25 Best PS2 Sports Games

NHL Hitz 2003 is Midway's loud, silly take on hockey, built by Black Box Games. It keeps the series' On-Fire Mode and over-the-top animations, and the crowds are fully 3D now. Up to six players can join in, and you get in-game fights and hidden teams on top of the normal games.

The series goes back to the early days of the 32-bit era, so Midway knew exactly what it was doing by the time this one came out. Players point to it as the hockey game to own, and a few say you do not need another one after it. If you want hockey without the rulebook, this is the place to start. The games are quick, the rules take a minute to learn, and the fights are as dramatic as you would hope.

NCAA Football 06 came out in July 2005 with Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard on the cover. He is the only cover athlete who had not played the year before, because his last game for Michigan was back in 1991. The big new mode was Race for the Heisman.

It was also the first in the series to shorten the year to its last two digits, and the only one with licensed music, including Bad Religion and The Clash. Turn it off and you get the college fight songs back. Players still bring it up when the talk turns to college football, and some think it beats the newer games. EA held an exclusive license with the NCAA, so the stadiums and team nicknames look the way they should.

NHL 2004 is the hockey game from the EA Black Box studios, and it is widely considered to be a major turning point for the series. It is the successor to NHL 2003, and it widened the game's world with three European elite leagues, including Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga and Sweden's Elitserien. Finnish fans got their own league too.

This was a big deal for anyone who grew up watching hockey outside North America, because you could finally play as the teams you actually followed. Players keep putting it on their lists of the PS2's great hockey games, and most of them add that it is the more serious option next to the arcade hockey on this list. Every year of the series builds on the one before, but this is the entry fans point to when they talk about the series growing up.

Rumble Roses is a wrestling game with an all-female roster, and every wrestler has both a good and a bad persona to choose from. Your costume and attitude change depending on whether you fight dirty or fair. Under the hood, it uses the same engine as Yuke's 2003 release WWE SmackDown!, so the grappling holds up.

Critics were split. They praised the graphics but were less impressed with the audio, the gameplay and the story. That never stopped players from loving it. Players remember it fondly, and it is the pick people reach for when they want something goofy instead of another serious wrestling sim. There is also a story mode and a watch-only mode where the AI plays both wrestlers.

Tony Hawk's Underground 2 puts you on a world tour, competing against Bam Margera's team in the World Destruction Tour. Neversoft released it on October 4, 2004, and it added a classic mode with the traditional ten goal, two minute format for anyone feeling nostalgic for the first Pro Skater games.

Reviews were generally positive, with praise for the gameplay and the classic mode but criticism for the story. A PSP version called Remix followed the next year with extra levels and characters. Players keep naming it, often together with the first Underground, so if you liked one, you will want both. The first stop is Boston, where Team Bam wins at the last minute, and the story takes it from there.

NBA Live 2005 is the yearly basketball sim, with Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets on the cover. EA Canada developed it and it came out in 2004. It was a proper sim in a generation full of street ball, with real teams, real rosters and real rules, and that made it the sensible choice for anyone who wanted basketball that looked like a broadcast.

It sold well, too. By July 2006 the PS2 version had sold 1.6 million copies in the United States. Players keep naming it when they list PS2 basketball games, usually as the realistic option next to the arcade games. If you want the street-ball chaos, look higher on this list, but if you want the real thing, this is the one.

MLB SlugFest: Loaded is Midway's fast and furious take on baseball, with beanballs and hard tags. Hitters can catch fire and turbo charge the game action, and fielders crash into each other like linebackers. This version added customizable replays and exploding scoreboards, which tells you how seriously it takes itself.

Reviews were generally favorable, and it holds a special place for anyone who found real baseball slow. Players name it as the arcade baseball game to play. It is a great game to hand to a friend who has never watched an inning, because the rules take about one minute to learn and the fun starts right away. It does not pretend to be a simulation, and that is its charm.

SSX 3 puts the whole game on one colossal mountain that you can ride freely. It came out in October 2003 and was the first game in the series to sell 1 million copies. Critics loved it, and Metacritic gave the PS2 version an average of 93 out of 100.

The music reacts to how you are riding, getting quieter and louder with your performance, and the PS2 version even had online races for two players, which was a rare treat in 2003. Players keep naming it as a favourite, and plenty call it the best snowboarding game on the system. Money can be used to upgrade your rider and buy new boards and clothes.

NBA Ballers is one-on-one basketball built around the bling-bling lifestyle of NBA superstars, with chromed-out cars and jets waiting for you as your career grows. Its Rags to Riches mode told a full story over 21 cut scenes, and it became the first video game officially licensed by a league to contain a story mode.

It is a spiritual successor to the NBA Jam series, and like many Midway sports games it keeps the player on fire feature. A sequel called NBA Ballers: Phenom followed. Players keep recommending it, and some prefer its sequel. If you wanted an excuse to see NBA stars in outrageous outfits, this is it. The roster has 60+ NBA players, including Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter.

SSX was a launch game for the PS2, released in October 2000, and it showed what the new console could do. It specializes in an arcade feel, with exaggerated jumps and improbable tricks, and the tricks you pull earn you speed boosts. The series began with producer Steven Rechtschaffner, a former professional skier.

Winning medals unlocks new courses and boards, so there is always another run to chase. Players are quick to bring up the SSX games when PS2 sports come up, and several call this one the best launch title the console had. Later games polished it, but the first run down the mountain still feels great. New outfits come from completing each character's trick book.

Fight Night Round 3 is EA Chicago's boxing game, and you create your own champ, with a fighting style and signature move. Career mode takes you from the local gym all the way up to five-star venues. It came out on February 20, 2006, and it picked up the first ever BAFTA for a sports video game.

It also won Fighting Game of the Year at the Interactive Achievement Awards, which says plenty about how good the punches felt. Players still go back to it years later, and none of them seem to have found a boxing game that replaced it. Trainers help you boost your speed and power as you climb the ranks.

FIFA Street 2 is street football played with 4-a-side versions of national football teams, and Cristiano Ronaldo is on the cover. In career mode, you create a player and compete in tournaments around the world to earn Skill Bills for clothes and upgrades. It even has its own radio station presented by Zane Lowe.

The home console versions got average reviews, with credit for improving on the first FIFA Street. Players were warmer than critics. Players still bring it up as a fun soccer pick, and it is the right game for a quick match with a friend when a full simulation feels like too much. It also showed up on the PSP and the DS, though the DS version fared worst with critics.

Blitz: The League is an unlicensed football game from Midway, released in October 2005 after the NFL signed an exclusive licensing deal with Electronic Arts. It was the first in the Blitz series to get an M rating, and Lawrence Taylor voices the team captain Quentin Sands.

The campaign story was partly written by former writers of Playmakers, the show ESPN canceled over the NFL's objections, so it has the same rough edges as real football drama. Players remember it fondly, and one even said it gave them a love for Korn through the soundtrack. A sequel, Blitz: The League II, came out in 2008, but only on newer consoles.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 drops you into huge free-roaming levels, with 190 progressively harder goals and no time limits. It is also the only game in the series where you do not have to buy tricks, and it lets you play up to eight players online. Released in 2002, it received critical acclaim.

The series came back in a big way later: a remake is included in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4, released in 2025. Players still name it as a Tony Hawk game worth owning, and its freedom to wander makes it the most relaxed game in the series. Grind and lip extensions let you chain your tricks into bigger combos.

NFL Street 2 is the second game in EA's arcade football series, where you conquer other teams using gravity-defying tricks like up-the-wall passes and off-the-wall catches. It was originally released on December 26, 2004, and the PSP got a version called NFL Street 2: Unleashed. Pull off enough tricks and you earn 100,000 style points for a gamebreaker.

It was nominated for Console Action Sports Game of the Year, though some reviewers found the solo modes dull. Players keep recommending it right next to NBA Street Vol. 2, so play them back to back if you can. The third and final game, NFL Street 3, followed in 2006.

FIFA Street takes the rules out of soccer and leaves the on-the-ball flair and individual style. Real stars play 4-on-4 match-ups, and it came out in February 2005 and was followed by FIFA Street 2 in February 2006. It is a loud, quick game, and the kind you pick up in a minute.

It also belongs to a family. Players lump it in with the other EA Sports BIG street games, and one wished EA would remaster the whole set in one box. If you loved the other Street games, this is the soccer one to try. Tricks matter as much as goals here, so you spend as much time showing off as scoring.

MVP Baseball 2005 is EA's baseball game with Manny Ramirez on the cover and full Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball and players association licenses. You can unlock 63 legendary players and 15 classic stadiums, and the soundtrack is widely held as one of the best of the 2000s.

Its fans never left. The modding community still releases annually updated rosters. Players keep naming it as the serious baseball game to play, and some say they still play it every year. Manager mode simulates a game from your choices before the first pitch, with a running box score.

ESPN NFL 2K5 is dressed as a live ESPN television broadcast with the voices and likenesses of ESPN personalities. It was the last NFL 2K game with official NFL licensing, and Sega priced it at $19.99 the day it shipped, against $49.99 for Madden NFL 2005, so EA cut Madden's price to $29.95.

Critics gave it universal acclaim, praising the VIP system and the broadcast touches. Players call it legendary, and some say it is the best football game ever made. The football lived up to the show around it. It even has first-person football, which puts you on the field looking through a player's eyes. Mel Kiper Jr. hosts the draft segment, and Suzy Kolber reports from the sidelines.

Tony Hawk's Underground gave the series a plot-twisting story and the ability to put your own mug shot on your custom player. You can ride, walk or drive around the levels, which are based on regions of the United States and other countries. Neversoft built it, and the PS2 version sold 2.11 million copies in the United States by December 2007.

Reviewers praised its wide appeal, soundtrack, customization and multiplayer, and a sequel followed in 2004. Players name it as a favourite Tony Hawk game, and several like that it plays more like an adventure game than a pure score chase. The story starts with a friend named Eric stealing your idea and cutting you out of the video.

Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 is Konami's soccer sim, with exhibition matches, cup competitions and an enhanced Master League. Its series came out of a long rivalry. International Superstar Soccer Pro, released for the PlayStation in 1997, was considered a game-changer, and the rivalry between FIFA and Pro Evo became the greatest rivalry in the history of sports video games.

Fans make patches with licensed kits and logos, which is a big part of why this one lives on. Players call Pro Evo 6 the high point of the series, and people are still updating the player data for it today. It has licensed international teams, such as Argentina and the Netherlands.

Pro Evolution Soccer, known as World Soccer: Winning Eleven 5 in Japan and North America, is the first game in Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer series, released in 2001. Japan got World Soccer: Winning Eleven 5 Final Evolution after the European release, and Pro Evolution Soccer 2 followed in 2002.

It started a series that fans of football games treat like a religion. Players often name the later Pro Evo games, but this is where it all began, and it is worth playing to see how much of the formula was already there. Konami rebranded the series as eFootball in 2020.

SSX Tricky is the second game in the SSX series, developed by EA Canada, and it was developed under the working title SSX 2. It came out in 2001, and it was so close to the first one that many considered it an update rather than a sequel.

The music system received much acclaim, since it adapts to the situation, and each course had specific songs paired with it. Players name it as the SSX to play, and it is the one most people mean when they talk about the series. Reviewers also praised the size of the environments and the trick system.

NBA Street came out on June 19, 2001, fresh from the developers of SSX. It is three-on-three, and the first team to score 21 points wins. Tricks and combos fill your Gamebreaker meter, and a Gamebreaker shot subtracts an amount from your opponents' score.

The PS2 version sold 1.7 million units in the U.S., and Michael Jordan is playable. Players name it first when PS2 basketball comes up, and it set the tone for everything that followed. Beat a team in tournament mode and you can add its players to your roster.

NFL Street is seven-on-seven street football from EA Tiburon, mixing the talent and big names of the NFL with the atmosphere of street football. It was released on January 13, 2004, and the series received generally favorable reviews. A sequel and a third game, NFL Street 3, would follow.

Nobody was asking for a rulebook here, and the game never gave them one. Players name it when they want fun football, and plenty say the first two games are both great. It is a perfect pick for a night with friends. The sequel added new modes like Own The City and Crush The Carrier.

NBA Street Vol. 2 is the sequel to NBA Street and the second game in the series, with 29 fully playable NBA teams. At release it was the only game where three versions of Michael Jordan are playable, and Julius Erving appeared as the cover athlete.

It came out on April 29, 2003, and only the PS2 version was released in Japan. Players call it the most fun sports game on the PS2 and the best basketball game on the system, and they love how arcadey it is. If the other team saves its Gamebreaker, you can use yours to cancel it. Players also earn a nickname based on their skills.