Just looking over Game Rankings with the criteria "Good games that are also still fun", the PS2's library is ridiculously better than the PS1, even though there are still some PS1 games that I still consider "Essential" like:
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Spyro 1-3
Final Fantasy Tactics
Silhouette Mirage (Just play the import of this; Thankfully, it's easily available on PSN for the PS3)
Grandia
Suikoden 1-2
Metal Gear Solid
Silent Hill
Xenogears
But, the PS2 had stuff like:
Ratchet & Clank 1-3
Ico
Shadow of the Colosssus
SSX Tricky
Burnout 3
God of War 1-3
Frequency
Sly Cooper
Amplitude/Frequency
Okami
Katamari Damashi
Jak & Daxter
Stuff that's now better experienced elsewhere(*cough*PC*cough*), but still great:
Silent Hill 2
GTA 3/Vice City/San Andreas
Rayman 2-3
Beyond Good & Evil
Psychonauts
+ it had those Street Fighter & Mega Man/X collections, which you'd still be hard pressed to see collected together anywhere else.
It's telling that I still have a PS2 hooked up after all these years. There's just so much good stuff on it.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Spyro 1-3
Final Fantasy Tactics
Silhouette Mirage (Just play the import of this; Thankfully, it's easily available on PSN for the PS3)
Grandia
Suikoden 1-2
Metal Gear Solid
Silent Hill
Xenogears
But, the PS2 had stuff like:
Ratchet & Clank 1-3
Ico
Shadow of the Colosssus
SSX Tricky
Burnout 3
God of War 1-3
Frequency
Sly Cooper
Amplitude/Frequency
Okami
Katamari Damashi
Jak & Daxter
Stuff that's now better experienced elsewhere(*cough*PC*cough*), but still great:
Silent Hill 2
GTA 3/Vice City/San Andreas
Rayman 2-3
Beyond Good & Evil
Psychonauts
+ it had those Street Fighter & Mega Man/X collections, which you'd still be hard pressed to see collected together anywhere else.
It's telling that I still have a PS2 hooked up after all these years. There's just so much good stuff on it.