The 5 Best PlayStation 2 Disney games
The PlayStation 2 is twenty years old! Where has the time gone? If the original PlayStation console cemented Sony as a serious contender in the video game console space, the PlayStation 2 made them the top console maker in the world no question. While the selection was a little shaky at launch (seriously, more people bought it as an affordable DVD that also plays games rather than primarily as a game console at first), it’s arguable that the PS2 has pound for pound the best library of any video game console in existence. It has a ton of genre-defining classics that still hold up today (and get remade/re-released for modern platforms). It also had plenty of games based on Disney properties. A lot were bad to middling, but some were surprisingly good. Here’s a list of what I think are the five best Disney games on the PS2. Note this list will include games from IP that Disney owns now even if the game weren’t under their banner at the time, so Marvel & Star Wars games do count.
#5. Disney Golf
A large number of sports games have starred Disney characters in the past (something they should be doing more often, I’d gladly buy a well-done Olympics or basketball game with a Disney spin on it), and one of the best ones is Disney Golf for the PS2. I’m not saying it’s a fantastic golf game, it won’t hold a candle to the best professional golf sims or even something more fun like Hot Shots but what it does do is offer a pretty competent golf game where you play as some of Disney’s best-known characters as well as some more obscure ones. The only really odd thing is you can’t play as Mickey, he serves as your caddy for the game. A great game for players who just want a fun competent golf game with some Disney flair to it.
#4. Kim Possible: What’s The Switch?
As a series, Kim Possible is perfectly set up to have a series of cool action games based on it. It’s a series about a cool high school girl that’s also a top super spy, it doesn’t get more perfect than that. In reality, licensed games, even based on properties that seem like a slam dunk on paper, rarely turn out well. Kim Possible may be the exception, as not only does she have a series of really solid portable games on the Gameboy Advance, but also her sole home console game to date, Kim Possible: What’s The Switch is a really great game for fans of the show. It looks like the show, has voice acting from the actors on the show, plays really well and you get to play as Kim, Shego AND RUFUS. A tremendously fun 2D action platformer based on a great show.
#3. Lego Star Wars II
The Lego licensed games are a pretty well-worn formula nowadays, but back when they started in the PS2 era they were a really fun and novel concept, arguably hitting their peak with their sophomore effort, Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. This entry really went all out with unlockable characters and skins, was fun to play and I still really prefer these games when there was no voice acting. It was so funny and charming seeing the characters basically having to mime some of the most well-known scenes in Star Wars history. Adding voice-acting has taken a lot of that charm away frankly. Sometime this year, they are releasing a new Lego Star Wars game that encompasses the whole Skywalker saga and I’d be so much more interested if it was like the first two games with no voice acting. In the meantime, you can still get this great game on Steam (or for PS2 really cheap if you still have one).
#2. Marvel Ultimate Alliance
The actual most ambitious crossover event in history happened a good 12-years before Avengers: Infinity War. Marvel Ultimate Alliance featured an astounding amount of characters both well-known and obscure, easter eggs, lore and a story that calls upon a lot of classic Marvel moments while still kind of being its own thing. In addition to great gameplay that is essentially a Diablo clone but a really good one. The somewhat sad legacy of this great game is both it and its sequel got a re-release on the PS4 and the Xbox One, but it was a pretty poor port. If you can your better of tracking down the OG version or just playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 on the Nintendo Switch which while not a direct sequel, offers a lot of the same fun.
#1. Kingdom Hearts II
I mean, when it comes to the absolute best game that really represented Disney on the PlayStation 2, was there any other option? Maybe you prefer the original, but I thought Kingdom Hearts II expanded so much more on the ideas and systems in the first game. Sure there are some valid criticisms- the Gummi ship still sucked (and still does in III), the opening hours with Roxas are a little boring, the musical Little Mermaid level is downright painful. But the game actually manages to make Tron of all things interesting (Tron sucks, deal with it), deeps dives into Disney history and it’s where for better or worse, the series starts really going all bonkers with Organization XIII, what hearts really mean and can do, what Kingdom Hearts is, etc. it’s pretty much the ultimate Disney game on PS2 and arguably hasn’t been topped (though personally I liked III more).
And that’s the list. Have any PS2 Disney classics you remember fondly? Leave a comment. I do have at least one more post planned for this weekend so see ya real soon!
