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[Lionel Richie]

Let's get the NEOGAF ENDORSED ultimate answer to one of gaming's most difficult questions: which of the HOLY TRINITY of PS2 platformers was actually better?

90, 87, 84 Metacritic score respectively

88, 90, 91 Metacritic score respectively

86, 88, 83 Metacritic score respectively

So for the voting, you pick your 3 favorite games among the list above in no particular order. I'll add the results and come up with the series that got the most votes. I think this could be awesome, you guys are in the presence of LEGENDS. Let's do this! Posting ends in one month, come around!

 

[Rock And Roll]

While the Sly games are a breeze in terms of their difficulty, I feel like they are the only ones that truly hold up and still feel good to play. Going back to Jak or R&C gave me mixed results a few years ago but I still really enjoyed playing the Sly trilogy.

 

[its_Ditz]

.

 

[Grand Theft Scratchy]

For me it's definitely Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. In my opinion, Naughty Dog's best game and one of the few PS2 games that I completed to 100℅ because it was so fun. My other two picks would be Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal and the first Sly (haven't played Band of Thieves or Honor Among Thieves).

 

[Griffon]

Sly 2 was incredible.

Jak 1 is a distant second.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

Ratchet then Jak then Sly. All 3 series were incredible but I played the Ratchet and Clank games over and over and over. The new game + mode on those games was so addicting, getting your guns and armor stronger and stronger with every play-through.

 

[Lionel Richie]

For me it's definitely Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. In my opinion, Naughty Dog's best game and one of the few PS2 games that I completed to 100℅ because it was so fun. My other two picks would be Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal and the first Sly (haven't played Band of Thieves or Honor Among Thieves).

Do play Band of Thieves, it's awesome. The pacing is phenomenal and the game throws a lot of different ideas at you and they all work.

I did this poll because it's amazing to me how all of these games are incredible. Maybe Jak 3 is a bit mediocre, but the rest is phenomenal. The sixth generation was just a perfect time for games.

 

[GymWolf]

Jak1 and the last normal ratchet on ps2.

Never really liked sly.

 

[unintelligent orange]

All the Jak & Daxter games were excellent
Ratchet & Clank, Going Commando and UYA/DL were all great games, series has declined since then
Never cared for sly - the themes of it turned me away

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

They all hold up well, but the Sly games have aged like fine wine. Superb control / handling of the character.

 

[MDSLKTR]

Jak1 is too good.

 

[unintelligent orange]

I honestly just wish that Naughty Dog would continue the J&D series with graphics similar to the pre-rendered cinematics in the commercials for Jak 3 - it would be ill. Check out the ending to both of the videos below.

And yes I know they attempted to reboot J&D awhile back, but the hyper realistic stuff it looked like they were making with was not quite Jak & Daxter. The end of the Jak 3 commercials is what it should look like. Combine those graphics with the timeless platforming gameplay and a quality J&D story and you've got a top seller, even to this day.

 

[Nankatsu]

Jak 1 and 2, plus Ratchet and Clank.

I didn't like Jak 3, as far as I remember, and never been a fan of Sly Cooper.

 

[deriks]

Ratchet and Clank is amazing, and even in the remake they say that will have another remake, so yeah

 

[Bankai]

I LOVE Sly Cooper 2 and 3. Absolutely brilliant games!! I highly recommend the HD remasters on PS3, they rock.

 

[Zok310]

R&C by far

 

[Vawn]

Ratchet and Clank definitely. Those are just fun, crazy third-person shooters/platformers start to finish.

Sly bores me, inFamous is a huge improvement.

I only played the first Jak and it was just ok.

 

[HarryKS]

I don't think Sly Cooper plays in the same league as Jak and Ratchet.

They're all part of the same team. Ratchet and Clank is more consistent.


I'm going through the HD remaster trilogy right now and I forgot how challenging the games were.

 

[Vawn]

Ratchet and Clank is amazing, and even in the remake they say that will have another remake, so yeah

I hope so. We need another one.

Go ahead and skip the movie this time.

 

[channie]

Sly 2 over everything else.

 

[synchronicity]

Sly and Jak are some good games, but I'll take Ratchet all day EVERY day. It's one of the best franchises in gaming for me.

 

[Rattlehead121]

RATCHET AND CLANK. The entire series is something special, and destroys Sly and Jak. The first games in both series are great though.

 

[SoullessApples]

Up your Arsenal was my fav out of all of them. The multiplayer was great when they did the ps3 remaster (or was it PS4?) either way I think overall ratchet and clank.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

The first for each I like the most

Ratchet & Clank - I like almost all of the sequels
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus - I like most of the sequels
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy - I only like the first one .. the rest

 

[TissueBox]

Jak 3 is my fav out of those, o' course. *wink wink*

But the best honest-to-goodness game in there is a tie between Ratchet and Clank and Precursor Legacy.

 

[Perrott]

Jak? Dead
Sly? Dead
Ratchet? PS5 launch game

Why? Because R&C is Sony's best action/platformer series.

 

[Lionel Richie]

Jak? Dead
Sly? Dead
Ratchet? PS5 launch game

They're not dead, they're Big Boss in a coma about to wake up and CQC us all.

Jak1 is too good.

It's the closest thing we've gotten to a Banjo Threeie while also expanding on the things that series did well. It's a masterpiece. I enjoy the sequels, but it's a shame we never got another collectathon out of that.

 

[HaveButOneLife]

Up Your Arsenal, my favorite 3D platformer.

 

[Silvawuff]

I gotta go with the original titles of all three franchises. Each one holds a special place for what represented when it released.

I will say I tried playing Sly (HAT I think?) on Vita and it was a technically sloppy mess to the point I couldn't continue it.

 

[Lionel Richie]

I will say I tried playing Sly (HAT I think?) on Vita and it was a technically sloppy mess to the point I couldn't continue it.

Same happened here. I'm replaying the Sly games and I started on Vita and quickly had to jump back to the PS3, that is NOT a good way to play these titles. And based on what I read, this is the best port among the collections. Ratchet is worse and Jak is downright broken. Shame.

 

[Holammer]

The Precursor Legacy is legendary and I enjoyed the Jak series, but I dislike the emo direction it took with the sequels.
The Sly series on the other hand remained thematically consistent while still adding new stuff to it. It's also the series I wanna sit down and play again and I wish Sony could release the trilogy on PC, so I don't have to bother with emulation.
Never got into R&C.

 

[Lionel Richie]

The Precursor Legacy is legendary and I enjoyed the Jak series, but I dislike the emo direction it took with the sequels.

Yeah, unfortunately that's just a sign of its time, the same shit happened with the Prince of Persia series. A sequel in that style instead of the GTA pastiche would have been great. Precursor Legacy pulls off the interconnected world idea even smoother than Mario Sunshine and that's no small feat considering it came out first.

 

[Great Hair]

I prefer the J&D series. Not sure why everyone gates Jak2&Jak3 that much. The only ip to undergo a change .. twice within the same generation.

Sly C. (only got the first one), and liked it. Ratchet and Clank ... I never could get behind Clank's slowpoke-persona.

They all deserve to get a proper remaster with raytracing? All 10+ Sony platformer on one Blu-ray.

 

[93xfan]

Ratchet: Going Commando. Such a an amazing game! I also love the first Jak and Sly games

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

gotta go with Jak 2, was so much fun. I loved these games

all the games on the list are winners

 

[Neolombax]

All fantastic games, but I would always go to Ratchet first. Love Insomniac and their weapon designs.

 

[diffusionx]

I literally just finished Jak 2 (like 10 minutes ago), and I think I hate that game.

I loved J&D though.

 

[Frogman_676]

jak and daxter

Sly felt like it didn't have enough content, and was over too quick. Rachet and Clank was somewhat boring.

 

[Ian Henry]

All 3 helped the define the PS2 era for me but the Jak series was excellent and R&C is neck&neck with it. Sly was aight tho

 

[vaibhavpisal]

This reminds me I need to play more of Jak games. Have only played Jak 3.

Though I must say Ratchet series has been on all generation of consoles since it started. It is overall best I think.

 

[Soodanim]

I owned Jak 1 for a day, realised I had finished a certain percentage in whatever time frame it was (hours) and decided it was not worth the money (just released). I returned it. Back when that was a thing. Never played a Sly game.

Ratchet 1 was a bit weak, but 2 and 3 are some of my most played games of that gen. I used to go through Challenge mode so often and never get bored. 3 was a step up and a step down from 2.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Ratchet and Clank I only played the first 1 but I heard too things about the other 2.

The first Jac & Daxer was pretty good.

 

[AV]

S Tier - Jak 1, Ratchet 2
A Tier - Sly 2, Ratchet 1, Ratchet 3
B Tier - Sly 1
C Tier - Jak 2, Jak 3, Sly 3

 

[Lionel Richie]

S Tier - Jak 1, Ratchet 2
A Tier - Sly 2, Ratchet 1, Ratchet 3
B Tier - Sly 1
C Tier - Jak 2, Jak 3, Sly 3

That's close to what I feel as well, although I'd put Sly 2 up there in the top tier and I can't pick between GC and UYA. Ratchet is IMO the only series here that doesn't have a clear standout game, it has 2 on that generation alone since Insomniac being the absolutely gods they are would continue the run of excellence on the following console as well.

 

[TaroYamada]

Sly 2 was the peak of these three franchises on PS2, even back then. I think that's still the case today. It's sad that Sony went from 2 major platformers associated with their platform on PS1, to 3 on PS2 and by PS3 their platformer reputation had pretty much evaporated -- despite a couple releases.

 

[HellforLeather]

Jak 1 was great but Ratchet probably has the most consistently good games. Sly...I really never got the appeal of that series.

 

[diffusionx]

Yeah, unfortunately that's just a sign of its time, the same shit happened with the Prince of Persia series. A sequel in that style instead of the GTA pastiche would have been great. Precursor Legacy pulls off the interconnected world idea even smoother than Mario Sunshine and that's no small feat considering it came out first.

Jak 2's tone and setting hold up really well. It's not stupid grimdark that comes off as corny like WW. The change in tone is held up by very good characters, dialogue, story, etc. I think they did a great job with that.

The problem is the game is really hard, there are almost no checkpoints, and the last third is just dogshit to plod through. That fucking Titan mech suit, just WHY.

I don't know if I HATED it like I said before, I was more invested than I am in many games today, but let's just say I'm glad it's over.

 

[Shakka43]

As single game for me Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is the best over all, but as franchises I liked both Ratchet and Sly better.

 

[AV]

I'd also like to nominate Jak 1 as one of the greatest games to sit and 100% in a single sitting. Once you've done it once or twice, it's easy to spend a cosy winter day just smashing the thing back to front.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Jak 3 was my favorite of the Jak games.

I am really surprised that so many chose Ratchet and Clank, which refers to the first game. That is often everyones least favorite.