PSP News
News Play the Worst Ratchet & Clank on PS5, PS4 with PS Plus Premium
Name's Clank
Ratchet & Clank games are rarely bad. There’s obviously incredible ones, like A Crack in Time, and then there’s middling ones, like Quest for Booty – but they’re almost always decent. PSP spin-off Secret Agent Clank, along with tower defence title Full Frontal Assault, is probably the worst entry in the series. Released in...
Mini Review LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival (PSP) - A Frustrating Yet Jubilant Jamboree
Bouncing back
LocoRoco: Midnight Carnival, a spin-off entry in the series from Japan Studio, released on the PSP in 2009 to mixed reviews. So it comes as a pleasant surprise to see it revitalised for PS5 and PS4 in the form of an enhanced emulation, with up-rendering, rewind, quick-save, Trophies (including a Platinum) and custom video filters. For...
Mini Review Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters (PSP) - Passable 2007 Debut of Series on PSP
Grind derails
Notable as the series' debut on the PSP, as well as for being developed by High Impact Games — and not by Insomniac Games — Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters stumbles slightly by slowing the pace of progression through the franchise's classic weapon and gadget upgrade structure. With a humdrum story set after Ratchet: Deadlocked,...
Mini Review Super Stardust Portable (PSP) - Single-Stick Shooting Falls Short
(Star)Dusting off retro titles
Housemarque's best known for its twin-stick shooters, with Resogun being a notable recent example. However, its space shooting series, Stardust, shouldn’t be forgotten. Originating back on the Amiga in 1993, it's been a huge inspiration for the modern twin-stick shooters we see today. Super Stardust Portable...
News Could PSP Spin-Off Secret Agent Clank Be Coming to PS5, PS4 via PS Plus Premium?
Sony email suggests so
Secret Agent Clank is arguably the most easily forgotten Ratchet & Clank game, along with failed tower defence title Full Frontal Assault. Developed by High Impact Games – the creators of Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters – and released on the PSP in 2008, the title casts a tuxedoed Clank as its protagonist, with a...
Review Killzone: Liberation (PSP) - Top-Down Shooter's a Bit of a Slog
Muddy aiming mars some nice ideas
The PSP was many things to many people, a delightful little slice of hardware that ended up with a pretty stellar library of ports and new games — but one thing you could never say about it was that it had a second analogue stick. That sole little control nub on its left had to do a heck of a lot of heavy lifting,...
News Bite-Sized Ratchet & Clank Will Prove Size Matters on PS5, PS4
Another Clanker
Spin-off title Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, originally developed by High Impact Games, will be freed from its PSP and PS2 shackles next week, when it’s ported to PS5 and PS4 as part of Sony’s PS Plus Premium catalogue. The bite-sized adventure – which can be beaten in around five to six hours – takes Insomniac Games’...
News You Simply Have to Play This Stone Cold PSP Tactics Classic on PS5, PS4
Releasing officially in Europe for the first time
Even at the point of its 2007 release, Jeanne d’Arc was considered a stone cold classic – and the passing of time has only elevated the tactics title’s standing in the eyes of fans. Developed by Level-5, during a period when everything the developer touched turned to gold, this is a strategy...
News Classic PS2, PSP Campaigns Ghosthunter, Daxter Add Platinum Trophies on PS5, PS4
The master of unlocking
As is commonly the case with first-party releases made available with Sony’s PS Plus Premium service, inventive PS2 shooter Ghosthunter and legendary PSP platformer Daxter will ship with Platinum Trophies. The former game will pack a total of 21 gongs, and will largely require you to beat a variety of bosses, and work your...
News Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster Is Reportedly 'Real and Happening'
Hope springs eternal
In this era of unreliable leaks and the rise of shadowy "insider" culture, it's nice to hear frankly unbelievable news from a trusted source. The rumoured remaster of Square's pre-Enix epic, Final Fantasy Tactics, has been the subject of much speculation for many years, but its reportedly "real and happening." That's according...
News Soon, All of the Main Jak and Daxter Games Will Be Playable on PS5, PS4
Eco-nomical
Platforming fans can rest assured knowing that from 18th June, you’ll be able to play every single mainline Jak and Daxter game on PS5 and PS4. The release of PSP platformer Daxter – arguably one of the best entries in the series – will round out the selection, with Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak II, Jak 3, and Jak X:...
News Scores of Retro PS Plus Premium Titles Upgraded with Platinum Trophies on PS5, PS4
Toy Story! Alone in the Dark! Oddworld!
Sony has pushed out updates for several of its classic PS Plus Premium releases, adding Platinums to all of them. While many of its emulated first-party PS1 and PSP games have launched with Trophies, third-parties have generally been allowed to forego the feature. But now, the likes of Toy Story 2: Buzz...
PSP's best games, ranked and rated
What are the best PSP games? First released on 12th December, 2004 in its native Japan, Sony’s initial foray into the handheld arena followed years and years of speculation. The company officially acknowledged the device a year prior, at E3 2003, with PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi describing it as a “Walkman...
Poll Which Persona Game Has the Best Opening?
Now it's personal
Atlus revealed the opening for Persona 3 Reload earlier this week, and it's so good that it got us wondering: which Persona game has the best title sequence? In case you don't know, each game in the series typically introduces itself with an animated opening, featuring a unique song and some gorgeous artwork. There's no doubt...
News Did You Know? PlayStation Partnered with NCSOFT Over a Decade Ago
Nothing came of it, though
Sony announced a partnership with NCSOFT earlier this week which will likely culminate in the release of an MMO adaptation of the Horizon franchise, but if you’ve been getting déjà vu from this press release, you’re not alone. The company actually revealed a similar relationship with the South Korean titan over a...
News More Platinum Trophies for PS Plus Premium Retro Releases
Trophy unlocked
PS Plus Premium hasn’t quite delivered on the value Sony perhaps promised prior to the top-tier’s release, but in the manufacturer’s defence, it has continued to iterate upon its PS1 and PSP emulator – and pretty much all of the first-party games it’s ported have Trophies these days. That continues to be true with the...
News Sony's E3 2010 Press Conference, the One with Kevin Butler, Revived in 1080p
It only does everything
The fine folks over at Noclip are currently undertaking a huge restoration project, digitising hours and hours of gaming-related footage from a forgotten archive of tapes. If you hit up the YouTube channel, where all of this stuff is free to watch, you'll see old video game trailers, footage of cancelled projects, and old E3...
News New PSP Trio All Feature Platinum Trophies on PS Plus Premium
Gong hunting
How do you feel about PS Plus Premium now then? There’s no question it’s got a lot, lot better than it used to be – and most first-party games are even launching with full Trophy sets right now. That includes the latest trio of PSP titles added to the service today: Ape Escape: On the Loose, Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice, and...
News PS Plus Premium Poised to Add Tekken 6, SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny
Fighting fever
PS Plus Premium’s growing selection of emulated classics looks set to expand yet again in the near-future, with the Taiwanese ratings board classifying two retro PSP titles for PS5 and PS4. Listings for both Tekken 6 and SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny appeared overnight, with the latter obviously being a handheld exclusive. The former...
News Twisted Metal Duo Add PS5, PS4 Platinum Trophies
Gravity Crash Portable also has a full set of gongs
Trophy hunters, rejoice! Twisted Metal and Twisted Metal 2, launching officially on PS5 and PS4 this week as part of PS Plus Premium, will both have Platinum Trophies to unlock. Confirmation comes courtesy of server scraping site Exophase, with the full lists now appearing on Sony’s backend. The...
News PS Plus Premium's Killzone: Liberation Adds PS5, PS4 Trophies to Underappreciated Shooter
Another reason to return
We knew that Guerrilla Games' underappreciated isometric iteration Killzone: Liberation was coming to PS Plus Premium, but had the happy news confirmed today that it would be getting Trophy support as well. With 10 Bronze, 21 Silver, three Gold, and the essential Platinum Trophy,
Poll Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for June 2023?
Another 27 games added
It's another significant update for PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers this month, as Sony has confirmed that a whopping 27 additional games will be made available next week. As you'd expect of such a sizeable selection, there's a lot of variety on offer, from big budget open worlders like Far Cry 6 to brand new indies like...
News The Best Killzone Game Is Coming to PS5, PS4 with PS Plus Premium
Sons and daughters of Helghan
Sony was roundly criticised throughout the PSP and PS Vita generations for not assigning is top first-party developers to its handheld platforms, but when Guerrilla Games turned its hand to the Japanese giant’s inaugural portable it churned out an all-timer. As opposed to trying to recreate the first-person...
Poll Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for May 2023?
Something for everyone
It's another big update for the more expensive tiers of PS Plus this month. We don't want to influence your opinion right off the bat, but man, that list of PS Plus Extra games is pretty impressive, isn't it? With the likes of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart,
News Monster Hunter's PSP Puzzle Fighter Spin-Off Could Be Coming to PS5, PS4
A gem
There’s a good chance you’ve never heard of Airu de Puzzle, because the PSP exclusive only released in Japan over a decade ago. The game is, for all intents and purposes, a reskin of Puzzle Fighter – albeit with Monster Hunter’s mascot Felyne characters instead of chibi versions of Ryu and Ken. And it could be coming out worldwide,...
News PS Plus Premium's Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror Upgraded with PS5, PS4 Control Fix
Right stuff
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...
Poll Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for March 2023?
Plus or minus?
We're not going to beat around the bush: PS Plus Extra is pretty good, isn't it? The middle tier of Sony's subscription service has quickly established a large catalogue of great PS5 and PS4 games, and it feels like it's being meaningfully expanded every single month. March 2023's additions bring some real value as well. Delightful...
News PS Plus Premium Subs Treated to a Trio of Retro Treats Next Week
Emulated action
There’s no doubt about it: PS Plus has improved dramatically across all three tiers this year. Sony revealed the full lineup of games for PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium subscribers earlier, with members of the latter getting treated to a trio of tasty retro releases –
News Sony Quietly Adds Trophies to Another PS Plus Premium Classic
Heroes
It didn’t get off to the best start, but Sony does appear to be quietly correcting PS Plus Premium’s biggest issues. The last drop included a decent number of classics, while the platform holder has fixed some of the NTSC and PAL issues that plagued the launch period. And now, it appears to be casually rolli
Mini Review Ridge Racer 2 (PSP) - A Greatest Hits Album for Arcade Racing Royalty
Now that's what I call drifting
The original release of PSP's Ridge Racer 2 could be criticised for being almost exactly the same game as its predecessor, only with a few more tracks and modes. However, that doesn't really matter today, especially now it's one of the rare Ridge Racer titles playable on modern consoles. With its one blemish now moot,...
News Iconic PlayStation Franchise Gran Turismo Surpasses 90 Million Copies Sold
As series celebrates 25th anniversary
Gran Turismo, arguably the most iconic PlayStation franchise of all time, has surpassed 90 million units since its inception. As the series celebrates its 25th anniversary, creator Kazunori Yamauchi – who remains a force at developer Polyphony Digital – revealed the milestone in a reflective PS Blog post, in...
Mini Review Pinball Heroes (PSP) - First-Party PlayStation Time Capsule in Pinball Form
Ball saver
Pinball Heroes feels like a strange snapshot of time, and we mean that in the best possible way. Originally released for the PSP in 2009 as eight digitally downloadable tables, it launched just prior to PlayStation rediscovering its mojo. The context is key here: the PS3 was getting its butt stomped by the Xbox 360, and PS Studios was...
News PS Plus Premium Classic Pinball Heroes Has Trophies, and It's an Easy Platinum
Pinball wizard
With PS Plus Premium, a handful of games in the classics catalogue have been retrofitted with Trophies — a nice addition that gives a modern kick to these antiquated adventures. The latest old school title to receive Trophy support is Pinball Heroes, a PSP collection featuring tables based on various PlayStation properties. The...
Poll Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for December 2022?
Plus or minus?
A whopping 22 games are coming to PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium next week for December's big update. Highlights include the excellent Judgment, a trio of Far Cry titles, the two Middle-earth games, and inspired CRPG Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
Random Chloe Grace Moretz Is Eager for Sony to Make a New PSP
"That thing was so fun"
It turns out actress Chloe Grace Moretz is a closet PSP fan! The actress, perhaps best known for her role as Mindy McCready in Kick-Ass, took to Twitter to ponder why PlayStation hadn’t made another handheld. “That thing was so fun,” she exclaimed. Depressingly, many replies pointed to the disastrous performance of the...
News Mortal Kombat Celebrates 30 Years of Fatalities with Mind Blowing Montage
Get over here and watch it
Mortal Kombat is celebrating 30 years of brutality, and while fans had been hoping for a new game announcement – or, perhaps, a compilation of old ones – this montage trailer will have to suffice. To be fair, it’s impressive: it segues between classic retro footage of the old arcade Mortal Kombat games and modern...
News PS Plus Essential, Extra, and Premium PS5, PS4 Games for September 2022 Announced
Every PS Plus tier revealed
Update: Sony has now confirmed PS Plus lineup for all tiers of its subscription. That means, as previously reported, Toem (PS5), Need for Speed Heat (PS4), and Granblue Fantasy Versus (PS4) join the list of All PS Plus Games as
News PSP Remake Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness Levelling Up PS Plus Premium in Japan
Grind it out
While not everyone is thrilled with the list of All PS Plus Games available as part of the classics selection with PS Plus Premium just yet, we do get the impression that the selection will be expanding quite a lot in the coming months. Indeed, another PSP game has been spotted on Sony’s servers in Japan, and this time it’s Disgaea:...
News PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for July 2022 Available to Download Now
Time to play Stray
The long lineup of PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium games added to the service as part of the July 2022 update can all be downloaded now off the PS Store. Essentially, this means you can s
News Bonus PSP Game Added to PS Plus Premium Lineup for July 2022
Echoshift is its name
Sony has surprised PS Plus Premium members with a bonus PSP title that will be included in the service's first Classic game drop since launch. Coming alongside LocoRoco Midnight Carnival and No Heroes Allowed! is Echoshift, a puzzle game that
Poll Are You Happy with Your PS Plus Extra, Premium Games for July 2022?
Have your say
Here it is, then: the very first PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium refreshes since the two tiers launched last month. The new PS5, PS4, and Classic titles will be available for download from 19th July 2022, but until then, we want to hear your thoughts on the lineup. As a quick refresh of the new gam
News Dino Crisis, Ridge Racer 2, and Soul Calibur Listed for PS Plus Premium, But Only in Italy
Update: Already removed from the blog post
Update: Dino Crisis, Ridge Racer 2, and Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny have now been removed from the Italian PlayStation Blog post, suggesting this was simply an error. With the games already on Sony's lips, t
News PSP's LocoRoco Midnight Carnival Coming to PS Plus Premium on PS5, PS4
PS Store listing practically confirms it
Brilliant PSP platformer LocoRoco Midnight Carnival is coming to PS5 and PS4 as part of PS Plus Premium (or, indeed, PS Plus Deluxe). While the game is yet to be officially announced for the service, it’s been listed on the PS Store, presumably in preparation for an imminent release. The page description
News PSP Game Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth Part of Valkyrie Elysium Deluxe Edition
Possible PS Plus Premium addition?
PSP game Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth will be bundled in with the deluxe edition of Valkyrie Elysium on the PS Store, it has been confirmed. The new Square Enix RPG confirmed a release date of 29th September 2022 overnight, and the game's
News Some Fans Think PSP's Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Is Getting a PS5, PS4 Remaster
Fair enough
Big news is expected during a ten-minute, 25th anniversary Final Fantasy VII broadcast tomorrow – and notorious leaker The Snitch may have arrived early to the party. The snoop, who has a 100 per cent batting record thus far, posted a cropped image of Zack Fair from Final Fantasy VII Remake to his
News Do You Really Love the PS Vita? Now You Can Get One Framed
Or a PSP, if you're old-school
The PS Vita was dealt a pretty unfair hand. Launched at a time when the handheld market was facing stiff competition from smartphones, Sony's last portable had power, ability, and some great games – but it simply couldn't find the mass market penetration it needed to succeed against Nintendo's 3DS (and even that...
News Sony Patches Band-Aid into PS Plus' PS1 Games, As Emulation Is Taken to Task
New patch released makes things worse
We’ve written a lot about the pros and cons of PS1 emulation on PS5 and PS4, but leave it to Digital Foundry to compile the best analysis yet. A new video published today really breaks down the areas Sony needs to improve in, and it’s a constructive watch that’s free of any hyperbole or ranting. All in...
News PSP Classic Resistance Retribution Likely Coming to PS Plus Premium
New age ratings for PS5, PS4 versions found
PSP title Resistance Retribution has received a new age rating in Korea for PS5 and PS4 versions, meaning it could be included in PS Plus Premium in the near future. The Game Rating and Administration of Korea board issued the rating for Sony Bend's third-person shooter, as spotted by Gematsu.
News PSP's Ridge Racer 2 Looks Tasty in Upressed PS5, PS4 Screenshots
Finish line
Ooh, boy – we hope you’ve got one of those battery-operated pocket fans handy, because retro PSP title Ridge Racer 2 is looking hot upressed on PS5 and PS4. These screenshots have been scraped directly from the PS Store, so are official images that the publisher’s using to promote the game – but it’s clear Sony’s emulator is...
News More PS1, PSP Games Launching on PS Plus Premium Revealed
Riiiiidge Racer!
PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium are less than 48 hours away from launch in select Asian territories, and even more PS1 and PSP games are beginning to hit the PS Store ahead of the rollout. We now know PSP title Ridge Racer 2
