What are your guys’ favorite PSP games and why? We’ve all seen the Top 10 lists and those games are amazing, but are there any gems that specifically called out to you that didn’t get much coverage? How did they make you feel and did you have any fond memories of playing the PSP when you were younger?
I dug out my old soft modded PSP GO (not pictured) from a drawer at my parent’s house and immediately went on a definitely legal buying and installing spree and think I have a pretty good library of games, but wanted to kind of compare notes.
Patapon
PATA
PATA
PATAPON!PON PON PATA PON
!!FEVER!!
DON DON DON DON DON Oh god here we go again
Those games were such a fever dream. I genuinely have no memory of what happened in any of them, I just vaguely remember controlling an army of eyeball men with drums
Loco Roco! It’s not a well known game, and honestly I wouldn’t even say it’s a must-play game, but I’ve got so many good memories with it that it’s got that nostalgia factor for me. When I got my Steam Deck, that was one of the first games that I emulated
One of the best handheld games of all time tbh.
Definitely this! I think it’s a must play tbh. The sound track is ingrained in my brain. Which makes each day just a tad brighter :)
Loco Roco and Loco Roco 2 had so much character, great games.
Came here to say this, loved Loco Roco!
Monster Hunter was absolutely perfect as a handheld game. Played way too much of it back in the day on my psp during road trips.
Me too! PSP for me is playing Monster Hunter on the crapper until my legs are numb lol
Oh absolutely did that a few times! 😂
Patapon was always my favourite, seems simple but you need to think quickly while having a good sense of rhythm.
Patapon and Rock Band Unplugged is what cemented my love for rhythm games. Can’t think about Message in the Bottle without seeing the track when I close my eyes to this day!
I enjoyed games like SOCOM and Monster Hunter, but my favorite memories came from the homebrew scene.
The PSP was the first thing I learned to “hack” as a kid. Installing dark_alex’s M33 CFW (I hope I’m remembering that correctly) was just incredibly exhilarating and exciting. It was like unlocking a whole new aspect that didn’t exist before and the whole experience was just fucking cool.
I still maintain my original PSP-1000 to this day, and fire it up once in a blue moon just to relive that nostalgia.
I did that with my PSP-Go, a mate pulled one out of his pocket and showed me it with custom firmware and that was it I went out and got one.
The formfactor of the Go was basically perfect for a portable, I only moved up into a Vita when development had hit it’s limitations but I still have a PSP Emulator on it.
Played so much SOCOM with my buddies back in the day. I miss doing those crawl through wall glitches.
Lumines was such a great game. Soundtrack is S-Tier and gorgeous visually.
Patapon stands up too
There was a tactical rpg (think FFT) called Jeanne D’Arc that I enjoyed quite a bit. It was like a fantasy retelling of the story of Joan of Arc but with a bunch of fantasy anime stuff. I’m not even usually a big anime guy but it was a super fun tactics game.
Jeanne D’Arc is definitely an underrated game. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would.
Damn! Glad I’m not the only one that remembers that one! Brought back a ton of memories reading that name. The gameplay was really solid.
I loved Jeanne D’Arc! It was one of the better tactics games on the system. Along with Spectral Souls.
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FF7 Crisis core is my favorite game ever. The gameplay, story, voice acting and music are all top notch.
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DEF Jam Fight for NY is another PSP favorite for me. I really liked the combat and customization options for your character. It was just an enormous fun game.
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Daxter was the first PSP game I played and it was also just an really fun and good game.
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Dissidia Final Fantasy is als just a really good game with an amazing combat system.
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The naruto games were really good. I think it was the ultimate ninja heroes games that had this interesting gameplay and also a story mechanic with an floor system that you had to climb and play through.
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Bleach heat the soul series are fun fighting games. I think not all of them were released in the west but I recommend them because the gameplay was super fun.
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Crisis Core and Dissidia were my absolute favorite PSP games.
Crisis Core had me bawling by the end and the music in it is fantastic. Combat was insanely fun for me.
Dissidia is possibly my most played game of all time. The combat was so fun and was what I dreamed of as a child when thinking of an action Final Fantasy. Loved all the RPG elements and summons you could equip as well as all the unlockable tracks and costumes.
Dissidia Duodecim was even better but I really wish they didn’t drop the ball on Dissidia NT. Such a let down.
I remember liking the arena/coliseum thing from the original Dissidia better. Probably because it was easier to get equipment for my skill level.
My favourite memory is playing Freedom Unite solo, and finally reaching G rank on my own. It’s a tough game, and making it that far without being carried was the most satisfying moment in any game for me. When I first started Freedom 2 (the previous version) I struggled to hunt even basic small monsters, and looking back on that journey made the 200+ hour playtime completely worth it for me. I think G rank took another 100 on top of that lol.
Patapon, LocoRoco, Peace Walker, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, and Ace Combat were some I played of the hell out of during the PSPs heyday,
I did remember trying Killzone Liberation, and it was better than I expected even if it wasnt an fps like the original, but a top down shooter.
A lot of great memories on the PSP, have been heavily considering a modded one!
Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition & Death Jr. we’re the first two games I had, along with a UMD of Click, lol.
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
GTA: Liberty City Stories
Kingdom of Paradise - the PSN re-release some months ago was such a nice surprise
Marvel - Rise of the Imperfects and the first Ultimate Alliance
PaRappa!!!
Rengoku: The Tower of Purgatory
I’m a late to the party with PSP but I’m a Yu-Gi-Oh fanatic, and Tag Force are my favorite games in the entire franchise of Yu-Gi-Oh video games. I got a PSP for dirt cheap, but also because I wanted to experience my favorite games in its original quality. But, on another note - Ridge Racer PSP and Tekken are also amazing quality games.
I completely forgot about the Tag Force games! Tag force 2 was the shit! Thanks for unlocking those memories. Would you say theres any yugioh games out there now that are similar to tag force or one you may like better?
Unfortunately no. Konami takes a lot of inspiration from Tag Force in all their later games but hadn’t come close to scratching that itch and having the same quality.
There’s Tag Force 6 and Arc-V Special (for which you need the translations respectively, I worked with the translator together to iron out some bugs).
There’s all their Tag Force clones (5Ds Duel Transer on Wii, 5Ds on PS3/360, Legacy of the Duelist) but these are literally just clones in terms of gameplay.
There’s also the games on DS and 3DS that were contemporaries to Tag Force at the time.
And then there’s the mobile games - Duel Links and Cross Duel. Cross Duel was their latest effort which they’re shutting down sadly (so give it a shot while it’s still up, until September, but no worries, I’m working with some people on a custom server for the game anyway)
And lastly - there’s the Rush Duel Battle Royale game on Switch which is the most similar to Tag Force.
I literally bought a second hand PSP for one game and one game only - Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. Played the absolute shit out of that one. It’s actually the only PlayStation console I’ve ever owned.
Did you find your unit in a good shape?
It was pretty reasonable! No box and some light scratching on the screen, but I was less concerned with vintage value back in those days. It’s probably not worth as much as my other vintage consoles that I’ve kept in far better condition.
Daxter
Definitely! My first game that I got with my PSP Value Pack. Played it in summer holidays in the back of a rented camper we drove in our vacation.
