DAILY MANIFESTO

Retro Revolution: PSP

Posted on Friday, February 24 @ 18:26:10 Eastern by KevinS

Being a man with a money flow problem (i.e. broke, dood) and a game collector, I've grown a small but nice collection of PSP games. I don't have all of the big guns for the platform, but I've found myself with a nice little stash over the years it's been around. And, since the Vita is on store shelves in all its shiny glory, it's a great time to go back and look at the PSP's lifespan… and what sucked about it.

Surprisingly, not a lot really sucked about it. The system launched in 2004 (2005 in the US), and its launch line-up in the States was actually diverse and, overall, strong as hell: fighting game lovers could grab Darkstalkers Chronicles, racing fans had both Ridge Racer and WipEout Pure (the latter being exceptional in presentation and speed), and puzzle fans were greeted to the amazing experience of Lumines (just don't ask anyone to pronounce the title correctly, if there is such a thing). The same went for the second wave of titles, like NBA Street Showdown, Mercury, and Hot Shots Golf.

The original price? $249.99, which is steep compared to earlier notable portables like the Game Boy ($89.99), the Game Gear ($149.99), and the DS released in 2004 as well ($149.99). But the power of the system was on display for all to see; it was even touted as the portable equivalent of the PS2, one of the greatest systems of all time on every front. It might not bring about the same visual quality, but with ports of PS2 games like SMT: Persona 3 (that is nearly the same to look at and every bit of game intact), it certainly succeeded in living up to the hype. The PSP library was not only filled out with its own unique licenses, but also a long list of ported material.

And they weren't just one genre or "big" name, as publishers ran the gamut of what they could bring over. Revamped classics like Lunar: Silver Star Harmony and Mega Man: Powered Up are right on the shelf next to direct ports of SMT: Persona 3 and Street Fighter Alpha 3, accompanied by originally Japanese-only games like PoPoLoCrois and the original Star Ocean. Sit those along your gaming shelf with totally unique and platform-specifics like Loco Roco, Patapon, or Infected, and you've got a lineup that can truly stand on its own against any other. Hello, world… it's Monster Hunter! Who's up for some hardcore ad-hoc play?

No matter what you might remember about the PSP's official game release list, it's the unofficial titles that many people remember most fondly; specifically, what they could do to that update 1.5. Yes, the PSP was an early example of piracy running rampant. Systems like the Game Boy and Game Gear had their fair share of pirated and copied material, but they were much more difficult for the average consumer to experience or exploit; Sony actively challenged people to try and play illegal games on their machine. The various hackers and dissectors are playing old SNES games and MAME ROMs on their units and still teaching us all how to do the same, so I'd say Sony lost that battle.

Aside from the other regular bumps along the way that many portables have to deal with—short battery life, specific new media format, racist ad campaigns—the PSP actually had a nice run. It's one of the few devices to legitimately challenge Nintendo's handheld prominence (the other being the Game Gear, which wasn't really that big a threat), which makes it stand out all the more from the pack that came before. Are there bad games on the system? Sure, there are plenty of Naruto games and the dreadful movie port of Dragonball Evolution (which by contrast, led me to write one of my favorite reviews). But overall, it's a strong piece of machinery that's earned its place in the gaming pantheon.

Just don't drop it. I get the feeling if I dropped it from more than three feet onto anything other than carpet, it might explode into a puff of smoke.

What are your favorite PSP memories and titles?

Tags: PS Vita, PSP, Retro Revolution

Comments

Longo_2_guns
Joined: Jun 2003

Posted: Feb 24th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Patapon. So simple, and yet so very well done.
I really hope they make a Patapon Vita game. That would just be awesome.

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danielrbischoff
Joined: Nov 2009

Posted: Feb 24th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
That's next on my list of PSP titles to download on my Vita.

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danielrbischoff
Joined: Nov 2009

Posted: Feb 24th, 2012 at 7:55 pm
"the other being the Game Gear, which wasn't really that big a threat"

Oh but it was certainly big.

I'm not sad I missed out on the PSP, but part of me always wondered "what if I'd gotten a PSP instead of a DS"?

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Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011

Posted: Feb 24th, 2012 at 8:27 pm
I like the button layout better than Vita's. The sole exception is for BlazBlue. Other than that, I like the feel of PSP's buttons better, and the fact that I can always use them. With Vita there's always this trial and error like "Do they want me to TOUCH the word 'Yes' or press X?" Stupid.

PSP's got a great game library, too. Especially if you like RPGs. So far, the best handheld of all time for the RPG genre.

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danielrbischoff
Joined: Nov 2009

Posted: Feb 26th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
Yeah hopefully devs will figure out fast that both buttons and touch should be enabled for that stuff.

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Snacko
Joined: Jul 2011

Posted: Feb 24th, 2012 at 11:32 pm
Tactics Ogre. I remember getting the game in the mail and removing the shrink wrap, then immediately looking through the awesome Ogre Battle themed Tarot deck that came with the game. Then I started the game and I realized that it had perfected the genre it created with millions of little tweaks. Every feature was intuitive, every class was interesting, every battle was fun, every branching path had merit and was tied to genuinely thought-provoking questions and the bits of polish everywhere (like the Warren Report, which lets you see the story laid out in full and how it is effected by your choices, the incredibly deep alignment system that shows up only for the loads of sidequests in the final chapter, the composer and arranger notes included in the sound test) blew my mind. I'm not sure I've ever played another game where everything clicked so well.

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danielrbischoff
Joined: Nov 2009

Posted: Feb 26th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Sheesh, I need to go start that game right now! I bought it digitally but Square sent us a ton of those decks way back when.

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Lok-Nar
Joined: Feb 2012

Posted: Feb 25th, 2012 at 4:43 am
Resistance: Retribution. I think hid had a great story that linked Resistance 1 & 2 and the controls weren't bad for a handheld FPS.

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renegade8164
Joined: Oct 2011

Posted: Feb 25th, 2012 at 5:51 am
Both the PSP and DS is clearly systems to own, especially if you like RPG and JRPG. There is so many great games even tho the PSP only had 1 analog stick which made it hard for some developers. None of the system has been a failure even some people still think the PSP has sold bad in comparison of the DS The PSP has sold more then all the Xbox360's and the DS has sold more then all the Xbox360's and the PS3's together. It's not bad at all for either of them. And developers are still in 2012 making games for the DS and PSP (Like "Black Rock Shooter" which seams to be a great RPG), so neither one of them are dead yet. :)

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Lenin17301
Joined: Jan 2007

Posted: Feb 25th, 2012 at 10:39 am
Persona 3 Portable, to me, next to The World Ends With you on the DS, the best portable game ever.

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danielrbischoff
Joined: Nov 2009

Posted: Feb 26th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
I haven't played a single Persona game so that'll be next after Tactics Ogre on my Vita.

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Noritama
Joined: Feb 2012

Posted: Feb 25th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
My PSP playing SNES games and only SNES games.

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Ivory_Soul
Joined: Nov 2005

Posted: Feb 25th, 2012 at 10:31 pm
Don't forget Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and Logan's Shadow as well as both God of War games, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta. Those are probably my four favorite games for the system. The DJ Max Portable series is also a blast.

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