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Best Arcade games of 2002

The 9 best Arcade games released in 2002, ranked from 4,398 critic and player ratings.

The best Arcade game of 2002 is Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, with a critic score of 94/100 — updated November 2026.

How this ranking is built
  • Games are ranked on the aggregated critic score out of 100 imported from IGDB and Metacritic, never on Tier's own grades.
  • A game only enters the ranking with at least 30 external ratings, so a single enthusiastic review never outranks a proven classic.
  • Community grades from F to S are shown next to every game, and only stated as a fact above 5 Tier ratings.
  • Release window covered: 2002.
  • 9 games are listed on this page, carrying 4,398 ratings between them.
  • Rankings are recomputed hourly; this one was last rebuilt on 13 November 2026.

Top 9

Played them? Give your tier with the + next to each game. No account needed to try — create one to keep your tiers.

01 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City A Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 2002 · 3,191 ratings · 4 Tier votes · finished by 37% · 17 h to beat In the year 1986, Tommy Vercetti is heavily indebted to his mafia superiors after a drug deal gone awry, but his dreams of taking over Vice City (based on Miami) push him down a different path. Featuring a wide variety of vehicles and weapons, radio stations playing hit songs from the era and an intense atmosphere, GTA: Vice City is an open-world sandbox satire of '80's Miami. 94 /100
02 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 2002 · 179 ratings Drop into the ultimate challenge. In the next chapter in the Tony Hawk series, pros challenge you to make your mark in huge free-roaming levels, taking on 190 progressively harder goals with no time limits to hold you back. Decide when you're ready to take on your Pro Challenge and move into the pro ranks, where it's a whole new game. Build your skills, perform all-new tricks, play up to eight players online, and show that you've got what it takes to go Pro. 91 /100
03 Burnout 2: Point of Impact Burnout 2: Point of Impact 2002 · 64 ratings Burnout is a street racing game focused around speed and crashing. Unlike many games which focus on closed course driving, you get to drive through cities with real traffic and city infrastructure. Designers have built an entire city and surrounding areas, and implement the race courses throughput the countie's streets. As a result, many times certain parts of race-courses interlace with other parts of other races. As well, instead of encouraging strategic driving and safe driving, Burnout strongly encourages offensive driving. Driving on the wrong side of the road, barely missing passing traffic, drifting, and jumps all add to your boost "burnout" meter. Speed boosts and jumps aid your attempt to dive past buses, trucks and anything else that gets in the way. The more offensive and dangerous your driving is, the more boost you get! 88 /100
04 Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 2002 · 284 ratings The Need for Speed series returns, this time reverting back to the 'chase' arcade experience instead of a racing simulation. Top speed racing is the name of the game, where you must outchase not just the opposing drivers, but the cops. Choose from a selection of today's (and yesterday's) top sports cars, including the Ferrari F50, Porsche 911 and a range from the likes of Ford, Corvette, BMW, Lotus, Mercedes, Aston Martin, the McLaren F1 and a lot more. The competitive race mode allows you to take on other drivers and beat them to the line. A selection of tracks allows you to not only dodge incoming traffic, but perform deadly jumps and stunts to receive points. These points, combined with the points recieved from your finishing position, can unlock new cars and tracks. The Hot Pursuit mode combines all the major elements of the competitive mode with the chance to out run the cops. They will throw everything at you to try and stop you, including running you off the road, setting up road blocks and unleashing an attack helicopter equiped with missiles. Three busts by the cops ends the race. 81 /100
05 Jet Set Radio Future Jet Set Radio Future 2002 · 64 ratings Jet Set Radio Future is a video game developed by Smilebit and is the sequel to Jet Set Radio. Similar to the original, it depicts a future Tokyo where freedom of expression is outlawed. The user plays a character in the GG's, a gang of in-line skating graffiti artists who skate around Tokyo covering up rival gangs' graffiti, knocking over Rokkaku police, and dancing to the electric soundtrack. The game uses a cel-shaded style of animation, and has been widely acclaimed for its unique music style, detailed art, and gameplay. Though the game is set in the future, its style and content incorporates many aspects of 1980's old school hip hop culture, as well as 1990's J-pop culture. 78 /100
06 Spider-Man: The Movie Spider-Man: The Movie 2002 · 169 ratings 77 /100
07 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 2002 · 295 ratings Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the sequel to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for PC and Mac. As its prequel, five different versions of this game were released for different gaming platforms. In this version, you control Harry in an action-adventure platforming gameplay. The most significant difference from the previous game is that gameplay is less linear, with Hogwarts becoming more of an open world. You can Interact with familiar characters from the movie like Ron, Hermione and of course Gilderoy Lockhart. Additionally, there are multiple mini-games and side quests. 74 /100
08 Super Monkey Ball 2 Super Monkey Ball 2 2002 · 46 ratings The objective of Super Monkey Ball 2 is to guide a monkey trapped inside a plastic ball through a maze to the goal. There are three variations, story mode, challenge mode, and practice mode. In story mode you have an unlimited number of tries to complete a stage, and after clearing 10 stages a movie clip is shown followed by a new world of 10 stages. In challenge mode, you have a limited number of monkeys and a time limit to complete numerous levels of increasing difficulty. In practice mode, you can play any stage already completed in the other two modes. In addition to the main game options, numerous party games are also included. These are monkey race, monkey fight, monkey target, monkey billiards, monkey bowling, monkey golf, monkey boat, monkey shot, monkey dogfight, monkey soccer, monkey baseball, and monkey tennis. The party games can be played by one to four players. 70 /100
09 Metal Slug 4 Metal Slug 4 2002 · 106 ratings One year after the events of Metal Slug 3, the world is trembling under the new threat of a mysterious but deadly cyber virus that threatens to attack and destroy any nation's military computer system. With Tarma and Eri unable to help due to their own assignments in the matter, Marco and Fio are called in to investigate the situation and are joined by two newcomers, Nadia and Trevor. In their investigation, the group discovers that a terrorist organization known as Amadeus is behind the nefarious plot and that they head into battle against Amadeus' forces, hoping to destroy the cyber virus before it gets the chance to wipe out the entire world's military computer system 64 /100
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Other years

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Same year, other platforms

Best PC games of 2002Best PlayStation 2 games of 2002Best GameCube games of 2002Best Xbox games of 2002Best Mac games of 2002Best Game Boy Advance games of 2002Best Linux games of 2002

Nearby rankings

Best Arcade games of 2001Best Arcade games of 2003Best Action games of 2002Best Adventure games of 2002Best Strategy games of 2002

Catalog statistics

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Frequently asked questions

What is the best Arcade game of 2002?

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City currently tops the ranking with a score of 94/100 across 3,191 ratings. Ranking updated November 2026.

How is this ranking built?

Games are ranked on their aggregated critic score out of 100, with a minimum vote threshold so a single glowing review never outranks a proven classic; the Tier community's own F-to-S grades are shown alongside each game.