PS2 Era Games Still Hold Up in 2025 Because of THIS!

[@redsilversnake]

I think one problem is that nearly all the big developers don't think of themselves as artists the same way many others think of gaming as art; the industry is still largely stuck in the mindset of pushing new tech rather than leaning into a variety of styles, and the easiest way for them to show advancements in tech is to imitate the look of reality, which unfortunately seems to be what the average player wants as well. I don't know how exactly the rest of us can push against that other than promoting various kinds of artistic directions, but I do hope there comes a day when AAA games become rare and different looks for games are flourishing instead.

[@TheOtakuKat]

The worse visual downgrade ever from the original to remake is KH: CoM to KH: Re:CoM those 32 bits sprites of the KH cast on the gba were great and it's a crime that most will never get to see them or the better gameplay for that matter.

[@YahyaDanboos]

Totally agree, they were so charming 😍

[@TheOtakuKat]

@@YahyaDanboos I'm sure it will be released on the Switch Online Games sub anyday now. (Inhales Copium)

[@foggy_EQ]

yeah i absolutely agree. it didn't help that re:com definitely didn't have the same budget as kh1 or kh2 so it ends up looking like the worst of the ps2 games and it is completely lacking charm and detail that the gba version had always had

[@viruschris3160]

This is why I’m not a fan of the new art directions of Kingdom Hearts and Pokémon to say. KH3 did go with that Pixar look but I didn’t like it. I miss the cartoonish and colorful look of the previous games. It really felt like a Disney cartoon in 3D. KH3 just looked off… especially Sora’s fingers. They look so bony compared to the thicker fingers he had to mimic a Disney character hand. And Pokémon with Scarlet and Violet that added “realistic” texture to both Humans and Pokémon and it looks odd. Even changing the iconic eye design. So when I see the SV cast placed next to the other entries in Pokémon Master they look like they’re from different series. This is why I prefer style over realism to my games.

[@Otin]

There are many points in this video I agree with, but I feel that saying ps2 games are 'timeless' may be an exaggeration. For example, I love KH2, its one of my favorite games of all time, but KH3 retains its cartoonish style, but executes it better, being unbound by the limitations of the console. Also P3 reload is able to appear much more stylish and visually impressive than the original, which I feel makes the experience more impressive. Anyway my main point is that though ps2 games look great despite their age, they still appear dated, when compared to other modern games which also use a similar style. Also I mean no hate towards your game, I completely understand why you want to do that style and think it looks great and replicates the feel of kh2 :)

[@beatlemania8945]

A few nitpicks. The PlayStation 1 was not actually the "first test into the world of 3-D gaming." 3-D was simply more feasible in that era than it had been previously, but I get what you meant. And when it came to remastering Kingdom Hearts 1 for the HD collection, Tetsuya Nomura stated that they actually had to, for all intents and purposes, re-do the whole game from the ground up because they apparently lost its original assets some time ago so it wasn't that easy of an upgrade. Still, looking forward to Luminous Nights. I've been craving a new Kingdom Hearts-style game for some time now.

[@poleon2003]

Funny thing is that in the 2000s people were in a phase where anything cartoonish or colorful graphics wise is for babies and that itty gritty realism was the only thing suitable for "grown up gamers" like remember when people shit on Wind Waker's art style when it was first revealed? yeah and also this mentality in the 2000s was sadly why games like Klonoa 2 didn't sell too well because people just dismissed it as childish from the cover art god I'm glad we're out of the days where people were obsessed with graphics and realism so much that they used to think that graphics are more important than anything else of design

[@redfoxbennaton]

Almost all the "cartoony games" in the 2000s where just pictures of pimp Spongebob Squarepants counting his dollar bills because no one had taste back then

[@kermitwithamustache3885]

Excellent video. I don’t want every developer to chase industry trends, I want more games that would fit right in the Xbox, PS2 and GameCube days. There needs to be more of a market for that grey area of games that aren't photorealistic AAA but have a bigger production values than a small indie 2D pixel art game, not everything needs to be just those two. Have it be its own niche but normalized subgenre that people don't need to rip on for not looking AAA. A multitude of genres that specifically replicates that iconic 2000s energy and game design. Stuff like 3d platformers, stylish character action games, small budget JRPGs, and more things that big companies are afraid to make because they might be criticized as "dated". I want a world where "Looks/feels like a PS2 game" is not seen as an insult but as a compliment. Nowadays for me hearing that sentence is an instant and effective sales pitch for whatever you are marketing.

[@magi1134]

I seriously hope kh4 didn't lose the final bits of what kept kingdom hearts cartoonish, turning into another final fantasy character

[@YahyaDanboos]

Yeah I really hope so 😭

[@RazzleTheRed1]

Sadly I don't have high hopes, 3 was such a disappointment it kinda killed the series for me. :(

[@YahyaDanboos]

Right?! 😭😭😭

[@JNAB0212]

@@YahyaDanboos keep in mind that you would still be going to Disney worlds, Sora’s going to be changing to fit their art style like he was doing in the POTC world in KH3

[@quandaledingleofficial6]

Imagine if kh4 becomes ff17💀

[@keblin86]

PS2 best console! Can't be beaten imo lol. I love seeing PS2 games even today especially upscaled!

[@Nikku4211]

nah bruh atari 2600 is where its at who needs realism or stylisation when you got chunky pixels

[@AkaiAzul]

Be careful with "creativity thrives with limitations," lest you end up with another Metroid Other M.

[@snintendog]

GC DC and PS2 had all my favorite games and still do. Even the FMVs of that day look amazing. .Hack is still my favorite for 3D animation.

[@ChrisBeYT]

Still playing ps2 games with my sister. We even try to bring the Nostalgie back with some retro gameplays 😊

[@昇天院煜]

楽しいかった😊 良い意見をありがとう

[@YahyaDanboos]

視聴ありがとうございました！😊

[@FoxMcCloud-64]

You old better new bad people are delusional af

[@manukau5271]

For real

[@GugureSux]

Spot on, and something I've been trying to talk to people for years now. I've lost count how many times a modern sequel / remake with "generic, realistic Unreal graphics, with no colors and wet floors" has been claimed to be an "improvement" from the PS2 era visuals.

[@YahyaDanboos]

Exactly, just adding higher graphics features doesn't mean it's gonna be better, especially when it betrays the original art direction.

[@redfoxbennaton]

There are cartoony Unreal 5 games.

[@Nikku4211]

Yeah, especially when they say 'Nintendo [or any other company] hire this man!'.

[@dawesomemage6126]

You really hit the nail on the head with this video. One of my all-time favorite series on the PS2 is Ratchet & Clank they had four games ,six if you count the PSP ports. How many did the PS4 have one and it was a watered down version of the first game. Was it beautiful yes did a lack content also yes ,well fun it lacked the charm from the old titles. I miss when triple A games were more about the fun factor than high fidelity graphics and selling half the game through micro transactions, I’m glad indie games are still popping off with bangers. I can’t wait for your game man it’s looking great so far!

[@YahyaDanboos]

Exactly!! I really wish they could just release Ratchet & Clank and other timeless games like this again in their older styles 😭

[@DEATHWIRE]

People saying "photorealistic" games all look the same as if you can differentiate between red dead, gow, spiderman, veey easily

[@warpvector]

I always ask: What's a better game? Go Fish, or Go Fish but the cards feature screenshots from The Mandalorian. Graphics don't make a game better. The game is the game and that should come first.

[@JakeFrost-e6w]

I think the biggest thing that irks me about the focus on realistic graphics is that often times the games can run poorly and look outdated by the time the next console generation comes out since many games put everything into realism these days. So you sink all that time, money, and resources, just to make a game that for most people will run like a microsoft powerpoint presentation and will look bad compared to the next wave of games that comes out since they didn't try to make any kind of proper art style or art direction for it. It's just so self defeating!

[@twincast2005]

5:02 Quadruple-A, you mean. 7:12 Stardew Valley revived it. Animal Crossing was extremely niche outside Japan until then.

[@YahyaDanboos]

Ohh yeah that's very true 🤔 But then again, after Animal Crossing New Leaf came out, so many cozy life-sim indie games statted to spawn after 🤔

[@rat1223]

Be real, the sudden spike in the popularity of Let's Play content is what re-popularized cozy sim games. That genre was never dead, I think a lot of people new to gaming didn't realize there were so many games like that out there until Stardew dropped and was so good they're still playing it instead of checking out the games that inspired it.

[@MidnyaDaCow]

If we never had Artstyles games wouldn't look as good as they do these days, pursuing realism will not get us anywhere.

[@Thenextday8]

You must’ve not played stalker 2 on high settings yet 😭

[@ProfHwki]

Gameplay and art direction should always come before graphics and while graphics do matter kind of like you said in the video, as long as the graphics aren't the focal point of the game. I do think graphics sell games. However the gameplay is what keeps audiences captivated. It doesn't matter how realistic the game looks if it isn't fun.

[@YahyaDanboos]

Yes absolutely, it's always gameplay over everything else. This is why I always say: "Good gameplay can save bad art, but good art can never save bad gameplay."

[@isaiagonzalez6268]

keep it up man really looking forward to playing your game.

[@nate6045]

Hey I'm just throwing this out there but when you finally release your game, I hope you find a way to publish it physically as well. I know digitally makes more sense for small developers but for game preservation and whatnot, I really hope I can own a hardcopy of your game. I also want to buy it for my friend who is a massive KH fan. I'd love to see it on Playstation specifically because I feel like that's where it all began for fans like us.

[@YahyaDanboos]

Oh yes, absolutely! I already have plans to do that after I release the digital version. I too love the feeling of having a physical copy of games ❤️

[@l0wl1f3]

I like when games look like games, seeing how they represent things with little visual tricks. Reality is depressing as all hell right now so I would rather not be reminded of it

[@YahyaDanboos]

Exactly! It's so much more charming. But that's why I'm hopeful about this because Nintendo and Indies are doing it right and keep making charming games 😁

[@V10L3TAPPL3]

Ohhhhh that's why game like mario sunshine despite being an old game didn't look old at all. 😮

[@Phillyrider807]

Do yall not understand that Sora's appearance will change depending on the world he's in? The trailer showing Donald and Goofy in the normal kingdom shader at the end was to show that the "Disney" aspect of the series is not going anywhere. I also don't like the fact that you are just lumping "photo realistic" all together. You can put games like God Of War/Red Dead Redemption/Returnal/Spiderman etc and they all look drastically different and all have different "Art styles" And 3rd. Ps2 games are not "timeless" lol. As someone who grew up on the gamecube/ps2 era. I can clearly look at games like Jak and Daxter and while I will always have fond memories of that series. Those graphics still look dated in 2025. It sounds like u just want cozy/charming games(which there is nothing wrong with that) but also for them to have a budget of a AAA game. It don't work like that now and days lol(outside of Nintendo, But lets be real. Nintendo releases hardware 5-7 years behind current tech. So it's always gonna be up to their first party games to sell the system. )

[@BestGirlsBiggestFan]

I wouldn't call them different styles, simply different lighting. At least as far as PS5 era games go. As for Nintendo, they learned that games sell systems, not power. That was obvious when the weakest systems of each gen( NES, SNES, PlayStation, PS2, Wii, DS, Switch) outsold the strongest systems (Master System, MegaDrive, N64, Xbox, PS3/Xbox 360, Xbox One X) every time. Software sells systems and Nintendo knows that, having strong hardware and no software gets you... wherever Xbox is right now and Sony are slowly following.

[@Marliemac]

Omg...you have no idea how much I needed to hear this. I remember so many people gushing over kh4 looking like final fantasy graphics and I didn't like the look of Sora at all and it bothered me, everyone else was saying he looked amazing but...I couldn't get over how "not" Kingdom Hearts it looks. And no matter how many fan artworks I saw of Sora's new look, it didn't feel like Sora at all. The only artwork I saw that felt like Sora was Nomuras official artwork for the 20th anniversary. The style of what makes Kingdom Hearts characters look like them just feels lost... Like don't get me wrong, the graphics look amazing, but it doesn't feel like Kingdom Hearts anymore. That's the one thing that worries me, we haven't seen anything since the first teaser, so maybe they can showcase more worlds that are less realistic or maybe there's a version of Sora that matches the stylized look he has when entering cartoon worlds again.

[@darkroxas46]

What an informative video Yahya! Being just a person that truly loves gaming, things you said really made absolute sense and answered a question I didn't know I even had. I always assumed it was the memory of the past as to why I enjoyed the PS2 generation so much, and always thought that playing all these Indie games and the reason why I love them is to somehow try to relive those days. While I do believe that is still partially true, what you spoke about in the video in such detail is eye opening. I miss you a lot man, may you find nothing but success in your future.

[@stephanrobertgames]

nintendo switch has one big issue -> its missing kingdom hearts

[@stephanrobertgames]

other than that, love ur video, ur game and happy to see more

[@YahyaDanboos]

You mean the Kingsom Hearts Cloud Edition doesn't count? 🤣🤣🤣

[@stephanrobertgames]

@@YahyaDanboos nope, bought just a steamdeck to have a nintendo switch like experience with kingdom hearts 😀 oh and to play ALL the falcom games -> a company what u maybe missed in ur video. Great developer and I can recommend them not enough to kingdom hearts fans -> the ys series for the gameplay and the legend of heroes series for the story -> both series have great stories and gameplay but in comparison with kingdom hearts -> ys -> gameplay, legend of heroes -> story ;-)

[@YahyaDanboos]

​@@stephanrobertgamesOne big reason I bought my Steam Deck too 😁

[@doclouis4236]

Yeah, I agree. Muddy, crusty, low-resolution graphics that try to look realistic are way better than actual good-looking high-res textures😂

[@RealCoachMustafa]

I'm playing super Mario Galaxy for the first time with my son and the switch remaster still looks fantastic. I think the original came out like 20 years ago.

[@HughHephner]

This is a solid vid I’ve never thought about it like this but I always find myself playing ps2 over my new consoles you got yourself a new subscriber

[@Lightforeverandever]

This is a lengthy and important discussion for me as a big KH fan, but so i dunno if i should just write a large text here in the comments that will just be there :s

[@YahyaDanboos]

write away, I'd love to hear your opinions 😁

[@Lightforeverandever]

My apologies, gotta re-write that entire text cuz youtube app did not register it -.- Thank you so much, (cant wait for your game release, still in my wishlist), so: As a KH fan and a veteran gamer like many, i really LOVED KH2 visually, and not only as an obvious PS2 top quality look, but even nowadays as a game in general. That said, im sure that many of us, wanted/hoped to see one day, a new/next KH game that would look exactly like in the cinematic cutscenes...and here lies the first dissappointment issue: KH3 did NOT look smooth and bright like in KH1 and 2 cinematics, but much more textured and different in color and lighting. KH3 felt 50% good and 50% not that good. Yes it did bring our heroes back and i rly wanted that, but the rest felt like they released a game to make changes and test ideas that many of them were not good or unnecessary imo. KH4 looks epic, but wont it also feel that like in KH3 it is missing core soul game elements? *My personally very important complaint here is* (i dunno what many fans think of this) that we all knew the journey and the Disney worlds we visited, so felt like filler worlds to have the same ( and whats with Olympus Col., and im Greek lol) instead of adding new ones that ppl wanted, and *most importantly* , many of us were awaiting the great finale, the final showdown with Xehanort am i wrong? That to me means the whole atmosphere and setting of the game should be serious and epic , focused on that upcoming showdown, 90% original KH worlds and music, less Disney, BUT while keeping the toony look. Well none of that were done. Please let me know your opinion :)

[@xelefdev]

1:40, well that is still true today, because the biggest constrain is budget. If anything there is way more diversity today in terms of art direction than in the past.

[@QTRemnant]

From the looks of the comment section, this video is exactly as I expected: A complete roundabout way of saying that older games have a better variety of games with different art styles and art direction instead of being an actual critique about graphics.

[@evergaolbird]

I think you mean "Why PS2 games still is better than most Modern Games". Graphics-wise overall is subjective but even me goes back to old PS2 games cause of the unrestricted fun factor the games in the console brings. But yeah I feel you bro!

[@MrNickPresley]

Those games on the PS2 had an art style behind them and strong art direction. Of course they look better. Modern gaming seems to forget that realism is not the end-all be-all they think it is, especially when their art direction is crap.

[@AlexGamer67]

Gotta say that your game gives off a cozy dream feeling. Perhaps it's the Nights fan in me seeing that, lol , but I love the look.

[@YahyaDanboos]

Thanks! Glad you like it 😁

[@spoonabenson8762]

I gotta disagree with the base assumption that the art styles of the PS2 look “timeless”. They do not. They look like PS2 games for the most part. As someone who didn’t grow up with those games they do in fact look dated. And just lumping in most modern games as “photorealistic” while neglecting the very obvious fact that these games do have a distinct Art Direction as well. Put gameplay from Bloodborne, Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War Ragnarok side by side that that becomes very clear. Just lumping in “photorealistic” as a critique is rather lazy. Now onto the point about remasters, I don’t really see how it’s really that relevant. The PS3 era was clearly a far more transitionary era that really lead into games looking great on the PS4. Just like how the PS1 was what lead to games looking better on the PS2. And on the on the point of cost, why should I a consumer care how much a game costs to make? I frankly don’t. I’m living in the current best era for games from ease of access to the wide variety of options available from Triple A games to Indie games. To me both of them cost pretty much the same which is how much I pay for the disc. And even then back to the core topic of the video about art style, the more stylized games of the PS2 era didn’t particularly coincide with all games that used the style being good. The mere fact games were easier to run through production back then meant there were a flood of genuinely just bad games overall that have mostly been forgotten to time just like

[@rosies69]

This is what nostalgia blindness does to you. Kh2 was my first kh game when i was 3. Glad I'm not ignorant to accept change. This is 2025. Old needs to go. New needs to come

[@Lightforeverandever]

Ive no shame to admit that ive mostly focused and returned or turned to lower end and retro games and support indie developers. Because thats what gaming is about, for me, im tired of the realism tryhard games that look messy unclear and over the top detailed without being fun. *Nintendo however* , is *the worst* game company in modern times, with *Microsoft* just startin to follow, and theres many reasons for it.

[@8bitmagic]

100% agree

[@redfoxbennaton]

I'm on the fence of how PS2 games still look good. Like I know that games like The Bouncer, Okami, or Silent Hill Saga still look good at all today. As if they where interactive Miyazaki movies. But at the same time, most of the games that where cheaply made or tried to attempt hyper-realism eg sports games/WW2 FPS look and run so terrible.

[@YahyaDanboos]

Well of course not all games looked great. But here im compared the good looking games of PS2 era games with the good looking games of PS3, PS4 and PS5.

[@redfoxbennaton]

@@YahyaDanboos I think about that when I play MGS3. Everything was just so detailed looking, Never dry or lifeless. No frame rate drops. MGS4 sure looked good but there where so many flat and dull textures/jaggies that it is painfully a ps3 game forever. (Then again Bioshock looks good still)

[@isaiagonzalez6268]

realistic is never better, im gonna miss old KH ps2 era graphic style was the best i prefer that 100 times over realistic, dont get me wrong realism has its place but not everything needs to look like that.

[@johncarldelossantos7345]

It's GREAT!!!

[@HeyShotgun]

can we just be happy with nomura getting to fulfill his Versus x kingdom hearts dream? i understand why everyone wanted the og graphics. but i think for modern hardware.. the lumious engine isn’t good for kh

[@YahyaDanboos]

Let's hope we get that Versus story finally

[@HeyShotgun]

@ i hope we get the yozora redemption arc in kh4 or even a stand alone game. square enix is remaking the older FF games like FF 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 and 13 / 13.2 hopefully they green light the Definitive version of Versus 13 for the series :) or just give yozora a redemption in kh 6 or 5 and have him reclaim his heart and save Stella ( the star in the final world that was kidnapped by the robots … Shes the blond girl from versus13 and was rebranded as a princess in FFXV ) yozora claiming his heart back and becoming noctis is all i ask for

[@homemaranha5649]

Hi if you want make Kingdom Hearts game style my request crossovers companies for you is Dreamworks (Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, How To Train Your Dragon, Prince Of Egypt and Rise Of Guardians KWarner Bros (Looney Toones, DC, Cartoon Network, Wizard Of Oz, Lord Of The Rings, Harry Potter, Iron Giant and Quest For Camelot) or maybe Don Bluth Movies (Anastasia, American Tail, Secret Of Nimh and Before Land Time) one of these franchises so what do you think?

[@rat1223]

Getting the rights to use any of those IP would probably cost more than all Yahya has spent in development costs on Luminous Nights by orders of magnitude.

[@ПётрПавловский-щ1х]

better than most ps3 games honestly!

[@goldennboy1989]

I have a simple answer on why games were better when you were a child: You were a child.

[@zodiacthundaga7264]

I'm sick of Unreal.

[@SnicketySlice]

This video is just full of false assertions and conveniently ignoring everything that doesn't fit within the narrative. Photorealistic graphics just seems to mean 'art style I don't like', as there's plenty of games from the PS2 that were going for realism and hold up really well. The go to examples are just generic shooters or whatever. Yeah, I'm sure that shit would have held up much better if it looked like Wind Waker, sure.

[@DrooledOn]

Video essays aren’t for you man, it’s just yapping.

[@repingers9777]

twilight princess went for realism but with a little style similar to old ps2 games i guess.

[@YahyaDanboos]

Its true that there is much more to the story than art direction and it's correct that there are games that are doing better in photorealistic graphics. But in this case I wanted to talk specifically about art style and art direction, and how much that has changed since the PS2 Era.

[@dopytheangel]

I wanted to make my game too, until that company that you are praising right now brought out their stupid patent in their stupid lawsuit. It's over.

[@fhdalweeb]

just make an original game brother

[@dopytheangel]

@@YahyaDanboos Define original. It would be inspired and Nintendo still be mad that indie devs are making making more money than them and sue for dumb reasons. Games that are like old zelda like ocarina of time and majoras mask are my favorite types of game. I want to make games like those. Every 3d platformer came from super mario 64. Nintendo is trying to sue youtubers who said anything about them. Anything and I mean anything so be careful.

[@dopytheangel]

@@fhdalweeb Again Define Original.

[@timmygilbert4102]

3d plaformer comes from alpha wave on amigo, plenty 3d Platformers existed before Nintendo, and even ultima underworld precede zelda ...

[@dragon1130]

If it's the company I think it is then as long as you're not in Japan, you should be okay. From what I understand, Japanese patients only apply in Japan so as long as you're not using assets straight up from their games like "Creature Catcher Lavander and Chartreuse" or "Super Italian plumber bruvs." You should be fine.

[@davidtharp2125]

🙃

[@timmygilbert4102]

Ah yeah, timeless games that no longer sells