Nominate the Games That Defined the Sony PSP

[racketboy]

Hi everyone!

The Playstation Portable is one of the platforms I get the most guide requests for. We also have the PSP as our "Console of the Month" in our planning for this coming Fall.
I'm hoping to collaborate with the community on both a Defining Games guide and a Beginner's Guide to publish before then, but I really need help on these as it's possibly one of the platforms I know the least about -- despite it being rather popular and recent. (Although the recent aspect is a major handicap for me)

Anyway....

To start, let's nominate some heavy hitters (we can group series together too) and some honorable mentions.
The goal isn't necessarily only cover the most popular games, but the ones that really were important parts of the handhelds history and made the biggest cultural impact.

I'd probably shoot for around 12 primary games/series as that puts it in the same number as platforms like the Sega Master System, Dreamcast, and the original Xbox.

If you need to see those examples, here's the links
https://www.racketboy.com/retro/games-t ... osoft-xbox
https://www.racketboy.com/retro/games-t ... ter-system
https://www.racketboy.com/retro/games-t ... -dreamcast (Dreamcast is one of the first ones I ever did and it needs an overhaul for quality improvement)

For reference, here's the GBA one too -- but it has a larger library and was worthy of a lengthier guide
https://www.racketboy.com/retro/the-gam ... oy-advance

If you want to help write fuller/partial entries for any of the games or series, please speak up as well. We can use all the help we can get

Thanks!

[alienjesus]

I think I'll struggle to contribute too much to this, but here's some notable things off the top of my head:


Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories: These were probably the best selling games for the console and really fulfilled the early promise of the system being essentially a portable PS2 and bringing a 'console' experience to handheld.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - This is a pretty significant entry into the Metal Gear series, and another game that fulfills the promise of console experience on PSP

God of War: Ghost of Sparta & Chains of Olympus - Yeah, just repeating myself now but these were really big sellers on the system and replicated the console experience

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 - RPGs were a big draw of the system and this was probably the most popular one on the system. This was when Square were really pushing the FF7 universe with stuff like Dirge of Cerberus and Adventure Children - but this one seems to be much more fondly remembered then either.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy - Everyone I know who had a PSP had this basically. It's a Final Fantasy fighting game of sorts, but very unique and distinct in it's mechanics.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - I don't know much about the franchise, but from my understanding this is one of the most significant in terms of plot development and in defining the battle mechanics of later entries. It also sold very well.

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions & Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together - These may be a little too niche to be defining games, but as I said I feel like RPGs were a strong point of the system and remakes like these are a lot of what I hear discussed about the system now. There were others too, but these I feel are the most specific to the PSP.

Monster Hunter series - This is low down the list, but to be honest it's probably on of the biggest reasons the system was so successful. It always blows my mind to hear the PSP managed 80 million sales as I knew so few people who had one. In Japan, this is probably one of the biggest drivers behind the series success, and is where the multiplayer aspect of the series really took off. Monster Hunter was a big deal.

Patapon - I don't think this game did big numbers, but this, along with Loco Roco below, are really the 2 games that make me think of the PSP - and they seem to still get shown in this light by Sony too, who embrace them despite their sales numbers. These are the 'unique' experiences to the system I remember appearing in adverts and the likes, even whilst more mainstream stuff was what was actually selling.

Loco Roco - Basically as above with Patapon, but maybe even more so. Before I got a PSP, this was the main game I associated with the system.

There's probably a bunch of other notable games. There were lots of spin off titles to then-current Playstation IPs, such as Daxter, Secret Agent Clank or Tekken: Dark Resurrection.

I can think of lots of other PSP games that are popular amongst people who collect the console, but they're in a weird spot I think - too well known to be 'hidden gems' but not popular or relevant enough to be Defining games - stuff like Mega Man Powered Up, Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles or the Ys series for example.

[racketboy]

Excellent! Thank you!
From my limited experience, I think this would be a solid foundation.
(Of course, I still welcome more notes and opinions)

And yes, the PSP seems to be one of those consoles/handhelds that ends up having a lot of non-mainstream games and the long-lasting favorites.

[Raging Justice]

These are some others that come to mind

Jeanne D' Arc - A great strategy rpg from level - 5 that wasn't just a port like FF Tactics or Disgaea

Crush - Fantastic puzzle game from Sega with a cool style to it. I believe there was another one on the 3DS, but it wasn't received as well and had none of the original's charm. Not a big seller, but critically acclaimed as I recall. Maybe the most notable puzzle game on the PSP

Daxter - Not a fan of the series myself, but this was an original Jak and Daxter game for the PSP. I think it was received better than the PSP Ratchet and Clank games

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - Again, not a series I give a crap about, but it's hard to talk about a Sony system without mentioning an Uncharted game

I feel like Dracula X was a big deal when it came out. First time many got to play Rhondo, plus it had a Rhondo remake included, made just for the PSP. We also got the so called "Definitive" version of Symphony of the Night according to the man himself who is the face of the franchise

The Valkyria Chronicles series continued on PSP up until VC 4 hit the main consoles. There's probably a ton of RPGs one could mention when looking at the PSP library, but maybe that could be it's own list. We got a Valkyrie Profile remake for example, being the only affordable option for people to try that game.

I agree on Crisis Core being a stand out, that definitely should make the list. I mean, it's an FF game after all, and was well received. Honestly, Crisis Core, FF 13, and FF 15, all in one way or another contributed to what would become FF 7 Remake. There are game play elements from all of them in that game

I also concur on Patapon. I mean, those games got re-released on PS 4. There are not being forgotten as time goes on

Honestly, there's a lot of PSP games I'm familiar with but the "defining" part is tricky

[Ziggy]

Castlevania The Dracula X Chronicles was a big deal when it came out. It had the 2.5D remake of Rondo, but that took a back seat to be honest. It was the first official release of Rondo in the West, AND it was translated into English, AND they also re-translated Symphony of the Night. They used the same voice actors for Rondo and Symphony, so it was really cool that they "matched" in that sense. This was a killer app release. In my memory, Dracula X Chronicles and Crisis Core were the two biggest releases on the PSP that had people losing their shit for. Dracula X Chronicles is what actually got me to go out and buy a PSP.

The titles that were sort of sequels to PS2 games were all a big deal for the PSP. So like AJ said, the two GTA games, God of War, Metal Gear Solid. It was sort of surreal to have these games, it really felt like a portable PS2. I feel like these were the biggest ones, but there were also more. Like Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and maybe some others.

[elricorico]

Perhaps the only thing that comes to mind that isn't already mentioned in the thread is the Ys series, though you could definitely argue that Ys didn't define the PSP, but the PSP perhaps revived Ys? Maybe worth an honorable mention at the very least.

[Nemoide]

I think the Ys series definitely deserves a place on the list. The PSP was home to many JRPGs and the Ys games were some of the most prominent. Falcom's Legend of Heroes series also started to gain traction on the platform in the US, but I think Ys was more popular for the PSP itself.

[opa]

I love the Ys series but a defining game is something that most people would have heard of. Most people can't even pronounce "Ys" much less know what it is outside of retro gamer circles.

Untold Legends and the Final Fantasy's are more in line with what belong on the list. Now the PSP could have an entire article on its RPG's alone. A lot of gems worth playing and Ys should be near the top of that list.

Wikipedia has a list of the PSP games that got Greatest Hits releases. A pretty decent metric for "defining games".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greatest_Hits_(PlayStation)#PlayStation_Portable

[Nemoide]

Sorry, I assumed this was a list for folks in retro gamer circles.

[opa]

I didn't mean to sound snarky in my post now that I'm re-reading it.

I guess my assumption is that "defining games" means "games most people would have". Like most people had Sonic the Hedgehog for the Genesis or whatever.