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Sony's PSP: Hellz Yeah

Kazin

Kazin

hmm? hmm!
(he/him)
I sold some stuff yesterday and got my first PSP Go (a white model). While I wait for this to arrive to increase storage capacity and hack it, I decided to see if I could still log into PSN to download purchases I made decades ago. Unbelievably, you still can! If you log in to PSN on your PC, go to Security -> Generate or Manage Device Setup Passwords, it'll give you a code you can use to actually log into your PSP, Vita, or PS3, which will then allow you to redownload games you purchased all those years ago. I am currently very slowly downloading Dracula X Chronicles!

I don't know how much nostalgia y'all have for Sony's original portable, but I got one surprisingly early on (2005, one of my coworker sold me his for a decent deal). I didn't play it nearly as much as the DS, but there was still a lot of fun to be had, especially because of all the PS1 content available on it in addition to the games. Never watched movies on it, though, and I had an iPod, so didn't listen to music either... I do remember a guy in college had his PSP attached to a necklace, and he used it as an MP3 player, which was wild lol.

Anyway. Talk about PSP! Talk about the shitty ads if you like!
 
Have fun! The PSP is a surprisingly underrated console with a wealth of RPGs.
 
Ain't that the truth. PSP was where I originally played Trails in the Sky, for example. And Crisis Core still plays very well, even if I think I prefer the remaster these days...
 
I got a PSP-2000 for Christmas the year it came out, and I remember being blown away by the size of the screen at the time. Now I carry a screen bigger than that around in my pocket every day and feel nothing.

The PSP was a great little system, but I'm struck by how much of my collection is remakes or ports of games from other systems. Mega Man Powered Up, Maverick Hunter X, Dracula X Chronicles, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy IV Collection, Gradius Collection... That's not to say it didn't have great original games, too. I lost dozens and dozens of hours to the two Dissidia games, and wish they'd just put out an HD Collection of them instead of that redheaded stepchild, Dissidia NT.

I'd probably play my PSP more these days if the charging cable port hadn't become so finicky that it requires the plug be rotated to the precise correct billionth of a degree and kept there before it will start charging. I keep it around out of sentimentality, and check on the battery every year or so to make sure it's not becoming a spicy pillow. So far so good. I ended up buying a fellow Tyrant's PSTV and hacked it to load a bunch of PSP games on there, so I have quite the library at my disposal. I should swing back around to that sometime...
 
In my teen years where Castlevania went, I followed, so Dracula X Chronicles meant me getting the system. As a tactile piece of hardware in your hands, it's likely my least liked handheld console I've interacted with, from the noisy and awkward UMD media to the mushy buttons to the terror of the analog nub to the screen's ghosting issues.

It's to the library's credit that I persisted within that play context regardless, with the Dissidia duology being something I poured hundreds of hours into. It ended up a hub for the final spurt of worthwhile Persona media made, with the original's remake (my favourite in the series, despite issues with the redone soundtrack and other aesthetics), solid ports of the P2 duology (even if only half-localized) and the only version of P3 anyone should play. It turned into a "played it on the Vita" situation by necessity thanks to a six-year localization gap, but Brandish: The Dark Revenant manifested as one of the best remakes around and a shining star in Falcom's catalogue.

These days, the system strikes me as one of the most straightforward to interact with through emulation in the play experiences it supported, by having a widescreen format and no hardware specifics that would depend on the genuine article. You can explore less-played fan translations like the 7th Dragon 2020 pair, or check out the first releases for what's in my estimation the most significant original series that saw its debut on the system in Project Diva.
 
@Vaeran Man, reading posts like that makes me want to take your PSP apart and clean it, and/or resolder the power connector, if that is why there's problems. That or at the very least blow some compressed air in there, maybe that'd do it. It's funny you mention ports and remakes, because the second game I'm downloading is the Final Fantasy III DS port lol

And yeah, @Peklo, UMDs were annoying. They felt cheap, too, flopping around in their little cases. But yeah, that original PSP 1000 screen, if that's what you were using, is terrible. The PSP 3000 and Go have great screens, in my experience, but having to buy totally new hardware sucks.

7th Dragon 2020, particularly that first one, is fantastic, and well worth playing on whatever system you have set up to play PSP games on. The second game is good, too, just not quite as good.
 
There's also a port of the Sid Meier Pirates game that is really well done.
 
Kazin said:
@Vaeran Man, reading posts like that makes me want to take your PSP apart and clean it, and/or resolder the power connector, if that is why there's problems. That or at the very least blow some compressed air in there, maybe that'd do it.
Click to expand...

I have tried compressed air a few times and it's made no difference, so it seems the problem lies deeper than that. Sadly I don't know dick about soldering so my efforts to fix it end there.

Kazin said:
It's funny you mention ports and remakes, because the second game I'm downloading is the Final Fantasy III DS port lol
Click to expand...

Oh no. Be nice to yourself!
 
Ah, probably a weak solder joint, then, yeah :(

I like the Final Fantasy III 3D remake. It's the worst version of FF3, but I still like it. Plus the PSP version has fast forward, so it's far, far preferable to the DS version!
 
I have a surprising amount of nostalgia for this thing, truth be told. This is even in my desktop wallpaper rotation:

https://twitter.com/x/status/805804219886399488

Mine was a gift from a friend, and while I don't have a ton of games for it and haven't played it in forever, I do keep wanting to go back to it. But with the battery being what it is, I never get to.

I think the two games that were given to me with it were X-Men Legends 2, which I liked but didn't finish, and Lumines, which I really enjoyed.

Main reasons for wanting one came down to Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X, Mega Man Powered Up, and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. All phenomenal, and all sadly trapped there for the past two decades. Well, I think MHX and Castlevania also work on Vita? Still.

It's also where I first got to try the Power Stone games, plus some PSone Classics like Castlevania Chronicles.

My biggest disappointment, of course, comes from the assholes at Sony shutting us out of getting the Rockman DASH re-releases because they thought it made their precious hardware look too weak. (No idea how Darkstalkers made it, in that case.)

I hope to one day get those releases for my collection. Of course, part of that was contingent on visiting Japan and getting them as souvenirs, but these days, it's looking less and less like that May pan out for various reasons. Sigh.

Anyway, yeah. PSP won me over, and has a special place in my gaming heart.
 
Oh wow, that art is adorable. Man, I haven't played Mega Man Powered Up in forever. I should rectify that. Does it not work on Vita? That's another system I haven't played in forever lol. I should also play Maverick Hunter X... I never really have.

I still cannot figure out how to make a multidisc EBOOT that works (I have a hacked PSP 3000 I tried to put Dragon Warrior VII on, and it's "corrupted data"). Maybe it's just Dragon Warrior VII that does that, who knows.
 
Peklo said:
the only version of P3 anyone should play.
Click to expand...
Isn't that version infamous for cutting a lot of content from the earlier PS2 rerelease?

Anyhow, I consider the PSP as home to a vast variety of highly polished remakes, including allegedly the best versions of Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy Tactics. Most games on it seemed to feature a unique combination of modern day technology and conveniences alongside old school pixel art and design, which is a combo I do like very much.
 
Second Duke Revier said:
Isn't that version infamous for cutting a lot of content from the earlier PS2 rerelease?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the crap content (The Answer). But, crucially, P3P has FeMC, and I like her and her social links more than the male MC. Still, it's unfortunate there's not a perfect version of Persona 3 that has all the content (and also without a pointlessly remixed soundtrack - I do not like what I've heard of the P3 Remake's remixed tracks. No clue why they did that).

Anyhow, I consider the PSP as home to a vast variety of highly polished remakes, including allegedly the best versions of Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy Tactics. Most games on it seemed to feature a unique combination of modern day technology and conveniences alongside old school pixel art and design, which is a combo I do like very much.
Click to expand...

I really need to play through the FF4 Complete Collection. I'm not a huge FF4 fan, though, and I always very quickly burn out on the After Years...
 
I got my PSP really late, around when Peace Walker came out. Despite mine being the last of the hardware revisions, it still felt a bit cheap to me, unlike the Vita, which is still the most premium handheld I’ve ever seen. The UMD’s looked like they would fall apart at any moment, which made inserting them into the system feel like performing open heart surgery. Night and Day from the near indestructible OG Nintendo DS I had that whole generation.

I didn’t end up playing many games on it, mostly the Ys trilogy and the lackluster Valkyria Chronicles 2. Despite that, the library was really strong. Sony certainly lucked out that Japanese developers used the PSP as a developmental storm shelter during the bad times of the PS3/360 era of HD gaming.
 
I leaned much more DS during that era, but eventually the PSP had enough exclusive titles that it was a worthwhile purchase. Square-Enix game it some real love, with Crisis Core, the two Dissidia games, FF4 Complete and the FFT port--and even though 3rd Birthday was some bullshit, I had fun with it. The three Ys games on PSP were solid, too. I played very little outside of franchises I already liked, but my logs still put me at 300 hours of PSP games.

I actually briefly owned a second PSP in 2019 when I was first starting to explore emulator handhelds; I bought one on eBay pre-hacked and played Terranigma and Saiyuki Journey West on it. I found the SNES emulation still suboptimal and the battery life was terrible, even with a new battery. I eventually sold it for the same price I paid. I still have my original PSP, though!
 
Ugh, 3rd Birthday brings back some bad memories. It almost made me write off the Parasite Eve franchise, until an LP made me realize that the first Parasite Eve was actually a cool game in its own right, lol. Yes, it was the first game in the franchise I played, LOL. 😆😱
 
I'm still addicted to Etrian Odyssey III HD so I don't know how far I'll get in it, but the Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection has some nice touches. When you pause in battle, the "PAUSE" letters bounce up and down just like the damage counters do, which is cute. The remixed music so far sounds nice as well, although it's been so long since I played FF4 DS that I can't remember if they're just reusing those tracks. I'm not sure yet if I prefer this or the Pixel Remaster... This having its own animations rather than sharing spell animations and whatnot with five other games is nice, and while the sprites aren't ugly or anything, they do feel a bit... cheap. Generic, maybe, is the word I'm looking for? I dunno. Seems fine.

I feel like the PSP Go's smaller display is the perfect size. I've yet to play any 3D games - I'll have to wait for my micro sd convertor thing to try any of those, as everything I own digitally for PSP are basically RPGs (lol), but so far, everything I've thrown at the PSP Go looks beautiful, including Symphony of the Night. There's a vivid color option for the PSP Go that does seem to make the screen more vivid, but I'm not sure what exactly it's doing compared to the original PSP or modern displays? Maybe that's what I'm seeing and enjoying, dunno. In any case, I'm kinda in love with the Go...
 
Patrick said:
Note that those games (along with Metal Gear Ac!d and others) are available as ROMs if you hack your system. I'm not sure why they were never able to sell them in the PSN Store.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's a mystery to me, and just one more reason for me to curse Sony.

Maverick Hunter X worked fine, Rockman Rockman worked fine, but...
 
My original, launch-era PSP is still chugging along whenever I decide to play it. Well-made little system with a lot of games!
 
More power to you dealing with that ghosty screen... I can't go back to it, though it didn't bother me in 2005
 
I've gotten my data cable in the mail and have hacked my PSP Go. I can now connect it to my PC and move files around. Still waiting on the micro SD card mod thing to arrive, and I still cannot get Dragon Warrior VII running well (I was able to create an EBOOT that launched the game, but the menus are missing, and I can't get popsloader to load version 4.01 properly so the menus show up. I recall having this issue years and years ago. I guess I'll have to forgo DW7, which is a shame, as I adore that game a lot).

Getting your PSP to run custom firmware alone, though, is super, super easy these days, wow.
 
I was going through the collection I found on a famous archival website, and I forgot how many great games the PSP has. The Half Minute Hero games (of which the second got an English translation that I still haven't played), Jeanne d'Arc, Phantasy Star Portable 2 (the first game is available, too, but the 2nd is by far better), the sheer tonnage of the Ys series available, among others. There's been a sizeable chunk of games fantranslated, as well - apparently there's a Tokimeki Memorial Girls Side that is in English? I'm downloading it now, I don't know if it's fully translated, but I've only been able to play the SNES Tokimeki so it'd be cool to experience some others. Fans translated the 2nd and 3rd Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology games, .hack Link, and even Nayuta no Kiseki. Can't wait for my friggin sd card mod to get here!
 
I put so much time into the PSP. I still bought PSP games, but I definitely availed myself of games through alternative means, much as I did with the DS. In the end, I don't think I saved any money - there were games I decided sucked, but then there were games where I'm like... yeah, I need to own this one. I still have my PSP-2000 that came with Daxter, which took me forever to finally finish because I kept falling off of it over the years.

Immediately, my favorite games on the system that come to mind are Ys Seven, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Crisis Core, Peace Walker, Dracula X, Brandish: The Dark Revenant, and Star Ocean: First Departure. There are other games I played elsewhere on there as well (Final Fantasy III, Trails, Oath in Felghana, etc.) but it's great they were on the system.

I even enjoyed The 3rd Birthday - under the hood, it's a surprisingly good shooter with some unique gameplay hooks. But I still would much rather have something in the vein of the first game, which ended up being one of my favorites on PSX.
 
Ah, right, thanks for the shout - the Star Ocean PSP ports were not on the list I was looking at. Grabbed em!

I also downloaded an English translation of Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity - not sure what the difference is between the regular game and it other than some DLC, but I'm glad it's available. Dot Hack Link seems fun so far, too.

I'm just shy of 100 gigs of games for my PSP Go, which is good because the limit, apparently, is 128 gigs. Sure wish I could get Dragon Warrior VII fully working. Really wish they'd have released that on PSN back in the day, dangit.
 
I know I've run Dragon Warrior VII on there before. I think I may have created my own EBOOT back in the day. Aaaaaaactually, lemme check something, maybe I still have that dump around.

EDIT: Survey says yes. I probably need to test it and make sure it actually works, though.
 
@Sarge If you can get to the menu and actually read the text - i.e. "Start New Game", "Load Game", etc. without having to change the version of Popsloader (which I can't seem to get working properly, might be a PSP Go only thing), hit me up - I'm extremely interested in a working DW7 eboot lmao. No need to test it beyond seeing those menu options, if you can see them, it's working, apparently.
 
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Drats, I forgot that I'm using Popsloader with it. Just checked with the "original flash" option and it doesn't show text. With 4.01, it works fine. Wonder why it's not working on the Go?

EDIT: Not sure if you saw this, but there is a small difference in the setup for a Go: https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/PopsLoader_PSP
 
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