The 10 BEST PS2 3D Platformers

Nintendo may be the King, but the PlayStation 2 still had some great platformers. For this list, we'll be looking at our favorite PS2 games that let us jump, slide, and explore a world full of physics-defying double jumps and all manner of colorful baddies standing in your way. Our list includes “Sly 2: Band of Thieves” (2004), “I-Ninja” (2003), “Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy” (2001), “Maximo: Ghosts to Glory” (2001), and more! Did we miss a great 3D platformer on the PS2? Jump on down to the comments and let us know your favorites.
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[@mojoplays]

Did we miss a great 3D platformer on the PS2? Jump on down to the comments and let us know your favorites. Subscribe for more retro gaming videos! wmojo.com/mojoplays-subscribe

[@marcusyates3044]

Spyro VS Crash! Sony Mascot Showdown!

[@RESPAWN786]

Onimusha dawn of dreams 👻

[@zakirstocks9514]

Maximo: Ghosts to Glory and Army of Zin

[@stephenking5852]

Tak and the Power of Juju!

[@csharp3884]

Game developers need to make more platformers!!!

[@RespectTheLogos3]

Naughty Dog and Insomniac had a rivalry in the PS1 era with Crash Bandicoot on one side and Spyro the Dragon on the other. The competition continued into the PS2 era with Jak & Daxter for Naughty Dog and Ratchet & Clank for Insomniac. Crazy, isn’t it

[@brettquimby3274]

And the Crash Bandicoot series proved that non-Japanese video game series could be a huge hit in Japan despite prior beliefs. Sadly, Spyro wasn't as successful in Japan due to poor marketing and the Japanese localizers botching the camera system. Ironically, the situation was reversed for Naughty Dog and Insomniac in the PS2 era with Jak and Daxter not doing too well in the Japanese market while Ratchet and Clank made inroads with Japanese gamers.

[@malhaomalhoa7486]

Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank were such a huge improvement by both companies.

[@FastTquick]

Meanwhile, Sucker Punch were in the background doing their own thing with Sly Cooper.

[@JTD95]

Friendly rivalry*

[@peterfreeman2380]

Like your comment, but I would write “rivalry” like this: they were contributing to the mutual goal-the greatness of video games as an art form established on one of the best consoles ever in PS1! Mario and Sonic-those were real rivals.

[@ghostxplatinum]

This truly was the golden era of 3D platformers! Some of my favourites include the Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, SpongeBob SquarePants, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro & Rayman games :)

[@zakirstocks9514]

Ain't that the truth there dude!

[@exodia9817]

Speaking of SpongeBob Battle for Bikini Bottom, I have yet to play the remake, Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated.

[@BrennySpain]

@@exodia9817 no way!

[@exodia9817]

@@BrennySpain Yes. And frankly, I need to play it sometime

[@AMVLifez]

I still to this day miss games like this

[@gamingvibez862]

The artstyle of Sly Cooper blew me away at the time, I really enjoyed that game.

[@penguinbrony2415]

The art style of sly cooper to this day still looks better than many games released now. It just looks so good, plus the comic book feel to it made it fun.

[@Alex-ng6hc]

Ape Escape 2, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, games that were smash hits way back in the 00's, games that I still love to play to this day

[@therealisticgamer5834]

Jak and daxter was my first experience with the ps2 good memories

[@bloody_outlaw8000]

Ikr seems like a lifetime ago 😢

[@KyleDontCare]

Jak and Daxter desperately needs a remaster, like what happened with Crash Bandicoot.

[@Demon-ft1th]

Wrath of Cortez was the first Crash game I played, and I DEFINITELY want The Simpsons Game remastered, just so I can Platinum it.

[@dreamguardian8320]

They managed to remaster Spyro the Dragon and MediEvil, so there might be a chance they might remaster Jak and Daxter in the future, I hope.

[@dreamguardian8320]

Maybe they'll even remaster Maximo: Ghosts of Glory.

[@hcsnake]

Crash got a remake, not a remaster. I wouldn’t want that for the Jak series, but a remastered version would be pretty cool (although it technically already happened on ps3).

[@KyleDontCare]

@@hcsnake TBH, I think the N.Sane Trilogy was a remaster not a remake. It was mostly audio and graphics that were upgraded and they added CoCo as a playable character but, that's it. Level design is still the same and seeing Jak and Daxter getting a remaster on the PS5 would look way better than the HD Remaster on the PS3.

[@stephonrogers7382]

I firmly believe that this was the Golden era of video games the PS2 era had no DLCs or micro transactions. Ratchet & clank and Sly Cooper will always hold a special place in my heart. I miss those days and PS3 era.

[@lightfang24]

I-NINJA NEEDS A RELAUNCH, REMAKE, RERELEASE, ETC! JUST ANYTHING TO GET THAT GAME BACK ON NEW GEN CONSOLES! It was such a fun game!!

[@therealkreationsncaa]

Agreed!

[@c9knutzz385]

Sly Cooper the greatest franchise hands down it’s not even close. All 4 games A++

[@crazyroboboss]

Sly cooper overall deserves an S tier rating lol am i right?

[@FastTquick]

I really do miss playing the Sly games. Thieves in Time was a blast to play on PS3. If only we ever got a 5th game for PS5. 😢 On another note, I’m all for all the original PS2 Jak & Daxter games getting remade for PS5 as well as getting a 4th mainline game. (The less said about The Lost Frontier, the better.)

[@brettquimby3274]

I think the Jak and Daxter series should get rebooted and stick to the colorful, light-hearted tone of the first game.

[@penguinbrony2415]

Agreed. Sly Cooper deserves a final game that wraps up the franchise. It's been 10 years since Thieves in Time, and 20 since the series debuted. It's time for one last adventure to wrap it up.

[@swishersweets727]

​@@brettquimby3274I agree. Leave the guns and shit to ratchet and clank and stick to more platform , collecting, story etc. the 1st Jak is beautiful

[@raven3067]

I miss the 3D platforming days. :(

[@dreamguardian8320]

Don't we all.

[@jclkaytwo]

there's still plenty of new 3D platformers coming out nowadays.

[@Manic_Panic]

There are plenty nowadays. Besides the Crash and Spyro remakes, we got Crash 4, A Hat in Time, Kao the Kangaroo (2022 reboot), Ratchet & Clank PS4, Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, It Takes Two, Sackboy, Psychonauts 2, Yooka Layle, Tearaway, Klonoa remakes, Spongebob Cosmic Shake, New Super Lucky's Tale, Solar Ash, No Straight Roads, Fe, Demon Turf, Pumpkin Jack, Pac-Man World Re-Pac, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger Trilogy, Sonic Colors, Sonic Frontiers and I would count Gravity Rush and Dreams as well since many players have made custom 3D platformers using the Dreams engine. It's not as good as the PS2 but pretty damn good for a genre that was considered dead 10 years ago. I would also like to add Vodoo Vince, Super Cloudbuilt and Recore if you have a PC. Unfortunately these never came to PS4/5.

[@jclkaytwo]

@@Manic_Panic you mentioned all those games and still managed to exclude mario odyssey and kirby and the forgotten land 😭

[@Manic_Panic]

@@jclkaytwo Everyone knows those, I was primarily mentioning games you could play on Playstation 4 and 5. And a slight nod to some that didn't make it to Playstation at the end.

[@Kak0l00kiy4m]

Did you seriously not even mention any games from the Sands of Time trilogy? That is outrageous

[@pathendlem]

I would call that more action adventure/hack and slash

[@MrLeerling]

@@pathendlem It's as much a platformer/action adventure mix as R&C and J&D

[@user-rk2xi7iw9k]

1-Psychonauts 2-Klonoa 2 3-Ratchet and clank GC 4-Jack and dexter PL 5-Sly 2

[@gamerq1996]

Jak and Daxter and Sly Cooper were my absolute favorite games to play growing up and glad to see they made the list, couldn't count how many hours I invested into those games 😬

[@chillvibed]

For me it was jak, ratchet and sly. The 3 headed monster on ps2. I had to have clocked in hundreds of hours for all the games on ps2. I don't play games anywhere near as much anymore.

[@mryoyoserpico]

Sly 2, ratchet and clank up your arsenal, and psychonauts are all some of the best and some of my favorite games ever!

[@bowkatiewow]

I absolutely loved The Simpsons Game. It was so much fun.

[@boredstudent]

I played I-Ninja but on the Nintendo GameCube. It was actually my brother's game and he loved it. It's a shame that we never got a true sequel after Jak 3 (Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier doesn't count) but I really loved how Naughty Dog went from a friendly platformer to a game with a much darker plot. As for Ratchet & Clank, that series is still as great as it was on the PS2. One thing I love about that game is how it can combine dramatic scenes with humor.

[@BigSteve1997]

Holy cow I Ninja, what a great blast from the past. A awesome pull

[@penguinbrony2415]

SLy 2: Band of Thieves is still my favorite video game of all time because it's so good. It's got the good mix of great platforming, good story, and great visuals making it one of the biggest forgotten gems of the PS2 era.

[@Oshadorin]

Sly Cooper, man, Sly Cooper

[@abhirao2001]

Thank you for this video. It brings back memories of when I first got my ps2 and got to play some of these gems. Seeing Rayman Revolution on the list made me happy. :)

[@dreamguardian8320]

I remember playing lots of PS2 games too, before we had to move on with 3, 4, and 5. Time is just moving too fast for us to keep with these days.

[@jackripple5179]

Ah yes.... Sly Games.... The hidden gem.

[@standike8471]

thanks for sharing ps2 games videos. They are amazing

[@abareamphibia6812]

It’s honestly amazing that Jak and daxter the precursor legacy has held up over the years so well, mean while jak 2 and 3 are nowadays being viewed as products of their time. Make me wonder how the series would of been had naughty dog not tried to jump on GTA popularly and stuck with what originally was

[@bloody_outlaw8000]

Yeah because a 3d action adventure platformer, setting on a distopian future with flying cars is really what most games were back in the day.. people act like jak sequels are the only mission based games aside from gta..

[@4rl0ng]

I just finished replaying it yesterday, after all these years, still so good.

[@dreamguardian8320]

They forgot to mention that in Ape Escape 2, some of the characters were voiced by some of the people who voiced Ash and Misty in Pokemon.

[@12thMandalorian]

Ape Escape is such an underrated franchise!

[@laren153]

so glad someone sheds some light on I-ninja

[@rustervod7453]

I'm so happy to see someone talking about Sly Cooper !! Actually I watched the video cuz of the vignette 😂 But... That spoil at the end 😭😭

[@Rouz102]

This just awoke a fever dream of playing the I-Ninja demo that came on the second disk of Soul Calibur. Hadn’t even thought about it in years.

[@taylorhale5307]

So many great memories with the ps2 platformers

[@anayosmith9505]

Good thing you mentioned the Simpson game sly 2 band of thieves jack and Daxter precursor legacy

[@Deknis]

Ps2 era was truly the golden age of gaming. Man I miss those days.

[@darkstardarin]

IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME I-NINJA GOT SOME LOVE!

[@GamerFunOriginallyAarush]

That’s pretty amazing!

[@AndreiDrift]

Just got my emulator on my Series S and I was looking for some great titles. Thanks ✌🏻

[@Bluestar-bh3bf]

Sly 2 was and still is my personal favorite 3D platformer on the ps2 it was also the game that got my little sister into the sly cooper series

[@bshays21]

Instantly recognized that voice in Ape Escape 😊. Veronica Taylor 💪🏼. Miss hearing that voice total nostalgia

[@Sanderteeuwen]

Rayman 2 was such a good game. As were Ratchet and Clank and Jack and Daxter. Always reminds me of a more cheerful period of life with nothing to worry about.

[@gabrielabrego9620]

I like the background music of this video from Ratchet & Clank:Up Your Arsenal it’s giving me nostalgic memories.

[@flemjack01]

2:35 Frieza everytime he comes back to life

[@tylermorrissette4269]

I would have added Spyro 3 year of the dragon. I played that all the time as a kid along with sly 2 and SpongeBob battle for bikini bottom.

[@ganumon1984]

My favorite PS2 Games are Sly 2: Band of Thieves and Battle For Bikini Bottom. I still hope that Sly Cooper returns on the PS5 Hardware and it should take inspiration from Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

[@XxAppleOrangexX]

AWESOME.

[@poy110]

Ape escape 3 deserved to be on this list more than ape escape 2

[@ahmedalmansoori2821]

Ape escape + sly couper + jak & dexter + pitfall + ty are my favorite forever 😢💜

[@thomascasillo9861]

I would kill to see the Simpsons and SpongeBob games on PS Plus.

[@unchartedrocks1]

Wow I wasn’t expecting ininja to be part of the list. It’s highly unknown.

[@jamalvargas6146]

10 Best Sega Saturn Fighting Games

[@freddiemolinajr.8397]

good video

[@Leo-pd4fc]

Playstation 3d platform games are awesome, My favourite are Sly Cooper game Sly Raccoon, Band of thieves and honor amoung thieves. Sly games are very popular here in Finland and Sly Raccoon fandub bootleg IS ready. Btw i like Rachet and clank, jak and daxter and crash games too But im interested of I ninja and maximo Ghost glory games. PS i Have that Simpsons game. 🔥🔥

[@QueenOfFandoms]

So many great games on this list but I think Scooby-Doo Night of 100 Frights deserves an honorable mention... and while it's technically 2.5D, not 3D but Klonoa 2 was amazing as well.

[@GlassMoonlightAngel]

Jak and Daxter was one of my favourite games for the PS2. It was a game my friend got me for my birthday years ago. I loved it but never got passed the Forbidden Jungle (I was like 11-12 when I got it in 2004)

[@Saddonghussein]

Cool story bro

[@DanielGuzman-mm8ti]

When you realize Super Mario Sunshine was the ONLY 1st Party 3D Platformer On the Nintendo GameCube Era Let that sink in.

[@highward5292]

What about wario world

[@apeskullgamer]

Maximo needs a port or remastered need it to come back to life again one of my favorite games on the ps2 Legacy of kain needed to be on this list more great games another good 3d platformer was vexx and dr muto and scaler

[@marcusyates3044]

Spyro VS Crash! Sony Mascot Showdown!

[@RespectTheLogos3]

The ninja in “iNinja” sounds like Stimpy. Oh right, Billy West.

[@MulleMekk]

"One of Rayman's last great 3D-adventures before being overshadowed by those damn rabbits"! COULD NOT AGREE MORE. RAYMAN 4 plzzzzz

[@lightfang24]

I need old school Rayman to come back like Rayman 3. The Origins games with the music are fun. But 3D Rayman games were special

[@stefanloncar6868]

I still own PS2 as part of Nostalgia

[@bshays21]

Same here. I have a couple thousand dollars nostalgia collection 😅😳. It's gotten ridiculous 😂.

[@itzdcx7991]

I'll be playing all these on my SteamDeck!!!!

[@lelciones]

Eu nunca tinha ouvido falar em "I-Ninja" até hoje. Que pena que não tenho mais meu velho ps2

[@Hogan231]

I still have the PS2 games.

[@TAGanimation]

Maximo looks like Dark Souls meets Tex Avery, lol. Compliments to Susumu Matsushita.

[@spongeaang98]

I would've picked Jak 3 if we're going with that universe. It was the perfect balance of the first games humor and accessibility while making the most of the darker futuristic setting. Plus the difficulty was not too easy like the first nor waaaaaay too hard like the second.

[@montanajackson3713]

I really miss the sly cooper games. 😢 We need a fifth game or a trilogy remake like N.sane and reignited.

[@Ray.M.12345]

💜RATCHET, SLY AND JAK LOVE THOSE GAMES. 💜

[@triledink]

I kinda expected ratchet and clank 3 to be the top since during the video the starship phoenix theme is playing.

[@sugreev2001]

The Sly Cooper and the Ratchet & Clank games were my jam.

[@berrlett]

Sly is my man

[@claws019]

Ratchet and Clank are iconic but so underrated when it comes to Playstation characters

[@gregjones6955]

We need another sly game they left us with that time travel cliffhanger

[@lightfang24]

Speaking of Simpson game, anyone ever played the Futurama video game? I enjoyed that

[@yuichiusagirabbitpawssnow4820]

Remember playing Spyro the dragon and ratchet and clank sly jak and daxter Lego Star Wars games series need for speed Star Trek old PlayStation games like tony hawk pro 🛹 Matt Hoffman bmx off road atv fury Gran Turismo Star Wars battlefront games

[@kizaruthegreat]

Rayman original trilogy needs a remaster, jack an daxter, sly cooper, ratchet and clank all aswell

[@marcb771]

1. Sly cooper 2. Jak and Daxter 3. Ratchet and clank I always thought the ratchet and clank games were the worst of the big 3

[@zanychelly]

Rayman 2 was also a N64 game. A pretty good one.

[@michaelaugust4313]

Great games

[@YungPhantom-dp7rd]

Jak and daxter is my favorite from the platforming genre

[@highswagaming]

Ion go cap once I get my apartment I’m play thru sly cooper haha

[@taylorhale5307]

My favorites were Sly, Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxtar

[@alexanderdandrea4115]

ngl Maximo surprised me, I see you

[@buffon1590]

How did Klonoa 2 not make the list. I loved that game back in the day.

[@poy110]

Because that's not 3D

[@Saddonghussein]

Because the writers probably don't ask themselves. What would buffon1590 think its a good choice for this video

[@buffon1590]

@@poy110 true. It’s technically a 2D platformer but you can say it’s a hybrid between 2D level designing with 3D environments.

[@donniemilby5848]

Had Maximo as a kid… never made it past the second level

[@gregoryfosdal7935]

Ok you gave credit to the best in the business. Good.

[@Senses-Failed]

Scaler, klonoa, brave, tak and juju, pitfall the lost expedition, vexx, pac man world, legend of kay

[@the1stMoyatia]

I hope most of these 3D platformers get remade and ported to other platforms, including PS5.

[@benitosierrajr3958]

7:52 looks like somebody hasn’t played the Mario + Rabbids duology.

[@deej8983]

Damn I completely forgot about INInja

[@RogerWazup007]

I wonder if that character from Ape Escape 2 has the same VO as Ash.

[@carljordan5429]

You know what stands out even today about ps2 or xbox vs new generation games...is that 70 percent of games back then were very fun compared to now

[@matthewrooney8834]

This is my favourite genre of games roo bad besides some smalls numbers no one makes them anymore

[@RESPAWN786]

Onimusha dawn of dreams 👻 Anyone remember this, was soo hard but a 10/10 game I only wish they remastered it for ps4/ps5

[@FallingStar1080]

The Sly Cooper series needs to come to the Switch

[@4rl0ng]

J&D and R&C are the best ones. Love till i die.

[@bokc_beastiebeast]

Maximo is so legendary

[@TevyaSmolka]

That simpsons game was really awesome

[@JediRaul6]

I'm happy someone still remember Sly Cooper - Sony killed a lot of series - I hope to see another The Simpsons games

[@josevanz7654]

I miss Prince of Persia Sands of time on this list!

[@noemisango8478]

Rayman 2 revolution is a great remake, admit it, it also the last (ORIGINAL) version of the game, the rest are either dreamcast or N64 port. (Unless you count Rayman 3 on GBA as Rayman 2 like everyone in the comminuty)