Syphon Filter PS5 PS4 PS Plus Premium Analogue Stick 1
Image: Push Square

PSP, as we’re sure you know, only had one analogue stick, which made mapping traditional 3D controls to the handheld a bit of a headache. One way developers would circumvent this issue is by binding the camera to the face buttons, allowing you to look up with triangle and so on. This wasn’t a particularly elegant solution, but it made sense at the time.

However, one nifty backwards compatibility feature of the PS Vita allowed you to automatically assign the face buttons to the portable’s right analogue stick, meaning you didn’t have to wrestle with this control compromise when playing older titles on the device. It’s something fans had hoped would be added to the PSP emulator on PS5 and PS4, but was missing when Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror launched.

A new patch for the stealth shooter, available now, corrects this issue at last. We’ve just fired up the game and can confirm you can now aim with the right analogue stick, with the release’s original face button inputs remapped. While it doesn’t feel anywhere near as tight or as smooth as you’d come to expect from a more modern game, it’s a massive improvement over the original experience.

You can still use the face buttons to aim if you want to, of course, but it’s nice to see that second analogue stick put to proper use. This obviously bodes well for future PSP releases on PS Plus Premium, as we know the likes of Resistance Retribution are also on the way, and should benefit from this improvement to the emulator as well. Great stuff!