So basically I’m looking for titles that are either so unique or so timeless or have such modern gameplay that you would recommend them to someone not neccessarily looking for a retro experience with the PSP.
These are the ones I’ve already compiled:
- SSX On Tour (Wintersports, more zen than arcady)
- Metal Gear Acid 1&2 (Tactics-focused deckbuilder, ahead of its time)
- LUMINES (Tetris from a different timeline)
- Chili con Carnage (Shoot-Em-Up that kinda controls like og Doom but 3rd person, tbh the humor is where it shines)
- Armored Core Formula Front (You’re some kind of arena robot mechanic, the battles can play out with or without your input and you mostly customize the robots in between fights)
- Thrillville (You manage themeparks, unspectacular concept but pretty unique execution)
- Me & My Katamari (A classic, you roll a ball that grows in size as it accumulates various objects)
- Dead Head Fred (Action platformer with a few flaws but decent mechanics and story)
- GTA Chinatown Wars (Drugdealer Simulator before it was cool)
- Gladiator Begins (You’re a gladiator fighting to pay off your debts and later the story can branch into several directions, very satisfying gameplay loop and makes the most of its small scale)
- LocoRoco 1&2 (The sidescroller for people who don’t like sidescrollers)
- Daxter (Classic 3D platformer, many little features to keep you hooked)
- MediEvil (Classic Hack & Slash, nice atmosphere and some high quality jokes)
I should have gotten a psp, maybe there’s still time
Get a Vita. It basically has a PSP built in. It’s super easy to hack too which will give you a ton of improvements and options (like remixed controls for some PSP games so you can enjoy them with twin sticks) - it’s awesome.
You can get an original PSP and a micro sd to mem stick adapter on ebay and jailbreak it, takes 5 minutes. The 3000 is probably the best model regarding accessory availability and performance but I’ve got the PSP 1000, 3000 and the PSP go and they all do the job.
The 1000 is a little big/heavy for my taste but I’m really tempted to get one for the IPS mod…
I’ve got big hands so that’s probably the one I use the most but I removed the optical drive to make it lighter 😄 The screen upgrade is barely noticeable tbh even with the 1000. If it’s not broken I wouldn’t bother. What you can do to improve the screen situation is get a glass faceplate. Day and night difference.
Ah, thanks for the insight! I read the IPS mainly helps with the ghosting but also looks better than all the stock screens. But maybe this is just another instance of people getting stuck on details of minor importance instead of focusing on what matters: Having fun! (And I’m pretty happy gaming on my 3000, so…)
Are there really glass faceplates for the 1000? I checked some weeks ago and only found replacements for 2000/3000 (and whole plastic fronts for the 1000s - which can be modded but that seemed like a really annoying job)…
How’s the screen on your Go in comparison btw.?
Probably easier at this point to get a Deck, or other portable gaming rig, and emulate. Better everything at this point including graphics upscaling
The discs are not cheap, and were fragile even back in the day.
The digital store might still open. I know you can buy games off the Vita’s store still (but you have to use an older style WIFI that is sometimes relegated to guest WIFI and you have to preload the money from another source).
PSP’s store closed a looooooong time ago. Used to be that you could purchase stuff from the PS3’s store and use a USB cable to transfer the license, but after Sony enabled 2FA that route closed as well.
Maybe it’s that you can still download stuff on the PSP store, but you have to buy it from somewhere else like the PS3 or Vita stores. I’ll have to check and get back.
Yeah, I had a lot of PSP games saved on my PS3. That sucked when they got rid of transfers. If I remember right, it blocked save transfers for PS1 games too, which was a huge bonus from back in the day. Play on the road, then continue your game on the PS3.