?

 

[Kyoufu]

Is it worth it to put out the extra change for the Director's Cut?



Never played XII, actually. I'll assume from the "International" that this version has the English voices, correct?

Absolutely. Leon is the best character in the game and you'll want to play more of him.

As for FFXII IZJS, it has JP text with English voice. Definitely get it too.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Arcana Heart is pretty good.

It had a US release via Atlus.

 

[..pakbeka..]

The Macross game by AM2

 

[The Judge]

Yeah, Director's Cut Version is worth it. Extra game mode (worth some 5~10 hours or so), new skills, sword abilities, more sidequests, another difficulty level, cap at max stats are raised and even a few more New Game+ options. Definitely worth it!

 

[Hugbot]

Kuma Uta.

This is a fantastic answer.

Also:
-Kinnikuman Muscle Grand Prix 2 is radical if you want a strange wrestling game with a bunch of weird characters.
-Ka/Ka 2 are both pretty fun, Ka came out stateside as Mr. Moskeeto but we never saw Ka 2.
-If you like Darkstalkers the collection for PS2 is (I think) the most complete you can get.

 

[Bebpo]

Espgaluda
Dodonpachi Daioujo
Ibara

Dragon Quest V

Fist of the North Star (the 2d fighter)

Tales of Rebirth
Tales of Destiny 2
Tales of Destiny DC

Front Mission 5

Super Robot Wars Alpha 3
Super Robot Wars Z

Another Century's Episode 3

 

[Kuran]

Fist of the North Star (the 2d fighter)
the later SEGA AGES releases
Shadow Abyss
Siren 2 was EUR/JPN only, but definitely counts.
Densha de Go! Final

 

[Bebpo]

Earth Defense Force 2
Oz
Sega Ages: Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box
Siren 2
Berserk (if you like the comic)

Beatmania
Shadow Hearts 2 Directors Cut (additional content in the DC never made it out of Japan)
FFXIIi (same)
KH2+ (same)

 

[fudgey_lumpkins]

Densha de Go! Final!

 

[Rufus]

http://i42.tinypic.com/1ok1fq.jpg[img] (Chaindive)[/QUOTE]
Been trying to get my hands on this for a long time.

 

[Bebpo]

Been trying to get my hands on this for a long time.

eh, I played it back in the day and don't really have any fond memories. Wouldn't pay a high price for it or anything.

 

[BluWacky]

You seem to be okay with JRPGs so I'd definitely recommend Venus and Braves (which is sort of an SRPG except nothing like the Ogre Battle etc. paradigm). Really great game, and it's on Playstation2 The Best these days so you should be able to find it pretty cheap.

The non-US PS2 Tales games are all pretty decent, as mentioned - I'm not a huge fan of the Destiny remake although I know that it's most people's favourite. Don't even think about picking up the Symphonia port if you don't have a Gamecube, it's shit on a stick.

Afraid all my PS2 imports were RPGs so I don't have any other great suggestions - I always intended to pick up Endonesia (by some of the people behind all those quirky games like Moon and the Tingle DS games and all that) but never did, I believe it's a half decent game but couldn't honestly say.

Oz

This came out in English in PAL land as Sword of Etheria so doesn't strictly speaking fit the bill, but I'd forgotten about this one - really good fun action game.

 

[Bebpo]

Also a really good soundtrack by Yamane

 

[Azure Phoenix]

A superb visually upgraded port of Nights which sadly was never released outside of Japan.

 

[Bebpo]

oh yeah. I loved the PS2 Nights. Made a great game even better!

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Well for me, it's:

The Beatmania series (best fuckin' music game ever)
Espgaluda (fantastic port of the arcade game with a smattering of extras)
Final Fantasy X International (because I like FFX)
Hokuto no Ken/Fist of the North Star (because it's awesome)
King of Fighters XI (because it has the 480p mode that the NA release removed)
Psyvariar 2 Ultimate Final (because it's a fairly unique shmup and pretty rad)
Sega Ages 25: Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box (because it's a jawesome compilation)

 

[iconoclast]

King of Colosseum 2. The best 3D wrestling game, from the makers of Fire Pro.

 

[RoryDropkick]

I'd have to go with:

Espgaluda
Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box
Switch! <this is personal opinion though, I loved the game on Sega CD>
DDP Daioujou
RumbleFish
Sega Ages Phantasy Star Collection
Hokuto no Ken <Arc Systems fighting game>

 

[Shirokun]

Seems like a lot of good suggestions in here. I didn't realize some of these weren't released in the US.

Completely forgot about ACE, too. Isn't this basically SRW meets ZoE?

Also a really good soundtrack by Yamane

Sold!

 

[RoryDropkick]

What about ones to stay away from?

Dance Summit 2001 <--- ewwwwww

 

[Azure Phoenix]

Seems like a lot of good suggestions in here. I didn't realize some of these weren't released in the US.

Be aware that a fair few of these suggestions (mostly all the shooters) are incredibly expensive and rare even in Japan, Ibara in particular will empty out your bank balance on it's own.

 

[Shirokun]

Be aware that a fair few of these suggestions (mostly all the shooters) are incredibly expensive and rare even in Japan, Ibara in particular will empty out your bank balance on it's own.

I've noticed this. Thankfully, while I enjoy shooters I'm not entertained by them enough to spend that kind of money.

 

[Bebpo]

Completely forgot about ACE, too. Isn't this basically SRW meets ZoE?

It's not quite ZoE, but it's SRW arcade action. Fly around as famous robots and blow stuff up. Good graphics/music.

 

[A Twisty Fluken]

King of Colosseum 2. The best 3D wrestling game, from the makers of Fire Pro.

I came in here to post this.

 

[FlashbladeGAF]

Earth Defense Force 2
Oz
Sega Ages: Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box
Siren 2
Berserk (if you like the comic)

FFXIIi (same)
KH2+ (same)

I do!

Too bad the mangaka doesn't

....be nice to get a new chapter

 

[GhaleonQ]

Seriously, just look for all of the compilations. SNK, Capcom, Sega, et cetera. BRILLIANT.

I'd suggest all of Love-De-Lic's, Vanpool's, Skip's, and Punchline's games, even if they were released in the U.S.

 

[Bebpo]

Be aware that a fair few of these suggestions (mostly all the shooters) are incredibly expensive and rare even in Japan, Ibara in particular will empty out your bank balance on it's own.

Wow, I checked ebay after reading this and saw $175+ prices :O
I never knew Ibara shot up in price. Get to add it to my "hey I actually own a couple of rare games" list along with Fatal Frame 2 XBX, SMT3 Maniax, and Ketsui DS. They kind of counterbalance that the majority of my collection is made of games bought for $50-80 and now worth $5 or less :lol

 

[AFKevin]

Like a couple others have suggested, if you're into music rhythm games, Beatmania is champ. When i went a couple years ago, i came back with 4 versions of it.

 

[Dali]

Not a PS2 game, but while you're there make sure to hit an arcade up and play Border Break. There's not much too it - simple, team-based, mech assault game - but damn it's addictive. You connect with other players and face off against other teams using an arcade version of mouse and joystick.

 

[JustAnotherOtaku]

Ibara
Mushihime-sama
Espgaluda
The Maid Clothes & Machineguns
Hokuto no Ken (the 2D fighter)
Thunderforce VI
Initial D
Melty Blood Act Cadenza/Actress Again

There's loads of them really. Stick to arcade genres like shmups and fighters and you'll find a load of under rated gems.

 

[Lard]

Zoku Segare Iziri

 

[thetrin]

Dude.

Front Mission 5.

Ibara
Mushihime-sama
Espgaluda
The Maid Clothes & Machineguns
Hokuto no Ken (the 2D fighter)
Thunderforce VI
Initial D
Melty Blood Act Cadenza/Actress Again

There's loads of them really. Stick to arcade genres like shmups and fighters and you'll find a load of under rated gems.

Hokuto no Ken is pretty crappy, actually.

The rest I would agree with. Melty Blood especially is guilty fun. Also, add XII Stag to that list. That game needs more love.

Be aware that a fair few of these suggestions (mostly all the shooters) are incredibly expensive and rare even in Japan, Ibara in particular will empty out your bank balance on it's own.

Wat. I bought Ibara for 5500 yen when I was living in Japan. When did it go up in price?