The first time I powered on my PlayStation Portable I felt like the future had arrived. I’d enjoyed my trusty GameBoy Advance, but here was a fully-fledged multimedia device in a deeply stylish form factor. I booted up my copy of Wipeout Pure and my jaw hit the floor at the silky smooth 3D graphics and toe-tapping dance soundtrack.
Then and there I decided that Nintendo’s reign as the King of Handhelds was over, and whatever they were cooking up with their weird DS thing. That’s definitely going to flop! PSP forever!
We all know how this story ends. Nintendo crushed Sony, the DS was ubiquitous and, while the PSP wasn’t a disaster, its successor the Vita was a tragic failure. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t some wonderful PSP games! So, here’s the ten best.
10. Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy (2012)
The PSP wasn’t short of Final Fantasy titles, but the Dissidia series was the most unique. These are a bizarre twist on the fighting genre featuring Final Fantasy heroes and villains drawn from across the series’ long history. Dissidia Final Fantasy arrived in 2008, though the 012 version is an expanded deluxe remake with many new features and characters. It may not be the most technical fighting game, but what it lacks in depth it more than makes up for in razzle-dazzle.
9. LocoRoco 2 (2008)
Low development costs made the PSP the perfect home for more experimental titles. The Patapon series is perhaps the best known, though I never quite got on with their strict rhythm-based battles. The far more chilled-out LocoRoco series was way more my speed, seeing you simply tilt the world to move the LocoRoco about. LocoRoco 2 was more of the same but better, and I was pleased to see it get remastered for PlayStation 4 in 2017.
8. Lumines (2004)
The GameBoy launched with Tetris and the PSP launched with Lumines. Coming from famed designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi of Rez fame, this musical puzzle game shares some broad similarities with Tetris, but with a focus on music and block-clearing combos. It’s seriously addictive stuff. Lumines was followed by the equally brilliant Lumines II in 2006 and several non-PSP versions followed. The most recent is Lumines Remastered, which brings the game to modern hardware in a very shiny fashion.
7. Wipeout Pulse (2007)
Wipeout Pure demonstrated what the PSP was capable of, but Studio Liverpool went on to refine the formula with Pulse. After so many entries the anti-gravity racing was incredibly polished by this point and the refined graphics, frame-rate and speed combined into one heck of a UMD. Plus the soundtrack included Aphex Twin, Kraftwerk, Ed Rush and Stanton Warriors. All are bangers and, once more, the future was in my hands.
6. Jeanne D’Arc (2006)
l didn’t know I wanted a tactical RPG loosely based on the life of Joan of Arc until I got it, and the game promptly hoovered up hours of my life. “Loosely” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, as historical records don’t indicate that Joan participated in a war between humans and demons that saw Henry IV possessed by an evil spirit. The turn-based gameplay is addictive, the voice-acting is superb, and the only downside is that (unlike most games on this list) it was never ported. Get it on PS Plus, Sony!
5. Ridge Racer 2 (2006)
Choosing either this or the PSP Gran Turismo was difficult, though ultimately Ridge Racer 2 is just more fun. The first Ridge Racer on PSP was a launch title, but the sequel is more of an update than a new game, including all of the original’s content and more. This means 21 tracks (42 if you count the reversed versions) and a wide range of cars. Annoyingly, while the first PSP Ridge Racer is on PS Plus, the much better sequel isn’t. This needs to be rectified!
4. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (2007)
The “Compilation of Final Fantasy VII” series was something of a dud. We got a terrible PS2 game in Dirge of Cerberus, the bizarre movie Advent Children, and the dumbphone game Before Crisis which never made it out of Japan. But the PSP got by far the best entry in Crisis Core, a prequel to the classic ’97 JRPG that focuses on the enigmatic Zack Fair. It has a great combat system, a plot that (mostly) makes sense, and a brilliant ending sequence I can still recall vividly all these years later. After years in the wilderness, Crisis Core was remastered in 2023 for modern hardware. Check it out!
3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006)
Squeezing a PS2-era Grand Theft Auto onto the PSP seemed impossible, but Rockstar managed it in 2005 with Liberty City Stories, a prequel to Grand Theft Auto 3. They then topped themselves the following year with Vice City Stories, a prequel to (you guessed it) Vice City.
Rockstar went above and beyond with this, featuring another killer 80s soundtrack and a voice cast including Gary Busey, Danny Trejo, Timothy Spall and Luis Guzmán. The cherry on top is the hilarious appearance of Phil Collins as himself. You can even go to a virtual Phil Collins concert (see above). Can you get more 1980s? No, no you cannot.
2. God of War: Chains of Olympus (2010)
The two God of War games on PSP, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta also see the system punching way above its weight. These are in the same mold as the first God of War trilogy, so more rip n’ tear than the emotional development of newer entries. But, even though these are spinoffs they’re both important parts of Kratos’ story. The two are as good as each other, though Chains of Olympus’ story is better and provides some long-awaited resolution to the family he accidentally murdered before the first God of War.
1. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010)
The Metal Gear franchise was well-represented on PSP, with the two great Metal Gear Acid turn based card battlers and the underrated Portable Ops. But Hideo Kojima threw everything at Peace Walker and it shows. Originally intended as Metal Gear Solid 5, this shows Big Boss’ slow descent into villainy through a typically bonkers plot, has a complex base development game, awesome online co-op gameplay, and even Monster Hunter side missions (you can also take Kaz on a swimsuit beach date…). I don’t know how they crammed all this content into a UMD, but Peace Walker can hold its head up high alongside any other game in the franchise.
The PSP: truly, the little system that could.
Published: Jan 10, 2024 06:57 am