It’s hard to believe that the heyday of consoles like the PS2, original Xbox, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance was twenty years ago. With every passing year, fans wish they could play some of their favorite games on modern consoles. There were a lot of great RPGs, for example, from 2004 that would be great to play today.
Final Fantasy 10, not a 2004 game, is one of the best RPGs on PS2 and thanks to the multiple ports and remasters, it can be enjoyed by a wider audience today. Some of the following games have gotten modern ports or are at least accessible too. Here’s what great retro titles are celebrating in 2024.
Although some titles were released a year earlier in Japan, only NA or EU release dates will be considered.
8.hack//Quarantine Part 4
Metacritic Score: 70
.hack//Quarantine Part 4was the final part in this quadrilogy that tied together games, anime, manga, and more. It was released first in Japan in 2003 before getting the 2004 release in the West. The payoff was great for players whostarted with.hack//Infectionin 2003 and carried their progress forward with every sequel.
It wasn’t a mind-blowing action RPG but it had a lot of fun elements like characters and the faux MMO style. It would later go on to spawn a somewhat related trilogy,.hack//G.U.which got a remastered collection while this original series didn’t which is strange.
TheDrakengardseriesis another one that began officially in Japan in 2003 with the West getting a taste a year later. It was never a huge Square Enix series on PS2 as the action was a bit mindless as a hack-and-slash game akin to a Musou game. The thing that fans remembered was the story and the legacy thatDrakengardwould create. There were two sequels along with two spinoffs via theNieRseries. Without a doubt,NieR: Automatais the most famous of the five main games but it’s important to know where things started.
Front Mission 4was first released in Japan in 2003 and then it launched for the West in 2004. There’s not much difference between this game and the main entries that came before it although this was the first one on a new piece of hardware following the PS1.
The mechs could be customized more and looked better in battle thanks to the PS2’s upgrades. This tactical mech series would have many sequels and spinoffs following this, but very few have been released outside of Japan. Square Enix has a lot of hidden treasures from their past and they are admittedly trying to bring back old stuff likeFront Mission 2 last year.
Final Fantasy 11had a bigger gap between its 2002 release in Japan and its 2004 release in the West. It was the first MMO in the series which was doing quite well in Japan. Even though it might have pained Western fans to wait two years, they got the benefit of balance patches and content upgrades to make the game a smoother experience.
Balance patches or not, it’s still one of the hardest games in the series let alone on the PS2. Besides tons of paid expansions, the greatest legacyFinal Fantasy 11would produce would be its spiritual MMO sequel,Final Fantasy 14.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memorieswas the first spinoff the series would receive and it was for the Game Boy Advance. The game retreads most of the worlds from the first game but the battle system was quite different.
Both Sora and Riku, who would unlock later, used cards in battle to attack enemies with weapons, or cast spells. The game would eventually get a remake on PS2 which was later remastered on PS3. From here, many more sequels would spawn including main entries and spinoffs but there has yet to be another entry that used cards.
3Mega Man X: Command Mission
Highest Metacritic Score: 69
There have been a few RPG spinoffs in this series withMega Man Battle Networkperhaps being the most famous.Mega Man X: Command Missionis a spinoff in theMega Man Xfranchise starring familiar heroes like X and Zero in a turn-based RPG. The battle system plays out a lot like Final Fantasy 10which isn’t surprising considering that was a huge RPG on PS2 as mentioned earlier.
Players would get into battles, charge up specials, break through defenses, and so on. There was a little bit of puzzle-solving in dungeons too but it wasn’t a huge part of the experience. This spinoff would never get a direct or even spiritual sequel.
Pokemon FireRedandPokemon LeafGreenwere the first two games to get remakes in the series which was a huge deal. Getting new GBA versions of the original two games with improved graphics and quality-of-life upgrades was like a dream come true for diehards.
This started a precedent that Nintendo and Game Freak would follow periodically in between major installments. The last two games to get remakes werePokemon DiamondandPokemon Pearlin 2021. Based on past trajectories, 2024 could be the year fans get their long-awaitedPokemon BlackandPokemon Whiteremakes.
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lordswas a prequel to the original game that carried a dark twist in it. Going into it would be a spoiler, but let’s just say this RPG had a lot of branching paths with some shocking twists. It was also controversial at the time because it was sent out unfinished, or at least in a state with a lot of cut content.
There was never a console sequel but there was an MMO,Star Wars: The Old Republic, which set a thousand years in the past. Also,Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lordsdid get a remaster along with the first game.
