With so few good new titles being released these days, especially by major studios, I figured I'd make a thread for everyone to share your favourite classic or older games, especially if they're lesser-known titles that others might have missed at the time.
I'll open with The Saboteur (2009), Mercenaries (2005) and Saints Row 2 ( The 2008 original)
I never had a PS2 but the Gamecube was really great when it came to Nintendo games. Technically they stopped looking like blocky messes, and were still small enough that they can have a real vision behind them. Paper Mario TTYD, Animal Crossing (even though that was an N64 game first), Mario Sunshine, Kirby Air Ride, etc.