The 10 Biggest Exploits in PS2 Games
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VOICE OVER: Ty Richardson
WRITTEN BY: Ty Richardson
You can make these PS2 games much easier if you know these clever exploits! Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we're taking a look at 10 exploits that could help you beat some PS2 titles with very little effort. For our list of the biggest exploits in PlayStation 2 games, we'll be talking about “Sly 2: Band of Thieves” (2004), “Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II” (2004), “Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy” (2001), “God of War” (2005), and more!
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re taking a look at 10 exploits that could help you beat some PS2 titles with very little effort.
The first “Jak & Daxter” was among the toughest of the PS2 games, at least when it came to achieving that full completion and finding every energy cell and Precursor orb. But one of the most arduous portions of the game is the level before the final battle with Gol and Maia. What if we told you there was a way to skip straight to the fight? As soon as the cutscene ends, pause as soon as possible, then save and quit. Start the game with your save file, and you’ll wind up at the start of the final boss fight. Caveat emptor, because if you wind up going to retrieve any Power Cells after the fight, your game will lock up after collecting one, and you will have to reset your console every time.
Don’t worry - this list isn’t filled to the brim with “Jak & Daxter” exploits. However, “Jak II” has a means of making traversal more manageable. How many wrecks have we caused trying to get around New Haven? Too many, but one glitch can turn the city into a ghost town. Use a zoomer to get to Mar’s Tomb. If you maneuver along the left of the entrance, you’ll reach a point where the game registers that you are outside of the city. Climb back down and back inside, and the game will fail to spawn in citizens, guards, and zoomers. Other objects in the environment may fail to load in as well. Hey, at least you can carry on in your own “Twilight Zone”-like fantasy.
Back in the PS2 days, many RPGs had cheats where you could start games with high-level characters. As for “Dark Alliance II”, there was a quick and easy exploit you could do, and yes, you can even do it in the remasters made for modern hardware. Simply drop the item you want to duplicate on the ground. Save your game, then import your character into the world through the “Change Players” menu. You should load back in with your inventory unaltered but the dropped items still intact. Congratulations - you have broken “Dark Alliance II’s” economy!
One of the most famous exploits in “Battle for Bikini Bottom” is the Hans glitch. To do this, you need to constantly jump while heading out of bounds. Hans will keep respawning you at higher and higher points until you’re high enough to get past the invisible wall preventing you from exploring beyond boundaries. This will help you in accessing SpongeBob’s Dream early on, but what if you wanted to reach the end of the game? Well, if you go to the fast travel selection and hit A or X and pause at the same time twice as the taxi animation plays, the game may allow you to go anywhere you want regardless of your progress. In other words, you can reach the end of “Battle for Bikini Bottom” in as low as two minutes.
In order to unlock additional costumes for the dudes and dudettes of “Dead Or Alive 2: Hardcore”, you have to commit to a serious grind. A lot of your time will be spent alternating between playing and replaying Story Mode and trying to grind for score and items in Survival Mode. There is a method to potentially get costumes quicker, but it requires some tedious gameplay. Start up Survival Mode, and while you’re in the middle of your first fight, eject the disc from the PS2. The game will still be playable, but when you KO your opponent, the game can’t spawn in a new one. However, you can keep beating on your downed opponent and grabbing items from their carcass. Yes, you look like a psychopath, but at least you got all the outfits!
Tecmo wasn’t done making us mess with discs. “Monster Rancher 4” had a rather unconventional way of letting players obtain specific monsters they want via the Shrine. Whether you inserted another game, a DVD movie, or a music CD, there was a good chance you could earn a good monster. Every monster had their own piece of entertainment assigned to them. For example, inserting “The Eminem Show” album would net you Gadgeter G. Inserting “Shrek” on DVD would get you PandiBaku. A disc from “The PowerPuff Girls Movie” or “The Simpsons: The Complete First Season” would get you ComedyKoro. Did they all make sense? Not exactly. It was such a bizarre feature, but neat in how it rewarded you for simply exploring other mediums of entertainment.
Did you play “Growlanser Generations”? Probably not as it was the most niche of niche JRPGs at the time. On top of that, Atlus wasn’t as big as it is now. But “Growlanser Generations” holds a rather cool secret that can allow you to cast spells at their highest potential a bit more frequently. Plugging in a dance pad controller into the PS2 would trigger a new mechanic for you during combat. When a party member casts a spell, arrows will begin to display like in “Dance Dance Revolution”. The spell's effectiveness and power will be determined by how well you hit the right inputs on the dance pad. If you rocked at DDR, well, you just bought yourself a ticket to inflicting maximum damage every time in “Growlanser Generations”.
Let’s reel back to something a lot smaller: currency. In “Sly 2”, it can get annoying and boring to wander around pickpocketing random guards just to get one move. Well, if you want something a bit more controlled, the mission “RC Combat Club” has the perfect money farm for you. One segment will put you in a room of three guards. Two of them will have loot to steal rather than just pocket money. Rob all three of them blind, then get yourself caught. The room will reset, all three guards will have loot to steal again, but this time, your pockets are loaded up as if you already stole their goods. Now, rinse and repeat as often as you like!
Now, this exploit isn’t anything to do with actually cheating the game, but rather a means to possibly psyche out your friends. Imagine this - you and your friend are going head-to-head in a simple game of basketball, right? While your opponent is at the free throw line, try wiggling your analog stick in any direction just as they’re about to shoot. Doing this will cause their controller to vibrate! Yes, it is such a douche move and can potentially cause them to miss their shot. Go ahead and see how long it takes for them to notice something’s up.
We won’t lie - the first “God of War” is a tough game, still one of the hardest games Sony has put out. But if you don’t want to deal with the Tower of Blades or the Sirens and Satyrs again and just want all the post-game goodies, there is an unlock everything cheat. Plug in a second controller while at the main menu and press L3, R2, L2, R2, R1, L2, R1, L1, R2, Triangle, R2, Triangle. Entering this will unlock everything in the game - hidden cutscenes, costumes, secret messages, EVERYTHING! But real badasses suffer through Challenge of the Gods rather than resort to overly complicated CHEATS.
Have you tried any of these exploits for yourself? Let us know down in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!
“Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy” (2001)
The first “Jak & Daxter” was among the toughest of the PS2 games, at least when it came to achieving that full completion and finding every energy cell and Precursor orb. But one of the most arduous portions of the game is the level before the final battle with Gol and Maia. What if we told you there was a way to skip straight to the fight? As soon as the cutscene ends, pause as soon as possible, then save and quit. Start the game with your save file, and you’ll wind up at the start of the final boss fight. Caveat emptor, because if you wind up going to retrieve any Power Cells after the fight, your game will lock up after collecting one, and you will have to reset your console every time.
“Jak II” (2002)
Don’t worry - this list isn’t filled to the brim with “Jak & Daxter” exploits. However, “Jak II” has a means of making traversal more manageable. How many wrecks have we caused trying to get around New Haven? Too many, but one glitch can turn the city into a ghost town. Use a zoomer to get to Mar’s Tomb. If you maneuver along the left of the entrance, you’ll reach a point where the game registers that you are outside of the city. Climb back down and back inside, and the game will fail to spawn in citizens, guards, and zoomers. Other objects in the environment may fail to load in as well. Hey, at least you can carry on in your own “Twilight Zone”-like fantasy.
“Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II” (2004)
Back in the PS2 days, many RPGs had cheats where you could start games with high-level characters. As for “Dark Alliance II”, there was a quick and easy exploit you could do, and yes, you can even do it in the remasters made for modern hardware. Simply drop the item you want to duplicate on the ground. Save your game, then import your character into the world through the “Change Players” menu. You should load back in with your inventory unaltered but the dropped items still intact. Congratulations - you have broken “Dark Alliance II’s” economy!
“SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom” (2003)
One of the most famous exploits in “Battle for Bikini Bottom” is the Hans glitch. To do this, you need to constantly jump while heading out of bounds. Hans will keep respawning you at higher and higher points until you’re high enough to get past the invisible wall preventing you from exploring beyond boundaries. This will help you in accessing SpongeBob’s Dream early on, but what if you wanted to reach the end of the game? Well, if you go to the fast travel selection and hit A or X and pause at the same time twice as the taxi animation plays, the game may allow you to go anywhere you want regardless of your progress. In other words, you can reach the end of “Battle for Bikini Bottom” in as low as two minutes.
“Dead Or Alive 2: Hardcore” (2000)
In order to unlock additional costumes for the dudes and dudettes of “Dead Or Alive 2: Hardcore”, you have to commit to a serious grind. A lot of your time will be spent alternating between playing and replaying Story Mode and trying to grind for score and items in Survival Mode. There is a method to potentially get costumes quicker, but it requires some tedious gameplay. Start up Survival Mode, and while you’re in the middle of your first fight, eject the disc from the PS2. The game will still be playable, but when you KO your opponent, the game can’t spawn in a new one. However, you can keep beating on your downed opponent and grabbing items from their carcass. Yes, you look like a psychopath, but at least you got all the outfits!
“Monster Rancher 4” (2003)
Tecmo wasn’t done making us mess with discs. “Monster Rancher 4” had a rather unconventional way of letting players obtain specific monsters they want via the Shrine. Whether you inserted another game, a DVD movie, or a music CD, there was a good chance you could earn a good monster. Every monster had their own piece of entertainment assigned to them. For example, inserting “The Eminem Show” album would net you Gadgeter G. Inserting “Shrek” on DVD would get you PandiBaku. A disc from “The PowerPuff Girls Movie” or “The Simpsons: The Complete First Season” would get you ComedyKoro. Did they all make sense? Not exactly. It was such a bizarre feature, but neat in how it rewarded you for simply exploring other mediums of entertainment.
“Growlanser Generations” (2004)
Did you play “Growlanser Generations”? Probably not as it was the most niche of niche JRPGs at the time. On top of that, Atlus wasn’t as big as it is now. But “Growlanser Generations” holds a rather cool secret that can allow you to cast spells at their highest potential a bit more frequently. Plugging in a dance pad controller into the PS2 would trigger a new mechanic for you during combat. When a party member casts a spell, arrows will begin to display like in “Dance Dance Revolution”. The spell's effectiveness and power will be determined by how well you hit the right inputs on the dance pad. If you rocked at DDR, well, you just bought yourself a ticket to inflicting maximum damage every time in “Growlanser Generations”.
“Sly 2: Band of Thieves” (2004)
Let’s reel back to something a lot smaller: currency. In “Sly 2”, it can get annoying and boring to wander around pickpocketing random guards just to get one move. Well, if you want something a bit more controlled, the mission “RC Combat Club” has the perfect money farm for you. One segment will put you in a room of three guards. Two of them will have loot to steal rather than just pocket money. Rob all three of them blind, then get yourself caught. The room will reset, all three guards will have loot to steal again, but this time, your pockets are loaded up as if you already stole their goods. Now, rinse and repeat as often as you like!
“NBA Shootout 2004” (2003)
Now, this exploit isn’t anything to do with actually cheating the game, but rather a means to possibly psyche out your friends. Imagine this - you and your friend are going head-to-head in a simple game of basketball, right? While your opponent is at the free throw line, try wiggling your analog stick in any direction just as they’re about to shoot. Doing this will cause their controller to vibrate! Yes, it is such a douche move and can potentially cause them to miss their shot. Go ahead and see how long it takes for them to notice something’s up.
“God of War” (2005)
We won’t lie - the first “God of War” is a tough game, still one of the hardest games Sony has put out. But if you don’t want to deal with the Tower of Blades or the Sirens and Satyrs again and just want all the post-game goodies, there is an unlock everything cheat. Plug in a second controller while at the main menu and press L3, R2, L2, R2, R1, L2, R1, L1, R2, Triangle, R2, Triangle. Entering this will unlock everything in the game - hidden cutscenes, costumes, secret messages, EVERYTHING! But real badasses suffer through Challenge of the Gods rather than resort to overly complicated CHEATS.
Have you tried any of these exploits for yourself? Let us know down in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!
