The 10 WEIRDEST PS2 Games
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VOICE OVER: Aaron Brown
WRITTEN BY: Aaron Brown
The PlayStation 2 gave us some of the most terrific games, but it also held some pretty weird ones. For this list, we'll be looking at the strangest, most experimental games released for Sony's second console. Our list includes “The Adventures of Darwin” (2007), “Mister Mosquito” (2002), “Under The Skin” (2004), “Stretch Panic” (2001), and more!
Script written by Aaron Brown
The PlayStation 2 gave us some of the most terrific games, but it also held some pretty weird ones. For this list, we'll be looking at the strangest, most experimental games released for Sony's second console. Our list includes “The Adventures of Darwin” (2007), “Mister Mosquito” (2002), “Under The Skin” (2004), “Stretch Panic” (2001), and more! What was your favorite strange or weird game on the PS2? Let us know down in the comments.
Buddy platformers are nothing new, with fan favorites like Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and of course the granddaddy of them all, Banjo and Kazooie. But very rarely are these team ups forced on the characters the way they are in Whiplash. A weasel named Spanx and a rabbit named Redmond are forcibly chained together and must depend on each other to escape an animal testing facility. While the pair need each other to escape, poor Redmond gets the worse end of the deal as Spanx will whip Redmond around the environment to solve puzzles, traverse gaps and beat up any scientists that get in their way. Players are even encouraged to whip Redmond around the environment to their heart's content as the game tracks how much damage the pair does to the facility during their escape, and should they cause more than 6 million dollars in damages can unlock additional content.
The Adventures of Darwin is a hard game to classify; it’s part RTS, part 3D adventure similar to The Legend of Zelda, and part Pikmin. As the titular Darwin, a smarter than average monkey, begins having nightmares about an impending apocalypse, he takes it upon himself to find a way to stop it. Along the way, Darwin recruits other smaller monkeys to his cause and can then order them to complete various tasks as well as aid him in battle. As the adventure continues, these minions will become smarter and able to follow more complex commands such as filing into a single line to avoid traps or using various weapons against the many enemies Darwin goes monkey paw to monkey paw with. The more quests Darwin completes, the more his village is upgraded and will provide the brave monkey with better materials for his travels.
Many games have players facing off against a mad scientist bent on world destruction, but Dr. Muto puts players in the shoes of one who actually succeeded. Even if it was accidentally. After his machine is sabotaged by a rival and destroys Dr. Muto’s home planet, the good mad doctor sets out to rebuild his planet by tracking down the components of his Genitor 9000 scattered around the galaxy and the DNA of neighboring species. In order to complete his mission, Dr. Muto gives into his namesake and mutates into various animals and alien species to retrieve his machine parts and save his home. The best part is no matter what creature the doctor transforms into, they all still sport his mad scientist hair.
In Under The Skin (the game, not the Scarlet Johannson movie), players take control of toddler alien Cosmi, who, as a right of passage, must beam down to a planet and cause as much mischief as possible by pranking and being just an all around nuisance to the general public. Cosmi can take over the body of numerous humans, each with their own abilities, and if successful in knocking their target off their feet, literally, will be rewarded with coins that must then be returned safely to their UFO before the angry denizens can discover Cosmi’s true identity. Developed by Capcom, the game also featured cameos from familiar characters such as Nemesis from the Resident Evil series.
Arguably the most popular title on our list as to date the series is still active, Katamari Damacy is nonetheless one of the most successfully weird games in the PS2’s library. As the pint-sized Prince, you’re tasked with rebuilding the cosmos after your father accidentally destroyed it. What this entails is where the weirdness of the game truly comes to light. The Prince must use his sticky Katamari ball to roll up anything and everything that gets in his way within a time limit. What starts as tiny objects no bigger than the prince can evolve into the diminutive Prince wheeling around a ball filled with everything from wildlife, people, cars and even skyscrapers. The game’s bizarre art style and catchy music including a bizarre end credit song, made Katamari Damacy an instant hit and the series would continue even up to current gen hardware.
We all grow up with that one crush that’s just out of our league. Don’t lie, I know it wasn’t just me. In Chulip, our lovestruck hero lives next door to the girl of his dreams, but when she won’t give him the time of day, he attempts to write her a letter only for it to get lost. As he searches the village for the missing pieces he completes various and bizarre quests for his neighbors and after successfully completing said task will be rewarded with a “kiss” from each town folk, thus improving his reputation and somehow putting him on his crush’s radar. This game is on this list for a reason. The game was widely criticized for its unclear objectives and a day/night cycle that unfortunately meant if you missed completing a task at a given time you would then have to wait another entire day to try again.
In what could weirdly be interpreted as a truly bizarre take on the story of Cinderella, Linda is a young girl who lives with her twelve self-absorbed sisters who force Linda to complete all their chores. So far, so familiar right? Well, when a mysterious package arrives, all twelve sisters and Linda’s scarf are possessed by demons and Linda must use her now magical scarf to pinch, pull, and stretch her way through a strange new world to save her sisters. Using the scarf, players can pinch and stretch various objects in the environment as well as pinch and pull enemies’, ahem, assets to pop the many foes and bosses Linda encounters. Despite an interesting premise and inventive art design, the game received mostly mixed reviews and for those who actually played it, became something of a fever dream no one was sure actually existed.
Forget the Illumination movie, THIS is the real Secret Life of Pets. Players take control of Jake, a foxhound with a gas problem, as he tries to save his would-be girlfriend Daisy from the dog catcher. What begins as a simple rescue mission spirals into a conspiracy against all the dogs in the town and Jake needs to save not just Daisy but all dogkind from this insane cover up. Jake has all the abilities you’d expect a four-legged adventurer to have, including “Smell-O-Vision” which is pretty self-explanatory. Jake will need to complete missions all over town and compete against other canines who once defeated become playable, complete with their own set of abilities. The game concludes with one of the darkest endings ever seen in an “E” rated game and one that has become the stuff of legend since its release.
It’s not very often you get to say “This game sucks!” and mean it as a compliment. In order to survive the coming winter, Mister Mosquito must feed on the Yamada family and build up a supply to last his hibernation. The family maintains a routine the titular mosquito must learn and can only feed from specific parts of the body during given sections of the game. The family isn’t unaware of Mister Mosquito’s presence either. Each member has a stress meter that will climb the longer Mister Mosquito feeds. If the meter gets too high, those members of the family can swat the little pest dead on the spot. However, if he’s noticed before his attempts to suck their blood, he will be hunted and have to apply Mosquito acupuncture to calm the rampaging human. Honestly, you’ll never look at mosquitos the same again after this.
Despite the cutesy aesthetic, Gregory’s Horror Show is more akin to a Stephen King novel about a certain hotel. After mysteriously stumbling across the titular hotel, the player is greeted in a dream by death who explains he needs the 12 souls trapped in the hotel by the other guests in order for the player to escape. Along with a patchwork cat’s help, the player must spy on the hotel guests and upon finally stealing one of the trapped souls, escape the enraged guest who will continue to hunt the player for the remainder of the game. Heavy on stealth and a surprisingly unsettling creep factor, the game was generally well received upon release but unfortunately is the only title on our list not to make it to the United States, only releasing in Japan and the EU.
The PlayStation 2 gave us some of the most terrific games, but it also held some pretty weird ones. For this list, we'll be looking at the strangest, most experimental games released for Sony's second console. Our list includes “The Adventures of Darwin” (2007), “Mister Mosquito” (2002), “Under The Skin” (2004), “Stretch Panic” (2001), and more! What was your favorite strange or weird game on the PS2? Let us know down in the comments.
“Whiplash” (2003)
Buddy platformers are nothing new, with fan favorites like Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and of course the granddaddy of them all, Banjo and Kazooie. But very rarely are these team ups forced on the characters the way they are in Whiplash. A weasel named Spanx and a rabbit named Redmond are forcibly chained together and must depend on each other to escape an animal testing facility. While the pair need each other to escape, poor Redmond gets the worse end of the deal as Spanx will whip Redmond around the environment to solve puzzles, traverse gaps and beat up any scientists that get in their way. Players are even encouraged to whip Redmond around the environment to their heart's content as the game tracks how much damage the pair does to the facility during their escape, and should they cause more than 6 million dollars in damages can unlock additional content.
“The Adventures of Darwin” (2007)
The Adventures of Darwin is a hard game to classify; it’s part RTS, part 3D adventure similar to The Legend of Zelda, and part Pikmin. As the titular Darwin, a smarter than average monkey, begins having nightmares about an impending apocalypse, he takes it upon himself to find a way to stop it. Along the way, Darwin recruits other smaller monkeys to his cause and can then order them to complete various tasks as well as aid him in battle. As the adventure continues, these minions will become smarter and able to follow more complex commands such as filing into a single line to avoid traps or using various weapons against the many enemies Darwin goes monkey paw to monkey paw with. The more quests Darwin completes, the more his village is upgraded and will provide the brave monkey with better materials for his travels.
“Dr. Muto” (2002)
Many games have players facing off against a mad scientist bent on world destruction, but Dr. Muto puts players in the shoes of one who actually succeeded. Even if it was accidentally. After his machine is sabotaged by a rival and destroys Dr. Muto’s home planet, the good mad doctor sets out to rebuild his planet by tracking down the components of his Genitor 9000 scattered around the galaxy and the DNA of neighboring species. In order to complete his mission, Dr. Muto gives into his namesake and mutates into various animals and alien species to retrieve his machine parts and save his home. The best part is no matter what creature the doctor transforms into, they all still sport his mad scientist hair.
“Under The Skin” (2004)
In Under The Skin (the game, not the Scarlet Johannson movie), players take control of toddler alien Cosmi, who, as a right of passage, must beam down to a planet and cause as much mischief as possible by pranking and being just an all around nuisance to the general public. Cosmi can take over the body of numerous humans, each with their own abilities, and if successful in knocking their target off their feet, literally, will be rewarded with coins that must then be returned safely to their UFO before the angry denizens can discover Cosmi’s true identity. Developed by Capcom, the game also featured cameos from familiar characters such as Nemesis from the Resident Evil series.
“Katamari Damacy” (2004)
Arguably the most popular title on our list as to date the series is still active, Katamari Damacy is nonetheless one of the most successfully weird games in the PS2’s library. As the pint-sized Prince, you’re tasked with rebuilding the cosmos after your father accidentally destroyed it. What this entails is where the weirdness of the game truly comes to light. The Prince must use his sticky Katamari ball to roll up anything and everything that gets in his way within a time limit. What starts as tiny objects no bigger than the prince can evolve into the diminutive Prince wheeling around a ball filled with everything from wildlife, people, cars and even skyscrapers. The game’s bizarre art style and catchy music including a bizarre end credit song, made Katamari Damacy an instant hit and the series would continue even up to current gen hardware.
“Chulip” (2007)
We all grow up with that one crush that’s just out of our league. Don’t lie, I know it wasn’t just me. In Chulip, our lovestruck hero lives next door to the girl of his dreams, but when she won’t give him the time of day, he attempts to write her a letter only for it to get lost. As he searches the village for the missing pieces he completes various and bizarre quests for his neighbors and after successfully completing said task will be rewarded with a “kiss” from each town folk, thus improving his reputation and somehow putting him on his crush’s radar. This game is on this list for a reason. The game was widely criticized for its unclear objectives and a day/night cycle that unfortunately meant if you missed completing a task at a given time you would then have to wait another entire day to try again.
“Stretch Panic” (2001)
In what could weirdly be interpreted as a truly bizarre take on the story of Cinderella, Linda is a young girl who lives with her twelve self-absorbed sisters who force Linda to complete all their chores. So far, so familiar right? Well, when a mysterious package arrives, all twelve sisters and Linda’s scarf are possessed by demons and Linda must use her now magical scarf to pinch, pull, and stretch her way through a strange new world to save her sisters. Using the scarf, players can pinch and stretch various objects in the environment as well as pinch and pull enemies’, ahem, assets to pop the many foes and bosses Linda encounters. Despite an interesting premise and inventive art design, the game received mostly mixed reviews and for those who actually played it, became something of a fever dream no one was sure actually existed.
“Dog’s Life” (2004)
Forget the Illumination movie, THIS is the real Secret Life of Pets. Players take control of Jake, a foxhound with a gas problem, as he tries to save his would-be girlfriend Daisy from the dog catcher. What begins as a simple rescue mission spirals into a conspiracy against all the dogs in the town and Jake needs to save not just Daisy but all dogkind from this insane cover up. Jake has all the abilities you’d expect a four-legged adventurer to have, including “Smell-O-Vision” which is pretty self-explanatory. Jake will need to complete missions all over town and compete against other canines who once defeated become playable, complete with their own set of abilities. The game concludes with one of the darkest endings ever seen in an “E” rated game and one that has become the stuff of legend since its release.
“Mister Mosquito” (2002)
It’s not very often you get to say “This game sucks!” and mean it as a compliment. In order to survive the coming winter, Mister Mosquito must feed on the Yamada family and build up a supply to last his hibernation. The family maintains a routine the titular mosquito must learn and can only feed from specific parts of the body during given sections of the game. The family isn’t unaware of Mister Mosquito’s presence either. Each member has a stress meter that will climb the longer Mister Mosquito feeds. If the meter gets too high, those members of the family can swat the little pest dead on the spot. However, if he’s noticed before his attempts to suck their blood, he will be hunted and have to apply Mosquito acupuncture to calm the rampaging human. Honestly, you’ll never look at mosquitos the same again after this.
“Gregory Horror Show” (2003)
Despite the cutesy aesthetic, Gregory’s Horror Show is more akin to a Stephen King novel about a certain hotel. After mysteriously stumbling across the titular hotel, the player is greeted in a dream by death who explains he needs the 12 souls trapped in the hotel by the other guests in order for the player to escape. Along with a patchwork cat’s help, the player must spy on the hotel guests and upon finally stealing one of the trapped souls, escape the enraged guest who will continue to hunt the player for the remainder of the game. Heavy on stealth and a surprisingly unsettling creep factor, the game was generally well received upon release but unfortunately is the only title on our list not to make it to the United States, only releasing in Japan and the EU.
