Today marks the 20th anniversary of the PSP. We're republishing this piece to celebrate that fact.
It's easy to forget that not so long ago, Sony was celebrating the fact that for the first time in decades, Nintendo's dominance in the realm of portable consoles had been well and truly challenged.
While the PlayStation Portable didn't outsell the Nintendo DS ā Nintendo's machine sold a staggering 154 million units globally ā it still managed to get a whopping 82 million consoles into the hands of players all over the globe, far eclipsing anything that Sega, Atari, SNK or Bandai had previously managed in the same sector of the market.
The PSP was a vital disruptive force in what had become a predictable part of the gaming arena, and its success not only created a widespread interest in mobile gaming that went beyond Nintendo fandom, but also encouraged studios such as Capcom, Namco and Konami to produce handheld titles that more than rivalled home console games when it came to sheer spectacle and playability.
With the PS Vita in its death throes and Sony's retreat from the portable sector all but complete, now's as good a time as any to look back on one of its most successful ā and innovative ā pieces of gaming hardware.
"Walkman of the 21st Century"
The handheld gaming sector at the dawn of the millennium was, by and large, as it had been for some time: ruled by Nintendo. The company had gained valuable experience in the nascent portable gaming sector via its line of LCD-based Game & Watch titles in the '80s, and by 1989, had released the Game Boy, which used low-cost monochrome display technology and interchangeable cartridges to effectively create the handheld gaming market overnight.
It was reported in David Sheff's seminal 1993 book Game Over that a high-ranking Sony manager actually berated his staff upon witnessing the incredible success of the Game Boy, angrily stating that it should have been a Sony product. Sony was, at this point in time, a major player in the portable entertainment arena thanks to its phenomenally popular Walkman line of personal cassette players, and had expanded its business to encompass portable CD players and televisions. To see Nintendo ā a company with relatively little experience in the consumer electronics industry ā soak up sales that could potentially harm Sony's Walkman business was clearly galling for the Japanese tech giant.
However, Sony wasn't in a position to challenge Nintendo at that time. It had only made minor inroads into the gaming industry via its publishing arm Sony Imagesoft, and, in the early '90s, was aligned with Nintendo on the SNES CD project, which would later be known as the PlayStation. When Nintendo left Sony at the altar and instead leapt into bed with rival Philips (only to then abandon the SNES CD concept altogether), the wheels were set in motion for a seismic change in the home gaming arena. Sony would continue to develop the PlayStation on its own, eventually releasing the 32-bit, CD-based system in 1994; it became the lead console of that generation and laid the foundation for Sony's continued success.
First the Home, Then the Handheld
With its status in the games market assured, Sony was in a better position to expand its hardware range, and in 2003, it was confirmed that the company was working on a portable system. With the incumbent Nintendo still adopting the "Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology" approach that had served it so well since the release of the Game Boy, Sony's ambitious plans for its handheld caused shockwaves. Right from the start the company positioned the upcoming system as a technological triumph; unlike the relatively crude and 2D-based Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, Sony's machine would offer advanced 3D visuals and extensive multimedia capabilities. The 'father of the PlayStation' Ken Kutaragi boldly predicted to journalists at E3 2003 that it would be the "Walkman of the 21st Century", a clear sign that Sony's hopes were sky-high. It had conquered one sector of the portable entertainment industry before, and fully intended to repeat the trick in the handheld console market.
Later that year, the first mockup images of what would be called the PlayStation Portable surfaced. With its glossy exterior and sleek lines, it was the antithesis of Nintendo's brightly-coloured and toy-like handheld hardware; promotional imagery showed people walking around with units strapped to their necks via lanyards, playing games, watching films and listening to music. In the time before MP3 players were widespread and smartphones had yet to take over our lives, the promise of a system that could cover all aspects of entertainment ā games, movies and music ā was tantalising indeed. By the time Sony unveiled the final design of the PSP, it looked a little less futuristic and more functional; the buttons didn't sit as flush in the casing, and it was less sleek, but it still looked utterly, utterly gorgeous. A release date was confirmed for the end of 2004 in Japan.
In the face of this impressive announcement, Nintendo also confirmed that it was working on a successor to its popular Game Boy Advance system. Early rumours suggested that the company was looking to employ a unique dual-screen approach not entirely dissimilar to its Game & Watch consoles from the '80s; the news was met with a surprising amount of derision, and there was a definite feeling that the tables were about to be turned.
Just as Sony had gatecrashed the home console market in 1994, it seemed that Nintendo's hold over the handheld sector was about to be relinquished. When it became clear that Sony's console was superior in terms of raw power, this feeling only increased; images of the rather dumpy clamshell design of the DS did little to engender any confidence, and screenshots suggested that the unit's 3D power was roughly on par with the original 32-bit PlayStation. An upset was in the offing.
Of course, Sony's technological advantage came at a cost. The PSP launched at a higher price point than the DS, which proved on one level that the company had failed to grasp what made Nintendo's handhelds such a mass-market proposition. However, this didn't seem to make much of a difference initially as the PSP was met with incredible demand in Japan, North America and Europe; in fact, the European release had to be delayed because Sony wanted to ensure that it didn't have disappointed customers in its homeland and the US.
The strong commercial reaction to the system was encouraging, but the battle between Sony and Nintendo didn't go quite according to plan. Like the PSP, the DS also performed well right out of the gate, buoyed by the surprising response to the system's unique touch-based interface. While the dual-screen concept was perhaps underused, many titles leveraged the touchscreen for unique and intuitive gameplay which would foreshadow the explosion of interest in smartphone gaming a few years later.
Looks Aren't Everything?
Despite strong showings from both consoles, the DS started to open up a lead over its rival. It became clear that while Nintendo's console offered a new way to play, the PSP was exactly what it said on the tin: a Portable PlayStation. While the quality of the games wasn't up for debate, the system was essentially hosting very similar experiences to those you could play on your TV (a problem the PS Vita would suffer from much later on).
The initial batch of titles ā including WipEout Pure and Ridge Racer ā weren't followed up by quality AAA releases anywhere near fast enough, either. As a result, Nintendo's system appeared to have a more diverse and playable library of games, at least to the casual consumer.
Then there were worrying reports about the design and reliability of the PSP, with many launch systems exhibiting 'dead' pixels, something Sony was reluctant to consider a genuine fault. Another complaint related to the console's square button, which ā when the unit was opened up ā was found to actually overhang the side of the LCD display. Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi famously defended the decision, saying:
I believe we made the most beautiful thing in the world. Nobody would criticise a renowned architect's blueprint that the position of a gate is wrong. It's the same as that.
It was a response that reeked of the same kind of arrogance that would cause Sony problems in the PlayStation 3 era, and it wasn't much of a shock when the PSP received its first facelift in 2007, the PSP-2000 (or "Slim & Light" as it was known in Europe).
Sony would tinker with the PSP hardware on more than one occasion and even managed to fit in TV-out and a mic into later models, but once again, it was hamstrung by the fact that Nintendo seemed to be doing everything right with its DS hardware; the launch of the attractive and very Apple-like DS Lite in 2006 solved perhaps the biggest problem with Nintendo portable ā its looks ā and a flood of best-selling games soon followed.
By 2007 the DS had sold almost twice as many consoles worldwide as the PSP (approximately 40 million to Sony's 25 million), and every studio worth its salt had DS titles in development. However, like all tides, this one had to turn eventually.
Take Me to the Movies
Kutaragi's early statement about creating another Walkman wasn't mere bluster; Sony was adamant that the PSP would do much more than just play video games. Early bundles came with an in-line remote control for music playback on the move, while the console's proprietary Memory Stick PRO Duo format could be used to upload songs and albums. These sticks could be upgraded for higher-capacity versions, too. When you consider that the average mobile phone available at the time had a tiny storage capacity for music and other files, this was quite a selling point.
However, the most bold signal of Sony's intent was its approach to movies. The PSP used optical media as its software delivery method, allowing for massive games with FMV and high-quality music. These discs also allowed Sony to create its own media format. Universal Media Discs were, as the name suggests, capable of holding more than just game data, and Sony wasted no time in encouraging major Hollywood studios to sign up to support the format. While the screen was standard definition in terms of resolution, it was quite an experience to have digital movies in the palm of your hand.
Sadly, the UMD format was destined to go the way of Betamax ā another famous Sony-made flop ā because the public wasn't convinced. UMD movies were high-cost and could only be played on the PSP itself; to make matters worse, they lacked the bonus features present on the (cheaper) DVD editions. Low sales forced Universal and Paramount ā two of the big supporters of UMD in the early days ā to withdraw support, and by 2006, retailers began phasing out the format in their stores. Sony couldn't rely on films to sell the PSP, but thankfully, games were about to save its bacon.
What's That Coming Over the Hill?
Capcom's Monster Hunter series may be massive today, but during the PSP, it was merely bubbling under. The company supported the PSP with Monster Hunter Freedom, a launch title in Japan, and followed that up with Monster Hunter Freedom 2. With its powerful internals and wireless ad-hoc capabilities, the PSP was the perfect platform for Monster Hunter's team-based social gameplay; by 2008, the series had reached smash-hit status in Japan, with Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (known in the west as Monster Hunter Freedom Unite) selling 2,452,111 copies to be that year's best-selling video game in the region.
The PSP was gaining traction despite the runaway success of the DS, and the 'Monster Hunter effect' resulted in a swathe of software support from some of the industry's biggest players. Konami ā which had released the turn-based Metal Gear Acid 1 & 2, as well as Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops ā was convinced to give PSP owners a full-fat Metal Gear experience in the shape of Peace Walker, which arrived in 2010. While Portable Ops was very much a down-sized adventure that focused on short missions that could be played easily on the move, Peace Walker was, for all intents and purposes, a fully-fledged sequel to the home console versions, packed with cut-scenes, content and epic storytelling.
It was this late burst of support ā much of which was thanks to the amazing success of Monster Hunter in Japan ā that allowed the PSP to close the gap a little on the DS. As we've already established, Nintendo's system was the clear winner in terms of sales, but 82 million PSPs sold is a figure not to be sniffed at; it's significantly more than the combined sales of the Sega Game Gear, Atari Lynx, NEC PC Engine GT, Bandai WonderSwan and SNK Neo Geo Pocket.
Sony was the first company to even remotely challenge Nintendo in the handheld market, and it's worth keeping in mind that the DS ā like the Wii ā was something of an anomaly; it had some amazing games but also sold millions off the back of casual titles, like the Brain Training series.
Collecting For The PSP Today
Due to its relatively young age, building a sizeable PSP collection is a pretty stress-free affair. You'll find that the system itself is quite cheap on the second-hand market, and software ā both boxed and loose ā is also cheap as chips.
Many of the system's best games are available for very little cash, and even the rarer and more desirable items won't cost you that much. There's the odd exception to this rule ā R-Type Tactics: Operation Bitter Chocolate (yes, it's really called that) is a Japanese exclusive that sells for triple figures, for example. On the whole, though, you can amass an enviable PSP collection for a pretty humble sum of money, making it ripe for rediscovery ā especially if it passed you by the first time around.
Titles like God of War: Chains of Olympus, Tekken: Dark Resurrection, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Breath of Fire III, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, and Gran Turismo are all well worth a look, and have aged surprisingly well ā certainly a lot better than many Nintendo DS titles from the same time period.
Then there's the scope for retro gaming on the system; the machine played host to some incredible vintage compilations such as Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded, Capcom Classics Collection Remixed, Metal Slug Anthology, SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 and SEGA Mega Drive Collection.
A System Ahead of Its Time
Cradling the PSP in your hands today, it's hard not to be impressed by the machine's gorgeous looks and still-impressive library of games; it manages to feel like something from the future, rather than a relic of the past.
Indeed, there were elements of Sony's plans for the system that were perhaps too far ahead of their time; 2009's PSP Go ā which ditched the UMD drive and went totally digital ā made perfect sense on paper. Portable systems don't really benefit from physical media that has to be swapped out and could potentially be lost, so the Go's download-only approach made sense ā just ask your average smartphone gamer, who has never had to worry about carrying all of their games around with them.
However, as the Nintendo Switch has proven today, people still love physical media, and back in 2009, the market was even less ready to take the all-digital route. The PSP Go was a noble experiment and a sign of things to come, but it failed to find favour with the gaming public.
With the Vita, Sony could be accused of perhaps being too comfortable in the past, however. Like the PSP, the system offered little that couldn't be found on a home platform, and with Monster Hunter defecting to the 3DS, Sony had lost one of its key allies in the handheld market. The Vita certainly deserved better and has been an excellent platform for downloadable indie games, but the market has moved on ā a fact that even the mighty Nintendo has found, with its 3DS system falling way short of the sales of its forerunner.
Even Nintendo has had to find another niche to exploit, and its Switch system offers a unique approach by straggling the divide between handheld and home system. With the 'traditional' portable market a mere shadow of its former self, we'd highly doubt that Sony would ever consider another dedicated mobile games console (although it has recently announced a companion handheld for the PS5) ā but spending a little time appreciating the brilliance of the PSP truly makes us wish that weren't the case.
This article was originally published by pushsquare.com on Tue 3rd July, 2018.
Comments 71
I find this ironic that Damien says the PSP wasn't a flop, but Sammy says it was and uses that as an argument for handheld gaming being dead.
Ah, the joy of different writers.
Ultimately though, who the hell cares who sold more, who did what better? You bought the machine you liked. End of story.
I recently dug out my PSP recently to play the two Mega Man remakes, eternally trapped to that little thing. It's so uncomfortable to hold now and frankly thats on me due to hand injuries I sustained since I last used it, but those face buttons are not in an ergonomic position for my damaged hand.
Again that's just me. Don't get angry.
But the games still look great, certainly better than a lot of games look on current handheld systems by Nintendo, even that one you can slap under your TV for some exciting 480p gaming.
But UMDs....what pinhead said "Yes, lets use moving, CD-adjacent technology in a portable"? My UMD drive is misaligned and that bugger is Dreamcast levels of loud. Also constant read errors now too.
The PSP was a great handheld to me. I couldn't own a ton of games for it, and I'm still stuck with the same memory stick from when I first got it, but I enjoyed the games I have for it. Tekken Dark Resurrection, Ratchet & Clank Size Matters, ATV Offroad Fury Blazin' Trails, Crisis Core, Dissidia, Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, MGS Portable Ops, I had a lot of fun on the PSP. I even bought Tekken 6 for it rather than console.
And there's still games I want for it too. So yeah, worth it.
@Knuckles-Fajita Erm. You're going to have to find where I said PSP was a flop because I don't remember saying that.
PSP was a great time.
I was working pubs, young(ish), relatively free, relatively single and the vast majority of my cash was disposable. A fair amount of Wetherspoons payroll was going to me and a few mates smoking and taking turns doing ad-hoc WipEout Pure races sat on empty kegs of Carling. Good times.
EDIT: now I think, one January (if you've ever worked in a UK pub in January, you know) I managed a co-op playthrough of Killzone: Liberation and a few Ace Combat missions over the course of 4 shifts... on the bar!
Sadly I sold my PSP games. I'd built up a good collection and had imported many an shmup. Still have two systems.
Did anyone have the excellent OutRun 2006:Coast 2 Coast for both PS2 and the PSP? I did (money to burn!), proper cross save there... what a game, what a machine!
A great system let down by the lack of a digital store in its early years. I think if there was a easier way of getting movies and music on this thing it would have reshaped the digital entertainment. As at the time it blow the current offerings from apple out of the water. U could get digital movies and music on the system but it wasn't very user friendly, not until the PS3 launched some years later.
I honestly had the PSP and DS at the time...sad to say, that I loved the PSP more for some of the titles (Loco Roco 1-2, Patapon, Hot Shots Golf and more). I also liked the DS too, but for some reason, not as much as the original Gameboy. PSP was incredible and had many great games, but it was the memory sticks that cost too much...especially for a big one costing as much or more than a game...plus, just like mentioned in the article, DS had way more games in their library (granted many were bad or not that great at all). The PSP also didn't have many quick titles (ones that could be played quickly while on the go) and not many children titles either, and the system itself didn't seem like it was a kid-friendly system...kind of hard for a kid to play, which is definitely one of the audiences for the DS' success. Nintendo seemed and still seems to satisfy all audiences, where Sony tries to, but usually is looked at by the older generation like myself (trying not to sound biased there).
All honesty, both systems were great, even though I chose the PSP over the DS. The VITA could have been much better, but I chose the 3DS over that...guess I go back in forth. I love both companies, but I'll stick with Sony for home console! And, would I like to see sony make another handheld...sure! Would I purchase it...depends on the price and if they actually add a better memory format for it. And, even though I could be wrong, wasn't the memory cards for both the PSP and VITA what took many people's attention from it?
@get2sammyb
http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2017/09/sony_doesnt_see_much_potential_in_portable_platforms
6
get2sammybTue 26th Sep 2017
@Dodoo They could have done better with the Vita, but how many sales do you think supporting SD cards would have realistically added? A couple of million at most.
And as @feena pointed out, the 3DS probably won't outsell the PSP when all's said and done, which definitely puts things into perspective.
19
get2sammybTue 26th Sep 2017
@NintendoFan4Lyf Come back and post this comment when Switch has sold 100 million units.
You act like the thing was a failure.
Oh wait...theres also this.
https://twitter.com/_get2sammyb/status/835674629075251200
https://twitter.com/_get2sammyb/status/835674982978105344
Friendly reminder, be careful what you say around me. An eidetic memory can come back to bite you
@Knuckles-Fajita "The 3DS probably won't outsell the PSP when all's said and done, which definitely puts things into perspective."
It does put into perspective just how much the dedicated handheld market has declined. You've gone from 154 million (Nintendo DS) and 82 million (PSP) to 72.5 million (Nintendo 3DS) and ~15 million (PS Vita).
How is this even up for debate? It's there in black-and-white?
"3DS has sold a shade over 65 million in six years. Decent, but 22 million come from Japan alone. PSP was considered a flop at 80 million."
It's true. Note I said that PSP "was considered a flop at 80 million" not that "I believe PSP was a flop at 80 million". I thought PSP did very well for itself, although it did tail off.
And why did it tail off? Because the market for handhelds like the PSP is dead as a dodo now. As the numbers above I just posted illustrate, and also the fact that Nintendo had to create something completely different to follow-up the 3DS.
Try again?
@get2sammyb You said the PSP was considered a flop. Those were words from your account. You then followed that with "This is why I think handheld gaming is dead".
Therefore, your opinion was that handheld gaming was dead, and your justification for that was a system selling less than a flop.
Your entire justification for that argument, a thing YOU believe, is based on a comparison, right?
How can you believe handheld gaming is dead, and use the argument of the 3DS selling less than a "Flop" to justify your opinion, if you yourself don't believe the PSP is a flop.
If you think the PSP was not a flop at 80m, then the 3DS in the current market is also not a flop, as such your belief the handheld market is dead is an opinion based on "evidence" that you dont actually believe points to a narrative you want to push.
You cant say "PSP wasn't a flop at 80m" and then say "Handheld gaming is dead because 3DS is at 75m now in a vastly different market".
I was fond of my psp. I adored the DS though. It just gave me exactly what i was looking for at the time. Interestingly roles are reversed this time and the Vita is one of my favourite consoles of all time while my 3DS sits collecting dust. Vita is a beautiful machine.
The psp was certainly technically impressive for the time. I bought mine in 2008 after crisis core was released - which was a wonderful game. I think my expectations were hampered a little by Sony's insistence that the console was home gaming on the go however. The failure to include quality of life things like a second analogue stick made playing some games a real chore. And the UMD format wasn't ideal. It was just so noisy.
There were amazing games on this system though. The 2 god of war titles, dissidea, crisis core, daxter, lumines, ratchet size matters, valkyria chronicles 2, the 3rd birthday, kingdom hearts, peacewalker etc were wonderful. I remember the nonsense sony spouted about the dead pixel issue though. They have come a long way since then!
I need to replace the battery in my PSP actually. It no longer holds a charge.
@Knuckles-Fajita Oh my god, I said it was "considered" a flop. As in considered by other people.
Dedicated handheld gaming is dead, because the market from Nintendo DS and PSP to Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita has declined by almost 150 million units. Now we could put out a new dedicated Nintendo handheld and a new dedicated PlayStation handheld and see how much more they decline, but neither company is stupid enough to do that because they know it's over.
I never said 3DS was a flop at all. I never even said the PSP was a flop. But when the market is cut in half in the transition between generations, then you have to recognise the trend. It's over.
DS and PSP did amazing for the time; they wouldn't come close to those numbers in 2018. It's gone.
@get2sammyb Well by that logic...
PS3/Wii/360 - That was, what? 260m?
One/WiiU/Switch/PS4 - 146m or so combined.
4 systems, two with 2 additional SKUs, have lost over 100m units between generations, compared to 3 systems.
No wonder people were saying console gaming is dead. Observe the trends.
I see your point though. I dont want handheld gaming to particularly disappear, and the inevitability of technology is smaller, efficient, powerful. Just look at phones, PCs, hell, cars and planes. Who knows what the future holds.
Just as long as it's not on phones. Horizon with touch controls, bleh.
@Knuckles-Fajita The generation isn't over yet. Those four systems will finish near to 260 million when they're all retired. And even as things stand now, there's been no 150 million unit decline.
Thank you for agreeing with me.
Hi just wanted to chime in and say I like the article and PSP was great, cheers
@get2sammyb Ah its all in good fun. I like a good discourse to wake my brain up.
But yeah, dedicated handheld systems are pretty much done. The 3DS has its niche as little Timmy's first system for Ā£80 + game included.
There will come a time though when the under the TV box isn't needed either. It's just how it is. Society and needs change and these companies need to be ahead of the curve. They like streaming and devices that do both home things but can go with them.
Why have a PC for YouTube when you have a phone that you can watch at home and on the bus? Its that kind of thing. And eventually with 5g, hey who knows right? The future is bright.
@Quintumply The PSP was great (I got mine LONG before the DS in 2006!) and one of the first games was....that King Kong one with the obnoxiously long name.
Wonder how much a new battery is these days...
@get2sammyb I don't think that shows a decline. Look at the GameBoy and GBC, it took them around two generations to sell, about 120 million units I believe. The sales of the other handhelds that have existed are so small, they're almost negligible. The market was never big to begin with, last gen was more of an exception me thinks.
Great console, but horrible D-Pad if you had the 1001 version like I did! After trying a bunch of snap-on pads, I remember I super-glued a coin onto the D-Pad and could FINALLY get the diagonals to read properly.
@Octane Do you think new systems built in the same spirit as the 3DS and PS Vita would improve upon their predecessors if they launched this year?
Impressed that the Go even appeared in the article, but Damo is nothing if not spot on with his nostalgia.
I dont' think the Go should be mentioned w/o also mentioning the April-May 2011 PSN outage however. For about a month people w/ a Go were unable to buy or download anything as Sony shut down it's online network. That was about 1 1/2 years after the Go launched, leaving Go owners wondering why they bought something that was digital only.
http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2011/05/sony_executive_kaz_hirai_apologises_for_playstation_network_data_breach_plots_service_return_schedule_and_welcome_back_compensation
Can you imagine the Apple iTunes store being down for 23 days? Or the Google Play store? Imagine no internet at all for 23 days. People would probably start committing suicide after a couple of weeks.
@get2sammyb In terms of sales? I dunno. Hard to say now that the Switch is a thing. But if that didn't exist and we got a new handheld instead, could it reach 3DS numbers? I don't see why not. If Sony upped their game with a better handheld, maybe we could see more than 3DS + Vita. But that's of course almost impossible to tell. I wouldn't rule it out though.
@Octane I wouldn't bet on it personally.
@get2sammyb "Do you think new systems built in the same spirit as the 3DS and PS Vita would improve upon their predecessors if they launched this year?"
I don't think it would be very hard to improve upon Vita sales, what did it sell, only 15 million? They could almost sell that in Japan as well as Vita continues to sell there. Add in normal Micro SD card support instead of proprietary, most social media apps, streaming services, and an optional wireless out TV dongle stick, and you have yourself a winner. I don't think it could outsell 3DS though, that will hit 80mil as Nintnedo keeps pushing the $79 2DS which counts towards 3DS sales. I'm expecting a new 3DS game holiday 2019 to tie in w/ Frozen 2 in theaters. But beat the Vita's 15m? No problem.
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/07/nintendo_announces_new_2ds_xl_minecraft_mario_kart_7_and_animal_crossing_consoles_for_japan
I only had a handful of games, but I do still own 2 PSPs to this day.
Why?
Crisis Core.
I remember getting the psp for Christmas and loving how sleek and stylish it was. I believe the Switch is the new psp/Vita at this point in time, but it was an impressive little handheld.
I owned a PSP for a day. I bought a 3 game bundle so my kids and I could play PS3 like games on the go. Only we couldn't, b/c despite Sony saying PSP was a portable PS3 you could only have 1 account at a time on the PSP unlike the many you could have on a PS3. But I did try, me being the nice dad that I was, I thought, whatever, I'll just share the 3 games that came with the system with my kids, I don't really care about trophy counts anyway. So I tried all 3 games that came with my system, and not a single 1 had more than 1 save slot. And as much as I wouldn't mind sharing my account with my kids, I wasn't going to share 1 save file with them. And my kids wouldn't have been happy sharing save files with each other either.
So if Sony did decide to make a PSP2, forget Vita 2, it needs to have multiple accounts like the Switch does. I think even most games on Switch have multiple save files within each game as well. Nintendo got that part right. 3DS is the same as PSP, but Nintnedo really marketed it as a home console you could take with you, that was how Sony roped me in, with the promise of a portable PS3 system with multiple accounts.
I actually dont' know how Vita handles multiple accounts or save files, but I did buy a PS TV ($28 clearance at Target) to remote stream my PS4 to my bedroom TV. Only that only lets you use 1 account as well. A freakin streaming device and you can't even pick which account to stream off of your PS4. I gave it to my kid in his bedroom so he can stream PS4 games while I'm watching the big tv. He doesn't use it much but it does work ok for streaming. Even Horizon Zero Dawn worked well enough.
Any new portable gaming device by any company should have multiple accounts as a starting point. Even if like Nintnedo they expect each person to own their own device at some point. Some families can't afford multiple of the same console.
@get2sammyb I don't know, Nintendolife had an article a couple of days ago saying that Nintendo's new president was considering a successor to the 3DS, as it "Still has advantages over the Switch".
Also didn't the 3DS have one of its best "christmas" quarters last year?
The Vita on the other hand probably never will get a direct successor, that's pretty much a given, but the "4DS" as budget line handheld at maximum 200$, maybe.
@Damo great article man, made me want to go find a PSP, but the chances of doing so here in Barbados are even less than finding a Vita now.
@shgamer Sammy's point still stands; handheld gaming is a shadow of its former self. To think that the PSP and DS sold over 230 million units between them is incredible; the 3DS and Vita won't even get anywhere near half that figure.
I bought psp 1000 decades ago, the first time I play ridge racer on a handheld is truly an amazing experience, I enjoyed megaman powered up, god of war, wipeout, kingdom hearts bbs, dracula x chronicles, jeanne d'arc and many other games. I like the system so much that I gave it to my relatives rather than sell them after I get the vita.
Playstation portables system always click with me, I still have my oled vita for playing ps1 classic
@Damo That's true, but it's the Vita that is "dragging" the numbers down. The 3DS, with a bit of luck, will probably end up selling 80 million units when all is said and done, and in broader perspective that is actually not bad at all.
I understand that many wants the Switch to succeed, but I can't help myself feeling that Nintendo kind of took the 3DS crowd hostage with the Switch, probably thinking that the 3DS owners would migrate to the Switch (I'm not so sure they will as it seems as a lot of 3DS - and Vita - owners just doesn't seem to find the Switch that attractive).
I'm.kooking at a PSP slim again because I actually have some free games from ps + and I loved it as a portable machine. Only thing is now they have shot up to about Ā£80 in certain 2nd hand stores and I don't trust eBay I bought a 2nd hand one about 8 years ago for Ā£49 with 2 games and a 32gb memory card. Speaking of the MCs it was that format that killed off the PSP because it was a stupid idea to use and stupidly expensive for 16gb cards up to 128gb
Love the PSP. Still got mine in the other room with Outrun 2006 Coast 2 Coast nestled inside.
Really enjoyed the article. I had a DS because it was cheaper but was always jealous of friends with one. On a whim last year, I bought one off eBay for under Ā£20 and have picked up some great cheap games for only a few pound. Haven't played it much, I just like the design and the piece of history it represents.
Oh and for the record, there are a few good reasons why you'll never see another PS portable. Firstly, mobile gaming is cheaper to make and more profitable. Secondly, with hardware on portables becoming better and better, developing a AAA portable title for something like the Vita is no longer a small side project for a team of 10 devs as in the older days of the cheap DS ports but akin to a significant budget. With a smaller market, what's the incentive?
@Knuckles-Fajita that's some weird interpretation of what he said.
Ridge racer, everybodyās golf & loco roco, amazing games, amazing memories!
Love the PSP! I got mine (a lovely blue 3000 model) with Birth by Sleep at the tail end of its life and quickly built up a nice collection of games for it. The hardware was very much ahead of its time and in some ways better than the 3DS - especially its gorgeous screen. It's library is actually pretty broad, but where it excels is Japanese RPGs. Persona 3 Portable is amazing. It's also where I played Final Fantasy 7, 8 and 9 via the PS1 Classics compatibility.
Apart from the GO model, PSP was ace and had so much potential even after its run.
Then the Vita happened.
Had 4 (3)ds, psp still looks brand new even with the broken pixels!
Fantastic read Damian thank you
@shgamer well on the other hand some doesnāt see the need for Nintendo as a Hardware Manufacturer and would rather see them make games for these other more powerful platforms which in order to do that Nintendo would have to constantly fail til they realize yeah people donāt care for your hardware...
@Damo I do enjoy the photos you do of your games and systems on these types of articles. Glad to see itās not just Nintendo games and systems getting the love!
I only just bought a PSP end of last year, and Iām gutted I didnāt get one much sooner. Since then Iāve amassed over 50 games, most good or great, because theyāre so cheap. And I must say I do love those little UMDs. Totally impractical of course, but for someone who plays only at home theyāre a great little novelty. They remind of the mini discs from Sony in the late 90ās, just before MP3 players hit the big time. Sony do have a bit of a track record when it comes to failed media!
@GravyThief Glad you like the photos! They're fun to take, that's for sure
@Derpie1 As a 95% handheld gamer these days that would be awful. As much as I don't really like the Switch I guess I could be converted if Nintendo made a Switch Mini AND had it backed up with some good 3rd party software. But I would 100% prefer a successor to the 3DS (and the Vita - but that is just not going to happen).
In fact I would prefer if they made a 480p "4DS" for the sole reason that the games would be less expensive to make, leaving room for more "experimentation" in the gameplay department and thus making the games more interesting to play.
@shgamer fun fact: Mr. Furokawa Nintendoās current CEO HEARS you and is currently is looking into possibly a successor to the Nintendo 3DS which screams to some dumb but to others... interesting...
Ah, the good ol' PSP. Good times.
My PSP is sitting on the shelf right next to my old Nintendo DS Lite that I remember getting for Christmas many, many years ago.
I used mine mostly for watching movies when travelling. I probably own 30-40 UMD movies. Use to pick the up for 5$ each, once the format died. Great device in its time. I only played a few games.
I have probably played more psp games on my PS Vita.
@Octane and @get2sammyb
The was a new 3DS launch back at the start of 2015 and Nintendo did launch some exclusive games didnāt work on the original 3DS.
It sold slightly over 12 million units and receives zero third-party support .
Even Nintendo are releasing all their new games in the original 3DS format. I only own 1 New 3DS game and am currently playing about 1/3 DS 2/3 3DS on it.
i use an original ceramic white version now running dark alex....got tonnes of stuff on there ..........
I don't have anything to say about this because I don't like the PSP, or handheld gaming really, but I'm commenting just to say I liked the article.
@Damo Thanks for the article, this was a great read.
We'll see if my mind changes when the Switch's run has come to an end but right now, the PSP still stands as my favorite portable system ever. So many good games, and it was a versatile piece of hardware. I don't watch them anymore, but I did have several movies on UMD and I still use the PSP as my MP 3 player. It's funny, much like the PS3 it sold over 80 million units but is definitely considered by many to be a 'failure' no doubt due to the incredibly impressive success of the DS. Still, I loved the system and it's a shame Sony didn't really build on the success it found when it came time for Vita, but I attribute a lot of that to Sony being in a bad spot as a company back around 2012-14.
Didn't want to make the last comment too long, so broke it into two parts. I love making lists, this is my top 10 favorite PSP games:
1. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
2. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
3. God of War: Ghost of Sparta
4. Resistance Retribution
5. Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror
6. Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
7.Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (one of the few FF games I really enjoyed)
8. Burnout Legends
9. Tekken Dark Resurrection
10. Lumines
Honorable mentions:
Ridge Racer, Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow, The 3rd Birthday, Twisted Metal Head-On, Killzone Liberation, God of War: Chains of Olympus, GTA: Vice City Stories, GTA: Chinatown Wars, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max, Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters.
There's many others I haven't listed. What a system the PSP was. Nothing but great memories of it. Still go back from time to time to play some of these games.
Had a lot of fun with the PSP. Good times. Still loving the Vita. Has a few years left in it I reckon.
Still got 2 PSPs, and original and a Slim. Don't use them, though. Might stick them on eBay.
Barely use my Vita these days either, and that's mostly to remote play my PS4.
Never saw any appeal in a DS/3DS. My mum got one, and the hardware was okay-ish, but always thought the games were hopeless.
@Ryall Id say Nintendo are being OG 3DS only but then Fire Emblem Warriors happened....
Either way using the N3DS as proof doesnt really work.
Thats like saying the PS4 Pro or Xbox One X is indicative of the future
It's what got me through my military service in 2008. It will always have a special place in my heart.
I still find it strange that even after all this time, the latest 2DS and 3DS models only have the same screen resolution as the PSP!
I still have and play on my PSP 3000 even though there's a Vita parked next to it as Sony got lazy with their PSP titles for download via the PS Store. And with the retail trade-in prices of the two systems getting remarkably close in the UK, I wonder which one I'll trade in first?
Sony could enter a handheld market again but I think the approach would need to be different. Perhaps a big-screen Xperia with clip on/slide out thumb-stick and button controls and access to an official PSP/Vita emulator with the ability to download games from the PS Store..? A bit like an od Xperia Play but done properly.
You know, aside from excellent 3rd party support from big publishers...My fondest games of the PSP tend to come from anything weird (especially from SIE Japan Studio).
LocoRoco, Patapon, Patchwork Heroes...The PSV didn't really have many things like this. Sure, it had wonderful Indie support, even better than the PSP. But the unique creative minds from SONY's teams spent more focus on AAA/AA instead of leaning more on those weird smaller creative titles.
And that's what SONY missed. They could have made simpler games on the VITA, it could have been the 3D Platformer console from with many PS1/PS2 feelings. It always felt like it was trying to catch up the PS3 (and later PS4).
I love my VITA for the incredible library (especially when you include the PSP/PS1 titles via PSN), but the only two games that ever made me feel "yes, only on VITA" were Gravity Rush and Tearaway...And even those were eventually ported in their own ways to PS4.
We needed those simple LocoRoco budget titles, an Invizimals blowout, a GTA: Stories, God of War spinoff etc...But we never got them really. (And yes, there was an Invizimals game on PSV, but it wasn't enough is my point...And not advertised enough).
They just didn't understand what made the PSP great to play/hold.
Just want to get a psp.Are there news games for it
I never had a PSP and only knew one person who did, and they used it solely for Football Manager. A handheld that completely passed me by, though my DS kept me very busy.
Also, noticed this in the 7th comment
@NintendoFan4Lyf Come back and post this comment when Switch has sold 100 million units.
HOORAY FOR SWITCH!
Vita is just now on life support, certainly just in Japan, is a surprising fact. I heard it had a MUCH better life over there.
Here in America, Target was ready to dump their supply on the clearance racks in like 2015.
Though I still got a ton of PSP games which need to see some love someday.
I actually just happened to pick up a PSP 3000 just a couple a weeks ago and I'm having a great time with it so far. I always thought it was such a neat looking system that had a lot of awesome looking games that I feel like nobody talks about fondly in this day and age, while I honestly think they're far for intriguing to me than a lot of the PS2's line-up imo. It has so many cool big budget adventures and experinces, while also being a perfect system that had the ability to breed new experimental games.I haven't gotten much use yet out of its video and music features yet but I really want to because it would be neat to have a bunch of movies and Youtube videos I love at my finger tips. It's certainly a system I'm ready to explore and I'm glad Sony is bringing a lot of them back on PS4 and 5
PSP is one of the best handheld consoles for me. I enjoyed it much more then DS. It's like they both from different times!
My first game on this platform was Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. My favorite game is Persona 3 Portable.
Iād still call it my favourite console of all time. I was sold as soon as a sales assistant in Game handed me a demo unit to play WipEout Pure on. That screen was an instant jaw dropped but having the best edition of my favourite gaming franchise as a launch title was also a draw (and especially after the debacle of WipEout Fusion on PS2ā¦.)
It kind of went on to be a portable Dreamcast, home to some great genre titles and the only good online RPG since PSO (Phantasy Star Portable 2). The creative titles like Locoroco I still play to this day.
My favourite genre for portables is racing and has there ever been a better served console that the PSP for the genre? WipEout, Ridge Racer, Outrun 2006, Need for Speed Underground. I will still never begin to fathom how they managed to squeeze Test Drive Unlimited onto the thing. Like a portable Forza Horizon.
@KingMike I think what's throwing you off is that this article is from 2018!
I know there's a little acknowledgement of the article's origin near the bottom when it's re-posted, but I wish it would be displayed more prominently at the top, as that would make these cases a lot less confusing. Maybe it could even replace or sit alongside the timestamp, if that's possible. (Admins, what do you think?)
I remember the first time I saw a PSP. I was a senior in high school, and my one classmate had it and whichever Spiderman game released at launch. Not sure if that was a good game, but I was legitimately blown away. Add to that the pretty weak launch lineup for DS (Super Mario 64 DS ā a game that was designed for analog on a console without an analog stick), and I thought Nintendo was finished. Didn't turn out that way, but the PSP didn't do half bad!
I had a lot of fun with the PSP. It has probably my favorite version of Ridge Racer on it. My original PSP did have some stuck pixels that I tried very hard to unstick but never could. But still, very ahead of its time. The homebrew scene was really fun, too. Still have a lot of games to return to on it. There have been some great translations released for it in the past couple years, so I've been enjoying that (The Yakuza spinoff games, Disaster Report 3...)
@no_donatello I'd say Super Mario 64 DS' awkward use of the touch screen as an analog replacement threw people off. I can remember some comments when it launched blaming it on the hardware. Why they chose to make the initial touch point the simulated analog neutral point, I don't know.
When the Final Fantasy III remake launched a couple years later, it offer touch analog control based on the screen center as the neutral point, as it should be.
I do remember the initial Japanese PSPs had a flaw with the Square button sticking. Ken Kutaragi declared it "a feature" and it become one of many Sony memes over a short time.
That and that the early market had arguably more UMD movies than games.
Have to give credit to the PSP as the most serious handheld rival Nintendo ever had.
Unfortunate that the first PSP (a 2000) I bought second-hand developed screen burn damage. It plays, but it has really ugly rings in it that become visible especially when playing bright games like Final Fantasy.
I did like the TV output cable I got but it's a shame that Sony only allowed the actual gameplay footage to be output at 1x (but the OS could scale to fill the TV). I've seen a review of a knockoff Chinese cable that include a button to enable video output scaling.
Japan Studios last hurrah of weird titles, my beloved
I love the PSP. It's the closet thing to a portable Dreamcast and I started collecting for it back in 2011. A unfairly underrated little handheld. If only I could get my hands on Outrun 2006 for it?
I'm still getting the most out of it. š
Would love to get my hands on a slim PSP again, pretty sure I had a black one.
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