Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This?
Really unique game that didn't get favorable reviews. Def check it out!
this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2025
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-Patapon (Personally I thought 2 was the best) -FF7 Crisis Core -MGS: Peacewalker -Dissidea -RType: Command
The original version of Final Fantasy Type-0 is a much more impressive game when you play it on a portable device, also it doesn't have the nauseating blur from the HD remaster.
Just grab the English patch and go for it.
A lot of good titles have already been mentioned but holy crap no one said MotorStorm: Arctic Edge? Such a great racer, very polished and it has unique mechanics and a ton of fun vehicles to make it worth your while.
Also: Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception. If you're looking for an arcade flight sim, this one is for you. (I'd steer clear of it's successor Joint Assault though.)
I fondly remember Field Commander from my childhood for the PSP.
Patapon, all 3. Sort of a rhythm game but with combat and a lot of depth.
Brave story: new traveler. A great jrpg.
DJ Max Portable 2 is fucking stellar! I played my PSP so much that my square button stopped working… I opened it up and added material behind the D-pad and face buttons and now they’re SUOER sensitive which is perfect for DJMP2!
Monster Hunter 3rd is an extremely good MH game, but that needs an English translation patch cuz it never came to the west.
Fun fact, an exploit in the Lumines save file is how the original PSP jailbreaks worked
Neat, I didn’t know that!
I was able to hack mine without that, then the smaller new PSP came out… to hack the 2000s, I had to modify the firmware of a battery to force it to boot into the firmware modification menu. I still have that battery!
Patapon
Locoroco is best played on handhelds as hand-based image stabilisation is important in that game.
I don't think I move my hands when playing locoroco.... 🤔
If you're a fan of the 3D era Grand Theft Auto games but never played the Stories games, do yourself a favour.
They're also playable on PS2 but both versions have trade offs even if you're emulating.
The PSP versions are a lot smoother to emulate and can be modded to support the right analog stick and 60fps but the render distance is a lot worse.
The PS2 versions doesn't seem to emulate as well can keep a stable 30fps but the 60fps patch available on PCSX2 just makes my fps drop below 30 more times than not. even after overclocking the EE Cycle Rate. like suggested.
PS2 version of LCS in particular also has some heavy handed colour filtering which some people say fits the "vibe" better. But I never liked it.
LCS was the first gta game i've ever played and it was a blast(also what a banger soundtrack)
I sadly didn't play much LCS back then (despite loving GTA 3) but VCS was my PSPs main game when I was in high school.
Personally, I believe games are timeless regardless of nostalgia, simply requiring a bit of adjustment time. I still actively play games on older platforms quite frequently.
I still believe these games hold up; With playing for either their unique story/gameplay/mechanics. Here's some good PSP games:
- Gitaroo Man
- Kenka Bancho
- Pursuit Force
- Pursuit Force: Extreme Justice
- Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
- Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
- Rengoku II: The Stairway to H.E.A.V.E.N.
- Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2: Innocent Sin
- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable
- Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
- Phantasy Star Portable 2
- PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient 1 & 2
- The Warriors
- Puzzle Guzzle (
- Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman
- Patapon 1/2/3
I'd also recommend:
- Sims 2
Simply because the gameplay differs from the usual games.
The Sims 2 recommendation is no joke. Honestly picked it up hoping it would be like he pc game. Kept it since it’s a wacky story game with aliens, cults, robots and vampires.
Jeanne D'Arc and Silent Hill Origins were pretty good.
Jeanne D'Arc is by Level 5.
They have never disappointed IMHO.
Burnout legends punches quite a lot above it’s weight.
- Patapon
- Prinny Can I really be the Hero?
Obscure The Aftermath multiplayer is actually pretty impressive for the PSP.
Monster Hunter Unite, if you want to experience old Monster Hunter, animation locks and all.
Coded Arms and its sequel are pretty interesting shooters.
Rengoku and its sequel are pretty good as well.
God of War plays well in the modern age
I adore the PSP! I know a lot of titles feel kind of weird or like they're having to make major compromises due to the lack of triggers and a second stick. Many games felt sort of stuck in-between handheld and consoles because of it.
In no order here's a list of some of my absolute favorites on the system:
- No Heroes Allowed!
- Amazing, funny dungeon building game where you play the bad guy. Like Japanese dungeon keeper with ecological systems and 16-bit inspired graphics.
- Cladun: This is an RPG
- Fun, simple action RPG. Has a sequel that was also really fun.
- Half-Minute Hero
- Light-hearted parody RPG where you play in small bursts.
- Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman
- Sentai parody mystery dungeon game, and does both very well.
- Tactics Ogre
- A very very impressive remaster of the SFC game. One of the best SRPGs ever made! The PSP version of Final Fantasy Tactics is also good, but I prefer Tactics Ogre by a wide margin myself.
- Ys Seven
- Really all the Ys games on the system are really good. Ys Seven is the most modern feeling and gives you multiple characters to swap between. Fun series of action RPGs if you like that sort of thing. Kind of Zelda-y but with less puzzles and more combat and RPG elements.
- Super Stardust Portable
- Really fun shmup published by Sony.
Mega Man Powered Up.
Maverick Hunter X too, but I feel that one holds up slightly worse than Powered Up.
Edit: I played both in the 2010s btw
Crisis Core FF7 MGS Peace Walker Disgaea remake Valkyrie Profile FF tactics
Probably the best titles I remember playing. Great device.
My only problem with Crisis Core is that there's so much easily accessible side content, I had to force myself to just stop and finish the story.
But I loved that game, and I wasn't even a big fan of the original FF7.
PixelJunk Monsters - tower defence game with a fantastic soundtrack
Patchwork hero’s - fun puzzle game where you take down giant airships
Everyday Shooter - twin stick shooter with a unique soundtrack
Persona 3 Portable - even atlus remastered this game as is.
I would also throw in GTA Vice City stories - love the story and it holds up better than liberty city stories
Crush! Fucking crush! What a game!
Ridge Racer. I don think I have ever put that much hours in another arcade racing game.
Armored core formula front was a novel concept i adored, in that you never control your mech. You're in a battle league and are an engineer designing not only the AC, but also its AI, making the matches feel very intense and rewarding
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.
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.
Loco Roco
Wipeout Pulse
Midnight Club Dub Edition
Puyo Puyo Fever and Hotshots(everybody’s) golf were my favorites
There's a couple of Wip3Out games on PSP that I find as timeless and rewarding as the rest of the series.
Most of the good ones have been mentioned, but I didn't see Patchwork Heroes. Fantastic and unique action/puzzle game.
I had quite a bit of fun playing Wild Arms XF, helped scratch my tactical itch for a while
Rengoku 2 is a hidden jem, the soundtrack is also great (The Lustful is my favorite track, with that dark nightclub feel to it).
Chili con Carnage (Shoot-Em-Up that kinda controls like og Doom but 3rd person, tbh the humor is where it shines)
Chili con Carnage mentioned? And on Lemmy? The weirdest thing I'll see today here 🤣
I love this game, I have finished it like 3 times I guess, and yes the humor is top notch, even when it is a 3rd person shooter I don't think I faced any issues with the controls while playing it on the PSP.
Sorry to have nostalgia in a post about games not needing it, but wow - the enjoyable hours I put into LocoRoco! Totally agree though - unique mechanic, and chef's kiss execution.
Gottlieb Pinball Classics. Easily my favourite game on the platform.
Every Yakuza fan should play Kurohyou 1 and 2. The fan translations are a big rough but overall the games are fully playable (minus some hostesses in K2 which only matters if you're going for full completion, and you can just power through it with the same save file in the Japanese rom)
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