My wife just surprised me with a new PSP battery after listening to me moan about not having one ever since reading PerfectDark’s most recent PSP article. After messing around with broken USB cables and jumping through hoops to un-spoof my old prome-2 firmware version for too long last night, I finally got ARK4 running and had a blast playing Wipeout Pure.
My favourite PSP game back in the day was probably Monster Hunter Freedom Unite… so many late nights spent playing that with friends in my freezing flat. There was something special about LAN parties with handheld games. I remember putting serious hours into Peace Walker and Dissidia too.
Now I want some game recommendations… tell me which games you loved on the PSP! I might even have a look around for some UMDs!
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I got Wipeout Pure so I could do the browser exploit wayyyy back in the day. I ended up really enjoying the game too!
I liked Echochrome pretty much :)
PATA PATA PATA PON!
FEVERRRRR!!!
My favorite is when I go pspspspspsp to my dog and he comes over for cuddles.
No but really, if we’re talking full exclusives, Ridge Racers 2 is pretty much all the good stuff about the old RR series but with better graphics and most of the content from all games. If we’re talking non exclusives (sometimes the best version though), Final Fantasy IV, Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles, Final Fantasy Tactics WoTL, and Tactics Ogre, Let US Cling Together are pretty top tier
Don’t think I’ve played a Ridge Racer game since the original and I can remember barely remember it. A lot of people are recommending RR2 so I’ll give it a shot!
Jeanne D’Arc
A fantastic RPG.
If you’re into racing games, you could try ‘Colin McRae Rally 2005’ — it’s quite good and even requires a bit of knowledge about racing setups.
‘Race Driver 2006’ is also alright, it’s an expanded port of ‘TOCA Race Driver 2’ with lots of content and okay physics.
There’s ‘Twisted Metal: Head-On’, which is reportedly pretty good and in the vein of the first two games in the series (which had a different feel from 3-4 and probably ‘Black’ too).
If you’re into making music, check out LittleGPTracker: it’s a tracker-style app that works on PSP among other platforms and allegedly can load samples, as a tracker should. Inspired by the famous LSDJ for the Gameboy.
Oh hell yeah I hadn’t even considered running a tracker on PSP. I’m a big fan of LSDj and Dirtywave!
Forgot to mention: ‘Sid Meyer’s Pirates!’ is reportedly good on PSP, and it’s in my queue as a classic economic sim.
‘Pilot Academy’ is a remarkably difficult flight sim. Try also ‘R/C Stunt Copter’ on PS1 for extra credit.
There are several ‘Airport Hero’ games, from the ‘Air Traffic Controller’ series, aptly named for being simulators of ATC.
I’ve also heard good things about ‘428: Shibuya Scramble’, which is a detective visual novel adventure.
An ATC simulator on handheld seems like a bizarre game development choice… I must see this game in action!
There were also games from that series on GBA, NDS, 3DS, and five games on phones.
Again forgot: I’m not sure that the PSP games are officially translated to English, since the series primarily targets the Japanese market. But there might be fan translations.
Then you’re probably all set with Dirtywave, but you could also be interested in looking at SunVox for Android. It’s a combination of a modular synth, tracker and sequencer. Has a rather peculiar interface, and has been around on portable platforms like PalmOS for twenty years.
I’m not sure that the app can currently be bought, since the author is in Russia and will certainly not receive the money (not right away, at least), but afaik one can pay him directly and he’ll arrange the apk.
For my taste, SunVox is too much in beep-boop territory, so I prefer desktop trackers with some gnarly samples and effects, but the app is definitely good.
There are plenty of good titles already mentioned here so I’ll go with something less popular.
- PangYa: Fantasy Golf - it’s a golf game, as you can guess from the title. It has simple but really fun gameplay with customisable characters (outfits and equipment, the latter affects character stats). It also has a story mode to get you started.
- Puzzle Quest - RPG with match 3 gameplay for combat. Really addictive in a “just one more quest” kind of way.
- Ridge Racer 2 - it’s Ridge Racer. Riiiiiidge Racer! Tons of content, bunch of modes, fun to control - it’s great! Might be my favourite handheld racing game (and definitely one I spent the most time with). It’s pretty much a celebration of the franchise until that point, especially the classic era.
Golf game with a story mode? That sounds interesting!
It’s a silly and light hearted romp about a golf tournament, with a cast of weirdos as your rivals. It’s pretty fun as long as you don’t mind anime aesthetic and tropes (it’s not egregious or anything, I just know some people are allergic to anything anime adjacent).
God of War: Chains of Olympus. I got pretty good at the sex minigame.
ModNation Racing is basically Sony’s version of Mario Kart and I remember it being pretty fun. The characters and cars are customizable.
LittleBigPlanet was pretty reduced in size for the PSP version, but I still had a great time with it.
wipEout, Jeanne d’arc, Battlefront, locorocco, peace walker, Ys seven, Mega Man Powered Up, Gran Turismo, Dissida, Final Fantasy Tactics, Ghosts of Sparta
Final Fantasy Dissidia duo decim and Crisis Core were the only games I really enjoyed on the PSP.
Crush and ff tactics remake stood out to me but there were a bunch of great games on there wipeout, monster hunter, persona 3, etc. Crush is a 2d/3d puzzler with a really interesting soundtrack and ff tactics the story and characters and soundtrack hold up well.
I think every single favorite of mine is listed already so I will list the niche one I don’t see:
Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus
Original games - LocoRoco Midnight Carnival, Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII, Daxter, Trails in the Sky trilogy, LittleBigPlanet PSP, Silent Hill Origins, MGS Peace Walker, Gran Turismo… Remasters/ports: SMT Persona 2 Innocent Sin, Lunar SSSC, Breath of Fire III, Tales of Eternia (all of these games are JRPG, and all of them are the best version of these games in my opinion), Crazy Taxi, Prince of Persia games, Tomb Raider games…
There seems to be an overwhelming amount of JRPGs on the PSP right? It could take years to get through them all haha.
Silent Hill Origins and Shattered Memories
I recall being disappointed with Shattered Memories when it came out because it was different to the usual Silent Hill formula… though I can’t remember what the gameplay was like now. The psychological test gimmick was a really cool idea though!
I’d say if you go into it expecting an SH1 remake you will be disappointed. If you just want a cool and somewhat relaxing psychological horror game than it won’t disappoint. It’s a very unique game.
PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe & Everyday Shooter are amazing games from small indie studios.
LittleBigPlanet, Ratchet and Clank and Daxter are some must plays from Sony.
GTA Vice City Stories, MGS Peace Walker, Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron are fun games from third parties.
Honourable mention for The Sims 2, not for being good. But for being interesting
It seems crazy to me that The Sims 2 is on a handheld… but it looks like the PSP version is a bit different to the original?
It’s like a point and click adventure game. With sims characters, vampires, ailens, and a cow worshipping cult
Sounds bonkers!
It’s not a good game by any stretch. But it’s a fun experience. If you can’t play it, a YouTube play through is well worth the watch
