The emulation scene is a great way to access older, retro games, without needing to acquire the original hardware. While most emulation is all about getting older games up to their original state, there is also a thriving mod community for classic games, like PlayStation 2 games. These mods enhance and expand upon the classic games, usually by adding something that never would have appeared in the original. These restored and enhanced PS2 mods provide unique ways to experience these classic titles in new ways. This list has two different versions of classic GTA games, along with a fighting game that should appeal to anime nerds everywhere.

We won't be linking directly to any downloads, but a quick Google search can get you where you need to go.

3 GTA Batman Remake PS2

Nolan's Dark Knight

The first is a Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas mod, which adds Batman. It specifically draws from Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, using that style of Batmobile and Christian Bale's Batman. The mod isn't just vehicle and character skins, though; it also equips you with throwable Batarangs and a flight suit, just like in the movie. It also includes a Batman mission, where you have to take down the Joker and his goons, in addition to being able to run around in the rest of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The most compelling part of this mod is just how much of a place and time it feels. Playing a PS2 game will always feel like a throwback, since it is, but specifically, including The Dark Knight Batman puts an incredible timestamp on this mod. If you have nostalgia for either the game or the film, this modded Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a fun time.

2 Crossover Legends Tenkaichi

A cross-over anime fighter

Crossover Legends Tenkaichi is built upon Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3, a beloved Dragon Ball fighting game from the PS2 era. This mod takes a bunch of anime characters from both classic and new series and puts them into the game, creating an anime cross-over fighter that likely will never be made by current game developers because there are simply too many licenses to figure out.

In addition to Dragon Ball characters, it adds characters from One Piece, Soul Eater, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Death Note, just to name a handful of them. There are also a few oddballs thrown in the mix, such as Dante from Devil May Cry and Master Chief from Halo, but perhaps those are the modders' favorites. The credit list on this mod is quite extensive, with many different people contributing to the project, which probably explains the impressive amount of work that was done here.

1 Grand Theft Auto V Legacy

Experience a retro version of the last GTA game released

Built on a version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, this mod is more than just a re-skin. This takes San Andreas and transforms it into a PS2-style version of Grand Theft Auto V. It includes loading screens, guns, menus, and even the UI of GTA V, while still keeping that PS2 feel. It also redoes some of the map areas to better reflect the Los Santos present in Grand Theft Auto V. It also shifts the camera and the shooting mechanics to better match GTA V. You can see a video of it running on YouTube, which shows just how in-depth all the improvements are.

Other big additions include tons of vehicles from GTA V and local multiplayer, and it removes all the story missions from San Andreas, so you can feel like you are playing a Grand Theft Auto V remake. Considering Rockstar couldn't even remaster the PS2 games well, this is something that only passionate fans could do.

Fun and interesting versions of PS2 classics

While the modding community has made plenty of projects that take PS2 games and give them 4K textures, I find the more outlandish mods appealing. For retro games, I prefer that classic, bad look, so getting to have new experiences in those games is far more interesting to me. The games on this list only scratch the surface of what's out there, and if you prefer 4K texture packs for PS2 games, there are also plenty of those out there for you to try out.