Stronger library: PS2 Vs Dreamcast + Xbox + Gamecube combined!

[Soapbox Killer]

Hell NO!


Yes, the PS2 is probably the single greatest collection of games on any given console all time, but if we are going straight exclusives that are not on the PS2, GameCube and Dreamcast wins!

 

[KalBalboa]

Let's not get into which system had a slightly better version of the games, because in some cases the PS2 has a slight edge, in the the majority of cases, both the Xbox and GC had superior version of titles that were on all 3. At least graphically.

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Oh yeah, and then you get into weird situations where Spider-Man 2 had missing textures on GameCube due to disc-space limitations.

At a certain point, if the game is 90+% the same damn game, like a Max Payne or a RE4, it's a wash to me in this argument.

 

[NotLiquid]

PS2 had a massive game library, but I'd say the amount of things on the console that are worth playing is about just as much as what's worth playing on only two of the consoles combined if we're being generous about it, so I'd say no.

 

[Zeal543]

It's really close, but I'd say yes

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

Of course it is. PS2 had some of the biggest franchises, exclusive to it.

 

[hwarang]

The GameCube had Paper Mario, Mario Kart and Mario Party.

What more do you really need?

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lmao come on now

 

[TGB86]

This was fall 2001...alone. All exclusives.
No other company will ever have such a powerful release schedule during a single year's fall.

Again...this doesn't mention all exclusives that came after fall 2001.

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I've long thought 2001 was the best gaming year ever. Throw in stuff like Halo, Civilization 3, Max Payne, Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, Smash Melee... just an incredible collection of games released that year.

 

[werezompire]

JRPGs: PS2
- I like JRPGs but don't go super deep into the genre. It would be really tough for me to miss FFX and FFXII, but I'd get by on what Dreamcast and GameCube have to offer.

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I can help here.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is one of the best games of all-time and a true high quality piece of art.

Atlus was on fire with the PS2. SMT: Nocturne is considered by many people to be the highlight of that specific series, Persona 3 was the start of modern Persona while Persona 4 was a strong follow-up, Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 is a great JRPG duology, and the two Raidou games are a fun mix between period piece detective dramas & Action/RPG with SMT style.

Shadow Hearts is a fun series & there are 3 games on the PS2. Kind of like a lighter SMT without demon recruiting & with a timing-based element to combat.

Wild Arms 4 & 5 are both decent.

Suikoden has some mediocre entries on PS2, but Suikoden 5 is widely considered one of the best games in the series.

Dragon Quest 8 is one of the more popular Dragon Quest entries.

And there are so many other random, interesting games on the system that it would take forever to list them all.

In contrast, Dreamcast pretty much has the best version of Grandia 2 (it was also ported to PS2) and Skies of Arcadia (which later got an enhanced Gamecube port) and after that, the quality drops drastically. Gamecube doesn't have a whole lot else except for an obscure Fire Emblem & Tales of Symphonia. And there's not much of anything in the JRPG scene on the Xbox, although it does have an exclusive SMT game that was never localized.

Horror: Tie
- Horror is similar to JRPGs. Yeah I guess there probably were more on PS2 but I'd hardly suffer with RE0, Remake, RE4, Silent Hill 2, Eternal Darkness. I'm not actually familiar enough with the genre beyond the big names to say one is definitively stronger than the other.

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Siren 1 & 2 are IMO the best traditional horror games around and they're Sony games. They're tough though (especially the first one) and the second game was only released in Asia & Europe.

I agree with you that Gamecube was no slouch though with the Resident Evil games.

 

[Strat]

Even as someone who thinks most of Sony's first party output isn't great, it's a no contest. The PS2 just had SO MUCH great shit that never went anywhere else. Disaster Report and Raw Danger, the Maximo games, the Fresh Games releases, God Hand, all those SMT releases, Bujingai, Drakengard, the Simple 2000 series, Tokobot, Jade Cocoon 2, Dragons Quarter, Digimon World Data Squad, Magic Pengal, Chulip, the fucking ATHF golf combat game, the only good Transformers game in history to that point, Musashi, We <3 Katamari, mother fucking Death By Degrees!

This is not even counting imports, or ANY of the major stuff. You can name drop 100 PS2 games and still be naming incredibly unique, special games, and you'd also be just cracking the surface of the library, whereas you'd be hitting the bottom of the barrel on the rest with exclusives. And I love those other libraries! I have more games on Xbox and GameCube than I do on PS2, but they absolutely do not come close, not even counting on my natural bias to lean towards both Xbox/Nintendo over Sony.

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

Yes. Without a doubt. PS2 library is legendary.

 

[mentok15]

This is where the Venn diagram gets weird, because Silent Hill 2: GH is best on PS2, and there are 2x GTAs that never came to Xbox, but the GTAs on Xbox ran a bit better with different VFX, MGS was better on PS2 thanks to the pressure sensitive buttons, yadda yadda.

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Yea it does get a bit weird comparing them. Same for Splinted Cell. I played both the Xbox and Gamecube versions and they're quite different. And I forgot about the PSP ports of GTA.

I do not understand what that has to do with their overall library though. If multiple games appeared on different platforms it does not mean they disappeared from the already stacked PS2 library. Or am I misunderstanding your point?

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generally when you compare game libraries you go by exclusives. Like in this comparison I wouldn't bring up Timesplitters 2 in favour of Xbox as it's on all three.

And I say this as someone who went Xbox > Gamecube > PS2 that generation.

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Same.

 

[hwarang]

Especially considering about 80 % of the ps2's library can be found on GC and Xbox

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you can't be serious

 

[Goldbob]

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And? It was playable on GameCube, first and also better on GameCube I might add.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Multiplayer games skew this so heavily against the PS2, considering that all three of those other consoles have 4 controller ports.

 

[KalBalboa]

PS2's library was so nuts that I feel like everybody I talk to has that special game they feel like they discovered and fell in love with. That console made browsing games in a store feel like browsing vinyl. You weren't always playing the same 3 games as everyone else.

I remember finding Ghosthunter on a shelf and insta-buying it.

And? It was playable on GameCube, first and also better on GameCube I might add.

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It's part of the PS2's library, which is the good-faith intent of the thread (=

Now, if you mentioned REmake...

 

[OrangeNova]

Anyone who says yes to this is a fanboy imo. The Sony's incredible lineup on PS2 would not be over all 3 of those combined. Especially considering about 80 % of the ps2's library can be found on GC and Xbox

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The GC and Xbox don't even have 80% of the library of the PS2.

According to Wikipedia, the Gamecube had 654 games, the Xbox had 997 games.

The PS2 had 4491 games.

80% of that is 3593 games(rounded), the Xbox and Gamecube's entire libraries combined don't even match that.

 

[Jiggy]

3 vs 1 and it still feels like a fair fight

The PS2, forever the GOAT

 

[Eoin]

I don't think what I said was inaccurate. The PS2 has a very large library. 20% would still be hundreds of titles.

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No. What you said was not even remotely close to being true. Do spot checks yourself if you like. Check random-ish samples of the PS2 library and see where those games released. Pick a single letter or something and check games starting with that letter. You will find that over a sufficiently large sample, considerably fewer than 50% of the games you end up checking will have been on Dreamcast/GameCube/Xbox.

The PS2 was seen by most publishers as the default viable platform that entire generation. Any games that they were unsure about commercially generally only got released on PS2. That was especially true past about mid-2005 when publishers dropped the Xbox in favour of Xbox 360 (they had already started dropping GameCube in the preceding years) - almost all PS2 games after that point were not available on GameCube or Xbox or Dreamcast (though they were often available on Xbox 360/Wii/DS/PSP).

 

[Arklite]

man, I won't say it's better than all 3 other consoles put together. But it's definitely better than any 2 put together, easy.

 

[E.T.]

The GC and Xbox don't even have 80% of the library of the PS2.

According to Wikipedia, the Gamecube had 654 games, the Xbox had 997 games.

The PS2 had 4491 games.

80% of that is 3593 games(rounded), the Xbox and Gamecube's entire libraries combined don't even match that.

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Well when you frame it this way...then it is indeed no contest. Damn.

 

[BriGuy]

I had all of those systems at the same time, and although they're all awesome in their own right, the PS2 wins just by the sheer number of great games it had in its library. There's a reason it also outsold all of those other consoles combined.

 

[Ricelord]

The GC and Xbox don't even have 80% of the library of the PS2.

According to Wikipedia, the Gamecube had 654 games, the Xbox had 997 games.

The PS2 had 4491 games.

80% of that is 3593 games(rounded), the Xbox and Gamecube's entire libraries combined don't even match that.

Click to shrink...

God lord I knew the ps2 was great but hot damn the other systems didn't really hold a candle to it.

 

[werezompire]

PS2's library was so nuts that I feel like everybody I talk to has that special game they feel like they discovered and fell in love with. That console made browsing games in a store feel like browsing vinyl. You weren't always playing the same 3 games as everyone else.

Click to shrink...

The PS2 is the last console I can remember finding games I'd never heard of at the store, and buying them and having a blast. Games like Siren, Katamari Damacy, and Raw Danger being a few. It just had so many weird & obscure games for it and it was still at a point where gaming news wasn't as easy to get it as it is now.

 

[Goldbob]

PS2's library was so nuts that I feel like everybody I talk to has that special game they feel like they discovered and fell in love with. That console made browsing games in a store feel like browsing vinyl. You weren't always playing the same 3 games as everyone else.

I remember finding Ghosthunter on a shelf and insta-buying it.



It's part of the PS2's library, which is the good-faith intent of the thread (=

Now, if you mentioned REmake...

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There isn't a good faith intent in a thread claiming one console is better than three others combined lol

 

[sir_crocodile]

My kneejerk reaction earlier was that DC/GC was better than PS2, though individually they would not be. Plus chucking in Orta lol.

A quick look over each library, and games I really liked that were either exclusive or were a better version show 35 PS2, 41 combined for the others. There will be more games on all (except the xbox) as it was just a quick scan, but I feel my initial gut feeling was right:
---
PS2
---
Dark Cloud
Dark Cloud 2
Densha de Go! Final
Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry 3
DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou
Dragon Quest V
Dragon Quest VIII
Espgaluda
Final Fantasy XII
Fire Pro Wrestling Returns
Growlanser Generations
Ibara
Mushihimesama
Odin Sphere
Ōkami
OutRun2 SP Special Tours
R-Type Final
Ring of Red
Rogue Galaxy
Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shadow Hearts: From The New World
Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call
Soulcalibur III
Street Fighter EX3
Suikoden III
Suikoden V
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
Wild Arms 3
Wild Arms 5
Xenosaga Episode I
Xenosaga Episode II
Zone of the Enders
Zone of the Enders 2
---
GC
---
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
Baten Kaitos Origins
F-Zero GX
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Ikaruga
Luigi's Mansion
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2
Nintendo Puzzle Collection
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Pikmin 2
Pokémon Colosseum
Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness
Resident Evil
Resident Evil Zero
Resident Evil 4 (PS2 version is eh)
Skies of Arcadia Legends
Soulcalibur II (Link!)
Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
Twilight Princess
Virtua Striker 2002
Wind Waker
---
DC
---
Border Down
Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram
Daytona USA 2001
Fighting Vipers 2
Grandia 2 (PS2 version is trash)
Jet Set Radio
Marvel vs. Capcom
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (PS2 version kinda sucks)
Plasma Sword
Power Stone
Power Stone 2
Re-Volt
Samba de Amigo
Shenmue
Shenmue 2
Soul Calibur
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
---
OrtaBox
---
Panzer Dragon Orta

 

[brawndolicious]

TBH, there weren't a lot of PS2 exclusives that I liked but that's because I'm not really into MGS, Silent Hill, or JRPGs. God of War and DMC were great and Ico/SotC looked good (never played it) but generally I would have taken an Xbox or Gamecube over the PS2. Gamecube had the most exclusives I liked and Xbox for the multiplayer games + Ninja Gaiden.

Yeah I understand that I'm in the minority on that. The one thing I do miss about the PS2 was that it would get weird, experimental games but I feel like today, you get those games on multiple platforms anyways due to the homogenization of hardware (which is a good thing for everyone).

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

I'm gonna need receipts. I think the inverse might be true, heh.

Devil May Cry 1
Devil May Cry 2
Devil May Cry 3
Silent Hill 3
Twisted Metal Black
Twisted Metal Head-On
Shadow of the Colossus
Ico
Siren
Siren 2
Frequency
Amplitude
Yakuza 2
SSX 1
Suikoden 3
Suikoden 4
Suikoden 5
Syphon Filter The Omega Strain
Wipeout Fusion
Guitar Hero 1
Front Mission 4
Gran Turismo 3
Gran Turismo 4
Ace Combat 4
Ace Combat 5
Smuggler's Run
TimeSplitters 1
Dark Cloud 1
Dark Cloud 2
Hot Shots Golf 3
Hot Shots Golf Fore (lol)
Ape Escape 2
Ape Escape 3
God of War 1
God of War 2
Kingdom Hearts 1
Kingdom Hearts 2
Ghosthunter
Persona 4
Tekken Tag
Tekken 4
Tekken 5
Jak 1
Jak 2
Jak 3
Jak X
Sly 1
Sly 2
Sly 3
Ratchet 1
Ratchet 2
Ratchet 3
SOCOM 1
SOCOM 2
SOCOM 3
SOCOM Combined Assault
War of the Monsters
The Getaway
The Getaway 2
Downhill Domination
2,000 of those party BUZZ games

Etc. It's not worth typing a hundred games out, but you catch my drift I think.

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I'll throw in a few more...

Neo Contra
Contra Shattered Soldier
Castlevania Lament of Innocence
Gradius V
Gradius III and IV
R-Type Final
Onimusha 2
Onimusha 3
Onimusha 4
Monster Hunter
Soul Calibur 3
Ridge Racer V
Dragon Quest VIII
Vampire Night
Time Crisis
Time Crisis 2
Time Crisis 3
Ninja Assault

 

[thevid]

The GC and Xbox don't even have 80% of the library of the PS2.

According to Wikipedia, the Gamecube had 654 games, the Xbox had 997 games.

The PS2 had 4491 games.

80% of that is 3593 games(rounded), the Xbox and Gamecube's entire libraries combined don't even match that.

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It's hard to overstate the sheer numbers advantage PS2 had. And if you start trying to take multiplatform games into account, it only tilts things even more into PS2's favor. Like Skies of Arcadia and Ikaruga were both GC/DC. So that's two strikes against the Xbox/GC/DC side. And every PS2/Xbox/GC multiplatform game is one strike against PS2, but two strikes against Xbox/GC/DC.

 

[lightning16]

In contrast, Dreamcast pretty much has the best version of Grandia 2 (it was also ported to PS2) and Skies of Arcadia (which later got an enhanced Gamecube port) and after that, the quality drops drastically. Gamecube doesn't have a whole lot else except for an obscure Fire Emblem & Tales of Symphonia. And there's not much of anything in the JRPG scene on the Xbox, although it does have an exclusive SMT game that was never localized.

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Agree the Gamecube was weak in the genre (pretty obvious given how easily you can count them up) but you are forgetting Baten Kaitos (not personally a fan) and TTYD (personally a very big fan). Grandia 2, Skies of Arcadia, and TTYD are actually my favorite JRPGs of the gen lol.

There was also the Pokemon Colosseum games, I guess. And Crystal Chronicles.

 

[Kill3r7]

My kneejerk reaction earlier was that DC/GC was better than PS2, though individually they would not be. Plus chucking in Orta lol.

A quick look over each library, and games I really liked that were either exclusive or were a better version show 35 PS2, 40 combined for the others. There will be more games on all (except the xbox) as it was just a quick scan, but I feel my initial gut feeling was right:
---
PS2
---
Dark Cloud
Dark Cloud 2
Densha de Go! Final
Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry 3
DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou
Dragon Quest V
Dragon Quest VIII
Espgaluda
Final Fantasy XII
Fire Pro Wrestling Returns
Growlanser Generations
Ibara
Mushihimesama
Odin Sphere
Ōkami
OutRun2 SP Special Tours
R-Type Final
Ring of Red
Rogue Galaxy
Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shadow Hearts: From The New World
Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call
Soulcalibur III
Street Fighter EX3
Suikoden III
Suikoden V
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
Wild Arms 3
Wild Arms 5
Xenosaga Episode I
Xenosaga Episode II
Zone of the Enders
Zone of the Enders 2
---
GC
---
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean
Baten Kaitos Origins
F-Zero GX
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Ikaruga
Luigi's Mansion
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2
Nintendo Puzzle Collection
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Pikmin 2
Pokémon Colosseum
Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness
Resident Evil
Resident Evil Zero
Resident Evil 4 (PS2 version is eh)
Skies of Arcadia Legends
Soulcalibur II (Link!)
Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
Twilight Princess
Virtua Striker 2002
Wind Waker
---
DC
---
Border Down
Daytona USA 2001
Fighting Vipers 2
Grandia 2 (PS2 version is trash)
Jet Set Radio
Marvel vs. Capcom
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (PS2 version kinda sucks)
Plasma Sword
Power Stone
Power Stone 2
Re-Volt
Samba de Amigo
Shenmue
Shenmue 2
Soul Calibur
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
---
OrtaBox
---
Panzer Dragon Orta

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How does NGB not make it when you have DMC?

 

[KalBalboa]

There isn't a good faith intent of a thread comparing one console to three others lol

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Hey, it's a sound conversation! The PS2 was a bit of a freak, and the other three consoles didn't explode.

I think post-PS2/GC/Xbox era, we saw much more even competition in the console space. PS3 and 360 sold virtually the same, Wii did great hardware numbers, etc. The GC/Xbox/DC just weren't in the PS2's league, so it's a fun thought exercise.

I think the folks posting "2 of those consoles' libraries can't match the PS2, but 3 can" probably hit my general feelings.

 

[JusDoIt]

That it's even a question is a testament to how strong the PS2 library was.

 

[Slacker247]

Xbox also had MGS 2, SH 2 and 4, and all the GTA games as on ps2.

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Yeah, I wasn't really bothered about being narrow with debuts or marginally better versions (see CvS2). Same reason someone might prefer Xbox for the same games + Halo/Ninja Gaiden, is basically how I am for PS2.

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

I think we can all agree on what an insane generation it was!

 

[sir_crocodile]

How does NGB not make it when you have DMC?

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Because I didn't have an xbox and only played Orta of the catalogue via 360 emulation.

 

[Kill3r7]

Because I didn't have an xbox and only played Orta of the catalogue via 360 emulation.

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Makes sense.

 

[EggmaniMN]

People keep throwing in flight games and the PS2's just sitting there with Ace Combat. The Dreamcast has some odd titles like Napple Tale or Seaman or things like that but then the PS2 has Robot Alchemic Drive or Chulip or Gitaroo Man or Mr Mosquito or Lifeline or Stretch Panic, etc, etc, etc, etc. The depth of that library is near bottomless.

 

[Mattersnotnow]

If forced to choose, one of the sides and have all games and consoles of each, I would say GC/DC

If you include PS1 games on the deal I'd say PS2 (+PS1 games)

Actually as a matter of personal preference I would go with PS1 library alone against GC/DC/XBox

 

[Replicant]

Hey, it's a sound conversation! The PS2 was a bit of a freak, and the other three consoles didn't explode.

I think post-PS2/GC/Xbox era, we saw much more even competition in the console space. PS3 and 360 sold virtually the same, Wii did great hardware numbers, etc. The GC/Xbox/DC just weren't in the PS2's league, so it's a fun thought exercise.

I think the folks posting "2 of those consoles' libraries can't match the PS2, but 3 can" probably hit my general feelings.

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Well to be fair, the PS2 had an 18 month lead in Japan and a full 1 year with no other console to compete with in the west. It was the only game in town for quite some time.

 

[werezompire]

Agree the Gamecube was weak in the genre (pretty obvious given how easily you can count them up) but you are forgetting Baten Kaitos (not personally a fan) and TTYD (personally a very big fan). Grandia 2, Skies of Arcadia, and TTYD are actually my favorite JRPGs of the gen lol.

There was also the Pokemon Colosseum games, I guess. And Crystal Chronicles.

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Yeah, TTYD was a pretty big omission on my part. Baten Kaitos never really gelled for me & I really didn't care for Crystal Chronicles (my friends loved it though).

My top 5 JRPGs of the era would probably be Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, Persona 4, SMT: Nocturne, Persona 3: FES, and Final Fantasy X in that order. But there were so many amazing JRPGs in that era, that I could easily make a much longer list and still fill it with favorites.

 

[KalBalboa]

Well to be fair, the PS2 had an 18 month lead in Japan and a full 1 year with no other console to compete with in the west. It was the only game in town for quite some time.

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[Replicant]

Click to shrink...

Dreamcast was dead in January 2001.

 

[KalBalboa]

Dreamcast was dead in January 2001.

Click to shrink...

 

[Oreiller]

Absolutely yeah. There's not that many awesome games on those other consoles in comparison.

 

[mentok15]

Yeah, I wasn't really bothered about being narrow with debuts or marginally better versions (see CvS2). Same reason someone might prefer Xbox for the same games + Halo/Ninja Gaiden, is basically how I am for PS2.

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It's really going to come down to personal preference. Like for me WRPGs > JRPGs so on the overall RPG front Xbox wins. And for third person action games nothing is touching the Zeldas: OoT, MM, WW, and TP available on Gamecube.

 

[E.T.]

It's really going to come down to personal preference. Like for me WRPGs > JRPGs so on the overall RPG front Xbox wins. And for third person action games nothing is touching the Zeldas: OoT, MM, WW, and TP available on Gamecube.

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Would the PS1 library count in this scenario where N64 ports are counted for the GameCube?

 

[FUNKNOWN iXi]

Hell no.

 

[Hoa]

Nah, you'd have to ignore a ton of gems on the other 3 to go with that. It is pretty close to even though.

 

[tiebreaker]

Where is that PS2 presentation slide when you need one.

PS2 was a beast, and part of it was because of its library.

 

[Mr. Lemming]

So I went through my collection and came up with the games I know I spent considerable time with and honestly all four systems are about on par with each other as to number of "good" games. GCN: 19, Xbox: 19, PS2: 19, DC: 17. I think the strength of the PS2 library is that being so large it can appeal to a great many people, like my list of games will be totally different than someone else's whereas the other three libraries will likely have a lot of overlap. The Dreamcast is amazing for having such a strong library in so little time.