The Sony PSP

[The Adventurer]

So for a while now I've been working to get my hands on a PSP, mostly I've been trying to find one at a good price as its always felt that it (and the DS and its variants) was a bit higher priced then it should be considering its age. As it was I started picking up PSP titles that looked interesting any way, notably Mega Man Powered-Up and Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles. Anyway, a few days ago I finally broke down when I found a PSP (2001) at a pawn shop for only $40. Probably still a bit high, but the lowest I'd come across in a retail store. It was missing its battery cover, but the battery seems to stay in place just fine without it until I can find a replacement.

Anyway, I've been playing it a bit and I'm really liking it! It feels good, and the graphics are pretty swank for its age. Just to stress test it, I ended up downloading Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker Demo (plays really well, even having to control the camera with the face buttons. Will be tacking down the full game ASAP), and Front Mission 3 (PS1 emulation is really well handled. also this game is amazing). I do say its download speed is pretty abysmal though, and the proprietary memory sticks are really obnoxious.

So yeah, glad I have one. I have a few games I know I want (Persona 1 remake is my primary target at the moment. Damn its price has jumped in the last year. fuck) but what games do you guys really think made the system great? And what did you think of the PSP in its time? I'll be honest I was primary a Nintendo guy at the time, so I didn't really care about it at the time. But now that I'm more more invested in Sony's offerings I'm more interested in the system. So I'm excited to have another system to game hunt for. Also something else to take to work when my 3DS runs dry.

[celerystalker]

When I got married in 2011, I got all of my groomsmen PSPs with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, and we played the hell out of it. If you have people to play with, sweet lord is it fun. For other stuff...

R-Type Command is a pretty interesting strategy game set in the R-Type universe.
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth is a straight port of Valkyrie Profile on PS1
Sega Genesis Collection is a pretty freaking great group of games to have on the road
Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins is pretty neat
Kenka Bancho is kinda like whatever the middle ground between Yakuza and River City Ransom is.
Shadow of Destiny is a solid port of a solid PS2 game
Final Fantasy vs Dragon Quest in Itadaki Street Portable is Fortune Street on the road
Akiba's Trip is a fun predecessor to the PS3 game
the Capcom Classics Collections are loaded with great arcade games
SNK Arcade Classics 0 is cool, but a lot of its games originally had rotary control, and there's no good option.

Really, for me it's mostly been a Monster Hunter machine with a ton of ports from other consoles, but I'm still exploring.

[The Adventurer]

I did pick up a copy of Monster Hunter Freedom on a whim because it was $3. (edit: apparently this is the culmination of the first gen MH titles)

[celerystalker]

Monster Hunter really is a riot, but it's at its best with friends. It can be played alone, and is still quite fun, but showing up with friends on a hunt with new equipment they haven't seen is a blast.

[FieryReign]

You have one of the best with Dracula X. You have that Megaman game, the other remake of Megaman X is solid. When I had a psp, the game I probably played the most was Ridge Racer. That game was crack in umd form.

Can't go wrong with the God of War games either...

[Leo_A]

SNK Arcade Classics 0 is cool, but a lot of its games originally had rotary control, and there's no good option.

For this one, going the PSP Minis route is best for most people. All but one of these games is available off PSN as a standalone $3 download (And several additional games like Vanguard, which is the best of the bunch, are on PSN that weren't included in this collection).

Since much of the package is crippled as you said, and several others aren't likely to be worthwhile for most, going the digital route and cherry picking what you want is a large savings (And you gain PS3 and Vita compatibility as well).

[celerystalker]

For this one, going the PSP Minis route is best for most people. All but one of these games is available off PSN as a standalone $3 download (And several additional games like Vanguard, which is the best of the bunch, are on PSN that weren't included in this collection).

Since much of the package is crippled as you said, and several others aren't likely to be worthwhile for most, going the digital route and cherry picking what you want is a large savings (And you gain PS3 and Vita compatibility as well).

This is probably pretty good advice, though Vanguard is on the UMD as well. The rotary stick controls have this ass-backward implementation where you tap L or R to cycle through the positions, and it's beyond clumsy. I'd steer clear of them. I really liked Psycho Soldier a lot, though, and this was the first time it was available on console. But yeah... stay away from the likes of Guerilla War, Ikari, Tank, or on PSP Minis, Time Soldiers. They are great games, but the shitty controls suck the life out of them on PSP.

[Niku-Sama]

pro tip: get one of these

http://www.dx.com/p/cy-ep-087-dual-s...9#.VWvwIaMtCHs

I got one for my psp and it works great, I just jammed some random ass micro sd cards I had laying around and formatted it in the system and now I have some funky sized pro duo, you can use it with just one but if you add another later on it'll mess it up and you'll have to format it any way.

my PSP is newer, I cant remember the specific model. it was free and needed repair of which I got the repair part for free and now works fine

[Gameguy]

I have a working PSP with charger, I think it cost me $5 at a yard sale awhile back. I haven't used it in a few years and hardly touched it since I got it.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I really love the PSP. Favorite handheld by a good mile. That isn't to say I don't like the DS, Vita or 3DS, but it's the PSP (3000) that I play on a regular basis.

Why? Three main things:

PS1 Classics - There are a lot of PS1 games available for PSP/PS3/Vita, and among them are a good number of JPRGs. Fifth gen sprite based JPRGs fit like a glove on the go, or in my case, in bed before I go to sleep. Not just the typical ones like Final Fantasy 7, but all-but forgotten classics like Wild Arms, Grandia and Breath of Fire 4. There are also all kinds of action games too. The best part of the PS1 games is that you pay once for them and gain access to them on PSP, Vita and PS3. Even if you don't have those systems, if you ever do buy them, they count as already being purchased.

PSP games - There are a LOT of games worth checking out on PSP, from the fantastic Megaman remakes, Dracula X Chronicles (which contains all of SOTN with retranslated and GOOD voice acting) tons of JPRGs, another wonderful remake of Lunar the Silver Star, lotsa Falcom games, the two sequels to the amazing Valkyria Chronicles, and more so much more. PSP games are also region free, so feel free to check out a whole pile of Japan only games like the Parodius Portable collection.

Emulation and CFW - It's very easy to install custom firmware on the PSP no matter what official firmware you're running. There are exploits for them all, with the latest one just being temporary and not even disallowing you access to PSN and all that since it can be disabled and return to official Sony firmware. So why bother with CFW? Emulation. The PSP has a beautiful, large screen, lots of buttons, and the power to emulate nearly every retro console out there. That means NES games on the PSP. GameBoy. GameBoy Color. GameBoy Advance. Sega Genesis. Sega CD. Neo-Geo. Neo-Geo Pocket Color. and those are just a taste. There are also homebrew games like a port of Cave Story to the PSP. CFW also allows you to install game .isos directly to the memory stick and run them without ever using the UMD drive. I'm not advocating piracy, but this is how I play all the PSP games I own on UMD, as loading is faster, battery life is a non-issue, and I never have to worry my UMDs will get damaged. I love to collect physical, but when it comes to playing them, I choose the .isos.

So for me, the PSP offers PS1, PSP, NES, GB/GBC, GBA, Genesis and more - all in a slim portable package that I can play in bed before I go to sleep. You'd be stupid not to have a PSP decked out. And as mentioned above, you can nowadays get one of those cheap dual MicroSD to ProDuo adapters and run up to 128GB of storage on the PSP.

[Edmond Dantes]

For me, its been all about:

-Ridge Racer
-Gradius Collection
-Salamander Portable [Japan-only]
-Ultimate Board Game Collection (why this one? Because it has Go. Granted the AI is so stupid that I instantly discovered a strategy that always works, and you can't play a full 19x19 board, but if you could ever hook up with a friend it would be a blast)

[bb_hood]

Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth is a straight port of Valkyrie Profile on PS1

Its actually a port of the Japanese version but translated. I forget why this matters..
Great game regardless.
There are alot of great games for the psp. Alot of great Capcom stuff.

[Leo_A]

This is probably pretty good advice, though Vanguard is on the UMD as well.

Nope, that's the inferior Vanguard II. The original Vanguard in arcade accurate form is an exclusive to the PSP Minis line (It of course saw several ports back in the early 1980's).

The rotary stick controls have this ass-backward implementation where you tap L or R to cycle through the positions, and it's beyond clumsy. I'd steer clear of them.

I agree.

They really should've taken a look at how something like Robotron 2084 in William's Arcade Classics for the Super Nintendo was handled back in the pre-dual analog days. Four face buttons is obviously fully capable of allowing independent 8 way aiming.

And perhaps compromise by having the emulator include an autofire feature for your primary weapon with it mapped to the same four buttons, so that any time that you're aiming, your main weapon is also firing at the same time. Easier on the hands than having to use a shoulder button repeatedly.

They are great games, but the shitty controls suck the life out of them on PSP.

Such a shame that the announced companion PS2 port never was released. G1M2, the developers of this collection, handled the LS30 equipped arcade classic Heavy Barrel just fine on Data East Arcade Classics for the Nintendo Wii. When using a Classic Controller or a GameCube controller, the right analog stick allows twin stick style aiming thanks to how they've mapped the controls in their emulator settings.

Sadly, they stayed faithful to the arcade game by making you use a shoulder button to fire your gun instead of utilizing my autofire idea (Which can be tough on your right index finger), but it works much better than the LS30 games here or in the PSP Minis line did with their bizarre rotation setup.

A PS2 version of SNK Arcade Classics 0 surely would've done the same thing with games like the Ikari Warriors trilogy. Too bad it didn't happen.

[celerystalker]

I think we might've talked about this in another thread, because I remember talking about the Heavy Barrel thing. Using a SNES Smash TV-type scheme would be an improvement for sure, but I'd prefer if it was off-set slightly up or down, using the shoulder buttons to tilt it the other way to simulate the 12 position firing of the arcade games. Then again, on PSP that would also create an issue with secondary weapon use.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I also find most PSP games that are worth playing ignore the analog nub in favor of the dpad. There are exceptions (Dead Head Fred springs to mind) but the PSP shines with dpad driven games.

[The Adventurer]

The analog nub feels really sensitive, playing peace walker the sweet spot to walk is really narrow.

[kupomogli]

PSP is my favorite handheld without CFW but I'd recommend going to Wololo.net and putting CFW. With a slim PSP, you have access to the best emulators. SNES and Sega CD games have some issues but it plays most games from GBA, CPS1, CPS2, Neo Geo MVS, Atari 2600, NES, GB, Genesis, and SMS flawlessly. Cave Story was ported to it as a homebrew when still free, before it was released on Wii and PC.

As for PSP games, the first game I purchase was Gundam Battle Royale. I preordered it and when I received it I bought a PSP and Mega Man Powered Up. Gundam Battle Royale is an English friendly import as all menus are in English. There's no reason to get it now though as the expansions Gundam Battle Chronicle then Universe include all of it's content and tons more.

Gundam Battle Universe includes 200 mobile suits, 150+ missions, and 60 pilots from the anime as well as your custom pilot. With the custom pilot all special attacks are based off the mobile suit while each pilot has their own in certain suits. The series plays like a more simple version of Armored Core. Everything is just as fast(or much faster,) but each mobile suit has pre selected weapons, while increased damage, health, movement etc comes from tuning points that you receive for every mission you complete with whatever suit you're in. The missions take you through 0079, 0080, 0083, 0087, 0088, 0093, and extra missions. If you know what goes on in the series you'll know what's happening at any given point, if not, it's just a really good shooting game.

Brave Story. Good classic style RPG.
Crimson Gem Saga. Good classic style RPG with high difficulty.
Castlevania DXC. Rebalanced and minor stage changes turn it into a better game than the original, also included Rondo of Blood. As was said above includes a better SotN, also an extra weapon can be found and new Maria mode(psx) actually plays like Maria(unlike saturn.)
Dissidia Duodecim, unique Final Fantasy fighter. You'll reach your skill limit playing AI though, extremely fun with friends.
Crisis Core. Not as good aa people say but good game.
Final Fantasy 4 Complete Collection. Definitive version of FF4, also includes After Years. I'd recommend suffering through the first nine chapters of After Years(30 min each) because the last chapter is worth it. Such a well designed 10+ hour dungeon.
Gurumin. Mario 64 blows in comparison to this 3d adventure platformer.
Half Minute Hero. A cleverly designed puzzle game that plays out like an RPG. I say this because it's nothing like a puzzle game if you play it as an RPG. If you go for the best rank, it's got puzzle elements on how to beat each stage faster.
Pursuit Force 1 and 2. Racing game with enemy vehicle takedowns, vehicle hijacking,etc. Good games.
Space Invaders Extreme. Also on DS, sequel is DS exclusive. Best version of Space Invaders, possibly better shooter. Oh, and not really, but sortof a rythm game different notes play as you shoot enemies to go along with the music.
Star Ocean First Departure, remake of the original Star Ocean with the graphical style and gameplay of Star Ocean the Second Story.
Star Ocean Second Evolution. Star Ocean the Second Story, full voice acting in every scene but one (can't skip dialogue until they're completely done talking though, which when you play you'll see how annoying this is on long sections of the game.) Also stupid triple attack added., makes Ashton worse and makes some special attacks useless(or all after you get the best weapons.)
Test Drive Unlimited. Portable version of the best racing game ever made.

I'd like to recommed What Did I Do to Deserve This because it looks like an awesome puzzle game, but I haven't played it, but look it up and see what you think. I own it just haven't touched it. It includes the first and second game in one. The first is playable through a cheat code, added in specifically because we didn't get a retail of the first(but they let us try if we hit enough preorders, just didn't happen.)

[Tanooki]

I'm kind of surprised you thought $40 was a lot of money, it kind of was without the battery cover since that'll cost you. I had one for a few years until piracy killed the releases other than really campy looking J-RPG drivel so I sold it. You can research the games well enough but I can remember some things I had on it or would have (the Ys games came after I ditched it) that really set the tone for its greatness.

- Gurumin
- Popolocrois
- Macross Ace (JP release)
- Ridge Racer
- Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core
- FF 1 and 2 separate remakes
- Capcom arcade bundles (there's 2)
- Power Stone 1+2 collection
- Tales of Eternia (UK import)
- Half Minute Hero
- Parodius and Gradius Collections
- Ultimate Ghosts n Goblins
- Kenka Bancho
- Patapon 1+2 (#2 was download at first, went to disc probably harder to find?)
- LocoRoco 1+2
- Hammerin' Hero (aka Hammerin Harry)
- Dissidia Final Fantasy
- Prinny (damn hard game)
- Megal of Honor Heroes 2 (1 is meh compared)
- Gran Tourismo
- God of War (2 releases)

There are some decent PS2 era spinoffs too like the Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank and SOCOM games too for instance.

[Leo_A]

I also find most PSP games that are worth playing ignore the analog nub in favor of the dpad. There are exceptions (Dead Head Fred springs to mind) but the PSP shines with dpad driven games.

Agreed

Something like Outrun 2006: Coast 2 Coast was often just an exercise in frustration thanks to the analog nub of the PSP. The best you ever seemed to be able to hope for was something that felt tolerable.

For games that rely on analog control and saw PS2 conversions (Motorstorm, for instance), were remastered on the PS3 (The God of War games), and so on, I'd suggest ignoring the PSP version and just tracking down the superior console counterpart.

Of course, some research is necessary because sometimes the PSP game of the same name wasn't just a mere port. Despite the analog nub, Sega Rally Revo for instance isn't to be missed if you like arcade racers, and has relatively little in common with the console title of the same name.

[The 1 2 P]

I got my PSP at a yard sale for $20 probably around 5 years ago. I don't really collect for it anymore and have more Japanese imports than I do US games. I occasionally play it when I'm at my girlfriend's house but no where near as much as my play my 3DS, DS or even my GBA SP. I always found the PSP to be over rated and most of the games I wanted for it got ported to PS2. Had I not found it for $20 I probably would have never picked one up.