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The PS2 "recommend an import" thread.
- Thread starter Xdrive05
- Start date
HomerSimpson-Man
Member
dark10x said:
Surely the Rape Rape Highschool gaming variety.
Xdrive05
Member
dark10x said:
There's no type of game in particular that I'm looking for. It can be as wacky or nutty as they come, just as long as it's fun. Really, I'll play any genre.
But I can't read Japanese, so the game would need to be at least somewhat intuitive (or at least have English instructions available online somewhere).
It would help if you mentioned some genres you like. 
I haven't imported much for PS2, mainly just some of the Sega Ages releases. Here's what I have:
Phantasy Star Generation 1
Phantasy Star Generation 2
Dragon Force
Space Harrier Complete Collection
Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box
Dynamite Deka
Panzer Dragoon
Monster World Collection
Most of the latest Sega Ages have been really good, and cheap to boot. I bought them all from Play-Asia. I also have the Sakura Taisen remake, nice game if you're a fan of the series and PA was blowing the game out forever.
I haven't imported much for PS2, mainly just some of the Sega Ages releases. Here's what I have:
Phantasy Star Generation 1
Phantasy Star Generation 2
Dragon Force
Space Harrier Complete Collection
Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box
Dynamite Deka
Panzer Dragoon
Monster World Collection
Most of the latest Sega Ages have been really good, and cheap to boot. I bought them all from Play-Asia. I also have the Sakura Taisen remake, nice game if you're a fan of the series and PA was blowing the game out forever.
Well, if you're a bit of an anime fan like myself I'd suggest some of the Naruto fighters that haven't made it over yet, like Naruto: Narutimate Hero 3 or Naruto Sippuden Narutimate Accel or you could try the PS2 Berserk game. If your into wrestling, I'd reccomend King of the Colleseum Red and Green.
Zerodoppler
Member
According to wikipedia, there are 4,745 titles released for PS2 in Asia, so there should be a few gems out there. I recommend the Pop'n Music series.
Hcoregamer00
The 'H' stands for hentai.
HomerSimpson-Man said:
Recommendations PLZ.
Ghengis Cohen
Banned
Any of the cave shooters especially Espgaluda, and DoDonPachi. Ibara i hear is good as well.
sixteen-bit
Member
Rape Rape Middle School 4: Innocence Lost.Hcoregamer00 said:
And I second Cave Shmups.
Hcoregamer00
The 'H' stands for hentai.
_dementia said:
I was just joking.
There are lots of good visual novels for the PS2 though sans nudity.
rollingstart
Banned
if you like mechs and gundams, get another century's episode 2
neopokekun
Member
Otostaz. Fun puzzle game with nice music, has a dual language option so it can be played in full english.
Here is a movie.
Walter Matthau
Member
PC Gaijin said:It would help if you mentioned some genres you like.
I haven't imported much for PS2, mainly just some of the Sega Ages releases. Here's what I have:
Phantasy Star Generation 1
Phantasy Star Generation 2
Dragon Force
Space Harrier Complete Collection
Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box
Dynamite Deka
Panzer Dragoon
Monster World Collection
Most of the latest Sega Ages have been really good, and cheap to boot. I bought them all from Play-Asia. I also have the Sakura Taisen remake, nice game if you're a fan of the series and PA was blowing the game out forever.
Did that add anything meaningful to Dragon Force? If so, is their an English option?
I'm gonna definitely second the Cave shooter recommendations. ESPGaluda is one of my favorite games of all time. The whole concept of slowing down time adds an interesting dynamic, the music is an awesome trance/video game hybrid, the game feels extremely intuitive and it's not quite as overwhelming as some other bullet-hell games. Wasn't feeling Ibara too much, the bullets in original mode are way too small.
Monster World Collection is packed with gaming goodness and is only $30, which is a steal for an import. There are also Tales of Rebirth and Tales of Destiny 2, both Japan-only RPGs, but they may be a bit text heavy. Growlanser IV and V are some other RPGs that remained on that side of the Pacific, but luckily, we got most of the good RPGs in English this past gen.
If you don't mind going back to the PSX, it has some cool import games. Internal Section, a fun Tempest-meets-Rez game by Squaresoft of all people. Umihara Kawase Shun, a cute platformer that plays like a surreal, elasticy-physics Bionic Commando. Adventures of Little Ralph, a gorgeous platformer. And of course Tobal 2, Tales of Phantasia Remix (the best version of the title, barring the PSP version which I don't know about because I've never played).
Monster World Collection is packed with gaming goodness and is only $30, which is a steal for an import. There are also Tales of Rebirth and Tales of Destiny 2, both Japan-only RPGs, but they may be a bit text heavy. Growlanser IV and V are some other RPGs that remained on that side of the Pacific, but luckily, we got most of the good RPGs in English this past gen.
If you don't mind going back to the PSX, it has some cool import games. Internal Section, a fun Tempest-meets-Rez game by Squaresoft of all people. Umihara Kawase Shun, a cute platformer that plays like a surreal, elasticy-physics Bionic Commando. Adventures of Little Ralph, a gorgeous platformer. And of course Tobal 2, Tales of Phantasia Remix (the best version of the title, barring the PSP version which I don't know about because I've never played).
TelemachusD
Member
pancakesandsex
Member
parathod said:
-Full voice cutscenes
-redrawn portraits and cg's (quite nice) originals selectable still
-more generals, additional conversations
-world map is now "3d" (more like mode7 though, it just allows for rotation)
Hcoregamer00
The 'H' stands for hentai.
karasu said:
Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni
Not to mention that they censor the PS2 releases of games like Fate/Stay Night, Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien: Rumbling Hearts, and many of the other ones.
pancakesandsex
Member
Look into the super robot wars games, join party. Bunch of people seem to be discovering the series due to the US release of OG, the fan community is huge and the japanese knowledge required is minimal to none.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
My recommendations are going to be a bit off from the usual fare I imagine.
Shinobido Takumi- Essentially it's a bunch of missions with Tenchu style gameplay and a pretty neat physics engine. JP knowledge is minimal and once you get past the horrid framerates and overall mediocre graphics it's fun stuff. Not sure if you can get it on the cheap anymore though :/. Oh and it's also an add-on pack for Shinobido Imashime. Apparently Imashime has a UK release but unless it supports 60hz I can't purchase it. There's a mission editor too in Takumi, it's kind of neat to mess with although all I usually end up doing is making a bunch of bears maul random people.
Tsukiyo Ni Saraba- Max-Payne-style shooter where you can go into bullet-time to take out bunches of thugs and a handful of weird and wacky bosses. The controls are a bit iffy at first and getting far in the game requires timing your gunshots so that you deliver critical hits often. Got a PAL release I believe by the name of 1,000 Bullets.
Sega Ages: Dynamite Deka- Really nice remake of Die Hard Arcade(or Dynamite Deka in Japan). The new modes change up gameplay in many interesting ways(though they're incredibly difficult as there are no continues). Altered Beast mode for example as you running around as some werewolf and you have to constant grab orbs dropped by enemies to keep your life up. There's also a mode where gunshots are instant kills, and a handful of others. The main game is great fun and the enhanced graphics are pretty nice. Also yeah you play as Bruce Willis, even the box-art confirms it.
NamCollection: One of the stranger compilations I've seen. The set includes the PSX versions of Tekken 1, Ace Combat 2, Ridge Racer 1, Klonoa, and Mr. Driller. Course I got this at a nice price(19.99) so YMMV. As far as the games are concerned even Ace Combat 2 is in full english. Mr. Driller is fairly easy to understand and everyone in Klonoa speaks in their wacky moon language anyway so no big deal.
Monster World Collection: The nice thing about this set is that the US versions are included for most of the games so you can play them in english. Monster World IV unfortunately never had a US release, but at least it's fairly easy to get into and you'd only need an FAQ for a handful of parts.
Treasure Box: Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy, and Alien Soldier in a single compilation. Alien Soldier alone would run for close to $175 or more on yahoo auctions/ebay so yeah..for less than $30 you can't go wrong on this set. US/PAL versions are included of course, though I prefer the JP version of Dynamite Headdy(more continues for one thing).
Fighting games: Neogeo Battle Coliseum, KoF XI, Samurai Spirits Tenkiachi, Darkstalkers Collection, Guilty Gear Slash/Accent Core, Hokuto-No-Ken, well..you get the idea. An import PS2 is required if you're a fan of 2D fighters.
2D shooters: ESPGaluda, Dodonpachi Daijouou, Ibara, Mushihime, and more.
Taito Memories: There are four sets out now(two of them are budget-priced) and they cover Taito's arcade history quite well. Elevator Action Returns, Darius Gaiden, and more are available through these really nice compilations. Though personally I wouldn't recommend these sets unless you're a huge fan of Taito games already. I like pretty much everything they've done so eh...
Oh and EDF2 is of course required. The framerate is worse but in many ways it's a better game than the X360 release of EDF3/EDF2017. For one there's an additional character to play as who uses a jet pack and more sci-fi type weaponary. There's also 20-30(?) more stages to play and a bunch of monsters that didn't make it into EDF3.
If you don't own an X360(and thus EDF3) there is no excuse for not purchasing this game.
Oh and I found an old thread the OP might be interested in:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137501
A few more recommendations there.
Shinobido Takumi- Essentially it's a bunch of missions with Tenchu style gameplay and a pretty neat physics engine. JP knowledge is minimal and once you get past the horrid framerates and overall mediocre graphics it's fun stuff. Not sure if you can get it on the cheap anymore though :/. Oh and it's also an add-on pack for Shinobido Imashime. Apparently Imashime has a UK release but unless it supports 60hz I can't purchase it. There's a mission editor too in Takumi, it's kind of neat to mess with although all I usually end up doing is making a bunch of bears maul random people.
Tsukiyo Ni Saraba- Max-Payne-style shooter where you can go into bullet-time to take out bunches of thugs and a handful of weird and wacky bosses. The controls are a bit iffy at first and getting far in the game requires timing your gunshots so that you deliver critical hits often. Got a PAL release I believe by the name of 1,000 Bullets.
Sega Ages: Dynamite Deka- Really nice remake of Die Hard Arcade(or Dynamite Deka in Japan). The new modes change up gameplay in many interesting ways(though they're incredibly difficult as there are no continues). Altered Beast mode for example as you running around as some werewolf and you have to constant grab orbs dropped by enemies to keep your life up. There's also a mode where gunshots are instant kills, and a handful of others. The main game is great fun and the enhanced graphics are pretty nice. Also yeah you play as Bruce Willis, even the box-art confirms it.
NamCollection: One of the stranger compilations I've seen. The set includes the PSX versions of Tekken 1, Ace Combat 2, Ridge Racer 1, Klonoa, and Mr. Driller. Course I got this at a nice price(19.99) so YMMV. As far as the games are concerned even Ace Combat 2 is in full english. Mr. Driller is fairly easy to understand and everyone in Klonoa speaks in their wacky moon language anyway so no big deal.
Monster World Collection: The nice thing about this set is that the US versions are included for most of the games so you can play them in english. Monster World IV unfortunately never had a US release, but at least it's fairly easy to get into and you'd only need an FAQ for a handful of parts.
Treasure Box: Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy, and Alien Soldier in a single compilation. Alien Soldier alone would run for close to $175 or more on yahoo auctions/ebay so yeah..for less than $30 you can't go wrong on this set. US/PAL versions are included of course, though I prefer the JP version of Dynamite Headdy(more continues for one thing).
Fighting games: Neogeo Battle Coliseum, KoF XI, Samurai Spirits Tenkiachi, Darkstalkers Collection, Guilty Gear Slash/Accent Core, Hokuto-No-Ken, well..you get the idea. An import PS2 is required if you're a fan of 2D fighters.
2D shooters: ESPGaluda, Dodonpachi Daijouou, Ibara, Mushihime, and more.
Taito Memories: There are four sets out now(two of them are budget-priced) and they cover Taito's arcade history quite well. Elevator Action Returns, Darius Gaiden, and more are available through these really nice compilations. Though personally I wouldn't recommend these sets unless you're a huge fan of Taito games already. I like pretty much everything they've done so eh...
Oh and EDF2 is of course required. The framerate is worse but in many ways it's a better game than the X360 release of EDF3/EDF2017. For one there's an additional character to play as who uses a jet pack and more sci-fi type weaponary. There's also 20-30(?) more stages to play and a bunch of monsters that didn't make it into EDF3.
If you don't own an X360(and thus EDF3) there is no excuse for not purchasing this game.
Oh and I found an old thread the OP might be interested in:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137501
A few more recommendations there.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
I still want to get the Simple2000 game where the city is attacked(?) by a giant woman. I'd like to find it on the cheap though, especially since it most likely sucks. :/
Venus & Braves looks and sounds incredibly good.
I'm not sure about the gameplay part of it, though.
I didn't get far enough into all the breeding nonsense, which appearently is the real meat of the game. When it comes to the battles, your options are severely limited.
You are allowed to have seven units spotted on a 3x3 grid.
The front row always attacks.
The back row always heals.
The only choice you have in the battles is to flip the front row to the back after each attack&heal round. That's it.
I'm not sure about the gameplay part of it, though.
I didn't get far enough into all the breeding nonsense, which appearently is the real meat of the game. When it comes to the battles, your options are severely limited.
You are allowed to have seven units spotted on a 3x3 grid.
The front row always attacks.
The back row always heals.
The only choice you have in the battles is to flip the front row to the back after each attack&heal round. That's it.
It needs to be said again: Earth Defense Force 2.
It's made by Sandlot (the guys behind Robot Alchemic Drive, and even uses the same engine!), so you know that you'll be in for a great time...
Others:
Sonic Gems Collection - Whether or not you have the American versions released for either console or not, it's worth it, in my opinion to get this collection, if only for all 3 Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle games in one place, one price.
Guilty Gear Accent Core - OK...it's not quite out yet...but it will be in May! Whether or not you've been a devote fan of GGXX, or haven't paid attention since X2 (Domestic release), there should be something here for you. It's definitely the most significant upgrade the series has seen in quite a while...
Hokuto no Ken - ...Fan of Arc Systems Fighters, or a fan of the series? Get this game. Simple as that.
Gundam Seed Destiny: Rengou vs. ZAFT II - Whether or not you actually care about Gundam or not, this game is quite a good deal of fun. And I guess I'm not crazy, seeing how it dominated the top spot for Japanese arcades for quite a while, superceding even the likes of the newest Tekken, GG and VF releases...
Another Century's Episode - Think "Armored Core" meets "Super Robot Wars". That's what could explain this great game in a nutshell. The sequel is even better, even though you lose some things (such as the TV version of the Gundam W suits).
Sengoku Basara - Think Dynasty/Samurai Warriors is a bit too slow for your liking? Then you may want to try Capcom's take on the "Musou" she-bang, Sengoku Basara, with more emphasis on the 2nd game. Basically, think what would happen if Capcom took the Musou series, and jazzed it up with all the fixings that would more than likely make a fan of Capcom style brawlers pleased. The CapKore version should be pretty cheap, and be enough to hold you over until the "sequel" (more like an upgrade) comes out later this year.
OZ - This nifty little title from Konami is an interesting action-rpg, which unfortunately never made it over here. All the same, this is a cool combo-based hack and slasher action-rpg. I would think it would be a worthy addition to any collection...
It's made by Sandlot (the guys behind Robot Alchemic Drive, and even uses the same engine!), so you know that you'll be in for a great time...
Others:
Sonic Gems Collection - Whether or not you have the American versions released for either console or not, it's worth it, in my opinion to get this collection, if only for all 3 Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle games in one place, one price.
Guilty Gear Accent Core - OK...it's not quite out yet...but it will be in May! Whether or not you've been a devote fan of GGXX, or haven't paid attention since X2 (Domestic release), there should be something here for you. It's definitely the most significant upgrade the series has seen in quite a while...
Hokuto no Ken - ...Fan of Arc Systems Fighters, or a fan of the series? Get this game. Simple as that.
Gundam Seed Destiny: Rengou vs. ZAFT II - Whether or not you actually care about Gundam or not, this game is quite a good deal of fun. And I guess I'm not crazy, seeing how it dominated the top spot for Japanese arcades for quite a while, superceding even the likes of the newest Tekken, GG and VF releases...
Another Century's Episode - Think "Armored Core" meets "Super Robot Wars". That's what could explain this great game in a nutshell. The sequel is even better, even though you lose some things (such as the TV version of the Gundam W suits).
Sengoku Basara - Think Dynasty/Samurai Warriors is a bit too slow for your liking? Then you may want to try Capcom's take on the "Musou" she-bang, Sengoku Basara, with more emphasis on the 2nd game. Basically, think what would happen if Capcom took the Musou series, and jazzed it up with all the fixings that would more than likely make a fan of Capcom style brawlers pleased. The CapKore version should be pretty cheap, and be enough to hold you over until the "sequel" (more like an upgrade) comes out later this year.
OZ - This nifty little title from Konami is an interesting action-rpg, which unfortunately never made it over here. All the same, this is a cool combo-based hack and slasher action-rpg. I would think it would be a worthy addition to any collection...
Get the Euro version of NGBC - it has a 60hz (NTSC) option. I'm assuming KOFXI does too.
I found Sengoku Basara 2 difficult to play without knowing JP. Hell, I'm having mild problems with Musou Orochi, and I know the musou series like the back of my hand.
EDIT: I also second OZ. Again, the European version of it (retitled Sword of Etheria) is the one to get if you can't read japanese. It too has a 60hz NTSC option.
I found Sengoku Basara 2 difficult to play without knowing JP. Hell, I'm having mild problems with Musou Orochi, and I know the musou series like the back of my hand.
EDIT: I also second OZ. Again, the European version of it (retitled Sword of Etheria) is the one to get if you can't read japanese. It too has a 60hz NTSC option.
digita1alchemy
Member
polg said:
YES.
USD said:
You can 'prepare' your slimline for swap magic without opening the system, but it's a pain. There are two sensors that need to be covered (one in the upper left area of the disc tray, one that's visible on the bottom right) plus you need to disable the disc brake. For people that don't open the system, it usually entails cutting up a straw and sticking it in the back hole of the disc tray where the sensor foot goes in.
You aren't really risking anything by opening it up, since the upper left sensor is very visible and accessible once you do. But it will void your warranty.
You can also buy a replacement case with a fliptop cover built in.
Swap Magic is the only alternative to a modchip, AFAIK. And you must do some sort of modification to the system so that it always thinks the disc cover is closed.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
MoxManiac said:
Ah hell I just bought Sengoku 2 off of P-A. Oh well I'll take my chances.
To me, SB2's language barrier is not as bad as it possibly could have been. Unlike in Musou games, there's really not that much to be concerned with in the realm of strategy. The biggest thing to worry about, in my opinion, would be a) finding out how to acquire the items necessary to become a better bad-ass and b) the descriptions of how to use said items. But then again, that's what FAQs, fansites like "Koei Warriors" (which has love for BASARA, in spite of the glaring attribute) and other things are for.
Otherwise, the only thing that stands to be a barrier would be the possible historical significance of the game's characters, but you could look up wikipedia if you were that interested in knowing about the real Hideyoshi, Musashi and etc. Historical accuracy is DEFINITELY not a focal point of the BASARA series... :lol
Otherwise, the only thing that stands to be a barrier would be the possible historical significance of the game's characters, but you could look up wikipedia if you were that interested in knowing about the real Hideyoshi, Musashi and etc. Historical accuracy is DEFINITELY not a focal point of the BASARA series... :lol