Half minute hero: quirky, quick, hilarious, and a bit stressful at times. It’s a perfect mobile title.
Disgaea: infinitely scaling/playable strategy rpg. You can power through the game pretty quickly, or take your time and slowly become a god so strong that even friendly healing spells miss you.
Patapon (2 and 3): rhythm based game about using drum commands to get your little dudes to complete missions.
Dj max (any/all):dance dance revolution for your thumbs. Korean game featuring Korean artists. One of my favorite continuing series.
Monster hunter (freedom through portable 3rd): action rpg all about them boss fights. Kill monsters, use their parts to hunt tougher monsters in a game all about incremental progression, inventory management, and learning movement patterns to git gud.
Patchwork hero: do you like the dig dug stages where you slice off bits of the land to drop enemies into the water? This is that except they are airships and you must defend your homeland
Lumines (1 and 2): musical game about matching colors and making combos in a tetris-esque style game. The devs went on to make tetris effect.
Cladun 2: so I heard you like action rpgs, infinite scaling, pixel art, and enough grindy systems that even my power tools get jealous. Enter Cladun.
I’m wondering if I missed any I spent a disproportionate amount of time on… But these were the first ones to pop into my head.
Edit: I am finally home so I can look over my games… and I definitely forgot a couple.
LOCO ROCO! It’s a very simple platformer in which you guide your little dudes through stages by using the L and R to tilt the stage. You collect fruits to increase your dude into a larger dude, or several dudes, depending on the situation.
N+ Be a platforming Ninja, die a lot… like a lot a lot. It’s… simple and hard and so satisfying to clear one set of 4 stages at a time. You can even make your own stages if you’re feeling up to the challenge.
Tekken? Nah. It’s a four button game, and you only need to map the shoulder buttons if your character has a good move with a weird button combination like Square+Circle. Street Fighter Alpha 3 really needs all 6 buttons, though.
You might want to search for a RetroAchievements collection of PlayStation Portable games.
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, which is a nice 3D remake of one of the better classic vanias, Rondo of Blood. An updated version of Symphony of the Night is an unlockable in the game (as well as the original Rondo) so this is a great way to experience both games if you haven’t already.
Every PSP I own must have the following games ready to go at any time:
-Lumines
-Rock Band Unplugged
-Patapon 2
-WipEout Pulse
-Final Fantasy: Crystal Defenders (gorgeous small tower defense game, but with enough strategy behind it for hours of play)
It’s a pretty great game. Really good music and one of those gameplay loops that is easy to pick up and difficult to master. If you like Tetris and the like, Lumines is worth your attention.
Personally, if platform doesn’t matter Id say 4 golden, 3 Reload, then 5 Royal. Purely from a mechanical and dungeon standpoint I think you will progress the most naturally from worst to best from there
4 Golden is now the oldest “modern” Persona game, I personally feel that 1 and 2 are just a little too old for you to get as much out of them as 3 forward, but that’s my take, if you’re very tolerant of older games you may wanna start older. Each entry has an independent story and characters, so I don’t think that order matters as much as the progression of quality of life and dungeon mechanics.
I haven’t played 1 or 2 personally but would echo what is being said here for the rest.
I played p4g first and fell in love with it. P3P is pretty similar really but with slightly less QoL things going on but I don’t find it too much of a downgrade to be honest.
Either way each one has its own story then with similarities like in spell names and the like, similar to how final fantasy is.
they’re just prequels really, I can’t remember anything groundbreaking. It’d /maybe/ be better to play 3 and vice city first, but it’s mostly just callbacks. Liberty city stories protag is just a quest giver. Neither super spoils the other but I might be wrong.
The PSP was a fantastic system for racing games, despite the lack of an analog throttle. If you want to get into this genre, this console is a great starting point:
Outrun 2006 Coast 2 Coast: Perhaps the best version of Outrun to date and an ideal game for people not that used to the genre. Easy to learn, hard to master. It’s gorgeous to look at, the arcade-style gameplay loop is perfect for a portable system and so much fun that you don’t really mind if you lose.
FlatOut: Head On: A very different take on the arcade racing genre. This one blends challenging stock car racing with over the top minigames that involve drivers being used as virtual bowling balls. It all makes sense, just try it out, if you don’t mind the generally high difficulty. Head On is a near 1:1 port of Flatout 2/Ultimate Carnage, just slightly simplified visually to run on the system.
Colin McRae Rally 2005 Plus: As the name implies, this is an ever so slightly reworked port of the PC and console game. It’s near 1:1, with only some modest visual downgrades. This is where Codemasters’ rally games peaked prior to Dirt Rally - and unlike Dirt Rally, which is a bonafide racing horror game, this title is accessible to players of all skill levels, with only players who are really into simulations being miffed about the lack of per-tire simulation. Career progression from modest FWD cars to spicy Group B monsters is absolutely exemplary and tracks are a delight, both visually and in terms of design.
WipeOut Pure: This might just be the best game in the series. Perfect controls, perfect track design, perfect career mode. The only flaw is that on original hardware, the frame rate isn’t always stable. I would highly recommend Pure as an entry into the series.
MotorStorm: Arctic Edge: One of those “concession games” for older systems as the new generation was already out, releasing for PS2 and PSP - but it’s actually more fun than the mainline games, at least in my opinion. It makes perfect use of the hardware, the vastly different vehicle classes and their strengths and weaknesses are tons of fun, just like in the mainline series, and the track design is wonderfully vertical. It also looks magnificent, which seems to be a trend among PSP racing games, now that I think of it. The developers were so confident in the tech of this title that they included a photo mode, which I don’t think all that many PSP games have.
Gran Turismo: Everyone expected this to be a mobile port of Gran Turismo 4, but it’s not. While it retains the presentation, large roster of licensed cars, real-world and fictional tracks and highly refined simcade driving physics, there is no conventional campaign. Instead, you create your own racing events and can only buy from a small selection of cars each virtual day. It’s an interesting concept. Do try it out just for the wow-factor of having a game this photorealistic on the PSP and perhaps stay for the fun you can create yourself. If you lack the creativity, people have created random event generators: https://sites.google.com/site/gtpspcampaigngenerator/ Gran Turismo is also to this day - and someone correct me if I’m wrong - the only mobile racing game that features a full 1:1 recreation of the iconic Nürburging, which alone makes it worth playing.
Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition: Classic Midnight Club on the go, but this time with customization. What’s not to love? Controls are so accurate, every other arcade racer will feel sluggish by comparison, it looks great (again), the cities are huge, there’s tons to do, it has just the right difficulty, challenging without being unfair and it perfectly encompasses this bygone era of early to mid 2000s street racing, even better than any Need for Speed of the time, in my opinion. Like all of the Midnight Club games, this one is also great for just randomly driving around without any goals in mind.
Test Drive Unlimited: Speaking of randomly driving around, this game represents perhaps the very peak of this idea. Shrinking down the entire island of Oahu at 1:1 scale with its real-world street layout (and some creative liberty in regards to buildings), this one is truly a miracle of optimization. The result may not be the prettiest racing game on the system, but the bouncy, responsive driving physics - which so closely mimic that of Gran Turismo 2 that I’m convinced they straight-up copied them - more than make up for any visual shortcomings. This also means that this cut down version of the 360/PS3/PC game (visuals, some vehicles and customization) is more fun to play than the big version, which has comparatively flat driving physics that straddle the line between arcade and simulation nowhere near as well. If you like the idea of living the idea of living the life on a Hawaiian island, buying homes and cars to fill their garages with, racing down long coastal straights and maneuvering through twisty mountain roads, then this might be right up your alley.
This series ain’t for everyone, but I personally like the Hatsune Miku Project Diva rhythm games and recommend them since I like the variety of songs they have.
Work Time Fun is a sort of strung-out Wario Ware that I really enjoyed back in the day. If you like minigames, trinkets, and grinding, then check it out.
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In no particular order:
Half minute hero: quirky, quick, hilarious, and a bit stressful at times. It’s a perfect mobile title.
Disgaea: infinitely scaling/playable strategy rpg. You can power through the game pretty quickly, or take your time and slowly become a god so strong that even friendly healing spells miss you.
Patapon (2 and 3): rhythm based game about using drum commands to get your little dudes to complete missions.
Dj max (any/all):dance dance revolution for your thumbs. Korean game featuring Korean artists. One of my favorite continuing series.
Monster hunter (freedom through portable 3rd): action rpg all about them boss fights. Kill monsters, use their parts to hunt tougher monsters in a game all about incremental progression, inventory management, and learning movement patterns to git gud.
Patchwork hero: do you like the dig dug stages where you slice off bits of the land to drop enemies into the water? This is that except they are airships and you must defend your homeland
Lumines (1 and 2): musical game about matching colors and making combos in a tetris-esque style game. The devs went on to make tetris effect.
Cladun 2: so I heard you like action rpgs, infinite scaling, pixel art, and enough grindy systems that even my power tools get jealous. Enter Cladun.
I’m wondering if I missed any I spent a disproportionate amount of time on… But these were the first ones to pop into my head.
Edit: I am finally home so I can look over my games… and I definitely forgot a couple.
LOCO ROCO! It’s a very simple platformer in which you guide your little dudes through stages by using the L and R to tilt the stage. You collect fruits to increase your dude into a larger dude, or several dudes, depending on the situation.
N+ Be a platforming Ninja, die a lot… like a lot a lot. It’s… simple and hard and so satisfying to clear one set of 4 stages at a time. You can even make your own stages if you’re feeling up to the challenge.
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection and Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max are in top shape on the PSP with extra characters and decent single player content.
Rock Band Unplugged is a stealth sequel to Frequency and Amplitude, worth a try for juggling a whole band’s worth of instruments.
I also had a lot of fun with Half-Minute Hero, Lumines, Everybody’s Golf Portable 2/Hot Shots Golf Open Tee 2, and the racing games DdCno1 mentioned.
And that’s not even getting into the excellent options for emulated games, both retail and homebrew.
RetroAcheivements PSP games sorted by number of players is a good way to see the most popular games.
I’m asking so I can get ROMs of them.
Wouldn’t tekken need some fancy 6 button controller?
Tekken? Nah. It’s a four button game, and you only need to map the shoulder buttons if your character has a good move with a weird button combination like Square+Circle. Street Fighter Alpha 3 really needs all 6 buttons, though.
You might want to search for a RetroAchievements collection of PlayStation Portable games.
K, I’ll get tekken, cos my handheld js a 4 button
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, which is a nice 3D remake of one of the better classic vanias, Rondo of Blood. An updated version of Symphony of the Night is an unlockable in the game (as well as the original Rondo) so this is a great way to experience both games if you haven’t already.
Crisis Core is the only PSP game I’ve played. It’s pretty good. I suppose Monster Hunter is worth trying out, too.
The Parasite Eve game on the PSP was pretty good. Mega Man Maverick Hunter X and Mega Man Powered Up were both good too.
Every PSP I own must have the following games ready to go at any time:
-Lumines
-Rock Band Unplugged
-Patapon 2
-WipEout Pulse
-Final Fantasy: Crystal Defenders (gorgeous small tower defense game, but with enough strategy behind it for hours of play)
What are the others? What’s lumines?
Lumines
So a Tetris like puzzle game? Sounds nice
It’s a pretty great game. Really good music and one of those gameplay loops that is easy to pick up and difficult to master. If you like Tetris and the like, Lumines is worth your attention.
It’s really about the music.
I’m not one for tetris like puzzle games, but I eventually got sucked in and spent 60 hours with the game. It’s really good!
I enjoyed Metal Gear Ac!d games which were a sort of card game / turn based spin off in the metal gear world.
I’m currently playing Persona 3 Portable so if you are into those kind of games it is pretty great.
I think someone else mentioned it but Valkyria Chronicles is worth checking out, another turn based delight.
Persona is a series I’d like to get into, where do I start?
Personally, if platform doesn’t matter Id say 4 golden, 3 Reload, then 5 Royal. Purely from a mechanical and dungeon standpoint I think you will progress the most naturally from worst to best from there
4 Golden is now the oldest “modern” Persona game, I personally feel that 1 and 2 are just a little too old for you to get as much out of them as 3 forward, but that’s my take, if you’re very tolerant of older games you may wanna start older. Each entry has an independent story and characters, so I don’t think that order matters as much as the progression of quality of life and dungeon mechanics.
I haven’t played 1 or 2 personally but would echo what is being said here for the rest.
I played p4g first and fell in love with it. P3P is pretty similar really but with slightly less QoL things going on but I don’t find it too much of a downgrade to be honest.
Either way each one has its own story then with similarities like in spell names and the like, similar to how final fantasy is.
K, so it’s a start anywhere series? That helps :3
I’d say so, my order was 4, 5, 3, and I love it all the same
Syphon Filter Dark Mirror and *Logan’s Shadow… …*if you don’t mind unfulfilled endings and enjoy the gameplay
God Eater
Ghost in the Shell: The standalone Complex (play with vita or emulation for dual stick controls)
Coded Arms (play on vita or emulation to have dual controls)
Super Stardust Portable
Pursuit Force and it’s sequel Extreme Justice
I have a vita and I’m intrigued about the dual controls. Remapping to the second analogue stick?
Yes exactly. You need the app adrenaline though…and of course to hack it. With the Vita being EOL, there’s no legal downside or moral area
I have a retroid pocket 3+ which I prefer for PSP emulation but I do have Adrenaline on my Vita.
Weird that nobody mentioned the GTA games on PSP
Vice City Stories and Liberty City Stories are absolutely awesome GTA games somehow squeezed onto the PSP
They have a crisp cubish feel which was fun, I remember playing around with mods
Downloaded vice stories, is there an order to play them
they’re just prequels really, I can’t remember anything groundbreaking. It’d /maybe/ be better to play 3 and vice city first, but it’s mostly just callbacks. Liberty city stories protag is just a quest giver. Neither super spoils the other but I might be wrong.
K
The PSP was a fantastic system for racing games, despite the lack of an analog throttle. If you want to get into this genre, this console is a great starting point:
Outrun 2006 Coast 2 Coast: Perhaps the best version of Outrun to date and an ideal game for people not that used to the genre. Easy to learn, hard to master. It’s gorgeous to look at, the arcade-style gameplay loop is perfect for a portable system and so much fun that you don’t really mind if you lose.
FlatOut: Head On: A very different take on the arcade racing genre. This one blends challenging stock car racing with over the top minigames that involve drivers being used as virtual bowling balls. It all makes sense, just try it out, if you don’t mind the generally high difficulty. Head On is a near 1:1 port of Flatout 2/Ultimate Carnage, just slightly simplified visually to run on the system.
Colin McRae Rally 2005 Plus: As the name implies, this is an ever so slightly reworked port of the PC and console game. It’s near 1:1, with only some modest visual downgrades. This is where Codemasters’ rally games peaked prior to Dirt Rally - and unlike Dirt Rally, which is a bonafide racing horror game, this title is accessible to players of all skill levels, with only players who are really into simulations being miffed about the lack of per-tire simulation. Career progression from modest FWD cars to spicy Group B monsters is absolutely exemplary and tracks are a delight, both visually and in terms of design.
WipeOut Pure: This might just be the best game in the series. Perfect controls, perfect track design, perfect career mode. The only flaw is that on original hardware, the frame rate isn’t always stable. I would highly recommend Pure as an entry into the series.
MotorStorm: Arctic Edge: One of those “concession games” for older systems as the new generation was already out, releasing for PS2 and PSP - but it’s actually more fun than the mainline games, at least in my opinion. It makes perfect use of the hardware, the vastly different vehicle classes and their strengths and weaknesses are tons of fun, just like in the mainline series, and the track design is wonderfully vertical. It also looks magnificent, which seems to be a trend among PSP racing games, now that I think of it. The developers were so confident in the tech of this title that they included a photo mode, which I don’t think all that many PSP games have.
Gran Turismo: Everyone expected this to be a mobile port of Gran Turismo 4, but it’s not. While it retains the presentation, large roster of licensed cars, real-world and fictional tracks and highly refined simcade driving physics, there is no conventional campaign. Instead, you create your own racing events and can only buy from a small selection of cars each virtual day. It’s an interesting concept. Do try it out just for the wow-factor of having a game this photorealistic on the PSP and perhaps stay for the fun you can create yourself. If you lack the creativity, people have created random event generators: https://sites.google.com/site/gtpspcampaigngenerator/ Gran Turismo is also to this day - and someone correct me if I’m wrong - the only mobile racing game that features a full 1:1 recreation of the iconic Nürburging, which alone makes it worth playing.
Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition: Classic Midnight Club on the go, but this time with customization. What’s not to love? Controls are so accurate, every other arcade racer will feel sluggish by comparison, it looks great (again), the cities are huge, there’s tons to do, it has just the right difficulty, challenging without being unfair and it perfectly encompasses this bygone era of early to mid 2000s street racing, even better than any Need for Speed of the time, in my opinion. Like all of the Midnight Club games, this one is also great for just randomly driving around without any goals in mind.
Test Drive Unlimited: Speaking of randomly driving around, this game represents perhaps the very peak of this idea. Shrinking down the entire island of Oahu at 1:1 scale with its real-world street layout (and some creative liberty in regards to buildings), this one is truly a miracle of optimization. The result may not be the prettiest racing game on the system, but the bouncy, responsive driving physics - which so closely mimic that of Gran Turismo 2 that I’m convinced they straight-up copied them - more than make up for any visual shortcomings. This also means that this cut down version of the 360/PS3/PC game (visuals, some vehicles and customization) is more fun to play than the big version, which has comparatively flat driving physics that straddle the line between arcade and simulation nowhere near as well. If you like the idea of living the idea of living the life on a Hawaiian island, buying homes and cars to fill their garages with, racing down long coastal straights and maneuvering through twisty mountain roads, then this might be right up your alley.
Jeanne D’Arc and the PSP’s Twisted Metal were damn good.
This series ain’t for everyone, but I personally like the Hatsune Miku Project Diva rhythm games and recommend them since I like the variety of songs they have.
Work Time Fun! 😋
My personal must-play PSP titles:
Work Time Fun is a sort of strung-out Wario Ware that I really enjoyed back in the day. If you like minigames, trinkets, and grinding, then check it out.